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XFM(1)							XFM(1)

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 favourite applica-
       tions, as well as the files and directories you	are  cur-
       rently  working with. It also allows you to access differ-
       ent groups of applications and files.  User-definable file
       types  let  you specify a command to be executed when dou-
       ble-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 control which windows should
       be displayed at startup.

       -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  dis-
       played,	which  is  also the default. If only -filemgr is
       specified, the application manager will not  be	available
       in this session.

RUNNING XFM FOR THE FIRST TIME
       There are a number of configuration files which need to be
       placed in your home directory in order  to  run	xfm.   To
       install	the  default configuration files, run the program
       xfm.install which  will	create	a  directory  ~/.xfm  and
       install some files in there.  These are your personal con-
       figuration files, and may be edited to  customise  Xfm  to
       your own tastes.

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XFM(1)							XFM(1)

USAGE
       Most of it should be fairly obvious. There is one applica-
       tion window and zero or more file windows in which  direc-
       tories  (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, edit-
       ing  a file, or changing directories), and press the right
       menu button on an item to bring up a menu containing oper-
       ations  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.

       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 but-
       ton used in the same way will copy files. 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  dis-
       played  in  the	file  window. If it is an executable, the
       program is started. Other files are opened in the  default
       editor  (specified  by the defaultEditor resource), unless
       another action is given in the xfmrc file (see  CONFIGURA-
       TION below).

       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.

MENU COMMANDS
       FILE MENU

       File manipulation operations.

       New...
	   Create a new (and empty) file.

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XFM(1)							XFM(1)

       Move
	   Rename a single  item  (directory  or  file) or  move
	   selected items to another directory.

       Copy
	   Create  a  copy  of	a single item under a new name or
	   copy selected items to another directory.

       Link...
	   Create a symbolic link.

       Delete
	   Delete the selected items.

       Select...
	   Select items by pattern.

       Select all
	   Select all items in the current directory (except  the
	   parent directory).

       Deselect
	   Deselect all items.

       Quit
	   Terminate xfm.

       FOLDER MENU

       Operations dealing with directories and the file window.

       New...
	   Create a new directory.

       Go to...
	   Display the specified directory.

       Home
	   Display your home directory.

       Up
	   Display the parent directory.

       Empty
	   Delete all items in the current directory.

       Close
	   Close this file window.

       VIEW MENU

       Options for the directory display.

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XFM(1)							XFM(1)

       Tree
	   Select the tree form display.

       Icons
	   Select the icons form display.

       Text
	   Select the text form display.

       Sort by name
	   Sort directory by name.

       Sort by size
	   Sort directory by size.

       Sort by date
	   Sort directory by date.

       Hide folders
	   Suppress directory items.

       Mix folders/files
	   Mix directories and other files.

       Show hidden files
	   Show hidden files (files starting with a dot).

       FILE POPUP MENU

       Operations on a single file. This menu pops up when press-
       ing the right mouse button on a directory or file icon.

       Open

       Edit
	   Open a new file window  if  the  selected  item  is	a
	   directory, otherwise edit the selected file.

       Move
	   Move the selected item.

       Copy
	   Copy the selected item.

       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.

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XFM(1)							XFM(1)

       APPLICATION MENU

       Operations for managing the applications window.

       Install...
	   Install a new application in the applications  window.
	   Pops up  a	dialog	form into which you can enter the
	   necessary information (see CONFIGURATION for a discus-
	   sion of the fields in this form).

       Delete
	   Delete  the	selected items from the applications win-
	   dow.

       Save setup
	   Save the state  of  the  applications  window  in  the
	   applications file (see CONFIGURATION below).

       Load setup
	   Restore the setup from the applications file.

       File window
	   Open a new file window.

       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).

       Move
	   Move the selected item to the bottom of  the applica-
	   tions  window.  This operation provides a (rather awk-
	   ward) way of rearranging  the  order	 of  application
	   items.

       Copy
	   Copy the  selected item to the bottom of the applica-
	   tions window.

       Delete
	   Delete the selected item from the applications window.

RESOURCES
       Various	aspects of  xfm	 can  be  configured by changing

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XFM(1)							XFM(1)

       corresponding  resource	settings  in   the   applications
       default file. Some important resources are listed below:

       bitmapPath

       pixmapPath
	   The	path  on  which to  search for bitmap and pixmap
	   icons, respectively.

       applicationDataFile

       configFile

       devFile
	   The names of the application and  configuration  files
	   used by xfm (see CONFIGURATION). Normally, these will
	   be hidden files in your home directory.  You may  wish
	   to change this, e.g., if you want to provide a system-
	   wide xfmrc file. (The applications file should  always
	   be  kept  in the user's home directory, such that each
	   user can save his/her private application settings.)

       autoSave
	   Enable or  disable  automatic  saving  of  application
	   files.  When this  feature is enabled (which it is by
	   default), then xfm saves your  application  setup  (if
	   modified)  whenever you switch to a new file (by means
	   of the LOAD action, see CONFIGURATION),  or	when  you
	   terminate xfm.

       doubleClickTime
	   Set	the  time  interval  in milliseconds for which a
	   sequence of two mouse clicks should be interpreted  as
	   a double click. Default: 500.

       updateInterval
	   Set the time interval in milliseconds in which to per-
	   form automatic folder updates. Default: 10000.

       confirmXXX
	   Resources to request confirmation for  various  opera-
	   tions.  XXX	can  be any one of Deletes, DeleteFolder,
	   Copies, Moves, Overwrite and Quit.  By  default  these
	   are all enabled.

       defaultEditor
	   The command with which xfm invokes your favourite edi-
	   tor.

       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.

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XFM(1)							XFM(1)

CONFIGURATION
       Besides the application resources, xfm can  be  configured
       by means of three different files, which are usually named
       xfmrc, xfmdev and xfm-apps, and are located in the  ~/.xfm
       directory. These are plain ASCII files which can be edited
       using any text editor. (Note that  the  xfm-apps file  is
       also  written  by xfm when invoking the corresponding menu
       command, and when the autosave feature is  enabled.)   Any
       line  in these files which starts with a hash sign (#) is
       interpreted as a comment; empty lines are ignored.

FILE TYPE CONFIGURATION
       The xfmrc file specifies the types of  ordinary	(non-exe-
       cutable, non-directory) files which xfm should recognize.
       Each line has the following format:

	       pattern:icon:push-action:drop-action

       As indicated, the different  fields  are separated  by	a
       colon  (use \: to escape the : character, and \\ to escape
       the backslash character	itself).  The  meaning	of  these
       fields is explained below.

       pattern
	   The	filename  pattern  a  file must match in order to
	   belong to this type. There are  three  types of  pat-
	   terns:  Literal  patterns  specify  a literal filename
	   such as ``core.'' Suffix patterns specify a suffix the
	   filename  must  match,  and are indicated by a leading
	   asterisk, as in ``*.c.'' (All characters following the
	   initial  *  are  interpreted as literals; there is no
	   expansion of embedded wildcards.) Finally, prefix pat-
	   terns specify a prefix to be matched against the file-
	   name. They are denoted by a trailing asterisk,  as  in
	   ``README*.''

       icon
	   The	name  of the bitmap or pixmap file containing the
	   icon to be displayed for this file type.

       push-action
	   The command to be executed when the user double-clicks
	   on  a file of this type. This command is passed to the
	   shell (via -c), together with the name of the selected
	   file.  The  command is executed in the directory where
	   the selected file is located. The filename  is  avail-
	   able in the command as the positional parameter number
	   one, such that an action of the form xyz  $1	 invokes
	   the	command xyz on the selected file. There are also
	   two special kinds of push actions built into xfm, EDIT
	   which invokes the default editor on the selected file,
	   and LOAD which loads the selected file as an applica-
	   tions file (discussed in Section APPLICATION FILES).

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XFM(1)							XFM(1)

       drop-action
	   Similar  to the push action, this field denotes a com-
	   mand to be executed	when  a collection  of	selected
	   files  is  dropped  onto the file. The absolute target
	   filename itself is available as  positional	parameter
	   $1,	the  remaining	arguments denote the names of the
	   files dropped onto the target  file. The  command  is
	   executed  in the directory which contains the selected
	   files. No special built-in commands are available  for
	   this type of action.

       If  an  action  field  is  empty, the corresponding action
       defaults to ``do nothing.'' For	instance,  the	following
       entry  defines  an  icon and  an	 EDIT push action for .c
       files:

	       *.c:xfm_c.xpm:EDIT:

       As another example, here is an entry for compressed  (i.e.
       gzipped) tar files. The push action causes the archive to
       be extracted, while the drop action replaces the contents
       of the archive with the files which have been dragged onto
       the archive:

	       *.tar.gz:xfm_taz.xpm:exec tar xfvz $1:exec tar cfvz $*

       (Note the use of the shell's exec command.  Since  actions
       are  invoked  through  the  shell,  it  is often useful to
       replace the shell with the actual command which is  to  be
       executed,  in order to conserve memory space on small sys-
       tems.)

       It is possible that different patterns given in the  xfmrc
       file  overlap.	In  this  case xfm uses the first pattern
       which matches. Therefore you should always list	the  more
       specific patterns  first. For instance, the following two
       entries specify what to do with compressed tar files (spe-
       cific case) and other .gz files (default case):

	       *.tar.gz:xfm_taz.xpm:exec tar xfvz $1:exec tar cfvz $*
	       *.gz:xfm_z.xpm:exec gunzip $1:

       Xfm  also  enables you to prompt for additional parameters
       before an action is executed. This is generally more  use-
       ful  with  application entries than with file actions, and
       will therefore be described in the context of  application
       configuration, see PARAMETER DIALOGS below.

DEVICE CONFIGURATION
       The  device  configuration  file, xfmdev, lets you specify
       which mount points xfm should keep  track  of,  and  which
       actions	to perform in order to mount and unmount the cor-
       responding file systems. This allows you to  access  file
       systems on special devices such as floppies, CD-Roms, etc.

X Version 11		May 16 1994				8

XFM(1)							XFM(1)

       in a transparent way. All you have to do is  to	enter	a
       directory  named in xfmdev (e.g. by opening a file window
       on it), and xfm will automatically perform the correspond-
       ing  mount  action  for you. Likewise, if you leave such a
       directory, xfm invokes the corresponding unmount	 action.
       (CAUTION:  You  still have to take care that you unmount a
       file system, e.g. by closing every file window  which  has
       been opened on it, before you physically remove the corre-
       sponding medium.)

       An entry of the xfmdev file has the following format:

	       directory:mount-action:umount-action

       The directory field denotes the mount point  of	the  file
       system,	mount-action  the command to be executed in order
       to mount the file system, and  umount-action  the  command
       for  unmounting	the  file  system.  Here is a ``typical''
       entry from my xfmdev file:

	       /disk/a:mount -t msdos -o user /dev/fd0 /disk/a:umount /disk/a

       Of course, the details of how to mount a floppy file  sys-
       tem  may vary from system to system, and you might have to
       take special actions if you want to use mount as an  ordi-
       nary user. See mount(8) for details.

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 written by xfm using the cor-
       responding menu operation  or  the  autosave  feature.  An
       understanding  of  the application data is necessary, how-
       ever, if you want to edit an  existing  or  create  a  new
       entry  using  the Install and Edit options of the applica-
       tions menu. Each entry has the following form:

	       name:directory:filename:icon:push-action:drop-action

       The name and icon fields specify the name of the applica-
       tion and a corresponding icon which should be displayed in
       the application window. The  push-action and  drop-action
       fields  have  the  same meaning as in the xfmrc file: they
       indicate the commands to be passed to the shell	when  the
       user  double-clicks  on	the  icon or drops files onto it,
       respectively.  The directory and filename fields let  you
       specify	a  file to  be	passed to the application. These
       fields are filled in by xfm when the user drags a file  or
       directory  onto	the application window. Xfm also properly
       sets up the action fields when installing a file which has
       a matching entry in the xfmrc file.

       As  usual,  the target file (if specified) and any dropped
       files are passed to the push and drop actions as the first

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XFM(1)							XFM(1)

       and  the remaining parameters, respectively, see FILE TYPE
       CONFIGURATION for details. The drop action is executed  in
       the  directory  containing  the	selected files, while the
       push action starts  in  the  directory  specified  by  the
       directory field, if it is nonempty, and in the user's home
       directory otherwise.

       In an application file, Xfm recognizes three special types
       of  built-in  push  actions. The EDIT action, as in xfmrc,
       invokes the default editor. The OPEN action indicates that
       the  target  file  actually  is a directory onto which xfm
       should open a new file window when the user  double-clicks
       on  the corresponding icon. Finally, the LOAD action tells
       xfm that the target is an application file whose contents
       are  to be loaded into the application window. This action
       allows you to manage different groups of applications. For
       instance,  you  might  have an entry loading a ``toolbox''
       applications file from xfm-apps which in turn contains  an
       entry  to reload the xfm-apps file. By these means, appli-
       cation groups can be organized  in  a  tree-like fashion.
       Note that application files can also be loaded by a corre-
       sponding file type entry, since the LOAD action	is  also
       supported  in the xfmrc file. (The OPEN action is not sup-
       ported there, however, as it wouldn't make  sense  anyhow.
       Note  that  you	can  only  specify file types for regular
       files.)

       It is time  for	some  examples. Here  are  three  useful
       entries	from  my  xfm-apps  files which I use to start an
       xterm, my favourite editor, and print a	file  using  lpr,
       respectively:

	       Terminal:::xterm.xpm:exec xterm:
	       Editor:::editor.xpm:exec emacs:exec emacs $*
	       Printer:::printer.xpm::exec lpr $*

       Xfm  gives  you	great  flexibility in configuring special
       types of actions.  For instance, the following entries can
       be  used to  implement	a  simple trashcan feature and an
       action to open a window on a floppy disk:

	       Trash::.trash:trash.xpm:OPEN:shift; mv $* ~/.trash
	       A\::/disk:a:disk.xpm:OPEN:

       It is also instructive to take a look at how xfm sets  up
       the  entries  when  you	drag  files or directories to the
       application window. Play around with these features. It is
       fun! Many things can be done, if not with a single command
       then maybe with a tiny shell script.

PARAMETER DIALOGS
       Xfm lets you prompt the	user  for  additional  parameters
       when  a	push or drop action is invoked. In such a case, a
       dialog form appears, with one field  for each  parameter,

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XFM(1)							XFM(1)

       into which the user can enter the required arguments. Cur-
       rently, no checking is done on the supplied parameters; in
       fact,  the user can simply leave all fields empty. Parame-
       ters are specified in an action using the form

	       %parameter-name%

       where parameter-name is an arbitrary string not containing
       the  %  character,  which  will be displayed in the dialog
       form. (As usual, a literal % character can be escaped with
       the  backslash.) Xfm  replaces	each such %...% construct
       with the corresponding value entered by the user.

       For instance, here is an entry for the xfm-apps file which
       invokes	grep  to search a given collection of files for a
       regular expression the user is prompted for:

	       grep:::grep.xpm::grep '%Regular expression\:%' $*

       More than  one  parameter  field may  be	 specified.  For
       instance:

	       find:::find.xpm:find %Directory\:% %Find expression\:%:

CONSOLE OUTPUT
       Programs started by xfm inherit their standard output and
       error streams from xfm. Therefore, if you start	xfm  from
       your  session  or  window manager instead of an xterm, you
       should redirect xfm's standard output and error	to  some-
       thing which you can read while xfm is running, if the win-
       dow manager does not already do that for you. Usually, you
       will  reassign  both  stdout  and  stderr to /dev/console,
       using the command:

	       xfm >/dev/console 2>&1

       Then you can read error messages and other output produced
       by  launched  applications  in  the console window on your
       desktop (such as xconsole, or xterm -C).

ICONS
       Xfm supports icons in both the  X  bitmap  and  Arnaud  Le
       Hors'  XPM  format.   A	collection  of	useful	icons  is
       included in the distribution.

FILES
       ~/.xfm
	   Standard location for xfm configuration files.

SEE ALSO
       X(1), xconsole(1), xterm(1), mount(8), Arnaud Le Hors: XPM
       Manual. The X PixMap Format, Groupe Bull, 1993.

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XFM(1)							XFM(1)

CAVEATS AND BUGS
       xfm  catches  the  TERM signal to gracefully terminate the
       program, saving	the  current  application  file	 if  the
       autosave feature is enabled, and 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 save the applications file and close file windows
       before exiting X.

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (c) 1990-1993 by Simon Marlow
       Copyright (c) 1994 by Albert Graef

AUTHORS
       The  original version of this program was written by Simon
       Marlow (simonm@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk)  at  the  University  of
       Glasgow. Albert	  Graef	  (ag@muwiinfa.geschichte.uni-
       mainz.de) at the University of Mainz is the author of  the
       present version which contains many bug fixes and enhance-
       ments.

X Version 11		May 16 1994			 12

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