far2l in Ubuntu 24.04 LTS is ready for everyday use

A few days ago, an update was released that eliminates the latest UX roughness, and we are pleased to present you the long-awaited fully working Far Manager as part of the LTS version of Ubuntu 24.04. In this article I will tell you how to get the most out of using it. Let's go!

sudo apt update
sudo apt install far2l

Many people will immediately ask the question: why? apt update? The fact is that the release included a version in which several annoying bugs remained, and the most noticeable of them was that selecting files with the * + keys did not work on systems with Wayland. And since Wayland is now the default in Ubuntu, I decided not to publish the article until we release an update that fixes the remaining problems. If you already have far2l installed on Ubuntu 24.04, it makes sense to upgrade to the latest version.

And now – some useful tips.

Freeing up occupied keyboard shortcuts

Unfortunately, some of the key combinations needed by Far are intercepted by the terminal or system. Let's release them (hereinafter we are talking about GNOME, which is the default in Ubuntu):

# F10
gsettings set org.gnome.Terminal.Legacy.Settings menu-accelerator-enabled false
# Alt+Space
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings activate-window-menu "[]"
# Alt+F1
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings panel-main-menu "[]"
# Alt+F2
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings panel-run-dialog "[]"
# Alt+F7
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings begin-move "['disabled']"
# Alt+F8
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings begin-resize "['disabled']"

Of course, you can free not all combinations, choosing only those that you need most in Far. You will find similar commands for other desktop environments Here.

I don’t want to free these keyboard shortcuts, I need them as system ones!

Then you have two options.

First: use the sticky keys function or sticky keys¹ (for it, however, you still have to release the Alt+space combination). It works like this:

Press Alt+spacebar or Control+spacebar
Letting go
Press the key whose combination with Alt or Control you need

Second: Make macros to use other replacement keyboard shortcuts.

For example, Ctrl+F7 (search and replace in the editor) does not work in the kernel console. You can work around this problem like this:

Create a far2l keyboard macro file:

far2l -e ~/.config/far2l/settings/key_macros.ini

and write there:

[KeyMacros/Editor/CtrlR]
Sequence=CtrlF7

We save, restart far2l, and instead of Ctrl+F7 use Ctrl+R.

You can read more about the macro language and its capabilities here:
https://api.farmanager.com/ru/macro/macrocmd/index.html
There are conditional statements and even loops!

Hurray, you can start working now! But for some reason some key combinations are still not available. For example, switching file display modes on the panel using LCtrl+numbers.

Unfortunately, the default GNOME Terminal used in Ubuntu cannot send these keyboard shortcuts to applications. We'll need something more powerful! Let's install the terminal kittyHe can send applications any keyboard shortcuts, and there is in the repository:

sudo apt install kitty

Setting up kitty

To begin with, we free some key combinations that are needed by far2l, but are intercepted by kitty itself. Create a kitty configuration file:

far2l -e ~/.config/kitty/kitty.conf

and write there:

map ctrl+shift+right no_op
map ctrl+shift+left no_op
map ctrl+shift+home no_op
map ctrl+shift+end no_op
enable_audio_bell no

^ Here we also disable enable_audio_bellso that when viewing binary files there are no annoying beeps.

How to run far2l directly in kitty? Create a shortcut file for the start menu::

far2l -e /usr/share/applications/kitty-far2l.desktop

and write there:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Far2l in Kitty
Exec=kitty far2l --tty
Icon=far2l.svg
Type=Application
Categories=Utility;FileManager

How to make kitty the default terminal?

sudo update-alternatives --config x-terminal-emulator

And now answers to some questions

I want the latest version and the best UX!

Try the far2l-gui package from our ppa. This is a graphical version with its own console window rendering. It is considered a reference for UX, the console version (which is now in the Ubuntu repository, the graphical one has not arrived there yet) we adjusted it according to its capabilities.

Installation:

sudo apt remove far2l*
sudo apt install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:far2l-team/ppa
sudo apt install far2l-gui

You can always go back if you wish:

sudo apt remove far2l*
sudo apt install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:far2l-team/ppa
sudo apt install far2l

What is the difference between the graphical version and the console version?

Backend rendering	TTY	TTY\|X	GUI
Works	in any console	in a terminal window in a graphical session (X11, Wayland)	in a graphics session (X11, Wayland)
Executable files	far2l	far2l far2l_ttyx.broker	far2l far2l_gui.so
Dependencies	minimum required	+ libx11	+ wxWidgets, GTK
Typical Application	Servers, embedded systems (*wrt, etc)	To run in a terminal but with access to the graphical desktop clipboard	Graphic desktop
Package in Ubuntu 24.04	`far2l`	`far2l`	No
Package in ppa	`far2l`	`far2l-ttyx`	`far2l-gui`

Connecting from the graphical version of far2l to an ARM router using the NetRocks plugin

In Windows Terminal, garbage appears on input when moving the mouse

Bug fixed on the Windows Terminal side latest Pre-release (v1.22.2702.0).

Pasting Cyrillic from the clipboard does not work in Windows Terminal

Bug fixed in far2l in the main branch²so in Windows Terminal you can use the newer version from the ppa, installation commands are above. In the classic cmd.exe console, this problem is not observed.

I go somewhere via ssh, run far2l there, but the clipboard doesn’t work.

Connect via ssh (or sftp via the NetRocks plugin, it provides a remote shell) from inside a locally running far2l. If the clipboard works for you in the local version, it will work in the remote version.

Working in a remote console via sftp via the NetRocks plugin. You can run your far2l there, and it will “pick up” your desktop clipboard.

An alternative on Windows is to use forks specially adapted to work with far2l³ PuTTY: putty4far2l And KiTTY (not to be confused with kitty for *nix, which is described above).

How to connect to clouds using the NetRocks plugin? There are only sftp, ftp, etc.

Solution Here.

Is there one for Mac and BSD?

Yes and yes. On Macs we download from release pages or install from Homebrew Cask:

brew install --cask far2l

On FreeBSD from freshports.

On Macs it is better to run under iTerm2. On BSD – under the same kitty as in Ubuntu.

Does Linux have Mint?

Yes, starting from its 22nd version.

Will there be scripts in Lua?

Already there. In the project far2mthis is a fork from Luaas close as possible to Far3. He has your own separate ppa.

Conclusion

We have been moving towards this moment for 8 years. We hope you have a pleasant experience with far2l on Ubuntu! And, of course, come to us at chatthere is a friendly atmosphere and they will gladly answer all your questions. And we also have wikideveloped by the community, you will find many life hacks and useful tips there. I’ll also leave links to GitHub project and portable and AppImage-assemblieswhich do not require installation.

In conclusion, I would like to say thanks to @elfmz (the main developer who wrote most of the code), Alex Myczko (Debian maintainer), Dmitry Shachnev (Ubuntu maintainer), Alexander (chat comoderator and active committer), Pavel (ppa maintainer), Shmuel (developer of the fork with Lua) and all the other developers, testers and documentation authors who contributed, big and small.

Try far2l now! We hope you enjoy it.

¹^{During the preparation of this article, sticky keys were discovered in the function}^bug^{: with a non-Latin keyboard layout, instead of “Ctrl+space, then letter” you need to press Ctrl+space+letter at the same time; In addition, combinations with numbers only work in the latest version from the ppa.}
²^{We plan to release a fix for the bug with pasting Cyrillic characters from the clipboard into WT in the next update by April 24.}³^{The original PuTTY's support for complex keyboard shortcuts is even worse than GNOME Terminal.}