Terminal resizing and scrolling

[Vojtech Horky]

Add the ability to scroll through terminal output and resize the terminal window.

Details

Terminal is still the main interface when working with HelenOS. Current implementation provides a fixed-sized window without an ability to scroll backwards through the history of output.

The task is to extend the functionality of terminal with two most common features: scrolling to see output of commands that are no longer directly visible and the ability to resize the terminal window. The resizing must update contents of the terminal (e.g. wrap long lines) - current implementation extends/shrinks the area but not the contents itself.

It is expected that the scrolling would be added as a separate feature of the widget library. Terminal resizing is then a specific feature of the terminal application.

An optional extension might be implementing the resizing for TUI applications such as the editor.

What Gains and Benefits will this bring?

While implementation of this features is not innovative from design perspective, it would greatly improve user experience. It is possible to use the terminal without these features but the control is cumbersome and ineffective.

Difficulty

medium

Required skills

A successful applicant will have good skills of programming in the C language and the ability to survive in a non-standard non-POSIX environment. Previous experience with a graphics stack implementation would be beneficial.

Documentation

• Graphics Stack for HelenOS
• GUI's Users Guide

Possible mentors

HelenOS Core Team