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Midnight Commander

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Midnight commander (mc) is one of the most popular Unix command line OFMs and it runs on all major UNIX flavors as well as in Windows with Cygwin installed.

It is extremely efficient, enabling the user to shuffle huge number of files with a minimum of keystrokes. There is no free lunch and this power have its price: a rather steep learning curve. The same is actually true about vi, which can be called a representative of Orthodox file editors. Those two utilities have many things in common, including the use of the keyboard for most operations, availability of command line and the use of regular expressions.

Like any OFM, mc should be better viewed as an extension of the command line capabilities of the shell -- a new generation of the shell interface for the Unix environment. As such mc should be used by users, programmers, and system administrators - anyone who need to work with shell scripts and manipulate the large number of files. It is perfect for performing operations on a number of selected files. See also my ebook for more details.

It has been said that the secret of success and longevity of Unix is connected not so much with the operating system itself but with the philosophy, the way of thinking behind it. In The UNIX Programming Environment, Kernighan and Pike noted that the essence of Unix philosophy "is the idea that the power of a system comes more from the relationships among programs than from the programs themselves."

Most of the nongraphical utility programs that have run under Unix since the beginning, some 30 years ago, share the same user interface. It's a minimal interface, to be sure -- but one that allows programs to be strung together in pipelines to do jobs that no single program could do alone.

Most operating systems -- including modern Unix and Linux systems -- have graphical interfaces that are powerful and a pleasure to use. But none of them are so powerful as classic Unix pipes and filters glued by the programming power of the shell.

Usually Unix administrators quickly learn how to use basic shell functionality and stop their. We seldom acquire skills we can do without. OFM like mc, on the other hand, teaches shell programming in a very deep and subtle way as a slow but steady extension of the work you do simply by interacting with the mc. Faced with a choice between an hour spent on a boring, repetitive task and an hour putting together a script that will do the task, many eventually will choose the latter.

Mc permits quickly solve a typical file manipulation tasks that constitute a large percentage of a typical load for system administrators and power users. Thus mc should be viewed as a natural extension of the Unix shell and any user should put some effort into adapting bash scripts in the user menu and integrating their own "quick-fixes" for common problems.

Old News

mc-4.6.1-pre2 is semi-available. here is an infor from mc-devel list:

Pavel Roskin just let me know he'll be back home a bit later than
expected. This means the official pre release will not be available
before Christmas. I can not say for sure when it will be available but I
hope it will be soon  :)  .

In the mean time pchel's pre release should be just the same thing, only
not released by the official maintainer. Please test it.

Leonard.

Re How to compile Midnight Commander

To: Jim Balter <jqb at netcom dot com>
Subject: Re: How to compile Midnight Commander?
From: Bill Bartley <comet at loop dot com>
Date: Sat, 08 Mar 1997 21:45:08 -0800
CC: gnu-win32 at cygnus dot com
References: <332214EC.2C0E@loop.com> <33222A43.3A64@netcom.com>

Jim Balter wrote:
> 
> Bill Bartley wrote:
> >
> > Hi to all,
> >
> > I just installed the gnu-win32 system, and as my first project
> > I was trying to compile Midnight Commander using the configure
> > script. But - after a long struggle - configure exits with
> > no Makefile created, even though I mounted the drive with
> > the -m option which is supposed to prevent configure from
> > deleting the Makefile at the end of its processing.
> 
> Where did you here that?  The -m flag has no effect in the latest
> version of cygwin, and even if it did, it wouldn't have anything to
> do with configure deleting Makefiles; why would configure ever
> delete a Makefile after going to all the trouble of making one?
> 
> > Can configure actually work? Or do I have to create the
> > Makefile by hand? Any hints on how to do this?
> 
> Your chances of receiving help will increase if you bother to
> include useful information, like the output you got when you
> ran configure.  Generally, configure runs a bunch of tests,
> printing out the results of those tests.  It also produces
> a config.h, config.status, a config.cache, and config.log,
> which you should certainly examine, and finally, if all went well,
> a Makefile.  Odds are it didn't all go well, but you have not provided
> a single clue as to what might have gone wrong, and without telepathic
> or remote viewing powers no one reading the mailing list could know.
> 
> --
> <J Q B>

Jim, thanks for responding. Here is an answer to one of your questions,
plus the files you
suggested.

1. Why I thought configure may have deleted the Makefile:

(This is from faq.html#SEC22)

"Mixed Case Filenames

The perl config causes some other problems too; the config<foo>.SH
scripts generate a 
file called "Makefile", and use and delete a file called "makefile" on
the way. Because 
of NT's case insensitivity, this will nuke Makefile, leaving you with
nothing. You can 
fix this by mounting with the 'mixed' option."

Since I could find no Makefile at the end of the process, I thought
maybe that 
running configure under gnu-win32 had the same problem.


2. This is the final output of configure:

"Configuration:

  Source code location:       .
  Compiler:                   gcc
  Compiler flags:             -g
  File system:                Midnight Commander Virtual File System
                              tarfs
  Text mode screen manager:   SLang with termcap
  Install console saver:      no
  Text mode mouse library:    xterm only
  Debugger code:              none
  With subshell support:      yes
  X11 versions:               none
  Install path:               //D/cygnus/H-i386-cygwin32/bin,
//D/cygnus/H-i386-cygwin32/lib/mc"

3. Here are the contents of config.log:

"This file contains any messages produced by compilers while
running configure, to aid debugging if configure makes a mistake.

gcc -E
gcc -E"

4. Here the contents of config.cache:

ac_cv_c_const=${ac_cv_c_const='yes'}
ac_cv_c_cross=${ac_cv_c_cross='yes'}
ac_cv_dnamesize=${ac_cv_dnamesize='no'}
ac_cv_dusum=${ac_cv_dusum='dusum_useb=yes; dusum_factor=1'}
ac_cv_func_cfgetospeed=${ac_cv_func_cfgetospeed='no'}
ac_cv_func_crypt=${ac_cv_func_crypt='no'}
ac_cv_func_gethostbyname=${ac_cv_func_gethostbyname='no'}
ac_cv_func_getmntent=${ac_cv_func_getmntent='no'}
ac_cv_func_getmntinfo=${ac_cv_func_getmntinfo='no'}
ac_cv_func_getpagesize=${ac_cv_func_getpagesize='no'}
ac_cv_func_getwd=${ac_cv_func_getwd='no'}
ac_cv_func_grantpt=${ac_cv_func_grantpt='no'}
ac_cv_func_initgroups=${ac_cv_func_initgroups='no'}
ac_cv_func_mmap=${ac_cv_func_mmap='no'}
ac_cv_func_putenv=${ac_cv_func_putenv='no'}
ac_cv_func_pwdauth=${ac_cv_func_pwdauth='no'}
ac_cv_func_socket=${ac_cv_func_socket='no'}
ac_cv_func_statfs=${ac_cv_func_statfs='no'}
ac_cv_func_statvfs=${ac_cv_func_statvfs='no'}
ac_cv_func_strcasecmp=${ac_cv_func_strcasecmp='no'}
ac_cv_func_strdup=${ac_cv_func_strdup='no'}
ac_cv_func_strerror=${ac_cv_func_strerror='no'}
ac_cv_func_strncasecmp=${ac_cv_func_strncasecmp='no'}
ac_cv_func_truncate=${ac_cv_func_truncate='no'}
ac_cv_func_valloc=${ac_cv_func_valloc='no'}
ac_cv_header_crypt_h=${ac_cv_header_crypt_h='yes'}
ac_cv_header_dirent_dirent_h=${ac_cv_header_dirent_dirent_h='yes'}
ac_cv_header_fcntl_h=${ac_cv_header_fcntl_h='yes'}
ac_cv_header_grp_h=${ac_cv_header_grp_h='yes'}
ac_cv_header_limits_h=${ac_cv_header_limits_h='yes'}
ac_cv_header_malloc_h=${ac_cv_header_malloc_h='yes'}
ac_cv_header_memory_h=${ac_cv_header_memory_h='yes'}
ac_cv_header_minix_config_h=${ac_cv_header_minix_config_h='yes'}
ac_cv_header_mntent_h=${ac_cv_header_mntent_h='yes'}
ac_cv_header_mnttab_h=${ac_cv_header_mnttab_h='yes'}
ac_cv_header_stdc=${ac_cv_header_stdc='no'}
ac_cv_header_string_h=${ac_cv_header_string_h='yes'}
ac_cv_header_sys_dustat_h=${ac_cv_header_sys_dustat_h='yes'}
ac_cv_header_sys_filsys_h=${ac_cv_header_sys_filsys_h='yes'}
ac_cv_header_sys_fs_types_h=${ac_cv_header_sys_fs_types_h='yes'}
ac_cv_header_sys_fstyp_h=${ac_cv_header_sys_fstyp_h='yes'}
ac_cv_header_sys_mkdev_h=${ac_cv_header_sys_mkdev_h='yes'}
ac_cv_header_sys_mount_h=${ac_cv_header_sys_mount_h='yes'}
ac_cv_header_sys_param_h=${ac_cv_header_sys_param_h='yes'}
ac_cv_header_sys_statfs_h=${ac_cv_header_sys_statfs_h='yes'}
ac_cv_header_sys_statvfs_h=${ac_cv_header_sys_statvfs_h='yes'}
ac_cv_header_sys_types_h_makedev=${ac_cv_header_sys_types_h_makedev='no'}
ac_cv_header_sys_vfs_h=${ac_cv_header_sys_vfs_h='yes'}
ac_cv_header_sys_wait_h=${ac_cv_header_sys_wait_h='yes'}
ac_cv_header_unistd_h=${ac_cv_header_unistd_h='yes'}
ac_cv_header_utime_h=${ac_cv_header_utime_h='yes'}
ac_cv_lib_ICE=${ac_cv_lib_ICE='no'}
ac_cv_lib_bsd=${ac_cv_lib_bsd='no'}
ac_cv_lib_crypt=${ac_cv_lib_crypt='no'}
ac_cv_lib_crypt_i=${ac_cv_lib_crypt_i='no'}
ac_cv_lib_curses=${ac_cv_lib_curses='no'}
ac_cv_lib_dir=${ac_cv_lib_dir='no'}
ac_cv_lib_dnet=${ac_cv_lib_dnet='no'}
ac_cv_lib_dnet_stub=${ac_cv_lib_dnet_stub='no'}
ac_cv_lib_gen=${ac_cv_lib_gen='no'}
ac_cv_lib_gpm=${ac_cv_lib_gpm='no'}
ac_cv_lib_inet=${ac_cv_lib_inet='no'}
ac_cv_lib_nsl=${ac_cv_lib_nsl='no'}
ac_cv_lib_pt=${ac_cv_lib_pt='no'}
ac_cv_lib_seq=${ac_cv_lib_seq='no'}
ac_cv_lib_socket=${ac_cv_lib_socket='no'}
ac_cv_lib_sun=${ac_cv_lib_sun='no'}
ac_cv_lib_termcap=${ac_cv_lib_termcap='no'}
ac_cv_make_with_percent_rules=${ac_cv_make_with_percent_rules='yes'}
ac_cv_path_AR=${ac_cv_path_AR='//D/cygnus/H-i386-cygwin32/bin/ar'}
ac_cv_path_CHMOD=${ac_cv_path_CHMOD='//D/cygnus/H-i386-cygwin32/bin/chmod'}
ac_cv_path_CP=${ac_cv_path_CP='//D/cygnus/H-i386-cygwin32/bin/cp'}
ac_cv_path_MC=${ac_cv_path_MC='//D/cygnus/H-i386-cygwin32/bin/mc'}
ac_cv_path_MV=${ac_cv_path_MV='//D/cygnus/H-i386-cygwin32/bin/mv'}
ac_cv_path_RM=${ac_cv_path_RM='//D/cygnus/H-i386-cygwin32/bin/rm'}
ac_cv_path_install=${ac_cv_path_install='//D/cygnus/H-i386-cygwin32/bin/install
-c'}
ac_cv_path_x=${ac_cv_path_x='no_x= ac_x_includes= ac_x_libraries='}
ac_cv_prog_AWK=${ac_cv_prog_AWK='gawk'}
ac_cv_prog_CC=${ac_cv_prog_CC='gcc'}
ac_cv_prog_CPP=${ac_cv_prog_CPP='gcc -E'}
ac_cv_prog_HAVE_FILECMD=${ac_cv_prog_HAVE_FILECMD='false'}
ac_cv_prog_HAVE_nroff=${ac_cv_prog_HAVE_nroff='false'}
ac_cv_prog_LN_S=${ac_cv_prog_LN_S='ln -s'}
ac_cv_prog_RANLIB=${ac_cv_prog_RANLIB='ranlib'}
ac_cv_prog_gcc=${ac_cv_prog_gcc='no'}
ac_cv_prog_gnu_make=${ac_cv_prog_gnu_make='yes'}
ac_cv_prog_make_make_set=${ac_cv_prog_make_make_set='no'}
ac_cv_prog_system=${ac_cv_prog_system='CYGWIN32/95'}
ac_cv_struct_st_blksize=${ac_cv_struct_st_blksize='yes'}
ac_cv_struct_st_blocks=${ac_cv_struct_st_blocks='yes'}
ac_cv_struct_st_rdev=${ac_cv_struct_st_rdev='yes'}
ac_cv_type_mode_t=${ac_cv_type_mode_t='no'}
ac_cv_type_off_t=${ac_cv_type_off_t='no'}
ac_cv_type_pid_t=${ac_cv_type_pid_t='no'}
ac_cv_type_uid_t=${ac_cv_type_uid_t='no'}
ac_cv_type_umode_t=${ac_cv_type_umode_t='no'}
fu_cv_sys_d_ino_in_dirent=${fu_cv_sys_d_ino_in_dirent='no'}
fu_cv_sys_mounted_getsstat=${fu_cv_sys_mounted_getsstat='no'}
fu_cv_sys_mounted_vmount=${fu_cv_sys_mounted_vmount='yes'}
fu_cv_sys_stat_fs_data=${fu_cv_sys_stat_fs_data='no'}
fu_cv_sys_stat_statfs2_bsize=${fu_cv_sys_stat_statfs2_bsize='no'}
fu_cv_sys_stat_statfs2_fsize=${fu_cv_sys_stat_statfs2_fsize='no'}
fu_cv_sys_stat_statfs3_osf1=${fu_cv_sys_stat_statfs3_osf1='no'}
fu_cv_sys_stat_statfs4=${fu_cv_sys_stat_statfs4='no'}

5. config.status was a zero-byte file.
-
For help on using this list, send a message to
"gnu-win32-request@cygnus.com" with one line of text: "help".

Midnight Commander config under IceWM. MEPIS.org

Submitted by Newt on Sat, 12/18/2004 - 22:25. Applications

Hey, Group.

If I log in with KDE, the font size of Midnight Commander is perfect whether in the "launch" window size or maximized. Very readable (15 inch monitor). The same goodness when launched in a term via Alt-F2 and typing "mc".

If I log in with IceWM, the launch window size is hard to read for the old eyes; maximizing only shows more files/directories at the same hard-to-read font.

Trawling through ~/.kde hasn't led to any inspiration, nor have the archives of www.ibilio.org/mc/ (well, as far as I was able to concentrate, anyway).

Any directions to a configuration file? Greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

Very best wishes to you all and your families. Merry Christmas.

Cheers. Newt.
(Oh, BTW, Mepis 2003.10...Newbie).

» login or register to post comments | previous forum topic | next forum topic

mc under IceWM

Submitted by Newt on Fri, 12/24/2004 - 19:31.

Playing around today: if I call Midnight Commander from an rxvt terminal, things are O.K. font-size-wise like they are if called from Konsole. (This is when logged in to IceWM.)

Seems to be an xterm issue. Any ideas?

Thanks and Holiday best to all.

Cheers. Newt.

» login or register to post comments

mc under IceWM

Submitted by Newt on Fri, 12/24/2004 - 19:49.

Arghh.
Never mind. Xterm it is. (Googling is bearing fruit.)
I can...Shift+"Keypad-plus" and "-minus" to jack the font size.

Should be able to config from here-on in.

Cheers. Newt.

You can create a .Xresource

Submitted by comprookie2000 on Fri, 12/24/2004 - 22:55.

You can create a .Xresources;
http://www.wlug.org.nz/XtermNotes

____
x x \
L
-/

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[svlug] About mc

Marc MERLIN marc_news@vasoftware.com
Mon Jan 21 14:01:01 2002

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On Mon, Jan 21, 2002 at 12:19:24AM -0800, J C Lawrence wrote:
> Quite.  For what you do, especially as a SysAdm, mc is invaluable.
> I, umm, don't tend to do that much SysAdm, especially not on a daily
> basis.

Fair enough.

> I just checked, and perhaps I'm missing something in playing just
> now, but I don't see anything in the options that disabled (for
> instance) the dialog on a tagged copy which asks:
> 
>   Copy # files with source mask to:
> 
>   To: 

I  thought you  were talking  about confirm  delete/overwrite and  so forth.
Indeed, for copy and move, you do  get a window, but it's not a confirmation
window, it's  a window that  lets you change  the destination (if  you don't
want to be using  the second pane), lets you rename  files by regex patterns
are you copy/move them, select how  to copy symlinks and file attributes and
so forth.

> > Then it wasn't installed properly.  
> 
> On a Debian system:
> 
>   $ type mc
>   mc is /usr/bin/mc

You are right, it's a damn shame. I guess I forgot that on all my debian
systems, the function came from me.
On Red Hat and other distros, the function gets installed with the package.

On Mon, Jan 21, 2002 at 12:23:12AM -0800, J C Lawrence wrote:
> On Sun, 20 Jan 2002 23:42:53 -0800 
> Marc MERLIN <marc_news@vasoftware.com> wrote:
> 
> > I, for one, am damn happy that vi users don't get to remap all the
> > keys to anything they'd like, otherwise it'd be a complete mess.
> 
> Why?  I assume you would never use that capability, but those that
> would, could, and their user-local configs (~.vimrc?) would not
> affect you unless you logged in as them for some reason (in which
> case you get what's coming to you).

I guess I'm biased because I get to experience that when the user comes and
asks for help and that I have to use their keyboard.
It's just  as annoying than a  user with a  DVORAK keyboard who needs  me to
type on their keyboard.

Marc
-- 
Microsoft is to operating systems & security ....
                                      .... what McDonalds is to gourmet cooking

Home page: http://marc.merlins.org/   |   Finger marc_f@merlins.org for PGP key

[svlug] About mc

J C Lawrence claw@kanga.nu
Mon Jan 21 14:21:01 2002

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On Mon, 21 Jan 2002 14:00:07 -0800 
Marc MERLIN <marc_news@vasoftware.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Jan 21, 2002 at 12:19:24AM -0800, J C Lawrence wrote:

>> Why?  I assume you would never use that capability, but those
>> that would, could, and their user-local configs (~.vimrc?) would
>> not affect you unless you logged in as them for some reason (in
>> which case you get what's coming to you).

> I guess I'm biased because I get to experience that when the user
> comes and asks for help and that I have to use their keyboard.
> It's just as annoying than a user with a DVORAK keyboard who needs
> me to type on their keyboard.

Hurm, an option to define what RC to use would seem to solve that
(eg point i at yours).

-- 
J C Lawrence                
---------(*)                Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas. 
claw@kanga.nu               He lived as a devil, eh?		  
http://www.kanga.nu/~claw/  Evil is a name of a foeman, as I live.

How to avoid launching Midnight Commander by accident Linux Gazette

Commander by accident
Mon, 26 Feb 2001 10:31:51 -0500

Allan Peda (apeda from linkshare.com)

I've typed "mc foo bar" one time too many when I really meant to type "mv foo bar". Removing Midnight
commander is not an option, because that breaks some file exploror type GUI utilities, so I cooked up a
bash script to double confirn that I wanted to type what I (probably mis-)typed :

See attached script mc.bash.txt

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Last modified: August 15, 2009

Midnight Commander

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mc under IceWM

mc under IceWM

You can create a .Xresource

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