overly verbose xterm window title

[ossi]

ticket #192 makes my desktop's task bar pretty useless for distinguishing my mc instances: the actually visible part of every window's title is now identical.
also, this additional information is useless in most cases.
if you want to do that right, the display must be selective: show only info which differs from the defaults. the locality and ownership of the session can be determined by querying the utmp database (on the command line, that would be the tty and who commands).
the less magic and more flexible approach would be allowing the user to specify what to put into the title manually - a patch has been proposed in ​http://mail.gnome.org/archives/mc-devel/2007-August/msg00004.html.

[hkmaly]

What about making the hostname in title configurable option? Detecting defaults might be relatively hard and source of possible errors ... of course, the mentioned more flexible approach is even better.

[angel_il]

Replying to hkmaly:

What about making the hostname in title configurable option

it will be in pre2

[zaytsev]

Patch from the mailing list:

[PATCH] Custom mc xterm title
From: yarodin <yarodin gmail com>
To: mc-devel gnome org
Subject: [PATCH] Custom mc xterm title
Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:28:08 +0600
This patch will added possibility to configure xterm title through MC_XTITLE 
environment variable (like a zsh/bash promt)

%%    - percent '%' character                                 
%$,%# - '#' for root, '$' for normal user                    
%w,%d - working directory with edit/view filename                                   
%W,%C - working directory (last component only) with edit/view filename
%p    - process id (pid)
%u,%n - username
%h,m  - hostname up to the first dot
%H,M  - hostname.domainname
%t,%y - tty connected to stdin without /dev/
%l    - tty connected to stdin without /dev/ and tty (if present)                             
%V    - mc version

--- edit/editwidget.c.orig	Fri May 27 20:19:18 2005
+++ edit/editwidget.c	Thu Aug 16 12:59:49 2007
@@ -28,6 +28,9 @@
 #include "../src/widget.h"	/* redraw_labels() */
 #include "../src/menu.h"	/* menubar_new() */
 #include "../src/key.h"		/* is_idle() */
+#include "../src/main.h"	/* xterm_filename */
+#include "../src/win.h"		/* xterm_flag */
+#include "../src/layout.h"	/* xterm_title */
 
 WEdit *wedit;
 struct WMenu *edit_menubar;
@@ -168,6 +171,11 @@ edit_file (const char *_file, int line)
     static int made_directory = 0;
     Dlg_head *edit_dlg;
     WButtonBar *edit_bar;
+    
+    if (xterm_flag && xterm_title) {
+	xterm_filename = _file;
+        update_xterm_title_path ();
+    }
 
     if (option_backup_ext_int != -1) {
 	option_backup_ext = g_malloc (sizeof (int) + 1);
--- src/main.c.orig	Sat Jul 23 22:52:02 2005
+++ src/main.c	Thu Aug 16 16:00:33 2007
@@ -279,6 +279,8 @@ char *mc_home = NULL;
 
 char cmd_buf[512];
 
+char *xterm_filename = NULL;
+
 static void
 reload_panelized (WPanel *panel)
 {
@@ -1600,22 +1602,159 @@ midnight_callback (struct Dlg_head *h, d
 
 #define xtoolkit_panel_setup()
 
-/* Show current directory in the xterm title */
+/* Show current directory in the xterm title 
+   Added possibility to configure xterm title through MC_XTITLE environment variable (like a zsh/bash promt).
+   %%    - percent '%' character                                 
+   %$,%# - '#' for root, '$' for normal user                    
+   %w,%d - working directory with edit/view filename                                   
+   %W,%C - working directory (last component only) with edit/view filename
+   %p    - process id (pid)
+   %u,%n - username
+   %h,m  - hostname up to the first dot
+   %H,M  - hostname.domainname
+   %t,%y - tty connected to stdin without /dev/
+   %l    - tty connected to stdin without /dev/ and tty (if present)                             
+   %V    - mc version */
+
 void
 update_xterm_title_path (void)
 {
+    int i = 0;
     unsigned char *p, *s;
+    unsigned char title [BUF_MEDIUM+1],hostname[MAXHOSTNAMELEN+1],domainname[MAXHOSTNAMELEN+1],nametty[BUF_SMALL+1];
 
     if (xterm_flag && xterm_title) {
-	p = s = g_strdup (strip_home_and_password (current_panel->cwd));
+        /* Use special environment variable to format title */
+        if ((p = getenv ("MC_XTITLE")) == NULL) {
+            p = "mc - %n %m:%w";
+        }
+ 
 	do {
+            if (*p != '%') {
+                title [i++] = *p;
+                continue;
+            }
+            if (!*++p)
+                break;
+ 
+            /* Substitute '%' special characters
+             * (meaning the same as for bash, but preceded by '%', not '\')
+             */
+            s = NULL;
+            switch (*p) {
+            case '%' : /* % - percent '%' character */
+                title [i++] = '%';
+                break;
+            case '#' :
+            case '$' : /* %$ or %# - '#' for root, '$' for normal user */
+                title [i++] = (geteuid()==0 ? '#' : '$');
+                break;
+            case 'd' :
+            case 'w' : /* %w or %d - working directory */
+		if (xterm_filename==NULL) {
+                    s = g_strdup (strip_home_and_password (current_panel->cwd));
+                } else {
+                    if (view_one_file == NULL) {
+                        if (g_ascii_strcasecmp (strip_home_and_password (current_panel->cwd),"/")==0) {
+	          	    s = g_strdup_printf("/%s",xterm_filename);
+                        } else {
+                            s = g_strdup_printf("%s/%s",strip_home_and_password (current_panel->cwd),xterm_filename);
+                        }
+                    } else {
+                        s = g_strdup_printf("%s",strip_home_and_password (xterm_filename));
+                    }
+                }
+                break;
+            case 'C' :
+            case 'W' : /* %W or %C- working directory (last component only) */
+                if (xterm_filename==NULL) {		    
+            	    s = g_strdup (g_path_get_basename ((strip_home_and_password (current_panel->cwd))));
+                } else {
+                    if (view_one_file == NULL) {                          
+                        s = g_strdup_printf ("%s/%s",x_basename (strip_home_and_password (current_panel->cwd)),xterm_filename);
+		    } else {
+			s = g_strdup_printf ("%s/%s",x_basename (g_path_get_dirname (strip_home_and_password (xterm_filename))),x_basename(strip_home_and_password(xterm_filename)));
+		    }
+                }
+                break;
+            case 'p' : /* %p - process id (pid) */
+                s = g_strdup_printf ("%d", getpid ());
+                break;
+            case 'n' :
+            case 'u' : /* %u or %n - username */
+                s = g_strdup (getpwuid (getuid ()) -> pw_name);
+                break;
+            case 'm' :
+	    case 'h' : /* %h or %m - hostname up to the first dot */
+		if (gethostname (hostname,MAXHOSTNAMELEN) == 0) {
+                    hostname [strcspn(hostname,".")] = '\0';                    
+                    s = g_strdup(hostname);
+		}
+	        break;
+            case 'M' :
+            case 'H' : /* %H or %M - hostname.domainname */
+                if (gethostname (hostname,MAXHOSTNAMELEN) == 0) {
+                    hostname [MAXHOSTNAMELEN] = '\0';                
+            	    if (getdomainname (domainname, MAXHOSTNAMELEN) == 0) {
+	        	domainname [MAXHOSTNAMELEN] = '\0';            	    
+            		if (strlen(g_strstrip(hostname))>0 && strlen(g_strstrip(domainname))==0) { 
+			    s = g_strdup(hostname);
+ 	    		} else if (strlen(g_strstrip(hostname))==0 && strlen(g_strstrip(domainname))>0) {
+                	    s = g_strdup (domainname);                    
+            		} else if (strlen(g_strstrip(hostname))>0 && strlen(g_strstrip(domainname))>0) {
+                            if (g_str_has_suffix (g_strstrip(hostname), ".") || g_str_has_prefix (g_strstrip(domainname), ".")) {	                    	
+				s = g_strconcat(hostname,domainname,NULL);
+			    } else {
+                                s = g_strconcat(hostname,".",domainname,NULL);
+			    }
+            		}
+		    }
+                }
+                break;
+            case 'y' :
+            case 't' : /* %t or %y - tty connected to stdin without /dev/ */                 
+                s = g_strdup (x_basename(ttyname (0)));
+                break;
+            case 'l' : /* %l - tty connected to stdin */
+                if (ttyname_r (0,nametty,BUF_SMALL) == 0) {
+                    nametty [BUF_SMALL] = '\0';
+            	    if (g_str_has_prefix (nametty, "/dev/tty")) {
+                        strncpy(nametty,nametty+8,BUF_SMALL-8);    
+			s = g_strdup(g_strstrip(nametty));		      	
+                    } else {
+			s = g_strdup(x_basename(nametty));
+                    }
+		}
+                break;
+            case 'V' : /* %V - mc version */
+                s = g_strdup (VERSION);
+                break;
+            }
+ 
+            /* Append substituted string */
+            if (s) {
+                strncpy (title+i, s, BUF_MEDIUM-i);
+                title [BUF_MEDIUM] = '\0';
+                i = strlen (title);
+                g_free (s);
+            }
+        } while (*++p && i<BUF_MEDIUM);
+         title [i] = '\0';
+ 
+        /* Replace non-printable characters with '?' */
+        s = title;
+        while (*s) {
+	
 	    if (!is_printable (*s))
 		*s = '?';
-	} while (*++s);
-	fprintf (stdout, "\33]0;mc - %s\7", p);
+            s++;
+        }
+ 
+        /* Use xterm escape sequence to set window title */
+        fprintf (stdout, "\33]0;%s\7", title);
 	fflush (stdout);
-	g_free (p);
     }
+    xterm_filename=NULL; 
 }
 
 /*
--- src/main.h.orig	Fri Jul  1 21:47:06 2005
+++ src/main.h	Thu Aug 16 13:05:33 2007
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ extern int alternate_plus_minus;
 extern int only_leading_plus_minus;
 extern int output_starts_shell;
 extern int midnight_shutdown;
+extern char *xterm_filename;
 extern char cmd_buf [512];
 extern const char *shell;
 
--- src/view.c.orig	Fri May 27 20:19:18 2005
+++ src/view.c	Tue Aug 14 12:10:25 2007
@@ -2654,6 +2654,11 @@ view (const char *_command, const char *
     WButtonBar *bar;
     Dlg_head *view_dlg;
 
+    if (xterm_flag && xterm_title) {
+        xterm_filename = _file;
+	update_xterm_title_path ();
+    }
+
     /* Create dialog and widgets, put them on the dialog */
     view_dlg =
 	create_dlg (0, 0, LINES, COLS, NULL, view_dialog_callback,

[zaytsev]

Related ticket: #4538

[ossi]

that patch is a mess ...
but the intended semantics make sense at first sight.
(i presumably thought the same 15 years ago. 😂)