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11 <ulink url="http://rox.sourceforge.net"/>
14 <firstname>Thomas</firstname><surname>Leonard</surname>
16 <copyright><year>2005</year><holder>Thomas Leonard</holder></copyright>
18 <title>Conditions</title>
20 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
21 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published
22 by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License,
23 or (at your option) any later version.
25 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
26 WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY
27 or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License
30 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
31 along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
32 Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA, 02111-1307, USA.
38 <application>ROX-Filer</application> is a graphical file manger for the X
39 Window System. Its user interface is based on the RISC OS filer and it
40 supports similar features such as application directories and drag-and-drop
41 loading and saving of files. The filer can also act as a pinboard, allowing
42 you to pin frequently used files onto the desktop background.
48 <title>Introduction</title>
50 <application>ROX-Filer</application> is a simple and easy to use graphical
51 file manager for X11 — the windowing system used on Unix and Unix-like
52 operating systems. It is also the core component of the ROX Desktop
53 <citation>ROX</citation>. Many of the filer's features were inspired by RISC
54 OS <citation>RISC OS</citation>. `ROX' stands for `RISC OS–On–X'.
58 <title>Features</title>
63 <varlistentry><term>XDND</term>
65 A common drag-and-drop protocol used, for example, by the GNOME
66 desktop<citation>GNOME</citation>. This allows data to be loaded into an
67 application by dragging it from a filer window to a program. The full
68 specification is given in <citation>DND</citation>.
69 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
71 <varlistentry><term>XDS</term>
73 An extension to XDND that allows applications to save data by
74 dragging an icon back to a filer window. The full specification is given in
75 <citation>XDS</citation>.
76 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
78 <varlistentry><term>Basedir spec</term>
80 A simple, but flexible, system for managing user choices. By default, choices are
81 saved under <filename>~/.config</filename>. However, you can change this by setting
82 the <envar>XDG_CONFIG_HOME</envar> environment variable. See
83 <citation>BaseDir</citation> for details.
84 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
86 <varlistentry><term>Application directories</term>
88 Self contained relocatable applications, where installation is as simple as
89 copying it to where you want it and uninstalling it is just a matter of
90 deleting a directory. Described later in this documentation.
91 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
93 <varlistentry><term>Thumbnails</term>
95 The filer can be made to display image files by using the image itself for the
96 icon, instead of a generic `this-is-an-image' icon. Very useful for organising
97 a directory full of photos! See <citation>Thumbs</citation> for details.
98 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
100 <varlistentry><term>Shared MIME Info Database</term>
102 In the past, each desktop had its own database of rules for determining the
103 type of files. The Shared MIME Info Database<citation>SharedMIME</citation>
104 unifies these into a single system shared by all desktops.
105 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
107 <varlistentry><term>Icon Themes</term>
109 Collections of file icons, called themes, can be installed (eg, to
110 <filename>~/.icons</filename>). You can switch between themes in
111 the Options box. Once other desktops support this fully, themes
112 will be sharable between desktops. See <citation>IconTheme</citation> for details.
113 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
115 <varlistentry><term>DNotify support (Linux only)</term>
117 If used with a recent Linux kernel (2.4.x series), the filer will notice changes
118 to directories automatically. On other systems, directories will update when the
119 pointer is moved over them.
120 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
129 <chapter id="invoking">
130 <title>Invoking</title>
132 You should be able to start the filer by simply running the <userinput>rox</userinput>
133 command, by typing it at a shell prompt or otherwise. If the filer isn't installed yet,
134 consult <xref linkend="compiling"/>.
137 By default, <application>ROX-Filer</application> will start by displaying
138 the current directory. You can get it to display other directories instead
139 by listing them after the command:
141 <screen>$ rox /home /usr /usr/local</screen>
143 You can also use it to open files, like this:
145 <screen>$ rox README</screen>
147 The filer supports various options; use <option>-h</option> for a list.
148 All options have long and short forms (eg <option>-h</option> and
149 <option>--help</option>) — although on some systems you can only use the
152 Note that if the same version of the filer is already running on this
153 machine then, by default, it will be used to open the directories.
155 For a complete list of command-line options, see <xref linkend="manpage"/>
159 <title><anchor id="run_pin" xreflabel="Pinboard support"/>Pinboard support</title>
162 If you want the filer to manage your desktop background then you use
163 the <option>--pinboard</option> option and supply a name for the pinboard,
166 <screen>$ rox --pinboard=MyPinboard</screen>
168 The pinboard configuration is saved in
169 <filename>~/.config/rox.sourceforge.net/ROX-Filer/pb_MyPinboard</filename>
170 as soon as you change it in some way (for example, by dropping a file
171 onto the background). You can have as many pinboards as you like and
172 switch between them by running rox again, eg:
174 <screen>$ rox --pinboard=MyOtherPinboard</screen>
176 To turn off the pinboard again, set the name to an empty string:
178 <screen>$ rox --pinboard=</screen>
180 See the <xref linkend="winman"/> if you have trouble getting the icons to
181 display correctly. The pinboard may also be turned on and off by locating
182 <filename>ROX-Filer</filename> in a filer window and choosing <guimenuitem>Enable
183 pinboard</guimenuitem> or <guimenuitem>Disable pinboard</guimenuitem> from the menu.</para>
187 <title><anchor id="run_pan" xreflabel="Panel support"/>Panels</title>
190 Panels work just like the pinboard, except that they run along the edge of the screen.
193 <screen>$ rox -b=MyPanel</screen>
195 The panel should be displayed in a window without a title bar. If
196 this does not work then see the <xref linkend="winman"/> for some ideas.
197 You can drag files onto either side of the panel to add them. Panel icons
198 can be repositioned by dragging them with the middle mouse button.
199 Changes to the panel are automatically saved to
200 <filename>~/.config/rox.sourceforge.net/ROX-Filer/pan_MyPanel</filename>.
201 As with the pinboard, you can switch between panel configurations
202 simply by running rox again with a different panel name.
204 <screen>$ rox -b=MyOtherPanel</screen>
206 You can set which edge of the screen the panel appears on using the popup menu.
207 You can also set the edge when enabling the panel by using the side instead of -b.
208 Specify a blank name to remove the panel:
210 <screen>$ rox --bottom=</screen>
215 <title><anchor id="winman" xreflabel="window manager notes"/>Window manager notes</title>
217 You may have to play around with your window manager a bit to get
218 the pinboard icons and panels to display correctly (eg, without borders
219 and underneath all other windows). In particular, try setting the
220 stacking level / depth to low (or a negative value). Make sure any
221 'Keep transients above other windows' type options are turned off!
224 <sect2><title>Sawfish / sawmill</title>
226 Sawfish tries to guess whether you are using GNOME at start-up and only
227 provides support if so. You may need to add the line
228 <programlisting>(require 'gnome)</programlisting>
229 to your <filename>.sawfishrc</filename> file (see the sawfish manual
234 <sect2><title>IceWM</title>
237 Paste these configuration settings into
238 <filename>~/.icewm/preferences</filename>:
241 # Manage root window (EXPERIMENTAL - normally enabled!)
242 GrabRootWindow=1 # 0/1
243 # Bitmask of root window button click to use in window manager
244 UseRootButtons=3 # [0-255]
245 # Desktop mouse-button click to show the menu
246 DesktopWinMenuButton=1 # [0-20]
247 # Desktop mouse-button click to show the window list
248 DesktopWinListButton=2 # [0-5]
249 # Desktop mouse-button click to show the window list menu
250 DesktopMenuButton=0 # [0-20]</programlisting>
251 Paste these into <filename>~/.icewm/winoptions</filename>:
254 # ROX-Filer pinboard and panel
255 ROX-Filer.icon: folder
256 ROX-Panel.layer: Dock
257 ROX-Panel.doNotCover: 1
258 ROX-Panel.ignoreWinList: 1
259 ROX-Panel.ignoreTaskBar: 1
260 ROX-Panel.ignoreQuickSwitch: 1
261 ROX-Pinboard.layer: Below
262 ROX-Pinboard.ignoreWinList: 1
263 ROX-Pinboard.ignoreTaskBar: 1
264 ROX-Pinboard.ignoreQuickSwitch: 1
265 ROX-Filer.layer: Normal</programlisting>
266 Restart IceWM and the filer for the new settings to take effect.
271 <sect2><title>Window Maker</title>
273 <step><para>Run the filer using <userinput>rox -p=Default</userinput>.</para></step>
275 Press <keycap>Control</keycap>+<keycap>Escape</keycap>, or
276 [RightButtonDown] on any window's titlebar.
277 Choose <guimenuitem>Attributes...</guimenuitem> from the menu.
281 The Attributes Inspector window appears. From the pulldown menu
282 at the top, choose <guimenuitem>Window Specification</guimenuitem>
287 Press the <guibutton>Select window</guibutton> button.
288 The cursor changes to a double crosshair. Select one of the
289 <application>ROX-Filer</application> pinboard icons. The radio buttons
290 in the <guilabel>Window Specification</guilabel> frame should change
291 their labels to include <userinput>ROX-Pinboard.ROX-Filer</userinput>
292 as the first item. Select that radio button.
296 Choose <guimenuitem>Window Attributes</guimenuitem> from the pulldown
297 menu. In the <guilabel>Attributes</guilabel> frame, choose the
298 features you want the pinboard icons to have; I recommend the
301 <listitem><para>Disable titlebar</para></listitem>
302 <listitem><para>Disable resizebar</para></listitem>
303 <listitem><para>Disable close button</para></listitem>
304 <listitem><para>Disable miniaturize button</para></listitem>
305 <listitem><para>Keep at bottom (sunken)</para></listitem>
306 <listitem><para>Omnipresent</para></listitem>
312 Choose <guimenuitem>Advanced Options</guimenuitem> from the pulldown
313 menu. In the <guilabel>Advanced</guilabel> frame, choose the advanced
314 features you wish; I recommend the following:
317 <listitem><para>Do not show in the window list</para></listitem>
318 <listitem><para>Ignore 'Hide Others'</para></listitem>
319 <listitem><para>Ignore 'Save Session' (possibly)</para></listitem>
324 When you're finished selecting window attributes, press the
325 <guibutton>Save</guibutton> button, and then close the Attributes
326 Inspector window using the <guibutton>X</guibutton> button in the titlebar.
331 <sect2><title>Others</title>
333 If all else fails, try the Compatibility section of the Options window.
339 <title>Running as root</title>
342 If you run the filer as the `root' user then the filer will display
343 a message at the top of each window to remind you. The root user has
344 permission to access or change any file in the system, so be very
345 careful when using the filer like this.
347 Normally, you should log in as an ordinary user and only change to
348 root when you need to. If you have <command>sudo</command> installed
349 and set up then you can run the filer like this:
351 <screen>$ sudo rox</screen>
353 Remember, any file operations you perform and any programs you run from
354 these windows will run as root too! Be careful!
356 You may find that the X server won't allow root (or other users) to
357 connect. Reading the manual pages for <command>xauth</command> and
358 <command>xhost</command> may give you some hints, but it varies
359 between systems (which is why this isn't built in to the filer!).
364 Note: <command>gnomesu</command> can also be used to run the filer as root,
365 but you'll need to use <command>setsid</command> to run it in a new
366 session group, otherwise gnomesu kills it before it has a chance to open
367 a window. For example:
368 <screen>gnomesu -c 'setsid /usr/local/bin/rox /'</screen>
374 <chapter id="keys" xreflabel="mouse and key bindings">
375 <title>Mouse button and key bindings</title>
377 <itemizedlist><title>Quick start:</title>
379 <listitem><para>Click the left
380 <footnote><para>This documentation assumes that button–1 is the left
381 button, button–2 is the middle button and button–3 is the
382 right button. This is not always the case — for example, in a
383 left-handed setup.</para></footnote> mouse button to open files and
384 directories.</para></listitem>
387 Click the right button to get a menu. Click over a file to perform an action on that file.
391 Drag files between windows with the left button to copy, move or link them
392 (choose from a menu). Linking creates a shortcut to the original file.
398 By default, the mouse button bindings are designed to fit in with X
399 conventions. However, the behaviour is highly configurable — have a play in
400 the Options window if you don't like the normal settings. The normal settings
406 <thead><row><entry>Key or mouse button</entry><entry>Action</entry></row></thead>
410 <row><entry>Left button click</entry><entry>
411 Open the file or directory clicked on. Hold down <keycap>Control</keycap>
412 to select things instead of opening them. Hold down <keycap>Shift</keycap>
413 to look inside applications, treat files as text, follow symlinks, or
414 get more control over mount points (see <xref linkend="media"/>).
417 <row><entry>Middle button click</entry><entry>
418 Same as left click, but open a directory in a new window or close the viewer
422 <row><entry>Right button click</entry><entry>
423 Open the main menu. Hold down <keycap>Control</keycap> while clicking to go
424 directly to the Selection submenu. Hold down <keycap>Shift</keycap> to get the
425 <guimenu>Send To</guimenu> menu (see the <xref linkend="SendTo"/> section).
428 <row><entry>Drag an item (left mouse button)</entry><entry>
429 Show a menu of possible actions. There is an option to disable this menu,
430 in which case this gesture will copy the file(s) to the destination (an
431 application or another filer window). Hold down <keycap>Shift</keycap>
432 to move the file, <keycap>Control</keycap>+<keycap>Shift</keycap> to
433 create a symbolic link, or <keycap>Alt</keycap> to get the menu of
437 <row><entry>Drag an item (middle mouse button)</entry><entry>
438 When you let go, display a menu of possible actions.
439 There is an option to make this move the files rather than open the menu.
442 <row><entry>Drag (not over an item)</entry><entry>
443 Select a group of items by dragging a box around them. With the left
444 mouse button, only the files in the box will be selected. If you hold
445 down <keycap>Control</keycap> then the boxed items are added to the selection.
446 If you use the middle button then the boxed items switch between being selected
450 <row><entry>Double-click background</entry><entry>
451 Resize the window to a sensible size (this can be turned off from
455 <row><entry><keycap>Backspace</keycap></entry><entry>
456 Change to viewing the parent directory.
459 <row><entry>Cursor keys</entry><entry>
460 Move the cursor around.
464 <keycap>Page Up</keycap>, <keycap>Page Down</keycap></entry><entry>
465 Move the cursor up and down a page at a time.
468 <row><entry><keycap>Home</keycap>, <keycap>End</keycap></entry><entry>
469 Move to the first/last entry in the directory.
472 <row><entry><keycap>Return</keycap></entry><entry>
473 Acts like clicking on the file. You may hold down Shift for other
474 effects, as with clicking. Holding down Alt works like clicking with
475 the middle button; directories open in a new window and opening files
476 closes the directory at the same time.
479 <row><entry><keycap>Spacebar</keycap></entry><entry>
480 Toggles the item under the cursor between being selected and unselected,
481 and moves to the next item.
484 <row><entry><keycap>Tab</keycap>, <keycap>Shift</keycap>+<keycap>Tab</keycap></entry><entry>
485 Moves the cursor to the next/previous selected item.
488 <row><entry>Hold mouse over an item</entry><entry>
489 Shows a tooltip containing a brief description of an application (if
490 available), the target of a symbolic link, and the full name of a file,
491 if it's too long to show in the main window.
494 </tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
497 If you have user-defineable key-bindings enabled, then other keys can easily
498 be set by opening the menu, moving the pointer over the item you want to use
499 and pressing a key. The key will appear in the menu and can be used from
500 then on. Key bindings are automatically saved when the filer quits.
501 You can use an XSettings manager, such as ROX-Session, to turn this feature
502 on for all Gtk+-2.0 applications.
506 <chapter id="selection">
507 <title>The selection and file groups</title>
509 When you select items in a <application>ROX-Filer</application> window,
510 the filer takes the <emphasis>primary selection</emphasis>. You can then paste
511 into another window to get the pathnames of the selected files.
515 <title>Example: loading a file into an application that doesn't support
516 drag-and-drop:</title>
518 <step><para>Open the application's Open dialog box.</para></step>
521 <keycap>Control</keycap>-click on the file in
522 <application>ROX-Filer</application> to select it.</para></step>
525 Click the middle button in the filename box in the application to paste the
531 Note that clicking the middle mouse button in the main area of most web-browsers
532 will open the selected file.
534 If you select something else (eg, some text in another program), the selected
535 items in the filer window will be shown shaded (the filer no longer has the
536 primary selection). Clicking on one of the shaded items will cause the
537 filer to regain the primary selection.
540 <sect1><title>Saving and restoring the selection</title>
542 It is sometimes useful to save the current selection for later. You can
543 save the current selection to one of ten numbered groups by pressing
544 <keycap>Control</keycap>+<keycap><number></keycap>.
545 You can restore a saved group by pressing the group number on its own. You
546 can do this from a different directory, or even a different filer window.
548 Saving is also useful even if there is no selection, since it still saves
549 the current directory.
551 <procedure><title>Example: saving a directory and returning to it later:</title>
552 <step><para>You are looking at a directory, and wish to remember it.
553 Press <keycap>Control</keycap>+<keycap>1</keycap>.</para></step>
554 <step><para>Move to another directory, or close the window, etc.</para></step>
555 <step><para>Press <keycap>1</keycap> in any filer window to return
556 to the first directory.</para></step> </procedure>
557 <para>The groups are saved automatically for next time the filer is loaded.
561 <chapter id="toolbar">
562 <title><anchor id="Toolbar" xreflabel="Toolbar"/>The toolbar</title>
565 By default, each window has a toolbar along the top. You can disable
566 this (or make it larger) from the Options window, as well as set which
567 tools appear on the toolbar. Normally, you should click with the left
568 mouse button (1). However, many tools can perform a related function
569 if clicked on with buttons 2 or 3 (middle or right).
572 <informaltable><tgroup cols="3">
577 Mouse button 1</entry><entry>
586 Close the window</entry><entry>
588 </entry></row><row><entry>
589 Up arrow</entry><entry>
590 Change to parent directory</entry><entry>
591 Show parent in a new window <xref linkend="newwin_fn"/>
592 </entry></row><row><entry>
594 Change to home directory</entry><entry>
595 Show home in a new window <xref linkend="newwin_fn"/>
596 </entry></row><row><entry>
597 Jump to point</entry><entry>
598 Open the <xref linkend="bookmarks"/>
601 </entry></row><row><entry>
602 Looping arrows</entry><entry>
603 Reread the directory contents</entry><entry>
605 </entry></row><row><entry>
606 Magnifying glass (+)</entry><entry>
607 Select a larger icon size.</entry><entry>
608 Select a smaller icon size.
609 </entry></row><row><entry>
610 Magnifying glass (fit)</entry><entry>
611 Set Automatic sizing mode and resize the window.</entry><entry>
613 </entry></row><row><entry>
615 Hide or show extra details</entry><entry>
617 </entry></row><row><entry>
619 Step forward through the different sort types.</entry><entry>
620 Step backward through the sort types.
621 </entry></row><row><entry>
623 Toggle the display of hidden files (those with names starting with a dot)</entry><entry>
624 Toggle display of thumbnails for image files.
625 </entry></row><row><entry>
626 List with selections</entry><entry>
627 Select All.</entry><entry>
629 </entry></row><row><entry>
630 Life-belt</entry><entry>
631 Show <application>ROX-Filer</application>'s help files</entry><entry>
634 </tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
637 <anchor id="newwin_fn" xreflabel="[1]"/>[1]
638 If the 'New window on button 1' option is turned on
639 then the default is to open a new window — clicking with the other
640 button reuses the same window instead.
644 Dragging files to the Up or Home icons acts just like dragging them
645 into the directory which the button leads to. Dragging to the Bookmarks button
646 will add the directory as a bookmark.
649 The toolbar can also show the number of files in the directory, and
650 information about the selection. This can be turned on or off in the
656 <title>The menus</title>
658 By default, you can open a menu by right clicking over a pinboard, panel or
661 In filer windows, you may also press <keycap>\</keycap> to open the menu. As
662 a shortcut, you can open the File submenu directly by holding down the
663 <keycap>Control</keycap> key when opening the menu. Here is a full
664 description of each menu item:
666 <informaltable><tgroup cols="2">
668 <thead><row><entry>Entry</entry><entry>Action</entry></row></thead>
671 <row><entry><guimenuitem>Display</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
672 Change the display settings.
675 <row><entry><guimenuitem>File</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
676 Operations on the selected items.
679 <row><entry><guimenuitem>Select</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
680 Control which items are selected.
683 <row><entry><guimenuitem>Options...</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
684 Configure <application>ROX-Filer</application>.
687 <row><entry><guimenuitem>New</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
688 Create a new file or subdirectory inside this directory.
691 <row><entry><guimenuitem>Window</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
692 Operations on the window as a whole.
695 <row><entry><guimenuitem>Help</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
696 Information about the filer.
699 </tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
704 <title>The display menu</title>
707 <informaltable><tgroup cols="2">
709 <thead><row><entry>Entry</entry><entry>Action</entry></row></thead>
712 <row><entry><guimenuitem>Icons View</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
713 Files are displayed as rows of icons.
716 <row><entry><guimenuitem>Icons, With...</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
717 Files are displayed as rows of icons with additional details
718 (chosen from the submenu). To see fuller information about each file
719 use the List View instead.
722 <row><entry><guimenuitem>List View</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
723 Show files in a list along with their details. Click on a column heading
724 to sort by that column.
727 <row><entry><guimenuitem>Bigger Icons</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
728 Increase the size of the icons. Turns off Automatic mode.
731 <row><entry><guimenuitem>Smaller Icons</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
732 Reduce the size of the icons. Turns off Automatic mode.
735 <row><entry><guimenuitem>Automatic</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
736 Select a sensbile icon size automatically now and when changing
740 <row><entry><guimenuitem>Sort by XXX</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
741 Set the sort mode. In List View you can also set the sort type by
742 clicking on the column headings.
745 <row><entry><guimenuitem>Reversed</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
746 Sort in reverse order (newest to oldest, largest to smallest, etc).
749 <row><entry><guimenuitem>Show Hidden</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
750 If on, files beginning with a dot are shown, otherwise they are hidden.
751 The titlebar shows <guilabel>(All)</guilabel> when this is on.
754 <row><entry><guimenuitem>Filter Files...</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
755 Restrict the display to only show files with names matching the
757 The titlebar shows <guilabel>(Glob (pattern))</guilabel> when this is on.
760 <row><entry><guimenuitem>Show Thumbnails</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
761 When on, the filer tries to load every image file and use that
762 image as the file's icon. Useful if you have a directory full of
763 photos and can't remember which is which!
764 See the <xref linkend="thumbnails"/> section for details.
767 <row><entry><guimenuitem>Refresh</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
768 Rereads the contents of the directory and details of all the files
769 in it. Use this if the display becomes out-of-date.
772 <row><entry><guimenuitem>Save Display Settings...</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
773 Remember the display settings just for this directory. Each time you
774 open the directory, the saved settings will be used.
776 </tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
780 <sect2><title><anchor id="Permissions" xreflabel="Permissions"/>
785 The permissions field, when shown, is made up of four groups of three
786 flags. Each flag is displayed as a letter if it is on and a dash (–)
787 if not. The first three characters show the permissions for the owner
788 of the file, the second for other members of the file's group and
789 the third for everyone else. Whichever group applies to the
790 <application>ROX-Filer</application> process itself is shown underlined.
791 The fourth group shows any special flags.
793 The meanings of the characters are:
797 <listitem><para><computeroutput>r</computeroutput> —
798 Permission to read the contents of a file, or the names of files
799 in a directory.</para></listitem>
801 <listitem><para><computeroutput>w</computeroutput> —
802 Permission to alter the contents of a file, or change which names
803 appear in a directory.</para></listitem>
805 <listitem><para><computeroutput>x</computeroutput> —
806 Permission to run the file as a program, or refer to the files
807 listed within the directory.</para></listitem>
809 <listitem><para><computeroutput>U</computeroutput> —
810 This program executes with the <emphasis>effective user ID</emphasis> of its
811 owner rather than the person who ran it.</para></listitem>
813 <listitem><para><computeroutput>G</computeroutput> —
814 This program executes with the <emphasis>effective group ID</emphasis> of its
815 group, regardless of who ran it.</para></listitem>
817 <listitem><para><computeroutput>T</computeroutput> —
818 Entries in this directory can only be altered or removed by the
819 people who own the files even if they have write permission on the
820 directory itself.</para></listitem>
825 <emphasis role="underline">rwx</emphasis>,rwx,r-x/---</programlisting>
826 means that the owner of the file is the same as the effective user of
827 <application>ROX-Filer</application> (basically, you own the file), you and
828 members of the file's group have read, write and execute permission and other
829 people have only read and execute permission. There are no special flags set.
831 The rules which determine which permissions apply may vary slightly between
832 operating systems, but a rough guide is:
836 <listitem><para>If the <emphasis>effective user ID</emphasis> of the
837 process is equal to the file's owner, then the owner permissions apply.
840 <listitem><para>Otherwise, if the <emphasis>effective group ID</emphasis>
841 of the process is equal to the file's group OR the file's group is one
842 of the process's <emphasis>supplemental groups</emphasis> then the
843 group permissions apply.
846 <listitem><para>Otherwise, the `other' permissions apply. The
847 <emphasis>real user ID</emphasis> and <emphasis>real group
848 ID</emphasis> have no effect (except that a process may set its real
849 IDs to its effective IDs).
859 <title>The file menu</title>
861 All of these work in the same way — if you open the menu with some
862 items selected then the operation applies to those items. If you open
863 then menu over an item while there is no selection then that item
864 is temporarily selected.
866 If you choose one of these while there is no selection at all then the
867 window goes into `target mode'; the operation happens to the next item you
868 click on. Click on the window background, press <keycap>Escape</keycap>, or
869 click with the right mouse button to cancel target mode. Target mode is
870 mainly useful with the <guilabel>Single-click navigation</guilabel> option
871 and keys bound to the various menu entries. </para><para>
872 Note that individual applications may add extra menu items to the
873 top of this submenu when you click over them — see
874 <xref linkend="AppDir"/> for details. There may also be any number of
875 user-defined actions at the top, which depend on the type of file
876 clicked on. You can add programs here by choosing the
877 <guimenuitem>Customise Menu</guimenuitem> item. For example, you could
878 make <application>The Gimp</application> appear on the menu for images, and
879 <application>FreeFS</application> appear for mount points.
881 <informaltable><tgroup cols="2">
882 <thead><row><entry>Entry</entry><entry>Action</entry></row></thead>
886 <guimenuitem>Copy...</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
887 Make a copy of this object.
891 <guimenuitem>Rename...</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
892 Change the name used for this object, or move it between directories.
893 If multiple files are selected, this opens
894 <xref linkend='bulkrename' />.
898 <guimenuitem>Link...</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
899 Create a symbolic link to this name.
903 <guimenuitem>Delete</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
904 Remove all the selected entries from the directory. Subdirectories
905 will have their contents deleted first. Deleting symlinks only removes
906 the link, not the thing it points to.
910 <guimenuitem>Shift Open</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
911 Opens applications as directories, files as text/plain, and
912 symlinks by opening the directory containing the thing they point to.
913 It also has interesting effects on mount points (see <xref linkend="media"/>).
914 This is the same effect as clicking with <keycap>Shift</keycap> held
915 down. The text of the menu entry changes to show which action will be
920 <guimenuitem>Send To...</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
921 Opens the `Send To' menu, allowing you to send the selected files
922 to one of a list of applications. See the
923 <xref linkend="SendTo"/> section.
927 <guimenuitem>Set Run Action...</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
928 Allows you to set the default program to use when opening files of
929 this type. See <xref linkend="RunAction"/> section for details.
933 <guimenuitem>Set Icon...</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
934 You can give each file or directory its own special icon using this
935 feature — simply drag a suitable image onto <xref linkend="SetIcon"/>.
939 <guimenuitem>Properties</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
940 Display extra information about this object. You can also change
941 the access permissions from here (<guimenuitem>Permissions</guimenuitem>
942 below allows you to change many files at once), and change the target
943 to which a symlink points.
947 <guimenuitem>Count</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
948 Count the sizes of all the selected items. Directories also have their
949 contents counted. Symlinks count themselves, not the things they point
954 <guimenuitem>Set Type...</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
955 Set the MIME type for a file. This only works on filesystems with extended attribute support. For older filesystems, you will have to rename a file to change its type.
959 <guimenuitem>Permissions</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
960 Allows you to change the permissions for the selected files.
961 If only one file is to be changed, you can use
962 <guimenuitem>Properties</guimenuitem> instead for a simpler interface.
966 <guimenuitem>Find</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
967 Search for files by specifying various conditions — see the
968 <xref linkend="Searching"/> section.
971 </tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
974 <formalpara><title>Note about symlinks:</title>
976 A symbolic link stores the <emphasis>location</emphasis>
977 of another file. Deleting the symlink doesn't affect the other file.
978 Deleting the other file means that the symlink won't work. There are
979 two types of symbolic link — Relative and Absolute. An absolute
980 link stores the path from the root directory to the target file (eg
981 <filename>/home/fred/MyFile</filename>).
983 A relative path stores the path from the symlink
984 to the target (eg <filename>../fred/MyFile</filename>).
985 If the target file is never going to move then you want an absolute link,
986 but if the target may move (and the symlink will be moved with it) then
987 you want a relative link.
993 <title>The select menu</title>
995 This menu allows you to select and unselect files in various ways. See the
996 <xref linkend="keys"/> section for other ways to select files.
998 <informaltable><tgroup cols="2">
999 <thead><row><entry>Entry</entry><entry>Action</entry></row></thead>
1002 <guimenuitem>Select All</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
1003 Select every item in this window.
1006 <row><entry><guimenuitem>Clear Selection</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
1007 Unselect every item in this window.
1010 <row><entry><guimenuitem>Invert Selection</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
1011 Every selected file becomes unselected, and every unselected file
1016 <guimenuitem>Select by Name...</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
1017 Select just those files that match the given name pattern. This
1018 isn't as flexible as <guimenuitem>Select If...</guimenuitem> (see
1019 below), but it is quicker to use. Files also highlight as you type
1020 with this option. The default key binding is <keycap>.</keycap>,
1021 so you can type <userinput>.png</userinput> to select all
1022 <filename>.png</filename> files, for example.
1026 <guimenuitem>Select If...</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
1027 Select just those files that match the given pattern —
1028 see the <xref linkend="SelectIf"/> section.
1031 </tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1037 <title>The new menu</title>
1040 Each entry in this submenu opens a savebox for creating a new file or
1041 directory. There are three standard entries; the others are the contents of
1042 your <filename>~/.config/rox.sourceforge.net/Templates</filename> directory, if it
1046 <informaltable><tgroup cols="2">
1047 <thead><row><entry>Entry</entry><entry>Action</entry></row></thead>
1049 <row><entry>Directory</entry><entry>
1050 Create a new directory.
1053 <row><entry>File</entry><entry>
1054 Create a blank file.
1057 <row><entry>Customise Menu</entry><entry>
1058 Open the <filename>Templates</filename> directory so that you can
1059 add extra items to the menu.
1062 <row><entry><user entries></entry><entry>
1063 Copy a file from your Templates directory.
1065 </tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1068 To add your own entries, choose <guimenuitem>Customise Menu</guimenuitem>
1069 and put any files you want in there. Each file in the directory will appear
1070 on the menu and the box that appears will copy it. For example, you could
1071 create a blank HTML file:
1076 <title>My Page</title>
1081 </html></programlisting>
1083 Save this as <filename>index.html</filename> inside the
1084 <filename>Templates</filename> directory and you can easily create new
1085 HTML files. You can also save blank documents from various applications
1086 into here (eg, a blank spreadsheet, a blank letter, etc).
1088 Note that you cannot set keyboard shortcuts for these user-defined
1095 <title>The window menu</title>
1099 <informaltable><tgroup cols="2">
1100 <thead><row><entry>Entry</entry><entry>Action</entry></row></thead>
1103 <guimenuitem>Parent, New Window</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
1104 Open a new window displaying this window's parent.
1108 <guimenuitem>Parent, Same Window</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
1109 As above, but reuse this window.
1113 <guimenuitem>New Window</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
1114 Open another window onto this directory.
1118 <guimenuitem>Home Directory</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
1119 Change to your home directory.
1123 <guimenuitem>Show Bookmarks</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
1124 Open the bookmarks menu (see <xref linkend="bookmarks"/>).
1128 <guimenuitem>Follow Symbolic Links</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
1129 Converts the path shown in the window's titlebar to its canonical form.
1130 For example, if <filename>/home/fred/link</filename> is a symlink
1131 pointing to <filename>/usr/share/doc/</filename> then clicking on the symlink
1132 will take you to that directory and going `up' will take you back to
1133 <filename>/home/fred</filename>.
1134 If you'd used <guimenuitem>Follow Symbolic Links</guimenuitem>, you would
1135 have ended up in <filename>/usr/share</filename> instead.
1139 <guimenuitem>Resize Window</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
1140 Set the window to a sensible size for its contents.
1144 <guimenuitem>Close Window</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
1149 <guimenuitem>Enter Path...</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
1150 Open the path-entry box (see the the <xref linkend="mini"/> section).
1154 <guimenuitem>Shell Command...</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
1155 Open the shell command box (see the <xref linkend="mini"/> section).
1158 <row><entry><guimenuitem>Xterm Here</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
1159 Open an xterm with its current directory set to this directory.
1162 <row><entry><guimenuitem>Switch to xterm</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
1163 Open an xterm with its current directory set to this directory, and close the
1164 filer window at the same time.
1167 </tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1174 <title>The help menu</title>
1177 <informaltable><tgroup cols="2">
1178 <thead><row><entry>Entry</entry><entry>Action</entry></row></thead>
1181 <guimenuitem>About ROX-Filer...</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
1182 Display information about the file. This is the same as locating ROX-Filer
1183 itself in a filer window and selecting <guimenuitem>Properties</guimenuitem> from
1188 <guimenuitem>Show Help Files</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
1189 Same as selecting ROX-Filer and choosing
1190 <guimenuitem>Help</guimenuitem> from the file menu.
1194 <guimenuitem>Manual</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
1195 Opens the HTML manual for your language, or the English version if there
1199 </tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1205 <title><anchor id="SendTo" xreflabel="Send To menu"/>The send to menu</title>
1208 The `Send To' menu provides a quick way to send some files to an application.
1209 The filer scans all the <filename>$XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/rox.sourceforge.net/SendTo</filename>
1210 directories (see <citation>BaseDir</citation>) and lists
1211 the contents on this menu.
1213 To change which applications appear here you should choose the
1214 <guimenuitem>Customise</guimenuitem> item from the bottom
1215 of the menu to create and open your own <filename>SendTo</filename>
1216 directory. Applications can be symlinked into this directory by dragging
1217 them in and choosing <guimenuitem>Link</guimenuitem> from the menu.
1219 Opening the Send To menu via the main menu is rather slow, so it is
1220 normally opened by clicking the Menu mouse button over a file while
1221 holding the <keycap>Shift</keycap> key down.
1224 <title>Showing different applications for different types</title>
1226 You may want to set things up so that, for example, the Gimp is
1227 only shown when an image is selected. To do this, create a
1228 hidden directory inside <filename>SendTo</filename> called
1229 <filename>.image</filename>, or whatever type you want to use.
1230 You can use either the complete type (eg <filename>.image_png</filename>)
1231 or just the media type. Use <guimenuitem>Properties</guimenuitem> over a
1232 file to find out its MIME type.
1235 Entries in these hidden directories are shown only for files of
1236 the appropriate type. If multiple files are selected, the
1237 <filename>.group</filename> directory is used instead.
1243 <title><anchor id="bookmarks" xreflabel="Bookmarks menu"/>The bookmarks menu</title>
1245 The bookmarks menu can be used to store a list of frequently used directories.
1246 You can also open the menu from the main popup menu (in the <guimenuitem>Window</guimenuitem> submenu)
1247 and you can use this to bind a shortcut key to it. From the bookmarks menu
1248 you can add the currently shown directory to the list, jump to one of the
1249 stored directories, or open a dialog letting you edit the list. In the dialog
1250 box, you can remove entries, rearrange them (using the arrows or by
1251 dragging) and edit the pathnames directly, if required.
1254 The <guimenuitem>Recently Visited</guimenuitem> submenu shows the last few directories
1255 viewed. Choosing one will switch to that directory. The current directory is shown
1256 shaded, since you are already there.
1262 <chapter id="icons">
1263 <title>The pinboard and panels</title>
1266 The <xref linkend="run_pin"/> and <xref linkend="run_pan"/> sections explain
1267 how to turn the pinboard and panels on. Once on, you may drop items from filer
1268 windows onto the them to pin them up. Clicking on a pinned item acts just like
1269 clicking on it in a filer window. You can drag pinned icons just like normal
1270 icons and you can right-click on one to see the popup menu.
1272 Drag panel icons with the middle mouse button to move them around.
1273 In previous versions of the filer, pinboard icons were also moved using the
1274 middle mouse button, but this is no longer supported (as the middle button
1275 is reserved for the window manager's use).
1277 You can assign keyboard shortcuts to pinboard and panel icons. These can be
1278 used to open directories, files or applications quickly, even if another
1279 window has the focus.
1281 Changes to the pinboard and panel are automatically saved. Clicking on pinned
1282 icons with <keycap>Control</keycap> held down selects and unselects them.
1283 Click on the background to unselect them all.
1287 Pinning a file does <emphasis>not</emphasis> copy it, it merely
1288 creates a shortcut to the original file. If you delete the file, then
1289 you've lost it! Removing a pinned file from its pinboard or panel
1290 only removes the link. This is different to most other filers...
1294 <title>The pinboard and panel menus</title>
1297 <informaltable><tgroup cols="2">
1298 <thead><row><entry>Entry</entry><entry>Action</entry></row></thead>
1302 <guimenuitem>ROX-Filer</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
1303 Show the filer's help, edit the options or open your home directory.
1307 <guimenuitem>File `file'</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
1308 Offers a smaller version of the filer's submenu of the same name.
1312 <guimenuitem>Edit Item</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
1313 Change the name displayed under the icon, or the pathname the item
1314 points to. You can also set a keyboard shortcut for the icon here,
1315 and lock it against accidental deletion. For programs, you can
1316 specify extra arguments to be passed in.
1320 <guimenuitem>Show Location</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
1321 Open a directory viewer showing where the file is stored.
1325 <guimenuitem>Remove Item(s)</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
1326 Remove the selected items from the pinboard or panel.
1330 <guimenuitem>Backdrop...</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
1331 Set the desktop backdrop image (see below). Only available from
1336 <guimenuitem>Panel Options...</guimenuitem></entry><entry>
1337 Set the edge of the screen on which the panel is displayed. Only available from
1341 </tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1344 If you are setting up the defaults for multiple users and
1345 you wish to create a `Home' icon that leads to each user's home directory
1346 then you should first create a new icon and then use
1347 <guimenuitem>Edit Icon</guimenuitem> to change the location to
1348 <filename>~</filename> and the name to `Home'.
1350 Note that individual applications may add extra menu items to the
1351 top of this menu when you click over them — see <xref linkend="AppDir"/>
1357 <title>Panel applets</title>
1360 <application>ROX-Filer</application> allows you to run small programs
1361 inside the panel — such programs are called
1362 <emphasis>applets</emphasis>. To run an applet, drag it onto the panel from
1363 a filer window and instead of the applet's icon being shown, the applet
1367 <procedure><title>To create your own applets (programmers only!):</title>
1370 Create a directory for the applet (eg <filename>MyApplet</filename>).
1374 Use the <guimenuitem>Set Icon...</guimenuitem> feature to create an icon
1375 called <filename>.DirIcon</filename> inside it (so the directory appears
1380 Make a <filename>Help</filename> directory inside it for when the user
1381 chooses <guimenuitem>Help</guimenuitem> from the menu.
1385 Create an executable file called <filename>AppletRun</filename>. This will be
1386 passed the XID of the panel socket window when the directory is dragged
1387 onto the panel. You can use this to create a GtkPlug widget. A
1388 tutorial is available at
1389 <ulink url="http://rox.sourceforge.net/phpwiki/index.php/Tutorials/Applets"/>
1396 <title><anchor id="iconify" xreflabel="Iconified windows"/>Iconified windows on the pinboard</title>
1398 When the pinboard is in use, ROX-Filer can be used to display an icon for each iconified
1399 (or 'minimised') window. You can turn this on or off from the Options box. Iconified window icons
1400 have a semi-transparent background slab effect, and can be dragged around.
1401 Clicking on one will expand it back into the window it represents. Some
1402 older window managers do not support this, and no icons will be shown.
1407 <title><anchor id="backdropapp" xreflabel="Backdrop applications"/>The pinboard backdrop image</title>
1409 You can set any image for the backdrop by choosing <guimenuitem>Backdrop...</guimenuitem>
1410 from the pinboard menu (right-click over the desktop background when the pinboard is turned on).
1413 To set an image, select <guilabel>Centre</guilabel>, <guilabel>Scale</guilabel>,
1414 <guilabel>Stretch</guilabel> or <guilabel>Tile</guilabel> to set the style,
1415 and then drag an image onto the marked area. To return to a solid colour
1416 backdrop (as set in the Options box), click on <guibutton>Clear</guibutton>.
1418 The Wallpaper<citation>Wallpaper</citation> application can be used for more complicated
1419 effects, such as choosing a new random image each hour, or rendering an image of the Earth
1420 as it is currently lit by the sun.
1422 <formalpara><title>For programmers...</title>
1424 If you want to create an application to set the backdrop (eg, to choose a
1425 random image, or a slideshow) you need to first create an application directory
1426 (see <xref linkend="AppDir"/>).
1429 When run without arguments, the application should invoke the
1430 <function>SetBackdropApp</function> SOAP method (see <xref
1431 linkend="soap"/>). The filer will immediately run the application again,
1432 this time with the <option>--backdrop</option> option.
1434 When run with <option>--backdrop</option>, the program should write the style and name of
1435 the image file to display to its standard output stream, eg:
1436 <screen>tile /tmp/image.png</screen>
1437 <userinput>centre</userinput> and <userinput>scale</userinput> are the other possible
1438 styles. The filer will then load this image and display it. The application does not
1439 set the backdrop itself, it only tells the filer what to display.
1441 In the case of a random backdrop chooser, the program may then quit immediately. If
1442 the application created a temporary image then it should read the line "ok\n" from its
1443 standard input before deleting the image.
1445 If the application wishes to show a sequence of images it should still read "ok\n",
1446 then wait until it's time to display the next image and then write that filename, and
1449 The filer will indicate that the program should stop running by closing the two
1450 streams. The program should clean up and exit at this point. Be sure to catch
1451 SIGPIPE when writing to standard output if you need to delete any temporary files.
1453 See the Wallpaper<citation>Wallpaper</citation> application for a complete example application
1454 (written in python).
1461 <anchor id="media" xreflabel="Removable devices"/>Removable devices
1464 Using removable devices, such as floppy disks and CDROMs under ROX-Filer is quite
1465 simple. However, it is important to understand about <emphasis>mounting</emphasis> and
1466 <emphasis>unmounting</emphasis> devices.
1469 Mounting a device causes its contents to appear in the filesystem. On a typical setup,
1470 the directory <filename>/floppy</filename> is an empty directory on the hard disk.
1471 The floppy device is then mounted onto this directory, causing its contents to appear
1472 inside. For example, a file called <filename>Letter</filename> on the floppy disk will
1473 appear as <filename>/floppy/Letter</filename>.
1476 Devices must be unmounted before the disk is removed. Unmounting causes the system to
1477 write any buffered data to the disk. If you remove a disk without unmounting
1478 it, it will probably be corrupted. CD and Zip drives often lock the tray while the
1479 device is mounted so you can't remove it accidentally.
1482 So that you don't have to specify which device should be mounted at which point in the
1483 filesystem every time you want to use a disk, a preset list is usually found in the
1484 file <filename>/etc/fstab</filename>. ROX-Filer shows mount points (such as
1485 <filename>/floppy</filename>) which are listed here but not mounted with transparent
1486 grey circles overlayed on their icons.
1489 Clicking on one of these mount points will mount the device for you. The circle turns
1490 green to indicate that the device is now mounted. Do <emphasis>not</emphasis> remove
1491 the device while the circle is lit! You can unmount the device by clicking
1492 while holding down <keycap>Shift</keycap> on the <filename>/floppy</filename>
1496 You can also unmount a device by closing its directory window (eg, closing
1497 the view of <filename>/floppy</filename>) and choosing Unmount when prompted. The
1498 filer will only offer to unmount devices this way if they were mounted by
1499 the filer in the first place.
1502 If you want to open a directory without mounting anything (eg, if you want to
1503 see the contents of <filename>/floppy</filename> on the hard disk), you can
1504 click on the unmounted mount point with <keycap>Shift</keycap> held down.
1505 This isn't usually useful, as these directories are typically empty.
1510 <title><anchor id="thumbnails" xreflabel="Thumbnails"/>File thumbnails</title>
1512 When thumbnailing is turned on, the filer tries to load every image file
1513 and use that image as the file's icon. Useful if you have a directory full
1514 of photos and can't remember which is which! You can turn it on for
1515 a single directory by choosing <guimenuitem>Show Thumbnails</guimenuitem>
1516 from the <guimenu>Display</guimenu> menu. You can set it as the default
1517 from the Options box.
1518 The titlebar shows <guilabel>(Thumbs)</guilabel> when thumbnailing is on.
1521 The thumbnails are saved in <filename>~/.thumbnails</filename> for
1522 quick loading next time.
1523 While loading thumbnails, a progress bar appears at the bottom of
1524 the window. Clicking on the <guibutton>Cancel</guibutton> button
1525 beside the bar stops the scan.
1526 It is also possible to thumbnail other types of file, such as videos
1527 (eg, by showing the first frame), with a suitable helper program.
1529 <sect1><title>Technical details</title>
1531 When in thumbnail mode <application>ROX-Filer</application> checks the
1532 thumbnail directory (<filename>~/.thumbs/normal</filename>) for a
1533 thumbnail for each file it scans. If a thumbnail exists it loads it and
1534 continues on to the next file.
1536 To generate a thumbnail for a given file of type media/subtype the filer looks
1537 for a program <filename>~/.config/rox.sourceforge.net/MIME-thumb/media_subtype</filename>,
1538 falling back to <filename>~/.config/rox.sourceforge.net/MIME-thumb/media</filename> if one
1539 cannot be found (this duplicates how run actions for files are looked up). If
1540 neither file can be found and the file is of type image/* then the internal
1541 routines are used. If the file is not of type image/* then no thumbnail is
1544 If the generator program is found, is executed with the parameters
1545 <screen>thumbnailer /path/to/source/file /path/to/thumbnail pixel_size</screen>
1547 Once the child program exits, it attempts to load
1548 <filename>/path/to/thumbnail</filename>. If that fails no thumbnail is
1551 Note that because of the order it does things ROX-Filer will happily
1552 use any pre-existing thumbnail even if it has no idea how it was
1559 <chapter id="virtual">
1561 <anchor id="vfs" xreflabel="Virtual file systems"/>Virtual file systems
1564 Some types of file can be represented as a directory. A typical example
1565 is a zip file, which contains an entire directory structure in compressed
1566 form. It is often useful to be able to open up such a file as if it
1567 was a real directory, and the VFS system allows you to do this.
1569 To use this feature you must have a system such as
1570 AVFS<citation>AVFS</citation> installed, which causes the kernel to support
1571 various Virtual File Systems directly.
1575 There are various ways to use AVFS. This example shows how to use it on
1576 a Linux 2.6 system with FUSE. You will need a kernel with FUSE support and
1577 the 'libfuse-dev' header files package installed.
1580 <procedure><title>Installing AVFS on Linux 2.6</title>
1582 <step><para>Get AVFS from CVS (the current July 2005 release is too old).</para></step>
1584 <step><para>Compile AVFS (<userinput>sh autogen.sh; ./configure; make</userinput>).</para></step>
1586 <step><para>Go into the <filename>avfs/fuse</filename> subdirectory and
1587 run <userinput>./compile.sh</userinput>.</para></step>
1589 <step><para>Create a mount point: <userinput>mkdir ~/.avfs-mount</userinput>.</para></step>
1591 <step><para>Run AVFS: <userinput>./avfsd ~/.avfs-mount</userinput>.</para></step>
1595 To configure ROX-Filer to open directories using AVFS, set the run action
1596 (<guimenuitem>Set Run Action...</guimenuitem>) for zip files (and other
1597 archive types) to: </para>
1598 <screen>rox ~/.avfs-mount/"$1#"</screen>
1604 Note that all of the above steps should be done as a user, not as root.
1605 You may need to be in some special group to use FUSE (check the group
1606 of <filename>/usr/bin/fusermount</filename>).
1610 If you don't want to make AVFS the default action for these files, you
1611 could instead create a script containing the above and add it to the
1612 <guimenu>File</guimenu> menu, using <guimenuitem>Customise
1613 Menu...</guimenuitem>.
1618 <chapter id="minibuffer">
1619 <title><anchor id="mini" xreflabel="Minibuffer"/>The mini-buffer</title>
1622 The mini-buffer is a white bar that appears along the bottom of the
1623 window and allows you to enter some text. Press <keycap>Escape</keycap> to
1624 get rid of it again. It behaves in different ways depending on how you
1629 <title>The path-entry box</title>
1632 This allows you to type in a path directly. As you type the display
1633 is updated to show the item entered visually. The main use is to find
1634 a file in a large directory quickly, but you can also use it for navigating
1635 between directories, or for selecting a full pathname from somewhere
1636 else and pasting it directly into the path-entry box.
1639 <informaltable><tgroup cols="2">
1640 <thead><row><entry>Key</entry><entry>Action</entry></row></thead>
1644 <keycap>Return</keycap></entry><entry>
1645 Open the currently selected item.
1649 <keycap>Tab</keycap></entry><entry>
1650 Shell-style tab completion.
1654 <keycap>Up</keycap>, <keycap>Down</keycap></entry><entry>
1655 Select the previous/next matching entry.
1657 </tbody></tgroup></informaltable>
1662 If you start entering a name beginning with a `.' then the `Show Hidden'
1663 feature is temporarily turned on so that the file can be shown.
1667 Tab completion tries to fill in as many characters for you as it can.
1668 For example, if there are two files in a directory called
1669 <filename>save-mail-nov-1999</filename> and
1670 <filename>save-mail-dec-1999</filename> then typing
1671 <userinput>save</userinput> and pressing <keycap>Tab</keycap> will expand
1672 <userinput>save</userinput> to <userinput>save-mail-</userinput> and beep
1673 to indicate that the match is not complete. If you use tab completion on a
1674 directory and it is unique then the filer will automatically change into
1675 the directory. This behavior should be familiar to shell users.
1678 <informalexample><para>
1679 Let's say you want to locate the documentation for Wine in the directory
1680 <filename>/usr/share/doc</filename> (which is usually very large).
1681 Here's how you could do it:
1686 Open the minibuffer by choosing <guimenuitem>Enter
1687 Path...</guimenuitem> from the <guimenu>Window</guimenu> menu, or
1688 by pressing the slash (<keycap>/</keycap>) key.
1692 Press <keycap>CTRL</keycap>+<keycap>A</keycap> to select the existing
1698 <userinput>u<Tab>sh<Tab>do<Tab>wi<Tab></userinput>.
1699 As you type, the cursor will move to the correct subdirectory.
1700 If it beeps when you press <keycap>Tab</keycap> then you need to supply
1701 more letters, or press <keycap>Return</keycap>.
1706 </para></informalexample>
1710 <title>The shell command box</title>
1713 This provides a quick way of entering shell commands if you don't
1714 want to open an xterm. If you don't know what shell commands are,
1717 Just type in the command and press <keycap>Return</keycap> to execute it.
1718 <keycap>Up</keycap> and <keycap>Down</keycap> arrows move through previously
1720 <keycap>Tab</keycap> does shell-style completion.
1721 Clicking on an item inserts its name into the minibuffer.
1722 If some items are selected then they are assigned to the positional
1723 parameters <userinput>$1</userinput>, <userinput>$2</userinput>, etc.
1725 Opening the minibuffer with a selection adds <computeroutput>"$@"</computeroutput>
1726 to the end of the command — this expands to all the selected files.
1729 <informalexample><para>Examples:
1731 <orderedlist><title>To untar a <filename>.tgz</filename> archive:</title>
1734 Open the minibuffer by choosing <guimenuitem>Shell Command...</guimenuitem> from
1735 the <guimenu>Window</guimenu> menu.
1736 I usually bind this to the bang (<keycap>!</keycap>) key.
1740 Type <userinput>tar xzf</userinput> and click on the file.
1741 The leading space is automatically inserted.
1745 Press <keycap>Return</keycap> to execute it.
1750 <orderedlist><title>To print all the selected files:</title>
1753 Open the shell command minibuffer.
1757 Type <userinput>lpr</userinput> at the beginning of the line and press
1758 <keycap>Return</keycap>.
1763 </para></informalexample>
1765 <itemizedlist><title>Notes</title>
1768 Be careful; you will not be asked to confirm! If in doubt, start the
1769 command with <userinput>xmessage</userinput> so that it will be displayed
1770 rather than executed.
1774 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sh</refentrytitle></citerefentry>
1775 is always used as the name of the shell to run (mainly because
1776 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>bash</refentrytitle></citerefentry> and
1777 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>csh</refentrytitle></citerefentry> treat
1778 positional parameters differently).
1779 However, <envar>PATH</envar> is searched to find it so you can still use
1780 another shell if you want by naming it sh and putting it in your path.
1784 Commands execute in the background, so you can say:
1786 <command>sleep 240; xmessage Time to go!</command>
1793 <title><anchor id="SelectIf" xreflabel="Select If"/>The conditional
1794 selection box</title> <para>
1796 Use this if you want to automatically select all files in the directory
1797 which match a condition.
1799 <orderedlist><title>For example, to select all files larger than 5Mb:</title>
1802 Open the Select If minibuffer (bound to <keycap>?</keycap> by dafault).
1806 Type <userinput>Size > 5Mb</userinput> and press <keycap>Return</keycap>.
1811 Just those files over 5 Mb in size will be selected. The expressions
1812 you can enter are in the same form as described in the
1813 <xref linkend="Searching"/> section, except that
1814 <userinput>prune</userinput> has no effect since the contents of
1815 directories are never checked anyway. You can press <keycap>Tab</keycap>
1816 to jump to each selected file in turn.
1824 <anchor id="bulkrename" xreflabel="The Bulk Rename window"/>Renaming files in bulk
1827 If you have a large number of files to rename, it is tedious to rename them one
1828 by one. Instead, select all the files and choose <guimenuitem>Rename...</guimenuitem>
1829 from the menu to open the bulk rename window.
1833 The window shows a table with two columns. The <guilabel>Old name</guilabel> column
1834 shows the current name of each selected file, and the <guilabel>New name</guilabel>
1835 column shows the new name, which is initially the same.
1839 There are two ways to change the new names. You can edit the names in the table
1840 directly, or you can use the search and replace feature at the top of the window.
1841 This takes a regular expression to search for, and some text to replace matches
1842 with. For example, if you had a lot of files with names ending in
1843 <filename>.htm</filename> and you wanted to change them to use
1844 <filename>.html</filename>, you would enter <userinput>\.htm$</userinput> in
1845 the <guilabel>Replace:</guilabel> field and <userinput>.html</userinput> in the
1846 <guilabel>With:</guilabel> field. When you click <guibutton>Apply</guibutton>, the
1847 table is updated to show the proposed new names (but no actual renaming is done
1852 Having checked that the new names look OK, click on the <guibutton>Rename</guibutton>
1853 button to actually perform the rename operation.
1857 <chapter id="actions">
1858 <title>Action windows</title>
1860 Action windows are those boxes that appear while you're doing a
1861 Copy/Move/Link/etc operation. The status line at the top of the window shows
1862 the current directory or object that the window is processing. The scrolling
1863 area below is the log area — it shows what has been done, and questions
1864 may be displayed here.
1866 Below this are four buttons and some options. All windows have the
1867 <guilabel>Quiet</guilabel> option. When this is on the filer will only
1868 confirm some operations (such as deleting a non-writeable file). Otherwise,
1869 all operations are confirmed.
1871 The buttons work as follows:
1875 <varlistentry><term><guibutton>Yes</guibutton></term><listitem><para>
1876 answers yes to the question displayed in the log area.
1877 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
1879 <varlistentry><term><guibutton>No</guibutton></term><listitem><para>
1880 answers no to the question displayed in the log area.
1881 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
1883 <varlistentry><term><guibutton>Cancel</guibutton></term><listitem><para>
1884 kills the current operation (if any) and closes the action
1886 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
1888 <varlistentry><term><guibutton>Quiet</guibutton></term><listitem><para>
1889 is a quick way to turn <guilabel>Quiet</guilabel> on and click
1890 <guibutton>Yes</guibutton>.
1891 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
1896 You can control which actions get started automatically (without you
1897 having to click on <guibutton>Quiet</guibutton> at the start) from the
1902 <title>Action window options</title>
1905 Some actions have options, which appear as option boxes at the bottom
1906 of the window. They are:
1911 <guilabel>Force</guilabel> means that the filer won't treat non-writeable
1912 files as special. Normally, it confirms the deletion even if
1913 <guibutton>Quiet</guibutton> is pressed.
1914 Note that you still can't remove files from non-writeable directories because
1915 in that case you really don't have permission.
1919 <guilabel>Brief</guilabel> prevents the filer logging a message every time it
1920 does something. Use this to speed things up if large numbers of messages are
1925 <guilabel>Recurse</guilabel> means that doing something to a directory will
1926 also do the same thing to all its contents, and the contents of any
1927 subdirectories, and so on.
1931 <guilabel>Newer</guilabel> will automatically copy a file over an existing one
1932 if the file is newer than the one it replaces (later modification time).
1938 You can set the defaults for these options from the Options box.
1943 <chapter id="searching">
1944 <title><anchor id="Searching" xreflabel="Searching"/>Searching</title>
1946 The Find feature looks through all the selected files and directories
1947 and any subdirectories (recursively) looking for items that match
1948 a particular expression.
1950 Choose <guimenuitem>Find</guimenuitem> from the <guimenu>File</guimenu>
1951 submenu to search all the selected objects. If you want to select all the
1952 files within a single directory which meet certain criteria, use
1953 <guimenuitem>Select</guimenuitem> -> <guimenuitem>Select If...</guimenuitem>
1956 If you know the name of a file then just enter it in the `Expression:'
1957 box, enclosed in single quotes. For example, to find a file called
1958 <filename>log</filename> you would enter <userinput>'log'</userinput>.
1960 Remember to use normal quotes, not double quotes (") or back-quotes (`).
1962 As the filer finds matching files they are added to the results list.
1963 Double-clicking on an entry in the list opens a viewer showing that file.
1964 The filer will use the same window to view other results (so, if you want
1965 the results shown in separate windows you must explicitly create a new
1966 window from the <guimenu>Window</guimenu> menu).
1970 <title>Wildcards</title>
1973 You can also put shell-style wildcard characters inside the quotes,
1978 <member><command>'*.html'</command></member>
1979 <member><command>'Report.*'</command></member>
1980 <member><command>'Draft[1-5]'</command></member>
1981 <member><command>'main.[ch]'</command></member>
1986 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>glob</refentrytitle>
1987 <manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>
1988 manpage if you want to know more about shell wildcards.
1990 If the pattern you enter contains a slash (`/') character then the
1991 pattern is matched against the file's full path, otherwise only the
1992 leafname is used. That is, <userinput>'*tmp*'</userinput> will find
1993 <filename>tmp</filename> and <filename>tmpfile</filename> but not
1994 <filename>/tmp/file</filename> — <userinput>'/*tmp*'</userinput> will find
2000 <title>Simple tests</title>
2002 As well as finding files by their names you can also find them by
2003 various other attributes. Note that <emphasis>file</emphasis> is used here to
2004 mean anything that can appear in the filesystem — including directories,
2007 You can also use a short form for each test; these are shown in brackets.
2008 You can combine multiple tests — `<userinput>-rw</userinput>' is
2009 the same as `<userinput>IsReadable and IsWriteable</userinput>'.
2012 <itemizedlist><title>These look at the type of the item being checked:</title>
2015 <userinput>IsReg (-f)</userinput> matches any regular (ie, normal) file.
2019 <userinput>IsLink (-l)</userinput> matches symlinks.
2023 <userinput>IsDir (-d)</userinput> matches directories.
2027 <userinput>IsChar (-c)</userinput> matches character device files.
2031 <userinput>IsBlock (-b)</userinput> matches block device files.
2035 <userinput>IsDev (-D)</userinput> matches block or character device files.
2039 <userinput>IsPipe (-p)</userinput> matches pipes.
2043 <userinput>IsSocket (-S)</userinput> matches sockets.
2047 <userinput>IsDoor (-O)</userinput> matches door objects (Solaris).
2052 <itemizedlist><title>These look at the permissions set on the file —
2053 see the <xref linkend="Permissions"/> section.</title>
2056 <userinput>IsSUID (-u)</userinput> matches files which have the Set-UID
2057 bit set.</para></listitem>
2060 <userinput>IsSGID (-g)</userinput> matches files which have the Set-GID
2061 bit set.</para></listitem>
2064 <userinput>IsSticky (-k)</userinput> matches files with the sticky bit
2065 set.</para></listitem>
2068 <userinput>IsReadable (-r)</userinput> matches files which you can read
2069 from.</para></listitem>
2072 <userinput>IsWriteable (-w)</userinput> matches files which you can write to.
2076 <userinput>IsExecutable (-x)</userinput> matches files which you can execute.
2081 <itemizedlist><title>And a couple of other useful ones:</title>
2084 <userinput>IsEmpty (-z)</userinput> finds empty files (ie, those whose
2089 <userinput>IsMine (-o)</userinput> finds files which you own.
2097 <title>Logic operators</title>
2099 You can combine the above tests in various ways to perform more advanced
2101 An expression is actually made up of a list of <emphasis>cases</emphasis>,
2102 separated by commas. The filer will try to match each case in turn
2103 until one matches or there are no more cases left. For example, to
2104 search for files with several possible endings:
2106 <screen>'*.gif', '*.htm', '*.html'</screen>
2108 Further, each of the cases is actually a list of conditions. The case
2109 only matches if all of its conditions are met. So, to find a directory
2110 called <filename>lib</filename> or a regular file ending in
2111 <filename>.so</filename>:
2113 <screen>IsDir 'lib', IsReg '*.so'</screen>
2115 You can negate a condition by putting a <userinput>!</userinput> in front
2116 of it and you can use a sub-expression as a condition by bracketing it,
2124 Not isdir and not isreg
2127 All four do the same thing.
2132 <title>Comparisons</title>
2134 You can also compare various values using the operators
2135 <userinput><</userinput>,
2136 <userinput><=</userinput>,
2137 <userinput>=</userinput>,
2138 <userinput>!=</userinput>,
2139 <userinput>></userinput>, and
2140 <userinput>>=</userinput>
2141 (for less-than, less-than-or-equal-to, equal-to,
2142 not-equal-to, greater-than and greater-than-or-equal-to).
2144 When comparing times, you may find it helpful to use
2145 <userinput>after</userinput> and <userinput>before</userinput> instead of
2146 <userinput>></userinput> and <userinput><</userinput> to make things
2150 <itemizedlist><title>
2151 The following are read from the file being checked and may be used
2152 for the values being compared:
2156 <userinput>atime</userinput> The time that the file was last accessed.
2160 <userinput>ctime</userinput> The time that the file's status was last changed.
2164 <userinput>mtime</userinput> The time that the file's contents were last modified.
2168 <userinput>size</userinput> The size of the file.
2172 <userinput>inode</userinput> The file's inode (index) number.
2176 <userinput>nlinks</userinput> The number of links to this file. That is,
2177 the number of directory entries which refer to this file. Note that
2178 symlinks don't count as references.
2182 <userinput>uid</userinput> The User ID of the file.
2186 <userinput>gid</userinput> The Group ID of the file.
2190 <userinput>blocks</userinput> The number of disk blocks being used by the file.
2196 Times are measured as seconds since the Unix Epoch (00:00:00 UTC,
2197 January 1, 1970). Sizes are in bytes. When specifying constants to
2198 compare these values with you may use various keywords to scale the
2204 <userinput>Byte(s)</userinput> has no effect, but looks better.
2208 <userinput>Kb</userinput> multiplies by 1024, so 2Kb is the same as 2048.
2212 <userinput>Mb</userinput> multiplies by 1024<superscript>2</superscript>,
2217 <userinput>Sec(s)</userinput> has no effect, but looks nice.
2221 <userinput>Min(s)</userinput> multiplies by 60 to get minutes.
2225 <userinput>Hour(s), Day(s), Week(s), Year(s)</userinput> likewise
2226 convert to the relevant unit.
2230 <userinput>Ago</userinput> makes the time in the past relative to when
2235 <userinput>Hence</userinput> makes the time in the future.
2239 <userinput>Now</userinput> is short for <userinput>0 Secs Hence</userinput>.
2244 Some examples should make this all a bit clearer!
2247 mtime after 1 day ago
2251 IsReg and nlinks > 1</screen>
2252 The first finds files modified within the last 24 hours. You could
2253 use <userinput>></userinput> instead of <userinput>after</userinput>,
2254 but it's not so clear what is meant.
2256 The second finds files larger than 10 Mb. The last finds regular files with
2257 more than one directory entry.
2259 Be careful though — the filer doesn't check the context of the
2260 modifiers, so <userinput>size > 1 day ago</userinput> is allowed,
2261 although it doesn't make much sense!
2263 Also, forgetting to use <userinput>ago</userinput> or
2264 <userinput>hence</userinput> will cause odd effects (the time will be
2265 measured relative to the Epoch rather than the current time).
2266 Finally, don't use <userinput>=</userinput> with times —
2267 <userinput>atime = 1 day ago</userinput> looks for a file accessed
2268 <emphasis>exactly</emphasis> 86400 seconds ago...
2274 <title>Specials</title>
2280 <userinput>System(Command)</userinput> executes `Command' on the file.
2281 The test succeeds if the command returns an exit status of zero. A `%'
2282 character in `Command' is replaced by the full path of the file being
2283 checked. <userinput>System</userinput> is a very slow test to perform,
2284 so do it last if possible. For example, if you're looking for a
2285 <filename>.c</filename> file containing the word `main', do:
2287 <screen>'*.c' system(grep -q main "%")</screen>
2288 so that the grep is only performed for files ending in <filename>.c</filename>
2289 (as opposed to only checking that the file ends in <filename>.c</filename> if
2290 it contains the word `main').
2294 <userinput>Prune</userinput> Always fails!
2295 <footnote><para>Note that this is the opposite of the
2296 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>find</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
2297 </citerefentry> command.</para></footnote>
2299 However, if it gets evaluated at all then it prevents the filer
2300 from checking inside the current directory. Remember the order in which
2301 the filer checks the expression!
2309 '*.old' system(rm '%')
2311 'src' prune, '*.c'</screen>
2312 The first deletes each file ending in <filename>.old</filename>.
2313 The second looks for <filename>.c</filename> files, but does not bother
2314 checking inside directories called <filename>src</filename>.
2315 The expression is evaluated like this:
2317 If file is named <filename>src</filename> then `Prune'.
2318 Either way, check if it ends in <filename>.c</filename> and include
2319 it in the results if so.
2324 <chapter id="options">
2325 <title>Options</title>
2328 You can configure various aspects of <application>ROX-Filer</application>
2329 from the Options box.
2330 Choose <guimenuitem>Options...</guimenuitem> from a filer window menu to
2331 open it. The list on the left of the window lists the various sections —
2332 click on one to see its options.
2334 At the bottom of the window are two buttons:
2339 <guibutton>OK</guibutton>
2340 saves the current choices into your
2341 <filename>~/.config/rox.sourceforge.net/ROX-Filer</filename> directory for next time
2342 <application>ROX-Filer</application> is loaded, if anything changed.
2343 Exactly where choices are loaded from and saved to is controlled by the
2344 <envar>XDG_CONFIG_HOME</envar> environment variable — see
2345 <citation>BaseDir</citation> for details.
2346 Changes made in the Options box take effect instantly, so you don't need to
2347 click on <guibutton>OK</guibutton> just to try them out.
2351 <guibutton>Revert</guibutton>
2352 Restores all choices to how they were when the options box was opened.
2353 This button is shown shaded if you haven't made any changes.
2354 The Options window is not closed when this is used.
2359 The options in the Options window have tooltips explaining the use of each
2360 option — hold the mouse pointer over an option to find out what it
2366 <chapter id="types">
2367 <title>Filetypes</title>
2370 All files have a MIME type in the form <emphasis>text/plain</emphasis>. Here,
2371 <emphasis>text</emphasis> is the <emphasis>media type</emphasis> and
2372 <emphasis>plain</emphasis> is the <emphasis>sub-type</emphasis>.
2374 <application>ROX-Filer</application> uses a file's name to decide what its MIME
2375 type is, and then uses the MIME type to decide what icon to give it and what
2376 program to use when you open the file.
2380 <title><anchor id="RunAction" xreflabel="the Set Run Action box"/>
2381 The Set Run Action box
2384 This box appears when you choose <guimenuitem>Set Run Action...</guimenuitem>
2385 from the File menu, and is used to set which application is loaded when you click
2388 For example, let's say you want to set things up so that opening a
2389 <filename>.gif</filename> file loads it into the Gimp.
2390 First, right-click over a gif image to open the menu and choose
2391 <guimenuitem>Set Run Action...</guimenuitem> from the
2392 <guimenuitem>File</guimenuitem> submenu.
2393 Then, you have a choice of two methods to set the run action:
2396 <sect2><title>Setting the run action by drag-and-drop</title>
2398 Drag the Gimp (from a filer window, a panel or the pinboard) onto
2399 the area marked <guilabel>Drop a suitable application here</guilabel>.
2400 From now on, clicking on a GIF file will load it into the Gimp.
2404 <sect2><title>Setting the run action by entering a shell command</title>
2406 Type: <userinput>gimp "$@"</userinput>
2407 into the box labelled <guilabel>Enter a shell command</guilabel> and press
2408 <keycap>Return</keycap>. <userinput>$@</userinput>
2409 will be replaced by the name of the file you click on when this command
2410 is used. As before, clicking on any GIF image will now load it into
2415 <sect2><title>Setting the default media-type handlers</title>
2417 Whichever method you use to set the action you have the choice of
2418 setting the run action just for that type, or setting the default
2419 for all files with that media-type which don't already have a specific
2422 Since the Gimp can load many types of image, it makes sense
2423 to select the <guilabel>Set default for all `image/<anything>'</guilabel>
2424 option so you don't have to do it again for image/jpeg files and so on. However,
2425 this only affects types that don't already have a specific action
2426 (ie, those that would have brought up an error box if you tried to
2433 <title><anchor id="SetIcon" xreflabel="the Set Icon box"/>
2438 This box appears when you choose <guimenuitem>Set Icon...</guimenuitem>
2439 from the File menu, and is used to set which image to use to represent
2442 It works much like the Set Run Action box described above, except that
2443 you may specifiy an icon for one file individually (by name) as well as
2444 for all files of a particular type. When setting the icon for a single
2445 file, the filer stores the name of the file and the name of the icon inside
2446 your <filename>~/.config/rox.sourceforge.net/MIME-icons</filename>
2447 directory. If either moves, the icon won't be displayed.
2449 When setting the icon for a directory, you have the additional option of
2450 storing the image inside the directory itself as a hidden file. This means
2451 that other users will see the icon too, and you can safely delete the original
2452 image after the copy (note that the image is scaled down if needed, and converted
2455 The directory icon inside the <guilabel>Drop an icon here</guilabel>
2456 area allows you to quickly get to a directory from which you are already
2457 using one or more icons.
2462 <title>How filetypes are stored</title>
2465 <application>ROX-Filer</application> uses two sub-directories in your
2466 <filename>~/.config/rox.sourceforge.net</filename> directory for filetypes:
2470 <varlistentry><term><filename>MIME-types</filename></term><listitem><para>
2471 contains symlinks, one for each MIME type, which point
2472 to programs that can handle files of that type. To set what program
2473 is run when you click on the file you should normally use the <guimenuitem>Set
2474 Run Action...</guimenuitem> feature (see the <xref linkend="RunAction"/> section).
2475 However, you can also set the actions manually — for example, to make
2476 opening an HTML file load it into Netscape:
2480 Find the Netscape application and go to <guimenuitem>Link...</guimenuitem>
2485 Enter <userinput>text_html</userinput> as the name for the link and drag the
2486 icon from the Link box into the <filename>MIME-types</filename> directory.
2491 You can also put actual programs in here as well as links if you want
2493 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
2495 <varlistentry><term><filename>MIME-icons</filename></term><listitem><para>
2496 contains the images used to display each type of file.
2497 So the filer will try to display an HTML file using the icon
2498 <filename>MIME-icons/text_html.png</filename>. If no icon is set here,
2499 the filer will use the currently selected icon theme (as set in the options
2500 box); see <citation>IconTheme</citation> for details.
2501 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
2505 In <filename>MIME-types</filename> you can also provide default actions for each media type.
2506 For example, if <filename>text_html</filename> isn't found then the filer
2507 will try simply using <filename>text</filename>.
2513 <title>How the filer determines a file's type</title>
2515 The filer usually works out the type for a file from its name. If this fails,
2516 it tries to guess from the file's contents. It is possible to override this guessing
2517 by setting an extended attribute on the file with the correct type, using the
2518 <guimenuitem>Set Type...</guimenuitem> menu item.
2521 To edit the rules used to guess types, open the options box and go to the Types section.
2522 There is a button there that will launch the MIME-Editor application.
2523 You can also edit the rules manually — see <citation>SharedMIME</citation> for details.
2528 <chapter id="appdirs">
2529 <title><anchor id="AppDir" xreflabel="Application directories"/>
2530 Application directories
2533 An application directory is a directory which can be run as an application.
2534 It contains all the resources of an application — source code, binaries,
2535 documentation and so on. Keeping everything in one place make installation
2536 and uninstallation much easier for users. You can also keep multiple
2537 versions of a program by simply having several application directories.
2538 You may move and rename them as you please. Application directories
2539 make programs easier to use and install.
2541 They're more secure too, because you can compile an application as a user and
2542 then simply copy it as root. Since you don't have to run an install script
2543 you are free from the danger of running untrusted code as root. All you have
2544 to watch out for is setuid binaries.
2547 The following files are treated as special by
2548 <application>ROX-Filer</application>:
2553 <filename>AppRun</filename>
2554 is executed when you click on the directory — make sure
2555 it is executable (use the Permissions box)!
2559 <filename>.DirIcon</filename>
2560 is the image used to represent the directory (this works even if
2561 there is no <filename>AppRun</filename>).
2565 <filename>Help</filename>
2566 is the directory to be opened when you choose <guimenuitem>Help</guimenuitem>
2571 <filename>AppInfo.xml</filename>
2572 contains extra information about an application (see below).
2576 <filename>AppIcon.xpm</filename>
2577 is used if <filename>.DirIcon</filename> is missing (for backwards
2578 compatibility; not to be used anymore).
2583 Have a look at the <filename>ROX-Filer</filename> application directory for a
2588 <note><para>For security reasons, an application directory must have the
2589 same owner as the <filename>AppRun</filename> file inside.</para></note>
2592 <title>The AppInfo file</title>
2595 <filename>AppInfo.xml</filename> is an XML file with the following structure
2596 (any elements may be omitted, and the file itself is optional):
2599 <?xml version="1.0"?>
2601 <Summary xml:lang="en">A graphical file manager</Summary>
2602 <Summary xml:lang="de">Ein grafische Datei-Manager</Summary>
2603 <Summary xml:lang="nl">Een grafisch bestandsbeheerprogramma</Summary>
2604 <Summary xml:lang="es">Un manejador de archivos gráafico</Summary>
2605 <About xml:lang="en">
2606 <Purpose>File manager</Purpose>
2607 <Version>1.3.5 PREVIEW</Version>
2608 <Authors>Thomas Leonard and others</Authors>
2609 <License>GNU General Public License</License>
2610 <Homepage>http://rox.sourceforge.net</Homepage>
2612 <About xml:lang="es">
2613 <Purpose>Manejador de Archivos</Purpose>
2614 <Authors>Thomas Leonard y otros</Authors>
2617 <Item option="-p=Default">
2618 <Label>Enable pinboard</Label>
2619 <Label xml:lang="es">Habilitar el pinboard</Label>
2621 <Item option="-p=">
2622 <Label>Disable pinboard</Label>
2623 <Label xml:lang="es">Deshabilitar el pinboard</Label>
2632 <userinput>Summary</userinput>
2633 is displayed in a tooltip when the mouse is held over the application.
2637 <userinput>About</userinput>
2638 contains a list of fields which are shown in the `File Info'
2639 box for the application (any element names may be used, but the above
2644 <userinput>AppMenu</userinput>
2645 is a list of extra menu items to display for the application.
2646 When one is chosen, <filename>AppRun</filename> is called with
2647 <userinput>option</userinput> as its only argument. You can nest
2648 AppMenus inside other AppMenus to create submenus, provided they have
2649 <Label> elements. <userinput>Item</userinput> elements can also have
2650 <userinput>icon</userinput> attributes, which name an icon in the current
2651 icon theme for the menu item.
2661 <title>Internationalisation</title>
2667 <title><anchor id="LANG" xreflabel="Translations"/>
2668 Selecting a translation
2672 <application>ROX-Filer</application> is able to translate many of its messages,
2673 provided suitable translation files are provided:
2676 <listitem><para>Open the Options box from the menu,</para></listitem>
2677 <listitem><para>Select a language from the list,</para></listitem>
2678 <listitem><para>Click on <guibutton>OK</guibutton> and restart the filer
2679 for the new setting to take full effect.</para></listitem>
2686 <title>Creating a new translation</title>
2690 <listitem><para>Go into the <filename>src/po</filename> directory and create
2691 the file <filename>src/messages.pot</filename>:
2694 $ cd ROX-Filer/src/po
2695 $ ./update-po</screen>
2699 <listitem><para>Copy the file into the <filename>src/po</filename>
2700 directory as <filename><name>.po</filename>. Eg, if your
2701 language is referred to as `ml' (`my language'):
2703 <screen>$ cp ../messages.pot ml.po</screen>
2706 <listitem><para>Load the copy into a text editor.</para></listitem>
2708 <listitem><para>Fill in the translations, which are all blank to start with.
2711 <listitem><para>Run the <filename>make-mo</filename> script to create the
2712 binary file which <application>ROX-Filer</application> can use.
2713 You will need the GNU gettext package for this.
2716 $ cd ROX-Filer/src/po
2718 Created file ../../Messages/ml.gmo OK</screen>
2721 <listitem><para>Edit <filename>ROX-Filer/Options.xml</filename> so that
2722 your language is listed, restart the filer and select it from the Options box
2723 (see the <xref linkend="LANG"/> section).
2726 <listitem><para>Submit the <filename>.po</filename> file to the ROX
2727 patch tracker so that we can include it in future releases of the filer.
2735 <title>Updating an existing translation</title>
2739 <listitem><para>Go into the directory containing the <filename>.po</filename>
2740 files and run the <filename>update-po</filename> script.
2741 This checks the source code for new and changed strings and updates all
2742 the translation files.
2745 $ cd ROX-Filer/src/po
2746 $ ./update-po</screen>
2749 <listitem><para>Edit the file by hand as before, filling in the new blanks
2750 and updating out-of-date translations.
2751 Look out for <computeroutput>fuzzy</computeroutput> entries where
2752 <command>update-po</command> has made a guess; check it's correct and
2753 remove the <computeroutput>fuzzy</computeroutput> line.
2756 <listitem><para>Run <command>make-mo</command> as before.</para></listitem>
2758 <listitem><para>Submit the updated file to us.</para></listitem>
2762 See the <command>gettext</command> info page for more instructions on creating
2769 <chapter id="hacking">
2770 <title>Hacking</title>
2772 This is a quick start guide for people who want to modify the source
2773 code. If you make useful changes or fix bugs, please send patches
2774 to me or to the mailing list. Tell me which version you're using!
2778 <title>Compiling</title>
2780 The first time you compile the program you need to do <command>AppRun
2781 --compile</command>, but in future you only need to run <command>make</command>
2782 in the <filename>src</filename> directory when you change the
2783 <filename>.c</filename> and <filename>.h</filename> files.
2784 You might want to run <command>make depend</command> too.
2789 <title>Creating and applying patches</title>
2791 When people make small modifications to the sources they will often
2792 distribute them as <emphasis>patch files</emphasis> — usually on the
2795 To apply a patch, go into the <filename>src</filename> directory and run
2796 <command>patch</command> with the patch file. Then recompile, like this:
2800 $ patch < patchfile
2801 $ ../AppRun --compile</screen>
2803 You can remove the patch by simply repeating the above sequence —
2804 <command>patch</command> will detect that the patch is already applied
2805 and offer to remove it.
2807 To create a patch you should first get the latest version of the filer
2808 from CVS (instructions on using CVS can be found on the web-site).
2809 Modify the program as you please. Create the patch using
2810 <command>cvs diff</command> from the appropriate directory:
2812 <screen>$ cvs diff -u > my_patch</screen>
2814 This creates a human– and machine-readable patch file. Submit this
2815 to the mailing list. The are many reasons for posting patches rather
2816 that the modified files:
2819 <listitem><para>They are smaller, and hence shouldn't bounce.
2820 They are also quicker to download for people with slow connections.
2823 <listitem><para>People can see what they're getting into before applying them!
2826 <listitem><para>Patches can (usually) be applied to slightly modified
2827 versions of the sources. This means that people can apply several patches
2828 without each new one overwriting the others.
2837 <title>Autoconf</title>
2839 Here's a quick explanation of the autoconf system in case you haven't
2840 used it before. See <command>info autoconf</command> for full details.
2842 There's a file called <filename>configure.in</filename> which contains
2843 various tests (<command>info autoconf</command>).
2844 You run <command>autoconf</command> and it reads through the file
2845 and generates a shell script to perform the tests, saving it as
2846 <filename>configure</filename>.
2847 <filename>configure</filename> is normally distributed with the program because
2848 not everyone has autoconf.
2850 You then run <filename>configure</filename> (in fact, let the
2851 <filename>AppRun</filename> script do it because
2852 it passes it some arguments), which performs all the tests. It reads
2853 in <filename>Makefile.in</filename> and <filename>config.h.in</filename>
2854 and fills in the missing values with the test results to produce
2855 <filename>Makefile</filename> and <filename>config.h</filename>.
2857 You run <command>make</command>, which creates <filename>.o</filename>
2858 files from the <filename>.c</filename> files and links to produce
2859 <filename>ROX-Filer</filename>.
2863 <sect1><title>Data-structures</title>
2865 The <filename>global.h</filename> file lists each major data-structure used
2866 in the filer and explains its purpose. This is a good place to start reading
2867 if you want to know how the filer works.
2872 <appendix id="compiling">
2873 <title>Compiling</title>
2876 If you've just got hold of the filer by downloading the source archive
2877 then you'll need to compile it before you can use it. If you downloaded
2878 and installed a binary package, or if <application>ROX-Filer</application>
2879 was included with your system, then you can skip this section. If you got
2880 here by clicking on the lifebelt symbol in a filer window, or if typing
2881 <command>rox</command> at a shell prompt works, then you don't need to
2884 <itemizedlist><title>To compile, you will need the following:</title>
2887 Unix or Linux (root access is not required),
2891 The X Window system (supplied as standard on all modern systems),
2895 GTK+ 2.4.0 or later (libraries and headers) — get the latest version
2896 from <citation>GTK+</citation>,
2900 LibXML 2.0.0 or later (libraries and headers) — get the latest
2901 version from <citation>libxml</citation>,
2905 A C compiler, such as `gcc' (standard on most systems).
2910 All of the above are standard on most modern Linux distributions.
2911 To check which version of GTK+ you have installed, run the
2912 <command>pkg-config</command> command, like this
2913 (<prompt>$</prompt> is the shell prompt):
2915 <screen>$ pkg-config --modversion gtk+-2.0
2919 <procedure><title>To compile:</title>
2922 The filer now uses the Shared MIME Database<citation>SharedMIME</citation>
2923 to work out the types of files. You need to install this before the
2924 filer will work properly (ROX-Filer will warn you if it's not installed
2929 Change to the directory containing the ROX-Filer subdirectory.
2933 Run the <command>install.sh</command> script, like this:
2935 <screen>$ ./install.sh</screen>
2940 <application>ROX-Filer</application> will perform various checks to find
2941 out what kind of system it is being run on and will then compile. If it
2942 doesn't work then please e-mail me and complain! Tell me what kind of
2943 system you have and what errors were reported. If you manage to fix the
2944 problem yourself then please e-mail me the fix.
2948 Once the filer has compiled you will be asked where you want to install
2949 it. If you want to do a system-wide installation as root, you may
2950 want to stop here, <command>su</command> to root and rerun the install
2953 If you don't have the root password then don't worry — just follow
2954 the instructions for installing into your home directory.
2959 You can now run the filer by running the <command>rox</command> script
2960 without any options, like this:
2962 <screen>$ rox</screen>
2964 A window should appear and display the contents of the current directory.
2966 If you installed the script into your home directory then you may
2967 need to set your <envar>PATH</envar> environment variable so that the shell can
2968 find it. For example, if you installed it into a directory called
2969 <filename>bin</filename> in your home directory, use this:
2971 <screen>$ PATH=$HOME/bin:$PATH; export PATH</screen>
2973 or (if you are using the <citerefentry><refentrytitle>csh</refentrytitle>
2974 <manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> shell):
2976 <screen>$ setenv PATH $HOME/bin:$PATH
2983 <appendix id="manpage"><title>Manual page</title>
2988 <refentrytitle>ROX</refentrytitle>
2989 <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
2993 <refname>ROX-Filer</refname>
2994 <refpurpose>a simple graphical file manager</refpurpose>
2999 <command>rox</command>
3000 <arg choice="opt" rep="repeat"><option>OPTION</option></arg>
3001 <arg choice="opt" rep="repeat">FILE</arg>
3005 <refsect1><title>DESCRIPTION</title>
3007 ROX-Filer is a simple and easy to use graphical file manager for X11, the
3008 windowing system used on Unix and Unix-like operating systems.
3010 It is also the core component of the ROX Desktop:
3011 <ulink url="http://rox.sourceforge.net"/>
3013 Invoking <command>rox</command> opens each directory or file listed,
3014 or the current working directory if no arguments are given.
3018 <refsect1><title>COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS</title>
3022 <varlistentry><term><option>-b</option></term><term><option>--border=PANEL</option></term>
3023 <listitem><para>open PANEL.
3024 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
3026 <varlistentry><term><option>-B</option></term><term><option>--bottom=PANEL</option></term>
3027 <listitem><para>open PANEL as a bottom-edge panel.
3028 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
3030 <varlistentry><term><option>-c</option></term><term><option>--client-id=ID</option></term>
3031 <listitem><para>used for session management.
3032 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
3034 <varlistentry><term><option>-d</option></term><term><option>--dir=DIR</option></term>
3035 <listitem><para>open DIR as directory (not as an application, even if it looks like one).
3036 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
3038 <varlistentry><term><option>-D</option></term><term><option>--close=DIR</option></term>
3039 <listitem><para>close DIR and all its subdirectories.
3040 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
3042 <varlistentry><term><option>-h</option></term><term><option>--help</option></term>
3043 <listitem><para>display help about the various options.
3044 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
3046 <varlistentry><term><option>-l</option></term><term><option>--left=PANEL</option></term>
3047 <listitem><para>open PANEL as a left-edge panel.
3048 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
3050 <varlistentry><term><option>-m</option></term><term><option>--mime-type=FILE</option></term>
3051 <listitem><para>print MIME type of FILE and exit.
3052 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
3054 <varlistentry><term><option>-n</option></term><term><option>--new</option></term>
3055 <listitem><para>start a new filer, even if one already seems to be
3056 running. This also prevents the filer from forking (running in the
3057 background). This option is mainly useful for debugging.
3058 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
3060 <varlistentry><term><option>-p</option></term><term><option>--pinboard=PIN</option></term>
3061 <listitem><para>use pinboard PIN as the pinboard.
3062 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
3064 <varlistentry><term><option>-r</option></term><term><option>--right=PANEL</option></term>
3065 <listitem><para>open PANEL as a right-edge panel.
3066 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
3068 <varlistentry><term><option>-R</option></term><term><option>--RPC</option></term>
3069 <listitem><para>read and invoke SOAP RPC from standard input (see <xref linkend="soap"/>).
3070 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
3072 <varlistentry><term><option>-s</option></term><term><option>--show=FILE</option></term>
3073 <listitem><para>open a directory showing FILE.
3074 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
3076 <varlistentry><term><option>-S</option></term><term><option>--rox-session</option></term>
3077 <listitem><para>run under ROX-Session, open the default panel and pinboard (implies --new).
3078 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
3080 <varlistentry><term><option>-t</option></term><term><option>--top=PANEL</option></term>
3081 <listitem><para>open PANEL as a top-edge panel.
3082 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
3084 <varlistentry><term><option>-u</option></term><term><option>--user</option></term>
3085 <listitem><para>show user name in each window.
3086 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
3088 <varlistentry><term><option>-v</option></term><term><option>--version</option></term>
3089 <listitem><para>display the version information and exit.
3090 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
3092 <varlistentry><term><option>-x</option></term><term><option>--examine=FILE</option></term>
3093 <listitem><para>FILE has changed; re-examine it.
3094 </para></listitem></varlistentry>
3100 <refsect1><title>NOTES</title>
3102 The main documentation for ROX-Filer is available by choosing
3103 <guimenuitem>Show Help Files</guimenuitem> from the
3104 popup menu, or by clicking on the right-most toolbar icon.
3108 <refsect1><title>LICENSE</title>
3109 <para>Copyright (C) 2004 Thomas Leonard.
3111 You may redistribute copies of ROX-Filer under the terms of the GNU General
3116 <refsect1><title>BUGS</title>
3118 Please report bugs to the developer mailing list: <ulink url="http://rox.sourceforge.net/contact.html"/>.
3122 <refsect1><title>AUTHORS</title>
3124 ROX-Filer was created by Thomas Leonard, with help from:
3126 <simplelist columns='3'>
3127 <member>Michael Adams</member>
3128 <member>Christopher Arndt</member>
3129 <member>Jens Askengren</member>
3130 <member>Liav Asseraf</member>
3131 <member>Wilbert Berendsen</member>
3132 <member>Francesco Bochicchio</member>
3133 <member>Yuri Bongiorno</member>
3134 <member>Andrzej Borsuk</member>
3135 <member>Richard Boulton</member>
3136 <member>Simon Britnell</member>
3137 <member>Arnaud Calvo</member>
3138 <member>Babyfai Cheung</member>
3139 <member>Andrew Clover</member>
3140 <member>Fabien Coutant</member>
3141 <member>Couderc Damien</member>
3142 <member>Andreas Dehmel</member>
3143 <member>Micah Dowty</member>
3144 <member>Dmitry Elfimov</member>
3145 <member>Mattias Engdegard</member>
3146 <member>Andrew Flegg</member>
3147 <member>Olivier Fourdan</member>
3148 <member>Eric Gillespie</member>
3149 <member>Thierry Godefroy</member>
3150 <member>Olli Helenius</member>
3151 <member>Alex Holden</member>
3152 <member>Jasper Huijsmans</member>
3153 <member>Sigve Indregard</member>
3154 <member>Bernard Jungen</member>
3155 <member>Marcin Juszkiewicz</member>
3156 <member>James Kermode</member>
3157 <member>Jim Knoble</member>
3158 <member>Krzysztof Krzyzaniak</member>
3159 <member>Aaron Kurtz</member>
3160 <member>Vincent Ledda</member>
3161 <member>Vincent Lefevre</member>
3162 <member>Victor Liu See-le</member>
3163 <member>Alexey Lubimov</member>
3164 <member>Krzysztof Luks</member>
3165 <member>Marcus Lundblad</member>
3166 <member>Anders Lundmark</member>
3167 <member>Jose Romildo Malaquias</member>
3168 <member>Denis Manente</member>
3169 <member>Brendan McCarthy</member>
3170 <member>Andras Mohari</member>
3171 <member>Christiansen Merel</member>
3172 <member>Jimmy Olgeni</member>
3173 <member>Richard Olsson</member>
3174 <member>Matthew O'Phinney</member>
3175 <member>Daniele Peri</member>
3176 <member>Andy Piper</member>
3177 <member>Marcelo Ramos</member>
3178 <member>Michel Alexandre Salim</member>
3179 <member>Adam Sampson</member>
3180 <member>Chris Sawer</member>
3181 <member>Christian Storgaard</member>
3182 <member>Taras</member>
3183 <member>Simon Truss</member>
3184 <member>Hirosi Utumi</member>
3185 <member>Jan Wagemakers</member>
3186 <member>Keith Warno</member>
3187 <member>Götz Waschk</member>
3188 <member>Stephen Watson</member>
3189 <member>Andre Wyrwa</member>
3190 <member>Geoff Youngs</member>
3191 <member>Diego Zamboni</member>
3194 and many others; the <filename>Changes</filename> file contains more
3195 detailed information!
3202 <appendix id="soap"><title>SOAP RPC</title>
3204 <para>When the filer starts you can use command-line options to control its behaviour.
3205 As an alternative to this, the filer allows you to specify an operation with a
3206 <citation>SOAP</citation> RPC format message. In fact, if you use the command-line options,
3207 the filer converts to SOAP RPC internally.
3210 <para>All SOAP RPC messages are passed on standard input, like this:
3213 $ rox --RPC << EOF
3214 <?xml version="1.0"?>
3215 <env:Envelope xmlns:env="http://www.w3.org/2001/12/soap-envelope">
3216 <env:Body xmlns="http://rox.sourceforge.net/SOAP/ROX-Filer">
3218 <Name>Default</Name>
3219 <Side>Bottom</Side>
3222 </env:Envelope>
3225 The following methods are recognised:</para>
3229 <listitem><para><function>Version</function>()
3230 Returns the filer's version.
3233 <listitem><para><function>CloseDir</function>(<parameter>Filename</parameter>)
3234 Close directory <parameter>Filename</parameter> and all its subdirectories.
3237 <listitem><para><function>Examine</function>(<parameter>Filename</parameter>)
3238 <parameter>Filename</parameter> may have changed — check it and
3242 <listitem><para><function>OpenDir</function>(<parameter>Filename</parameter>,
3243 [<parameter>Style</parameter>, <parameter>Details</parameter>, <parameter>Sort</parameter>,
3244 <parameter>Class</parameter>, <parameter>ID</parameter>,
3245 <parameter>Hidden</parameter>, <parameter>Filter</parameter>])
3246 Open a window showing directory <parameter>Filename</parameter>.
3247 <parameter>Style</parameter> is one of <userinput>Large</userinput>, <userinput>Small</userinput>, <userinput>Huge</userinput>
3248 or <userinput>Automatic</userinput>.
3249 <parameter>Details</parameter> is one of <userinput>None</userinput>, <userinput>ListView</userinput>, <userinput>Size</userinput>, <userinput>Type</userinput>, <userinput>Times</userinput> or <userinput>Permissions</userinput>.
3250 <parameter>Sort</parameter> is one of <userinput>Name</userinput>, <userinput>Type</userinput>, <userinput>Date</userinput>, <userinput>Size</userinput>,
3251 <userinput>Owner</userinput> or <userinput>Group</userinput>.
3252 If any of these three option parameters are missing, the default is used.
3253 <parameter>Class</parameter> can be used to set the WM_CLASS property on the new window. You can
3254 use this to get your window manager to treat the window
3256 <parameter>ID</parameter> is a string used to identify the
3257 opened window. If a window with this ID already exists, it is changed to the
3258 given directory. Otherwise, a new window is created and given this ID.
3259 If used from a program, ensure the IDs you generate are unique, for example
3260 by including your process name, PID and a timestamp in the ID.
3261 <parameter>Hidden</parameter> if <userinput>true</userinput> means
3262 that hidden files (those that start with a dot character) are shown,
3263 or not shown if <userinput>false</userinput>. If ommitted then the
3264 configured setting is used.
3265 <parameter>Filter</parameter> can be used to filter files shown by
3266 their name. For example using a filter of <userinput>*.c</userinput>
3267 means that only files ending in .c are shown.
3270 <listitem><para><function>Panel</function>([<parameter>Side</parameter>,
3271 <parameter>Name</parameter>])
3272 Open the panel named <parameter>Name</parameter> on screen side
3273 <parameter>Side</parameter> (<userinput>Top</userinput>|<userinput>Bottom</userinput>|<userinput>Left</userinput>|<userinput>Right</userinput>).
3274 <parameter>Name</parameter> can be a name in <filename>~/.config/rox.sourceforge.net/ROX-Filer</filename>
3275 (eg, <userinput>MyPanel</userinput>) or a full pathname.
3276 If not given, the panel on that side is turned off.
3279 <listitem><para><function>PanelAdd</function>(<parameter>Side</parameter>,
3280 <parameter>Path</parameter>, [<parameter>Label</parameter>,
3281 <parameter>After</parameter>, <parameter>Shortcut</parameter>, <parameter>Args</parameter>])
3282 Add <parameter>Path</parameter> to the panel on side <parameter>Side</parameter>,
3283 with label <parameter>Label</parameter>. If <parameter>After</parameter> is
3284 <userinput>true</userinput> the icon goes on the right/bottom side of the panel,
3285 otherwise on the left/top side. If <parameter>Shortcut</parameter>
3286 is given it is the keyboard shortcut to trigger this item. If
3287 <parameter>Args</parameter> is given it is the argument string to
3288 append to the item when run if it is a program.
3291 <listitem><para><function>PanelRemove</function>(<parameter>Side</parameter>,
3292 [<parameter>Path</parameter>, <parameter>Label</parameter>])
3293 Remove an item from the panel on side <parameter>Side</parameter>. If
3294 <parameter>Path</parameter> or <parameter>Label</parameter> is not given
3295 then any path or label will match. At least one must be specified.
3296 If more than one item matches, only one is removed.
3299 <listitem><para><function>Pinboard</function>([<parameter>Name</parameter>])
3300 Display pinboard <parameter>Name</parameter> on the desktop background.
3301 <parameter>Name</parameter> can be a name in <filename>~/.config/rox.sourceforge.net/ROX-Filer</filename>
3302 (eg, <userinput>MyPinboard</userinput>) or a full pathname.
3303 If not given, the pinboard is turned off.
3306 <listitem><para><function>PinboardAdd</function>(<parameter>Path</parameter>,
3307 <parameter>X</parameter>, <parameter>Y</parameter>,
3308 [<parameter>Label</parameter>, <parameter>Shortcut</parameter>, <parameter>Args</parameter>])
3309 Add <parameter>Path</parameter> to the pinboard at position
3310 (<parameter>X</parameter>, <parameter>Y</parameter>), giving it
3311 the (optional) label
3312 <parameter>Label</parameter>. If <parameter>Shortcut</parameter>
3313 is given it is the keyboard shortcut to trigger this item. If
3314 <parameter>Args</parameter> is given it is the argument string to
3315 append to the item when run if it is a program.
3318 <listitem><para><function>PinboardRemove</function>(<parameter>Path</parameter>, [<parameter>Label</parameter>])
3319 Remove <parameter>Path</parameter> from the pinboard. If <parameter>Label</parameter> is given
3320 then this must match the label of the item. If more than one item matches, only one is removed.
3323 <listitem><para><function>SetBackdropApp</function>(<parameter>App</parameter>)
3324 Make <parameter>App</parameter> (an application directory) the new handler
3325 for the current pinboard's backdrop.
3326 The <filename>AppInfo.xml</filename> file inside <parameter>App</parameter>
3327 must contain the CanSetBackdrop element, eg:
3329 <?xml version="1.0"?>
3331 <ROX:CanSetBackdrop xmlns:ROX="http://rox.sourceforge.net/SOAP/ROX-Filer"/>
3332 </AppInfo></programlisting>
3333 The application will be run with the <option>--backdrop</option> option
3334 as it's only argument after invoking this method, and whenever the pinboard is
3335 reloaded. DO NOT use this method if invoked with <option>--backdrop</option> or
3336 you will get stuck in an infinite loop!
3337 See <xref linkend="backdropapp"/> for a guide to writing backdrop applications.
3340 <listitem><para><function>SetBackdrop</function>(<parameter>Filename</parameter>,
3341 <parameter>Style</parameter>)
3342 Set the backdrop image to a given file. If you want to regenerate the image next
3343 time the user logs in, or you want to change it automatically from time to time,
3344 use <function>SetBackdropApp</function> above instead.
3347 <listitem><para><function>Run</function>(<parameter>Filename</parameter>)
3348 Run <parameter>Filename</parameter> as if it was clicked on in the filer.
3351 <listitem><para><function>Show</function>(<parameter>Directory</parameter>,
3352 <parameter>Leafname</parameter>)
3353 Open <parameter>Directory</parameter> and flash the file
3354 <parameter>Leafname</parameter> inside it.
3357 <listitem><para><function>FileType</function>(<parameter>Filename</parameter>)
3358 Returns the MIME-type of <parameter>Filename</parameter> (by writing the
3359 SOAP response to standard output).
3362 <listitem><para><function>SetIcon</function>(<parameter>Path</parameter>,
3363 <parameter>Icon</parameter>)
3364 Set the icon to use for the given path. This is equivalent to using the
3365 <guimenuitem>Set Icon...</guimenuitem> menu item.
3368 <listitem><para><function>UnsetIcon</function>(<parameter>Path</parameter>)
3369 Clear the icon to use for the given path.
3374 The following calls can be used to start new file actions.
3375 <parameter>Quiet</parameter> can be <userinput>true</userinput> if the
3376 operation should start immediately, instead of waiting for the user to
3377 confirm. If <userinput>false</userinput>, the user must always confirm. If
3378 not given, the default setting is used.
3382 <listitem><para><function>Copy</function>(<parameter>From</parameter>,
3383 <parameter>To</parameter>, [<parameter>Leafname</parameter>,
3384 <parameter>Quiet</parameter>])
3385 Copy each file in the array <parameter>From</parameter> to the directory
3386 <parameter>To</parameter>. If <parameter>Leafname</parameter> is given
3387 then <parameter>From</parameter> should contain a single entry only;
3388 <parameter>Leafname </parameter> gives the new leafname.
3391 <listitem><para><function>Move</function>(<parameter>From</parameter>,
3392 <parameter>To</parameter>, [<parameter>Leafname</parameter>,
3393 <parameter>Quiet</parameter>])
3394 Move each file in the array <parameter>From</parameter> to the directory
3395 <parameter>To</parameter>. If <parameter>Leafname</parameter> is given
3396 then <parameter>From</parameter> should contain a single entry only;
3397 <parameter>Leafname</parameter> gives the new leafname.
3400 <listitem><para><function>Link</function>(<parameter>From</parameter>,
3401 <parameter>To</parameter>, [<parameter>Leafname</parameter>])
3402 Symlink each file in the array <parameter>From</parameter> to the
3403 directory <parameter>To</parameter>. If <parameter>Leafname</parameter> is
3404 given then <parameter>From</parameter> should contain a single entry only;
3405 <parameter>Leafname</parameter> gives the new leafname.
3408 <listitem><para><function>Mount</function>(<parameter>MountPoints</parameter>,
3409 [<parameter>OpenDir</parameter>, <parameter>Quiet</parameter>])
3410 Mount each directory in the list <parameter>MountPoints</parameter>. If
3411 <userinput>true</userinput>, <parameter>OpenDir</parameter> causes each
3412 directory to be opened once it is mounted.
3416 <listitem><para><function>Unmount</function>(<parameter>MountPoints</parameter>,
3417 [<parameter>Quiet</parameter>])
3418 Unmount each directory in the list <parameter>MountPoints</parameter>.
3426 <title>References</title>
3429 <abbrev>ROX</abbrev><citetitle>The ROX desktop,
3430 <ulink url="http://rox.sourceforge.net"/></citetitle>
3434 <abbrev>RISC OS</abbrev><citetitle>RISC OS,
3435 <ulink url="http://www.riscos.com"/></citetitle>
3439 <abbrev>GTK+</abbrev><citetitle>GTK+ Toolkit,
3440 <ulink url="http://www.gtk.org"/></citetitle>
3444 <abbrev>libxml</abbrev><citetitle>The XML C library for Gnome
3445 <ulink url="http://www.xmlsoft.org"/></citetitle>
3449 <abbrev>GNOME</abbrev><citetitle>The GNOME desktop,
3450 <ulink url="http://www.gnome.org"/></citetitle>
3454 <abbrev>DND</abbrev><citetitle>The Drag and Drop protocol,
3455 <ulink url="http://www.newplanetsoftware.com/xdnd/"/></citetitle>
3459 <abbrev>XDS</abbrev><citetitle>The X Direct Save protocol,
3460 <ulink url="http://www.newplanetsoftware.com/xds/"/></citetitle>
3464 <abbrev>BaseDir</abbrev><citetitle>The freedesktop.org base directory system,
3465 <ulink url="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Standards_2fbasedir_2dspec"/></citetitle>
3469 <abbrev>AVFS</abbrev><citetitle>AVFS - A Virtual File System,
3470 <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/projects/avf/"/></citetitle>
3474 <abbrev>SOAP</abbrev><citetitle>Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) 1.2
3475 <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/SOAP/"/></citetitle>
3479 <abbrev>Thumbs</abbrev><citetitle>Thumbnail Managing Standard (Version 0.5)
3480 <ulink url="http://triq.net/~jens/thumbnail-spec/"/></citetitle>
3484 <abbrev>Wallpaper</abbrev><citetitle>Wallpaper backdrop control application
3485 <ulink url="http://rox.sourceforge.net/phpwiki/index.php/Wallpaper"/></citetitle>
3489 <abbrev>SharedMIME</abbrev><citetitle>Shared MIME-info Database (Version 0.16)
3490 <ulink url="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Standards_2fshared_2dmime_2dinfo_2dspec"/></citetitle>
3494 <abbrev>IconTheme</abbrev><citetitle>The freedesktop.org Icon Theme specification
3495 <ulink url="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Standards_2ficon_2dtheme_2dspec"/></citetitle>