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Chris Allegretta201d9bf2001-01-14 03:17:53 +0000[diff] [blame]3<title>The nano editor FAQ</title>
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10<h1>
11<font color="#CC0000">The nano FAQ</font></h1>
12<h2>
13<font color="#330000">Table of Contents</font></h2>
14
15<h2>
16<font color="#330000"><a href="#1">1.&nbsp; General</a></font></h2>
17
18<blockquote><font color="#330000"><a href="#1.1">1.1 About this FAQ.</a></font>
19<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#1.2">1.2. How do I contribute to it?</a></font>
20<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#1.3">1.3. What is nano?</a></font>
21<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#1.4">1.4. What is the history behind
22nano?</a></font>
23<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#1.5">1.5. Why the name change from
24TIP?</a></font>
Chris Allegretta51b3eec2000-12-18 02:23:50 +0000[diff] [blame]25<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#1.6">1.6. What is the current version
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]26of nano?</a></font>
27<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#1.7">1.7. I want to read the man page
28without having to download the program!</a></font></blockquote>
29
30<h2>
31<font color="#330000"><a href="#2">2. Where to get nano</a></font></h2>
32
33<blockquote><font color="#330000"><a href="#2.1">2.1. FTP and WWW sites
34that carry nano.</a></font>
35<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#2.2">2.2. Redhat and derivatives (.rpm)
36packages.</a></font>
37<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#2.3">2.3. Debian (.deb) packages.</a></font>
38<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#2.4">2.4. By CVS (for the brave).</a></font></blockquote>
39
40<h2>
41<font color="#330000"><a href="#3">3. Installation and Configuration</a></font></h2>
42
43<blockquote><font color="#330000"><a href="#3.1">3.1. How do install the
44RPM or DEB package?</a></font>
45<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#3.2">3.2. Compiling from source: WHAT
46THE HECK DO I DO NOW?</a></font>
47<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#3.2">3.3. Why does everything go into
48/usr/local?</a></font>
49<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#3.4">3.4. I get errors about 'bindtextdomain',
Chris Allegretta8a646ad2000-11-28 00:15:54 +0000[diff] [blame]50'gettext' and/or 'gettextdomain'.&nbsp; What can I do about it?</a></font>
51<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#3.5">3.5. Nano should automatically
Chris Allegretta2c4feca2001-01-09 17:40:56 +0000[diff] [blame]52run strip on the binary when installing it!</a></font>
53<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#3.6">3.6. How can I make the
54executable smaller? This is too bloated!</a></font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]55
56<h2>
57<font color="#330000"><a href="#4">4. Running</a></font></h2>
58
59<blockquote><font color="#330000"><a href="#4.1">4.1. Ack!&nbsp; My backspace/delete/enter/double
60bucky/meta key doesn't seem to work!&nbsp; What can I do?</a></font>
61<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#4.2">4.2. Nano crashes when I type
62&lt;insert keystroke here>!</a></font>
63<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#4.3">4.3. Nano crashes when I resize
64my window.&nbsp;&nbsp; How can I fix that?</a></font>
65<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#4.4">4.4. Why does nano show ^\ and
66^_ in the shortcut list instead of ^G and ^J?</a></font>
Chris Allegretta47ddfaf2000-11-18 19:04:32 +0000[diff] [blame]67<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#4.5">4.5. When I type in a
68search string, the string I last searched for is already in front of
69my cursor! !What happened?!</a></font>
Chris Allegretta201d9bf2001-01-14 03:17:53 +0000[diff] [blame]70<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#4.6">4.6. I get the message "NumLock
Chris Allegretta40973792001-01-15 20:25:24 +0000[diff] [blame]71glitch detected. Keypad will malfunction with NumLock off." What
Chris Allegretta201d9bf2001-01-14 03:17:53 +0000[diff] [blame]72gives?</a></font>
73<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#4.7">4.7. How do I make nano my
74default editor (in Pine, mutt, etc.)?</a></font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]75
76<h2>
77<font color="#330000"><a href="#5">5. Internationalization</a></font></h2>
78
79<blockquote><font color="#330000"><a href="#5.1">5.1. There's no translation
80for my language!</a></font>
81<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#5.2">5.2. I don't like the translation
82for &lt;x> in my language.&nbsp;&nbsp; How can I fix it?</a></font></blockquote>
83
84<h2>
Chris Allegretta90d68952000-07-24 02:55:49 +0000[diff] [blame]85<font color="#330000"><a href="#6">6. Advocacy and Licensing</a></font></h2>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]86
87<blockquote><font color="#330000"><a href="#6.1">6.1. Why should I use
88nano instead of Pico?</a></font>
89<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#6.2">6.2. Why should I use Pico instead
90of nano?</a></font>
91<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#6.3">6.3. What is so bad about the
92PINE license?</a></font>
93<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#6.4">6.4. Okay, well what mail program
94should I use then?</a></font>
95<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#6.5">6.5. Why doesn't UW simply change
96their license?</a></font>
97<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#6.6">6.6. What if tomorrow UW changes
98the license to be truly Free Software?</a></font></blockquote>
99
100<h2>
101<font color="#330000"><a href="#7">7. Miscellaneous</a></font></h2>
102
103<blockquote><font color="#330000"><a href="#7.1">7.1. Nano related mailing
104lists.</a></font>
105<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#7.2">7.2. I want to send the development
106team a big load of cash (or just a thank you).</a></font>
107<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#7.3">7.3. How do I submit a patch?</a></font>
108<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#7.4">7.4. How do I join the development
109team?</a></font>
110<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#7.5">7.5. Can I have CVS write access?</a></font></blockquote>
111
112<h2>
113<a href="#8">8. ChangeLog</a></h2>
114
115<hr WIDTH="100%">
116<br>&nbsp;
117<h1>
118<a NAME="1"></a><font color="#330000">1.&nbsp; General</font></h1>
119
120<h2>
121<a NAME="1.1"></a><font color="#330000">1.1 About this FAQ.</font></h2>
122
123<blockquote><font color="#330000">This FAQ was written and is maintained
124by Chris Allegretta &lt;<a href="mailto:chrisa@asty.org">chrisa@asty.org</a>>,
125who also happens to be the creator of nano.&nbsp;&nbsp; Maybe someone else
126will volunteer to maintain this FAQ someday, who knows...</font></blockquote>
127
128<h2>
129<a NAME="1.2"></a><font color="#330000">1.2. How do I contribute to it?</font></h2>
130
131<blockquote><font color="#330000">Your best bet is to send it to the nano
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]132email address, <a
133href="mailto:nano@nano-editor.org">nano@nano-editor.org</a> and if
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]134it is useful enough it will be included in future versions.</font></blockquote>
135
136<h2>
137<a NAME="1.3"></a><font color="#330000">1.3. What is nano?</font></h2>
138
139<blockquote><font color="#330000">Nano is designed to be a free replacement
140for the Pico text editor, part of the PINE email suite from <a href="http://www.washington.edu/pine">The
141University of Washington</a>.&nbsp; It aims to "emulate Pico as closely
Chris Allegretta3362cae2001-02-06 22:21:25 +0000[diff] [blame^]142as possible and perhaps include extra functionality.</font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]143
144<h2>
145<a NAME="1.4"></a><font color="#330000">1.4. What is the history behind
146nano?</font></h2>
147
148<blockquote><font color="#330000">Funny you should ask!</font>
149<p><b><font color="#330000">In the beginning...</font></b>
150<p><font color="#330000">For years Pine was THE program used to read email
151on a Unix system.&nbsp; The Pico text editor is the portion of the program
152one would use to compose his or her mail messages.&nbsp; Many beginners
153to Unix flocked to Pico and Pine because of their well organized, easy
Chris Allegretta7db63a52001-01-10 22:05:40 +0000[diff] [blame]154to use interfaces.&nbsp; With the proliferation of GNU/Linux in the mid to
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]155late 90's, many University students became intimately familiar with the
156strengths (and weaknesses) of Pine and Pico.</font>
157<p><b><font color="#330000">Then came debian...</font></b>
158<p><font color="#330000">The <a href="http://www.debian.org">debian GNU/Linux</a>
159distribution, known for its strict standards in distributing truly "free"
160software (i.e. had no restrictions on redistribution), would not include
161a binary package for Pine or Pico.&nbsp; Many people had a serious dilemma:&nbsp;
162they loved these programs, but they were not truly free software in the
163<a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">GNU</a>
164sense of the word.</font>
165<p><b><font color="#330000">The event...</font></b>
166<p><font color="#330000">It was in late 1999 when Chris Allegretta (our
167hero) was yet again complaining to himself about the less-than-perfect
168license Pico was distributed under, the 10000 makefiles that came with
169it and how just a few small improvements could make it the Best Editor
170in the World (TM).&nbsp; Having been a convert from Slackware to debian,
171he missed having a simple binary package that included Pine and Pico, and
172had grown tired of downloading them himself.</font>
173<p><font color="#330000">Finally something snapped inside and Chris coded
174and hacked like a madman for many hours straight one weekend to make a
175(barely usable) Pico clone, at the time called TIP (Tip Isn't Pico).&nbsp;
176The program could not be invoked without a filename, could not save files,
177had no help menu, spell checker, and so forth.&nbsp; But over time it improved,
178and with the help of a few great coders it matured to the almost stable
179state it is today.</font></blockquote>
180
181<h2>
182<a NAME="1.5"></a><font color="#330000">1.5. Why the name change from TIP?</font></h2>
183
184<blockquote><font color="#330000">On January 10, 2000, TIP was officially
185renamed to nano because of a namespace conflict with another program called
186'tip'.&nbsp; The original 'tip' program "establishes a full duplex terminal
187connection to a remote host", and was included with many older Unix systems
188(and newer ones like Solaris). The conflict was not noticed at first because
Chris Allegretta7db63a52001-01-10 22:05:40 +0000[diff] [blame]189there is no 'tip' utility included with most GNU/Linux distributions (where
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]190nano was developed).</font></blockquote>
191
192<h2>
193<a NAME="1.6"></a><font color="#330000">1.6 What is the current version
194of nano?</font></h2>
195
196<blockquote><font color="#330000">The current version of nano *should*
Chris Allegretta34318ed2001-01-31 23:22:36 +0000[diff] [blame]197be 0.9.99pre2.&nbsp; Of course you should always check the nano hompage to
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]198see what the latest and greatest version is.</font></blockquote>
199
200<h2>
201<a NAME="1.7"></a><font color="#330000">1.7. I want to read the man page
202without having to download the program!</font></h2>
203
204<blockquote><font color="#330000">Jeez, demanding, aren't we?&nbsp;&nbsp;
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]205Okay, look <a href="http://www.nano-editor.org/dist/nano.1.html">here</a>.</font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]206
207<hr WIDTH="100%">
208<h1>
209<a NAME="2"></a><font color="#330000">2. Where to get nano</font></h1>
210
211<h2>
212<a NAME="2.1"></a><font color="#330000">2.1. FTP and WWW sites that carry
213nano.</font></h2>
214
215<blockquote><font color="#330000">The nano distribution can be downloaded
216at the following fine web and ftp sites:</font>
217<ul>
218<li>
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]219<font color="#330000"><a href="http://www.nano-editor.org/dist">http://www.nano-editor.org/dist</a></font></li>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]220
221<li>
222<font color="#330000"><a href="http://www.ewtoo.org/~astyanax/nano/dist">http://www.ewtoo.org/~astyanax/nano/dist</a></font></li>
223
224<li>
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]225<font color="#330000"><a href="ftp://ftp.nano-editor.org/pub/nano">ftp://ftp.nano-editor.org/pub/nano</a></font></li>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]226
227<li>
228<font color="#330000"><a href="ftp://nano.sourceforge.net/pub/nano/">ftp://nano.sourceforge.net/pub/nano</a></font></li>
229</ul>
230</blockquote>
231
232<h2>
233<a NAME="2.2"></a><font color="#330000">2.2. Redhat and derivatives (.rpm)
234packages.</font></h2>
235
236<blockquote>
237<ul>
238<li>
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]239<font color="#330000"><a href="http://www.nano-editor.org/dist/RPMS">http://www.nano-editor.org/dist/RPMS</a></font></li>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]240
241<li>
242<font color="#330000"><a href="http://www.ewtoo.org/~astyanax/nano/dist/RPMS">http://www.ewtoo.org/~astyanax/nano/dist/RPMS</a></font></li>
243
244<li>
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]245<font color="#330000"><a href="ftp://ftp.nano-editor.org/pub/nano/RPMS">ftp://ftp.nano-editor.org/pub/nano/RPMS</a></font></li>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]246
247<li>
248<font color="#330000"><a href="ftp://nano.sourceforge.net/pub/nano/RPMS">ftp://nano.sourceforge.net/pub/nano/RPMS</a></font></li>
249</ul>
250<font color="#330000">Additionally, check out the Redhat contribs section
251at:</font>
252<ul>
253<li>
254<font color="#330000"><a href="http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/distributions/redhat/contrib/libc6/i386">http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/distributions/redhat/contrib/libc6/i386</a></font></li>
255
256<li>
257<font color="#330000"><a href="ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/distributions/redhat/contrib/libc6/i386">ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/distributions/redhat/contrib/libc6/i386</a></font></li>
258</ul>
259</blockquote>
260
261<h2>
262<a NAME="2.3"></a><font color="#330000">2.3. Debian (.deb) packages.</font></h2>
263
264<blockquote><font color="#330000">For debian users, you can check out the
265current nano packages for:</font>
266<ul>
267<li>
Chris Allegretta42004f02000-11-19 00:34:46 +0000[diff] [blame]268<font color="#330000"><a href="http://www.debian.org/Packages/stable/editors/nano.html">stable</a></font></li>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]269
270<li>
271<font color="#330000"><a href="http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/editors/nano.html">unstable</a></font></li>
272</ul>
273<font color="#330000">Note that versions &lt; 0.9.10 are probably not for
Chris Allegretta42004f02000-11-19 00:34:46 +0000[diff] [blame]274those wanting to get serious work done, so until the stable distribution
275has an updated version of nano, you are best off using the one in unstable
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]276for now.</font></blockquote>
277
278<h2>
279<a NAME="2.4"></a><font color="#330000">2.4. By CVS (for the brave).</font></h2>
280
281<blockquote><font color="#330000">For the 'bleeding edge' current version
282of nano, you can use CVS to download the current source code.&nbsp; <b>Note:</b>
283believe it or not, by downloading code that has not yet stabilized into
284an official release, there could quite possibly be bugs, in fact the code
285may not even compile!&nbsp; Anyway, see <a href="https://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=1304">the
286nano CVS page</a> for info on anonymous CVS access to the nano source.</font></blockquote>
287
288<hr WIDTH="100%">
289<h1>
290<a NAME="3"></a><font color="#330000">3. Installation and Configuration</font></h1>
291
292<h2>
293<a NAME="3.1"></a><font color="#330000">3.1. How do install the RPM or
294DEB package?</font></h2>
295
296<blockquote><font color="#330000">It's simple really!&nbsp; As root, type
297<b>rpm
298-Uvh nano-x.y.z-1.i386.rpm</b> if you have a Redhat-ish system or
299<b>dpkg
300-i nano_x.y.z-1.deb</b> if you have a Debian-ish system, where
301<b>x.y.z</b>
Jordi Mallach79ea7dd2000-12-19 22:58:00 +0000[diff] [blame]302is the release of nano.&nbsp; There are other programs to install packages,
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]303and if you wish to use those, knock yourself out.</font></blockquote>
304
305<h2>
306<a NAME="3.2"></a><font color="#330000">3.2. Compiling from source: WHAT
307THE HECK DO I DO NOW?</font></h2>
308
309<blockquote><font color="#330000">Okay, take a deep breath, this really
310isn't hard.&nbsp; Unpack the nano source with a command like:</font>
311<p><b><font color="#330000">tar -zxvf nano-x.y.z.tar.gz</font></b>
312<p><font color="#330000">If you get error messages about the -z option,
313try this:</font>
Chris Allegretta8c81d232000-08-16 02:52:44 +0000[diff] [blame]314<p><b><font color="#330000">gzip -dc nano-x.y.z.tar.gz | tar xvf -</font></b>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]315<p><font color="#330000">(again, where x.y.z is the version number in question).&nbsp;
316Then you need to run configure with any options you might want (if any).</font>
317<p><font color="#330000">The average case is this:</font>
Chris Allegretta2c4feca2001-01-09 17:40:56 +0000[diff] [blame]318<p><b><font color="#330000">cd nano-x.y.z/</font></b>
319<br><b><font color="#330000">./configure</font></b>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]320<br><b><font color="#330000">make</font></b>
321<br><font color="#330000"><b>make install </b>(as root, of course)</font></blockquote>
322
323<h2>
324<a NAME="3.3"></a><font color="#330000">3.3. Why does everything go into
325/usr/local?</font></h2>
326
327<blockquote><font color="#330000">Well, that's what the <b>configure</b>
328script defaults to.&nbsp; If you wish to change this, simply do this:</font>
329<p><b><font color="#330000">./configure --prefix=/usr</font></b>
330<p><font color="#330000">to put nano into /usr/bin when you run <b>make
331install</b>.</font></blockquote>
332
333<h2>
334<a NAME="3.4"></a><font color="#330000">3.4. I get errors about 'bindtextdomain',
335'gettext' and/or 'gettextdomain'.&nbsp; What can I do about it?</font></h2>
336
337<blockquote><font color="#330000">Try doing a <b>./configure --with-included-gettext</b>
338and see if that solves your problem.&nbsp; You make need to do a <b>make
339clean ; make</b> to get it to work fully.</font></blockquote>
340
Chris Allegretta8a646ad2000-11-28 00:15:54 +0000[diff] [blame]341<h2>
342<a NAME="3.5"></a><font color="#330000">3.5. Nano should automatically
343run strip on the binary when installing it!</font></h2>
344
345<blockquote><font color="#330000">Actually, it does, but you have to use
346<b>make install-strip</b>. The default make install does not, and will
347not, run strip automatically.</font></blockquote>
348
Chris Allegretta2c4feca2001-01-09 17:40:56 +0000[diff] [blame]349<h2>
350<a NAME="3.6"></a><font color="#330000">
3513.6. How can I make the executable smaller? This is too
352bloated!</font></h2>
353
354<blockquote><font color="#330000">Actually, there are several parts of the
355editor that can be disabled. You can pass arguments to the
356<b>configure</b> script that disable certain features. Here's a brief
357list:
358<pre>
359<b>--disable-tabcomp</b> Disables tab completion code for a smaller binary
360<b>--disable-justify</b> Disable justify/unjustify function
361<b>--disable-speller</b> Disables spell checker function
362<b>--disable-help</b> Disables help function (^G)
363<b>--disable-browser</b> Disables mini file browser
364</pre><br>
Chris Allegretta3362cae2001-02-06 22:21:25 +0000[diff] [blame^]365There's also the <b>--enable-tiny</b> option which disables everything
Chris Allegretta2c4feca2001-01-09 17:40:56 +0000[diff] [blame]366above, as well as some larger chunks of the program (like the marker code
367that you use Control-^ to select with). Also, if you know you aren't
368going to be using other languages you can use <b>--disable-nls</b> to
369disable internationalization and save a few K to a few dozen K depending
370on if you have locale support on your system. And finally there's always
371good old <b>strip</b> to strip all debugging code and code that exists in
372libraries on your system.
373</font></blockquote> <hr WIDTH="100%"> <h1>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]374<a NAME="4"></a><font color="#330000">4. Running</font></h1>
375
376<h2>
377<a NAME="4.1"></a><font color="#330000">4.1. Ack!&nbsp; My backspace/delete/enter/double
378bucky/meta key doesn't seem to work!&nbsp; What can I do?</font></h2>
379
380<blockquote><font color="#330000">Try setting your $TERM variable to 'vt100'.&nbsp;
381Nano doesn't yet support every term entry under the sun.</font>
382<p><font color="#330000">Bourne shell users (like bash): <b>export TERM=vt100</b></font>
383<br><font color="#330000">C Shell users (tcsh and csh): <b>setenv TERM
384vt100</b></font></blockquote>
385
386<h2>
387<a NAME="4.2"></a><font color="#330000">4.2. Nano crashes when I type &lt;insert
388keystroke here>!</font></h2>
389
390<blockquote><font color="#330000">If you aren't trying some bizarre keystroke
391combination with some bizarre $TERM entry, chances are you have found a
392bug.&nbsp;&nbsp; You are welcome to submit it to the nano-devel list or
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]393to <a href="mailto:nano@nano-editor.org">nano@nano-editor.org</a>.</font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]394
395<h2>
396<a NAME="4.3"></a><font color="#330000">4.3. Nano crashes when I resize
397my window.&nbsp;&nbsp; How can I fix that?</font></h2>
398
399<blockquote><font color="#330000">Older versions of nano had this problem,
Jordi Mallach79ea7dd2000-12-19 22:58:00 +0000[diff] [blame]400please upgrade to a newer version (at least 0.9.9 would be great, 0.9.12
401is recommended).</font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]402
403<h2>
404<a NAME="4.4"></a><font color="#330000">4.4. Why does nano show ^\ and
405^_ in the shortcut list instead of ^G and ^J?</font></h2>
406
407<blockquote><font color="#330000">The help (^G) and justify (^J) functions
408were among the last to be written.&nbsp; To show the improvements that
409nano had over Pico (goto line # and replace), ^_ and ^\ were put on the
410shortcut list.&nbsp;&nbsp; If you use the <b>-p</b> option to nano you
411will get the same shortcuts at the bottom as Pico.</font></blockquote>
412
413<h2>
Chris Allegretta47ddfaf2000-11-18 19:04:32 +0000[diff] [blame]414<a name="4.5"><font color="#330000">4.5. When I type in a search
415string, the string I last searched for is already in front of my
416cursor! !What happened?!</font></h2>
417
Chris Allegrettab29550e2000-12-09 03:34:12 +0000[diff] [blame]418<blockquote><font color="#330000">In nano version 0.9.20, the default is
Chris Allegretta47ddfaf2000-11-18 19:04:32 +0000[diff] [blame]419to have a completely consistent user interface across all user input
420functions. This means that regardless of whether you're being asked for
Chris Allegretta3ebac1c2000-11-19 00:47:30 +0000[diff] [blame]421a filename to insert or write, or a string to search for, the
422previous value is already inserted before the cursor. If you prefer the
423old behavior, use the pico emulation mode (-p or --pico) or just hit
424Meta-P while in nano (see the ^G help text for more
425details).</font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta47ddfaf2000-11-18 19:04:32 +0000[diff] [blame]426
427<h2>
Chris Allegretta201d9bf2001-01-14 03:17:53 +0000[diff] [blame]428<a NAME="4.6"></a>I get the message "NumLock glitch detected. Keypad
Chris Allegretta40973792001-01-15 20:25:24 +0000[diff] [blame]429will malfunction with NumLock off." What gives?</h2>
Chris Allegretta201d9bf2001-01-14 03:17:53 +0000[diff] [blame]430
431<blockquote>
432Nano (actually almost all console editors do) has issues when cycling
433the NumLock key in certain X terminals (rxvt, aterm, wterm, etc...). When
434you switch NumLock on to off, you put the terminal into an "application
435mode" that changes what sequences are sent by the keypad. These sequences
436vary sufficiently from terminal to terminal that it is nearly impossible
437to work around them from within nano.
438<br><br>
439In a nutshell, if you want to be able to use the keypad with the arrow and
440page up/down functionality, you have to exit nano and reset your terminal
441(presumably with "reset" or "stty sane" or similar) and then run nano
442again with NumLock off. If you know an easier way to restore "normal
Chris Allegretta3362cae2001-02-06 22:21:25 +0000[diff] [blame^]443mode", please mail <A href="mailto:nano@nano-editor.org">nano@nano-editor.org</A>.
Chris Allegretta201d9bf2001-01-14 03:17:53 +0000[diff] [blame]444<br>&nbsp;</blockquote>
445
446<h2>
447<a NAME="4.7"></a>4.7. How do I make nano my default editor (in Pine,
Chris Allegretta47ddfaf2000-11-18 19:04:32 +0000[diff] [blame]448mutt, etc)?</h2>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]449
450<blockquote>You need to make nano your $EDITOR.&nbsp; If you want this
451to be saved, you should put a line like this in your <b>.bashrc</b> if
452you use bash:
453<p><b>export EDITOR=/usr/local/bin/nano</b>
454<p>or if you use tcsh put this in your <b>.cshrc</b> file:
455<p><b>setenv EDITOR /usr/local/bin/nano</b>
456<p>Change /usr/local/bin/nano to wherever nano is installed in your system.&nbsp;
457Type which nano to find out. This will not take effect until the next time
458you login.&nbsp; So log out and back in again.
459<p>Then on top that if you use Pine you must go into setup (type <b>S</b>
460at the main menu), then configure (type <b>C</b>).&nbsp; Hit enter on the
461lines that say:
462<p><b>[ ]&nbsp; enable-alternate-editor-cmd</b>
463<br><b>[ ]&nbsp; enable-alternate-editor-implicitly</b>
464<p>Then exit (<b>E</b>) and select Yes (<b>Y</b>).
465<p>Mutt users should see an effect immediately the next time you log in,
466no further configuration is needed.&nbsp; However, if you want to let people
467know you use nano to compose your email messages, you can put a line like
468this in your <b>.muttrc</b>:
469<p><b>my_hdr X-Composer: nano x.y.z</b>
470<p>Again, replace x.y.z with the version of nano you use.
471<br>&nbsp;</blockquote>
472
473<hr WIDTH="100%">
474<h1>
475<a NAME="5"></a><font color="#330000">5. Internationalization</font></h1>
476
477<h2>
478<a NAME="5.1"></a><font color="#330000">5.1. There's no translation for
479my language!</font></h2>
480
481<blockquote><font color="#330000">So, uh, get someone who speaks your native
482language to write one =-).&nbsp; Just grab the <b>nano.pot</b> file from
483the latest and greatest nano distribution (it's in the <b>po/</b> directory)
484and translate each line into your native language on the <b>msgstr</b>
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]485line.&nbsp; Then send it to the nano devel list or <a href="mailto:nano@nano-editor.org">nano@nano-editor.org</a>.</font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]486
487<h2>
488<a NAME="5.2"></a><font color="#330000">5.2. I don't like the translation
489for &lt;x> in my language.&nbsp;&nbsp; How can I fix it?</font></h2>
490
491<blockquote><font color="#330000">The best way would probably be to e-mail
492the person listed in the <b>&lt;your_language>.po</b> file with your suggested
493corrections and they can in turn forward it to the nano email address,
494or the devel list.</font></blockquote>
495
496<hr WIDTH="100%">
497<h1>
498<a NAME="6"></a><font color="#330000">6. Advocacy and Licensing</font></h1>
499
500<h2>
501<a NAME="6.1"></a><font color="#330000">6.1. Why should I use nano instead
502of Pico?</font></h2>
503
504<blockquote><font color="#330000">There are many reasons to use nano instead
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]505of Pico, a more complete list can be found at the <a href="http://www.nano-edior.org">nano
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]506homepage</a>.</font></blockquote>
507
508<h2>
509<a NAME="6.2"></a><font color="#330000">6.2. Why should I use Pico instead
510of nano?</font></h2>
511
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]512<blockquote>Again, check out the <a href="http://www.nano-editor.org">nano
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]513homepage</a> for a good summary of reasons.&nbsp; It really is a matter
514of personal preference as to which editor you should use.&nbsp; If you're
515the type of person who likes using the original version of a program, then
516Pico is the editor for you.&nbsp;&nbsp; If you're looking for a few more
517features and a 'better' license as far as adding your own changes (sacrificing
518mailer integration and a little stability), nano is the way to go.</blockquote>
519
520<h2>
521<a NAME="6.3"></a><font color="#330000">6.3. What is so bad about the PINE
522license?</font></h2>
523
524<blockquote><font color="#330000">Technically there is nothing "wrong"
525with the U of W license for Pine and Pico.&nbsp; However, it is&nbsp; not
526considered truly "free" according to the <a href="http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines">Debian
527Free Software Guidelines</a>.&nbsp; The only real problem as far as I'm
528aware as that there are limitations on the redistribution of programs based
529on the Pine and Pico source.&nbsp;&nbsp; So at a real nitty gritty level,
530these programs are not considered Free Software.&nbsp; This is why Pico
531isn't distributed in binary form in debian, and hence one of the main reasons
532nano was started.</font></blockquote>
533
534<h2>
535<a NAME="6.4"></a><font color="#330000">6.4. Okay, well what mail program
536should I use then?</font></h2>
537
538<blockquote><font color="#330000">Well, there is nothing stopping you from
539using Pine with nano (or Pine with Pico for that matter).&nbsp; But if
540you want to use programs that are considered Free Software, you may want
541to look into <a href="http://www.mutt.org">mutt</a>.&nbsp; It is a full-screen,
542console based mail program that actually has a lot more flexibility than
543Pine, but has a keymap included in the distribution that allows you to
544use the same keystrokes as Pine would to send and receive mail.&nbsp; It's
545also licensed under the GPL.</font></blockquote>
546
547<h2>
548<a NAME="6.5"></a><font color="#330000">6.5. Why doesn't UW simply change
549their license?</font></h2>
550
551<blockquote><font color="#330000">You're really not asking the right person
Chris Allegretta8c81d232000-08-16 02:52:44 +0000[diff] [blame]552here.&nbsp; I (Chris) waited a long time to see if UW would change their
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]553license because of the amount of high quality software being released and
554developed under the GPL without being taken advantage of by malicious corporate
555entities or other baddies, but no such luck so far.</font></blockquote>
556
557<h2>
558<a NAME="6.6"></a><font color="#330000">6.6. What if tomorrow UW changes
559the license to be truly Free Software?</font></h2>
560
561<blockquote><font color="#330000">Honestly nothing would make me happier
562than to see that happen.&nbsp; Nano would continue to be developed independently
563until such time as Pico had all the features nano did or the projects merged.&nbsp;
564That just does not seem very likely given that there has been no sign of
565any changes in the past few years in a positive direction.</font></blockquote>
566
567<hr WIDTH="100%">
568<h1>
569<a NAME="7"></a><font color="#330000">7. Miscellaneous</font></h1>
570
571<h2>
572<a NAME="7.1"></a><font color="#330000">7.1. Nano related mailing lists.</font></h2>
573
574<blockquote><font color="#330000">There are two mailing lists for nano
575hosted at <a href="http://www.sourceforge.net">SourceForge</a>, nano-announce
576and nano-devel.&nbsp; Nano-announce is a very low traffic list where new
Jordi Mallach79ea7dd2000-12-19 22:58:00 +0000[diff] [blame]577versions of nano are announced (surprise!)&nbsp; Nano-devel is a normally
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]578low, sometimes very high traffic list for dicussing the present and future
579development of nano.&nbsp; Here are links to where you can sign up for
580a given list:</font><font color="#330000"></font>
581<p><font color="#330000">nano-announce - <a href="http://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/nano-announce">http://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/nano-announce</a></font>
582<br><font color="#330000">nano-devel - <a href="http://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/nano-devel">http://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/nano-devel</a></font></blockquote>
583
584<h2>
585<a NAME="7.2"></a><font color="#330000">7.2. I want to send the development
586team a big load of cash (or just a thank you).</font></h2>
587
588<blockquote><font color="#330000">That's fine.&nbsp; Send it <a href="mailto:nano-devel@lists.sourceforge.net">our
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]589way</a>!&nbsp; Better yet, fix a <a href="http://www.nano-editor.org/dist/BUGS">bug</a>
590in the program or implement a <a href="http://www.nano-editor.org/dist/TODO">cool
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]591feature</a> and send us that instead (though cash is fine too).</font></blockquote>
592
593<h2>
594<a NAME="7.3"></a><font color="#330000">7.3. How do I submit a patch?</font></h2>
595
596<blockquote><font color="#330000">See Section <a href="#7.2">7.2</a>.</font></blockquote>
597
598<h2>
599<a NAME="7.4"></a><font color="#330000">7.4. How do I join the development
600team?</font></h2>
601
602<blockquote><font color="#330000">The easiest way is to consistently send
603in good patches that add some needed functionality, fix a bug or two and/or
604make the program more optimized/efficient.&nbsp; Then ask nicely and you
605will probably be added to the SourceForge development list and be given
606CVS write after awhile.&nbsp; There is a lot of responsibility that goes
607along with being a team member, so don't think it's just something to add
608to your resume.</font></blockquote>
609
610<h2>
611<a NAME="7.5"></a><font color="#330000">7.5. Can I have CVS write access?</font></h2>
612
613<blockquote><font color="#330000">Re-read Section </font><a href="#7.4">7.4</a><font color="#330000">
614and you should know the answer.</font></blockquote>
615
616<h1>
617<a NAME="8"></a>8. ChangeLog</h1>
618
619<blockquote>06/31/2000 - Initial framework.</blockquote>
Chris Allegrettac87a4112000-08-07 02:16:24 +0000[diff] [blame]620<P>
621$Id$
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]622</body>
623</html>