garys@earth.cchem.berkeley.edu (Gary Shea) (07/17/89)
This is a request for beta-site volunteers for xf(1X), a simple tool to generate collections of file names for command line input to normal Unix(tm) commands. Xf(1X) is useful in a situation where you wish to select files to delete (or copy, or whatever), the file names are NOT related by a simple regular expression, and the files in question reside in more than one directory. The command: (earth:garys) 619 % rm `xf` displays a compact directory window from which an arbitrary collection of filenames may be selected (true 'selection' is not used, so many filenames may be highlighted at the same time). From that window, you may open windows up and down the directory tree by clicking on a button or filename, or at arbitrary locations in the tree by typing in a directory name. All windows remain visible. When the desired files have been highlighted, you pick the 'done' button on any of the windows, and the highlighted filenames are sent to the stdout. Xf(1X) is fully customizable -- everything possible is set up by user-specified resources. There is an Imakefile and an app-defaults file. ---- Beta testing ---- I hope to release xf(1X) this month, but would like to have a short beta test period before making it generally available. It has only been built on a monochrome VAXStation 3200, under Ultrix 3.0, with a somewhat hacked version of X11R3. Xf(1X) is mostly ANSI C (the main widget is a hacked version of the Athena List widget, and remains K&R), and assumes that you have POSIX-style directory-manipulation routines (*), getopt(3), and an ANSI C compiler (i used gcc 1.35). If you would be willing to try out xf, and especially if you have different hardware, please let me know. ---- Licensing ---- Since xf has Athena code in it, I am open to recommendations about what license would be appropriate -- i had originally intended to use the GNU General Public License, but the presence of the Athena code no doubt rules that out. TIA.... (*) -- Both the POSIX directory routines and getopt(3) are available from your friendly nearby comp.sources.unix archive... and are present on many Unix(tm) machines. Gary Shea Dep't of Chemistry, UC Berkeley earth.cchem.berkeley.edu (128.32.144.102)