Double Commander

  • Ubuntu 22.04 LTSVersion 1.0.5 (Universe)
  • Ubuntu 24.04 LTSVersion 1.1.11 (Universe)
  • Ubuntu 24.10Version 1.1.16 (Universe)
Logo für Double Commander, Montage aus Installationspaket von Alexander Koblov, GPL

In the beginning was the Norton Commander, a DOS program witha myriad of keyboard shortcuts. With Windows came Total Commander, among others, which was capable of windowing, but could also be operated using the keyboard. As a file manager with two windows (dual pane), Double Commander follows in this tradition, but it is cross-platform, i.e. it is not only available for Windows, but also for Linux and OS-X.

It includes a text editor with syntax highlighting, a viewer for hex and binary files, full-text search and archive management, whereby archives are displayed like folders. While the Windows version of Double Commander supports the Total Commander plug-in interface, some plug-ins have been ported for Linux. They extend the range of functions to include network access as well as the playback of media files, and for image files the EXIF data are displayed.

The Russian developer offers versions for GTK and QT. While the GTK version still relies on GTK2, the QT version has been updated to version 6. However, even for KDE users, the principle holds: those who prioritize design over functionality will find little enjoyment in the outdated appearance of Double Commander.

Somewhat surprisingly, there is still no full version of Double Commander, even though the first alpha was released as early as the end of 2007. By 2024 (version 1.1.11), Double Commander was in beta status; since then, it has been in gamma status. In any case, development is progressing slowly but steadily, while other dual-pane file managers like Sunflower or SpaceFM have been languishing for years.

Installation

Ubuntu provides packages in its Universe repository; either a GTK or a QT version may be installed, but not both in parallel:

sudo apt install doublecmd-gtk
sudo apt install doublecmd-qt

The developer provides more up-to-date versions in the Opensuse Build Service for various Linux distributions including Ubuntu. The packages – including those for QT6 – can be downloaded individually or the package source can be added in a similar way to a PPA so that updates are carried out automatically:

echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/Alexx2000/xUbuntu_24.10/ /'\ |\n
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/home:Alexx2000.list
curl -fsSL https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:Alexx2000/xUbuntu_24.10/Release.key |\n
gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/home_Alexx2000.gpg > /dev/null
sudo apt update && sudo apt install doublecmd-qt6

Documentation

An English-language user manual is available in Github. It can also be accessed via the “Help” menu item.

Midnight Commander for the console

If you are looking for a Norton Commander clone for the Linux console, install the good old Midnight Commander:

sudo apt install mc

Alternatives

Sunflower looks pretty modern, but was not updated since 2022. Even longer abandonned is SpaceFM, a fork of PCManFM, which is able to display up to four panels. KDE users are better off: Krusader is a full-blown file manager with two panels that has been updated for KDE 6..