README: Update.

[coloredstderr/coloredstderr.git] / README

diff --git a/README b/README
index 5e2209efdd37a5c29813359150938da8f770e31f..3416100224af7572702f2981119692f5eddeecde 100644 (file)
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 README
 ======
 
-coloredstderr is a small library which uses 'LD_PRELOAD' to color stderr.
+coloredstderr is a small library which uses 'LD_PRELOAD' to color stderr. It
+``follows'' dups, has minimal performance overhead and can ignore certain
+binaries (requires /proc).
 
 
 Like all solutions using 'LD_PRELOAD' it only works with dynamically linked
@@ -23,14 +25,17 @@ include:
 Most other existing solutions use a second process which colors its input and
 pipe stderr to it. However this creates different runtime behaviour resulting
 in a different ordering of the output. Partial lines (no newline) also often
-cause problems.
+cause problems. coloredstderr handles these cases correctly.
+
+coloredstderr is licensed under GPL 3 (or later).
 
 
 DEPENDENCIES
 ------------
 
 - C99 compiler (variable length arrays)
-- dynamic linker/loader which supports 'LD_PRELOAD' (e.g. GNU/Linux's ld.so)
+- dynamic linker/loader which supports 'LD_PRELOAD' (e.g. GNU/Linux's or
+  FreeBSD's ld.so)
 
 
 INSTALLATION
@@ -93,6 +98,10 @@ The following additional environment variables are available:
   If set to an non-empty value add pre/post strings even when not writing to a
   terminal, e.g. when writing to a file. By default, only writes to a terminal
   are colored.
+- 'COLORED_STDERR_IGNORED_BINARIES'
+  Comma separated list of binary names/paths which should not be tracked
+  (including their children). Useful for `reset` which writes to the terminal
+  but fails to work if the output is colored. See below for an example.
 
 All environment variables starting with 'COLORED_STDERR_PRIVATE_*' are
 internal variables used by the implementation and should not be set manually.
@@ -109,10 +118,16 @@ Or to be more compatible you can use the following which should work in any
 Bourne shell:
 
     esc=`printf '\033'`
-    COLORED_STDERR_PRE="${esc}[91m" # red
+    COLORED_STDERR_PRE="${esc}[91m" # bright red
     COLORED_STDERR_POST="${esc}[0m" # default
     export COLORED_STDERR_PRE COLORED_STDERR_POST
 
+Fix `reset`; its writes to the terminal must be unaltered. `reset` is a
+symbolic-link to `tset` on some systems, adapt as necessary:
+
+    COLORED_STDERR_IGNORED_BINARIES=/usr/bin/tset
+    export COLORED_STDERR_IGNORED_BINARIES
+
 
 DEBUG
 -----
@@ -139,9 +154,15 @@ warnings are appended at the end.
 KNOWN ISSUES
 ------------
 
-- `{fputc,putc,putchar}_unlocked()` are not hooked when writing to stdout
-  (which might be redirected to stderr). Can't be fixed as the compiler
+- `{fputc,putc,putchar}_unlocked()` are not hooked with glibc when writing to
+  stdout (which might be redirected to stderr). Can't be fixed as the compiler
   inlines the code into the program without calling any function.
+- Test `test_stdio.sh` fails on FreeBSD because FreeBSD does handle the above
+  correctly (no inlining), but the test is designed for GNU/Linux.
+- 'COLORED_STDERR_IGNORED_BINARIES' requires the `/proc` file system.
+  Suggestions welcome.
+- Output of `strace` is not always colored correctly as the output from
+  `coloredstderr` is traced and displayed as well.
 
 
 BUGS