Show HN: Linenoise NG – GNU Readline Replacement, with UTF8 and Windows (BSD) (opens in new tab)

(github.com)

63 pointsfceller10y ago50 comments

50 comments

24 comments · 6 top-level

davexunit10y ago· 8 in thread

All of this to get around the GPL. Boo!

lobster_johnson10y ago

I wonder why that was necessary, since NetBSD's libedit exists in a portable form. It is (or was) the default on OS X.

http://thrysoee.dk/editline/

Edit: libedit is mentioned in the readme, and it's implied that the reason for this other library is code size.

fcellerOP10y ago

Another reason is Windows. Even READLINE breaks when used on Windows with UTF-8 characters.

fcellerOP10y ago

Yes, it is a shame that there are so many programs out there, that do not provide good line support because of the GPL issue.

1 more reply

sspiff10y ago

Not everyone can or wants to use the GPL. We don't live in an ideal, purely altruistic world.

fcellerOP10y ago

There are even a lot of other OPEN SOURCE projects with licenses (Apache, BSD) which cannot use readline because of their restricted GPL (instead of LGPL).

1 more reply

antirez10y ago

This project goal is a bit more about replacing readline, but a big motivation for the original project is minimalism and trivial embeddability. It's all in the README.

m_rcin10y ago

@antirez: should the linked "linenoise NG" be considered a replacement for your linenoise?

I did diff on linenoise.c and linenoise.cpp (from NG) and very few lines are identical.

anthk10y ago

Check rlwrap.

dorfsmay10y ago· 6 in thread

Can it switch between emacs and vi mode (like Deadline)?

dschep10y ago

Was that a typo? I've never heard of deadline and that's a pretty un-google-able word. GNU Readline has Emacs & Vi mode.

_ph_10y ago

While replying to this thread, my browser keeps autocorrecting "readline" to "deadline". So a case where technology makes us write correctly spelled nonsense :).

dorfsmay10y ago

Phone "helping" me! I meant Readline.

fcellerOP10y ago

Or maybe meant as a pun?

fcellerOP10y ago

No, it has a fixed key binding.

dorfsmay10y ago

So it'll be of no use to those of us who use the vi mode.

jimrandomh10y ago· 2 in thread

I'm all for replacing readline. It's an ancient, very closely linked to the everyday experience of using the command line, and not very good. I want my REPLs to have things like syntax highlighting and decent tab completion UI, and readline has positioned itself to have a monopoly on the ability to implement these things but failed to deliver.

But this isn't addressing the real problem, which is that readline gets conjoined with the programs that use it. So if I want to write my own line editor, I have to significantly modify every program I want to use it in, which is enough of an obstacle that I won't do it (and neither will others). Nevermind more difficult architectural problems, like making editing local when on high-latency connections. Still, having a BSD-licensed line editor to start from may be helpful for whoever takes on that project some day.

yyin10y ago

"But this isn't addressing the real problem..."

Well, he addressed a real problem in my opinion: readline is too large and too complicated for many uses.

I used hping in the old days; while I'm not a Redis user (I use cdb and kdb+ for key/value stores), I really appreciate linenoise. I use it everyday.

I thank the author for a very useful contribution.

fcellerOP10y ago

I would love to see contributions improving LINENOISE NG in this direction.

cmsd210y ago· 2 in thread

there are a lot of forks of linenoise out there now.

this one looks good, but it's a big task to pick through all the divergent copies of the code and figure out which ones have genuine improvements and which ones are now rotting.

there's a rust one too which i recently added mingw/msvc support to. that's actually an example of how this splintering could be causing problems because we've just vendored some upstream version of the native c code and changes may be difficult to send back upstream.

fcellerOP10y ago

That is one of the reason, why I renamed it the LINENOISE NG. The interface is compatible with the original LINENOISE, but it works on linux, Mac and Windows and it supports UTF-8.

kazinator10y ago

Too bad about the C++, though; my condolences.

(The original authors should have made the header comment "against the idea that a line editing lib needs to be 20,000 lines of C code, or any quantity of C++".)

kazinator10y ago

Fork of linenoise in the TXR language:

http://www.kylheku.com/cgit/txr/log/linenoise

Doc:

http://www.nongnu.org/txr/txr-manpage.html#N-025AAA27

These changes are in a different direction. I don't have windows or UTF-8 support, though. I started a branch to convert it to use wchar_t. Maybe I can cherry pick some things out of NG.

melling10y ago

How about predictive typing? It would be helpful if something modern learned what I frequently type.

http://papersdb.cs.ualberta.ca/~papersdb/uploaded_files/712/...

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

50 comments

24 comments · 6 top-level

davexunit10y ago· 8 in thread

All of this to get around the GPL. Boo!

lobster_johnson10y ago

I wonder why that was necessary, since NetBSD's libedit exists in a portable form. It is (or was) the default on OS X.

http://thrysoee.dk/editline/

Edit: libedit is mentioned in the readme, and it's implied that the reason for this other library is code size.

fcellerOP10y ago

Another reason is Windows. Even READLINE breaks when used on Windows with UTF-8 characters.

fcellerOP10y ago

Yes, it is a shame that there are so many programs out there, that do not provide good line support because of the GPL issue.

1 more reply

sspiff10y ago

Not everyone can or wants to use the GPL. We don't live in an ideal, purely altruistic world.

fcellerOP10y ago

There are even a lot of other OPEN SOURCE projects with licenses (Apache, BSD) which cannot use readline because of their restricted GPL (instead of LGPL).

1 more reply

antirez10y ago

This project goal is a bit more about replacing readline, but a big motivation for the original project is minimalism and trivial embeddability. It's all in the README.

m_rcin10y ago

@antirez: should the linked "linenoise NG" be considered a replacement for your linenoise?

I did diff on linenoise.c and linenoise.cpp (from NG) and very few lines are identical.

anthk10y ago

Check rlwrap.

dorfsmay10y ago· 6 in thread

Can it switch between emacs and vi mode (like Deadline)?

dschep10y ago

Was that a typo? I've never heard of deadline and that's a pretty un-google-able word. GNU Readline has Emacs & Vi mode.

_ph_10y ago

While replying to this thread, my browser keeps autocorrecting "readline" to "deadline". So a case where technology makes us write correctly spelled nonsense :).

dorfsmay10y ago

Phone "helping" me! I meant Readline.

fcellerOP10y ago

Or maybe meant as a pun?

fcellerOP10y ago

No, it has a fixed key binding.

dorfsmay10y ago

So it'll be of no use to those of us who use the vi mode.

jimrandomh10y ago· 2 in thread

yyin10y ago

"But this isn't addressing the real problem..."

Well, he addressed a real problem in my opinion: readline is too large and too complicated for many uses.

I used hping in the old days; while I'm not a Redis user (I use cdb and kdb+ for key/value stores), I really appreciate linenoise. I use it everyday.

I thank the author for a very useful contribution.

fcellerOP10y ago

I would love to see contributions improving LINENOISE NG in this direction.

cmsd210y ago· 2 in thread

there are a lot of forks of linenoise out there now.

this one looks good, but it's a big task to pick through all the divergent copies of the code and figure out which ones have genuine improvements and which ones are now rotting.

fcellerOP10y ago

That is one of the reason, why I renamed it the LINENOISE NG. The interface is compatible with the original LINENOISE, but it works on linux, Mac and Windows and it supports UTF-8.

kazinator10y ago

Too bad about the C++, though; my condolences.

(The original authors should have made the header comment "against the idea that a line editing lib needs to be 20,000 lines of C code, or any quantity of C++".)

kazinator10y ago

Fork of linenoise in the TXR language:

http://www.kylheku.com/cgit/txr/log/linenoise

Doc:

http://www.nongnu.org/txr/txr-manpage.html#N-025AAA27

These changes are in a different direction. I don't have windows or UTF-8 support, though. I started a branch to convert it to use wchar_t. Maybe I can cherry pick some things out of NG.

melling10y ago

How about predictive typing? It would be helpful if something modern learned what I frequently type.

http://papersdb.cs.ualberta.ca/~papersdb/uploaded_files/712/...

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse