2 Frequently Asked Questions
4 The newest version of this document is available at
5 http://www.midnight-commander.org/browser/doc/FAQ
8 + 1.1 What is Midnight Commander?
9 + 1.2 Does it run on my machine?
10 + 1.3 Does it work with my terminal?
11 + 1.4 What else do I need to run MC?
12 + 1.5 Is GNU Midnight Commander Public Domain? Copyrighted?
13 + 1.6 Where can I get GNU Midnight Commander?
14 + 1.7 I cannot compile MC. What should I do?
17 + 2.1 What does documentation mean with the C-?, M-? and F?
19 + 2.2 Why don't function keys (or some other key) work?
20 + 2.3 How do I use function keys F11 to F20?
21 + 2.4 Why does the ESC key behave funny?
22 + 2.5 How can I add the plus sign (+) on the command line?
23 + 2.6 C-o doesn't work!
24 + 2.7 What 'keys' are the "a1" and "c1" keys mentioned in the
26 + 2.8 How do I change the key bindings?
29 + 3.1 How do I enable mouse support?
30 + 3.2 How do I cut and paste text with mouse?
31 + 3.3 How do I get the extension dependent pop-up menu to
35 + 4.1 Why do I keep getting "Terminal not powerful enough for
36 SLang" or "Terminal not powerful enough for SLsmg"?
37 + 4.2 Why don't line drawing characters work?
38 + 4.3 Can one use latin-1 characters without losing the lines?
39 + 4.4 I have problems with entering/viewing national
41 + 4.5 How can I get colors?
42 + 4.6 My color_xterm goes completely (or partially) black!
43 + 4.7 Where can I get xterm or rxvt?
44 + 4.8 I got colors working with MC but the other programs
45 don't work at all anymore!
46 + 4.9 Why are there both terminfo and termcap? Wouldn't one
49 * 5 Graphical user interface
50 + 5.1 Xview, Tk and Gnome editions?
51 + 5.2 Why is MC linked with X libraries?
53 * 6 Command line problems
54 + 6.1 How do I stay in the last directory when I exit Midnight
56 + 6.2 How can I access command line history?
57 + 6.3 How can I complete commands, file names, variable names
59 + 6.4 I am using ksh. Can I use functions defined in the
61 + 6.5 Is there any way to include additional options or hot
63 + 6.6 When I use Ctrl-O I don't get a subshell. How do I fix
65 + 6.7 Ctrl-O doesn't work at all. What happens?
67 * 7 Virtual file systems
68 + 7.1 How can I see the contents of a tar archive?
69 + 7.2 How do I get out of a tar archive?
70 + 7.3 How do I do anonymous ftp with MC?
71 + 7.4 How do I do non-anonymous ftp with MC?
72 + 7.5 How do I close an ftp connection?
73 + 7.6 Why aren't the contents of ftp panel updated?
74 + 7.7 What kind of proxy server works with Midnight Commander?
77 + 8.1 When I try pasting to the internal editor, it indents
78 the amount of indenting increases with each line!
79 + 8.2 Is it possible to use Colorer for syntax highlighting?
81 * 9 Other common problems
82 + 9.1 Is there any way to 'bookmark' favorite ftp-fs links?
83 + 9.2 When I start Midnight Commander, nothing happens!
86 + 10.1 Who has written Midnight Commander?
87 + 10.2 Do I dare to use a development version?
88 + 10.3 How can I report a bug/request for a feature?
89 + 10.4 How can I join the development?
92 + 11.1 This document didn't answer my question. Where else
93 can I look for an answer?
94 + 11.2 What mailing lists are there for Midnight Commander?
95 + 11.3 Where should I look on the World Wide Web for MC stuff?
96 + 11.4 Are the mailing lists archived anywhere?
100 + 12.2 Feedback is invited
101 + 12.3 Disclaimer and copyright
106 1.1 What is Midnight Commander?
108 GNU Midnight Commander is a user-friendly yet powerful file manager
109 and visual shell, useful to novice and guru alike. It provides a
110 clear, user-friendly, and somewhat protected interface to a Unix
111 system while making many frequent file operations more efficient and
112 preserving the full power of the command prompt. After some
113 practice, you will wonder how you could ever live without it.
115 1.2 Does it run on my machine?
117 GNU Midnight Commander runs on POSIX (Unix-like) operating systems,
118 such as GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, Solaris, HP-UX and others. It
119 can also be compiled under Cygwin on Windows.
121 GNU Midnight Commander uses GNU Autoconf which should automatically
122 configure it for every Unix clone. Following configurations have
123 been tested in the past (this list is very old):
125 * i386-*-linux1.x, 2.x
127 * sparc-linux-linux2.x
128 * sparc64-linux-linux2.1
129 * mips-sgi-irix5.x, 6.x
132 * sparc-sun-solaris2.3, 2.4, 2.5
133 * sparc-sun-netbsd1.0
138 * mc88110-aviion-dgux5.4R2.01
142 1.3 Does it work with my terminal?
146 Because GNU Midnight Commander is a full screen program it doesn't
147 run on dummy terminals but anything more advanced will do (like
148 vt100). If your terminal works with vi, emacs, elm or pine it will
149 work with GNU Midnight Commander.
151 1.4 What else do I need to run MC?
153 You need a POSIX (Unix compatible) operating system. If you are
154 running Windows, use Cygwin.
156 To compile any edition you need to have glib 2.x installed.
157 It's available at ftp://ftp.gtk.org/pub/gtk/.
159 If you want to use mouse on the Linux console you need the gpm daemon
160 from ftp://ftp.systemy.it/pub/develop/. You need nothing extra to
163 If you do not want to use the S-Lang library you could try using
164 ncurses version 4.1 and above.
166 1.5 Is GNU Midnight Commander Public Domain? Copyrighted?
168 Midnight Commander is under GNU Public License which basically means
169 that you may freely copy, change and distribute it, but that you may
170 not impose any restrictions on further distribution, and that you
171 must make the source code available. This is not the same as Public
172 Domain. For details, the GNU license is included in GNU Midnight
173 Commander source distribution (the COPYING file).
175 Midnight Commander is now officially a part of the GNU project.
176 All the authors of GNU Midnight Commander have given all their rights
177 on the program to the Free Software Foundation.
179 1.6 Where can I get GNU Midnight Commander?
181 The main site is http://www.midnight-commander.org
183 1.7 I cannot compile MC. What should I do?
185 Make sure you have read the INSTALL file in the sources. Report the
186 error messages exactly as they appear, mention the versions of your
187 OS, your compiler and whatever else software you think is relevant.
188 If you have compile problems in the VFS code, try disabling it by
189 using "--disable-vfs" option.
193 2.1 What does documentation mean with the C-?, M-? and F? keys?
195 GNU Midnight Commander documentation uses emacs style names for
198 C stands for the Ctrl key. For example, C-f means that you should
199 hold down the Ctrl key and press the f key.
201 M stands for the Meta key. Your terminal might call it Alt or
202 Compose instead of Meta. For example, M-f means that you should hold
203 down the Meta/Alt/Compose key and press the f key. If your terminal
204 doesn't have Meta, Alt or Compose or they don't work you can use Esc.
205 For M-f press the Esc key and then press the f key.
207 Sometimes Ctrl and Alt are used instead of C and M for simplicity.
208 Keep in mind that Alt can actually be Meta on some keyboards.
210 F? stands for a function key. If your terminal doesn't have function
211 keys or they don't work you can use Esc. For example, for F3 press
212 the Esc key and then press the 3 key.
214 2.2 Why don't function keys (or some other key) work?
216 Your terminfo or termcap database has missing or incorrect
217 definitions for function keys. Type "mc -V" to see what terminal
218 database is being used. If the result is "using the S-Lang library
219 with terminfo database" and you are using a very old terminfo
220 database, consider installing one of the enhanced terminfo files
221 included in GNU Midnight Commander source distribution. For example,
222 if you are using xterm type "tic xterm.ti".
224 If the result is "using the S-Lang library with termcap database" you
225 should fix your /etc/termcap database.
227 Up-to-date termcap and terminfo databases are available here:
229 http://www.catb.org/~esr/terminfo/
230 ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses/
232 If you don't have permissions to edit terminal databases you can use
233 Learn keys feature of Midnight Commander instead. Press Esc 9 o k
234 and follow instructions.
236 If all else fails you can emulate function keys by first pressing the
237 ESC key and then one of the number keys. For example, if you want to
238 produce F9, press ESC, then 9. If you don't have a ESC key on your
239 keyboard you can try alt-9 or meta-9.
241 2.3 How do I use function keys F11 to F20?
243 These are normally mapped to function keys F1 to F10 with Shift held,
244 e.g. function key F13 can be activated by pressing Shift-F3. You can
245 define the keys this way in the Options->Learn Keys dialog. The
246 convention for PC keyboards is that F11-20 always means Shift with
249 You may find that on the Linux console with some keyboard layouts
250 Shift-Fn is interpreted as F(n+12), not as F(n+10). This is a result
251 of non-uniformity of keyboard layouts. This is not an intended
252 behavior and it may be fixed some day. In the meantime, use "Learn
253 Keys" to remedy this inconvenience.
255 2.4 Why does the ESC key behave funny?
257 Midnight Commander uses the ESC key as a prefix for simulating the
258 Meta and Alt keys (for terminals which don't have Meta or Alt, see
259 the three previous questions). For example, pressing ESC-a is the
260 same as pressing Meta-a. In addition most terminals use ESC for
261 internal representation of arrow keys, function keys and other
262 enhanced keys. If you want to use ESC to cancel things you have to
263 press it twice i.e. ESC-ESC. If you find this cumbersome you can
264 generally use F10 to cancel. Alternatively turn on the old_esc_mode
265 setting in the ~/.config/mc/ini file. The
266 old_esc_mode setting makes ESC work as a prefix only if another key
267 is pressed within 0.5 seconds. After 0.5 seconds the ESC key cancels.
268 There is no way to make ESC cancel immediately (if we want to be able
269 to use arrows keys and function keys).
271 2.5 How can I add the plus sign (+) on the command line?
273 Press C-q first, then press the + sign.
275 The plus key is the hotkey for the select files command. If you want
276 to add a literal plus on to the command line you must quote it by
279 Another common key which needs the C-q prefix is backslash "\".
281 2.6 C-o doesn't work!
283 Maybe C-o is a stty control character on your terminal. See man stty
284 for details on how to list and change stty control characters.
286 2.7 What 'keys' are the "a1" and "c1" keys mentioned in the manual?
288 The "a1" key is the key which has the "a1" caption on it.
290 The "c1" key is the key which has the "c1" caption on it.
292 If you have to ask what these two keys are your keyboard hasn't
293 probably got them. Actually, I have never seen a keyboard which has
296 2.8 How do I change the key bindings?
298 There is no generic way to reconfigure the key bindings. You can use
299 the "Learn Keys" dialog to assign keys to some actions listed in that
300 dialog. However, most actions cannot be redefined to use different
306 3.1 How do I enable mouse support?
308 Invoke mc like this (without quotes): "mc -x". If this doesn't work
309 upgrade to a terminal which compatible with the Xterm mouse
312 Alternatively, on Linux console you can use gpm.
314 3.2 How do I cut and paste text with mouse?
316 Hold down shift key while using mouse to cut and paste.
318 3.3 How do I get the extension dependent pop-up menu to pop up?
320 It was developed for the GNOME edition. The text-mode edition
321 doesn't support this feature yet.
326 4.1 Why do I keep getting "Terminal not powerful enough for SLang" or
327 "Terminal not powerful enough for SLsmg"?
329 This means that your terminfo databases do not contain the correct
330 definitions for your terminal.
332 You could try using a different terminal setting. If you use csh or
337 or if you use sh, bash, ksh or zsh:
341 4.2 Why don't line drawing characters work?
343 Since version 4.0.13 there's the command line option -a to force use
344 of charaters +, |, - for line drawing (only available when compiled
345 with S-Lang). Use the -a option if any of the suggestions below
348 In general, there are three cases:
349 * Lines are shown as ASCII characters like this
355 This also happens when you use the -a option. Other than that
356 possible reason is 1 or 2 (see below).
358 * Lines are shown as lower case characters like this
364 Possible reason is 1 or 2 (see below).
366 * Lines are shown as blanks or missing characters. Possible reason
367 is 2 or 3 (see below).
369 The reason for the problem is one of following:
371 1. Your terminal might not support line drawing characters. VT100
372 compatible terminals, rxvt and xterm and color_xterm do support
374 2. Your terminfo or termcap database might have missing or incorrect
375 definitions for line drawing characters. Set the acsc variable
376 in the terminfo database like this:
377 acsc=a\376k\277l\332m\300j\331n\305w\302v\301u\264t\303q\304x
379 Don't forget issue 'tic' command. This supposes you are using PC
380 character set. The octal values might be different for other
381 character sets. If you are using termcap instead of terminfo,
382 you should modify above solution appropriately.
383 3. Your terminal font might not support line drawing characters.
384 Try changing the font.
386 Here is Miguel's answer to Torben on this subject.
390 When I load consolefonts/iso01.f16, I get perfectly right national
391 characters, but the line drawing characters in mc get wrong. Is it
392 a mc problem, or is it a problem with the font? (I guess it is).
398 First of all, we should determine whether the font has line drawing
401 If it has line drawing characters, then a new terminfo entry should
402 be written for this specific case. Let's call this linux-iso01.
403 The acsc variable should be modified to reflect which characters
404 are used to do the line drawing.
406 If it does not have line drawing characters, then we should get rid
407 of the switch to acsc sequences and make the acsc sequence be just
408 a mapping to the ugly +, -, |, - characters.
410 You can get your terminfo definition by running the infocmp
411 program, making the proper changes and running the tic program to
412 compile your new terminfo database.
414 4.3 Can one use latin-1 characters without losing the lines?
416 Yes, you need a correct font and a correct termcap/terminfo database.
418 For font, if you use xterm try "xterm -fn fixed".
420 For termcap/terminfo database, change the acsc capability in the
423 4.4 I have problems with entering/viewing national characters!
425 Upgrade to version 4.0.12 or newer.
427 From the Options - Display Bits dialog select Full 8 bits or ISO
428 8859-1. In addition, select 8 bit input from the same dialog.
430 4.5 How can I get colors?
432 Invoke mc like this (without quotes): "mc -c".
434 If you get colors, be happy.
436 If your terminal stays black and white, your terminal doesn't support
437 color. You might want to upgrade to a terminal which compatible with
438 the ANSI color sequences.
440 If your terminal goes completely black, see the next question.
442 More detailed answer:
444 Check that your terminal supports color. color_xterm, rxvt and Linux
445 console do support, most other terminals don't. You can test color
446 support with following simple C program:
451 printf ("\033[32m Hello world! \033[m\n");
455 Compile and run it. If you see "Hello world!" text in green your
456 terminal supports color, otherwise not (however, for color_xterm see
457 also the next question).
459 Check whether you are using Ncurses or the S-Lang library (type
460 "mc -V" to find out).
462 With S-Lang library you can force color support by setting the
463 environment variable COLORTERM to any value.
465 If you use ncurses library, check that your terminfo database
466 supports color. If not, you should install one of the enhanced
467 terminfo databases included in GNU Midnight Commander source
470 You might want to set the TERM environment variable so that you are
471 using the correct terminfo database or termcap entry.
473 If you use color_xterm (or rxvt) the correct value might be
474 xterm-color, xtermc or simply xterm.
476 If you use Linux console the correct value for TERM is linux or
479 4.6 My color_xterm goes completely (or partially) black!
481 Some color_xterm terminals define all colors as black instead of the
482 standard ANSI colors. This makes them go completely black when you
483 try to use Midnight Commander with colors.
485 You will have to override the defaults. Create a file
486 "color.defaults" which has the following contents:
488 color_xterm*color0: Black
489 color_xterm*color1: Red
490 color_xterm*color2: Green
491 color_xterm*color3: Yellow
492 color_xterm*color4: Blue
493 color_xterm*color5: Magenta
494 color_xterm*color6: Cyan
495 color_xterm*color7: White
496 color_xterm*background: White
497 color_xterm*foreground: Black
499 (replace color_xterm with the name of your color_xterm, color_xterm
500 mentions its name in its title bar)
504 xrdb -merge color.defaults
506 Alternatively you can add the suggested contents of the
507 color.defaults file to your .Xdefaults or .Xresources file (or what
508 ever the name of your X configuration file is). Or you can replace
509 your non-ANSI color_xterm with an ANSI color_xterm.
511 4.7 Where can I get xterm or rxvt?
513 xterm is included with the X Window System, so you probably already
514 have it if you have X. This version is not actively maintained, but
515 Thomas Dickey maintains his more advanced version of xterm at
516 ftp://dickey.his.com/xterm/
518 rxvt has its own site http://www.rxvt.org/ - get the latest version
521 4.8 I got colors working with MC but the other programs don't work at
524 Midnight Commander uses terminfo database (if available) but many
525 other programs use termcap database. If you set the TERM environment
526 variable to a value which has no corresponding entry in termcap
527 database those programs stop working. You should add the new value
528 of TERM to the termcap database.
530 Example: If you have set TERM to xterm-color locate from /etc/termcap
531 the line which starts:
533 xterm|vs100|xterm terminal emulator
537 xterm|xterm-color|vs100|xterm terminal emulator
539 5 Graphical user interface
541 5.1 Xview, Tk and Gnome editions?
543 Xview and Tk and GNOME editions have been removed from the sources.
545 5.2 Why is MC linked with X libraries?
547 GNU Midnight Commander is linked with X libraries to read key
548 modifiers from the X Server. It may be helpful to distinguish
549 between keys that the terminal emulator reports in the same way, e.g.
550 PgUp and Ctrl-PgUp. Versions of GNU Midnight Commander after 4.6.0
551 will load X libraries dynamically on the systems that support it.
554 6 Command line problems
556 6.1 How do I stay in the last directory when I exit Midnight Commander?
558 See the description of the -P option in the Options section of the
561 6.2 How can I access command line history?
563 Meta-h shows the last commands you executed from the command line.
564 Duplicates are suppressed from the history. Commands executed from
565 the subshell prompt are not shown.
567 You can put previous commands to the command line with Meta-p. Meta-n
568 moves you forward in history.
570 Since version 4.1.15 all the input widgets have permanent history.
571 You can summon the history listbox by pressing M-h.
573 6.3 How can I complete commands, file names, variable names and so on?
575 Just press M-Tab. Press M-Tab again to get a listbox if there are
576 multiple possible completions.
578 6.4 I am using ksh. Can I use functions defined in the .kshrc within
581 Sorry, MC only supports bash, tcsh and zsh functions. Ksh functions
582 are not supported because ksh lacks the necessary hooks needed for
583 subshell integration.
585 Switch to bash or zsh. They are both quite compatible with ksh.
586 Your ksh functions should work as such or after minimal changes.
588 6.5 Is there any way to include additional options or hot keys to MC?
590 Yes, F2 invokes an user menu, which is fully configurable. You can
591 add any shell commands to the user menu. See the mc(1) man page for
594 Another way to add functionality is the external panelize feature.
595 See the mc(1) man page for more info.
597 And finally, you can code any feature you want yourself. MC source
598 code is free which means you can change it anyway you want. There
599 are some limitations to make sure MC stays free. See GNU General
600 Public License for details.
602 6.6 When I use Ctrl-O I don't get a subshell. How do I fix this?
604 Only bash, tcsh and zsh can be used as subshell. Use one of those
605 shells as your default shell, and it will be used as subshell in GNU
608 6.7 Ctrl-O doesn't work at all. What happens?
610 Ctrl-O works if either the subshell is used or the terminal can save
611 the output of the commands so it can be restored. If neither is
612 true, there is absolutely nothing interesting behind the panels!
614 Only few terminals support screen saving. It's xterm, rxvt and other
615 xterm-like terminals and virtual terminals on Linux and FreeBSD.
618 7 Virtual file systems
620 7.1 How can I see the contents of a tar archive?
622 If you use keyboard just move the selection bar on the tar file and
623 press enter. If you use mouse just double-click on the tar file.
625 The recognized suffixes for tar archives are .tar, .tar.gz and .tgz.
626 You can also enter a tar archive by typing "cd filename#utar" where
627 filename is the name of the archive. In this case, the suffix is not
630 7.2 How do I get out of a tar archive?
632 Just press enter on the toplevel ".." file or change to a non-tar
633 directory. Just typing "cd" with no parameters is enough (it will
634 take you to your home directory).
636 7.3 How do I do anonymous ftp with MC?
638 Just type "cd ftp://hostname" where hostname is the name of the host
639 you want to connect. Alternatively, select FTP link from the Left or
640 Right menu and type the name of the host you want to connect.
642 7.4 How do I do non-anonymous ftp with MC?
644 Non-anonymous ftp works just like the anonymous ftp but you give the
645 login name with the host name. For example, type "cd
646 ftp://username@hostname".
648 7.5 How do I close an ftp connection?
650 Just change to a non-ftp directory. Simply typing "cd" with no
651 parameters is enough (it will take you to your home directory).
653 GNU Midnight Commander closes ftp connection automatically after a
654 timeout or on exit. It's possible to force disconnect by selecting
655 "Command" -> "Active VFS List" in the menu and using the "Free VFSs
658 7.6 Why aren't the contents of ftp panel updated?
660 Update is skipped because there would be a serious performance
661 penalty. Constantly updating directory panels through a ftp
662 connection would take too much time.
664 You can use C-r to force an update.
666 7.7 What kind of proxy server works with Midnight Commander?
668 There are two kinds of ftp proxies: proxies for ftp clients and
669 proxies for web browsers.
671 Midnight Commander only supports ftp proxies which are meant for ftp
672 clients. Common WWW proxies (like Squid) are not supported. A rule
673 of thumb is that if a ftp proxy requires a web browser, it won't work
674 with Midnight Commander.
677 8 Other common problems
679 8.1 When I try pasting to the internal editor, it indents the amount of
680 indenting increases with each line!
682 Either turn off 'Return does autoindent' in the editor options or
683 update GNU Midnight Commander to version 4.6.0 or above - it doesn't
684 autoindent when you are holding Shift.
686 8.2 Is it possible to use Colorer for syntax highlighting?
688 Yes if you submit the patch. There are no legal problems with it
689 because it's licensed under GPL now. The homepage of Colorer is
690 http://colorer.sourceforge.net/
693 9 Other common problems
695 9.1 Is there any way to 'bookmark' favorite ftp-fs links?
697 Use the directory hotlist. Just press control-backslash. If your
698 national keyboard layout doesn't have backslash key, just press the
699 control key with the key which is the backslash key in the English
702 9.2 When I start Midnight Commander, nothing happens!
704 When MC is compiled with Samba support, have a look at the
705 "interfaces = ..." line in your smb.conf file. MC uses pretty old
706 Samba code that only expects IP addresses and host names there,
707 but not network interface names (like eth0). MC interprets these
708 names as host names and tries to resolve them using a DNS server.
709 To fix this, ask your system administrator to change the interface
710 names to their assigned IP addresses, or (untried) add the interface
711 names and their IP addresses to the /etc/hosts file.
713 First, invoke MC without subshell support: "mc -u". If this helps
714 check the shell you are using. Subshell support works best with
715 bash, although tcsh and zsh are also supported. You might want to
716 upgrade your shell to a newer version. If you use something else
717 than bash, tcsh or zsh, subshell support is disabled automatically.
719 Another reason is problems with gpm. Try using "--nomouse" option to
720 see if it makes any difference. Restarting gpm can help. Sometimes
721 it's enough to move the mouse.
723 Also, if you have the DISPLAY environment variable set, but the X
724 server is unreachable (e.g. it's firewalled), this can also cause a
725 delay at startup. Unset DISPLAY to see if that's the case.
730 10.1 Who has written Midnight Commander?
732 Midnight Commander was started by Miguel de Icaza and he is the
733 maintainer of the package. Other authors have joined the project
735 * Mauricio Plaza (early releases)
736 * Janne Kukonlehto (joined Sep 27 1994)
737 * Radek Doulik (joined Oct 30 1994)
738 * Fred Leeflang (joined Nov 2 1994)
739 * Dugan Porter (joined Dec 1 1994)
740 * Jakub Jelinek (joined Feb 8 1995)
741 * Ching Hui (joined Jun 27 1995)
742 * Andrej Borsenkow (joined Jul 1996)
743 * Paul Sheer (joined Nov 1 1996)
748 Alessandro Rubini has been specially helpful with debugging and
749 enhancing of the mouse support. John E. Davis has made his S-Lang
750 library available to us and answered many questions about it.
752 Many people have contributed bug reports, feature suggestions and
753 small code bits (alphabetical order):
755 * Juan Jose Ciarlante
756 * Alexander Dong (OS/2 port, NT port updates)
758 * Torben Fjerdingstad
760 * Juan Grigera (NT port)
762 * Sergey Ya. Korshunoff
765 * Antonio Palama (old DOS port)
773 Current list of active developers can be found here:
774 http://www.midnight-commander.org/wiki/McDevelopers
776 This page lists everbody who has provided a patch or
777 has written code for the midnight-commander in the past:
778 http://www.midnight-commander.org/wiki/McContributors
780 10.2 Do I dare to use a development version?
782 Yes, of course. Feel free to test:
783 http://www.midnight-commander.org/wiki#Download
784 As we do our development in git, please do a git checkout
785 of the master branch and build it
787 But always remember: development versions may have nasty bugs
788 at some points of time. It's up to you to judge whether the new
789 features and fixes for the bugs you know outweigh the risk of unknown
792 10.3 How can I report a bug/request for a feature?
794 You might first want to get the newest development version to see if
795 the bug is fixed or the feature is added already.
797 If this is not the case, feel free to add a ticket in our ticket-system,
798 which is located here: http://www.midnight-commander.org/newticket
800 If you want to send an email instead write your report to mc-devel@gnome.org
803 These mailing lists are the most certain way to contact the
804 developers. Remember to mention if you are not on the mailing list
805 to make sure that you will receive a copy of replies.
807 Give as much details as possible. A too long message is a lot better
808 than a too short message.
810 For segmentation faults a stack backtrace is appreciated. You can
811 produce stack backtrace as follows:
812 * If segmentation fault produced a core file:
813 1. Load the core file by typing "gdb mc core" or "dbx mc core".
815 3. Cut and paste the results to your message.
816 * If segmentation fault didn't produce a core file:
817 1. Load mc by typing "gdb mc" or "dbx mc".
818 2. Start mc by typing "run".
819 3. Try to reproduce the segmentation fault by doing whatever
820 you did last time when the segmentation fault occurred.
822 5. Cut and paste the results to your message.
823 6. For the future you might want to check out what is the
824 command in your shell to allow producing of the core files.
825 Usually it is "limit coredumpsize unlimited" or "ulimit
826 coredumpsize" or "ulimit -c unlimited".
828 10.4 How can I join the development?
830 To join the development just code the feature you want to add and
831 send your patch for inclusion. Email address is mc-devel@gnome.org.
832 Before you start coding check the latest development version. It
833 might be that your feature has already been implemented.
835 Note that the authors of GNU Midnight Commander have given all their
836 rights on the program to the Free Software Foundation. You will have
837 to do the same if you contribute non-trivial patches. Otherwise we
838 have to reject your patches in order to avoid copyright problems.
843 11.1 This document didn't answer my question. Where else can I look for
846 Read messages from the Discussion (mailing list archive) or read the
849 Upgrade to a newer version of Midnight Commander. Many problems are
850 fixed in the new versions.
852 If you still can't find an answer, post your question to the Midnight
853 Commander mailing list. Its address is mc@gnome.org.
855 11.2 What mailing lists are there for Midnight Commander?
857 Following mailing lists discuss about Midnight Commander:
860 General discussion of GNU Midnight Commander
862 http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/mc/
865 Technical development discussion
867 http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/mc-devel/
869 mc-commits@googlegroups.com
870 mailing list only for applyed commits into master/stable branches
872 http://groups.google.com/group/mc-commits/subscribe
874 mc-bugs@googlegroups.com
875 Mailing list only for tickets and comments (use it as RSS :) )
877 http://groups.google.com/group/mc-bugs/subscribe
879 11.3 Where should I look on the World Wide Web for MC stuff?
881 There is a WWW page for Midnight Commander. The URL is:
883 http://www.midnight-commander.org/
885 11.4 Are the mailing lists archived anywhere?
887 The mc and mc-devel lists are archived on the World Wide Web. There
888 are links to the archives on the mailing list pages (see 10.2).
895 Questions and Answers was written by Janne Kukonlehto. Parts of it
896 originate from Ian Jackson, Miguel de Icaza, Dugan Porter, Norbert
897 Warmuth and Paul Sheer.
899 12.2 Feedback is invited
901 Send your comments about this document and GNU Midnight Commander to
904 12.3 Disclaimer and copyright
906 Note that this document is provided as is. The information in it is
907 not warranted to be correct; you use it at your own risk.
909 You can use Questions and Answers according to GNU General Public
910 License (see the COPYING file in GNU Midnight Commander source
911 distribution). Questions and Answers is not public domain.