path: root/README

ranger v.1.5.0
==============
ranger is a console file manager with VI key bindings.  It provides a
minimalistic yet nice curses interface with a view on the directory hierarchy.
The secondary task of ranger is to psychically guess which program you want to
use for opening particular files.

This file describes ranger and how to get it to run.  For instructions on the
usage, please read the man page.  See doc/HACKING for development specific
information.  For configuration, check the sample files that ranger creates
in your ~/.config/ranger directory.

A note to packagers:  Versions meant for packaging are listed in the changelog
on the website and are taken from the stable branch.  The master branch is a
"work in progress" branch.


About
-----
* Authors:     Check the copyright notices in each source file
* License:     GNU General Public License Version 3

* Website:     http://ranger.nongnu.org/
* Download:    http://ranger.nongnu.org/ranger-stable.tar.gz
* GIT Clone:   http://git.sv.gnu.org/r/ranger.git
* Bug reports: https://savannah.nongnu.org/bugs/?group=ranger&func=additem


Design Goals
------------
* An easily maintainable file manager in a high level language
* A quick way to switch directories and browse the file system
* Keep it small but useful, do one thing and do it well
* Console based, with smooth integration into the unix shell


Features
--------
* UTF-8 Support  (if your python copy supports it)
* Multi-column display (Miller Columns)
* Preview of the selected file/directory
* Common file operations (create/chmod/copy/delete/...)
* Renaming multiple files at once
* VIM-like console and hotkeys
* Automatically determine file types and run them with correct programs
* Change the directory of your shell after exiting ranger
* Tabs, Bookmarks, Mouse support


Dependencies
------------
* Python (tested with version 2.6, 2.7, 3.1, 3.2) with the curses module

Optional:
* The "file" program
* A pager ("less" by default)
* The python module "chardet", in case of encoding detection problems

For scope.sh: (enhanced file previews)
* img2txt (from caca-utils) for previewing images
* highlight for syntax highlighting of code
* atool for previews of archives
* lynx or elinks for previews of html pages


Installing
----------

Use the package manager of your operating system to install ranger.

To install ranger manually:
    sudo make install

This translates roughly to:
    sudo ./setup.py install --optimize=1 --record=install_log.txt

This also saves a list of all installed files to install_log.txt, which you can
use to uninstall ranger.


Getting Started
---------------
ranger can be started without installing:  Just run ranger.py.  If you want to
install it anyway, the INSTALL file contains instructions.

After starting ranger, you can use the Arrow Keys (or hjkl) to navigate, Enter
to open a file or type Q to quit.  The column on the right shows a preview of
the current file.  The second from the right is the main column and the others
show parent directories.

An easy way to customize ranger is running "ranger --copy-config=all"
and editing the new files in ~/.config/ranger/.