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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
Chris Allegretta9a748602001-07-15 16:07:23 +0000[diff] [blame^]55executable smaller? This is too bloated!</a></font>
56<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#3.7">3.7. Tell me more about this
57multibuffer stuff!</a></font>
58<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#3.8">3.8. How do I make a .nanorc file
59that nano will read when I start it?</a></font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]60
61<h2>
62<font color="#330000"><a href="#4">4. Running</a></font></h2>
63
64<blockquote><font color="#330000"><a href="#4.1">4.1. Ack!&nbsp; My backspace/delete/enter/double
65bucky/meta key doesn't seem to work!&nbsp; What can I do?</a></font>
66<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#4.2">4.2. Nano crashes when I type
67&lt;insert keystroke here>!</a></font>
68<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#4.3">4.3. Nano crashes when I resize
69my window.&nbsp;&nbsp; How can I fix that?</a></font>
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]70<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#4.4">4.4. Why does nano show ^\
71in the shortcut list instead of ^J?</a></font>
Chris Allegretta47ddfaf2000-11-18 19:04:32 +0000[diff] [blame]72<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#4.5">4.5. When I type in a
73search string, the string I last searched for is already in front of
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]74my cursor! What happened?!</a></font>
Chris Allegretta201d9bf2001-01-14 03:17:53 +0000[diff] [blame]75<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]76glitch detected. Keypad will malfunction with NumLock off." What
Chris Allegretta201d9bf2001-01-14 03:17:53 +0000[diff] [blame]77gives?</a></font>
78<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#4.7">4.7. How do I make nano my
79default editor (in Pine, mutt, etc.)?</a></font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]80
81<h2>
82<font color="#330000"><a href="#5">5. Internationalization</a></font></h2>
83
84<blockquote><font color="#330000"><a href="#5.1">5.1. There's no translation
85for my language!</a></font>
86<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#5.2">5.2. I don't like the translation
87for &lt;x> in my language.&nbsp;&nbsp; How can I fix it?</a></font></blockquote>
88
89<h2>
Chris Allegretta90d68952000-07-24 02:55:49 +0000[diff] [blame]90<font color="#330000"><a href="#6">6. Advocacy and Licensing</a></font></h2>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]91
92<blockquote><font color="#330000"><a href="#6.1">6.1. Why should I use
93nano instead of Pico?</a></font>
94<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#6.2">6.2. Why should I use Pico instead
95of nano?</a></font>
96<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#6.3">6.3. What is so bad about the
97PINE license?</a></font>
98<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#6.4">6.4. Okay, well what mail program
99should I use then?</a></font>
100<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#6.5">6.5. Why doesn't UW simply change
101their license?</a></font>
102<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#6.6">6.6. What if tomorrow UW changes
103the license to be truly Free Software?</a></font></blockquote>
104
105<h2>
106<font color="#330000"><a href="#7">7. Miscellaneous</a></font></h2>
107
108<blockquote><font color="#330000"><a href="#7.1">7.1. Nano related mailing
109lists.</a></font>
110<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#7.2">7.2. I want to send the development
111team a big load of cash (or just a thank you).</a></font>
112<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#7.3">7.3. How do I submit a patch?</a></font>
113<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#7.4">7.4. How do I join the development
114team?</a></font>
115<br><font color="#330000"><a href="#7.5">7.5. Can I have CVS write access?</a></font></blockquote>
116
117<h2>
118<a href="#8">8. ChangeLog</a></h2>
119
120<hr WIDTH="100%">
121<br>&nbsp;
122<h1>
123<a NAME="1"></a><font color="#330000">1.&nbsp; General</font></h1>
124
125<h2>
126<a NAME="1.1"></a><font color="#330000">1.1 About this FAQ.</font></h2>
127
128<blockquote><font color="#330000">This FAQ was written and is maintained
129by Chris Allegretta &lt;<a href="mailto:chrisa@asty.org">chrisa@asty.org</a>>,
130who also happens to be the creator of nano.&nbsp;&nbsp; Maybe someone else
131will volunteer to maintain this FAQ someday, who knows...</font></blockquote>
132
133<h2>
134<a NAME="1.2"></a><font color="#330000">1.2. How do I contribute to it?</font></h2>
135
136<blockquote><font color="#330000">Your best bet is to send it to the nano
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]137email address, <a
138href="mailto:nano@nano-editor.org">nano@nano-editor.org</a> and if
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]139it is useful enough it will be included in future versions.</font></blockquote>
140
141<h2>
Chris Allegretta35ac99d2001-02-15 00:25:17 +0000[diff] [blame]142<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]143
Chris Allegretta35ac99d2001-02-15 00:25:17 +0000[diff] [blame]144<blockquote><font color="#330000">GNU Nano is designed to be a free
145replacement for the Pico text editor, part of the PINE email suite from <a
146href="http://www.washington.edu/pine">The University of
147Washington</a>.&nbsp; It aims to "emulate Pico as closely as possible and
148perhaps include extra functionality.</font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]149
150<h2>
151<a NAME="1.4"></a><font color="#330000">1.4. What is the history behind
152nano?</font></h2>
153
154<blockquote><font color="#330000">Funny you should ask!</font>
155<p><b><font color="#330000">In the beginning...</font></b>
156<p><font color="#330000">For years Pine was THE program used to read email
157on a Unix system.&nbsp; The Pico text editor is the portion of the program
158one would use to compose his or her mail messages.&nbsp; Many beginners
159to Unix flocked to Pico and Pine because of their well organized, easy
Chris Allegretta7db63a52001-01-10 22:05:40 +0000[diff] [blame]160to use interfaces.&nbsp; With the proliferation of GNU/Linux in the mid to
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]161late 90's, many University students became intimately familiar with the
162strengths (and weaknesses) of Pine and Pico.</font>
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]163<p><b><font color="#330000">Then came Debian...</font></b>
164<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]165distribution, known for its strict standards in distributing truly "free"
166software (i.e. had no restrictions on redistribution), would not include
167a binary package for Pine or Pico.&nbsp; Many people had a serious dilemma:&nbsp;
168they loved these programs, but they were not truly free software in the
169<a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">GNU</a>
170sense of the word.</font>
171<p><b><font color="#330000">The event...</font></b>
172<p><font color="#330000">It was in late 1999 when Chris Allegretta (our
173hero) was yet again complaining to himself about the less-than-perfect
Chris Allegretta33db9bf2001-06-30 19:14:01 +0000[diff] [blame]174license Pico was distributed under, the 1000 makefiles that came with
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]175it and how just a few small improvements could make it the Best Editor
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]176in the World (TM).&nbsp; Having been a convert from Slackware to Debian,
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]177he missed having a simple binary package that included Pine and Pico, and
178had grown tired of downloading them himself.</font>
179<p><font color="#330000">Finally something snapped inside and Chris coded
180and hacked like a madman for many hours straight one weekend to make a
181(barely usable) Pico clone, at the time called TIP (Tip Isn't Pico).&nbsp;
182The program could not be invoked without a filename, could not save files,
183had no help menu, spell checker, and so forth.&nbsp; But over time it improved,
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]184and with the help of a few great coders it matured to the (hopefully) stable
Chris Allegretta35ac99d2001-02-15 00:25:17 +0000[diff] [blame]185state it is today.
186<p><font color="#330000">In February 2001, nano has been declared an
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]187official GNU program by Richard Stallman. Nano also reached it's first
188production release on March 22, 2001.</font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]189
190<h2>
191<a NAME="1.5"></a><font color="#330000">1.5. Why the name change from TIP?</font></h2>
192
193<blockquote><font color="#330000">On January 10, 2000, TIP was officially
194renamed to nano because of a namespace conflict with another program called
195'tip'.&nbsp; The original 'tip' program "establishes a full duplex terminal
196connection to a remote host", and was included with many older Unix systems
197(and newer ones like Solaris). The conflict was not noticed at first because
Chris Allegretta7db63a52001-01-10 22:05:40 +0000[diff] [blame]198there is no 'tip' utility included with most GNU/Linux distributions (where
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]199nano was developed).</font></blockquote>
200
201<h2>
202<a NAME="1.6"></a><font color="#330000">1.6 What is the current version
203of nano?</font></h2>
204
205<blockquote><font color="#330000">The current version of nano *should*
Chris Allegretta9a748602001-07-15 16:07:23 +0000[diff] [blame^]206be 1.1.0.&nbsp; Of course you should always check the nano hompage to
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]207see what the latest and greatest version is.</font></blockquote>
208
209<h2>
210<a NAME="1.7"></a><font color="#330000">1.7. I want to read the man page
211without having to download the program!</font></h2>
212
213<blockquote><font color="#330000">Jeez, demanding, aren't we?&nbsp;&nbsp;
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]214Okay, 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]215
216<hr WIDTH="100%">
217<h1>
Chris Allegretta35ac99d2001-02-15 00:25:17 +0000[diff] [blame]218<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]219
220<h2>
221<a NAME="2.1"></a><font color="#330000">2.1. FTP and WWW sites that carry
222nano.</font></h2>
223
224<blockquote><font color="#330000">The nano distribution can be downloaded
225at the following fine web and ftp sites:</font>
226<ul>
227<li>
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]228<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]229
230<li>
231<font color="#330000"><a href="http://www.ewtoo.org/~astyanax/nano/dist">http://www.ewtoo.org/~astyanax/nano/dist</a></font></li>
232
233<li>
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]234<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]235
236<li>
237<font color="#330000"><a href="ftp://nano.sourceforge.net/pub/nano/">ftp://nano.sourceforge.net/pub/nano</a></font></li>
238</ul>
239</blockquote>
240
241<h2>
242<a NAME="2.2"></a><font color="#330000">2.2. Redhat and derivatives (.rpm)
243packages.</font></h2>
244
245<blockquote>
246<ul>
247<li>
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]248<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]249
250<li>
251<font color="#330000"><a href="http://www.ewtoo.org/~astyanax/nano/dist/RPMS">http://www.ewtoo.org/~astyanax/nano/dist/RPMS</a></font></li>
252
253<li>
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]254<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]255
256<li>
257<font color="#330000"><a href="ftp://nano.sourceforge.net/pub/nano/RPMS">ftp://nano.sourceforge.net/pub/nano/RPMS</a></font></li>
258</ul>
259<font color="#330000">Additionally, check out the Redhat contribs section
260at:</font>
261<ul>
262<li>
263<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>
264
265<li>
266<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>
267</ul>
268</blockquote>
269
270<h2>
271<a NAME="2.3"></a><font color="#330000">2.3. Debian (.deb) packages.</font></h2>
272
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]273<blockquote><font color="#330000">For Debian users, you can check out the
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]274current nano packages for:</font>
275<ul>
276<li>
Chris Allegretta42004f02000-11-19 00:34:46 +0000[diff] [blame]277<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]278
279<li>
280<font color="#330000"><a href="http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/editors/nano.html">unstable</a></font></li>
281</ul>
282<font color="#330000">Note that versions &lt; 0.9.10 are probably not for
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]283those wanting to get serious work done, so if you are using Debian 2.2, check
284that you have updated to 2.2r3, which comes with nano 0.9.23. If you're
285tracking unstable, you probably have the newest version already.</font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]286
287<h2>
288<a NAME="2.4"></a><font color="#330000">2.4. By CVS (for the brave).</font></h2>
289
290<blockquote><font color="#330000">For the 'bleeding edge' current version
291of nano, you can use CVS to download the current source code.&nbsp; <b>Note:</b>
292believe it or not, by downloading code that has not yet stabilized into
293an official release, there could quite possibly be bugs, in fact the code
294may not even compile!&nbsp; Anyway, see <a href="https://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=1304">the
295nano CVS page</a> for info on anonymous CVS access to the nano source.</font></blockquote>
296
297<hr WIDTH="100%">
298<h1>
299<a NAME="3"></a><font color="#330000">3. Installation and Configuration</font></h1>
300
301<h2>
302<a NAME="3.1"></a><font color="#330000">3.1. How do install the RPM or
303DEB package?</font></h2>
304
305<blockquote><font color="#330000">It's simple really!&nbsp; As root, type
306<b>rpm
307-Uvh nano-x.y.z-1.i386.rpm</b> if you have a Redhat-ish system or
308<b>dpkg
309-i nano_x.y.z-1.deb</b> if you have a Debian-ish system, where
310<b>x.y.z</b>
Jordi Mallach79ea7dd2000-12-19 22:58:00 +0000[diff] [blame]311is the release of nano.&nbsp; There are other programs to install packages,
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]312and if you wish to use those, knock yourself out.</font></blockquote>
313
314<h2>
315<a NAME="3.2"></a><font color="#330000">3.2. Compiling from source: WHAT
316THE HECK DO I DO NOW?</font></h2>
317
318<blockquote><font color="#330000">Okay, take a deep breath, this really
319isn't hard.&nbsp; Unpack the nano source with a command like:</font>
320<p><b><font color="#330000">tar -zxvf nano-x.y.z.tar.gz</font></b>
321<p><font color="#330000">If you get error messages about the -z option,
322try this:</font>
Chris Allegretta8c81d232000-08-16 02:52:44 +0000[diff] [blame]323<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]324<p><font color="#330000">(again, where x.y.z is the version number in question).&nbsp;
325Then you need to run configure with any options you might want (if any).</font>
326<p><font color="#330000">The average case is this:</font>
Chris Allegretta2c4feca2001-01-09 17:40:56 +0000[diff] [blame]327<p><b><font color="#330000">cd nano-x.y.z/</font></b>
328<br><b><font color="#330000">./configure</font></b>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]329<br><b><font color="#330000">make</font></b>
330<br><font color="#330000"><b>make install </b>(as root, of course)</font></blockquote>
331
332<h2>
333<a NAME="3.3"></a><font color="#330000">3.3. Why does everything go into
334/usr/local?</font></h2>
335
336<blockquote><font color="#330000">Well, that's what the <b>configure</b>
337script defaults to.&nbsp; If you wish to change this, simply do this:</font>
338<p><b><font color="#330000">./configure --prefix=/usr</font></b>
339<p><font color="#330000">to put nano into /usr/bin when you run <b>make
340install</b>.</font></blockquote>
341
342<h2>
343<a NAME="3.4"></a><font color="#330000">3.4. I get errors about 'bindtextdomain',
344'gettext' and/or 'gettextdomain'.&nbsp; What can I do about it?</font></h2>
345
346<blockquote><font color="#330000">Try doing a <b>./configure --with-included-gettext</b>
347and see if that solves your problem.&nbsp; You make need to do a <b>make
348clean ; make</b> to get it to work fully.</font></blockquote>
349
Chris Allegretta8a646ad2000-11-28 00:15:54 +0000[diff] [blame]350<h2>
351<a NAME="3.5"></a><font color="#330000">3.5. Nano should automatically
352run strip on the binary when installing it!</font></h2>
353
354<blockquote><font color="#330000">Actually, it does, but you have to use
355<b>make install-strip</b>. The default make install does not, and will
356not, run strip automatically.</font></blockquote>
357
Chris Allegretta2c4feca2001-01-09 17:40:56 +0000[diff] [blame]358<h2>
359<a NAME="3.6"></a><font color="#330000">
3603.6. How can I make the executable smaller? This is too
361bloated!</font></h2>
362
363<blockquote><font color="#330000">Actually, there are several parts of the
364editor that can be disabled. You can pass arguments to the
365<b>configure</b> script that disable certain features. Here's a brief
366list:
367<pre>
368<b>--disable-tabcomp</b> Disables tab completion code for a smaller binary
369<b>--disable-justify</b> Disable justify/unjustify function
370<b>--disable-speller</b> Disables spell checker function
371<b>--disable-help</b> Disables help function (^G)
372<b>--disable-browser</b> Disables mini file browser
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]373<b>--disable-wrapping</b> Disables all wrapping of text (and -w flag)
374<b>--disable-mouse</b> Disables mouse support (and -m flag)
Chris Allegretta2c4feca2001-01-09 17:40:56 +0000[diff] [blame]375</pre><br>
Chris Allegretta3362cae2001-02-06 22:21:25 +0000[diff] [blame]376There's also the <b>--enable-tiny</b> option which disables everything
Chris Allegretta2c4feca2001-01-09 17:40:56 +0000[diff] [blame]377above, as well as some larger chunks of the program (like the marker code
378that you use Control-^ to select with). Also, if you know you aren't
379going to be using other languages you can use <b>--disable-nls</b> to
380disable internationalization and save a few K to a few dozen K depending
381on if you have locale support on your system. And finally there's always
382good old <b>strip</b> to strip all debugging code and code that exists in
383libraries on your system.
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]384<p>If, in the other hand, you can't live with bells and whistles, you could
385try:
386<pre>
387<b>--enable-extra</b> Enable extra functions, including easter eggs
388<b>--enable-nanorc</b> Enable use of .nanorc file
389<b>--enable-color</b> Enables color and syntax highlighting
Chris Allegretta9a748602001-07-15 16:07:23 +0000[diff] [blame^]390<b>--enable-multibuffer</b> Enables having multiple file buffers open
391</font></blockquote>
392
393<h2>
394<a NAME="3.7"></a><font color="#330000">
3953.7. Tell me more about this multibuffer stuff!</font></h2>
396
397<blockquote><font color="#330000"> To use multiple file buffers, you must be using nano 1.1.0
398or newer, and you must have configured nano with <b>--enable-multibuffer</b> or
399<b>--enable-extra</b> (use nano -V to check). Then when you want to enable inserting a file
400into its own buffer instead of into the current file, just hit <b>Meta-F</b>, then insert the
401file as normal with <b>^R</b>. If you always want files to be loaded into their own buffers,
402use the <b>--multibuffer</b> or <b>-F</b> flag when you invoke nano. <P>
403
404You can move between the buffers you have open with the <b>Meta-&lt;</b> and <b>Meta-&gt;</b>
405keys, or more easily with <b>Meta-,</b> and <b>Meta-.</b> (clear as mud, right? =-).
406When you have more than one file buffer open, the ^X shortcut will say "Close", instead of the
407normal "Exit" when only one buffer is open.
408</font></blockquote>
409
410<h2>
411<a NAME="3.8"></a><font color="#330000">
4123.8. How do I make a .nanorc file that nano will read when I start it?</font></h2>
413
414<blockquote><font color="#330000"> It's not hard at all! But, your version of nano must have
415beem compiled with <b>--enable-nanorc</b>, and again must be version 1.1.0 or newer (use nano
416-V to check your version and compiled features). Then simply copy the <b>nanorc.sample</b>
417that came with the nano source or your nano package (most likely in /usr/doc/nano) to .nanorc
418in your home directory. If you didn't get one, the syntax is simple. Flags are turned on and
419off by using the word <b>set</b> and the getopt_long flag for the feature, for example "set
420pico" or "set nowrap". </font></blockquote> <hr WIDTH="100%">
421
422<h1><a NAME="4"></a><font color="#330000">4. Running</font></h1>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]423
424<h2>
425<a NAME="4.1"></a><font color="#330000">4.1. Ack!&nbsp; My backspace/delete/enter/double
426bucky/meta key doesn't seem to work!&nbsp; What can I do?</font></h2>
427
428<blockquote><font color="#330000">Try setting your $TERM variable to 'vt100'.&nbsp;
429Nano doesn't yet support every term entry under the sun.</font>
430<p><font color="#330000">Bourne shell users (like bash): <b>export TERM=vt100</b></font>
431<br><font color="#330000">C Shell users (tcsh and csh): <b>setenv TERM
432vt100</b></font></blockquote>
433
434<h2>
435<a NAME="4.2"></a><font color="#330000">4.2. Nano crashes when I type &lt;insert
436keystroke here>!</font></h2>
437
438<blockquote><font color="#330000">If you aren't trying some bizarre keystroke
439combination with some bizarre $TERM entry, chances are you have found a
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]440bug.&nbsp;&nbsp; You are welcome to submit it to the
441<a href="mailto:nano-devel@lists.sourceforge.net">nano-devel</a> list or
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]442to <a href="mailto:nano@nano-editor.org">nano@nano-editor.org</a>.</font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]443
444<h2>
445<a NAME="4.3"></a><font color="#330000">4.3. Nano crashes when I resize
446my window.&nbsp;&nbsp; How can I fix that?</font></h2>
447
448<blockquote><font color="#330000">Older versions of nano had this problem,
Jordi Mallach79ea7dd2000-12-19 22:58:00 +0000[diff] [blame]449please upgrade to a newer version (at least 0.9.9 would be great, 0.9.12
450is recommended).</font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]451
452<h2>
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]453<a NAME="4.4"></a><font color="#330000">4.4. Why does nano show ^\ in the
454shortcut list instead of ^J?</font></h2>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]455
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]456<blockquote><font color="#330000">The help (^G) and justify (^J) function
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]457were among the last to be written.&nbsp; To show the improvements that
458nano had over Pico (goto line # and replace), ^_ and ^\ were put on the
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]459shortcut list.&nbsp;&nbsp; Later, ^G came back in place of ^_ as it proved
460to be very valuable for new UNIX users. If you use the <b>-p</b> option to
461nano (or hit Meta-P) you will get the same shortcuts at the bottom as
462Pico.</font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]463
464<h2>
Chris Allegretta47ddfaf2000-11-18 19:04:32 +0000[diff] [blame]465<a name="4.5"><font color="#330000">4.5. When I type in a search
466string, the string I last searched for is already in front of my
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]467cursor! What happened?!</font></h2>
Chris Allegretta47ddfaf2000-11-18 19:04:32 +0000[diff] [blame]468
Chris Allegrettab29550e2000-12-09 03:34:12 +0000[diff] [blame]469<blockquote><font color="#330000">In nano version 0.9.20, the default is
Chris Allegretta47ddfaf2000-11-18 19:04:32 +0000[diff] [blame]470to have a completely consistent user interface across all user input
471functions. This means that regardless of whether you're being asked for
Chris Allegretta3ebac1c2000-11-19 00:47:30 +0000[diff] [blame]472a filename to insert or write, or a string to search for, the
473previous value is already inserted before the cursor. If you prefer the
474old behavior, use the pico emulation mode (-p or --pico) or just hit
475Meta-P while in nano (see the ^G help text for more
476details).</font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta47ddfaf2000-11-18 19:04:32 +0000[diff] [blame]477
478<h2>
Chris Allegretta201d9bf2001-01-14 03:17:53 +0000[diff] [blame]479<a NAME="4.6"></a>I get the message "NumLock glitch detected. Keypad
Chris Allegretta40973792001-01-15 20:25:24 +0000[diff] [blame]480will malfunction with NumLock off." What gives?</h2>
Chris Allegretta201d9bf2001-01-14 03:17:53 +0000[diff] [blame]481
482<blockquote>
483Nano (actually almost all console editors do) has issues when cycling
484the NumLock key in certain X terminals (rxvt, aterm, wterm, etc...). When
485you switch NumLock on to off, you put the terminal into an "application
486mode" that changes what sequences are sent by the keypad. These sequences
487vary sufficiently from terminal to terminal that it is nearly impossible
488to work around them from within nano.
489<br><br>
490In a nutshell, if you want to be able to use the keypad with the arrow and
491page up/down functionality, you have to exit nano and reset your terminal
492(presumably with "reset" or "stty sane" or similar) and then run nano
493again with NumLock off. If you know an easier way to restore "normal
Chris Allegretta3362cae2001-02-06 22:21:25 +0000[diff] [blame]494mode", please mail <A href="mailto:nano@nano-editor.org">nano@nano-editor.org</A>.
Chris Allegretta201d9bf2001-01-14 03:17:53 +0000[diff] [blame]495<br>&nbsp;</blockquote>
496
497<h2>
498<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]499mutt, etc)?</h2>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]500
501<blockquote>You need to make nano your $EDITOR.&nbsp; If you want this
502to be saved, you should put a line like this in your <b>.bashrc</b> if
503you use bash:
504<p><b>export EDITOR=/usr/local/bin/nano</b>
505<p>or if you use tcsh put this in your <b>.cshrc</b> file:
506<p><b>setenv EDITOR /usr/local/bin/nano</b>
507<p>Change /usr/local/bin/nano to wherever nano is installed in your system.&nbsp;
508Type which nano to find out. This will not take effect until the next time
509you login.&nbsp; So log out and back in again.
510<p>Then on top that if you use Pine you must go into setup (type <b>S</b>
511at the main menu), then configure (type <b>C</b>).&nbsp; Hit enter on the
512lines that say:
513<p><b>[ ]&nbsp; enable-alternate-editor-cmd</b>
514<br><b>[ ]&nbsp; enable-alternate-editor-implicitly</b>
515<p>Then exit (<b>E</b>) and select Yes (<b>Y</b>).
516<p>Mutt users should see an effect immediately the next time you log in,
517no further configuration is needed.&nbsp; However, if you want to let people
518know you use nano to compose your email messages, you can put a line like
519this in your <b>.muttrc</b>:
520<p><b>my_hdr X-Composer: nano x.y.z</b>
521<p>Again, replace x.y.z with the version of nano you use.
522<br>&nbsp;</blockquote>
523
524<hr WIDTH="100%">
525<h1>
526<a NAME="5"></a><font color="#330000">5. Internationalization</font></h1>
527
528<h2>
529<a NAME="5.1"></a><font color="#330000">5.1. There's no translation for
530my language!</font></h2>
531
532<blockquote><font color="#330000">So, uh, get someone who speaks your native
533language to write one =-).&nbsp; Just grab the <b>nano.pot</b> file from
534the latest and greatest nano distribution (it's in the <b>po/</b> directory)
535and translate each line into your native language on the <b>msgstr</b>
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]536line.&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]537
538<h2>
539<a NAME="5.2"></a><font color="#330000">5.2. I don't like the translation
540for &lt;x> in my language.&nbsp;&nbsp; How can I fix it?</font></h2>
541
542<blockquote><font color="#330000">The best way would probably be to e-mail
543the person listed in the <b>&lt;your_language>.po</b> file with your suggested
544corrections and they can in turn forward it to the nano email address,
545or the devel list.</font></blockquote>
546
547<hr WIDTH="100%">
548<h1>
549<a NAME="6"></a><font color="#330000">6. Advocacy and Licensing</font></h1>
550
551<h2>
552<a NAME="6.1"></a><font color="#330000">6.1. Why should I use nano instead
553of Pico?</font></h2>
554
555<blockquote><font color="#330000">There are many reasons to use nano instead
Chris Allegretta4bf831f2001-03-26 15:35:34 +0000[diff] [blame]556of 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]557homepage</a>.</font></blockquote>
558
559<h2>
560<a NAME="6.2"></a><font color="#330000">6.2. Why should I use Pico instead
561of nano?</font></h2>
562
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]563<blockquote>Again, check out the <a href="http://www.nano-editor.org">nano
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]564homepage</a> for a good summary of reasons.&nbsp; It really is a matter
565of personal preference as to which editor you should use.&nbsp; If you're
566the type of person who likes using the original version of a program, then
567Pico is the editor for you.&nbsp;&nbsp; If you're looking for a few more
568features and a 'better' license as far as adding your own changes (sacrificing
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]569mailer integration with Pine), nano is the way to go.
Chris Allegretta2d6f1bc2001-02-17 02:42:03 +0000[diff] [blame]570</blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]571
572<h2>
573<a NAME="6.3"></a><font color="#330000">6.3. What is so bad about the PINE
574license?</font></h2>
575
Chris Allegretta2d6f1bc2001-02-17 02:42:03 +0000[diff] [blame]576<blockquote><font color="#330000">The U of W license for Pine and
577Pico is not considered truly Free Software according to both the Free
578Software Foundation and the the <a
579href="http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines">Debian
580Free Software Guidelines</a>.&nbsp; The main problem regards the
581limitations on distributing derived works: according to UW, you can
582distribute their software, and you can modfify it, but you can not do
583both, i.e. distribute modified binaries.</blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]584
585<h2>
586<a NAME="6.4"></a><font color="#330000">6.4. Okay, well what mail program
587should I use then?</font></h2>
588
Chris Allegretta2d6f1bc2001-02-17 02:42:03 +0000[diff] [blame]589<blockquote><font color="#330000"> If you are looking to use a Free
Chris Allegretta88520c92001-05-05 17:45:54 +0000[diff] [blame]590Software program similar to PINE and emacs is not your thing, you should
Chris Allegretta2d6f1bc2001-02-17 02:42:03 +0000[diff] [blame]591definitely take a look at <a href="http://www.mutt.org">mutt</a>.&nbsp; It
592is a full-screen, console based mail program that actually has a lot more
593flexibility than Pine, but has a keymap included in the distribution that
594allows you to use the same keystrokes as Pine would to send and receive
595mail.&nbsp; It's also licensed under the GPL.</font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]596
597<h2>
598<a NAME="6.5"></a><font color="#330000">6.5. Why doesn't UW simply change
599their license?</font></h2>
600
601<blockquote><font color="#330000">You're really not asking the right person
Chris Allegretta8c81d232000-08-16 02:52:44 +0000[diff] [blame]602here.&nbsp; I (Chris) waited a long time to see if UW would change their
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]603license because of the amount of high quality software being released and
604developed under the GPL without being taken advantage of by malicious corporate
605entities or other baddies, but no such luck so far.</font></blockquote>
606
607<h2>
608<a NAME="6.6"></a><font color="#330000">6.6. What if tomorrow UW changes
609the license to be truly Free Software?</font></h2>
610
611<blockquote><font color="#330000">Honestly nothing would make me happier
612than to see that happen.&nbsp; Nano would continue to be developed independently
613until such time as Pico had all the features nano did or the projects merged.&nbsp;
614That just does not seem very likely given that there has been no sign of
615any changes in the past few years in a positive direction.</font></blockquote>
616
617<hr WIDTH="100%">
618<h1>
619<a NAME="7"></a><font color="#330000">7. Miscellaneous</font></h1>
620
621<h2>
622<a NAME="7.1"></a><font color="#330000">7.1. Nano related mailing lists.</font></h2>
623
624<blockquote><font color="#330000">There are two mailing lists for nano
625hosted at <a href="http://www.sourceforge.net">SourceForge</a>, nano-announce
626and nano-devel.&nbsp; Nano-announce is a very low traffic list where new
Jordi Mallach79ea7dd2000-12-19 22:58:00 +0000[diff] [blame]627versions of nano are announced (surprise!)&nbsp; Nano-devel is a normally
Jordi Mallach72549042001-05-02 17:18:17 +0000[diff] [blame]628low, sometimes high traffic list for discussing the present and future
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]629development of nano.&nbsp; Here are links to where you can sign up for
630a given list:</font><font color="#330000"></font>
631<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>
632<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>
633
634<h2>
635<a NAME="7.2"></a><font color="#330000">7.2. I want to send the development
636team a big load of cash (or just a thank you).</font></h2>
637
638<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]639way</a>!&nbsp; Better yet, fix a <a href="http://www.nano-editor.org/dist/BUGS">bug</a>
640in 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]641feature</a> and send us that instead (though cash is fine too).</font></blockquote>
642
643<h2>
644<a NAME="7.3"></a><font color="#330000">7.3. How do I submit a patch?</font></h2>
645
646<blockquote><font color="#330000">See Section <a href="#7.2">7.2</a>.</font></blockquote>
647
648<h2>
649<a NAME="7.4"></a><font color="#330000">7.4. How do I join the development
650team?</font></h2>
651
652<blockquote><font color="#330000">The easiest way is to consistently send
653in good patches that add some needed functionality, fix a bug or two and/or
654make the program more optimized/efficient.&nbsp; Then ask nicely and you
655will probably be added to the SourceForge development list and be given
656CVS write after awhile.&nbsp; There is a lot of responsibility that goes
657along with being a team member, so don't think it's just something to add
658to your resume.</font></blockquote>
659
660<h2>
661<a NAME="7.5"></a><font color="#330000">7.5. Can I have CVS write access?</font></h2>
662
663<blockquote><font color="#330000">Re-read Section </font><a href="#7.4">7.4</a><font color="#330000">
664and you should know the answer.</font></blockquote>
665
666<h1>
667<a NAME="8"></a>8. ChangeLog</h1>
668
669<blockquote>06/31/2000 - Initial framework.</blockquote>
Chris Allegrettac87a4112000-08-07 02:16:24 +0000[diff] [blame]670<P>
671$Id$
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]672</body>
673</html>