ToDo list
jarun opened this issue · 64 comments
Rolled from #1193.
Cooking
- disable filter info if file details (option
-i) enabled - plugin
gitrootto jump to git root directory from a subtree - icon for opus and webp files
preview-tui- fix gif conversion and whitespace namepreview-tui- add support for windows terminal splitnuke- add support forimvwhen named imv- add GNU sed as a dependency with support for env var
SED - documentation refresh
- make option
O_NOSORTto load directories unsorted on entry
Up for grabs
None open at the time.
For anything else please discuss in this thread.
Contribution guideline.
Regarding this issue, is it not more sensible to add a null character at the end to make $NNN_SEL null-delimited for simpler processing in a simple while loop? Just a minor thing, xargs works and so does while IFS= read -r -d '' file || [ -n "$file" ] ; do but while IFS= read -r -d '' file seems simplest but does not currently include the last item because it doesn't end with the null character. I could not find anywhere that $NNN_SEL should be null-delimited but it seems like a reasonable assumption.
What's the usecase here, just processing the selection in bash script? If that is indeed the usecase then you can manually append the null char at the end, no?
{ cat "$NNN_SEL" && printf '\0'; } | while read -d $'\0' ...I suppose something like this would work. Untested.
Yes, there are many workarounds/solutions. My point was wouldn't it be simpler to make $NNN_SEL null-delimited so that it's more familiar for users where they don't need to resort to manually adding the null character with printf or use xargs in the manner described in the issue? The data should just be processed as-is if possible for the sake of simplicity--null-delimited does that and the user might reasonably assume it is null-delimited if they weren't paying close attention to the lack the last null character.
I actually manually added the null character like you mentioned but also wasn't confident this would not result in unexpected behavior. A familiar null-delimited $NNN_SEL is more explicit and commonly handled to prevent potential confusion or simple "workarounds" that is a bit of an inconvenience.
If there are good reasons to omit the last null character then this is a non-issue. I don't have strong opinions on the matter, just felt like others might encounter this minor annoyance I had, especially when I couldn't find much info about $NNN_SEL other than it's a selection file. So I took a glance at the contents and see null characters between filenames and then assumed it was null-delimited, hence my experience.
NUL is used as a separator, not a terminator in the code.
In troubleshooting section of wiki written:
Can't list within list
List view is a temporary view of symlinks. To avoid remembering the temporary paths to all listed views the current path is removed when the next list is loaded. This is also inline with the fact that find doesn't look within symlinks to directories. If you need to search the entries within a loaded list, visit the original directory and run the refined search.
Description confusing without context. What if call it e.g. a piped list or add example it will be much clearer?
Could you please add a note/music file icon for .opus files?
When a file is deleted externally (not by plugin), nnn refreshes and cursor goes to the top. Is it possible to keep cursor at same position (or on the next file, if cursor was on file that was deleted) after it refreshes?
First, this happens only when you are hovering on a file that's one of the deleted files.
External directory change (including deletions) come as events. We do not distinguish between single and multiple events combined together. We don't want to go into every event and check if it's a deletion and the file is hovered and then process the next one and check if the next file is also deleted and so on. That's inefficient. If we don't find the hovered file on refresh we simply move to the top.
Hi (and sorry for butting into the existing conversations--I figured this is a good place to brain dump on ideas), I'm considering writing a plugin called zoxide that simply calls zoxide for the user to quickly cd. I know there's already zoxide integration with autojump, but this would be more instant and fits the paradigm of these tools in that the user only has to execute one command to cd at the risk of going to the wrong directory. Is that something that you'd merge in?
Please have a personal plugin of your own. It's too basic and a duplicate.
In case I wasn't clear enough, it's not a duplicate of autojump because it wouldn't scan the data of zoxide and use fzf for the user to select a directory as autojump does. It would simply prompt the user for a directory string and pass it onto zoxide to cd.
No separate plugin for directory jumps please.
We don't want to provide the same solution in multiple plugins. And personally I dislike the idea that we have a plugin for navigation when nnn already has tons of ways to enhance navigation.
You can copy the same plugin in the plugins dir without the .. There's no need to expose it for everyone. nnn provides these minor X-integration points but it's not a file manager that spoon-feeds users.
Thanks for explaining. I can empathize on both remarks. As the plugin author of a fzf plugin myself that also supports a bit of file navigation and previews, I also felt very wary of tons of requests and PRs to bulk up the search files feature when all I wanted to do was just rely on nnn. I ended up caving in to some requests and now have extra code and features to support and regret it. So should I not have even PRed in gitroot? Anyway, I will stop requesting other plugins like it.
gitroot is useful and also unique. We didn't have a similar plugin before it.
In that case, great!
On the topic of core plugins, I was really confused by how “core plugins” are treated inconsistently and insufficiently. By core plugins I mean plugins such as .cbcp, .nmv, lock, launch. All of them have direct keybindings in nnn (meaning they can be triggered without assigning them to NNN_PLUG). Yet, .cbcp and .nmv are hidden but the others are not. It's also surprising that the man pages and the readme and wiki make no mention that lock and launch are the plugins behind the lock and launch actions in nnn. In my mind, plugins provide secondary functionality and are only ever called if they are assigned to NNN_PLUG, but not all of them. So I would suggest renaming them or moving them to another directory that clearly shows they are core plugins. Or at least add some documentation somewhere to explain their existence. (Sorry I'm kind of rambling here--not sure what the best solution is either)
Oh and one more thing: symlinked bookmarks are conspicuously missing in the manpages. Happy to try adding it myself once I get the green light from you!
symlinked bookmarks are conspicuously missing in the manpages
They are mentioned in the wiki https://github.com/jarun/nnn/wiki/Basic-use-cases#symlinked-bookmarks
It was a relatively new feature, so I assume the manpage was forgotten to be updated.
@N-R-K please add a note on symlinked bookmarks in the manpage.
@PatrickF1 nnn is very stable and users are fine with how things are. I myself have greater priorities in life than cosmetic changes like moving plugins between folders. I understand you just found nnn and probably got overwhelmed but it's just another basic tool. Feel free to share ideas which really enhance the functionality.
Gotcha. Yeah I did get overwhelmed 😅. Just to give you a data point--though one admittedly probably exceptional--I spent about 12 hours over two days doing intense research mastering nnn. It was rather difficult because of holes in the documentation and the things that don't follow conventions--implicit or stated. I now feel very comfortable with it but am also very aware of its odd design flaws. Thanks for the feedback--going forward I will focus more on significant enhancements.
Oh yes--sorry one more thing that's rather cosmetic but could make a big difference for someone new to nnn. The sort prompt that shows up when you hit t is incredibly confusing even. Would recommend just displaying the whole thing or elaborating in the manpages (right now it's only elaborated on the Wiki).
Also it's still not clear to me what the ^T to get notifications on Mac means. Could you clarify that for me please?
The following is available in the in-program help (press ? to see it):
t ^T Sort toggles
The program keys are not documented in the man page.
^T to get notifications on Mac
This is unrelated to nnn. Mac users can press ^T to see cp/mv progress.
BTW @PatrickF1 thanks for the docs review. Feel free to suggest doc updates which you find unclear or need fixing.
The following is available in the in-program help (press ? to see it):
t ^T Sort toggles
The program keys are not documented in the man page.
I'm talking about this that is unclear and could use clarification either at the prompt or in the man pages
This is unrelated to nnn. Mac users can press ^T to see cp/mv progress.
Sorry I am a seasoned Mac user and did some digging and still couldn't find what ^T does on Mac. Could you explain how to trigger it or link to some documentation please?
@PatrickF1 Sure that seems reasonable.
Also, take your time for the next 3-5 days and try to make a list of all the confusing/missing docs. Once you're done, either make a post here so we can update things or feel free to directly open the PR yourself as well.
Also, take your time for the next 3-5 days and try to make a list of all the confusing/missing docs. Once you're done, either make a post here so we can update things or feel free to directly open the PR yourself as well.
Message received. Sorry I gave the feedback haphazardly in piece meal. I think I'll just stop now.
Ok I did think of something kind of significant and it's not documentation related so I hope this is not bothersome. My idea is that we should add indicators that distinguish between type-to-nav mode and whatever you call the mode toggled by +. Right now type-to-nav and normal mode's filter and non-filter UI look exactly the same so it's a little disorienting and creates hesitation in me about whether I am in the right mode or now. Hitting + and not seeing any UI changes at all, not even a blink, is even more unsettling. I think either you can make the screen blink or add a small letter on the bottom to indicate which toggles are active. Perhaps next to the v think that is used to indicate more lines.
And speaking of the v indicator, I was also very confused by the v indicator for a long time. I kept thinking it was vim related or an indicator that there was something unique about the file currently covered over, since it's right next to the file details. Not to mention it's also aesthetically austere and the top ^ for more above points directly at the context and it can be confused for "you are currently on context 1". Perhaps we can take a page out of less indicates whether or not there's more to view? It'd also save some space. See these screenshots:
@PatrickF1 When compiled with NERD font those symbols are replaced with up and down arrow (which imo is much nicer looking indication). You can give that a try, see the wiki on how to use NERD font icons.
Oh yeah I did try that but I went back to vanilla nnn because I don't want to have to recompile nnn everytime there's an update. For me, automatability is huge. I want to be able to add things to my dotfiles and never worry about it again.
My idea is that we should add indicators that distinguish between type-to-nav mode and whatever you call the mode toggled by +. Right now type-to-nav and normal mode's filter and non-filter UI look exactly the same so it's a little disorienting and creates hesitation in me about whether I am in the right mode or now. Hitting + and not seeing any UI changes at all, not even a blink, is even more unsettling.
Any thoughts about this concern I previously posted about?
Currently the statusbar simply uses the context color. We could maybe have different color depending on filter/type-to-nav mode. But that will somewhat break the visual for those who like the current sync of statusbar and context color.
Perhaps we can take a page out of less indicates whether or not there's more to view? It'd also save some space. See these screenshots:
I sorta doubt this will happen. nnn focuses pretty heavily on performance and tries to avoid doing unnecessary work/redraw.
But that will somewhat break the visual for those who like the current sync of statusbar and context color.
I think you could just add a symbol. For example, fzf does a good job here. Try opening up fzf --multi (for multi select) and fzf without multi select. They have a one new symbol with --multi to indicate that multiselect is on.
+ isn't supposed to have any feedback. You know whether it's on or off when you open the next file.
Type-to-nav is a matter of habit. People who use that mode are supposed to use that all the time. For example, I use it and I never press the filter key. No new indicators would be added.
Perhaps we can take a page out of less indicates whether or not there's more to view?
Now that you know about v, it shouldn't be an issue to understand what it means. Again, I don't think doing these cosmetic changes at this stage of the program adds any real value. We are also not adding too many new changes so you can change these yourselves in your local copy.
And I don't even think v and ^ can be replaced by a percentage. How do you know at a glance whether there are more elements if you scroll up or not? And a percentage is an approximation. In a directory having 10000 files, several last entries would show 100%.
In any case, @PatrickF1 I think you need to stop now. We did come across a few contributors/users earlier who would come up with repeat cosmetic improvement suggestions without doing enough homework. And we had to spend time figuring out the actual problems in implementing those ideas and explaining those to them. It's a bad experience and I don't want to spend my time on those. nnn can be modified very easily. Feel free to make changes in your local copy and use them.
No problem! Thanks for your understanding.
Since the topic of UX/UI came up, I'd like to add that there are many terminal file mangers which focus quite heavily on cosmetics and looks. Many of which I've installed, and then uninstalled within 2 minutes after seeing that there's a noticeable delay when doing basic tasks like scrolling, going in/out of a directory etc.
In attempt to make their UI better, they've ended up making it unuseable for people like me who are sensitive towards latency and responsiveness. When making UI decisions one has to keep in mind, that in the unix world worse is better.
Yo just leaving this here after altering Preview-tui to work with Windows Terminal with WSL, as I've avoided Xserver for various reasons. I'm pretty new to Bash scripting so do with it what you will I didn't add much, just really liked the project and wanted features to work with what I had.
https://gist.github.com/WanderLanz/fae8b8e09746d611f384dc40d1bd41c9
Obviously haven't used github site alot :P as well.
@WanderLanz thank you!
@luukvbaal @N-R-K can any of you adapt this to the plugin please?
@WanderLanz were you dissatisfied with the option of running preview-tui through tmux in Windows Terminal/WSL? Or were you unaware that's an option?
Not sure it's worth adding this just to avoid the tmux dependency inside WSL.
I myself don't use tmux on wsl. A semi-native solution helps.
There's no need "use" tmux. Just installing it is enough to make preview-tui work.
Anyhow the gist doesn't work at all for me, it opens a 2 new wt instances and errors out.
This option is required to make it work
Oh I'm sorry, there's also a -w [0 for current window] flag for the "wt" command but I had forgot that option was a thing. I added it.
That's more like it.
Also, TMUX is installed by default on the Ubuntu WSL 20.04, do you need the TMUX server running for it to work? As I've said, I'm quite new to bash scripting, and was previously just using another machine for Linux development in centOS so I'm probably doing something wrong anyways.
Yes nnn needs to run inside tmux. I don't "use" tmux myself either but I use an alias for nnn like tmux new-session nnn -Pp "$@" to make sure preview-tui works.
A semi-native solution helps.
The tmux solution feels just as, if not more, native in my opinion.
Oh, by default you need to follow https://github.com/jarun/nnn/wiki/Troubleshooting#tmux-configuration .
To make it work I just did: touch ~/.tmux.conf && echo "set -g default-terminal \"screen-256color\"" >> .tmux.conf
and then add the alias or command: tmux new-session nnn -a[preferred options] "$@"
You can still use the WT workaroud if you aren't going to install tmux if you want, just be aware that I'm running it first though Powershell (powershell.exe on WSL, as C:\Windows and System32 paths are added to your $PATH) then WT to make it work. Along with some few caveats:
WT itself doesn't add "native" support itself for these kind of things, and for some reason simply running C:\path\to\wt.exe doesn't work with straight from WSL so I can only seem to get it working through powershell.exe subterminal
Because it's running through powershell, any ";" in the command has been picked up first by powershell rather than bash, so '&&' has been used.
The PATH and PAGER vars cannot be passed along in any way that I've tried due to spaces, so I just remove PAGER and source $HOME/.profile instead, if you know a way to fix that please share.
Other than that, I really love the work you guys are doing here! The WSL community seems to be growing pretty rapidly these days with WSL2 and WSLg, I'd recommend Chris-Titus Windows Debloater script or another debloater to free up some room for things like ghci which has been pretty instensive for me on WSL lol. Although I'm a gamer first, so I might be more picky about these things : P .
@WanderLanz if you're compiling from source then you can use the git status patch to get some git integration.
But I'm not sure why there would be any reason for an nnn plugin for doing things like git push/commit. Those are jobs better suited for your IDE or as a plugin for your text editor.
@N-R-K Thanks! I was wondering if there were other cool features like that.
I was just mostly wondering what the gitroot plugin in the TODO was exactly, was he referring to something like this? :
https://gist.github.com/WanderLanz/216f53819bdab0b2c2eb4baa6dd3cba1
@WanderLanz "Cooking" is a list of features/changes currently present on master branch but not released into a stable version yet. The gitroot plugin is already in master, you can find it here: https://github.com/jarun/nnn/blob/master/plugins/gitroot
@N-R-K Thanks for letting me know, I'm not the brightest in the crowd : P .
If you still wanted that preview-tui for use straight through Windows Terminal, although I now know you can just run it through tmux, I updated it to import the PATH and PAGER correctly.
The fix was simple, I'm just an idiot and tried all of the complicated things first.
https://gist.github.com/WanderLanz/fae8b8e09746d611f384dc40d1bd41c9
Thanks, I made the PR. Although tmux feels more native to me as nnn gets distorted while openening the wt split and is slower too, going through powershell.
It does require less setup I guess, so there's that.
I mean, there is a "wt.exe" wsl command to (/mnt/c/Users/<User>/AppData/Local/Microsoft/WindowsApps/wt.exe) through the wsl PATH preloading, but I can't figure out how to pass sub-commands or flags to it through bash. As I'm not a very well-versed person in the wt innerworkings or how wsl passes flags to .exe commands, does anyone have any idea if there is a way to make it work?
As in https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/terminal/command-line-arguments?tabs=linux
, quote : "Execution aliases do not work in WSL distributions. If you want to use wt.exe from a WSL command line, you can spawn it from CMD directly by running cmd.exe. The /c option tells CMD to terminate after running."
so you can replace "powershell.exe [ command ]" with "cmd.exe /c [command] 2>>/dev/null" if you want a slight improvement since cmd is faster to load as a subshell I guess, although it might not be noticable. (2>/dev/null because of UNC path warning)
let me whip it up real quick to see if it's noticeable at all...
I mean... kinda? I don't have the tools set up to time it exactly right now as this is my personal machine, but now it's ~600ms ish compared to the ~300ms it takes to do the tmux alias with the preview.
updated: https://gist.github.com/WanderLanz/fae8b8e09746d611f384dc40d1bd41c9
sorry about the spam btw, do you want me to move under #1289 for now ? I'm well aware I'm being annoying and you guys are probably doing better things with your time than I am.