DEV Community: Alfonso Siciliano

SysctlTUI is Out!

Alfonso Siciliano — Sat, 31 May 2025 00:07:16 +0000

The sysctl() system call can get or set the state of the system, the FreeBSD kernel exposes the parameters for sysctl() as objects of a Management information Base (MIB).

sysctltui is a Text User Interface sysctl MIB explorer. It allow to view a parameter's properties and get or set its value. The first version 0.0.1 is out.

Getting Started

# pkg install sysctlmibinfo2 bsddialog
% git clone https://gitlab.com/alfix/sysctltui.git
% cd sysctltui
% make
% ./sysctltui

The utility provides three windows: a main one with the tree, one to view information about the parameter, and one to set a new value.

Main Window:

Parameter Properties:

Set Value:

Usage

% ./sysctltui -h
usage: sysctltui [-h|v]
       sysctltui [-d|V] [-f] [-e <label>] [-l <label>] [-i <indent>] [-s <label>]

 -d     Show parameter descriptions in the main window.
 -e <label> Set prefix for nodes with expandable subtree.
 -f     Display full parameter names in the main window.
 -h     Show this help message and exit.
 -i <indent>    Set the visual depth of subtrees.
 -l <label> Set prefix for leaf nodes.
 -s <label> Set prefix for nodes with expanded subtrees.
 -V     Display parameter values in the main window.
 -v     Show version and exit.

Tip, layout similar to sysctl or sysutils/nsysctl:

[n]sysctl	sysctltui
% [n]sysctl -a	% sysctltui -fV -i 0
% [n]sysctl -an	% sysctltui -f -i 0
% [n]sysctl -ad	% sysctltui -fd -i 0

sysctltui is still in its early stages; it is currently at version 0.0.1. It provides some functionality similar to nsysctl and sysctlview, but many features still need to be implemented.

TODO list:

Add: [View] menu: Rebuild Tree, Expande Tree, Collapse Tree, Show desc, Show Value, Clear screen.
Add: kelvin format.
Add: Opaque(s).
Improve: sort children.
Add: /etc/sysctl.conf and /boot/loader.conf.

Suggestions, feedback, and new ideas are welcome.

WebSysctl is Now Live!

Alfonso Siciliano — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 06:54:48 +0000

The FreeBSD Operating System provides the sysctl system call and utility to get and set system state at runtime. The kernel exposes available parameters for sysctl as objects in a Management Information Base (MIB).

Today, FreeBSD includes thousands of sysctl parameters. Moreover, parameters can be added or removed dynamically. Each computer probably builds a different MIB. To help navigate this, the kernel provides additional features for exploring the MIB and retrieving extra information about each object (such as name, description, format, and so on).

WebSysctl aims to collect all possible sysctl parameters along with their properties. The MIB is represented as a table, list, and a tree.

Additionally, WebSysctl provides a page for each parameter, available both in dot notation (for example, kern.ostype) and in path notation (for example, kern/ostype).

Currently WebSysctl is available at http://websysctl.alfonsosiciliano.net/. It will probably move to alfonsosiciliano.dev in the future. (I already own the domain but I am waiting to obtain an SSL certificate. I will post updates on https://alfonsosiciliano.gitlab.io/.)

Please note: I am not a web/frontend/backend/full-stack developer, nor a database expert. WebSysctl is my first web project, and it can certainly be improved.

MixerTUI 1.5

Alfonso Siciliano — Sat, 24 Feb 2024 13:41:36 +0000

MixerTUI is an audio mixer with a terminal user interface (TUI) for the FreeBSD sound system. It allow to switch easily between laptop and HDMI, headphones and speakers,and so on. Features include: show the current driver configuration, select an audio device to get information, change the volume, or make the device the default. The version 1.5 is out!

To install the port audio/mixertui:

# cd /usr/ports/audio/mixertui/ && make install clean

To add the package:

# pkg install mixertui

To build from sources:

Step 1. Install deps

# pkg install bsddialog libsysctlmibinfo2

Step 2. Download, build, and run

% git clone https://gitlab.com/alfix/mixertui.git
% cd mixertui
% make
% ./mixertui

Version 1.5 Changes and Improvements

1) Pop-ups are implemented using libbsddialog, for example the screenshot shows a bsddialog menu. Curiosity, the first version of bsddialog was just a copy of the mixertui pop-ups to implement dialogs, now mixertui uses libbsddialog to show pop-ups.

2) Improvements for the menu to select the device/pcm.
The item with the default pcm (sysctl hw.snd.default_unit) has the "(Default)" prefix; pcm4 in the screenshot. Opening the menu the selected item is the current pcm; pcm2 in the screenshot.

3) Fix fault with terminals without colors. Example

% env TERM=vt220 mixertui

4) Few internal refactoring. Probably this is the last C/ncurses version, (see Future subsection below).

Future

MixerTUI started out as a personal project (...game :D). I spent 30 minutes to set up my microphone to record my BSDCan presentation during the first lockdown. I set audio quickly via alsamixer in the past. Now my main laptop runs FreeBSD, so I wrote mixertui to avoid to waste time setting up a microphone, headphones, accessibility, and so on.

The first version was just 1000 lines of code; mainly ncurses stuff because the sound system interface is actually easy: just some ioctl and sysctl. However several users started to use it. I received a lot of tips, feedback, merge request, iussues, email, and so on.

The utility grew messy to implement the user requests. Mainly I spent time to use libncurses, because it does not provides widgets (buttons, title, bars, ...), it is just a "render" library. I would have preferred to spend time implementing new audio features instead of "drawing" a bar. ncurses is not suitable. I am considering other TUI libraries to rewrite MixerTUI in the next version 2.0. Under the radar: brick/haskell, tui-rs/rust, FTXUI/C++.

Conclusion, this is just a TUI improvements version. I' ll rewite mixertui. TODO, Ideas and new audio features in the future: mouse, virtual_oss, devd, sound(4) improvements, accessibility, and so on.

PortOptsCLI - Ports Collection Accessibility

Alfonso Siciliano — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 13:46:38 +0000

The FreeBSD Operating System provides the Ports Collection to give users and administrators a simple way to install applications.

It is possible to configure a port before the building and installation. The configuration consists of a set of lists: checklists to enable or disable an option, radiolist to select at the most one option. Some list is mandatory, at least one option has to be active.

ports-mgmt/dialog4ports and ports-mgmt/portconfig allow to set up a port via an interactive Text User Interface. They are implicitly used by "make config", example editors/vim port:

# cd /usr/ports/editors/vim
# make config

The black and white theme can provide high-contrast accessibility for users with low vision, for portconfig >= 0.6:

# env NO_COLOR="YES" make config

Older versions:

# env PORTCONFIG_THEME="blackwhite" make config

PortOptsCLI

Unfortunately screen readers perform terrible with TUI, it is a well-known accessibility problem. FreeBSD provides tens of thousands of ports, port configuration is a key feature, unfortunately it is inaccessible to users with vision impairment.

PortOptsCLI (Port Options CLI) is an utility for setting the port options via a Command Line Interface. Properly PortOptsCLI provides commands to navigate lists (checklists and/or radiolists) and set up their items interactively also suitable for a speech synthesizer. Currently it is tested with the speech synthesizer of orca https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Orca, FreeBSD provides a port and a package https://www.freshports.org/accessibility/orca/.

Preview https://twitter.com/alfsiciliano/status/1694858990440648711, video description and transcription are available in the Demo section later.

Getting Started

To install the port:

# cd /usr/ports/ports-mgmt/portoptscli/ && make install clean

or to install the package:

# pkg install portoptscli

After the installation, add to /etc/make.conf:

#DIALOG4PORTS?= ${LOCALBASE}/bin/dialog4ports
DIALOG4PORTS=${LOCALBASE}/bin/portoptscli

Now 'make config' uses portoptscli automatically. To start to set up a port are sufficient few commands:

h: specific port help if exist.
n: next element (header, list, option, end line).
p: previous element.
r: reprint current element.
space: enable or disable a checklist item, select a radiolist item.
a: abandon without saving.
q: save and quit.
All features are linked in the Documentation section later.

Demo

PortOptsCLI disables ECHO and ENTER. However this demo surrounds runtime commands and comments by square brackets in a new line for ease of understanding. To note some speech synthesizer can read the typed keys depending on the current setting.

# cd /usr/ports/editors/neovim
[ENTER]
# make config
[ENTER, start implicitly portoptscli]
Configuration for neovim-0.9.1 port, 1 list total 2 options.
[v]
Verbose mode on.
n: next, p: previous, r: reprint, space: select or unselect.
[n]
List 1. Generic options. Checklist with 2 options.
[n]
1 NLS: Native Language Support. Enabled.
[n]
2 PYNVIM: Enable support for plugins written in python. Disabled.
[SPACE]
option PYNVIM enabled.
[n]
End configuration. q: save and quit, a: abandon without saving, t: go to top.
[q]
Save and quit.
#

Another demo without commands and comments:

# cd /usr/ports/editors/vim
# make config
Configuration for vim-9.0.1671 port, 3 lists total 12 options.
Verbose mode on.
n: next, p: previous, r: reprint, space: select or unselect.
List 1. Generic options. Checklist with 3 options.
1 MAKE_JOBS: Enable parallel build. Disabled.
2 NLS: Native Language Support. Enabled.
3 XTERM_SAVE: Restore xterm screen after exit. Disabled.
option XTERM_SAVE enabled.
List 2. Optional language bindings. Checklist with 6 options.
1 LUA: Lua scripting language support. Disabled.
2 PERL: Perl scripting language support. Disabled.
3 PYTHON: Python bindings or support. Enabled.
4 RUBY: Ruby bindings or support. Disabled.
5 SCHEME: MzScheme (Racket) bindings. Disabled.
6 TCL: Tcl scripting language support. Disabled.
List 3. CTAGS. RadioList with 3 options, mandatory list select at least one option.
1 CTAGS_BASE: Use system ctags. Selected.
2 CTAGS_EXUBERANT: Use exctags instead of ctags.
3 CTAGS_UNIVERSAL: Use uctags instead of ctags.
option CTAGS_UNIVERSAL selected previous CTAGS_BASE unselected.
End configuration. q: save and quit, a: abandon without saving, t: go to top.
Save and quit.
#

Documentation

Manual : $ man 1 portoptscli, online.
README https://gitlab.com/alfix/portoptscli/-/raw/main/README.txt.

Tips

Verbose mode can be set by the PORTOPTSCLI_VERBOSE="YES" environment variable.

The c key prints the short commands list described in the Getting Started:

# make config
Configuration for neovim-0.9.1 port, 1 list total 2 options.
[c]
Short commands list.
h: specific port help if exist.
i: port and lists info.
n: next element.
p: previouse element.
r: reprint element.
space: select or unselect an option.
a: abandon without saving.
q: save and quit.
[a]

===> Options unchanged
#

Some port has a specific help file, if it exists PortOptsCLI informs at startup/top, h key to print it:

# cd /usr/ports/devel/pcre/
# make config
Configuration for pcre-8.45_3 port, 2 lists total 6 options.
The port has a help file, h: to print.
[h]
Help file /usr/ports/devel/pcre/pkg-help.
Using the heap rather than the stack for recursion (i.e., turning the
STACK_RECURSION knob off) is slower but less prone to segfaults from
stack exhaustion when matching certain patterns.
End help file.
[a]

===> Options unchanged

Suggestions, bug report, new ideas

My contacts for private discussions.
FreeBSD Accessibility mailing list to share and to track discussions in a public place.

Extras

FreeBSD also allows you to configure a port using environment variables or configuration files, both ways are described in the port(7) manual.

Resources and links for further information:

Ports intro, online.
Manual: $ man 7 ports, online.
/usr/ports/README, online.
FreeBSD Handbook "4.5. Using the Ports Collection", online.

bsddialog 1.0

Alfonso Siciliano — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 12:40:08 +0000

The bsddialog project provides bsddialog and libbsddialog, an utility and a library to build TUI dialogs and widgets.
The version 1.0 is out!

% git clone https://gitlab.com/alfix/bsddialog.git
% cd bsddialog
% make
% ./bsddialog --msgbox "`./bsddialog --version`" 0 0

Version 1.0 Highlights

New features: dynamic exit codes, new environments variables, generic buttons, startup theme file, --datebox-format d/m/y | m/d/y | y/m/d, other escapes for --text-escape, comments in --save-theme output file.

Important changes: --generic-button1 -> --right1-button, --generic-button2 -> right2-button, --no-names and --no-descriptions mutually exclusive.

The library has some API change (see CHANGELOG), feel free to contact me for any explanation.

CHANGELOG:

2023-08-01 Version 1.0

    Utility:
    * add: comments to --save-theme output file.
    * add: blink, halfbright, highlight to --save-theme and --load-theme.
    * add: theme.menu.[f_]prefixcolor to --save-theme and --load-theme.
    * add: --datebox-format <d/m/y|m/d/y|y/m/d> to set --datebox UI.
    * add: --help-print-items (--help-status becomes alias).
    * add: --text-escape (--colors becomes alias).
    * add: new escapes \Zd, \Zk, \Zs, \ZD, \ZK, \ZS, for --text-escape.
    * add: env NO_COLOR, to set blackwhite theme.
    * add: $HOME/.bsddialog.conf startup theme file.
    * add: env BSDDIALOG_THEMEFILE startup theme file.
    * add: --left1-button <label>.
    * add: --left2-button <label>.
    * add: --left3-button <label>.
    * add: --right1-button <label>.
    * add: --right2-button <label>.
    * add: --right3-button <label>.
    * add: dynamic exit codes.
        - add: --error-exit-code.
        - add: --ok-exit-code.
        - add: --cancel-exit-code.
        - add: --help-exit-code.
        - add: --extra-exit-code.
        - add: --timeout-exit-code.
        - add: --esc-exit-code.
        - add: --left1-exit-code.
        - add: --left2-exit-code.
        - add: --left3-exit-code.
        - add: --right1-exit-code.
        - add: --right2-exit-code.
        - add: --right3-exit-code.
        - add: env BSDDIALOG_ERROR.
        - add: env BSDDIALOG_OK.
        - add: env BSDDIALOG_CANCEL.
        - add: env BSDDIALOG_HELP.
        - add: env BSDDIALOG_EXTRA.
        - add: env BSDDIALOG_TIMEOUT.
        - add: env BSDDIALOG_ESC.
        - add: env BSDDIALOG_LEFT1.
        - add: env BSDDIALOG_LEFT2.
        - add: env BSDDIALOG_LEFT3.
        - add: env BSDDIALOG_RIGHT1.
        - add: env BSDDIALOG_RIGHT2.
        - add: env BSDDIALOG_RIGHT3.
    * add: undocumented envs for bsdconfig(8) compatibility.
        - env BSDDIALOG_COMPATRC for use_shadow setting.
        - env BSDDIALOG_ITEM_HELP to add/set exit code.
    * change: rename themes --theme <3d|blackwhite|flat>.
    * change: --no-names and --no-descriptions mutually exclusive (via lia).
    * change: quote only checklist output items if necessary. Previously
        also radiolist item.
    * change: dialogs with user input print always values except with ERROR,
        ESC, Cancel. Previously the situation was quite heterogeneous.
    * improve: DIAGNOSTIC messages adding fmt string errors.
    * improve: disable theme setting (opt and env) with no-color terminals.
    * improve: menus on|off status (strcasecmp, diagnostic, real off check).
    * improve: --bikeshed with button delimiter and --date-format.
    * improve: --textbox accepts button options.
    * improve: Forms with Help button.
        - print "HELP" (like menus).
        - accept --help-list-items.
        - accept --help-print-name.
    * fix: --load-theme attributes.
    * fix: --clear-screen with --and-dialog.
    * delete: --theme <bsddialog> (partially implemented).
    * delete: --esc-return-cancel (replaced by new env and option).
    * delete: --generic-button1 (replaced by --right1-button).
    * delete: --generic-button2 (replaced by --right2-button).
    * refactor: modularize in more files (main, cli, builders, theme).

    Library:
    * add: bsddialog_inmode().
    * add: bsddialog_clear(y) for utility --clear-screen.
    * add: bsddialog_refresh() for utility terminal mode options.
    * add: conf.date.format="d/m/y"|"m/d/y"|"y/m/d" to customize
        bsddialog_datebox() UI (boxes) with a date format.
    * add: 'const char *end' to bsddialog_gauge().
    * add: draw focus on the shortcut-key-selected button at exit.
    * add: escapes for conf.text.highlight \Zd, \Zk, \Zs, \ZD, \ZK, \ZS.
    * add: other theme flags.
        - BSDDIALOG_BLINK.
        - BSDDIALOG_HALFBRIGHT.
        - BSDDIALOG_HIGHLIGHT.
    * add: generic buttons.
        - conf.button.left1_label, BSDDIALOG_LEFT1 return value.
        - conf.button.left2_label, BSDDIALOG_LEFT2 return value.
        - conf.button.left3_label, BSDDIALOG_LEFT3 return value.
        - conf.button.right1.label, BSDDIALOG_RIGHT1 return value.
        - conf.button.right2.label, BSDDIALOG_RIGHT2 return value.
        - conf.button.right3.label, BSDDIALOG_RIGHT3 return value.
    * add: unused bsddialog_menugroup.min_on for future features.
    * add: theme.menu.f_prefixcolor and theme.menu.prefixcolor.
    * improve: check (when possible) API pointers.
    * improve: circolar buttons with left and right keys for msgbox, yesno,
        menus, rangebox and pause.
    * improve: bsddialog_textbox() handles conf.buttons.
    * improve: bsddialog_datebox() a box change affects the others as well.
    * improve: bsddialog_geterror() with fmt strings.
    * change: API NULL strings handled like "", except gauge *sep and *end.
    * change: menus and form less restrictive with text, hide text with
        little screens (same behavior as other dialogs).
    * change: mixedgauge BSDDIALOG_MG_BLANK does not draw minibar but prints
        minilabel. The change allows mixedgauge to add sections. To restore
        the previous behavior setting minilabel to "".
    * change: check/set bsddialog_gauge() perc max 100.
    * change: check/set bsddialog_mixedgauge() mainperc max 100.
    * change: conf.menu.no_name and conf.menu.no_desc mutually exclusive.
    * change: bsddialog_pause() sec -> *sec to know remaining time at exit.
    * change: add *focusitem to bsddialog_form() like menus.
    * change: "pointer" values are always set except when BSDDIALOG_ERROR
        occurs. Examples *yy/*mm/*ss, rangebox *value.
        - delete conf.menu.on_without_ok.
        - delete conf.form.value_without_ok.
    * rename: conf.text.highlight -> conf.text.escape.
    * rename: theme.menu.namesepcolor -> theme.menu.sepnamecolor.
    * rename: theme.menu.descsepcolor -> theme.menu.sepdesccolor.
    * fix: bsddialog_pause() elevation bar after resize.
    * fix: bsddialog_textbox() key '0'.
    * fix: timebox.c checksize (boxes width).
    * fix: extend menurows after shrink and enlarge.
    * fix: menu pad and form pad "re-expansion" after shrink and enlarge.
    * fix: shadow top-left corner (trick wresize() before wmove()).
    * fix: increment bsddialog_total_progview size for more general use.
    * delete: BSDDIALOG_THEME_BSDDIALOG (partially implemented).
    * delete: conf.button.generic1_label (for new conf.button.right1_label).
    * delete: BSDDIALOG_GENERIC1 return value (new BSDDIALOG_RIGHT1).
    * delete: conf.button.generic2_label (for new conf.button.right2_label).
    * delete: BSDDIALOG_GENERIC2 return value (new BSDDIALOG_RIGHT2).
    * delete: bsddialog_clearterminal(), replaced by bsddialog_clear(y).
    * refactor: internal implementation.
        - add: internal structures to represent components.
        - merge: (when possible) dialogs autosize.
        - merge: (when possible) dialogs checksize.
        - merge: for each dialog "build" with "update" -> <dialog>_redraw().
        - merge: new_dialog() with update_dialog() -> draw_dialog().
        - merge: infobox.c with messagebox.c (delete infobox.c)
        - merge: bsddialog_datebox() + bsddialog_calendar() -> datebox.c
        - change: flat and blackwhite real themes, 3d adapted from flat.
        - improve: replace wrefresh() -> wnoutrefresh()/doupdate().
        - improve: replace prefresh() -> pnoutrefresh()/doupdate().
        - improve: menu split code to build private items.
        - improve: form split code to build private items.
        - delete: -Wno-implicit-fallthrough.

Extra Info

Manual Utility bsddialog(1).
Manual Library bsddialog(3).
README and examples https://gitlab.com/alfix/bsddialog.

FreeBSD disable stereo sound

Alfonso Siciliano — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 00:20:00 +0000

We have two ears, so we hear the world in stereo. Two ears give us a sense of distance and direction. Therefore, the FreeBSD Operating System provides and enables multichannel audio by default, popularly referred to as "surround sound". Properly, by default only 2 channels are enabled: "s16le:2.0, Stereo, 2 channels (left, right)".

Unfortunately, stereo audio is quite useless and annoying for a person with single sided deafness or unilateral hearing loss. Some utility allows to select mono, for example, vlc (port/package multimedia/vlc):

Not all utilities are so advanced. Fortunately, the FreeBSD Audio Subsystem is very powerful. It is possible to select mono for each device via:

# sysctl dev.pcm.%d.play.vchanformat="s16le:1.0"

where %d is a device number listed by:

$ sysctl dev.pcm

To automatically set the mode each time the machine boots (let's say for the device number 3), add to /etc/sysctl.conf.

# Mono for device 3
dev.pcm.3.play.vchanformat=s16le:1.0

Laptops typically have two speakers (left and right). The speaker to "bad" ear can be annoying for people with unilateral hearing loss. Fortunately (again), the FreeBSD Audio Subsystem is very powerful. It is possible to set the volume for each speaker, for example, via mixertui (port/package audio/mixertui):

To save pressing 'p' key and to load/set after a reboot
(without starting the TUI):

$ mixertui -p audio-profile.conf

Important. Refer to the sound(4) manual and the Sound Wiki Page to know more about FreeBSD audio features and customizations.

LibBSDDialog

Alfonso Siciliano — Sun, 16 Jan 2022 14:21:13 +0000

LibBSDDialog provides an API to build TUI dialogs and widgets to show messages, to get input and to inform about a computation status.

Example to build a msgbox with Hello World!:

#include <bsddialog.h>

int main()
{
    struct bsddialog_conf conf;

    bsddialog_init();
    bsddialog_initconf(&conf);
    bsddialog_msgbox(&conf, "Hello World!", 8, 20);
    bsddialog_end();

    return (0);
}

Of course, it is possible to get user input and to change the UI, "Yes-No Question" example:

#include <bsddialog.h>
#include <bsddialog_theme.h>
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
    int output;
    struct bsddialog_conf conf;

    bsddialog_init();
    bsddialog_set_default_theme(BSDDIALOG_THEME_BSDDIALOG);

    bsddialog_initconf(&conf);
    conf.title = " yesno ";
    conf.text.highlight = true;
    output = bsddialog_yesno(&conf, "\nHello \\Z3World\\Zn!", 10, 30);

    bsddialog_end();

    switch (output) {
    case BSDDIALOG_YES:
        printf("YES\n");
        break;
    case BSDDIALOG_NO:
        printf("NO\n");
        break;
    }

    return (0);
}

And to show computation status:

To compile the examples:

% git clone https://gitlab.com/alfix/bsddialog.git
% cd bsddialog
% make
% cc -I./lib example.c -o example -L./lib -lbsddialog -Wl,-rpath=./lib
% ./example

Dialogs and widgets:

infobox, msgbox, yesno.
radiolist, checklist, menu, mixedlist.
form.
gauge, pause, mixedgauge, rangebox.
datebox, timebox.
textbox.

Documentation:

The library has a manual to describe the API

% man ./lib/bsddialog.3

and a collection of examples in the Public Domain to build new projects

% cd examples_library
% sh compile
% ./datebox
% ./form
% ./infobox
% ./menu
% ./mixedlist
% ./msgbox
% ./pause
% ./radiolist
% ./rangebox
% ./theme
% ./timebox
% ./yesno

LibBSDDialog is an open source project released under the term of the BSD 2 Clause License, repository: https://gitlab.com/alfix/bsddialog.

Happy Coding!

BSDDialog 0.0.1

Alfonso Siciliano — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 03:38:05 +0000

BSDDialog is an utility to write a script with a Text User Interface. It can build widgets/dialogs: to show messages, to get input and to inform about a computation status.

Example to build a msgbox with Hello World!:

% bsddialog --msgbox "Hello World!" 8 20

Of course, it is possible to use bsddialog in a shell script, "Yes-No Question" example:

#!/bin/sh

${BSDDIALOG_YES=0}
${BSDDIALOG_NO=1}

bsddialog --theme bsddialog --color --title " yesno " \
    --yesno "\nHello \Z3World\Zn!" 10 30

case $? in
    $BSDDIALOG_YES )
        echo "YES!"
        ;;
    $BSDDIALOG_NO )
        echo "NO!"
        ;;
esac

The utility is designed and developed mainly for FreeBSD, the first version 0.0.1 is out, please consider this a testing version, let me know any problem.

To install the port devel/bsddialog:

# cd /usr/ports/devel/bsddialog/ && make install clean

To add the package:

# pkg install bsddialog

To build from sources:

$ git clone https://gitlab.com/alfix/bsddialog.git
$ cd bsddialog
$ make

Features:

% bsddialog --version
bsddialog 0.0.1 (libbsddialog 0.1-devel).
% bsddialog --help

Messages: infobox, msgbox, yesno.
Menus: radiolist, checklist, menu, treeview, buildlist.
Forms: inputbox, form, mixedform, passwordbox, passwordform,
Bars: gauge, pause, mixedgauge, rangebox.
Date and time: datebox, timebox.
Text: textbox.

The project has a list of examples, some screenshot, preview:

BSDDialog is an open source project released under the term of the BSD 2 Clause License, repository: https://gitlab.com/alfix/bsddialog.

Happy Hacking!

portconfig

Alfonso Siciliano — Sat, 20 Nov 2021 23:07:32 +0000

The FreeBSD Operating Systems provides the Ports Collection to allow a simple way for users and administrators to install applications, to know more https://www.freebsd.org/ports/.

It is possible to configure a port before the building and installation, ports-mgmt/dialog4ports is a well known TUI utility for the port options, unfortunately dialog4ports depends on non-permissive open source software. portconfig is a new utility to provide the same features of dialog4ports, it and its dependecies (bsddialog and ncurses) are completely permissive.

Getting Started:

$ git clone https://gitlab.com/alfix/portconfig.git
$ cd portconfig
$ make

Now edit /usr/ports/Mk/bsd.commands.mk, comment DIALOG4PORTS and add the absolute path to portconfig:

...
#DIALOG4PORTS?= ${LOCALBASE}/bin/dialog4ports
DIALOG4PORTS?= /absolute/path/to/portconfig
...

Now make config uses portconfig instead of dialog4ports*, for example:

# cd /usr/ports/editor/vim
# make config

It is possible to customize portconfig via environment variables, for example to set the dialog4ports theme (properly dialog) with tcsh:

# env PORTCONFIGTHEME="dialog" make config

Other variables:

D4PHEIGHT: hight (otherwise autosize)
D4PWIDTH: width (otherwise autosize)
D4PFULLSCREEN: fullscreen mode
D4PALIGNCENTER: align menu text to centre (default left)
D4PASCIILINES: draw borders with + - | charachters

Please NOTE: portconfig is under development and distributed without any warranty.

Project repository https://gitlab.com/alfix/portconfig,
Happy Hacking!

bsddialog

Alfonso Siciliano — Fri, 09 Apr 2021 22:17:53 +0000

Currently I am coding a script with a Text User Interface to set up my FreeBSD Desktop Environment, the idea is to use dialog to build graphical widgets, the previous post of the "My FreeBSD Desktop Setting" series shows a preview.

Unfortunately I realized that dialog is released under the GNU GPL License (Wikipedia link) despite it is in the FreeBSD source code https://cgit.freebsd.org/src/tree/gnu. Although my script is under a permissive license I will be bound to the GPL and I will not be able to use my script for personal/commercial/freelance purposes. In conclusion, I am working on a new project: bsddialog to provide the features of dialogs under the BSD-2-Clause license, Hello World!:

// Detect dark theme var iframe = document.getElementById('tweet-1379412400311562240-979'); if (document.body.className.includes('dark-theme')) { iframe.src = "https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?id=1379412400311562240&theme=dark" }

SoftwareSets

Alfonso Siciliano — Sat, 27 Mar 2021 02:23:30 +0000

FreeBSD is my daily operating system: to browse the web, to play 3D games, to write this post, and so on. Some time ago, I tried to produce a solution to set up quickly a desktop environment on my laptop.

The solution was SoftwareSets, a script for sh(1) with an User Interface to install software collections (obviously focused on a GUI environment):

This was my first project based on a shell script, unfortunately not completed and now obsolete. However this post is the first of the series "My FreeBSD Desktop Setting" to implement a new solution.
Stay tuned!

sysctlbyname-improved v20210223

Alfonso Siciliano — Fri, 19 Mar 2021 21:27:01 +0000

sysctlbyname-improved version 20210223 is out!

The FreeBSD Operating System maintains a Management Information Base ("MIB") where an object represents a parameter of the system, the sysctl system call explores the MIB to find an object by its Object Identifier ("OID") to get or set the value of the parameter.

An OID is a series of numbers, it is possible to replace a number with a string to obtain an object name, example [1.1] -> "kern.ostype", the sysctlbyname system call finds an object by its name.

The purpose of sysctlbyname-improved is to allow sysctlbyname to handle:

a name with an empty string level, example "security.jail.param.allow.mount."
an extended name for a CTLTYPE_NODE with a defined handler, example "kern.proc.pid.<pid>"

Example with "kern.proc.pid.0", the implementation of sysctlbyname_improved() is in the project repo:

#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/sysctl.h>
#include <sys/user.h>

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main()
{
    size_t valuelen;
    struct kinfo_proc kp;

    printf("  ## sysctlbyname ##\n");
    valuelen = sizeof(kp);
    if (sysctlbyname("kern.proc.pid.1", &kp, &valuelen, NULL, 0) == 0)
        printf("effective user id: %d\n", kp.ki_uid);
    else
        printf("kern.proc.pid.1: error\n");


    printf("  ## sysctlbyname_improved ##\n");
    valuelen = sizeof(kp);
    if (sysctlbyname_improved("kern.proc.pid.1", &kp, &valuelen, NULL, 0) == 0)
        printf("kern.proc.pid.1: (effective user id) %d\n", kp.ki_uid);
    else
        printf("kern.proc.pid.1: error\n");

    return 0;
}

Output:

  ## sysctlbyname ##
kern.proc.pid.1: error
  ## sysctlbyname_improved ##
kern.proc.pid.1: (effective user id) 0

Furthermore this project can be useful to convert an extended name in the corresponding OID, example "kern.proc.pid.2021" -> [1.14.1.2021], this feature is used by sysctlmif_oidextendedbybame() function of the sysctlmibinfo2 library.

Properly, sysctlbyname-improved is an extension of sysctlinfo, so this new version takes advantages of the improvements (mainly efficiency) of sysctlinfo 20210222.

To install the port sysutils/sysctlbyname-improved-kmod:

# cd /usr/ports/sysutils/sysctlbyname-improved-kmod/ && make install clean

To add the package:

# pkg install sysctlbyname-improved-kmod

To know more: https://gitlab.com/alfix/sysctlbyname-improved.