| 1 | =head1 GTK+ BASH FILE CHOOSER |
1 | =head1 GTK+ BASH FILE CHOOSER |
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2 | |
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3 | Gtk+ is a nice toolkit, but ever since the new file chooser was introduced |
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4 | in version 2, it became less and less usable. Not only is tab completion |
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5 | gone (at least in a useful form), quickly entering a path has become |
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6 | impossible due to many extra keys one has to press and due to the extreme |
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7 | slowness of the file chooser itself. |
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8 | |
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9 | As an example, when firefox finds a new filetype (e.g. a pdf) and I use |
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10 | its file chooser to select F</usr/bin/xpdf>, here is what happens: After |
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11 | typing F</usr/bin> the app freezes for around 40 seconds. Then it has |
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12 | loaded F</usr/bin> (this is on a typical debian install, F<ls -l /usr/bin> |
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13 | is much faster). Then after pressing return to select it, the window |
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14 | again freezes for about 30 seconds. In the gtk+ 1.0 file selector this |
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15 | took less than a second. As another example, when I save an image in |
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16 | the GIMP to F</tmp>, I can actually see the Gtk+ file chooser accessing |
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17 | other, automounted, paths such as F</fs/cdrom>, or F</fs/doom>, which |
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18 | are my dvd drive and an nfs fs on anoher machine. Mounting those takes |
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19 | additional time to the time required scanning F</tmp> (which again is |
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20 | about a minute). |
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21 | |
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22 | Clearly, this makes the Gtk+ file chooser completely |
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23 | unusable. Unfortunately, despite many people having opened bug reports |
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24 | about these problems, they are either getting ignored, or fixed in an |
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25 | half-assed attempt just to come back in the next gtk+ release. |
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26 | |
| 3 | B<gtkbfc> is a hack that replaces the dreaded, slow and hard-to-use GTK+ |
27 | B<gtkbfc> is a hack that replaces the dreaded, slow and hard-to-use GTK+ |
| 4 | file chooser by a rxvt-unicode window with a little script that you to use |
28 | file chooser by a rxvt-unicode window with a little script that you to use |
| 5 | readline tab-completion to enter filenames. |
29 | readline tab-completion to enter filenames. |
| 6 | |
30 | |
| 7 | Again, its a dire hack and will not work with all programs. It does work |
31 | Again, its a dire hack and will not work with all programs. It does work |
| 8 | for gimp, firefox, gedit at least, though. |
32 | for gimp, firefox, gedit at least, though. Most importantly, it does work |
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33 | for me, which really is all that counts. |
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34 | |
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35 | |
| 10 | =head2 INSTALLATION |
36 | =head2 INSTALLATION |
| 11 | |
37 | |
| 12 | Install rxvt-unicode. Then copy the F<gtkbfc-helper> to F</etc/> and make |
38 | Install rxvt-unicode. Then copy the F<gtkbfc-helper> to F</etc/> and make |
| 13 | sure its executable and opens a window where you can enter a filename when |
39 | sure its executable and opens a window where you can enter a filename when |
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… | |
| 24 | alias gimp='LD_PRELOAD=/path/to/gtkbfc.so gimp' |
50 | alias gimp='LD_PRELOAD=/path/to/gtkbfc.so gimp' |
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51 | |
| 26 | Or by putting it into your F</etc/ld.so.preload> (not really recommended |
52 | Or by putting it into your F</etc/ld.so.preload> (not really recommended |
| 27 | for performance reasons). |
53 | for performance reasons). |
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54 | |
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55 | |
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56 | =head2 BUGS |
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57 | |
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58 | You want to use readline, so you are some kind of guru anyways, so if you |
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59 | have a bug report, better attach a patch or a very thorough analysis of |
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60 | what goes wrong to your e-mail. Thank you very much. |
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| 29 | =head2 AUTHOR |
63 | =head2 AUTHOR |
| 30 | |
64 | |
| 31 | Marc Lehmann <gtkbfc@schmorp.de>. |
65 | Marc Lehmann <gtkbfc@schmorp.de>. |
