[Pkg-mc-devel] Bug#484890: mc: 'Find File' box layout vague; which options apply to which fields?

[A. Costa]

Package: mc
Version: 2:4.6.2~git20080311-1
Severity: normal


In 'Find File', it's unclear that the "case Sensitive" and "Regular
expression" boxes apply only to the 'Content' field.  Example:

 +----------------- Find File ------------------+ 
 |                                              | 
 | Start at: /bin/_________________________ [^] | 
 |                                              | 
 | Filename: BASH__________________________ [^] | 
 |           [x] Find recursively               | 
 |                                              | 
 | Content:  ______________________________ [^] | 
 |           [ ] case Sensitive                 | 
 |           [x] Regular expression             | 
 |                                              | 
 | [< OK >]  [ Tree ]                [ Cancel ] | 
 +----------------------------------------------+ 

The search returns nothing, which some users don't expect, since "case
Sensitive" is unchecked.  Since 'Filename' field does process command line
wildcards, (e.g. "[^d]ash" would return 'bash'), it's natural to
suppose that regex could be an option.

'man mc' doesn't describe which pattern matching character sets
'Filename' allows:

    man mc | grep -n -A 4 "Find File" | head -n 6
    874:    Find File
    875:       The Find File feature first asks for the start directory for the search
    876-       and  the  filename  to be searched for. By pressing the Tree button you
    877-       can select the start directory from the directory tree figure.
    878-
    879-       The contents field accepts regular  expressions  similar  to  egrep(1).

Possible fixes:

    1) Add regex & case sensitive searching for 'Filename'.
       (It would be useful.)

    2) Or graphically segregate the 'Content' field
       and its options in a surrounding sub-box; and add
       text to 'man mc' explaining how 'Filename' 
       accepts command line wildcards only.


Hope this helps...



-- System Information:
Debian Release: lenny/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.24-1-686 (SMP w/1 CPU core)
Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=C (charmap=ANSI_X3.4-1968) (ignored: LC_ALL set to C)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash

Versions of packages mc depends on:
ii  libc6                    2.7-12          GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii  libglib2.0-0             2.16.3-2        The GLib library of C routines
ii  libgpmg1                 1.20.3~pre3-3.1 General Purpose Mouse - shared lib
ii  libslang2                2.1.3-3         The S-Lang programming library - r

mc recommends no packages.

-- no debconf information