Dialog (software)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| dialog | |
|---|---|
 Dialog - editbox widget |
|
| Developed by | Thomas E. Dickey |
| Latest release | 1.1.20070704 / July 4, 2007 |
| OS | Unix, Linux, POSIX |
| Genre | Shell scripts |
| License | LGPL |
| Website | Dialog project page |
Dialog is an application used in shell scripts which displays text user interface widgets. It uses the curses or ncurses library. The latter provides users with the ability to use a mouse, e.g., in an xterm.
Dialog was created by Savio Lam (first reported version 0.3 was in 1994).[1][2][3] It was further modified by several people. Since 1999 it has been maintained (and rewritten) by Thomas Dickey.[4]
At least one fork exists, a FreeBSD-only split into application and library in late 1994.[5][6] One might also consider lxdialog (part of menuconfig), except that it has been reduced to fragments that can no longer run dialog scripts.
There are several programs inspired by dialog; not all read the same scripts. The most well-known are Xdialog and whiptail.
[edit] References
- ^ Phil Hughes (April 1994). Interview with Patrick Volkerding. Linux Journal.
- ^ Jeff Tranter (September 1994). Dialog: An Introductory Tutorial. Linux Journal.
- ^ Dialog 0.3 manual page (January 10, 1994).
- ^ Dialog Change Log.
- ^ FreeBSD CVS src/gnu/usr.bin/dialog/.
- ^ FreeBSD library manual for dialog.
