3 Use: Drag items from the command line, and more
4 Website: http://kaizer.se/wiki/dragbox/
5 By Ulrik Sverdrup <ulrik.sverdrup@gmail.com>, released under GPLv2+
9 Dragbox is a tool for connecting the command line with the desktop
10 environment. It summons a drag handle in a window when you are managing
11 files or text in the shell, connecting the different workspaces -- desktop
14 Dragbox can take items on the command line or from a pipe and put on its
15 shelf. The inverse is also possible: dragged-to items can be output to the
16 shell. It is possible to have more than one instance running, and put items
17 on or get items from any of them.
19 Right-click in the window to open a context menu or access the preferences
20 window. Clicking an item copies it to the clipboard (files can be opened as
23 For detailed command line instructions, please read the included man page.
27 Dragging in gnome works very well, but there are some hidden tricks that can
28 make some things easier.
29 * Pressing modifier keys can switch between different types of drags;
30 dragging a file to nautilus normally copies it, but you can hold shift to
31 move it, or shift-ctrl to make a symlink.
32 * You can drag from any window without activating it by holding the altgr or
33 super key when you drag. This is often very useful.
34 * You can bring up a minimized or obscured window while dragging by hovering
35 momentarily over it's button in the window list (in the gnome-panel)
36 * If you selected something in a window and focus another window, it looks
37 like the selection disappeared. In many cases it's still there, you can
38 try to drag it without focusing the window (see above)
39 * Type escape while dragging to cancel the drag
43 Dragbox requires Python v2.4 and the following python modules: pygtk, gtk,
44 gtk.glade, gnomevfs, gnome, gconf, dbus. On Debian,
45 installing the packages python-glade2 and python-gnome2 should be enough.
47 Installation from source is simple, just the usual:
53 There might be a problem with finding the way to the installed Python
54 package. Dragbox uses a script to do some manual searching if needed, and
55 this should work; if not, investigate the use of PYTHONPATH. There is one
56 limitation: If you install using DESTDIR, --bindir has to be "inside"
57 --prefix, otherwise Dragbox won't find the way to its .glade datafiles.
61 Gitweb: http://repo.or.cz/w/dragbox.git
63 To build dragbox from a git checkout
66 # then use ./configure and make etc as ususal
68 To build the distributable source tarball from a clean checkout:
70 ./autogen.sh; ./configure; make distcheck
74 Dragbox is licensed under the GNU GPL version 2 (or later)
75 See http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
77 By Ulrik Sverdrup 2006--2008
78 ulrik.sverdrup@gmail.com