[1566] in linux-announce channel archive
Midnight Commander 3.1
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Lars Wirzenius)
Wed Jan 17 17:35:24 1996
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996 01:12:11 +0200
From: Lars Wirzenius <wirzeniu@cc.helsinki.fi>
To: linux-announce@vger.rutgers.edu
From: Miguel de Icaza <miguel@roxanne.nuclecu.unam.mx>
Subject: Midnight Commander 3.1
Approved: linux-announce@news.ornl.gov (Lars Wirzenius)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.announce
Followup-to: comp.os.linux.development.apps
Organization: ?
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Announcing...
THE MIDNIGHT COMMANDER V3.1
What's new on 3.1
* Added undelete feature on Linux based GNU systems: now you may recover
deleted files on ext2 file systems with the Undelete file system feature.
* Enhanced the ftp file system:
+ Displays progress bars on ftp transfers.
+ Supports Windows NT servers.
+ Better support for symlinked files.
+ Handles those funny looking file names on warez sites.
+ Increased the directory cache tiemout.
+ Directory cache flushing (press C-r).
+ If you append a /~ to the directory you chdir into, you will log into
your home directory (this is done by default if you use the menus to
make your connection).
+ More robust.
* Subshell fixes (it should not hang any longer).
+ Fixes prompt hanlding for zsh ans tchs users.
+ Fixes variable expansion for tcsh (now you may edit files, there was a
bug in previous versions that wouldn't let you invoke an editor if you
were using tcsh).
+ Rewrote the sync code between the parent and child.
* Keypad handling enhanced.
+ Special key treatment for +, -, \ and now may be configure to only take
place if you do not have a command typed in.
+ Now the + and \ bindings when ran on the Linux console work may use the
keypad and M-+ and M-\ and leave the + and \ keys free.
* Better handling of the line drawing chars on OSF/1
* Enhanced tar/compressed file systems.
* Global kill ring.
* Symlink commands (for symlink lovers).
* Better command completion.
* New macros:
+ %b and %B return the basename of the selected filename.
+ %var{ENVVAR} expands to the contents of the ENV-VAR variable.
* Now MC may be invoked as a file viewer (using -v flag).
* Added Unicode support on Linux consoles (run with mc -N).
* Tons of bug fixes.
* Allow a vfs pathname to be passed as a startup directory (you may now invoke
mc like this: mc ftp://sunsite.unc.edu).
Briefly
The Midnight Commander is a Unix file manager and shell, useful to novice and
guru alikes. It is available by FTP from the following sites:
* ftp.nuclecu.unam.mx: /linux/local/mc-3.1.2.tar.gz (the official site)
* sunsite.unc.edu and mirrors: Linux/utils/file/managers/mc-3.1.2.tar.gz
* prep.ai.mit.edu and mirrors: /pub/gnu/mc-3.1.2.tar.gz
MD5 checksum:
09b81166c49009613f72ba683f92e493 b mc-3.1.2.tar.gz
Binaries for various architectures are available in:
* ftp.nuclecu.unam.mx in: /linux/local/bin-dist.
Longly
The Midnight Commander (previous name: Mouseless Commander) is a user-friendly
yet powerful file manager and visual shell for Unix systems. For the Unix
neophyte it provides a clear, user-friendly, and somewhat protected interface to
the complexities of a Unix system. For the expert user, it can make many
frequent operations more efficient: shifting large groups of files around and
many other common file managing tasks. It works with any text terminal, supports
also color terminals and looks very nice (see sample screen shots).
The Commander's current features include:
* General features
+ Full mouse support on xterm and the Linux console.
+ Virtual File System: you now can browse tar, compressed tar, network
file systems and FTP directories.
+ A built-in file viewer with ASCII and hex modes, regexp string
searching, optional automatic file decompression, horizontal scrolling,
goto-line, attributes, growing buffers, piped input, etc.
+ Hypertext online context-sensitive help.
+ General user interface improvements: more keys do what you might expect
them to do (C-c to cancel things, C-g for emacs users, etc.)
* Command execution features
+ Emacs-like command line editing.
+ A history of entered shell commands.
+ An extensible, flexible user-defined menu system.
+ User-defined default actions on files, according to their name or
contents, (for example, you can bind xv %f to gif files).
+ If you use bash, tcsh or zsh, the Commander will run with a concurrent
shell process and feed all your shell commands to it, instead of
spawning a new shell to run every command you type. Apart from the gain
in speed, this means that you can use all your usual aliases and shell
functions, as well as job control, command history, variable
substitution, background processes and so on. You can switch the
Commander's display on and off at any time with a single keystroke, and
when it is off you appear to be in your usual login shell.
* File management features
+ Mask copying/renaming of files (as in: "rename s.*.tar.gz
source.*.tgz").
+ Secure recursive file deleting, copying and moving operations.
+ A "directory hotlist" to let you move to directories you frequently use
with very few keystrokes.
+ Incremental and wrap-around searching for file and directory names.
+ Directory compare feature.
+ Quick-view mode: automatically display the currently selected file in
the other panel. Uncompression is performed automatically, and only as
needed, so you never have to wait.
+ A visual "tree" display of directory structures, which allows you to
navigate rapidly through your file system (you can copy, remove, and
move directories within this mode). The tree is built as you use it,
so, again, you needn't sit there twiddling your thumbs while you wait
for the tree to be built (but you can if you want to ;-)
+ Re-written, vastly improved find-file feature. File searches can be
interrupted and resumed, and the resulting list of files can be
manipulated usefully within the Commander.
+ New external panelize feature. This is somehow generalized version of
find-file, which fills your panel with output of any command producing
newline separated filenames (find, awk, etc.). You can save often used
commands into an database under certain names (like 'SetUID and SetGID
files in cwd').
+ Info view mode: detailed information in the other panel about the
currently selected file and current file system.
+ File and directory management operations: tag, delete, copy, rename,
move, create links (hard and symbolic), chmod, chown, etc. Detailed
information and control is available during these operations:
percentage-done figures are displayed (only in verbose mode), and you
can stop the operation at any time, skip files, decide what to do about
files which are about to be overwritten (you can overwrite all, none,
do an update - copy newer files, single file you can skip, overwrite or
append to the destination).
* And it's configurable, too
+ User-definable file listing formats: you can specify which data fields
are to be displayed, their size and alignment, etc.
+ Screen layout control: the file panels are resizable, and can appear
side by side or one above the other. The keybar at the bottom as well
as the menu and the message bars can be removed to save screen space.
+ On Linux based GNU systems, you can specify a certain number of lines
at the bottom of the screen to be used as a command output area; the
Commander will leave output from your shell commands undisturbed in
this area, so you don't have to use C-o to see it.
+ Message bar: if you are new to the Midnight Commander, on this line you
will see hints about how to use the program. You can turn this line
off, if you get tired of them.
+ Configurable colors: you can define a default color scheme, and
alternative schemes which are selected according to the terminal you
are using.
+ 8-bit clean support, for viewing national characters and symbols.
+ You can teach the Midnight Commander the key definitions for your
terminal, you don't require root privileges or to be nice with your
sysadmin.
* And there's a lot more.
Requirements
The Midnight Commander currently runs (at least) on Linux 1.0, through 1.3,
NetBSD 1.0, SunOS 4.1, Solaris 2.3, Irix 5.2, Ultrix 4.3, Aix 3.2.5, A/UX, HP-UX
7, HP-UX 9, UnixWare. And since it is configured with GNU autoconf, it should be
straightforward to port it to other systems.
If you are using a Linux based GNU system, you may be interested in getting the
gpm mouse server (to get mouse support on the Linux console) or you may want to
get ncurses for managing your screen instead of the default Slang screen
manager. All of the auxilary packages are available in ftp.nuclecu.unam.mx, so
that you can download them at the same time as the Commander if you wish. They
are:
* ncurses (optional).
+ ftp.nuclecu.unam.mx in /linux/local
+ ftp.netcom.com in /pub/zm/zmbenhal
+ Notes:
Don't get ncurses 1.8.6; it's buggy. If ncurses hasn't been ported to
your system you can try to build the Commander with the native curses
library on your system. This works well on System V flavored systems,
but it may not be very pretty or even usable on BSD systems.
* gpm-1.06
+ ftp.nuclecu.unam.mx in /linux/local
+ iride.unipv.it in /pub/gpm
+ Notes:
This is the excellent Linux "General Purpose Mouse" server; needed if
you want mouse support in Linux virtual consoles.
* rxvt 2.14
+ ftp.nuclecu.unam.mx in /linux/local/rxvt
+ Notes:
This is a fast and small color terminal emulator for X, the Midnight
Commander will autodetect color on this version of the rxvt program.
More Information
WWW page: there is a Midnight Commander page on the World Wide Web containing
screen snapshots of the program, links to some relevant FTP sites, archives of
the mailing lists, etc. The URL is:
* http://stekt.oulu.fi/~jtklehto/mc/
Please send bug reports to: mc-bugs@nuclecu.unam.mx
Mailing lists: the following Commander-related lists are available:
mc
General discussion of the Midnight Commander
mc-digest
The mc list, in digest format
mc-announce
Major announcements about the Commander
mc-patch
The latest Commander patches (4-8 per week)
mc-devel
Technical development discussion (open to all comers)
To subscribe, send e-mail to majordomo@roxanne.nuclecu.unam.mx with the
following line in the body of the message:
* subscribe <list-name> [optional-address]
The MC Development Team
* Radek Doulik (rodo@earn.cvut.cz)
* Ching Hui (u811563@Oz.nthu.edu.tw)
* Miguel de Icaza (miguel@roxanne.nuclecu.unam.mx)
* Jakub Jelinek (jj@gnu.ai.mit.edu)
* Janne Kukonlehto (jtklehto@paju.oulu.fi)
* Fred Leeflang (fredl@nebula.ow.nl)
* Mauricio Plaza (mok@roxanne.nuclecu.unam.mx)
* Dugan O. Porter (dugan@b011.eunet.es)
Other contributors:
* John Davis (davis@space.mit.edu)
* Torben Fjerdingstad (tfj@olivia.ping.dk)
* Massimo Fontanelli (mc8737@mclink.it)
* Steven Hirsch (hirsch@emba.uvm.edu)
* Jean-Daniel Luiset (luiset@cih.hcuge.ch)
* Thanh Ma
* Mark Olesen (olesen@weber.me.queensu.ca)
* Wim Osterholt (wim@djo.wtm.tudelft.nl)
* Thomas Pundt (pundtt@math.uni-muenster.de)
* Hugh Redelmeier (hugh@mimosa.com)
* Alessandro Rubini (rubini@iride.unipv.it)
* Vadim Sinolitis (vvs@nsrd.npi.msu.su)
* Jon Stevens (root@dolphin.csudh.edu)
* Michael Schmidt (mschmidt@koblenz.fh-rpl.de)
* Marcelo Roccasalva and Juan Jose Ciarlante (jjciarla@raiz.uncu.edu.ar)
* Sergey Ya. Korshunoff (root@seyko.msk.su)
* Gerd Knorr (kraxel@cs.tu-berlin.de)
* Adam Tla/lka (atlka@sunrise.pg.gda.pl)
* Antonio Palama (palama@posso.dm.unipi.it)
* Ilya Rybkin (rybkin@rouge.phys.lsu.edu)
* Juan Grigera (grigera@isis.unlp.edu.ar)
* Perry Francis Nguyen (pfnguyen@netcom.com)
* Sergey Ya Korshunoff (root@seyko.msk.su)
We would like to thank all of the beta testers from the mc and mc-devel mailing
lists, without their help, this release will not be possible.
Linux Software Map Entry
This is a standard Linux Software Map entry.
Begin3
Title: Midnight Commander
Version: 3.1
Entered-date: 8JAN96
Description: File manager and visual shell. [More!]
Keywords: file directory manager shell browser utility curses mouse menu
visual user-friendly color vfs tar ftp gzip undelete
Author: rodo@earn.cvut.cz (Radek Doulik)
u811563@Oz.nthu.edu.tw (Ching Hui)
miguel@roxanne.nuclecu.unam.mx (Miguel de Icaza)
jj@gnu.ai.mit.edu (Jakub Jelinek)
jtklehto@paju.oulu.fi (Janne Kukonlehto)
fredl@nebula.ow.nl (Fred Leeflang)
mok@roxanne.nuclecu.unam.mx (Mauricio Plaza)
dugan@b011.eunet.es (Dugan Orlando Porter)
Maintained-by: miguel@roxanne.nuclecu.unam.mx (Miguel de Icaza)
Primary-site: sunsite.unc.edu /pub/Linux/utils/file/managers
806k mc-3.1.2.tar.gz
Alternate-site: ftp.nuclecu.unam.mx /linux/local
806k mc-3.1.2.tar.gz
Platforms: i386-linux-linux1.[0123],
mips-dec-ultrix4.3, mips-sgi-irix5.2,
rs6000-ibm-aix3.2.5, sparc-sun-sunos4.1,
sparc-sun-netbsd1.0, sparc-sun-solaris2.3,
hppa-hp-hpux9, hppa-hp-hpux7, m68k-apple-aux,
unixware-????, dgux, sco,
If mouse support is required on the Linux
console, then the GPM mouse server
(available at iride.unipv.it:/pub/gpm)
(ftp.nuclecu.unam.mx:/linux/local)
Copying-policy: GPL
End
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 2.6.2i
iQCVAwUBMPwvhIQRll5MupLRAQGqRgP/RCI19W1Pk/cGiRfa4XlSuULW5bRlZOD4
juvnsXxOF4jLY5Dr+tm16d+nvXA2zKfK1XRtO1mkqbmjz5uMFWPPofk39HxYLW2R
POBmz8fHKZfkHUGRdOUE2B2w0vzVgl9vJXDpLNrKt7tO9MAvaiIPr1N6+mgAvu+K
Jp6oGGYPXBM=
=FVnQ
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
--
This article has been digitally signed by the moderator, using PGP.
Finger wirzeniu@kruuna.helsinki.fi for PGP key needed for validating signature.
Send submissions for comp.os.linux.announce to: linux-announce@news.ornl.gov
PLEASE remember a short description of the software and the LOCATION.
