sdn/README.adoc

sdn
===
:compact-option:

'sdn' is a simple directory navigator that you can invoke while editing shell
commands.  It enables you to:

 * take a quick peek at directory contents without running `ls`
 * browse the filesystem without all the mess that Midnight Commander does:
   there's no need to create a subshell in a new pty.  The current command line
   can be simply forwarded if it is to be edited.  What's more, it will always
   be obvious whether the navigator is running.

The only supported platform is Linux.  I wanted to try a different, simpler
approach here, and the end result is very friendly to tinkering.

image::sdn.png[align="center"]

Building
--------
Build dependencies: CMake and/or make, a C++14 compiler, pkg-config +
Runtime dependencies: ncursesw, libacl

// Working around libasciidoc's missing support for escaping it like \++
:doubleplus: ++

Unfortunately most LLVM libc++ versions have a bug that crashes 'sdn' on start.
Use GNU libstdc{doubleplus} if you're affected.

 $ git clone https://git.janouch.name/p/sdn.git
 $ mkdir sdn/build
 $ cd sdn/build
 $ cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
 $ make

To install the application, you can do either the usual:

 # make install

Or you can try telling CMake to make a package for you.  For Debian it is:

 $ cpack -G DEB
 # dpkg -i sdn-*.deb

There is also a Makefile you can use to quickly build a binary to be copied
into the PATH of any machine you want to have 'sdn' on.

zsh
---
To start using this navigator, put the following in your .zshrc:

....
sdn-navigate () {
  # ... possibly zle-line-init
  eval "`sdn`"
  [ -z "$cd" ] || cd "$cd"
  [ -z "$insert" ] || LBUFFER="$LBUFFER$insert "
  zle reset-prompt
  # ... possibly zle-line-finish
}
zle -N sdn-navigate
bindkey '\eo' sdn-navigate
....

bash
----
Here we can't reset the prompt from within a `bind -x` handler but there is
an acceptable workaround:

....
sdn-navigate () {
  SDN_L=$READLINE_LINE SDN_P=$READLINE_POINT
  READLINE_LINE=

  eval "`sdn`"
  [[ -z "$cd" ]] || cd "$cd"
  [[ -z "$insert" ]] || {
    SDN_L="${SDN_L:0:$SDN_P}$insert ${SDN_L:$SDN_P}"
    ((SDN_P=SDN_P+${#insert}+1))
  }
}
sdn-restore () {
  READLINE_LINE=$SDN_L READLINE_POINT=$SDN_P
  unset SDN_L SDN_P
}

bind -x '"\200": sdn-navigate'
bind -x '"\201": sdn-restore'
bind '"\eo":"\200\C-m\201"'
....

Colors
------
Here is an example of a '~/.config/sdn/look' file; the format is similar to
that of git, only named colors aren't supported:

....
cursor 231 202
bar 16 255 ul
cwd bold
input
....

Filename colors are taken from the `LS_COLORS` environment variable.
Run `dircolors` to get some defaults.

Bindings
--------
To obtain more vifm-like controls, you may write the following to your
'~/.config/sdn/bindings' file:

....
normal h parent
normal l choose
normal ? help
....

Similar software
----------------
 * https://elvish.io/ is an entire shell with an integrated ranger-like file
   manager on Ctrl-N (I find this confusing and resource-demanding, preferring
   to keep closer to "orthodox file managers")

Contributing and Support
------------------------
Use https://git.janouch.name/p/sdn to report any bugs, request features,
or submit pull requests.  `git send-email` is tolerated.  If you want to discuss
the project, feel free to join me at ircs://irc.janouch.name, channel #dev.

Bitcoin donations are accepted at: 12r5uEWEgcHC46xd64tt3hHt9EUvYYDHe9

License
-------
This software is released under the terms of the 0BSD license, the text of which
is included within the package along with the list of authors.