GNU nano#History

{{short description|Text editor for Unix-like computing systems}}

{{Infobox software

| name = GNU nano

| screenshot = Image:GNU nano-6.4 screenshot.png

| caption = GNU nano 6.4

| logo = File:Gnu-nano.svg

| author = Chris Allegretta

| developer = Benno Schulenberg

| released = {{Start date and age|1999|11|18|df=yes}}{{cite web

| url = https://nano-editor.org/dist/old/

| title = first tarball that is still available (tip-0.5.0.tar.gz)

}}

| latest release version = {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q306101|P348|P548=Q2804309}}

| latest release date = {{wikidata|qualifier|preferred|single|Q306101|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}}

| latest preview version = {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q306101|P348|P548=Q51930650}}

| latest preview date = {{wikidata|qualifier|preferred|single|Q306101|P348|P548=Q51930650|P577}}

| programming language = C

| operating system = Cross-platform

| included with = GNU based operating systems

| language = English

| genre = Text editor

| license = 2007: GPL-3.0-or-later{{efn|GPL-3.0-or-later: Since 2.0.7.}}{{cite web|url=https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/nano.git/tree/COPYING|title=COPYING file|via=GNU Savannah|date=11 August 2007|access-date=2 December 2020}}
2001: GPL-2.0-or-later{{efn|GPL-2.0-or-later: From 1.0.6 and 1.1.3 to 2.0.6.}}{{cite web|url=https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/nano.git/plain/NEWS|title=NEWS|date=2001-10-26}}
1999: GPL-1.0-or-later{{efn|GPL-1.0-or-later: TIP 0.5.0 to Nano 1.0.5 and Nano 1.1.2.}}

| website = {{official URL}}

}}

GNU nano is a text editor for Unix-like computing systems or operating environments using a command line interface. It emulates the Pico text editor, part of the Pine email client, and also provides additional functionality.The nano FAQ: https://www.nano-editor.org/dist/v2.2/faq.html#1.3 Unlike Pico, nano is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). Released as free software by Chris Allegretta in 1999, nano became part of the GNU Project in 2001.Official website [https://www.nano-editor.org/dist/v2.2/faq.html#1.4 FAQ]. (accessed 17 February 2016.) The logo resembles the lowercase form of the Greek letter Eta (η).

History

GNU nano was first created in 1999 with the name TIP (a recursive acronym for TIP Isn't Pico), by Chris Allegretta. His motivation was to create a free software replacement for Pico, which was not distributed under a free-software license. The name was changed to nano on January 10, 2000, to avoid a naming conflict with the existing Unix utility tip. The name comes from the system of SI prefixes, in which nano is 1000 times larger than pico. In February 2001, nano became a part of the GNU Project.

GNU nano implements several features that Pico lacks, including syntax highlighting, line numbers, regular expression search and replace, line-by-line scrolling, multiple buffers, indenting groups of lines, rebindable key support,{{cite web|title=GNU nano 2.1.0|first=Chris|last=Allegretta|date=18 March 2008|work=Nano-devel mailing list|publisher=gnu.org|url=https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/nano-devel/2008-03/msg00023.html|access-date=18 March 2008}} and the undoing and redoing of edit changes.{{cite web|title=GNU nano 2.4.0|first=Chris |last=Allegretta |date=23 March 2015|work=Nano-devel mailing list|publisher=gnu.org|url=https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/nano-devel/2015-03/msg00068.html |access-date=18 April 2015}}

On 11 August 2003, Chris Allegretta officially handed the source code maintenance of nano to David Lawrence Ramsey.{{cite web|title=GNU nano 1.3 branch opened in CVS|first=Chris|last=Allegretta|date=11 August 2003|work=Nano-devel mailing list|publisher=gnu.org|url=https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/nano-devel/2003-08/msg00016.html|access-date=25 January 2007}} On 20 December 2007, with the release of 2.0.7, Ramsey stepped down as nano's maintainer.{{cite web|title=Stepping down as the nano maintainer... |first=David Lawrence |last=Ramsey |date=20 December 2007 |work=Nano-devel mailing list|publisher=gnu.org|url=https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/nano-devel/2007-12/msg00020.html |access-date=20 December 2007}} The license was also upgraded to GPL-3.0-or-later.[https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/nano.git/plain/NEWS NEWS] in nano.git "Finally, nano is now licensed under the GNU GPL version 3 or later, and its documentation is now dual-licensed under the GNU GPL version 3 or later and the GNU FDL version 1.2 or later." (20 December 2007) The project is currently maintained by Benno Schulenberg.{{Cite web|title=GNU nano: Who's who|url=https://www.nano-editor.org/who.php|access-date=2020-11-08|website=www.nano-editor.org}}

On version 2.6.0 in June 2016, the current principal developer and the other active members of the nano project decided in consensus to leave the GNU Project, because of their objections over the Free Software Foundation's copyright assignment policy, and their belief that decentralized copyright ownership does not impede the ability to enforce the GNU General Public License.[https://nano-editor.org/news.php nano news] on nano-editor.org "And, with this release, we take leave of the herd... Bye! And thanks for all the grass!" (22 June 2016)[https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/nano.git/commit/?id=3e5fcec76c12b45a5dd12cb731e160c8e8fb1e0c remove the GNU marker from nano's name] on savannah.org by Benno Schulenberg (13 June 2016)[https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/nano-devel/2016-05/msg00021.html Re: (Nano-devel) Should nano stay a GNU program (Was: time for a 2.5.4-p] on lists.gnu.org (7 May 2016)[https://savannah.gnu.org/support/?109076 sr #109076: Request to move nano from gnu to nongnu] on savannah.gnu.org by Benno Schulenberg (22 June 2016) The step was acknowledged by Debian and Arch Linux,{{cite web|url=https://packages.qa.debian.org/n/nano/news/20160620T181841Z.html|title=Accepted nano 2.6.0-1 (source amd64) into unstable}}{{cite web|url=https://git.archlinux.org/svntogit/packages.git/commit/trunk?h=packages/nano&id=2759a46b729560ea0c5352304a5965dbd3e7ef15|title=svntogit/packages.git - Git clone of the 'packages' repository}} while the GNU Project resisted the move and called it a "fork".[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11953044 I'm on the GNU maintainers team; I want to clarify a couple things about this: First, Nano has _not_ left the GNU Project] on news.ycombinator.com by Mike Gerwitz (June 2016) On 19 August 2016, Chris Allegretta announced the return of the project to the GNU family, following concessions from GNU on copyright assignment for Nano specifically,{{Cite web|url=https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/nano-devel/2016-08/msg00045.html|title=[Nano-devel] nano to remain in GNU|last=Chris|first=Allegretta|date=19 August 2016|website=lists.gnu.org|access-date=2 September 2016}} which happened when version 2.7.0 was released in September 2016.[https://nano-editor.org/news.php nano news] on nano-editor.org "With this release we return to GNU. For just a little while we dreamt we were tigers. But we are back in the herd, back to a healthy diet of fresh green free grass." (1 September 2016)

Control keys

GNU nano, like Pico, is keyboard-oriented, controlled with control keys. For example, {{key press|Ctrl|O}} saves the current file; {{key press|Ctrl|W}} goes to the search menu. GNU nano puts a two-line "shortcut bar" at the bottom of the screen, listing many of the commands available in the current context. For a complete list, {{key press|Ctrl|G}} gets the help screen.

Unlike Pico, nano uses meta keys to toggle its behavior. For example, {{key press|Meta|S}} toggles smooth scrolling mode on and off. Almost all features that can be selected from the command line can be dynamically toggled. On keyboards without the meta key it is often mapped to the escape key, {{key press|Esc}}, such that in order to simulate, say, {{key press|Meta|S}} one has to press the {{key press|Esc}} key, then release it, and then press the {{key press|S}} key.

GNU nano can also use pointing devices, such as a mouse, to activate functions that are on the shortcut bar, as well as position the cursor.