#1 2026-01-13 20:50:18

Colonel Panic

Member

Registered: 2018-11-13

Posts: 1,496

Midnight Commander

I know some people will groan at the title of this thread but it's you I particularly want to hear from in it.

MC is my go-to console-based file manager for almost anything I want to do from the terminal, apart from serious text editing (for which I normally use Vim or NeoVim).  It's normally the first thing I install when I download a new distro,  although AntiX and (I believe) MX too has it as standard.

It's lightweight, it does a lot and it's reliable, but it's not on the approved software list for the new distro. For those who don't want it to be; what do you have against its being included in Carbon?

Last edited by Colonel Panic (2026-01-13 22:07:05)

johnraff

nullglob

From: Nagoya, Japan

Registered: 2015-09-09

Posts: 13,012

Website

Re: Midnight Commander

...t's not on the approved software list for the new distro.

Menu > System Settings > Install Favourite Packages > Utilities
It's there (or should be).

---

...elevator in the Brain Hotel, broken down but just as well...
( a boring Japan blog (currently paused), now on Bluesky, there's also some GitStuff )

Introduction to the Bunsenlabs Boron Desktop

Colonel Panic

Member

Registered: 2018-11-13

Posts: 1,496

Re: Midnight Commander

Thanks for replying John.

Nope it isn't there, but what I meant was that it should come as standard without having to be installed first.

Last edited by Colonel Panic (2026-01-14 09:32:31)

MarkW

Member

Registered: 2024-11-03

Posts: 374

Re: Midnight Commander

It's there for me, but I'm still on Bookworm.

Colonel Panic

Member

Registered: 2018-11-13

Posts: 1,496

Re: Midnight Commander

It's there for me, but I'm still on Bookworm.

Yes, it is available on Trixie if you want to install it though. Is the lesson here that the majority of Linux users now want graphical utilities rather than console-based ones?

johnraff

nullglob

From: Nagoya, Japan

Registered: 2015-09-09

Posts: 13,012

Website

Re: Midnight Commander

Menu > System Settings > Install Favourite Packages > Utilities

Thanks for replying John.
Nope it isn't there, but what I meant was that it should come as standard without having to be installed first.

I just had another look, and the menu item to "Install Midnight Commander file manager" is there on both Carbon and Boron.

But no, it's not installed by default. It's only a few clicks away on the menu though. I think you can understand that we can't have everybody's favourite app installed out of the box - where would you draw the line?

PS MC was added to "favourite packages" by request of another developer. In choosing what to put in that short menu, it's a kind of recommendation to new users of possibly useful apps. However, apps that are well-known and very easy to install directly via apt would not get high priority for adding to the menu. Because something is not included there certainly doesn't mean BL devs don't think it's useful or important.

Last edited by johnraff (Yesterday 00:37:50)

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...elevator in the Brain Hotel, broken down but just as well...
( a boring Japan blog (currently paused), now on Bluesky, there's also some GitStuff )

Introduction to the Bunsenlabs Boron Desktop

unklar

Back to the roots 1.9

From: #! BL

Registered: 2015-10-31

Posts: 2,827

Re: Midnight Commander

...t's not on the approved software list for the new distro.

Menu > System Settings > Install Favourite Packages > Utilities
It's there (or should be).

+1
It couldn't be made easier for the user.
He also has to learn to use the menu. 

greenjeans

Member

Registered: 2025-01-18

Posts: 287

Website

Re: Midnight Commander

*groan*....:D

Lol if I had a dollar for every time someone said one of my projects was cool but couldn't I include MC on the next iso, i'd have at least enough money for a keg of beer!

I think two file managers on an iso is redundant, easy enough to install MC. Personally I prefer Ranger over MC, you can even set it up to view image files right there in the terminal.

trinidad

Member

From: Chicago & Southeast WI

Registered: 2021-04-10

Posts: 43

Website

Re: Midnight Commander

Yep Ranger is cool.

TC

Colonel Panic

Member

Registered: 2018-11-13

Posts: 1,496

Re: Midnight Commander

Hi again everyone,

I think I know what happened now (though I'm probably fired now from the testing "team")?

The first thing I did when I installed Carbon and opened up a root terminal, was install mc from the command line. This made mc disappear from the "Install Favourite Packages - Utilities" submenu.

I forgot that menus in Bunsen are dynamic - no wonder I couldn't find it! Apologies for wasting everyone's time.

P.S. In response to the suggestion made and supported above I shall also check out Ranger soon.

Last edited by Colonel Panic (Today 20:04:41)