NAME¶
xfm - X file and applications manager
SYNOPSIS¶
xfm [
options ...]
DESCRIPTION¶
Xfm is a file and applications manager program for the X window system.
It provides virtually all of the features that you would expect in a file
manager - move around your directory tree in multiple windows, move, copy or
delete files, and launch programs with simple mouse operations. Directory
displays are updated automatically in regular intervals when the contents of
the directory changes. The integrated application manager provides a kind of
``shelf'' onto which you can place your favorite applications, as well as the
files and directories you are currently working with. It also allows you to
access different groups of applications and files. User-definable file types
let you specify a command to be executed when double-clicking on a file or
dropping other files onto it. Last not least,
xfm can automatically
mount and unmount special devices like floppies as you open and close the
corresponding directories (mount points).
OPTIONS¶
Xfm accepts all the usual toolkit options. Furthermore, the following
options let you print
xfm's version number and control which windows
should be displayed at startup.
- -version
- Print the version number and exit.
- -appmgr
- Only display the application manager window.
- -filemgr
- Only display the file manager window.
If both
-appmgr and
-filemgr are specified, then the applications
and one file manager window will be displayed, which is also the default. If
only
-filemgr is specified, the application manager will not be
available in this session.
USAGE¶
Most of it should be fairly obvious. There is one application window and zero or
more file windows in which directories (also termed
folders) are
displayed. In order to perform an action, you either select items and then
invoke a menu operation, or you drag items from a file window to a second
(maybe the same) file window or the application window. You can also
double-click on an item to start a corresponding action (like launching an
application, editing a file, or changing directories), and press the right
menu button on an item to bring up a menu containing operations for a single
file or application. Pressing the right button on the background of the
application window displays the application menu. File operations are accessed
from the file window menu bar as usual.
The left-hand mouse button selects an item (and deselects all others in the same
window). The second button toggles the selected state of an item.
A string containing the paths of the selected file items can be requested by
other applications using the standard selection mechanism (PRIMARY selection).
To provide visual feedback, the file window that owns the selection paints its
status line using a special highlight color. You can then paste the list of
selected files in some other window such as an xterm.
You can drag with the left-hand button to another window (or another icon, in
general a valid destination will be highlighted with a border when the cursor
is over it) to move files from one directory to another. The second button
used in the same way will copy files. You can also drag around items in the
application window; again, the left mouse button moves, and the second button
copies the selected items to a new position. Applications can be launched by
dropping files on them; and installing files and programs in the application
manager can be done by dropping files on the background of the application
window. Finally, new file windows can be opened by simply dragging a directory
icon to the root window.
The action taken when double-clicking on a file depends on the type of the file.
If it is a directory, it is displayed in the file window. If it is an
executable, the program is started. Other files are opened in the default
editor (specified by the
editor resource), unless another action is
given in the
xfm_mailcap file (see CONFIGURATION below).
The output of child processes invoked by
xfm is captured in a special log
window. This window provides buttons for clearing the window contents and for
hiding the window. You can also specify whether you want the window to pop up
automagically when new output is available (
Auto Popup option, enabled
by default), and explicitly show the window using the
Show log option
of the
View menu.
Directories can be displayed in three different forms:
tree (display
subdirectories in tree-like form),
icon (display directories and files
as icons) and
text (similar to
ls -l). These options are
selected from the
View menu. In the tree form, clicking on the arrows
takes you up or down one level.
Directory displays are updated automatically in regular intervals when the
contents of the directory changes. You can also explicitly request a folder
update by double-clicking on the directory name field of the corresponding
file window.
A menu of recently visited directories can be popped up by pressing the right
mouse button on the directory name field of the file window.
MENU COMMANDS¶
Many menu operations can also be invoked with corresponding keyboard shortcuts
which can be changed by configuring the translations in the applications
defaults file accordingly. The default shortcuts, as defined in the
distributed application defaults file, are given in parentheses below.
FILE MENU
File manipulation operations.
- New... (n)
-
Create a new (and empty) file.
- Move... (m)
-
Rename a single item (directory or file) or move selected items to another
directory.
- Copy... (c)
-
Create a copy of a single item under a new name or copy selected items to
another directory.
- Link... (l)
-
Like Copy, but creates symbolic links rather than copying the
selected items.
- Delete (d, Del, Backspace)
-
Delete the selected items.
- Select... (s)
-
Select items by pattern. The usual metacharacters are recognized ( *,
?, [ ]). (Currently there is no provision for escaping
these.)
- Select all (a)
-
Select all items in the current directory (except the parent
directory).
- Deselect all (u)
-
Deselect all items.
- Own Selection (o)
-
Request ownership of the PRIMARY selection. This is useful if some files had
been selected before but the ownership of the X-selection was lost and the
user later wants to get the ownership back.
- Terminal (x)
-
Invokes an x-terminal-emulator(1) in the current directory (using the
command specified with the defaultXterm resource).
- About xfm...
-
Display a box with some information about xfm.
- Quit (q)
-
Terminate xfm.
FOLDER MENU
Operations dealing with directories and the file window.
- New... (Shift+n)
-
Create a new directory.
- Go to... (Shift+g)
-
Display the specified directory.
- Home (Shift+h)
-
Display your home directory.
- Up (Shift+u)
-
Display the parent directory.
- Empty
-
Delete all items in the current directory.
- Clone (Shift+c)
-
Clone this file window (open another file window on the same
directory).
- Close (Shift+q)
-
Close this file window.
VIEW MENU
Options for the directory display and the log window.
- Tree (Ctrl+r)
-
Select the tree form display.
- Icons (Ctrl+i)
-
Select the icons form display.
- Text (Ctrl+t)
-
Select the text form display. An additional Option menu appears which
allows you to select the information to be shown in the text view.
- Sort by name (Ctrl+n)
-
Sort directory by name.
- Sort by size (Ctrl+s)
-
Sort directory by size.
- Sort by date (Ctrl+d)
-
Sort directory by date.
- Filter... (Ctrl+f)
-
Specify a pattern to determine the files which should be displayed in the
file window. (This only affects normal files, i.e. directory items will
not be filtered. The Clear button in the Filter dialog form reverts
to the full display.)
- Hide folders (Ctrl+h)
-
Suppress directory items.
- Mix folders/files (Ctrl+m)
-
Mix directories and other files.
- Show hidden files (Ctrl+u)
-
Show hidden files (files starting with a dot).
- Show log
-
Redisplay the log window.
FILE POPUP MENU
Operations on a single file. This menu pops up when pressing the right mouse
button on a directory or file icon.
- Open
- Open a file window on the selected item. This option is
only available if the selected item is a directory.
- Edit
-
Edit the selected item using the program specified in the editor
resource (only available if the selected item is not a directory).
- View
-
Same as Edit, but invokes a program for viewing the file (
defaultViewer resource).
- Rename...
-
Rename the selected item (same as Move, but shows the current
filename as the default).
- Move...
-
Move the selected item.
- Copy...
-
Copy the selected item.
- Link...
-
Create a symbolic link.
- Delete
-
Delete the selected item.
- Information...
-
Display information about the selected item (file size, permissions and
such).
- Permissions...
-
Change the permissions of the selected item.
APPLICATION MENU
Operations for managing the application window.
- Install...
-
Install a new application in the application window. Pops up a dialog form
into which you can enter the necessary information (see APPLICATION FILES
for a discussion of the fields in this form).
- Install group...
-
Simplified install dialog form for creating a new application group (see
APPLICATION FILES).
- Cut
-
Move the selected application items into a ``clip'' file (specified by the
applicationDataClip resource). Together with the Paste
option, this allows you to move application items between different
application groups.
- Copy
-
Like Move, but simply copies the selected items instead of removing
them from the application window.
- Paste
-
Insert the contents of the clip file into the application window.
- Delete
-
Delete the selected items from the application window.
- About xfm...
-
Display a box with some information about xfm.
- Quit
-
Terminate xfm.
APPLICATION POPUP MENU
Operations on a single application item. This menu pops up when pressing the
right mouse button on an icon in the application window.
- Edit...
-
Edit an application item. Pops up a dialog form which allows you to change
the configuration information associated with the selected item (see
CONFIGURATION for a discussion of the fields in this form).
- Cut
-
Move the selected item to the clip file.
- Copy
-
Copy the selected item to the clip file.
- Delete
-
Delete the selected item from the application window.
APPLICATION WINDOW BUTTONS
These buttons at the bottom of the application window allow you to navigate in
the application group tree and open new file windows.
- Back
-
Return to the previous application group.
- Main
-
Return to the main application group (the one loaded at startup time).
- Reload
-
Reload the current application file. This option is useful to update the
contents of an application window after manual editing of the application
file.
- File window
-
Open a new file window on the user's home directory.
RESOURCES¶
Various aspects of
xfm can be configured by changing corresponding
resource settings in the application defaults file. Some important resources
are listed below:
- highlightColor
-
The color used for highlighting selected items, as well as the status line
of the file window which owns the primary selection (if any).
- bitmapPath
- pixmapPath
-
The path on which to search for bitmap and pixmap icons, respectively.
- iconPath
- The path to look for pixmap icons for the file types.
- applicationDataFile
- devFile
- magicFile
-
The names of the application and configuration files used by xfm (see
CONFIGURATION). Normally, these files will be located in
~/.xfm.
- systemwideApplicationDataFile
- systemwideDevFile
- systemwideMagicFile
-
These files are used, if the corresponding described before are not found.
This allows changeable system wide defaults while users are still able to
overwrite them.
- applicationDataDir
-
The directory in which the application files for new application groups are
located (see the Install group option of the application menu),
usually ~/.xfm. Application groups changed are also copied here,
when the original file cannot be written to.
If it does not exists, it will be generated when needed.
- applicationDataClip
-
The ``clip'' file used in Cut/Copy/Paste operations in the application
window, usually ~/.xfm/.XfmClip.
If it begins with
applicationDataDir, this will be generated when xfm
starts.
- doubleClickTime
-
Set the time interval in milliseconds for which a sequence of two mouse
clicks should be interpreted as a double click. Default: 300.
- updateInterval
-
Set the time interval in milliseconds in which to perform automatic folder
updates. Default: 10000.
- confirmXXX
-
Resources to request confirmation for various operations. XXX can be
any one of Deletes, DeleteFolder, Copies,
Moves, Overwrite and Quit. By default these are all
enabled.
- editor
-
The command and leadings arguments with which xfm invokes your
favorite editor.
- viewer
-
The command and leading arguments with which xfm invokes your
favorite viewer.
- xTerminal
-
The command and leading arguments with which xfm starts a command
within and xterm. (e.g. xterm -e)
- xTerminalAlone
-
The command with which xfm runs an X terminal emulator. (e.g.
xterm)
- shell
-
Specifies the shell to use for running commands. (If not set, $SHELL
is used instead. If that also does not exists /bin/sh is used.)
There are way too many available resources to list them all in this manual page,
so please take a look at the application defaults file for more information.
CONFIGURATION¶
Besides the application resources,
xfm can be configured by means of four
different files, which are usually named
xfm_dev,
xfm_magic,
xfm_mime.types and
xfm_mailcap, and are by default searched for
in the
~/.xfm directory or in
/etc/X11/xfm. Moreover,
there is a number of so-called application files, from which
xfm
determines the contents of the application window, like the
Apps file
which usually describes the contents of the main application group. All these
files are plain ASCII files which can be edited using any text editor. (Note
that application files are also written by
xfm itself whenever the
contents of the application window changes.) Any line in these files which
starts with a hash sign (
#) is interpreted as a comment; empty lines
are ignored.
xfm can determine file types using the magic numbers contained in the
files.
The magic numbers are described in a configuration file whose path is obtained
from the
magicFile or
systemwideMagicFile resource, by default
~/.xfm/xfm_magic respectively
/etc/X11/xfm/xfm_magic. The
format of the file is the same as that of the
magic(5) file, with some
extensions described in
xfm_magic(1). The program
xfmtype(5) can
be used to test this.
SUFFIX TYPES¶
If no file type could be obtained using the magic values,
xfm falls back
to determine the type of a file by its suffix. The rules it used are described
in a configuration file whose path is obtained from the
mimeTypesFile
or
systemwideMimeTypesFile resource, by default
~/.xfm/xfm_mime.types respectively
/etc/X11/xfm/xfm_mime.types. The format of the file is described in the
xfm_mime.types(5) man page.
OPENING FILES¶
xfm determines how to open files consulting the file whose path is
obtained from the
mailcapFile or
systemwideMailcapFile resource,
by default
~/.xfm/xfm_mailcap respectively
/etc/X11/xfm/xfm_mailcap. The format of the file is described in the
xfm_mailcap(5) man page.
DEVICE CONFIGURATION¶
The device configuration file,
xfm_dev, lets you specify which mount
points
xfm should keep track of, and which actions to perform in order
to mount and unmount the corresponding file systems. This allows you to access
file systems on special devices such as floppies, CD-Roms, etc. in a
transparent way. See
xfm_dev(5) for the format of this file.
APPLICATION FILES¶
Application files are used to specify the contents of the application window.
Normally, these files are not altered with a text editor, but are updated by
xfm whenever the contents of the application window changes. An
understanding of the application data is necessary, however, if you want to
edit an existing or create a new entry using the
Install,
Install group and
Edit options of the application menu.
The format of those files is described in the
xfm(5) man page.
Xfm provides a number of operations which let you manipulate application
groups in a convenient manner. The items in the application window can be
moved and copied using drag and drop as usual. The
Cut,
Copy and
Paste options of the application menu provide a means to move and copy
application items between different application files. Moreover,
xfm
keeps a stack of application files loaded from a file or the application
window via a
LOAD action. The
Back button at the bottom of the
application window lets you return to the previous group of applications, and
the
Main button reloads your startup application file (and empties the
stack). Finally, the
Install group option of the application menu
allows you to create entries for new application groups easily. You only have
to specify the name of the group, the name of the corresponding application
file, and the name of the icon file. The remaining fields of the entry are
filled in by
xfm automatically.
FILES¶
- ~/.xfm
- Standard location for xfm configuration and
application files (see CONFIGURATION above).
- /etc/X11/xfm
- Standard location for system wide configuration files used
when no user specific are available.
SEE ALSO¶
xfm(5),
xfmmailcap(1),
xfm_mailcap(5),
xfmtype(1),
X(1),
xconsole(1),
x-terminal-emulator(1),
magic(5), Arnaud Le Hors:
XPM Manual. The X PixMap Format,
Groupe Bull, 1993.
CAVEATS AND BUGS¶
Xfm catches the TERM signal to gracefully terminate the program,
unmounting all open file systems which have been mounted by
xfm.
However, some window and session managers may not send TERM signals to their
client applications when terminating an X session. Therefore it might be
necessary to explicitly quit
xfm or manually close file windows mounted
by
xfm before exiting X.
Do not specify a relative path in the directory field of an application item,
because when you execute a push action on the application the current
directory might not always be what you expect. This will probably be fixed in
a future release. ;-)
Due to recent changes, it will propably no longer work with any shell without a
minimum of POSIX compatibility.
AUTHORS¶
Simon Marlow (simonm@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk) from the University of Glasgow, Albert
Graef (ag@muwiinfa.geschichte.uni-mainz.de) from the University of Mainz, and
Till Straumann (strauman@sun6hft.ee.tu-berlin.de) from the Technical
University of Berlin, with help from many other people: Dave Safford
(dave.safford@edu.tamu.sc; automatic folder updates); Robert Vogelgesang
(vogelges@rhrk.uni-kl.de; shell detection code); Juan D. Martin
(juando@cnm.us.es; magic headers); Kevin Rodgers
(rodgers@lvs-emh.lvs.loral.com; Filter option); Scott Heavner
(sdh@falstaff.MAE.cwru.edu; View option); Brian King (ender@ee.WPI.EDU;
default values in parameter dialogs), Bernhard R. Link (brlink@debian.org;
various changes and responsible for the current state you see).