gRun version 0.9.2 - (C) Southern Gold Development
WARNING - This is a development tree. For a stable version, using
0.8.1
Welcome to gRun, an advanced application launcher written in C and using GTK for the interface. gRun includes features such as a history, command completion from the history and from PATH, recognition of console mode applications and launching a terminal for them, file extension associations and a dual fork()/execvp() application launcher.
gRun runs on both Unix platforms, tested with GTK 1.0.6, 1.1.2, 1.1.7 and 1.1.9, and on Win32, using Tor Lillqvist's port of GTK. Operation under Win32 is slightly different than under Unix. Troy Engel is responsible for the port to Win32.
The history mechanism is intelligent and only add commands that are new and which exist to the history. When gRun starts, the newest command in the history is loaded into the entry field and selected. As a command is typed into the entry field, gRun tries to find a match for the command in the history. If a match is found, the command is completed and the segment that is added is selected.
By using --preload, the user can specify the command in the entry box on startup. This can be used for a menu situation.
If the Tab key, F2 under Win32, is pressed, gRun retrieves the PATH enviroment variable and searches the directories specified for a match. If one is found, the command is completed as for the autocomplete above.
gRun has a mechanism for determining whether a command is a console mode application and launches a X-Term with the command as the -e parameter. This check is performed by searching for a match for the command in a list of console mode applications. This list is stored in the file .consfile in the home directory of the user and in /usr/local/share/grun/consfile for the global file. The global file is only used if no match is found in .consfile. To use this feature, which is not compiled by default, add the flags --enable-testfile and --with-default-xterm=xterm to the configure script. Use --with-default-xterm only if you want to change the X-Term from xterm to something else, like rxvt.
gRun also implements a file extension association mechanism. If a command file is not executable, gRun searches through a association database, stored in .gassoc and /usr/local/share/grun/gassoc, for a match. If a match is found, gRun launches the application with the command as a parameter. This feature is not enabled by default and is switched on at compile time by adding the flag --enable-associations to the configure script. The comparison is case-insensitive, so JPG and jpg are matched to the same gassoc entry.
The data files consfile and gassoc are small and may need to be extended on your system. If you find any general entries that you feel should be added to the release, please email me with the information.
Internationalization is now carried out by using gettext and .po files. See LANGUAGES for more details.
For full installation instructions, please read the files INSTALL and INSTALL.Win.
Bruce Smith <tangomanrulz@geocities.com> http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/Facility/1468/sg/index.html