mc/FAQ

Midnight Commander
Questions and Answers

   The newest version of this document is available at
   http://www.gnome.org/mc/answers.html
   
   The [NEW] tag marks the sections which have been added recently.
   
   The [UPDATED] tag marks the sections which have been updated recently.
   
     * 1 Getting started
          + 1.1 What is Midnight Commander?
          + 1.2 Does it run on my machine?
          + 1.3 Does it work with my terminal?
          + 1.4 What else do I need to run MC?
          + 1.5 Is Midnight Commander PD? Copyrighted?
          + 1.6 Where can I get Midnight Commander?
          + 1.7 I don't have FTP access. Where can I get MC?
     * 2 Keyboard
          + 2.1 What does documentation mean with the C-?, M-? and F?
            keys?
          + 2.2 [UPDATED] Why don't function keys (or some other key)
            work?
          + 2.3 How do I use function keys F11 to F20?
          + 2.4 Why does the ESC key behave funny?
          + 2.5 How can I add the plus sign (+) on the command line?
          + 2.6 [NEW] C-o doesn't work!
          + 2.7 [NEW] What 'keys' are the "a1" and "c1" keys mentioned in
            the manual?
     * 3 Mouse
          + 3.1 How do I enable mouse support?
          + 3.2 How do I cut and paste text with mouse?
          + 3.3 [NEW] How do I get the extension dependant pop-up menu to
            pop up?
     * 4 Display
          + 4.1 Why do I keep getting "Terminal not powerful enough for
            SLang"?
          + 4.2 Why don't line drawing characters work?
          + 4.3 Can one use latin-1 characters without losing the lines?
          + 4.4 I have problems with entering/viewing national
            characters!
          + 4.5 How can I get colors?
          + 4.6 My color_xterm goes completely (or partially) black!
          + 4.7 Where can I get color_xterm?
          + 4.8 I got colors working with MC but the other programs don't
            work at all anymore!
          + 4.9 Why are there both terminfo and termcap? Wouldn't one
            database be enough?
     * 5 Graphical user interface
          + 5.1 [UPDATED] Xview, Tk and Gnome editions?
     * 6 Command line problems
          + 6.1 How do I stay in the last directory when I exit Midnight
            Commander?
          + 6.2 [UPDATED] How can I access command line history?
          + 6.3 How can I complete commands, file names, variable names
            and so on?
          + 6.4 I am using ksh. Can I use functions defined in the .kshrc
            within MC?
          + 6.5 Is there any way to include additional options or hot
            keys to MC?
     * 7 Virtual file systems
          + 7.1 How can I see the contents of a tar archive?
          + 7.2 How do I get out of a tar archive?
          + 7.3 How do I do anonymous ftp with MC?
          + 7.4 How do I do non-anonymous ftp with MC?
          + 7.5 How do I close an ftp connection?
          + 7.6 Why aren't the contents of ftp panel updated?
          + 7.7 [UPDATED] What kind of proxy server works with Midnight
            Commander?
     * 8 Other common problems
          + 8.1 How do I get the internal editor to work?
          + 8.2 [UPDATED] Why doesn't "mcedit newfile" work?
          + 8.3 Is there any way to 'bookmark' favourite ftp-fs links?
          + 8.4 When copying the directories lose their original date,
            uid and gid!
          + 8.5 Why I keep getting: "There is no disk in the drive.
            Please insert a disk into drive D:"?
          + 8.6 [UPDATED] When I start Midnight Commander, nothing
            happens!
          + 8.7 When I try to view a file MC hangs!
     * 9 Development
          + 9.1 Who has written Midnight Commander?
          + 9.2 Do I dare to use a development version?
          + 9.3 How can I report a bug/request for a feature?
          + 9.4 How can I join the development?
     * 10 More information
          + 10.1 This document didn't answer my question. Where else can
            I look for an answer?
          + 10.2 What mailing lists are there for Midnight Commander?
          + 10.3 Where should I look on the World Wide Web for MC stuff?
          + 10.4 Are the mailing lists archived anywhere?
     * 11 Administrivia
          + 11.1 Authorship
          + 11.2 [UPDATED] File formats
          + 11.3 Feedback is invited
          + 11.4 Disclaimer and copyright
       
1 Getting started

1.1 What is Midnight Commander?

   The Midnight Commander is a user-friendly yet powerful file manager
   and visual shell, useful to novice and guru alike. It provides a
   clear, user-friendly, and somewhat protected interface to a Unix
   system while making many frequent file operations more efficient and
   preserving the full power of the command prompt. You will wonder how
   you could ever live without it.
   
   For more thorough description take a look at the announcement of
   Midnight Commander 4.0.
   
1.2 Does it run on my machine?

   Yes, Midnight Commander can run on almost any machine, including Unix
   clones, Windows 95/NT and OS/2. Midnight Commander does not run on
   Macintosh.
   
   Midnight Commander uses GNU autoconfigure which can automatically
   configure Midnight Commander for use on almost any (if not every) Unix
   clone. Following configurations have been tested:
     * i386-*-linux1.x, 2.x
     * alpha-linux-linux2
     * sparc-linux-linux2.x
     * sparc64-linux-linux2.1
     * mips-sgi-irix5.x, 6.x
     * mips-dec-ultrix4.3
     * rs6000-ibm-aix3.2.5
     * sparc-sun-sunos4.1
     * sparc-sun-solaris2.3, 2.4, 2.5
     * sparc-sun-netbsd1.0
     * hppa-hp-hpux9
     * hppa-hp-hpux7
     * m68k-apple-aux
     * unixware
     * mc88110-aviion-dgux5.4R2.01
     * i386-*-sco3.2v4.2
     * i386-*-sco3.2v5
     * i386-*-windows-nt-3.51, 4.0
     * i386-*-windows95
     * i386-*-os2
       
   See http://www.gnome.org/mc/download.html.
   
   There is also a preliminary Ms-Dos port at
   http://www.gnome.org/cgi-bin/mc/download/DOS/.html (but no Ms-Dos
   binary).
   
   Windows 95/NT port can be compiled with Microsoft Visual C++, Borland
   C++, Cygwin32 and Mingw32.
   
1.3 Does it work with my terminal?

   Yes, it does.
   
   Because Midnight Commander is a full screen program it doesn't run on
   dummy terminals but anything more advanced will do (like vt100). If
   your terminal works with vi, emacs, elm or pine it will work with
   Midnight Commander.
   
   The XView and Tk editions currently under development will require an
   X terminal.
   
1.4 What else do I need to run MC?

   You need an Unix compatible operating system or Windows 95/NT or OS/2.
   
   If you want to use mouse on the Linux console you need General Purpose
   Mouse server from iride.unipv.it: /pub/gpm/. You need nothing extra to
   use mouse on xterm.
   
   To compile the XView edition (currently under development) you need
   XView library. Xpm library and X11 non-rectangular shape extensions
   are recommended.
   
   To compile the Tk edition (currently under development) you need
   Tk-4.0 libraries. Compilation of the Tk version won't be easy. Contact
   Miguel for details.
   
   If you do not want to use the slang library you could try using
   ncurses (we recommend only version 4.1 and above).
   
   You can get it along with other curses libraries, too, but results may
   not be pretty or even usable.
   
1.5 Is Midnight Commander PD? Copyrighted?

   Midnight Commander is under GNU Public License which basically means
   that you may freely copy, change and distribute it, but that you may
   not impose any restrictions on further distribution, and that you must
   make the source code available. This is not the same as Public Domain.
   For details, the GNU license is included in the Midnight Commander
   source distribution (the COPYING file).
   
   Midnight Commander is nowadays officially a part of GNU project. All
   the authors of the Midnight Commander have given all their rights on
   the program to the Free Software Foundation.
   
1.6 Where can I get Midnight Commander?

   See http://www.gnome.org/mc/download.html. There are about seventy
   download sites. Note that the newest files might not be present on all
   the download sites yet.
   
   In short: the main site is ftp://ftp.nuclecu.unam.mx/linux/local/ and
   the sunsite.unc.edu mirrors have MC in the
   /pub/Linux/utils/file/managers/mc directory.
   
1.7 I don't have FTP access. Where can I get MC?

   Most Linux CD-ROMs include Midnight Commander. For example, Slackware,
   Yggdrasil, S.U.S.E., Jurix, RedHat, Caldera and Debian.
   
2 Keyboard

2.1 What does documentation mean with the C-?, M-? and F? keys?

   Midnight Commander documentation uses emacs style names for keyboard
   keys.
   
   C stands for the Ctrl key. For example, C-f means that you should hold
   down the Ctrl key and press the f key.
   
   M stands for the Meta key. Your terminal might call it Alt or Compose
   instead of Meta. For example, M-f means that you should hold down the
   Meta/Alt/Compose key and press the f key. If your terminal doesn't
   have Meta, Alt or Compose or they don't work you can use Esc. For M-f
   press the Esc key and then press the f key.
   
   F? stands for a function key. If your terminal doesn't have function
   keys or they don't work you can use Esc. For example, for F3 press the
   Esc key and then press the 3 key.
   
2.2 [UPDATED] Why don't function keys (or some other key) work?

   Your terminfo or termcap database has missing or incorrect definations
   for function keys. Type "mc -V" to see what terminal database is being
   used. If the result is "using the S-Lang library with terminfo
   database" you should install one of the enhanced terminfo databases
   included in the Midnight Commander source distribution. For example,
   if you are using xterm type "tic xterm.ti".
   
   If the result is "using the S-Lang library with termcap database" you
   should fix your /etc/termcap database.
   
   Better termcap and terminfo databases are available here:
   
     http://sagan.earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo/
     
   Best terminfo database is bundled with ncurses 4.2.
   
   You can select whether Midnight Commander will use terminfo or termcap
   database by giving --with-terminfo or --with-termcap option to the
   configure. Default is terminfo if found, otherwise termcap.
   
   If you don't have permissions to edit terminal databases you can use
   Learn keys feature of Midnight Commander instead. Press Esc 9 o k and
   follow instructions.
   
   If all else fails you can emulate function keys by first pressing the
   ESC key and then one of the number keys. For example, if you want to
   produce F9, press ESC, then 9. If you don't have a ESC key on your
   keyboard you can try alt-9 or meta-9.
   
2.3 How do I use function keys F11 to F20?

   These can mapped to function keys F1 to F10 with Shift held. eg.
   function key F13 can be activated by pressing Shift-F3. You can define
   the keys this way in the Options menu. The convention for PC keyboards
   is that F11-20 always means Shift with F1-10
   
   Note! Windows 95/NT and OS/2 ports use F11 and F12 keys to change the
   current disk drive. In this case F11 and F12 mean the real F11 and F12
   keys, not shift-F1 and shift-F2.
   
2.4 Why does the ESC key behave funny?

   Midnight Commander uses the ESC key as a prefix for simulating the
   Meta and Alt keys (for terminals which don't have Meta or Alt, see the
   three previous questions). For example, pressing ESC-a is the same as
   pressing Meta-a. In addition most terminals use ESC for internal
   representation of arrow keys, function keys and other enhanced keys.
   If you want to use ESC to cancel things you have to press it twice i.
   e. ESC-ESC. If you find this cumbersome you can generally use F10 to
   cancel. Alternatively turn on the old_esc_mode setting in the
   ~/.mc.ini file. The old_esc_mode setting makes ESC work as a prefix
   only if another key is pressed within 0.5 seconds. After 0.5 seconds
   the ESC key cancels. There is no way to make ESC cancel immediately
   (if we want to be able to use arrows keys and function keys).
   
   X terminals allow more control over keyboard, so these ESC limitations
   might not concern the forthcoming XView and Tk editions of the
   Midnight Commander.
   
2.5 How can I add the plus sign (+) on the command line?

   Press C-q first, then press the + sign.
   
   The plus key is the hotkey for the select files command. If you want
   to add a literal plus on to the command line you must quote it by
   pressing C-q first.
   
   Another common key which needs the C-q prefix is backslash "\".
   
2.6 [NEW] C-o doesn't work!

   Maybe C-o is a stty control character on your terminal. See man stty
   for details on how to list and change stty control characters.
   
2.7 [NEW] What 'keys' are the "a1" and "c1" keys mentioned in the manual?

   The "a1" key is the key which has the "a1" caption on it.
   
   The "c1" key is the key which has the "c1" caption on it.
   
   If you have to ask what these two keys are your keyboard hasn't
   probably got them. Actually, I have never seen a keyboard which has
   got them.
   
3 Mouse

3.1 How do I enable mouse support?

   Invoke mc like this (without quotes): "mc -x". If this doesn't work
   upgrade to a terminal which compatible with the Xterm mouse sequences.
   
   Alternatively, on Linux console you can use GPM.
   
3.2 How do I cut and paste text with mouse?

   Hold down shift key while using mouse to cut'n'paste.
   
3.3 [NEW] How do I get the extension dependant pop-up menu to pop up?

   You need a tk or xview edition (use the --with-tk or --with-xview
   configure option when compiling). Normal MC (text-mode edition)
   doesn't support this feature yet.
   
   In the tk and xview editions you can access the extension dependent
   pop-up menu by pressing the right mouse button.
   
4 Display

4.1 Why do I keep getting "Terminal not powerful enough for SLang"?

   This means that your terminfo databases do not contain the correct
   definitions for your terminal.
   
   You could try using a different terminal setting. If you use csh or
   tcsh:
   
     setenv TERM vt100
     
   or if you use sh, bash, ksh or zsh:
   
     export TERM=vt100
     
   If this doesn't help you can recompile MC to use termcap instead of
   terminfo:
   
     ./configure --with-termcap
     make
     
4.2 Why don't line drawing characters work?

   Since version 4.0.13 there's the commandline option -a to force use of
   +, |, - for line drawing (only available when compiled with SLang).
   Use this -a option if any of the suggestions below doesn't help.
   
   In general, there are three subcases:
     * Lines are shown as ASCII characters like this

      +---------+
      |         |
      +---------+

       This also happens when you use the -a option. Other than that
       possible reason is 1, 2 or 3 (see below).
     * Lines are shown as lower case characters like this

      lqqqqqqqqqk
      x         x
      mqqqqqqqqqj

       Possible reason is 2 or 3 (see below).
     * Lines are shown as blanks or missing characters. Possible reason
       is 3 or 4 (see below).
       
   The reason for the problem is one of following:
    1. Your curses library might not support line drawing characters.
       Slang, Ncurses and System V curses do support them, BSD curses
       doesn't. MC uses Slang by default so this is not usually a
       problem.
    2. Your terminal might not support line drawing characters. Vt100
       compatible terminals, rxvt, xterm and color_xterm do support them.
    3. Your terminfo or termcap database might have missing or incorrect
       definations for line drawing characters. Set the acsc variable in
       the terminfo database like this:
       acsc=a\376k\277l\332m\300j\331n\305w\302v\301u\264t\303q\304x\263h
       \2600\333
       Don't forget issue 'tic' command. This supposes you are using pc
       character set. The octal values might be different for other
       character sets. If you are using termcap instead of terminfo, you
       should modify above solution appropriately.
    4. Your terminal font might not support line drawing characters. Try
       changing the font.
       
   Here is Miguel's answer to Torben on this subject.
   
   Torben:
   
     When I load consolefonts/iso01.f16, I get perfectly right national
     characters, but the line drawing characters in mc get wrong. Is it
     a mc problem, or is it a problem with the font? (I guess it is).
     
     Is there a trick?
     
   Miguel:
   
     First of all, we should determine whether the font has line drawing
     characters or not.
     
     If it has line drawing characters, then a new terminfo entry should
     be written for this specific case. Let's call this linux-iso01. The
     acsc variable should be modified to reflect which characters are
     used to do the line drawing.
     
     If it does not have line drawing characters, then we should get rid
     of the switch to acsc sequences and make the acsc sequence be just
     a mapping to the ugly +, -, |, - characters.
     
     You can get your terminfo definition by running the infocmp
     program, making the proper changes and running the tic program to
     compile your new terminfo database.
     
4.3 Can one use latin-1 characters without losing the lines?

   Yes, you need a correct font and a correct termcap/terminfo database.
   
   For font, if you use xterm try "xterm -fn fixed".
   
   For termcap/terminfo database, change the acsc capability in the
   database.
   
4.4 I have problems with entering/viewing national characters!

   Upgrade to version 4.0.12 or newer.
   
   From the Options - Display Bits dialog select Full 8 bits or ISO
   8859-1. In addition, select 8 bit input from the same dialog.
   
4.5 How can I get colors?

   Invoke mc like this (without quotes): "mc -c".
   
   If you get colors, be happy.
   
   If your terminal stays black and white, your terminal doesn't support
   color. You might want to upgrade to a terminal which compatible with
   the ANSI color sequences.
   
   If your terminal goes compelety black, see the next question.
   
   More detailed answer:
   
   First, check that your terminal supports color. Color_xterm, rxvt and
   Linux console do support, most other terminals don't. You can test
   color support with following simple C program:

    #include <stdio.h>

    int main (void){
        printf ("\033[32m Hello world! \033[m\n");
        return 0;
    }

   Compile and run it. If you see "Hello world!" text in green your
   terminal supports color, otherwise not (however, for color_xterm see
   also the next question).
   
   Second, check that you are using Ncurses or the Slang library (type
   "mc -V" to find out), in addition some System V curses implementations
   do support color, most don't.
   
   With Slang library you can force color support by setting the
   environment variable COLORTERM to any value.
   
   Third, if you use ncurses library, check that your terminfo database
   supports color. If not you should install one of the enhanced terminfo
   databases included in the Midnight Commander source distribution.
   
   Fourth, you might want to set the TERM environment variable so that
   you use the correct terminfo database or termcap entry.
   
   If you use color_xterm (or rxvt) the correct value might be
   xterm-color, xtermc or simply xterm.
   
   If you use Linux console the correct value for TERM is linux or
   console.
   
4.6 My color_xterm goes completely (or partially) black!

   Some color_xterm terminals define all colors as black instead of the
   standard ANSI colors. This makes them go completely black when you try
   to use Midnight Commander with colors.
   
   You will have to override the defaults. Create a file "color.defaults"
   which has the following contents:

    color_xterm*color0:           Black
    color_xterm*color1:           Red
    color_xterm*color2:           Green
    color_xterm*color3:           Yellow
    color_xterm*color4:           Blue
    color_xterm*color5:           Magenta
    color_xterm*color6:           Cyan
    color_xterm*color7:           White
    color_xterm*background:       White
    color_xterm*foreground:       Black

   (replace color_xterm with the name of your color_xterm, color_xterm
   mentions its name in its title bar)
   
   Now type:

    xrdb -merge color.defaults

   Alternatively you can add the suggested contents of the color.defaults
   file to your .Xdefaults or .Xresources file (or what ever the name of
   your X configuration file is). Or you can replace your non-ANSI
   color_xterm with an ANSI color_xterm.
   
4.7 Where can I get color_xterm?

   Try ftp.x.org: /contrib/utilities/colour_xterm.tar.gz.
   
   Alternatively, rxvt is a better choice, see
   http://www.gnome.org/cgi-bin/mc/download/rxvt/.html
   
4.8 I got colors working with MC but the other programs don't work at all
anymore!

   Midnight Commander uses terminfo database (if available) but many
   other programs use termcap database. If you set the TERM environment
   variable to a value which has no corresponding entry in termcap
   database those programs stop working. You should add the new value of
   TERM to the termcap database.
   
   Example: If you have set TERM to xterm-color locate from /etc/termcap
   the line which starts:

    xterm|vs100|xterm terminal emulator

   Change it to start:

    xterm|xterm-color|vs100|xterm terminal emulator

4.9 Why are there both terminfo and termcap? Wouldn't one database be
enough?

   You might want to read the Unix-haters handbook at
   http://www.digital.de/people/jmh/Unix_Haters/unix-haters.html. It
   lists many more reasons why Unix sucks.
   
   You can configure which terminal database you want to use with the
   "--with-termcap" and "--with-terminfo" flags of configure. If you
   don't specify them, the configure script will try to use terminfo if
   available otherwise it will use termcap.
   
5 Graphical user interface

5.1 [UPDATED] Xview, Tk and Gnome editions?

   Get the newest development version, give the "--with-xview" or
   "--with-tk" or "--with-gnome" option to the configure and otherwise
   compile as usual. See Download.
   
   Xview, Tk and Gnome editions are work in progress, they are not as
   robust as the text mode edition.
   
6 Command line problems

6.1 How do I stay in the last directory when I exit Midnight Commander?

   See the description of the -P option in the Options section of the
   manual.
   
6.2 [UPDATED] How can I access command line history?

   You can browse previous commands with M-p and M-n. Alternatively, you
   can summon the command history listbox by pressing F9 c h.
   
   Since version 4.1.15 all the input widgets have permanent history. You
   can summon the history listbox by pressing M-h.
   
6.3 How can I complete commands, file names, variable names and so on?

   Just press M-Tab. Press M-Tab again to get a listbox if there are
   multiple possible completions.
   
6.4 I am using ksh. Can I use functions defined in the .kshrc within MC?

   Sorry, MC only supports bash, tcsh and zsh functions. Ksh functions
   are not supported because ksh lacks the necessary hooks needed for
   subshell integration.
   
   Switch to bash or zsh. They are both quite compatible with ksh. Your
   ksh functions should work as such or after minimal changes.
   
6.5 Is there any way to include additional options or hot keys to MC?

   Yes, F2 invokes an user menu which fully configurable. You can add any
   shell commands to the user menu. See
   http://www.gnome.org/mc/manual-d.html#8 for more info.
   
   Another way to add functionality is the external panelize feature. See
   http://www.gnome.org/mc/manual-d.html#4 for more info.
   
   And finally, you can code any feature you want yourself. MC source
   code is free which means you can change it anyway you want. There are
   some limitations to make sure MC stays free. See GNU General Public
   License for details.
   
7 Virtual file systems

   Note! Virtual file systems are supported by Unix ports only. The
   Windows 95/NT and OS/2 ports do NOT support virtual file systems. This
   means you haven't got ftp, zip or tar support on Windows 95/NT and
   OS/2.
   
   This chapter describes the behaviour of the 4.1.x versions of the
   Midnight Commander. The behaviour of the 4.5.x versions is somewhat
   different. More on that when the 4.5.x versions get more stable.
   
7.1 How can I see the contents of a tar archive?

   If you use keyboard just move the selection bar on the tar file and
   press enter.
   
   If you use mouse just doubleclick on the tar file.
   
   If these procedures don't work, your .mc.ext file is faulty. Replace
   it with one from the MC source distribution.
   
   You can also enter a tar archive by typing "cd tar:filename.tar.gz"
   where filename.tar.gz is the name of the archive.
   
   The recognized suffixes for tar archives are .tar, .tar.gz and .tgz.
   If your tar archive uses different suffix you have to rename it.
   
7.2 How do I get out of a tar archive?

   Just press enter on the toplevel ".." file or chdir to a non-tar
   directory. Just typing "cd" with no parameters is enough (it will take
   you to your home directory).
   
7.3 How do I do anonymous ftp with MC?

   Just type "cd ftp://hostname" where hostname is the name of the host
   you want to connect. Alternatively, select FTP link from the Left or
   Right menu and type the name of the host you want to connect.
   
7.4 How do I do non-anonymous ftp with MC?

   Non-anonymous ftp works just like the anonymous ftp but you give the
   login name with the host name. For example, type "cd
   ftp://username@hostname".
   
7.5 How do I close an ftp connection?

   Just chdir to a non-ftp directory. Just typing "cd" with no parameters
   is enough (it will take you to your home directory).
   
   Internally Midnight Commander closes ftp connection only after a
   timeout. This isn't visible to the end user.
   
7.6 Why aren't the contents of ftp panel updated?

   Update is skipped because there would be a serious performance
   penalty. Constantly updating directory panels through a ftp connection
   would take too much time.
   
   You can use C-r to force an update.
   
7.7 [UPDATED] What kind of proxy server works with Midnight Commander?

   There are two kinds of ftp proxies: proxies for ftp clients and
   proxies for web browsers.
   
   Midnight Commander only supports ftp proxies which are meant for ftp
   clients. Common WWW proxies (like Squid) are not supported. A rule of
   thumb is that if a ftp proxy works with a web browser, it won't work
   with Midnight Commander.
   
8 Other common problems

8.1 How do I get the internal editor to work?

   The F4 key used to default to an external editor because that was what
   most people were used to. The newer versions use internal editor by
   default.
   
   To use the internal editor with an old version, select Configuration
   from the Options menu and check the 'use internal edit' option.
   
   Alternatively add the line
     use_internal_edit=1

   under the [Midnight-Commander] section in your .mc.ini file (which is
   in your home directory).
   
   To make the editor work all the time, go to the default/* section in
   the file lib/mc/mc.ext file and remove the line

       Edit=%var{EDITOR:vi} %f

   The internal editor will now be invoked for anything not specified
   elsewhere in the mc.ext file.
   
   Make sure that you edit the correct mc.ext file. The Midnight
   Commander first checks the existance of $HOME/.mc.ext. If this file is
   missing MC will use $prefix/lib/mc/mc.ext instead ($prefix can be
   changed with configure before compilation and it defaults to
   /usr/local).
   
   When you run `F9/Command/Extension file edit' for the very first time
   Midnight Commander copies the system-wide mc.ext from $prefix/lib/mc
   into your home directory because you need write access in order to
   change it.
   
   And please don't forget that "make install" overwrites
   $prefix/lib/mc/mc.ext.
   
8.2 [UPDATED] Why doesn't "mcedit newfile" work?

   This is a known bug.
   
   If the newfile doesn't exist, mcedit fails.
   
   Start mcedit with no parameters, this will create a blank file. Then
   save the file with whatever name you like.
   
   This bug has been fixed since 4.1.17.
   
8.3 Is there any way to 'bookmark' favourite ftp-fs links?

   Use the directory hotlist. Just press control-backslash. If your
   national keyboard layout doesn't have backslash key, just press the
   control key with the key which is the backslash key in the English
   keyboard layout.
   
8.4 When copying the directories lose their original date, uid and gid!

   This is a known bug. At moment only files preserve their original
   settings when copying, not directories.
   
   Uid and gid is fixed since 4.0.1. "Preserve UIDs/GIDs" in the copy
   dialog needs to be checked and you must be root.
   
   Date problem is fixed since 4.0.13.
   
8.5 Why I keep getting: "There is no disk in the drive. Please insert a disk
into drive D:"?

   This is a known bug of the Windows 95/NT and OS/2 ports. MC looks its
   configuration files from the D:\MC directory and if the D: drive is a
   removable drive (like a CD ROM drive) and there is no disk in drive
   you get this message everytime you try to do anything.
   
   Since version 4.0.6 you can specify the actual location of the
   Midnight Commander configuration files with the MCHOME environment
   variable.
   
8.6 [UPDATED] When I start Midnight Commander, nothing happens!

   First, invoke MC without subshell support: "mc -u". If this helps
   check the shell you are using. Subshell support works best with bash
   although tcsh and zsh are also supported. You might want to upgrade
   your shell to a newer version. If you use something else than bash,
   tcsh or zsh, subshell support is disabled automatically.
   
   If disabling subshell doesn't help, try to reconfigure MC with
   "--with-included-slang" and "--with-termcap" options and recompile. If
   this helps, there is something wrong with your terminfo database or
   shared slang library. For better terminfo databases see chapter 4. For
   a better slang library, upgrade to a newer version or keep using the
   "--with-included-slang" option.
   
   This problem can also be caused by gpm as noted by Luis Espinoza:
   
     In regards to why midnight commander does nothing when invoked. I
     recently had the same problem. At the same time gpm was not loading
     properly with my patched kernel (now 2.0.33 from 2.0.30).
     Downloading version 1.13 of gpm, and got it working :-) MC still
     appeared locked.... However moving the mouse, brought MC to life.
     The mouse I am using is a Kensington Expert Mouse (Trackball).
     
8.7 When I try to view a file MC hangs!

   This is known bug. A quick fix is "chmod 666 /dev/tty". For a more
   complete fix, see http://www.gnome.org/mc/maillist/97-10/98.html.
   
   This bug is fixed since 4.1.6.
   
9 Development

9.1 Who has written Midnight Commander?

   Midnight Commander was started by Miguel de Icaza and he is the
   maintainer of the package. Other authors have joined the project
   later:
     * Mauricio Plaza (early releases)
     * Janne Kukonlehto (joined Sep 27 1994)
     * Radek Doulik (joined Oct 30 1994)
     * Fred Leeflang (joined Nov 2 1994)
     * Dugan Porter (joined Dec 1 1994)
     * Jakub Jelinek (joined Feb 8 1995)
     * Ching Hui (joined Jun 27 1995)
     * Andrej Borsenkow (joined Jul 1996)
     * Paul Sheer (joined Nov 1 1996)
     * Norbert Warmuth
     * Alex I. Tkachenko
       
   Alessandro Rubini has been specially helpful with debugging and
   enhancing of the mouse support. John Davis has made his S-Lang library
   available to us and answered many questions about it.
   
   The photographs of the authors are available as:
   
     http://www.gnome.org/mc/authstat.html
     
   Many people have contributed bug reports, feature suggestions and
   small code bits (alphabetical order):
     * Thomasz Cholewo
     * Juan Jose Ciarlante
     * Alexander Dong (OS/2 port, NT port updates)
     * Erwin van Eijk
     * Torben Fjerdingstad
     * Massimo Fontanelli
     * Juan Grigera (NT port)
     * Gerd Knorr
     * Sergey Ya. Korshunoff
     * Jean-Daniel Luiset
     * Wim Osterholt
     * Antonio Palama (old DOS port)
     * Thomas Pundt
     * Marcelo Roccasalva
     * Ilya Rybkin
     * Vadim Sinolits
     * Jon Stevens
     * Adam Tla/lka
       
9.2 Do I dare to use a development version?

   I am afraid you have to answer to this question yourself. Development
   versions seldom cause data loss but they have usually got many bugs.
   It's up to you to judge whether new features outweight the bugs.
   
9.3 How can I report a bug/request for a feature?

   You might first want to get the newest development version to see if
   the bug is fixed or the feature is added already.
   
   Send your report/request to mc-devel@roxanne.nuclecu.unam.mx or
   mc@roxanne.nuclecu.unam.mx. These mailing lists are the most certain
   way to contact the developers. Remember to mention if you are not on
   the mailing list to make sure that you will receive a copy of replies.
   
   Give as much details as possible. A too long message is a lot better
   than a too short message.
   
   For segmentation faults a stack backtrace is appreciated. You can
   produce stack backtrace as follows:
     * If segmentation fault produced a core file:
         1. Load the core file by typing "gdb mc core" or "dbx mc core".
         2. Type "where".
         3. Cut and paste the results to your message.
     * If segmentation fault didn't produce a core file:
         1. Load mc by typing "gdb mc" or "dbx mc".
         2. Start mc by typing "run".
         3. Try to reproduce the segmentation fault by doing whatever you
            did last time when the segmentation fault occurred.
         4. Type "where".
         5. Cut and paste the results to your message.
         6. For the future you might want to check out what is the
            command in your shell to allow producing of the core files.
            Usually it is "limit coredumpsize unlimited" or "ulimit
            coredumpsize" or "ulimit -c unlimited".
       
9.4 How can I join the development?

   To join the development just code the feature you want to add and send
   your patch for inclusion. Email address is mc-devel@nuclecu.unam.mx.
   Before you start coding check the latest development version. It might
   be that your feature has already been implemented.
   
   Note that the authors of the Midnight Commander have given all their
   rights on the program to the Free Software Foundation. You will have
   to do the same if you contribute non-trivial patches. Otherwise we
   have to reject your patches in order to avoid copyright problems.
   
10 More information

10.1 This document didn't answer my question. Where else can I look for an
answer?

   Read messages from the Discussion (mailing list archive) or read the
   Manual.
   
   Upgrade to a newer version of Midnight Commander. Many problems are
   fixed in the new versions.
   
   If you still can't find an answer, post your question to the Midnight
   Commander mailing list. Its address is mc@nuclecu.unam.mx.
   
10.2 What mailing lists are there for Midnight Commander?

   Following mailing lists discuss about Midnight Commander:
   
   mc
          General discussion of the Midnight Commander
          
   mc-digest
          The mc list, in digest format
          
   mc-announce
          Major announcements about the Commander
          
   mc-patches
          The latest Commander patches
          
   mc-devel
          Technical development discussion
          
   mc-chat
          Non-MC related chatting by the developers (contact Miguel to
          subscribe)
          
   To subscribe, send e-mail to majordomo@roxanne.nuclecu.unam.mx with
   the following line in the body of the message:

    subscribe <list-name> [optional-address]

   Replace <list-name> with the name of the list you want to subscribe
   and [optional-address] with your email address.
   
10.3 Where should I look on the World Wide Web for MC stuff?

   There is a WWW page for Midnight Commander. The URL is:
   
     http://www.gnome.org/mc/
     
   The WWW page features MC screen shots, photographs of the authors,
   mailing list archive and a few other things.
   
10.4 Are the mailing lists archived anywhere?

   The mc and mc-devel lists are archived on the World Wide Web page (see
   the previous question). Other lists are not currently archived though
   Miguel keeps a private archive. Contact him if you want copies of past
   messages.
   
11 Administrivia

11.1 Authorship

   Questions and Answers is written by Janne Kukonlehto. Parts of it
   originate from Ian Jackson, Miguel de Icaza, Dugan Porter, Norbert
   Warmuth and Paul Sheer.
   
11.2 [UPDATED] File formats

   This document is available in HTML, postscript and PDF formats at
   http://www.gnome.org/mc/answers.html.
   
   This document is available in ASCII format in the Midnight Commander
   source package.
   
11.3 Feedback is invited

   Send your comments about this document to janne@gnome.org
   
   Send your comments about the Midnight Commander to mc@nuclecu.unam.mx
   
11.4 Disclaimer and copyright

   Note that this document is provided as is. The information in it is
   not warranted to be correct; you use it at your own risk.
   
   You can use Questions and Answers according to GNU Public License (see
   the COPYING file in the Midnight Commander source distribution).
   Questions and Answers is not public domain.
     __________________________________________________________________
   
   This document is maintained by Janne Kukonlehto <janne@gnome.org>.