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Chris Allegretta35ac99d2001-02-15 00:25:17 +0000[diff] [blame]3<title>The GNU nano editor FAQ</title>
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9
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>
Chris Allegretta35ac99d2001-02-15 00:25:17 +0000[diff] [blame]20<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#1.3">1.3. What is GNU nano?</a></font>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]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>
Chris Allegretta88520c92001-05-05 17:45:54 +0000[diff] [blame]27<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#1.7">1.7. I want to read the manpage
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]28without having to download the program!</a></font></blockquote>
29
30<h2>
Chris Allegretta35ac99d2001-02-15 00:25:17 +0000[diff] [blame]31<font color="#330000"><a href="#2">2. Where to get GNU
32nano</a></font></h2>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]33
34<blockquote><font color="#330000"><a href="#2.1">2.1. FTP and WWW sites
35that carry nano.</a></font>
36<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#2.2">2.2. Redhat and derivatives (.rpm)
37packages.</a></font>
38<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#2.3">2.3. Debian (.deb) packages.</a></font>
39<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#2.4">2.4. By CVS (for the brave).</a></font></blockquote>
40
41<h2>
42<font color="#330000"><a href="#3">3. Installation and Configuration</a></font></h2>
43
44<blockquote><font color="#330000"><a href="#3.1">3.1. How do install the
45RPM or DEB package?</a></font>
46<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#3.2">3.2. Compiling from source: WHAT
47THE HECK DO I DO NOW?</a></font>
48<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#3.2">3.3. Why does everything go into
49/usr/local?</a></font>
50<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]51'gettext' and/or 'gettextdomain'.&nbsp; What can I do about it?</a></font>
52<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#3.5">3.5. Nano should automatically
Chris Allegretta2c4feca2001-01-09 17:40:56 +0000[diff] [blame]53run strip on the binary when installing it!</a></font>
54<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#3.6">3.6. How can I make the
55executable smaller? This is too bloated!</a></font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]56
57<h2>
58<font color="#330000"><a href="#4">4. Running</a></font></h2>
59
60<blockquote><font color="#330000"><a href="#4.1">4.1. Ack!&nbsp; My backspace/delete/enter/double
61bucky/meta key doesn't seem to work!&nbsp; What can I do?</a></font>
62<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#4.2">4.2. Nano crashes when I type
63&lt;insert keystroke here>!</a></font>
64<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#4.3">4.3. Nano crashes when I resize
65my window.&nbsp;&nbsp; How can I fix that?</a></font>
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]66<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#4.4">4.4. Why does nano show ^\
67in the shortcut list instead of ^J?</a></font>
Chris Allegretta47ddfaf2000-11-18 19:04:32 +0000[diff] [blame]68<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#4.5">4.5. When I type in a
69search string, the string I last searched for is already in front of
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]70my cursor! What happened?!</a></font>
Chris Allegretta201d9bf2001-01-14 03:17:53 +0000[diff] [blame]71<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]72glitch detected. Keypad will malfunction with NumLock off." What
Chris Allegretta201d9bf2001-01-14 03:17:53 +0000[diff] [blame]73gives?</a></font>
74<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#4.7">4.7. How do I make nano my
75default editor (in Pine, mutt, etc.)?</a></font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]76
77<h2>
78<font color="#330000"><a href="#5">5. Internationalization</a></font></h2>
79
80<blockquote><font color="#330000"><a href="#5.1">5.1. There's no translation
81for my language!</a></font>
82<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#5.2">5.2. I don't like the translation
83for &lt;x> in my language.&nbsp;&nbsp; How can I fix it?</a></font></blockquote>
84
85<h2>
Chris Allegretta90d68952000-07-24 02:55:49 +0000[diff] [blame]86<font color="#330000"><a href="#6">6. Advocacy and Licensing</a></font></h2>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]87
88<blockquote><font color="#330000"><a href="#6.1">6.1. Why should I use
89nano instead of Pico?</a></font>
90<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#6.2">6.2. Why should I use Pico instead
91of nano?</a></font>
92<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#6.3">6.3. What is so bad about the
93PINE license?</a></font>
94<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#6.4">6.4. Okay, well what mail program
95should I use then?</a></font>
96<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#6.5">6.5. Why doesn't UW simply change
97their license?</a></font>
98<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#6.6">6.6. What if tomorrow UW changes
99the license to be truly Free Software?</a></font></blockquote>
100
101<h2>
102<font color="#330000"><a href="#7">7. Miscellaneous</a></font></h2>
103
104<blockquote><font color="#330000"><a href="#7.1">7.1. Nano related mailing
105lists.</a></font>
106<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#7.2">7.2. I want to send the development
107team a big load of cash (or just a thank you).</a></font>
108<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#7.3">7.3. How do I submit a patch?</a></font>
109<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#7.4">7.4. How do I join the development
110team?</a></font>
111<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#7.5">7.5. Can I have CVS write access?</a></font></blockquote>
112
113<h2>
114<a href="#8">8. ChangeLog</a></h2>
115
116<hr WIDTH="100%">
117<br>&nbsp;
118<h1>
119<a NAME="1"></a><font color="#330000">1.&nbsp; General</font></h1>
120
121<h2>
122<a NAME="1.1"></a><font color="#330000">1.1 About this FAQ.</font></h2>
123
124<blockquote><font color="#330000">This FAQ was written and is maintained
125by Chris Allegretta &lt;<a href="mailto:chrisa@asty.org">chrisa@asty.org</a>>,
126who also happens to be the creator of nano.&nbsp;&nbsp; Maybe someone else
127will volunteer to maintain this FAQ someday, who knows...</font></blockquote>
128
129<h2>
130<a NAME="1.2"></a><font color="#330000">1.2. How do I contribute to it?</font></h2>
131
132<blockquote><font color="#330000">Your best bet is to send it to the nano
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]133email address, <a
134href="mailto:nano@nano-editor.org">nano@nano-editor.org</a> and if
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]135it is useful enough it will be included in future versions.</font></blockquote>
136
137<h2>
Chris Allegretta35ac99d2001-02-15 00:25:17 +0000[diff] [blame]138<a NAME="1.3"></a><font color="#330000">1.3. What is GNU nano?</font></h2>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]139
Chris Allegretta35ac99d2001-02-15 00:25:17 +0000[diff] [blame]140<blockquote><font color="#330000">GNU Nano is designed to be a free
141replacement for the Pico text editor, part of the PINE email suite from <a
142href="http://www.washington.edu/pine">The University of
143Washington</a>.&nbsp; It aims to "emulate Pico as closely as possible and
144perhaps include extra functionality.</font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]145
146<h2>
147<a NAME="1.4"></a><font color="#330000">1.4. What is the history behind
148nano?</font></h2>
149
150<blockquote><font color="#330000">Funny you should ask!</font>
151<p><b><font color="#330000">In the beginning...</font></b>
152<p><font color="#330000">For years Pine was THE program used to read email
153on a Unix system.&nbsp; The Pico text editor is the portion of the program
154one would use to compose his or her mail messages.&nbsp; Many beginners
155to Unix flocked to Pico and Pine because of their well organized, easy
Chris Allegretta7db63a52001-01-10 22:05:40 +0000[diff] [blame]156to use interfaces.&nbsp; With the proliferation of GNU/Linux in the mid to
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]157late 90's, many University students became intimately familiar with the
158strengths (and weaknesses) of Pine and Pico.</font>
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]159<p><b><font color="#330000">Then came Debian...</font></b>
160<p><font color="#330000">The <a href="http://www.debian.org">Debian GNU/Linux</a>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]161distribution, known for its strict standards in distributing truly "free"
162software (i.e. had no restrictions on redistribution), would not include
163a binary package for Pine or Pico.&nbsp; Many people had a serious dilemma:&nbsp;
164they loved these programs, but they were not truly free software in the
165<a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">GNU</a>
166sense of the word.</font>
167<p><b><font color="#330000">The event...</font></b>
168<p><font color="#330000">It was in late 1999 when Chris Allegretta (our
169hero) was yet again complaining to himself about the less-than-perfect
Chris Allegretta33db9bf2001-06-30 19:14:01 +0000[diff] [blame^]170license Pico was distributed under, the 1000 makefiles that came with
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]171it and how just a few small improvements could make it the Best Editor
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]172in the World (TM).&nbsp; Having been a convert from Slackware to Debian,
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]173he missed having a simple binary package that included Pine and Pico, and
174had grown tired of downloading them himself.</font>
175<p><font color="#330000">Finally something snapped inside and Chris coded
176and hacked like a madman for many hours straight one weekend to make a
177(barely usable) Pico clone, at the time called TIP (Tip Isn't Pico).&nbsp;
178The program could not be invoked without a filename, could not save files,
179had no help menu, spell checker, and so forth.&nbsp; But over time it improved,
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]180and with the help of a few great coders it matured to the (hopefully) stable
Chris Allegretta35ac99d2001-02-15 00:25:17 +0000[diff] [blame]181state it is today.
182<p><font color="#330000">In February 2001, nano has been declared an
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]183official GNU program by Richard Stallman. Nano also reached it's first
184production release on March 22, 2001.</font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]185
186<h2>
187<a NAME="1.5"></a><font color="#330000">1.5. Why the name change from TIP?</font></h2>
188
189<blockquote><font color="#330000">On January 10, 2000, TIP was officially
190renamed to nano because of a namespace conflict with another program called
191'tip'.&nbsp; The original 'tip' program "establishes a full duplex terminal
192connection to a remote host", and was included with many older Unix systems
193(and newer ones like Solaris). The conflict was not noticed at first because
Chris Allegretta7db63a52001-01-10 22:05:40 +0000[diff] [blame]194there is no 'tip' utility included with most GNU/Linux distributions (where
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]195nano was developed).</font></blockquote>
196
197<h2>
198<a NAME="1.6"></a><font color="#330000">1.6 What is the current version
199of nano?</font></h2>
200
201<blockquote><font color="#330000">The current version of nano *should*
Chris Allegretta38068cd2001-04-06 20:04:23 +0000[diff] [blame]202be 1.0.1.&nbsp; Of course you should always check the nano hompage to
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]203see what the latest and greatest version is.</font></blockquote>
204
205<h2>
206<a NAME="1.7"></a><font color="#330000">1.7. I want to read the man page
207without having to download the program!</font></h2>
208
209<blockquote><font color="#330000">Jeez, demanding, aren't we?&nbsp;&nbsp;
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]210Okay, 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]211
212<hr WIDTH="100%">
213<h1>
Chris Allegretta35ac99d2001-02-15 00:25:17 +0000[diff] [blame]214<a NAME="2"></a><font color="#330000">2. Where to get GNU nano</font></h1>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]215
216<h2>
217<a NAME="2.1"></a><font color="#330000">2.1. FTP and WWW sites that carry
218nano.</font></h2>
219
220<blockquote><font color="#330000">The nano distribution can be downloaded
221at the following fine web and ftp sites:</font>
222<ul>
223<li>
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]224<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]225
226<li>
227<font color="#330000"><a href="http://www.ewtoo.org/~astyanax/nano/dist">http://www.ewtoo.org/~astyanax/nano/dist</a></font></li>
228
229<li>
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]230<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]231
232<li>
233<font color="#330000"><a href="ftp://nano.sourceforge.net/pub/nano/">ftp://nano.sourceforge.net/pub/nano</a></font></li>
234</ul>
235</blockquote>
236
237<h2>
238<a NAME="2.2"></a><font color="#330000">2.2. Redhat and derivatives (.rpm)
239packages.</font></h2>
240
241<blockquote>
242<ul>
243<li>
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]244<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]245
246<li>
247<font color="#330000"><a href="http://www.ewtoo.org/~astyanax/nano/dist/RPMS">http://www.ewtoo.org/~astyanax/nano/dist/RPMS</a></font></li>
248
249<li>
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]250<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]251
252<li>
253<font color="#330000"><a href="ftp://nano.sourceforge.net/pub/nano/RPMS">ftp://nano.sourceforge.net/pub/nano/RPMS</a></font></li>
254</ul>
255<font color="#330000">Additionally, check out the Redhat contribs section
256at:</font>
257<ul>
258<li>
259<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>
260
261<li>
262<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>
263</ul>
264</blockquote>
265
266<h2>
267<a NAME="2.3"></a><font color="#330000">2.3. Debian (.deb) packages.</font></h2>
268
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]269<blockquote><font color="#330000">For Debian users, you can check out the
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]270current nano packages for:</font>
271<ul>
272<li>
Chris Allegretta42004f02000-11-19 00:34:46 +0000[diff] [blame]273<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]274
275<li>
276<font color="#330000"><a href="http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/editors/nano.html">unstable</a></font></li>
277</ul>
278<font color="#330000">Note that versions &lt; 0.9.10 are probably not for
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]279those wanting to get serious work done, so if you are using Debian 2.2, check
280that you have updated to 2.2r3, which comes with nano 0.9.23. If you're
281tracking unstable, you probably have the newest version already.</font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]282
283<h2>
284<a NAME="2.4"></a><font color="#330000">2.4. By CVS (for the brave).</font></h2>
285
286<blockquote><font color="#330000">For the 'bleeding edge' current version
287of nano, you can use CVS to download the current source code.&nbsp; <b>Note:</b>
288believe it or not, by downloading code that has not yet stabilized into
289an official release, there could quite possibly be bugs, in fact the code
290may not even compile!&nbsp; Anyway, see <a href="https://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=1304">the
291nano CVS page</a> for info on anonymous CVS access to the nano source.</font></blockquote>
292
293<hr WIDTH="100%">
294<h1>
295<a NAME="3"></a><font color="#330000">3. Installation and Configuration</font></h1>
296
297<h2>
298<a NAME="3.1"></a><font color="#330000">3.1. How do install the RPM or
299DEB package?</font></h2>
300
301<blockquote><font color="#330000">It's simple really!&nbsp; As root, type
302<b>rpm
303-Uvh nano-x.y.z-1.i386.rpm</b> if you have a Redhat-ish system or
304<b>dpkg
305-i nano_x.y.z-1.deb</b> if you have a Debian-ish system, where
306<b>x.y.z</b>
Jordi Mallach79ea7dd2000-12-19 22:58:00 +0000[diff] [blame]307is the release of nano.&nbsp; There are other programs to install packages,
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]308and if you wish to use those, knock yourself out.</font></blockquote>
309
310<h2>
311<a NAME="3.2"></a><font color="#330000">3.2. Compiling from source: WHAT
312THE HECK DO I DO NOW?</font></h2>
313
314<blockquote><font color="#330000">Okay, take a deep breath, this really
315isn't hard.&nbsp; Unpack the nano source with a command like:</font>
316<p><b><font color="#330000">tar -zxvf nano-x.y.z.tar.gz</font></b>
317<p><font color="#330000">If you get error messages about the -z option,
318try this:</font>
Chris Allegretta8c81d232000-08-16 02:52:44 +0000[diff] [blame]319<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]320<p><font color="#330000">(again, where x.y.z is the version number in question).&nbsp;
321Then you need to run configure with any options you might want (if any).</font>
322<p><font color="#330000">The average case is this:</font>
Chris Allegretta2c4feca2001-01-09 17:40:56 +0000[diff] [blame]323<p><b><font color="#330000">cd nano-x.y.z/</font></b>
324<br><b><font color="#330000">./configure</font></b>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]325<br><b><font color="#330000">make</font></b>
326<br><font color="#330000"><b>make install </b>(as root, of course)</font></blockquote>
327
328<h2>
329<a NAME="3.3"></a><font color="#330000">3.3. Why does everything go into
330/usr/local?</font></h2>
331
332<blockquote><font color="#330000">Well, that's what the <b>configure</b>
333script defaults to.&nbsp; If you wish to change this, simply do this:</font>
334<p><b><font color="#330000">./configure --prefix=/usr</font></b>
335<p><font color="#330000">to put nano into /usr/bin when you run <b>make
336install</b>.</font></blockquote>
337
338<h2>
339<a NAME="3.4"></a><font color="#330000">3.4. I get errors about 'bindtextdomain',
340'gettext' and/or 'gettextdomain'.&nbsp; What can I do about it?</font></h2>
341
342<blockquote><font color="#330000">Try doing a <b>./configure --with-included-gettext</b>
343and see if that solves your problem.&nbsp; You make need to do a <b>make
344clean ; make</b> to get it to work fully.</font></blockquote>
345
Chris Allegretta8a646ad2000-11-28 00:15:54 +0000[diff] [blame]346<h2>
347<a NAME="3.5"></a><font color="#330000">3.5. Nano should automatically
348run strip on the binary when installing it!</font></h2>
349
350<blockquote><font color="#330000">Actually, it does, but you have to use
351<b>make install-strip</b>. The default make install does not, and will
352not, run strip automatically.</font></blockquote>
353
Chris Allegretta2c4feca2001-01-09 17:40:56 +0000[diff] [blame]354<h2>
355<a NAME="3.6"></a><font color="#330000">
3563.6. How can I make the executable smaller? This is too
357bloated!</font></h2>
358
359<blockquote><font color="#330000">Actually, there are several parts of the
360editor that can be disabled. You can pass arguments to the
361<b>configure</b> script that disable certain features. Here's a brief
362list:
363<pre>
364<b>--disable-tabcomp</b> Disables tab completion code for a smaller binary
365<b>--disable-justify</b> Disable justify/unjustify function
366<b>--disable-speller</b> Disables spell checker function
367<b>--disable-help</b> Disables help function (^G)
368<b>--disable-browser</b> Disables mini file browser
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]369<b>--disable-wrapping</b> Disables all wrapping of text (and -w flag)
370<b>--disable-mouse</b> Disables mouse support (and -m flag)
Chris Allegretta2c4feca2001-01-09 17:40:56 +0000[diff] [blame]371</pre><br>
Chris Allegretta3362cae2001-02-06 22:21:25 +0000[diff] [blame]372There's also the <b>--enable-tiny</b> option which disables everything
Chris Allegretta2c4feca2001-01-09 17:40:56 +0000[diff] [blame]373above, as well as some larger chunks of the program (like the marker code
374that you use Control-^ to select with). Also, if you know you aren't
375going to be using other languages you can use <b>--disable-nls</b> to
376disable internationalization and save a few K to a few dozen K depending
377on if you have locale support on your system. And finally there's always
378good old <b>strip</b> to strip all debugging code and code that exists in
379libraries on your system.
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]380<p>If, in the other hand, you can't live with bells and whistles, you could
381try:
382<pre>
383<b>--enable-extra</b> Enable extra functions, including easter eggs
384<b>--enable-nanorc</b> Enable use of .nanorc file
385<b>--enable-color</b> Enables color and syntax highlighting
Chris Allegretta2c4feca2001-01-09 17:40:56 +0000[diff] [blame]386</font></blockquote> <hr WIDTH="100%"> <h1>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]387<a NAME="4"></a><font color="#330000">4. Running</font></h1>
388
389<h2>
390<a NAME="4.1"></a><font color="#330000">4.1. Ack!&nbsp; My backspace/delete/enter/double
391bucky/meta key doesn't seem to work!&nbsp; What can I do?</font></h2>
392
393<blockquote><font color="#330000">Try setting your $TERM variable to 'vt100'.&nbsp;
394Nano doesn't yet support every term entry under the sun.</font>
395<p><font color="#330000">Bourne shell users (like bash): <b>export TERM=vt100</b></font>
396<br><font color="#330000">C Shell users (tcsh and csh): <b>setenv TERM
397vt100</b></font></blockquote>
398
399<h2>
400<a NAME="4.2"></a><font color="#330000">4.2. Nano crashes when I type &lt;insert
401keystroke here>!</font></h2>
402
403<blockquote><font color="#330000">If you aren't trying some bizarre keystroke
404combination with some bizarre $TERM entry, chances are you have found a
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]405bug.&nbsp;&nbsp; You are welcome to submit it to the
406<a href="mailto:nano-devel@lists.sourceforge.net">nano-devel</a> list or
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]407to <a href="mailto:nano@nano-editor.org">nano@nano-editor.org</a>.</font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]408
409<h2>
410<a NAME="4.3"></a><font color="#330000">4.3. Nano crashes when I resize
411my window.&nbsp;&nbsp; How can I fix that?</font></h2>
412
413<blockquote><font color="#330000">Older versions of nano had this problem,
Jordi Mallach79ea7dd2000-12-19 22:58:00 +0000[diff] [blame]414please upgrade to a newer version (at least 0.9.9 would be great, 0.9.12
415is recommended).</font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]416
417<h2>
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]418<a NAME="4.4"></a><font color="#330000">4.4. Why does nano show ^\ in the
419shortcut list instead of ^J?</font></h2>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]420
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]421<blockquote><font color="#330000">The help (^G) and justify (^J) function
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]422were among the last to be written.&nbsp; To show the improvements that
423nano had over Pico (goto line # and replace), ^_ and ^\ were put on the
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]424shortcut list.&nbsp;&nbsp; Later, ^G came back in place of ^_ as it proved
425to be very valuable for new UNIX users. If you use the <b>-p</b> option to
426nano (or hit Meta-P) you will get the same shortcuts at the bottom as
427Pico.</font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]428
429<h2>
Chris Allegretta47ddfaf2000-11-18 19:04:32 +0000[diff] [blame]430<a name="4.5"><font color="#330000">4.5. When I type in a search
431string, the string I last searched for is already in front of my
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]432cursor! What happened?!</font></h2>
Chris Allegretta47ddfaf2000-11-18 19:04:32 +0000[diff] [blame]433
Chris Allegrettab29550e2000-12-09 03:34:12 +0000[diff] [blame]434<blockquote><font color="#330000">In nano version 0.9.20, the default is
Chris Allegretta47ddfaf2000-11-18 19:04:32 +0000[diff] [blame]435to have a completely consistent user interface across all user input
436functions. This means that regardless of whether you're being asked for
Chris Allegretta3ebac1c2000-11-19 00:47:30 +0000[diff] [blame]437a filename to insert or write, or a string to search for, the
438previous value is already inserted before the cursor. If you prefer the
439old behavior, use the pico emulation mode (-p or --pico) or just hit
440Meta-P while in nano (see the ^G help text for more
441details).</font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta47ddfaf2000-11-18 19:04:32 +0000[diff] [blame]442
443<h2>
Chris Allegretta201d9bf2001-01-14 03:17:53 +0000[diff] [blame]444<a NAME="4.6"></a>I get the message "NumLock glitch detected. Keypad
Chris Allegretta40973792001-01-15 20:25:24 +0000[diff] [blame]445will malfunction with NumLock off." What gives?</h2>
Chris Allegretta201d9bf2001-01-14 03:17:53 +0000[diff] [blame]446
447<blockquote>
448Nano (actually almost all console editors do) has issues when cycling
449the NumLock key in certain X terminals (rxvt, aterm, wterm, etc...). When
450you switch NumLock on to off, you put the terminal into an "application
451mode" that changes what sequences are sent by the keypad. These sequences
452vary sufficiently from terminal to terminal that it is nearly impossible
453to work around them from within nano.
454<br><br>
455In a nutshell, if you want to be able to use the keypad with the arrow and
456page up/down functionality, you have to exit nano and reset your terminal
457(presumably with "reset" or "stty sane" or similar) and then run nano
458again with NumLock off. If you know an easier way to restore "normal
Chris Allegretta3362cae2001-02-06 22:21:25 +0000[diff] [blame]459mode", please mail <A href="mailto:nano@nano-editor.org">nano@nano-editor.org</A>.
Chris Allegretta201d9bf2001-01-14 03:17:53 +0000[diff] [blame]460<br>&nbsp;</blockquote>
461
462<h2>
463<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]464mutt, etc)?</h2>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]465
466<blockquote>You need to make nano your $EDITOR.&nbsp; If you want this
467to be saved, you should put a line like this in your <b>.bashrc</b> if
468you use bash:
469<p><b>export EDITOR=/usr/local/bin/nano</b>
470<p>or if you use tcsh put this in your <b>.cshrc</b> file:
471<p><b>setenv EDITOR /usr/local/bin/nano</b>
472<p>Change /usr/local/bin/nano to wherever nano is installed in your system.&nbsp;
473Type which nano to find out. This will not take effect until the next time
474you login.&nbsp; So log out and back in again.
475<p>Then on top that if you use Pine you must go into setup (type <b>S</b>
476at the main menu), then configure (type <b>C</b>).&nbsp; Hit enter on the
477lines that say:
478<p><b>[ ]&nbsp; enable-alternate-editor-cmd</b>
479<br><b>[ ]&nbsp; enable-alternate-editor-implicitly</b>
480<p>Then exit (<b>E</b>) and select Yes (<b>Y</b>).
481<p>Mutt users should see an effect immediately the next time you log in,
482no further configuration is needed.&nbsp; However, if you want to let people
483know you use nano to compose your email messages, you can put a line like
484this in your <b>.muttrc</b>:
485<p><b>my_hdr X-Composer: nano x.y.z</b>
486<p>Again, replace x.y.z with the version of nano you use.
487<br>&nbsp;</blockquote>
488
489<hr WIDTH="100%">
490<h1>
491<a NAME="5"></a><font color="#330000">5. Internationalization</font></h1>
492
493<h2>
494<a NAME="5.1"></a><font color="#330000">5.1. There's no translation for
495my language!</font></h2>
496
497<blockquote><font color="#330000">So, uh, get someone who speaks your native
498language to write one =-).&nbsp; Just grab the <b>nano.pot</b> file from
499the latest and greatest nano distribution (it's in the <b>po/</b> directory)
500and translate each line into your native language on the <b>msgstr</b>
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]501line.&nbsp; Then send it to the <a href="mailto:nano-devel@lists.sourceforge.net">nano-devel</a> 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]502
503<h2>
504<a NAME="5.2"></a><font color="#330000">5.2. I don't like the translation
505for &lt;x> in my language.&nbsp;&nbsp; How can I fix it?</font></h2>
506
507<blockquote><font color="#330000">The best way would probably be to e-mail
508the person listed in the <b>&lt;your_language>.po</b> file with your suggested
509corrections and they can in turn forward it to the nano email address,
510or the devel list.</font></blockquote>
511
512<hr WIDTH="100%">
513<h1>
514<a NAME="6"></a><font color="#330000">6. Advocacy and Licensing</font></h1>
515
516<h2>
517<a NAME="6.1"></a><font color="#330000">6.1. Why should I use nano instead
518of Pico?</font></h2>
519
520<blockquote><font color="#330000">There are many reasons to use nano instead
Chris Allegretta4bf831f2001-03-26 15:35:34 +0000[diff] [blame]521of Pico, a more complete list can be found at the <a href="http://www.nano-editor.org">nano
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]522homepage</a>.</font></blockquote>
523
524<h2>
525<a NAME="6.2"></a><font color="#330000">6.2. Why should I use Pico instead
526of nano?</font></h2>
527
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]528<blockquote>Again, check out the <a href="http://www.nano-editor.org">nano
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]529homepage</a> for a good summary of reasons.&nbsp; It really is a matter
530of personal preference as to which editor you should use.&nbsp; If you're
531the type of person who likes using the original version of a program, then
532Pico is the editor for you.&nbsp;&nbsp; If you're looking for a few more
533features and a 'better' license as far as adding your own changes (sacrificing
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]534mailer integration with Pine), nano is the way to go.
Chris Allegretta2d6f1bc2001-02-17 02:42:03 +0000[diff] [blame]535</blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]536
537<h2>
538<a NAME="6.3"></a><font color="#330000">6.3. What is so bad about the PINE
539license?</font></h2>
540
Chris Allegretta2d6f1bc2001-02-17 02:42:03 +0000[diff] [blame]541<blockquote><font color="#330000">The U of W license for Pine and
542Pico is not considered truly Free Software according to both the Free
543Software Foundation and the the <a
544href="http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines">Debian
545Free Software Guidelines</a>.&nbsp; The main problem regards the
546limitations on distributing derived works: according to UW, you can
547distribute their software, and you can modfify it, but you can not do
548both, i.e. distribute modified binaries.</blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]549
550<h2>
551<a NAME="6.4"></a><font color="#330000">6.4. Okay, well what mail program
552should I use then?</font></h2>
553
Chris Allegretta2d6f1bc2001-02-17 02:42:03 +0000[diff] [blame]554<blockquote><font color="#330000"> If you are looking to use a Free
Chris Allegretta88520c92001-05-05 17:45:54 +0000[diff] [blame]555Software program similar to PINE and emacs is not your thing, you should
Chris Allegretta2d6f1bc2001-02-17 02:42:03 +0000[diff] [blame]556definitely take a look at <a href="http://www.mutt.org">mutt</a>.&nbsp; It
557is a full-screen, console based mail program that actually has a lot more
558flexibility than Pine, but has a keymap included in the distribution that
559allows you to use the same keystrokes as Pine would to send and receive
560mail.&nbsp; It's also licensed under the GPL.</font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]561
562<h2>
563<a NAME="6.5"></a><font color="#330000">6.5. Why doesn't UW simply change
564their license?</font></h2>
565
566<blockquote><font color="#330000">You're really not asking the right person
Chris Allegretta8c81d232000-08-16 02:52:44 +0000[diff] [blame]567here.&nbsp; I (Chris) waited a long time to see if UW would change their
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]568license because of the amount of high quality software being released and
569developed under the GPL without being taken advantage of by malicious corporate
570entities or other baddies, but no such luck so far.</font></blockquote>
571
572<h2>
573<a NAME="6.6"></a><font color="#330000">6.6. What if tomorrow UW changes
574the license to be truly Free Software?</font></h2>
575
576<blockquote><font color="#330000">Honestly nothing would make me happier
577than to see that happen.&nbsp; Nano would continue to be developed independently
578until such time as Pico had all the features nano did or the projects merged.&nbsp;
579That just does not seem very likely given that there has been no sign of
580any changes in the past few years in a positive direction.</font></blockquote>
581
582<hr WIDTH="100%">
583<h1>
584<a NAME="7"></a><font color="#330000">7. Miscellaneous</font></h1>
585
586<h2>
587<a NAME="7.1"></a><font color="#330000">7.1. Nano related mailing lists.</font></h2>
588
589<blockquote><font color="#330000">There are two mailing lists for nano
590hosted at <a href="http://www.sourceforge.net">SourceForge</a>, nano-announce
591and nano-devel.&nbsp; Nano-announce is a very low traffic list where new
Jordi Mallach79ea7dd2000-12-19 22:58:00 +0000[diff] [blame]592versions of nano are announced (surprise!)&nbsp; Nano-devel is a normally
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]593low, sometimes high traffic list for discussing the present and future
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]594development of nano.&nbsp; Here are links to where you can sign up for
595a given list:</font><font color="#330000"></font>
596<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>
597<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>
598
599<h2>
600<a NAME="7.2"></a><font color="#330000">7.2. I want to send the development
601team a big load of cash (or just a thank you).</font></h2>
602
603<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]604way</a>!&nbsp; Better yet, fix a <a href="http://www.nano-editor.org/dist/BUGS">bug</a>
605in 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]606feature</a> and send us that instead (though cash is fine too).</font></blockquote>
607
608<h2>
609<a NAME="7.3"></a><font color="#330000">7.3. How do I submit a patch?</font></h2>
610
611<blockquote><font color="#330000">See Section <a href="#7.2">7.2</a>.</font></blockquote>
612
613<h2>
614<a NAME="7.4"></a><font color="#330000">7.4. How do I join the development
615team?</font></h2>
616
617<blockquote><font color="#330000">The easiest way is to consistently send
618in good patches that add some needed functionality, fix a bug or two and/or
619make the program more optimized/efficient.&nbsp; Then ask nicely and you
620will probably be added to the SourceForge development list and be given
621CVS write after awhile.&nbsp; There is a lot of responsibility that goes
622along with being a team member, so don't think it's just something to add
623to your resume.</font></blockquote>
624
625<h2>
626<a NAME="7.5"></a><font color="#330000">7.5. Can I have CVS write access?</font></h2>
627
628<blockquote><font color="#330000">Re-read Section </font><a href="#7.4">7.4</a><font color="#330000">
629and you should know the answer.</font></blockquote>
630
631<h1>
632<a NAME="8"></a>8. ChangeLog</h1>
633
634<blockquote>06/31/2000 - Initial framework.</blockquote>
Chris Allegrettac87a4112000-08-07 02:16:24 +0000[diff] [blame]635<P>
636$Id$
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]637</body>
638</html>