Beyond Linux® From Scratch (systemd Edition) - Version 11.3

Chapter 12. System Utilities

MC-4.8.29

Introduction to MC

MC (Midnight Commander) is a text-mode full-screen file manager and visual shell. It provides a clear, user-friendly, and somewhat protected interface to a Unix system while making many frequent file operations more efficient and preserving the full power of the command prompt.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS 11.3 platform.

Package Information

MC Dependencies

Required

GLib-2.74.5 and PCRE-8.45

Recommended

slang-2.3.3

Optional

Doxygen-1.9.6, GPM-1.20.7, libssh2-1.10.0, Ruby-3.2.1, Samba-4.17.5, UnZip-6.0, a graphical environment, and Zip-3.0

User Notes: https://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/MC

Installation of MC

Install MC by running the following commands: 

./configure --prefix=/usr \
            --sysconfdir=/etc \
            --enable-charset &&
make

To test the results, issue: make check.

Now, as the root user: 

make install

Command Explanations

--sysconfdir=/etc: This switch places the global configuration directory in /etc.

--enable-charset: This switch adds support to mcedit for editing files in encodings different from the one implied by the current locale.

Configuring MC

Config Files

~/.config/mc/*

Configuration Information

The ~/.config/mc directory and its contents are created when you start mc for the first time. Then you can edit the main ~/.config/mc/ini configuration file manually or through the MC shell. Consult the mc(1) man page for details.

Contents

Installed Programs: mc and the symlinks mcdiff, mcedit and mcview
Installed Libraries: None
Installed Directories: /etc/mc and /usr/{libexec,share}/mc

Short Descriptions

cons.saver

is used internally by mc for saving and restoring the text behind the panels on Linux text console

mc

is a visual shell

mcdiff

is an internal visual diff tool

mcedit

is an internal file editor

mcview

is an internal file viewer