I’ve been looking long and hard for a small and useful GNU readline replacement. Oddly enough, all the time I was looking for one I never even once considered looking at the Minix sources!

Currently I’m using the NetBSD editline derivative (readline compatible) from Jess Thrysoee, but it requires ncurses, which is huge!

All I really wanted was a bare bones readline() suitable for small embedded systems. One which could record history and preferably, but not required to, support completion.

OK, so yesterday I found the Minix editline implementation, written years ago by Simmule Turner and Rich Salz. My hat is off to you guys, you rock!

Here’s my first packaged version for Linux:

All I have done, so far, is to move around the files a bit and add the standard GNU configure and build system. It now builds and runs perfectly on my laptop, next step is to cross-build it for a couple of embedded ARM targets.

I do all development using GNU Bazaar. If you want to join in, then branch from the following public URL:

 bzr branch http://vmlinux.org/jocke/bzr/minix-editline

Patches and ideas are welcome!