Noticed this morning that Midnight Commander doesn't open zip or pdf
files aaymore. It appears that a variable @EXTDIRHELPER@ is not being
set for some reason. The variable is used in the mc.ext.ini files.

Can anyone help ?

Thanks

--
Frank McCormick

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On 1/31/25 7:51 AM, Frank McCormick wrote:

Noticed this morning that  Midnight Commander doesn't open zip or pdf
files aaymore. It appears that a variable @EXTDIRHELPER@ is not being
set for some reason. The variable is used in the mc.ext.ini files.

Can anyone help ?

Upon further investigation, the problem seems restricted to PDF
files. MC will open ZIP and DEB files. If I run MC in an xterm I see this:

/tmp/mc-frank/mcextELJ902: 11: @EXTHELPERSDIR@/doc.sh: not found

The doc.sh file IS in /usr/lib/mc/ext.d.

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Hi Frank,

looks ok here with MC on debian/stable.

Upon further investigation, the problem seems restricted to PDF
files. MC will open ZIP and DEB files. If I run MC in an xterm I see this:

Enter some *.pdf will open it using okular as pdf-viewer.

/tmp/mc-frank/mcextELJ902: 11: @EXTHELPERSDIR@/doc.sh: not found

Hhmm, looks like it is looking for doc.sh in /tmp ???

The doc.sh file IS in /usr/lib/mc/ext.

Please check also permissions of any MC-related files in your /home/. In the past I once ran into a problem, when starting MC as root after a "su -". Then the MC-file in my /home became root permissions and could not br read as
normal user again. Just an idea.....

And you can also try, to purge MC and reinstall (aptitude purge mc && aptitude install mc).

If done so, please recheck, if the issue is still there.

Hope this helps.

Best

Hans

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On 1/31/25 9:42 AM, Hans wrote:

Hi Frank,

looks ok here with MC on debian/stable.

Upon further investigation, the problem seems restricted to PDF
files. MC will open ZIP and DEB files. If I run MC in an xterm I see this:

Enter some *.pdf will open it using okular as pdf-viewer.

/tmp/mc-frank/mcextELJ902: 11: @EXTHELPERSDIR@/doc.sh: not found

Hhmm, looks like it is looking for doc.sh in /tmp ???

Yes that is strange.

The doc.sh file IS in /usr/lib/mc/ext.

Please check also permissions of any MC-related files in your /home/. In the past I once ran into a problem, when starting MC as root after a "su -". Then the MC-file in my /home became root permissions and could not br read as normal user again. Just an idea.....

Checked them and all are OK

And you can also try, to purge MC and reinstall (aptitude purge mc && aptitude
install mc).

If done so, please recheck, if the issue is still there.

Dis that earlier and nothing changed. I did notice one strange thing. I
had a look at the source files for MC and the EXTHELPERDIR is not in the mc.ext.ini
file whereas it is in mine. Could it be part of the compilation process ??

--
Frank McCormick

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 1/31/25 9:42 AM, Hans wrote:

Hi Frank,

looks ok here with MC on debian/stable.

Upon further investigation, the problem seems restricted to PDF
files. MC will open ZIP and DEB files. If I run MC in an xterm I see this:

Enter some *.pdf will open it using okular as pdf-viewer.

I have atril as a pdf viewer which ms used to use but now won't ??
I also checked the permissions of local mc files and they are all in my
login name.

/tmp/mc-frank/mcextELJ902: 11: @EXTHELPERSDIR@/doc.sh: not found

Hhmm, looks like it is looking for doc.sh in /tmp ???

Yes that is strange.

The doc.sh file IS in /usr/lib/mc/ext.

Please check also permissions of any MC-related files in your /home/. In the past I once ran into a problem, when starting MC as root after a "su -". Then the MC-file in my /home became root permissions and could not br read as normal user again. Just an idea.....

And you can also try, to purge MC and reinstall (aptitude purge mc && aptitude
install mc).

Tried that but no change.
I do not understand the use of @EXTHELPERDIR@. Google is no help here
either when I was working for how and where it is set.

I am running Debian Trixie. Perhaps I will try installing from bookworm.

One thing I noticed after I downloaded the source for MC and that is the @EXTHELPERDIR@ is not used in the mc.ext.

If done so, please recheck, if the issue is still there.

Hope this helps.

Best

Hans

--
Frank McCormick

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 1/31/25 11:21 AM, Frank McCormick wrote:

On 1/31/25 9:42 AM, Hans wrote:

Hi Frank,

looks ok here with MC on debian/stable.

    Upon further investigation, the problem seems restricted to PDF
files. MC will open ZIP and DEB files. If I run MC in an xterm I see
this:

Enter some *.pdf will open it using okular as pdf-viewer.

/tmp/mc-frank/mcextELJ902: 11: @EXTHELPERSDIR@/doc.sh: not found

Hhmm, looks like it is looking for doc.sh in /tmp ???

Yes that is strange.

The doc.sh file IS in /usr/lib/mc/ext.

Please check also permissions of any MC-related files in your /home/.
In the
past I once ran into a problem, when starting MC as root after a "su
-". Then
the MC-file in my /home became root permissions and could not br read as
normal user again. Just an idea.....

Checked them and all are OK

And you can also try, to purge MC and reinstall (aptitude purge mc &&
aptitude
install mc).

If done so, please recheck, if the issue is still there.

Dis that earlier and nothing changed. I did notice one strange thing. I
had a look at the source files for MC and the EXTHELPERDIR is not in the mc.ext.ini
file whereas it is in  mine. Could it be part of the compilation process ??

Fixed it by copying the extension file from /etc/mc to ~/.config/mc
and all is back to normal. Still don't know how that variable got into
my local mc.ext.ini file.




--
Frank McCormick

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On 1/31/25 1:28 PM, Greg Wooledge wrote:

/tmp/mc-frank/mcextELJ902: 11: @EXTHELPERSDIR@/doc.sh: not found

It would help if someone were to show us the offending file, though I
don't quite understand why there's something that appears to be either
a shell script or a perl script in /tmp.

Hhmm, looks like it is looking for doc.sh in /tmp ???

No, the script is in /tmp.

The doc.sh file IS in /usr/lib/mc/ext.

Sounds like @EXTHELPERSDIR@ was supposed to be /usr/lib/mc then.

I do not understand the use of @EXTHELPERDIR@.

Traditionally, things that look like that (all caps identifiers with @
signs on both sides) are macros in a template file, which are supposed
to be replaced with values when installing the file in its final form.

So, presumably, this /tmp/mc-frank/mcextELJ902 script should have had
the @EXTHELPERSDIR@ replaced, either by the thing that created the
/tmp script, or by the package that INSTALLED the thing that created
the /tmp script.

Without being an mc user myself, and especially without being an
*unstable* mc user, I have no idea how many layers are involved here.

In any case, an unstable user should be able to diagnose this well
enough to fix it themselves, and then to file a bug report so the
package can be fixed before it migrates into trixie.

I am running Trixie. Should have made that clear before.
What I can't understand is MC would open and browse ZIP files and DEB
files but would not open PDF files.
At any rate the offending macro was in the mc.ext.ini files in the local ~/.config/mc but not in /etc/mc/mc.ext.ini file.
How it got there is a big question.
Fixed by copying the file in /etc/mc over the file in ~/.config/mc

That's what unstable is for, you know. Debugging problems.

Surely the people running unstable understand this, and are not laboring under some kind of delusion like "unstable is a rolling release", or
"I don't have to know anything to run unstable".

--
Frank McCormick

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/tmp/mc-frank/mcextELJ902: 11: @EXTHELPERSDIR@/doc.sh: not found

It would help if someone were to show us the offending file, though I
don't quite understand why there's something that appears to be either
a shell script or a perl script in /tmp.

Hhmm, looks like it is looking for doc.sh in /tmp ???

No, the script is in /tmp.

The doc.sh file IS in /usr/lib/mc/ext.

Sounds like @EXTHELPERSDIR@ was supposed to be /usr/lib/mc then.

I do not understand the use of @EXTHELPERDIR@.

Traditionally, things that look like that (all caps identifiers with @
signs on both sides) are macros in a template file, which are supposed
to be replaced with values when installing the file in its final form.

So, presumably, this /tmp/mc-frank/mcextELJ902 script should have had
the @EXTHELPERSDIR@ replaced, either by the thing that created the
/tmp script, or by the package that INSTALLED the thing that created
the /tmp script.

Without being an mc user myself, and especially without being an
*unstable* mc user, I have no idea how many layers are involved here.

In any case, an unstable user should be able to diagnose this well
enough to fix it themselves, and then to file a bug report so the
package can be fixed before it migrates into trixie.

That's what unstable is for, you know. Debugging problems.

Surely the people running unstable understand this, and are not laboring
under some kind of delusion like "unstable is a rolling release", or
"I don't have to know anything to run unstable".

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Fri, Jan 31, 2025 at 14:05:02 -0500, Frank McCormick wrote:

I am running Trixie. Should have made that clear before.
What I can't understand is MC would open and browse ZIP files and DEB files but would not open PDF files.
At any rate the offending macro was in the mc.ext.ini files in the local ~/.config/mc but not in /etc/mc/mc.ext.ini file.
How it got there is a big question.
Fixed by copying the file in /etc/mc over the file in ~/.config/mc

OK, that's good news. The remaining question would be how you ended
up with a @MACRO@ inside a file in your home directory.

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