The following reply was made to PR bin/160689; it has been noted by GNATS.
From: Martin Tournoij <mar...@arp242.net>
To: bug-follo...@freebsd.org, wkos...@freebsd.org
Cc: t...@mx.gw.com
Subject: Re: bin/160689: FreeBSD should have .cshrc updated for modern
hardware and useful aliases installed by default
Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2011 19:38:44 +0200
Incidentally, I was thinking of the same thing yesterday. Too many times I've
heard people complain about the "backward" tcsh shell, and everyone's heard
about (but few have actually read) "csh programming considered harmful" and
just assume tcsh is an old relic from the dark ages... Well, in part it is of
course, but then again, one might argue half of UNIX is, in any case, it's an
excellent interactive shell which works quite well IMHO.
My two cents however:
- Aliases are user specific. I don't think the default config should set a lot
of complicated aliases (or completions).
- Colors do not always work, the default tcsh/ls colors assume a white
background and don't work too well on a black one. Good ol' grey/white
*always* works.
Linux, for example, almost always assumes a black background, as a white
background user this can be *very* annoying if yellow or bright green text
flashes across your screen).
And white and black are only two choices ... Using the default monochrome
is the only "safe" default.
- A few options can be turned on by default, a quick look at my tcshrc:
# Show options when autocompleting
set autolist
# Basic corrections when completing
set autocorrect
# Use history to aid expansion (Best hidden tcsh feature IMHO)
set autoexpand
# file completion
set filec
And maybe a few others such as rmstar or printexitval ...
- Sourcing from /usr/share/tcs/misc.csh *by default* seems like a bad idea.
Either make the changes to /etc/csh.cshrc or change the defaults upstream
- There is already an advanced completion example in /usr/share/examples/tcsh/
... More examples (aliases, options) can always be added ... A pointer in
the login message or default cshrc might be a good idea ...
... Maybe it's a good idea to discus these changed upstream? tcsh has an
active(-ish) mailing list with a few developers.
I've CC-ed this email to the tcsh discussion list (t...@mx.gw.com)...
Link to FreeBSD PR for tcsh people:
http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=bin/160689
--
Martin Tournoij <mar...@arp242.net>
http://arp242.net | http://aragorn.nl | http://daemonforums.org
QOTD:
These activities have their own rules and methods of concealment which
seek to mislead and obscure.
-- Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1960
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