with-readline

[ewx]

To: sgo-software-announce@greenend.org.uk
Subject: with-readline 0.1
Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 16:35:16 +0000

with-readline version 0.1 is now released.

with-readline is a small program that allows the GNU Readline library
to be used with arbitrary programs, without having to recompile those
programs.  It is useful for improving the user interface of simple
terminal-based programs which for whatever reason have not been
modified to use Readline themselves.

This is the first release of with-readline.  Flaws surely remain.

See this URL for more information:

http://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/2005/withreadline.html

ttfn/rjk

Comments

[nunfetishist.livejournal.com]

I want your babies.

[sbp.livejournal.com]

Now that's a good idea.

[gerald_duck]

"It is installed setuid to root on platforms that use BSD-style pseudo-terminal handling."

Ulp!

[ewx.livejournal.com]

Don't use a platform with BSD-style pseudo-terminal handling, then.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

...put less bluntly; it's unfortunate that (some? all?) BSDs apparently still require programs that want to securely acquire a pseudo-terminal to be setuid in 2005, but I feel more able to get my own code right[1] than to personally fix a clutch of loosely related operating systems, wait for everyone to upgrade, etc.

[1] though of course bug reports about that bit are welcome, if there's anything wrong with it - feeling competent is one thing, hubris would be quite another.

It's not as if the alternative interface is a new idea any more (it's even at least somewhat standardized these days).

[imc.livejournal.com]

it's unfortunate that (some? all?) BSDs apparently still require programs that want to securely acquire a pseudo-terminal to be setuid in 2005

I'm pretty sure FreeBSD 5.x doesn't (though possibly 4.x does). I don't really know many BSD operating systems these days.

Presumably, then, this is a utility which inputs lines with GNU readline and spits them out to the target program?

[ewx.livejournal.com]

The man page (http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=openpty&apropos=0&sektion=0&manpath=FreeBSD+5.3-RELEASE+and+Ports&format=html) says you still need to be root, and the source (http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/src/lib/libutil/pty.c?rev=1.15&content-type=text/x-cvsweb-markup) agrees. However, I don't have a 5.x system to try it out on. If you do you're welcome to experiment.

You're right about what with-readline does. It wants a pty between itself and the target so that targets which distinguish between interactive and noninteractive modes adopt the former; otherwise just a pipe might have been sufficient.

[imc.livejournal.com]

Ah, but look up posix_openpt on the same web site. No, I don't have a live FreeBSD system at the moment.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

I'm baffled as to why they didn't fix openpty then.

[nslm.livejournal.com]

This rocks!

and it beats the hell out of using Oracle's POS SQLPlus without it.