Commands

Introduction

Commands are important. In fact, I would almost go as far as to say that much of the rest of gentoo is there just so you can get to a point where executing the right commands, at the right time, and on the right files, becomes easy...

There are two different flavors of command: the built-in (sometimes called native) command, and the user-defined (external) commands. The difference is simple: built-in commands are written in C and compiled into the gentoo proper, while user-defined commands are defined by you, the user, at run time. It has been a goal to provide the most frequently used file operations as built-ins, in order to reduce the dependancies between gentoo and its host operating system.

The Built-In Commands

All built-in commands have names where the initial letter of each word is capitalized. There are never any spaces or any other non-alphanumerical characters in command names. In this document, built-in commands are generally rendered in boldface to make them stand out.

The Standard Dialog

Many of the built-in commands share the same dialog framework. This improves interface consistency, and cuts down on internal wheel reinvention. Such a dialog might look like this:

The area above the horizontal divider line in the window is known as the body of the dialog; it generally provides command-specific GUI controls. In this case, the "control" is just a text label asking you to confirm the Delete operation. The buttons have the following meanings:

OK

Answer "yes, go ahead and do it" to whatever question is asked (or implied) by the body of the dialog. In this case, clicking OK (or hitting Return) would delete the named file. Note: deleting the OS kernel file is generally not a very wise thing to do!

All

Perform the action on all selected rows, and don't ask for confirmation again.

Skip

Skip the current row, and go ahead to the next one, repeating the dialog for that row. A safe choice.

Cancel

Stop executing the command, and return to the normal gentoo idle state. You can also press the Escape key on your keyboard, or close the window via your window manager, to get this effect.

For some commands, some of the buttons would be pointless; such as an "All" button for the Rename command. In those cases, the unwanted button is simply hidden from the dialog as to not confuse the user.

Command Input

All built-in commands make sure they have the input they require before doing anything. For many commands, the input is just the set of selected items in the current pane. Some commands are sensitive to mouse doubleclicks; if they are envoked as the result of a doubleclick, they will detect this and act accordingly. Other commands ignore both selections and doubleclicks, and pop up a dialog where you specify the input the command needs.

Built-In Command Reference

Here is a reference table of all currently available built-ins. For each command a brief and a detailed explanation of the command's actions are provided. In this table, the commands have been divided into various groups (directory, activation, file ops and so on). This division is not visible when you use the commands; they are all accessed just by the plain names listed here.