ncurses based config

This patch was inspired by the kernel projects page, where an ncurses replacement for menuconfig was mentioned (by Sam Ravnborg).

Building on menuconfig, this patch implements a more modern look interface using ncurses and ncurses' satellite libraries (menu, panel, form). The implementation does not depend on lxdialog, which is currently distributed with the kernel.

The only change outside of nconf.c is due to a name clash: both ncurses and lkc.h define a fucntion named menu_init(). I changed the internal version's name.

Please consider the patch for merging. Comments are appreciated.

Hi,

Quoted 7 lines · Nir Tzachar

This patch was inspired by the kernel projects page, where an ncurses replacement for menuconfig was mentioned (by Sam Ravnborg).

Building on menuconfig, this patch implements a more modern look interface using ncurses and ncurses' satellite libraries (menu, panel, form). The implementation does not depend on lxdialog, which is currently distributed with the kernel.

Quoted 5 lines

The only change outside of nconf.c is due to a name clash: both ncurses and lkc.h define a fucntion named menu_init(). I changed the internal version's name.

Please consider the patch for merging. Comments are appreciated.

Could you please tell what kernel version is it against?

I'm getting the following error on make nconfig (and also on make menuconfig which works fine without this patch) with the current Linus' tree:

  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/conf.o
  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/kxgettext.o
  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/nconf.o
  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/zconf.tab.o

scripts/kconfig/zconf.tab.c: In function ÿÿconf_parseÿÿ:
scripts/kconfig/zconf.tab.c:2258: warning: implicit declaration of function ÿÿmenu_initÿÿ
HOSTLD scripts/kconfig/nconf
scripts/kconfig/nconf arch/x86/Kconfig
make[1]: *** [nconfig] Segmentation fault
make: *** [nconfig] Error 2

Quoted 11 lines · Bartlomiej Zolnierkiewicz

Hi,

Quoted 7 lines · Nir Tzachar

This patch was inspired by the kernel projects page, where an ncurses replacement for menuconfig was mentioned (by Sam Ravnborg).

Building on menuconfig, this patch implements a more modern look interface using ncurses and ncurses' satellite libraries (menu, panel, form). The implementation does not depend on lxdialog, which is currently distributed with the kernel.

Quoted 7 lines

Quoted 5 lines

The only change outside of nconf.c is due to a name clash: both ncurses and lkc.h define a fucntion named menu_init(). I changed the internal version's name.

Please consider the patch for merging. Comments are appreciated.

Could you please tell what kernel version is it against?

It applies cleanly to 2.6.27-rc5-git4 FWIW.

Quoted 7 lines

I'm getting the following error on make nconfig (and also on make menuconfig which works fine without this patch) with the current Linus' tree:

  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/conf.o
  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/kxgettext.o
  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/nconf.o
  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/zconf.tab.o

Quoted 6 lines

scripts/kconfig/zconf.tab.c: In function ÿÿconf_parseÿÿ:
scripts/kconfig/zconf.tab.c:2258: warning: implicit declaration of function ÿÿmenu_initÿÿ
HOSTLD scripts/kconfig/nconf
scripts/kconfig/nconf arch/x86/Kconfig
make[1]: *** [nconfig] Segmentation fault
make: *** [nconfig] Error 2

Need to change all /menu_init/ in zconf.tab.c* to /_menu_init/.

Need to strip trailing whitespace on new source code lines.

I'm seeing cyan (?) foreground on black background. Is that the colors that were planned?

Instructions are dark blue on black -- cannot read them.

Quoted 11 lines · Bartlomiej Zolnierkiewicz

Hi,

Quoted 7 lines · Nir Tzachar

This patch was inspired by the kernel projects page, where an ncurses replacement for menuconfig was mentioned (by Sam Ravnborg).

Building on menuconfig, this patch implements a more modern look interface using ncurses and ncurses' satellite libraries (menu, panel, form). The implementation does not depend on lxdialog, which is currently distributed with the kernel.

Quoted 7 lines

Quoted 5 lines

The only change outside of nconf.c is due to a name clash: both ncurses and lkc.h define a fucntion named menu_init(). I changed the internal version's name.

Please consider the patch for merging. Comments are appreciated.

Could you please tell what kernel version is it against?

It applies cleanly to 2.6.27-rc5-git4 FWIW.

Quoted 7 lines

I'm getting the following error on make nconfig (and also on make menuconfig which works fine without this patch) with the current Linus' tree:

  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/conf.o
  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/kxgettext.o
  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/nconf.o
  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/zconf.tab.o

Quoted 6 lines

scripts/kconfig/zconf.tab.c: In function ÿÿconf_parseÿÿ:
scripts/kconfig/zconf.tab.c:2258: warning: implicit declaration of function ÿÿmenu_initÿÿ
HOSTLD scripts/kconfig/nconf
scripts/kconfig/nconf arch/x86/Kconfig
make[1]: *** [nconfig] Segmentation fault
make: *** [nconfig] Error 2

Need to change all /menu_init/ in zconf.tab.c* to /_menu_init/.

Need to strip trailing whitespace on new source code lines.

I'm seeing cyan (?) foreground on black background. Is that the colors that were planned?

Instructions are dark blue on black -- cannot read them.

Quoted 11 lines · Bartlomiej Zolnierkiewicz

Hi,

Quoted 7 lines · Nir Tzachar

This patch was inspired by the kernel projects page, where an ncurses replacement for menuconfig was mentioned (by Sam Ravnborg).

Building on menuconfig, this patch implements a more modern look interface using ncurses and ncurses' satellite libraries (menu, panel, form). The implementation does not depend on lxdialog, which is currently distributed with the kernel.

Quoted 7 lines

Quoted 5 lines

The only change outside of nconf.c is due to a name clash: both ncurses and lkc.h define a fucntion named menu_init(). I changed the internal version's name.

Please consider the patch for merging. Comments are appreciated.

Could you please tell what kernel version is it against?

It applies cleanly to 2.6.27-rc5-git4 FWIW.

Quoted 7 lines

I'm getting the following error on make nconfig (and also on make menuconfig which works fine without this patch) with the current Linus' tree:

  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/conf.o
  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/kxgettext.o
  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/nconf.o
  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/zconf.tab.o

Quoted 6 lines

scripts/kconfig/zconf.tab.c: In function ÿÿconf_parseÿÿ:
scripts/kconfig/zconf.tab.c:2258: warning: implicit declaration of function ÿÿmenu_initÿÿ
HOSTLD scripts/kconfig/nconf
scripts/kconfig/nconf arch/x86/Kconfig
make[1]: *** [nconfig] Segmentation fault
make: *** [nconfig] Error 2

Need to change all /menu_init/ in zconf.tab.c* to /_menu_init/.

Need to strip trailing whitespace on new source code lines.

I'm seeing cyan (?) foreground on black background. Is that the colors that were planned?

Instructions are dark blue on black -- cannot read them.

Quoted 2 lines

I'm seeing cyan (?) foreground on black background. Is that the colors that were planned?

much nicer colors here (ubuntu)
http://img177.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pantallazonm7.png

Good morning.

Sorry for the delay, it was night here...

Quoted 19 lines

Hi,

Quoted 6 lines · Nir Tzachar

Quoted 4 lines

This patch was inspired by the kernel projects page, where an ncurses replacement for menuconfig was mentioned (by Sam Ravnborg).

Building on menuconfig, this patch implements a more modern look

interface using

Quoted 1 line

Quoted 1 line

ncurses and ncurses' satellite libraries (menu, panel, form). The

implementation

Quoted 1 line

Quoted 1 line

does not depend on lxdialog, which is currently distributed with the

kernel.

Quoted 2 lines

Quoted 2 lines

The only change outside of nconf.c is due to a name clash: both ncurses

and

Quoted 1 line

Quoted 1 line

lkc.h define a fucntion named menu_init(). I changed the internal

version's

Quoted 2 lines

Quoted 2 lines

name.

Quoted 6 lines

Quoted 3 lines

Quoted 1 line

Please consider the patch for merging. Comments are appreciated.

Could you please tell what kernel version is it against?

It applies cleanly to 2.6.27-rc5-git4 FWIW.

I based the patch on current git tree. Is a more stable version preferable?

Quoted 17 lines

Quoted 2 lines

I'm getting the following error on make nconfig (and also on make

menuconfig

Quoted 8 lines

which works fine without this patch) with the current Linus' tree:

  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/conf.o
  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/kxgettext.o
  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/nconf.o
  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/zconf.tab.o

scripts/kconfig/zconf.tab.c: In function ÿÿconf_parseÿÿ:
scripts/kconfig/zconf.tab.c:2258: warning: implicit declaration of

function ÿÿmenu_initÿÿ

Quoted 4 lines

HOSTLD scripts/kconfig/nconf
scripts/kconfig/nconf arch/x86/Kconfig
make[1]: *** [nconfig] Segmentation fault
make: *** [nconfig] Error 2

Quoted 2 lines

Need to change all /menu_init/ in zconf.tab.c* to /_menu_init/.

I believe the patch does change these lines.

Quoted 3 lines

Need to strip trailing whitespace on new source code lines.

scripts/checkpatch.pl did not report anything here. Maybe git-email-send messed up the patch??

Quoted 6 lines

I'm seeing cyan (?) foreground on black background. Is that the colors that were planned?

Instructions are dark blue on black -- cannot read them.

Well, colors were never my strong point ;) If someone can come up with a better color scheme I'll be more than happy to change.

This patch was inspired by the kernel projects page, where an ncurses replacement for menuconfig was mentioned (by Sam Ravnborg).

Building on menuconfig, this patch implements a more modern look interface using ncurses and ncurses' satellite libraries (menu, panel, form). The implementation does not depend on lxdialog, which is currently distributed with the kernel.

The only change outside of nconf.c is due to a name clash: both ncurses and lkc.h define a fucntion named menu_init(). I changed the internal version's name.

Please consider the patch for merging. Comments are appreciated.

This patch was inspired by the kernel projects page, where an ncurses replacement for menuconfig was mentioned (by Sam Ravnborg).

Building on menuconfig, this patch implements a more modern look interface using ncurses and ncurses' satellite libraries (menu, panel, form). The implementation does not depend on lxdialog, which is currently distributed with the kernel.

The only change outside of nconf.c is due to a name clash: both ncurses and lkc.h define a fucntion named menu_init(). I changed the internal version's name.

Please consider the patch for merging. Comments are appreciated.

---
 scripts/kconfig/Makefile |   16 +-
 scripts/kconfig/lkc.h    |    2 +-
 scripts/kconfig/mconf.c  |    2 +
 scripts/kconfig/menu.c   |    2 +-
 scripts/kconfig/nconf.c  | 1852 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 5 files changed, 1871 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 scripts/kconfig/nconf.c

Changes:
1) Fixed segfaults in help window.
2) Removed the instructions window, made the instructions appear as a button which displays a popup window.
3) Added hot keys support. As ncurses does not support several colors inside a menu, keys are highlighted using "()".
4) Optimized for 80x24 terminals.
6) Fixed zconf.y to use _menu_init
7) added nconfig to "make help"
8) Misc fixes.

Comments are appreciated. Cheers.

---
 scripts/kconfig/Makefile            |   17 +-
 scripts/kconfig/lkc.h               |    2 +-
 scripts/kconfig/mconf.c             |    2 +
 scripts/kconfig/menu.c              |    2 +-
 scripts/kconfig/nconf.c             | 2019 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 scripts/kconfig/zconf.tab.c_shipped |    2 +-
 scripts/kconfig/zconf.y             |    2 +-
 7 files changed, 2041 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 scripts/kconfig/nconf.c

Changes:
1) Fixed segfaults in help window.
2) Removed the instructions window, made the instructions appear as a button which displays a popup window.
3) Added hot keys support. As ncurses does not support several colors inside a menu, keys are highlighted using "()".
4) Optimized for 80x24 terminals.
6) Fixed zconf.y to use _menu_init
7) added nconfig to "make help"
8) Misc fixes.

Comments are appreciated.

Hello,

Quoted 11 lines · Nir Tzachar

Changes:
1) Fixed segfaults in help window.
2) Removed the instructions window, made the instructions appear as a button which displays a popup window.
3) Added hot keys support. As ncurses does not support several colors inside a menu, keys are highlighted using "()".
4) Optimized for 80x24 terminals.
6) Fixed zconf.y to use _menu_init
7) added nconfig to "make help"
8) Misc fixes.

Quoted 1 line

Comments are appreciated.

OK, I've just tried it. Here are the first comments I can make :

- colors are too dark. Cyan on black is barely readable, red on black is almost unreadable and blue on black is not readable at all, I have to switch off the light to read it. Most often you'll see light shades of grey (even white) in interfaces because it's hard to see dark shades, and bright flashy letters would dazzle and be seen as fuzzy. Many colors are perfectly readable on while or even light grey (except yellow and sometimes cyan). Blue backgrounds were often used under DOS and were OK with almost all colors except red (well-known eye focus problem). But there was a trick, pixels were very large in 640x200, nowaydays we have small pixels and letters are not much readable anymore on blue backgrounds. For your tests, you can try to load
xterm -bg <color> -fg <color> and ensure that you're using a medium font (tickness of 1-pixel).

- pressing arrows too fast regularly escapes (probably because of the ESC prefix, I don't know). This is rather strange, because no other application does this to me.

Is there a specific initialization
sequence with ncurses to state that arrows should return special codes instead of the ESC prefix ? (I have no idea)

- entering text in boxes (eg: local version) does not move the cursor, it remains at the beginning of the line. If I press any arrow, the box immediately closes (most likely the Esc prefix again).

- in the input boxes, spaces are missing aroung the title, which touches the frame (eg: Local version again).

- in "instructions", it's not explained how to leave that box. I found both Enter and Esc to work, but a last line with a small message would be better.

- I noticed I was tempted a lot to press "?" to get help, but the key is not bound. It would be nice to have it bound to Help since make oldconfig and menuconfig to both report help that way.

- I'm not convinced that the parenthesis around hotkeys make the menu that much readable, especially when there are lots of short words or even acronyms. Eg :

       [ ]   (U)TS namespace
       [ ]   (I)PC namespace
       [ ]   (U)ser namespace (EXPERIMENTAL)
       [ ]   (P)ID Namespaces (EXPERIMENTAL)

I don't know if there is something such as a bold attribute in ncurses, it would make sense to use it IMHO because you don't force a color on people's terms, you rely on the style which works well for them.

I'm sorry I don't go further for now, the arrows causing frequent exits is too bothersome, I've started it about 30 times just for this report, it's too hard to navigate. I hope that the points above are already helpful.

Hello.

Quoted 18 lines · Willy Tarreau

Hello,

Quoted 11 lines · Nir Tzachar

Changes:
1) Fixed segfaults in help window.
2) Removed the instructions window, made the instructions appear as a button which displays a popup window.
3) Added hot keys support. As ncurses does not support several colors inside a menu, keys are highlighted using "()".
4) Optimized for 80x24 terminals.
6) Fixed zconf.y to use _menu_init
7) added nconfig to "make help"
8) Misc fixes.

Quoted 1 line

Comments are appreciated.

OK, I've just tried it. Here are the first comments I can make :

Quoted 13 lines

- colors are too dark. Cyan on black is barely readable, red on black is almost unreadable and blue on black is not readable at all, I have to switch off the light to read it. Most often you'll see light shades of grey (even white) in interfaces because it's hard to see dark shades, and bright flashy letters would dazzle and be seen as fuzzy. Many colors are perfectly readable on while or even light grey (except yellow and sometimes cyan). Blue backgrounds were often used under DOS and were OK with almost all colors except red (well-known eye focus problem). But there was a trick, pixels were very large in 640x200, nowaydays we have small pixels and letters are not much readable anymore on blue backgrounds. For your tests, you can try to load
xterm -bg <color> -fg <color> and ensure that you're using a medium font (tickness of 1-pixel).

The thing with colors is that they are very personal...

The colors I
have work great on my terminals. I don't think I can come up with one scheme which looks nice to everybody, hence the support for color schemes.

If you can come up with a color scheme which works gr8 for you, I'll be happy to add it. If you are interested, check the INIT_PAIR macros of the patch.

Quoted 3 lines

- pressing arrows too fast regularly escapes (probably because of the ESC prefix, I don't know). This is rather strange, because no other application does this to me.

I cannot reproduce this. What terminal emulator are you using, and which ncurses version?

Also, can you please send me the terminal emulator config file?

Quoted 3 lines

Is there a specific initialization
sequence with ncurses to state that arrows should return special codes instead of the ESC prefix ? (I have no idea)

Yes. You need to specify you want to get keypad events, otherwise they just appear as ESC.

Quoted 7 lines

- I'm not convinced that the parenthesis around hotkeys make the menu that much readable, especially when there are lots of short words or even acronyms. Eg :

       [ ]   (U)TS namespace
       [ ]   (I)PC namespace
       [ ]   (U)ser namespace (EXPERIMENTAL)
       [ ]   (P)ID Namespaces (EXPERIMENTAL)

I agree, but could not come up with any other visible mark to note the hotkey.

Quoted 3 lines

I don't know if there is something such as a bold attribute in ncurses, it would make sense to use it IMHO because you don't force a color on people's terms, you rely on the style which works well for them.

There is a bold attribute, but you cannot set it for a single letter of a menu item, as far as I know.

Quoted 3 lines

I'm sorry I don't go further for now, the arrows causing frequent exits is too bothersome, I've started it about 30 times just for this report, it's too hard to navigate. I hope that the points above are already helpful.

Thanks for the input. I would really like to solve the issue you have with arrow keys. Can you also send a trace of key presses which cause you to exit, and which window is active?

Hello,

sorry, it seems I missed this mail.

Quoted 35 lines · Nir Tzachar

Hello.

Quoted 18 lines · Willy Tarreau

Hello,

Quoted 11 lines · Nir Tzachar

Changes:
1) Fixed segfaults in help window.
2) Removed the instructions window, made the instructions appear as a button which displays a popup window.
3) Added hot keys support. As ncurses does not support several colors inside a menu, keys are highlighted using "()".
4) Optimized for 80x24 terminals.
6) Fixed zconf.y to use _menu_init
7) added nconfig to "make help"
8) Misc fixes.

Quoted 1 line

Comments are appreciated.

OK, I've just tried it. Here are the first comments I can make :

Quoted 13 lines

- colors are too dark. Cyan on black is barely readable, red on black is almost unreadable and blue on black is not readable at all, I have to switch off the light to read it. Most often you'll see light shades of grey (even white) in interfaces because it's hard to see dark shades, and bright flashy letters would dazzle and be seen as fuzzy. Many colors are perfectly readable on while or even light grey (except yellow and sometimes cyan). Blue backgrounds were often used under DOS and were OK with almost all colors except red (well-known eye focus problem). But there was a trick, pixels were very large in 640x200, nowaydays we have small pixels and letters are not much readable anymore on blue backgrounds. For your tests, you can try to load
xterm -bg <color> -fg <color> and ensure that you're using a medium font (tickness of 1-pixel).

Quoted 1 line

The thing with colors is that they are very personal...

"personal" is true when it comes from a matter of taste. Here it's a matter of readability.

Quoted 4 lines

The colors I
have work great on my terminals. I don't think I can come up with one scheme which looks nice to everybody, hence the support for color schemes.

I understand. I think that the original colors of make menuconfig are OK and readable everywhere.

Quoted 3 lines

If you can come up with a color scheme which works gr8 for you, I'll be happy to add it. If you are interested, check the INIT_PAIR macros of the patch.

OK I might do (I just don't have time right now).

Quoted 6 lines

Quoted 3 lines

- pressing arrows too fast regularly escapes (probably because of the ESC prefix, I don't know). This is rather strange, because no other application does this to me.

I cannot reproduce this. What terminal emulator are you using, and which ncurses version?

I've just checked, ncurses-5.3. I also ensured that it's the same I use with all my other progs (including mutt, vim, emacs, alsamixer, less, gnuplot, kismet, lynx, ...). It is possible that there is something very subtle, but I can't imagine what :-/

Quoted 1 line

Also, can you please send me the terminal emulator config file?

It's just a bare xterm running with TERM=xterm-color. I forgot to test on the console.

Quoted 4 lines

Quoted 3 lines

Is there a specific initialization
sequence with ncurses to state that arrows should return special codes instead of the ESC prefix ? (I have no idea)

Quoted 2 lines

Yes. You need to specify you want to get keypad events, otherwise they just appear as ESC.

OK. I just found there is the ESCDELAY variable to define the ESC timeout. They also talk about notimeout() in curs_inopts(3), which sounds pretty well related to what I observe.

[skipping all fixed reports]

Quoted 14 lines

Quoted 7 lines

- I'm not convinced that the parenthesis around hotkeys make the menu that much readable, especially when there are lots of short words or even acronyms. Eg :

       [ ]   (U)TS namespace
       [ ]   (I)PC namespace
       [ ]   (U)ser namespace (EXPERIMENTAL)
       [ ]   (P)ID Namespaces (EXPERIMENTAL)

I agree, but could not come up with any other visible mark to note the hotkey.

Quoted 3 lines

I don't know if there is something such as a bold attribute in ncurses, it would make sense to use it IMHO because you don't force a color on people's terms, you rely on the style which works well for them.

Quoted 2 lines

There is a bold attribute, but you cannot set it for a single letter of a menu item, as far as I know.

OK I understand. You might want to use the brighter color set (as menuconfig does). Terminals sometimes translate them to bold characters.

Quoted 7 lines

Quoted 3 lines

I'm sorry I don't go further for now, the arrows causing frequent exits is too bothersome, I've started it about 30 times just for this report, it's too hard to navigate. I hope that the points above are already helpful.

Thanks for the input. I would really like to solve the issue you have with arrow keys. Can you also send a trace of key presses which cause you to exit, and which window is active?

Sorry, the directory in which I built has been removed since. But it happened in any window, starting with the main menu. That's why I think it's just an initialization issue.

OK, I've just tried it. Here are the first comments I can make :

- colors are too dark.

- entering text in boxes (eg: local version) does not move the cursor, it remains at the beginning of the line. If I press any arrow, the box immediately closes (most likely the Esc prefix again).

- I noticed I was tempted a lot to press "?" to get help, but the key is not bound. It would be nice to have it bound to Help since make oldconfig and menuconfig to both report help that way.

- I'm not convinced that the parenthesis around hotkeys make the menu that much readable, especially when there are lots of short words or even acronyms. Eg :
[ ] (U)TS namespace
[ ] (I)PC namespace
[ ] (U)ser namespace (EXPERIMENTAL)
[ ] (P)ID Namespaces (EXPERIMENTAL)

Quoted 1 line

- colors are too dark.

Seconded. Please try to find a lighter set of default colors. You may be inspired by one of the menuconfig color-sets.

I agree that we could use a lift here - so please do not go for the default color set of menuconfig.

Quoted 7 lines

- I'm not convinced that the parenthesis around hotkeys make the menu that much readable, especially when there are lots of short words or even acronyms. Eg :
[ ] (U)TS namespace
[ ] (I)PC namespace
[ ] (U)ser namespace (EXPERIMENTAL)
[ ] (P)ID Namespaces (EXPERIMENTAL)

This looks like some ancient stuff and it must be a better way to show the short-cuts.

I would really appreciate if you could look into the above issues. If you do a repost with this fixed I will try to do a proper review, including code-review next time.

Hi,

Quoted 4 lines · Sam Ravnborg

Quoted 1 line

- colors are too dark.

Seconded. Please try to find a lighter set of default colors. You may be inspired by one of the menuconfig color-sets.

Quoted 2 lines

I agree that we could use a lift here - so please do not go for the default color set of menuconfig.

Well, the current colors seems to usable on wide variety of terminals, but I'm not colorblind, so I can't really complain. :)
Before we keep discussing the colors, I'd rather suggest to drop them completely and maybe use colors for what actually needs attention.

Quoted 8 lines

Quoted 7 lines

- I'm not convinced that the parenthesis around hotkeys make the menu that much readable, especially when there are lots of short words or even acronyms. Eg :
[ ] (U)TS namespace
[ ] (I)PC namespace
[ ] (U)ser namespace (EXPERIMENTAL)
[ ] (P)ID Namespaces (EXPERIMENTAL)

Quoted 2 lines

This looks like some ancient stuff and it must be a better way to show the short-cuts.

The parenthesis make it really annoying to read...

Quoted 3 lines

I would really appreciate if you could look into the above issues. If you do a repost with this fixed I will try to do a proper review, including code-review next time.

The code is rather large, so it might be better to split the code into two sources, one for kconfig logic and the other for the interface logic, so it becomes easier to read and maintain.

Quoted 2 lines

Before we keep discussing the colors, I'd rather suggest to drop them completely and maybe use colors for what actually needs attention.

The idea is using colors to give it a more modern look. Dropping colors will bring us back to the "dark ages"...

Hi Nir.

Some comments as followup to Willy.

Quoted 3 lines

OK, I've just tried it. Here are the first comments I can make :

- colors are too dark.

Seconded. Please try to find a lighter set of default colors. You may be inspired by one of the menuconfig color-sets.

I agree that we could use a lift here - so please do not go for the default color set of menuconfig.

Quoted 3 lines

- entering text in boxes (eg: local version) does not move the cursor, it remains at the beginning of the line. If I press any arrow, the box immediately closes (most likely the Esc prefix again).

I do not see any cursor which is annoying. menuconfig has the same issue.

Quoted 3 lines

- I noticed I was tempted a lot to press "?" to get help, but the key is not bound. It would be nice to have it bound to Help since make oldconfig and menuconfig to both report help that way.

Please bound this.

Quoted 7 lines

- I'm not convinced that the parenthesis around hotkeys make the menu that much readable, especially when there are lots of short words or even acronyms. Eg :
[ ] (U)TS namespace
[ ] (I)PC namespace
[ ] (U)ser namespace (EXPERIMENTAL)
[ ] (P)ID Namespaces (EXPERIMENTAL)

This looks like some ancient stuff and it must be a better way to show the short-cuts.

I would really appreciate if you could look into the above issues. If you do a repost with this fixed I will try to do a proper review, including code-review next time.

Quoted 7 lines

Quoted 4 lines

        [ ]   (U)TS namespace
        [ ]   (I)PC namespace
        [ ]   (U)ser namespace (EXPERIMENTAL)
        [ ]   (P)ID Namespaces (EXPERIMENTAL)

This looks like some ancient stuff and it must be a better way to show the short-cuts.

This was the best I could come up with, as ncurses does not let you use color attributed for menu items. I'll try a different scheme, where the first capitalized letter is the shortcut. What do u say?

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I would really appreciate if you could look into the above issues. If you do a repost with this fixed I will try to do a proper review, including code-review next time.

Sure. I'll have a patch ready in a few days.

Hi Nir.

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        [ ]   (U)TS namespace
        [ ]   (I)PC namespace
        [ ]   (U)ser namespace (EXPERIMENTAL)
        [ ]   (P)ID Namespaces (EXPERIMENTAL)

This looks like some ancient stuff and it must be a better way to show the short-cuts.

This was the best I could come up with, as ncurses does not let you use color attributed for menu items. I'll try a different scheme, where the first capitalized letter is the shortcut. What do u say?

Better than the above - let me see it in action and I will judge. I had preferred something with a colored highlight - but if ncurses do not support that then I think first catital letter i ok.

Alternative is to use first letter in the prompt and accept the ambiguity.

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I would really appreciate if you could look into the above issues. If you do a repost with this fixed I will try to do a proper review, including code-review next time.

Sure. I'll have a patch ready in a few days.

Great - loks forward to see it.

Sam