Introduction to Kumquat Lore

Introduction to Kumquat Lore

 


Name

vfu - VFU is console (text-mode) file manager for UNIX/Linux


Synopsis

vfu [options]


Description

vfu has following features:

 - Fast one-key commands
 - Extended completition and wildcard expansion
 - Directory tree with sizes (incl. sizes cache)
 - File-type colorization (extension and type)
 - Archives support (TAR, TGZ, BZ2, and many more)
 - Simple FTP support through archive-like interface
 - Internal text/hex file viewer and editor (optional)
 - Extensive user-defined external support/utils
 - Regular expressions selection and search
 - Multiple file masks
 - One-key commands
 - and much more...


OPTIONS

 -h
prints help for command line options

 -i
runs vfu in interactive mode (can be used with \-d)

 -d path
changes working directory to `path'

 -r
rebuild directory tree

 -t
view directory tree only

These options are for using vfu in partial non-interactive mode.

 example: vfu -d /usr/local -i


CONFIGURATION

vfu configuration is divided in two parts (files):

vfu.conf

This file contains configuration for external editor and pager, favorite directories, file-type colorization. This is plain text file which format is described below. vfu only reads vfu.conf, it never writes in it!

vfu.options

This file contains all Options/Toggles which can be changed from inside vfu -- Options menu. vfu.options is binary file and is overwritten on vfu exit or on change option event! Deleting this file will reset vfu toggles to default values. vfu.options is not portable between vfu versions!


Location of vfu.conf

vfu.conf can be placed as any of:

 $HOME/.vfu/vfu.conf
 
 $HOME/$RC_PREFIX/vfu/vfu.conf  (if $RC_PREFIX is exported)
 
 /etc/vfu.conf
 
 /usr/local/etc/vfu.conf
 
 /usr/local/vfu.conf


Other files location

All other files including vfu.options are placed in:

 $HOME/.vfu/
 
 $HOME/$RC_PREFIX/vfu/

What is $RC_PREFIX and why to use it? Some more information for this can be found in the CONFIG file which is supplied with vfu package.


VFU.CONF

vfu.conf is plain text file which can contain: (note: all lines with leading `#' or `;' are skipped)

 editor=shell-line

your (text) editor command. example: editor=joe %f

 browser=shell-line

your browser/pager command. example: browser=less %f

 pager=shell-line

this is alias for `browser='. example: pager=cat %f | more

 presetdir#=path

set favorite path to Alt+#. example: presetdir1=/usr/local, so Alt+1 will chdir to /usr/local. 1..9 allowed

 dir#=path

alias for `presetdir1='


Filetypes colorization

 cGREEN=.ext.ext.ext.

this line tells vfu which should be shown in GREEN. example: cGREEN=.txt.doc.rc.TXT.

 chGREEN=.ext.ext.ext.

...which files are Light/hi GREEN. example: chGREEN=.TXT. , This can be used only in VFU view style (see Options menu inside vfu, and could be dropped in the future)

other possible colors are:

 cMAGENTA=.ext.ext.ext.
 cCYAN=.ext.ext.ext.
 cRED=.ext.ext.ext.
 cBLUE=.ext.ext.ext.
 cYELLOW=.ext.ext.ext.


User external commands

 ux=descr,key,.exts.,shell-line
 or
 x=descr,key,.exts.,shell-line

defines user external command:

`descr' -- short text description (not really used now)

`key' -- key name: ENTER, INSERT, F1..F10, @F1..@F10, #F1..#F10, ^F1..^F10 (#=shift, @=alt, ^=ctrl, note: ^KEY and @KEY are not available under Linux) You can use `menu' here so this external command will be bound to the UserMenu ( key `U' ) and first letter of description will be used as menu hotkey!

`.ext.ext.ext.' -- for which files this command is allowed, can be left empty for all files,

`shell-line' -- is the command line which is executed

 example: ux=View HTML,ENTER,.html.htm.,lynx %f

shell-line's may contain these macros:

 %f  replaced w. current filename (w/o path)

 %F  replaced w. full pathname of the current file

 %e  current file name without extension

 %E  current file extension

 %s  current file size

 %c  current path ( with slash at the end )

 %C  startup path ( with slash at the end )

 %R  re-read directory content after shell

 %?  prompt for user input and replace it in

 %i  simulates DownArrow after execution

 %n  don't clear and redraw screen on user external command

 %w  wait a key after shell. replaced w. `' (i.e. empty string)

 %x  replaced w. `x'.

 %_  use short file names (SFN) for %f and %F (DOS only)


Viewer filters

see=mask,command

defines SEE Viewer filter. it is used to view compressed files and/or view different file types in proper context ( images for example ) `mask' -- filename mask/pattern `command' -- command to be executed

You have to specify %f in the command which is replaced with current filename. The result of command is piped to a temp file and is viewed by SEE.

 example: see=*.gz,gzip -dc %f


External panelizers (lister)

panelize=descr,command

defines external panelize command that is added to the RescanMenu ( key Alt+R ). used as alternative to panelize feature ( in the file mask input line )

`descr' -- free text description that is used in menu

`command' -- command to be executed

`command' is processed just like any other external command, so you can use the shell-macros described above. Note that first letter of description is used for menu hotkey!

 example: panelize=lLocate file,locate %?


DISTRIBUTION

It is supposed that only source packages will be distributed. However sometimes binary packages will be released, but not often. VFU packages are named in this way:

 vfu-X.xx.src.tgz
 
source package for version X.xx

 vfu-X.xx.bin.platform.tgz

binary package for version X.xx for `platform' platform

examples:

 vfu-3.01.src.tgz

 vfu-3.01.bin.linux.glibc.tgz

 vfu-3.01.bin.linux.libc5.tgz

 vfu-3.01.bin.dos.tgz

All packages are TAR+GZIP .tgz, bz2 and zip are available on request.

NOTE: Always check HISTORY document -- it often contains some usefull notes!


FILES

 $HOME/$RC_PREFIX/vfu/vfu.conf

configuration, explained above

 $HOME/$RC_PREFIX/vfu/vfu.options

options, explained above

 $HOME/$RC_PREFIX/vfu/vfu.history

contains history lines

 $HOME/$RC_PREFIX/vfu/vfu.tree

contains directory tree

If you don't set $RC_PREFIX configuration files are:

 $HOME/.vfu/vfu.conf
 $HOME/.vfu/vfu.options
 $HOME/.vfu/vfu.history
 $HOME/.vfu/vfu.tree


TODO

see the TODO file


BUGS

unknown


AUTHOR

 Vladi Belperchinov-Shabanski "Cade" 
 <cade@biscom.net> <cade@datamax.bg>
 http://www.biscom.net/~cade/
 http://www.biscom.net/~cade/vfu