root/doc/TODO

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mc manual: Add Environment Variables section
 
Clean up #include's in all files.
 
Remove all instances of type casts on function pointers. Run the
following command to get a list of function pointer types.
    grep -r 'typedef.*(\*' . \
    | sed -n 's/.*(\*\([[:alnum:]_]*\)).*/(\1)/p' \
    | sort -u \
    > fn-types.txt
Then use fgrep to find illegal uses of these types.
    fgrep -r "`cat fn-types.txt`" .
Fix these uses by writing small wrapper functions.
 
When saving a file is not possible, mcedit should ask the user what to
do:
- su(1) to another user and try again
- sudo
- change permissions of the file or the containg directory
- other smart things
 
Due to problems in the VFS, files are not written back after being edited
over VFS with an external editor.
 
Allow pathnames starting with spaces in vfs/extfs.
 
Broken pipe warning when viewing large *.tar.gz files.  Warnings should
be shown before the viewer is started if possible.
 
Cannot spell check unsaved files in the editor.
 
Dynamic loading for libgpm, libext2fs.
 
Check if the archive was changed for extfs, tar and cpio.  Free the data
associated with the old archive.
 
Ctrl-q Ctrl-m in input dialog should enter \r, not a newline.
 
Allow entering archives in VFS by Ctrl-PgDown with non-empty command
line.  Right now, there is no convenient way to enter an archive when
the command line is not empty.
 
Allow switching between histories of two panels.  It's convenient to
change to a directory from the history of the other panel.
 
Allow calling the directory hotlist from Copy, Move and Find File
dialogs.  Recent directories are the obvious candidates for copying and
looking for files.
 
Allow modifiers for keys in mc.lib, like "shift-up".  Right now,
modifiers can be read from the terminal (if supported), but not from the
config file.  This change would make it possible to use modifiers even
if they can only be identified by the escape sequences.
 
When saving config files, write to a copy, then replace the file.  This
would avoid the problem of partly written config files.  Consider using
locking of the config files.
 
Totals should only be omitted for single files.
 
Recheck all mouse handlers, make sure that they check button number.  We
don't want mouse scrolling to be interpreted as mouse click.
 
Smooth mouse scrolling on panels.  Scrolling one page per step is too
fast.
 
Don't read prompt from the subshell, because it's unreliable.  Interpret
environment variable MC_PS1 (or PS1) in the same way as bash.
 
Support an environment variable (also like PS1 in bash) for setting the
window title.
 
Better date parser - don't allow seconds and year in ftp listings on the
same line.
 
Report errors in shell operations and recover from them.
 
Allow colors to be defined in the mc.lib file.  Make it possible to
avoid using a super-long line to redefine all colors.
 
Filters in the editor should operate on the open file - don't close and
reopen the file.  They don't work on VFS now.  For example, a gzipped
files on FTP cannot be edited.
 
ftp and shell with home != '/' - readjust directory to the home.
 
Make "Find File" dialog more responsive.  Keep state in a structure and
preserve it when the search is suspended.
 
Use KDGKBENT ioctl on Linux console to find the mapping for shifted
functional keys.  Two mappings are widely used (Shift-F1 = F11 and
Shift-F1 = F13).  mc should adjust the keys to the mapping.
 
Make the internal editor reentrant.
 
Consistent support for mc.lib.
 
Consistent support for terminal-specific settings.
 
New syntax for mc.ext - path check, desktop environment check.  Detach X
programs into a separate process group.  Allow forcing the full path on
local files.
 
Click on an image doesn't always work on remote vfs - local copy may
be deleted before the application has time to load it.
 
Allow running executables from remote VFS.  Possibly warn the user.
 
Add print dialog in the internal editor.
 
Implement logging, not just for VFS.
 
Eliminate all pipes in subshell.c, run pwd after kill.  Add support for
more shells (e.g. ksh).
 
Internal terminal - no more console saving.
 
Implement a really Advanced Chown/Chmod.
 
fxp support in VFS.
 
New listing mode keyword "time": mtime or the time (atime, ctime) used
to sort files.
 
Provide "patch" and "diff" editors. The patch editor will automatically
adjust the line numbers of the following chunks when lines are deleted
or inserted at the beginning of the file.
 
Provide context menus for files. Possible actions include: [compile],
[CVS commit], [CVS diff -up], [pack], [unpack], [grep].
 
More standard Widgets: WTreeView, WDirectoryList, WGroupBox, WTextArea,
WOpenDialog, WSaveDialog, WPrintDialog, WKeyBar.
 
========================================================================
Everything below this point is the old TODO list.  It doesn't reflect
the current priorities of the developers, but may contain interesting
ideas still waiting for their implementation.
========================================================================
 
 
* Bugs
 
  - "Files" message flickers a lot when copying files.
 
  - Make the extfs handle re-reads.
 
  - Check that all the help contexts exist on the help file.
 
  - Make the buttonbar for the tree box work.
 
  - In the incremental search mode, when backspacing, select the
    correct file, do not stop in current file.
 
  - In learn keys, warn the user if he is trying to
    i) define a same sequence as an already defined (if the keycode differs)
    ii) define a sequence, which is a prefix of other longer and already
        defined sequence
 
* Documentation
 
  - Convert the source mc.1 to mc.sgml and create automagically from it
    mc.1, mc.html, mc.hlp, mc.info, mc.tex, mc.txt etc.
 
* Extensions
 
   - Hotlist should allow people to edit the entry (like we do in the external
     panelize thing).
 
   - Change ext.c to allow the %{..} to recursively expand any other %thingies.
 
   - Write a general grow_string routine.  This code is used in the internal
     viewer and would also be used in the profile.c code.
 
   -  A command to set the line length to a fixed value for viewing
      fixed length binary files. LIST does this with Ctrl-B and then
      prompts for a "record" length.
 
   - Viewer: Mark all found matches, and when 'n' is pressed go to the
     next page, not the next match on the same screen (when there is
     more than one).
 
  - In ftpfs_open, extfs_open, if we set local_filename to tmpnam, use
    a mechanism to set local_filename to another place on the local
    diskspace (this would be useful for copying, so that we would save
    some tmp space). This would require special care in file.c afterwards.
 
  - In Listing mode... give at least three user-definable formats
    (using Janne's Listing mode editor) and assign hot-keys to both
    standard and user defined (what about c-x f [fbl123] ?).
 
  - Shift-Home, Shift-End for the input line: home and end.
 
  - Make a mechanism to lock all the mouse events and send them to
    the locking widget until unlocking is done.
 
  - Allow the program to execute a command even when we are on a vfs, maybe
    a special box, or make subshell code ignore the change directory
    request. Perhaps each vfs should store a local path attached to it,
    like in tarfs, extfs it would be the directory which contains the
    topmost tararchive, in ftpfs it would be the directory which we entered
    to ftp from.
 
  - auto_hint_lines: a variable that would choose to use hint mode when
    at least auto_hint_lines are visible.
 
  - Listbox: Mouse handler for the scrollbar: this will be hard with
    the current approach (since the listbox scrollbar is drawn *outside*
    the listbox control area).
 
  - In file.c, we shouldn't need to get a full path name in order to
    work, we should instead canon the file name inside the tar.c (the
    only fs that relies on this), tar.c should know about the cwd (i
    think).
 
  - Panelize the selected files.
 
  - Recursive delete should (perhaps as an option) delete files just after
    they have been copied and not to delay deleting until everything was
    moved.
 
  - When copying a tree (or moving or deleting), as an option act primarily
    on the regular files and at the end on directories recursively, so that
    we get complete high parts of the tree if something fails (useful for
    ftpfs).
 
  - Put into a new and bigger Options/Configuration dialog all the options
    we have now to set using .mc/ini manually.
 
  - When after deleting there are no files in a panelized panel, restore
    it automagically to the real directory content.
 
  - Files/Symlink and Link should be able to do multiple links (if the
    target is a directory).
 
  - Directory sizes should work in background using try_channels.
 
  - Support of non-UNIX ls in ftpfs. Perhaps using an ascii configuration
    file similar to moxftp.
 
  - Add an option that will let listboxes do incremental searches.
 
* Optimizations and cleanup
 
  - When verbose is off, remove all the clutter on the screen about
    the files being copied.
 
  - The viewer is calling view_update in many places, I call
    view_update after handling a key, should all the other
    view_updates be removed?
 
  - If the viewer is too slow, some caching could be done.
    width and cols are currently computed each time they are needed.
 
 ++ In the user menu, don't use the entries array, we can now grow
    dynamically.  I should take a look at this one day, it's easy to
    fix.
 

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