Ability to use another pager than less

[ccoVeille]

Hi,

I'm interested in being able to use another pager than the default one, which is less currently.

@TornaxO7 suggested minus in #95 and worked on an implementation with #100 https://github.com/arijit79/minus

I saw the debate about being able to use minus with --minus

I would be more interested in using ov https://github.com/noborus/ov made by @noborus

Other people may have other preference, after all, that's the magic with open source.

So my request for enhancement would be about being able to use another pager.

a common way to configure it in tools is to do it via environment variable.

Like:

• BAT_PAGER for https://github.com/sharkdp/bat
• DELTA_PAGER for https://github.com/dandavison/delta

I don't mind how to be able to configure it. It could be in the config.toml file, but I would like to be able to configure the pager I'm using.

I'm curious about your thoughts

Thanks

[ccoVeille]

I understand the possible debate to be able to use rust only code, but it would limit yourself to pagers available in rust. I would prefer to be able to delegate it to external tool.

Please note, I may have missed and misunderstood how things work. I only expressed my needs and thoughts

[bensadeh]

Hi @ccoVeille and thanks for opening this ticket!

To begin with the conclusion: I'm happy to add support for other pagers.

Some context: as the default pager, it makes sense for me to use less as it is so ubiquitous. That being said, tailspin is really just a log file highlighter, and the tool you choose to use to view the log files doesn't really matter to me (or to tailspin). I specifically built it in a way to decouple the presentation (paging) functionality from the highlighting functionality for this very purpose.

I can't give a specific timeline for when this will be implemented, but in theory it should be quite simple.

On a side note: I'd still like to see support for minus as a pager option (in addition to less), but it became difficult for me personally to implement. In the future, I want the use of pager in tailspin to be completely configurable, however I don't see us moving away from less as the default pager.

[ccoVeille]

Thanks for replying in such detailed way.

I'm aligned with what you said.

I understand we will have to wait. A enhancement request is like a item to Christmas list. Sometimes you get it, sometimes it takes time, sometimes you never have it.

Thanks for your work on tailspin

[HRKings]

Thanks for tailspin!
The ability to use any pager would be great! I currently use ov which seems very fast and handles tailing very nicely.

Take your time with on the development and thanks again!