This directory contains a Mac OS X port of PuTTY/pterm, running as a
native Aqua GUI application.
-THIS PORT IS CURRENTLY UNFINISHED AND EXPERIMENTAL. You are welcome
-to use it, but don't be surprised at unexpected behaviour. I'm not
-kidding.
+THIS PORT IS CURRENTLY UNFINISHED AND EXPERIMENTAL. It is _not_
+considered to be of release quality, even if you've found it (and
+are reading this) in a PuTTY release source archive. You are welcome
+to try using it, but don't be surprised at unexpected behaviour. I'm
+not kidding.
In particular, I have not yet decided where OS X PuTTY should store
its configuration data. Options include storing it in ~/.putty to be
Other ways in which the port is currently unfinished include:
- - terminal display is horribly slow
+Bit rot
+-------
+
+ - the conversion of the old fixed-size 'Config' structure to the
+ new dynamic 'Conf' was never applied to this directory
+
+ - probably other things are out of date too; it would need some
+ work to make it compile again
- - fatal errors are currently output via printf, which is obviously
- wrong for a GUI application
+Missing terminal window features
+--------------------------------
+
+ - terminal display is horribly slow
- fonts aren't configurable
starting position, plus remembering previous window positions per
the Apple HIG) is not implemented
- - close-on-exit isn't implemented
+Missing alert box features
+--------------------------
- warn-on-close isn't implemented
- - SessionWindow's dealloc method does nothing yet, so leaks memory
+Missing input features
+----------------------
- use of Alt+numberpad to enter arbitrary numeric character codes
is not yet supported
- - cut and paste isn't supported
-
- - there's no Meta key yet. (I think it will have to be Command
- rather than Option since the latter is necessary to send some
- characters, including the rather important # on Apple UK
- keyboards; but trapping Command-<key> and sending it to the
- window rather than the application menu requires me to make a
- positive effort of some sort and I haven't got round to it yet.)
+ - there's no Meta key yet. (I'd like to at least have the
+ possibility of using Command rather than Option as the Meta key,
+ since the latter is necessary to send some characters, including
+ the rather important # on Apple UK keyboards; but trapping
+ Command-<key> and sending it to the window rather than the
+ application menu requires me to make a positive effort of some
+ sort and I haven't got round to it yet. For those Mac users who
+ consider their Command key sacrosanct, don't worry, this option
+ _will_ be configurable and _will_ be off by default.)
- there's no specials menu
+ - mouse activity isn't supported (neither cut-and-paste nor xterm
+ mouse tracking)
+
+Missing terminal emulation features
+-----------------------------------
+
- currently no support for server-side window management requests
(i.e. escape sequences to minimise or maximise the window,
request or change its position and size, change its title etc)
- window title is currently fixed
+Other missing features
+----------------------
+
- no Event Log
- no mid-session Change Settings
-
- - no icon (surprisingly important in an OS X app!)