Re: more xterm.ad sequences

[Pavel Roskin <proski gnu org>]

On Sun, 7 Sep 2003, GoTaR wrote:

> Yes, that information should go into the file. BTW there are two typos:
>
> 2nd line: "IS you are using enclosed" should be "if"
> 12th line: "modifier in FRON of some" shoud be "front"

Fixed.

> > Strange thing is, xterm.ad has been unchanged since 1998 and I don't
> > remember seeing any complaints about it.  Either nobody used it or
> > those who tried gave up and took some other approach.
>
> Or used it as a simple example/template. For example it was probably
> used as a template in PLD Linux Distribution.

Ideally, new distributions should have terminals that don't need any
workarounds.  xterm.ad and other files are primarily for old systems.

> > I'm afraid not everybody will be happy with the "improved" xterm.ad.  I'm
> > more inclined to remove xterm.ad, xterm.ti and xterm.tcap from the
> > sources.  They don't belong here.
>
> xterm.ti and xterm.tcap are redundant, but xterm.ad should be moved to
> examples or docs.

Done.

> Without it many would never know how to change xterm resources. E.g. I'm
> using:
>
> Meta<Key>Right: string(0x1b) string(0x09)
>
> to have 'tab' completion on alt-right_arrow.

OK, this file is staying in the sources.

> Well, maybe you would like to include this to key.c:
>
>     { KEY_M_CTRL | KEY_UP,    ESC_STR "[1;5A", MCKEY_NOACTION },
>     { KEY_M_CTRL | KEY_DOWN,  ESC_STR "[1;5B", MCKEY_NOACTION },
>     { KEY_M_CTRL | KEY_RIGHT, ESC_STR "[1;5C", MCKEY_NOACTION },
>     { KEY_M_CTRL | KEY_LEFT,  ESC_STR "[1;5D", MCKEY_NOACTION },

> ctrl-left/right moves by words, ctrl-up/down scrolls screen w/o moving
> cursor. And this one too:
>
>     { KEY_M_SHIFT | KEY_IC,    ESC_STR "[2;2~", MCKEY_NOACTION },
>
> if someone wants to override paste from X clipboard to paste from mc
> clipboard (ctrl-ins and shift-del: to clipboard, shift-ins: from
> clipboard).

Done.

> > The times have changed since then.  Terminals are more capable and
> > users don't want to tweak everything.  There are other means to make
> > keys work, such as the "Learn Keys" dialog.
> >
> > I don't want users to be confused by something they most likely don't
> > need.  I haven't seen bug reports about xterm.ad, but I have seen and
> > even heard complaints from people who could not find "Learn Keys"
> > because our documentation is still oriented to the hackers of the past
> > times.
>
> Hey, lusers don't use mc at all, they use konqueror. mc is tool for
> hackers and power users and that's the way it should remain.

Anyway, today's hackers may not have time to tweak everything.  Things
should work by default if possible.

> Oh, by the way: have you heard about Midnight Commander MP:
> http://mc.linuxinside.com/cgi-bin/dir.cgi

I remember seeing that link.

> it has many nice features, like clock, different colors for differet
> file types, panel resplitter (Ctrl+LEFT|RIGHT|END as F9-o-l-[<>e]-o),
> checkbox for recursive search in find file (one must use grep if wants
> to search non-recursively with current mc implementation), and very
> useful thing - bookmarks in editor (Alt-Ctrl-Ins: set bookmark,
> Alt-Ctrl-UP|DOWN: move through them). And many others - please read
> README.40, but the ones I mentioned, are the most usefull. I'll be happy
> to see them in mc.

As it stands now, there is not enough manpower to apply already existing
patches fast, so I don't expect it to happen unless somebody ports the
changes and pushes them very actively.

It's quite hard to write new GUI now.  We don't even have a generic
function to spread buttons in dialogs (their length is different in
different languages).  Until recently, widgets had to be inserted from
bottom to top, and it's still true for "quick" widgets.  The listmode
editor sits in the code unfinished for years.  Things are improving, but
it's still too fragile and inconvenient.

-- 
Regards,
Pavel Roskin