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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
71glitch detected. Keypad will malfunction without NumLock on." What
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
142as possible and perhaps include extra functionality WITHOUT breaking compatibility
143with Pico.</font></blockquote>
144
145<h2>
146<a NAME="1.4"></a><font color="#330000">1.4. What is the history behind
147nano?</font></h2>
148
149<blockquote><font color="#330000">Funny you should ask!</font>
150<p><b><font color="#330000">In the beginning...</font></b>
151<p><font color="#330000">For years Pine was THE program used to read email
152on a Unix system.&nbsp; The Pico text editor is the portion of the program
153one would use to compose his or her mail messages.&nbsp; Many beginners
154to Unix flocked to Pico and Pine because of their well organized, easy
Chris Allegretta7db63a52001-01-10 22:05:40 +0000[diff] [blame]155to use interfaces.&nbsp; With the proliferation of GNU/Linux in the mid to
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]156late 90's, many University students became intimately familiar with the
157strengths (and weaknesses) of Pine and Pico.</font>
158<p><b><font color="#330000">Then came debian...</font></b>
159<p><font color="#330000">The <a href="http://www.debian.org">debian GNU/Linux</a>
160distribution, known for its strict standards in distributing truly "free"
161software (i.e. had no restrictions on redistribution), would not include
162a binary package for Pine or Pico.&nbsp; Many people had a serious dilemma:&nbsp;
163they loved these programs, but they were not truly free software in the
164<a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">GNU</a>
165sense of the word.</font>
166<p><b><font color="#330000">The event...</font></b>
167<p><font color="#330000">It was in late 1999 when Chris Allegretta (our
168hero) was yet again complaining to himself about the less-than-perfect
169license Pico was distributed under, the 10000 makefiles that came with
170it and how just a few small improvements could make it the Best Editor
171in the World (TM).&nbsp; Having been a convert from Slackware to debian,
172he missed having a simple binary package that included Pine and Pico, and
173had grown tired of downloading them himself.</font>
174<p><font color="#330000">Finally something snapped inside and Chris coded
175and hacked like a madman for many hours straight one weekend to make a
176(barely usable) Pico clone, at the time called TIP (Tip Isn't Pico).&nbsp;
177The program could not be invoked without a filename, could not save files,
178had no help menu, spell checker, and so forth.&nbsp; But over time it improved,
179and with the help of a few great coders it matured to the almost stable
180state it is today.</font></blockquote>
181
182<h2>
183<a NAME="1.5"></a><font color="#330000">1.5. Why the name change from TIP?</font></h2>
184
185<blockquote><font color="#330000">On January 10, 2000, TIP was officially
186renamed to nano because of a namespace conflict with another program called
187'tip'.&nbsp; The original 'tip' program "establishes a full duplex terminal
188connection to a remote host", and was included with many older Unix systems
189(and newer ones like Solaris). The conflict was not noticed at first because
Chris Allegretta7db63a52001-01-10 22:05:40 +0000[diff] [blame]190there is no 'tip' utility included with most GNU/Linux distributions (where
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]191nano was developed).</font></blockquote>
192
193<h2>
194<a NAME="1.6"></a><font color="#330000">1.6 What is the current version
195of nano?</font></h2>
196
197<blockquote><font color="#330000">The current version of nano *should*
Chris Allegretta4ca160f2001-01-08 02:29:20 +0000[diff] [blame]198be 0.9.25.&nbsp; Of course you should always check the nano hompage to
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]199see what the latest and greatest version is.</font></blockquote>
200
201<h2>
202<a NAME="1.7"></a><font color="#330000">1.7. I want to read the man page
203without having to download the program!</font></h2>
204
205<blockquote><font color="#330000">Jeez, demanding, aren't we?&nbsp;&nbsp;
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]206Okay, 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]207
208<hr WIDTH="100%">
209<h1>
210<a NAME="2"></a><font color="#330000">2. Where to get nano</font></h1>
211
212<h2>
213<a NAME="2.1"></a><font color="#330000">2.1. FTP and WWW sites that carry
214nano.</font></h2>
215
216<blockquote><font color="#330000">The nano distribution can be downloaded
217at the following fine web and ftp sites:</font>
218<ul>
219<li>
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]220<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]221
222<li>
223<font color="#330000"><a href="http://www.ewtoo.org/~astyanax/nano/dist">http://www.ewtoo.org/~astyanax/nano/dist</a></font></li>
224
225<li>
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]226<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]227
228<li>
229<font color="#330000"><a href="ftp://nano.sourceforge.net/pub/nano/">ftp://nano.sourceforge.net/pub/nano</a></font></li>
230</ul>
231</blockquote>
232
233<h2>
234<a NAME="2.2"></a><font color="#330000">2.2. Redhat and derivatives (.rpm)
235packages.</font></h2>
236
237<blockquote>
238<ul>
239<li>
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]240<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]241
242<li>
243<font color="#330000"><a href="http://www.ewtoo.org/~astyanax/nano/dist/RPMS">http://www.ewtoo.org/~astyanax/nano/dist/RPMS</a></font></li>
244
245<li>
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]246<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]247
248<li>
249<font color="#330000"><a href="ftp://nano.sourceforge.net/pub/nano/RPMS">ftp://nano.sourceforge.net/pub/nano/RPMS</a></font></li>
250</ul>
251<font color="#330000">Additionally, check out the Redhat contribs section
252at:</font>
253<ul>
254<li>
255<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>
256
257<li>
258<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>
259</ul>
260</blockquote>
261
262<h2>
263<a NAME="2.3"></a><font color="#330000">2.3. Debian (.deb) packages.</font></h2>
264
265<blockquote><font color="#330000">For debian users, you can check out the
266current nano packages for:</font>
267<ul>
268<li>
Chris Allegretta42004f02000-11-19 00:34:46 +0000[diff] [blame]269<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]270
271<li>
272<font color="#330000"><a href="http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/editors/nano.html">unstable</a></font></li>
273</ul>
274<font color="#330000">Note that versions &lt; 0.9.10 are probably not for
Chris Allegretta42004f02000-11-19 00:34:46 +0000[diff] [blame]275those wanting to get serious work done, so until the stable distribution
276has an updated version of nano, you are best off using the one in unstable
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]277for now.</font></blockquote>
278
279<h2>
280<a NAME="2.4"></a><font color="#330000">2.4. By CVS (for the brave).</font></h2>
281
282<blockquote><font color="#330000">For the 'bleeding edge' current version
283of nano, you can use CVS to download the current source code.&nbsp; <b>Note:</b>
284believe it or not, by downloading code that has not yet stabilized into
285an official release, there could quite possibly be bugs, in fact the code
286may not even compile!&nbsp; Anyway, see <a href="https://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=1304">the
287nano CVS page</a> for info on anonymous CVS access to the nano source.</font></blockquote>
288
289<hr WIDTH="100%">
290<h1>
291<a NAME="3"></a><font color="#330000">3. Installation and Configuration</font></h1>
292
293<h2>
294<a NAME="3.1"></a><font color="#330000">3.1. How do install the RPM or
295DEB package?</font></h2>
296
297<blockquote><font color="#330000">It's simple really!&nbsp; As root, type
298<b>rpm
299-Uvh nano-x.y.z-1.i386.rpm</b> if you have a Redhat-ish system or
300<b>dpkg
301-i nano_x.y.z-1.deb</b> if you have a Debian-ish system, where
302<b>x.y.z</b>
Jordi Mallach79ea7dd2000-12-19 22:58:00 +0000[diff] [blame]303is the release of nano.&nbsp; There are other programs to install packages,
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]304and if you wish to use those, knock yourself out.</font></blockquote>
305
306<h2>
307<a NAME="3.2"></a><font color="#330000">3.2. Compiling from source: WHAT
308THE HECK DO I DO NOW?</font></h2>
309
310<blockquote><font color="#330000">Okay, take a deep breath, this really
311isn't hard.&nbsp; Unpack the nano source with a command like:</font>
312<p><b><font color="#330000">tar -zxvf nano-x.y.z.tar.gz</font></b>
313<p><font color="#330000">If you get error messages about the -z option,
314try this:</font>
Chris Allegretta8c81d232000-08-16 02:52:44 +0000[diff] [blame]315<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]316<p><font color="#330000">(again, where x.y.z is the version number in question).&nbsp;
317Then you need to run configure with any options you might want (if any).</font>
318<p><font color="#330000">The average case is this:</font>
Chris Allegretta2c4feca2001-01-09 17:40:56 +0000[diff] [blame]319<p><b><font color="#330000">cd nano-x.y.z/</font></b>
320<br><b><font color="#330000">./configure</font></b>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]321<br><b><font color="#330000">make</font></b>
322<br><font color="#330000"><b>make install </b>(as root, of course)</font></blockquote>
323
324<h2>
325<a NAME="3.3"></a><font color="#330000">3.3. Why does everything go into
326/usr/local?</font></h2>
327
328<blockquote><font color="#330000">Well, that's what the <b>configure</b>
329script defaults to.&nbsp; If you wish to change this, simply do this:</font>
330<p><b><font color="#330000">./configure --prefix=/usr</font></b>
331<p><font color="#330000">to put nano into /usr/bin when you run <b>make
332install</b>.</font></blockquote>
333
334<h2>
335<a NAME="3.4"></a><font color="#330000">3.4. I get errors about 'bindtextdomain',
336'gettext' and/or 'gettextdomain'.&nbsp; What can I do about it?</font></h2>
337
338<blockquote><font color="#330000">Try doing a <b>./configure --with-included-gettext</b>
339and see if that solves your problem.&nbsp; You make need to do a <b>make
340clean ; make</b> to get it to work fully.</font></blockquote>
341
Chris Allegretta8a646ad2000-11-28 00:15:54 +0000[diff] [blame]342<h2>
343<a NAME="3.5"></a><font color="#330000">3.5. Nano should automatically
344run strip on the binary when installing it!</font></h2>
345
346<blockquote><font color="#330000">Actually, it does, but you have to use
347<b>make install-strip</b>. The default make install does not, and will
348not, run strip automatically.</font></blockquote>
349
Chris Allegretta2c4feca2001-01-09 17:40:56 +0000[diff] [blame]350<h2>
351<a NAME="3.6"></a><font color="#330000">
3523.6. How can I make the executable smaller? This is too
353bloated!</font></h2>
354
355<blockquote><font color="#330000">Actually, there are several parts of the
356editor that can be disabled. You can pass arguments to the
357<b>configure</b> script that disable certain features. Here's a brief
358list:
359<pre>
360<b>--disable-tabcomp</b> Disables tab completion code for a smaller binary
361<b>--disable-justify</b> Disable justify/unjustify function
362<b>--disable-speller</b> Disables spell checker function
363<b>--disable-help</b> Disables help function (^G)
364<b>--disable-browser</b> Disables mini file browser
365</pre><br>
366There's also the <b>--enable-tiny</b> option which disabled everything
367above, as well as some larger chunks of the program (like the marker code
368that you use Control-^ to select with). Also, if you know you aren't
369going to be using other languages you can use <b>--disable-nls</b> to
370disable internationalization and save a few K to a few dozen K depending
371on if you have locale support on your system. And finally there's always
372good old <b>strip</b> to strip all debugging code and code that exists in
373libraries on your system.
374</font></blockquote> <hr WIDTH="100%"> <h1>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]375<a NAME="4"></a><font color="#330000">4. Running</font></h1>
376
377<h2>
378<a NAME="4.1"></a><font color="#330000">4.1. Ack!&nbsp; My backspace/delete/enter/double
379bucky/meta key doesn't seem to work!&nbsp; What can I do?</font></h2>
380
381<blockquote><font color="#330000">Try setting your $TERM variable to 'vt100'.&nbsp;
382Nano doesn't yet support every term entry under the sun.</font>
383<p><font color="#330000">Bourne shell users (like bash): <b>export TERM=vt100</b></font>
384<br><font color="#330000">C Shell users (tcsh and csh): <b>setenv TERM
385vt100</b></font></blockquote>
386
387<h2>
388<a NAME="4.2"></a><font color="#330000">4.2. Nano crashes when I type &lt;insert
389keystroke here>!</font></h2>
390
391<blockquote><font color="#330000">If you aren't trying some bizarre keystroke
392combination with some bizarre $TERM entry, chances are you have found a
393bug.&nbsp;&nbsp; You are welcome to submit it to the nano-devel list or
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]394to <a href="mailto:nano@nano-editor.org">nano@nano-editor.org</a>.</font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]395
396<h2>
397<a NAME="4.3"></a><font color="#330000">4.3. Nano crashes when I resize
398my window.&nbsp;&nbsp; How can I fix that?</font></h2>
399
400<blockquote><font color="#330000">Older versions of nano had this problem,
Jordi Mallach79ea7dd2000-12-19 22:58:00 +0000[diff] [blame]401please upgrade to a newer version (at least 0.9.9 would be great, 0.9.12
402is recommended).</font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]403
404<h2>
405<a NAME="4.4"></a><font color="#330000">4.4. Why does nano show ^\ and
406^_ in the shortcut list instead of ^G and ^J?</font></h2>
407
408<blockquote><font color="#330000">The help (^G) and justify (^J) functions
409were among the last to be written.&nbsp; To show the improvements that
410nano had over Pico (goto line # and replace), ^_ and ^\ were put on the
411shortcut list.&nbsp;&nbsp; If you use the <b>-p</b> option to nano you
412will get the same shortcuts at the bottom as Pico.</font></blockquote>
413
414<h2>
Chris Allegretta47ddfaf2000-11-18 19:04:32 +0000[diff] [blame]415<a name="4.5"><font color="#330000">4.5. When I type in a search
416string, the string I last searched for is already in front of my
417cursor! !What happened?!</font></h2>
418
Chris Allegrettab29550e2000-12-09 03:34:12 +0000[diff] [blame]419<blockquote><font color="#330000">In nano version 0.9.20, the default is
Chris Allegretta47ddfaf2000-11-18 19:04:32 +0000[diff] [blame]420to have a completely consistent user interface across all user input
421functions. This means that regardless of whether you're being asked for
Chris Allegretta3ebac1c2000-11-19 00:47:30 +0000[diff] [blame]422a filename to insert or write, or a string to search for, the
423previous value is already inserted before the cursor. If you prefer the
424old behavior, use the pico emulation mode (-p or --pico) or just hit
425Meta-P while in nano (see the ^G help text for more
426details).</font></blockquote>
Chris Allegretta47ddfaf2000-11-18 19:04:32 +0000[diff] [blame]427
428<h2>
Chris Allegretta201d9bf2001-01-14 03:17:53 +0000[diff] [blame]429<a NAME="4.6"></a>I get the message "NumLock glitch detected. Keypad
430will malfunction without NumLock on." What gives?</h2>
431
432<blockquote>
433Nano (actually almost all console editors do) has issues when cycling
434the NumLock key in certain X terminals (rxvt, aterm, wterm, etc...). When
435you switch NumLock on to off, you put the terminal into an "application
436mode" that changes what sequences are sent by the keypad. These sequences
437vary sufficiently from terminal to terminal that it is nearly impossible
438to work around them from within nano.
439<br><br>
440In a nutshell, if you want to be able to use the keypad with the arrow and
441page up/down functionality, you have to exit nano and reset your terminal
442(presumably with "reset" or "stty sane" or similar) and then run nano
443again with NumLock off. If you know an easier way to restore "normal
444mode", please mail <A href="nano@nano-editor.org">nano@nano-editor.org</A>.
445<br>&nbsp;</blockquote>
446
447<h2>
448<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]449mutt, etc)?</h2>
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]450
451<blockquote>You need to make nano your $EDITOR.&nbsp; If you want this
452to be saved, you should put a line like this in your <b>.bashrc</b> if
453you use bash:
454<p><b>export EDITOR=/usr/local/bin/nano</b>
455<p>or if you use tcsh put this in your <b>.cshrc</b> file:
456<p><b>setenv EDITOR /usr/local/bin/nano</b>
457<p>Change /usr/local/bin/nano to wherever nano is installed in your system.&nbsp;
458Type which nano to find out. This will not take effect until the next time
459you login.&nbsp; So log out and back in again.
460<p>Then on top that if you use Pine you must go into setup (type <b>S</b>
461at the main menu), then configure (type <b>C</b>).&nbsp; Hit enter on the
462lines that say:
463<p><b>[ ]&nbsp; enable-alternate-editor-cmd</b>
464<br><b>[ ]&nbsp; enable-alternate-editor-implicitly</b>
465<p>Then exit (<b>E</b>) and select Yes (<b>Y</b>).
466<p>Mutt users should see an effect immediately the next time you log in,
467no further configuration is needed.&nbsp; However, if you want to let people
468know you use nano to compose your email messages, you can put a line like
469this in your <b>.muttrc</b>:
470<p><b>my_hdr X-Composer: nano x.y.z</b>
471<p>Again, replace x.y.z with the version of nano you use.
472<br>&nbsp;</blockquote>
473
474<hr WIDTH="100%">
475<h1>
476<a NAME="5"></a><font color="#330000">5. Internationalization</font></h1>
477
478<h2>
479<a NAME="5.1"></a><font color="#330000">5.1. There's no translation for
480my language!</font></h2>
481
482<blockquote><font color="#330000">So, uh, get someone who speaks your native
483language to write one =-).&nbsp; Just grab the <b>nano.pot</b> file from
484the latest and greatest nano distribution (it's in the <b>po/</b> directory)
485and translate each line into your native language on the <b>msgstr</b>
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]486line.&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]487
488<h2>
489<a NAME="5.2"></a><font color="#330000">5.2. I don't like the translation
490for &lt;x> in my language.&nbsp;&nbsp; How can I fix it?</font></h2>
491
492<blockquote><font color="#330000">The best way would probably be to e-mail
493the person listed in the <b>&lt;your_language>.po</b> file with your suggested
494corrections and they can in turn forward it to the nano email address,
495or the devel list.</font></blockquote>
496
497<hr WIDTH="100%">
498<h1>
499<a NAME="6"></a><font color="#330000">6. Advocacy and Licensing</font></h1>
500
501<h2>
502<a NAME="6.1"></a><font color="#330000">6.1. Why should I use nano instead
503of Pico?</font></h2>
504
505<blockquote><font color="#330000">There are many reasons to use nano instead
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]506of 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]507homepage</a>.</font></blockquote>
508
509<h2>
510<a NAME="6.2"></a><font color="#330000">6.2. Why should I use Pico instead
511of nano?</font></h2>
512
Chris Allegretta66989d62000-09-27 03:16:11 +0000[diff] [blame]513<blockquote>Again, check out the <a href="http://www.nano-editor.org">nano
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]514homepage</a> for a good summary of reasons.&nbsp; It really is a matter
515of personal preference as to which editor you should use.&nbsp; If you're
516the type of person who likes using the original version of a program, then
517Pico is the editor for you.&nbsp;&nbsp; If you're looking for a few more
518features and a 'better' license as far as adding your own changes (sacrificing
519mailer integration and a little stability), nano is the way to go.</blockquote>
520
521<h2>
522<a NAME="6.3"></a><font color="#330000">6.3. What is so bad about the PINE
523license?</font></h2>
524
525<blockquote><font color="#330000">Technically there is nothing "wrong"
526with the U of W license for Pine and Pico.&nbsp; However, it is&nbsp; not
527considered truly "free" according to the <a href="http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines">Debian
528Free Software Guidelines</a>.&nbsp; The only real problem as far as I'm
529aware as that there are limitations on the redistribution of programs based
530on the Pine and Pico source.&nbsp;&nbsp; So at a real nitty gritty level,
531these programs are not considered Free Software.&nbsp; This is why Pico
532isn't distributed in binary form in debian, and hence one of the main reasons
533nano was started.</font></blockquote>
534
535<h2>
536<a NAME="6.4"></a><font color="#330000">6.4. Okay, well what mail program
537should I use then?</font></h2>
538
539<blockquote><font color="#330000">Well, there is nothing stopping you from
540using Pine with nano (or Pine with Pico for that matter).&nbsp; But if
541you want to use programs that are considered Free Software, you may want
542to look into <a href="http://www.mutt.org">mutt</a>.&nbsp; It is a full-screen,
543console based mail program that actually has a lot more flexibility than
544Pine, but has a keymap included in the distribution that allows you to
545use the same keystrokes as Pine would to send and receive mail.&nbsp; It's
546also licensed under the GPL.</font></blockquote>
547
548<h2>
549<a NAME="6.5"></a><font color="#330000">6.5. Why doesn't UW simply change
550their license?</font></h2>
551
552<blockquote><font color="#330000">You're really not asking the right person
Chris Allegretta8c81d232000-08-16 02:52:44 +0000[diff] [blame]553here.&nbsp; I (Chris) waited a long time to see if UW would change their
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]554license because of the amount of high quality software being released and
555developed under the GPL without being taken advantage of by malicious corporate
556entities or other baddies, but no such luck so far.</font></blockquote>
557
558<h2>
559<a NAME="6.6"></a><font color="#330000">6.6. What if tomorrow UW changes
560the license to be truly Free Software?</font></h2>
561
562<blockquote><font color="#330000">Honestly nothing would make me happier
563than to see that happen.&nbsp; Nano would continue to be developed independently
564until such time as Pico had all the features nano did or the projects merged.&nbsp;
565That just does not seem very likely given that there has been no sign of
566any changes in the past few years in a positive direction.</font></blockquote>
567
568<hr WIDTH="100%">
569<h1>
570<a NAME="7"></a><font color="#330000">7. Miscellaneous</font></h1>
571
572<h2>
573<a NAME="7.1"></a><font color="#330000">7.1. Nano related mailing lists.</font></h2>
574
575<blockquote><font color="#330000">There are two mailing lists for nano
576hosted at <a href="http://www.sourceforge.net">SourceForge</a>, nano-announce
577and nano-devel.&nbsp; Nano-announce is a very low traffic list where new
Jordi Mallach79ea7dd2000-12-19 22:58:00 +0000[diff] [blame]578versions of nano are announced (surprise!)&nbsp; Nano-devel is a normally
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]579low, sometimes very high traffic list for dicussing the present and future
580development of nano.&nbsp; Here are links to where you can sign up for
581a given list:</font><font color="#330000"></font>
582<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>
583<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>
584
585<h2>
586<a NAME="7.2"></a><font color="#330000">7.2. I want to send the development
587team a big load of cash (or just a thank you).</font></h2>
588
589<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]590way</a>!&nbsp; Better yet, fix a <a href="http://www.nano-editor.org/dist/BUGS">bug</a>
591in 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]592feature</a> and send us that instead (though cash is fine too).</font></blockquote>
593
594<h2>
595<a NAME="7.3"></a><font color="#330000">7.3. How do I submit a patch?</font></h2>
596
597<blockquote><font color="#330000">See Section <a href="#7.2">7.2</a>.</font></blockquote>
598
599<h2>
600<a NAME="7.4"></a><font color="#330000">7.4. How do I join the development
601team?</font></h2>
602
603<blockquote><font color="#330000">The easiest way is to consistently send
604in good patches that add some needed functionality, fix a bug or two and/or
605make the program more optimized/efficient.&nbsp; Then ask nicely and you
606will probably be added to the SourceForge development list and be given
607CVS write after awhile.&nbsp; There is a lot of responsibility that goes
608along with being a team member, so don't think it's just something to add
609to your resume.</font></blockquote>
610
611<h2>
612<a NAME="7.5"></a><font color="#330000">7.5. Can I have CVS write access?</font></h2>
613
614<blockquote><font color="#330000">Re-read Section </font><a href="#7.4">7.4</a><font color="#330000">
615and you should know the answer.</font></blockquote>
616
617<h1>
618<a NAME="8"></a>8. ChangeLog</h1>
619
620<blockquote>06/31/2000 - Initial framework.</blockquote>
Chris Allegrettac87a4112000-08-07 02:16:24 +0000[diff] [blame]621<P>
622$Id$
Chris Allegretta065bb1e2000-07-23 16:09:33 +0000[diff] [blame]623</body>
624</html>