HowTo make Midnight Commander remember the working directory

[hzFVOW00pw]

Midnight Commander, by default does not remember its parent working directory (pwd), which is sometimes quite annoying. There is a workaround script in /usr/share/mc/mc-wrapper.sh, but I believe that it is broken.

Putting the next line in a script in /etc/profile.d does not work:

alias mc=/usr/share/mc/mc-wrapper.sh

Copying the script to /etc/profile.d and then sourcing it does work:

sudo cp /usr/share/mc/mc-wrapper.sh /etc/profile.d/mc-wrapper.sh
. /etc/profile.d/mc-wrapper.sh

...but then it shows the pwd always in both panels of MC, and the pwd is not remembered when you close the terminal. It doesn't not work with sudo as well.

So i want a more flexible solution. I want the pwd remembered in the first panel between terminal sessions/reboots and to have a standard 'fallback' directory in the second panel. I also want be able to change to a specific directory upon starting MC with an alias.

Create a file /usr/local/bin/mcdir with gedit:

sudo gedit /usr/local/bin/mcdir

Paste the following code in gedit:

#!/bin/bash
#
# Description: Workaround to save current working directory in MC.
# /usr/lib/mc/mc-wrapper.sh is broken, it does not write out the
# MC_PWD_FILE file when sourced. Putting this as a function in
# a file in /etc/profile.d, works, but not with sudo, as it will
# not find the function and complain about command not found.

# Start script

# You can specify an alternative skin for root if you wish. Comment out the next line if you want the default skin.

SKIN="modarcon16root.ini"

MCSKIN="-S ${SKIN:=default.ini}"

# Save to standard directory

MC_PWD_DIR="${HOME}/.local/share/mc"

[ -d "${MC_PWD_DIR}" ] || mkdir -p "${MC_PWD_DIR}"

# Read pwd file if it exists

MC_PWD_FILE="${MC_PWD_DIR}/pwd"

[ -f "${MC_PWD_FILE}" ] && MC_PWD="$(cat "$MC_PWD_FILE")"

# Remove pwd file, because MC will not overwrite the file

rm -f "${MC_PWD_FILE}"

# MC starts and creates a new pwd file. MC defaults to / or $HOME for the second panel

[ ${UID} = "0" ] && /usr/bin/mc ${MCSKIN} -P "${MC_PWD_FILE}" "$@" "${MC_PWD}" "/" || /usr/bin/mc -P "${MC_PWD_FILE}" "$@" "${MC_PWD}" "${HOME}"

exit 0

Save the file, close gedit, and make the file executable:

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/mcdir

You can run the script directly in a Terminal, or put aliases in /etc/profile.d/mcdir.sh:

Create a file with gedit:

sudo gedit /etc/profile.d/mcdir.sh

Paste the following code in gedit:

[ -z "$BASH_VERSION" -o -z "$PS1" -o -n "$BASH_ALIASES" ] && return

BASH_ALIASES="1"

alias mc="mcdir"
alias mcm="mcdir /media ~/Desktop"
alias mcr="su-to-root -H -c mcdir"
alias mcl="su-to-root -H -c 'mcdir /usr/local/bin'"

Save the file, close gedit, and source the file:

source /etc/profile.d/mcdir.sh

mc will now change to the pwd in the first panel and to ~/ in the second panel, and remember the pwd in the active panel on exit
mcm will change to /media in the first panel and to ~/Desktop in the second panel, and remember the pwd in the active panel on exit
mcr will run mc as root, change to the pwd in the first panel and to / in the second panel, and remember the pwd in the active panel for root on exit
mcl will run mc as root, change to /usr/local/bin in the first panel and to the pwd in the second panel, and remember the pwd in the active panel for root on exit

Note that you need the -H option if you have setup sudo, to prevent mcdir writing a temp file with root permissions in $HOME/.local/share/mc. Such a file cannot be overwritten if you start mcdir as normal user.