rosapps/applications/mc/doc/readme

   1 -*-Text-*-
   2
   3 Contents:
   4 ---------
   5   Intro text
   6   Midnight Commander editions
   7   Where to get more information
   8   The Midnight Commander
   9   Mini-docs
  10   Obtaining the Midnight Commander
  11   Reporting problems.
  12
  13 This is version 4 of the Midnight Commander, a free Norton Commander
  14 Clone with many useful features. The Midnight Commander comes with
  15 mouse support on xterms and optionally on the Linux console.
  16
  17 The Midnight Commander is a directory browsing tool which bears a
  18 certain remote resemblance to John Socha's Norton Commander for DOS.
  19 It is feature packed:
  20
  21         o Built in Virtual File System: manipulate remote files
  22         systems through the ftp protocol or Midnight Commander's own
  23         mcfs protocol.  Browse tar, compressed tar files, rpm, zip,
  24         cpio, lha and rar files with a single click.
  25
  26         o All of the Midnight Commander operations work with the virtual
  27         file system, enabling you to do complex tasks.
  28
  29         o Mouse support on the Linux console and under X11's xterms.
  30
  31         o Learn Keys: The Midnight Commander may be configured at run
  32         time to support any kind of input keys for a given terminal,
  33         making its operation even on the most wierd terminals a
  34         breeze.
  35
  36         o Text and hex editors are available for you to use.
  37
  38         o Hotlist allows you to keep a list of common visited
  39         locations (including ftp sites).
  40
  41         o Command completion: By pressing Alt-Tab in any place where a
  42         filename or an executable are expected, the Midnight Commander
  43         will complete for you the name.  If you quickly press Alt-Tab
  44         twice you can get a listbox with the possible completions
  45         available.
  46
  47         o Subshell support: Run your commands by a real shell
  48         interpreter.  The Midnight Commander interacts with bash, tcsh
  49         and zsh to provide you with all of the facilities available in
  50         your shell.
  51
  52         o Find file command can now search inside the contents of
  53         files.
  54
  55         o Background operations allows you to copy or move files from
  56         any virtual file system while you do other tasks (ie, you can
  57         do background ftp copies).
  58
  59         o Proxy support with our ftpfs.
  60
  61         o Linux file recovery: If you are using Linux system, you can
  62         recover deleted files from an ext2fs partition with the
  63         undelete file system.  This is a low level file recovery
  64         function that will recover files deleted by any program in
  65         Linux.
  66
  67         Please note that the undelete file system can only recover
  68         12 file system blocks if the file was deleted with a kernel
  69         in the 2.0.x series.  The 2.1.x series have fixed this and you
  70         can recover all of the file contents there.
  71
  72         o External panelization: You can run any arbitrary external
  73         command and the Midnight Commander will display the output
  74         generated as a file listing that can be manipulated as a
  75         regular directory.
  76
  77         o Emacs like key bindings in all of our widgets.
  78
  79         o Powerfull context dependant actions are available.
  80
  81         o Powerfull built-in file viewer:  The file viewer, together
  82         with the context dependant actions is used to format man pages
  83         on the fly, coloring mail messages and more.
  84
  85
  86 Midnight Commander editions:
  87 ----------------------------
  88
  89 The Midnight Commander may be compiled into three different editions:
  90 the text mode edition, the Tk edition and the XView edition.  Please
  91 note that currently the only supported edition is the text mode
  92 edition.  The Tk and XView editions are included with the tar file but
  93 are not finished and thus not supported.
  94
  95
  96 Where to get more information:
  97 ------------------------------
  98
  99 There is a mailing list for discussion on enhancing the program, future
 100 directions and announcements; if you want to subscribe, send mail to:
 101
 102 majordomo@roxanne.nuclecu.unam.mx
 103
 104 There is a WWW page for the Midnight Commander with the URL:
 105 <http://mc.blackdown.org/mc/>.
 106
 107
 108 The Midnight Commander:
 109 -----------------------
 110
 111 The Midnight Commander is released under the GNU General Public License
 112 version 2.0 or any later version.  A copy of the file is included with
 113 this distribution package.
 114
 115 If you have comments, you can send them to me:
 116
 117 miguel@roxanne.nuclecu.unam.mx
 118
 119 or if it would benefit more people, to the mailing list:
 120
 121 mc@roxanne.nuclecu.unam.mx
 122
 123 Help develop and enhance free software.
 124
 125
 126 Mini-documentation:
 127 -------------------
 128
 129 o Use the F-Keys for invoking the commands in the function key bar.
 130   If your terminal doesn't support F-keys, you can use the <ESC digit>
 131   sequence to invoke the corresponding F-digit key.
 132
 133 o Tab changes the current panel.
 134
 135 o All input lines have emacs-like key-bindings (command history is
 136   accessed through the M-p and M-n keys).
 137
 138 o The panels accept C-n, C-p for browsing the panel (like in emacs).
 139
 140 o M-Enter copies the currently selected file name to the input line.
 141
 142 o M-Tab completes the current word (or tries to).
 143
 144 o The Virtual File System is a cute addition to the project, you may
 145   browse in tar and compressed tar files as well as browsing remote
 146   machines with the mcfs file system.
 147
 148 o Please read the manual page.
 149
 150 o Read the file src/TODO for the current projects.
 151
 152 You can access the whole documentation online with the F1 key,
 153 although it's not as nice as the groff printed manual page :-)
 154
 155
 156 Where you may obtain the Midnight Commander
 157 -------------------------------------------
 158
 159 The software should be available by anonymous ftp at sunsite.unc.edu
 160 in the directory /pub/Linux/utils/file and at ftp.nuclecu.unam.mx
 161 in the directory /linux/local.
 162
 163 The last alpha versions are available at ftp.nuclecu.unam.mx in the
 164 directory /linux/local/devel.
 165
 166 European mirrors of both version 3.1 and alpha versions are available
 167 at sunsite.mff.cuni.cz in the directory /GNU/mc and at ftp.teuto.de
 168 in the directory /lmb/mc.
 169
 170
 171 Reporting problems
 172 ------------------
 173
 174 Please, send a detailed description of your problem to the
 175 mc-bugs@roxanne.nuclecu.unam.mx address.
 176
 177 Include the version of the program, the operating system that you are
 178 using, the compiler and compiler flags used to compile the program (if
 179 you know them), what kind of distribution you are using (if a
 180 GNU/Linux system).
 181
 182 If the program crashed and produces a core dump, please provide a
 183 stack trace of the program.
 184
 185 You can do this by running dbx or gdb like this:
 186
 187 gdb mc core
 188 (gdb) where
 189
 190
 191