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How to install an external VFS script

Related to extfs installation there are two major versions of Midnight Commander. Older versions before 4.7.something use extfs.ini configuration file. Newer versions simply allow to drop a VFS script to $HOME/.mc/extfs.d directory. One can distinguish these versions by looking up the file extfs.ini; run the following command from the command line:

locate -b \\extfs.ini

(I use GNU locate conventions; adapt the command line to your system; the simplest variant is just locate extfs.ini.)

Usual places for extfs.ini are /etc/mc/extfs/extfs.ini, /usr/lib/mc/extfs/extfs.ini, /usr/share/mc/extfs/extfs.ini or /usr/local/share/mc/extfs/extfs.ini.

Older versions - extfs.ini

On the system where there is a file extfs.ini a VFS script has to be installed the following way. Put the script into the system extfs directory - /usr/share/mc/extfs/ or /usr/local/share/mc/extfs/. Make the script executable. Edit extfs.ini - add a line naming the script; for example, if one's installing xml VFS one has to do something like:

cd /etc/mc/extfs
echo xml >>extfs.ini

To use the installed VFS one also has to edit $HOME/.mc/mc.ext to assign the VFS to file extension(s) or type(s).

To enable file types add or change the following configuration option in ini file in section [Midnight-Commander]:

use_file_to_guess_type=1

This has to be done using text editor - mc doesn't allow editing the option in its configuration editor.

Newer versions - $HOME/.mc/extfs.d

For newer versions just drop a VFS script to $HOME/.mc/extfs.d or $HOME/.local/share/mc/extfs.d/ directory (verify directory by running mc -F). Make the script executable. Edit mc.ext. Enable file types guessing (see above).

See my https://phdru.name/Software/dotfiles/mc/mc.ext.html for examples.


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