Hecto is Kilo with the brakes on!

Hecto is small text editor derived from Kilo. It is functionally equivalent to Kilo (it is Kilo!) however it adds some checks to limit what files may be edited.

If Kilo is alpha, and this too is alpha, the product of their parts is pre-alpha. Or, as Herman Melville puts it:

Finally: It was stated at the outset, that this system would not be here, and at once, perfected. You cannot but plainly see that I have kept my word. But I now leave my ... System standing thus unfinished, even as the great Cathedral of Cologne was left, with the crane still standing upon the top of the uncompleted tower. For small erections may be finished by their first architects; grand ones, true ones, ever leave the copestone to posterity. God keep me from ever completing anything. This whole book is but a draught – nay, but the draught of a draught. Oh, Time, Strength, Cash, and Patience!

Buyer beware!

A screencast is available here: https://asciinema.org/a/90r2i9bq8po03nazhqtsifksb

Usage: kilo <filename>

Keys:

CTRL-S: Save
CTRL-Q: Quit
CTRL-F: Find string in file (ESC to exit search, arrows to navigate)

Currently two restrictions on what files can be edited are permitted:

1) The location where files are present. These are matched against 
    a pattern (see `fnmatch`). Multiple paths can be specified. These
    can be specified in `hecto.c` in the `ALLOWED_PATHS` array. Be sure
    to update `#define NUM_ALLOWED_PATHS 1` to match the num of paths
    specified.

2) Whether or not the file must already exists. This can be toggled 
    in `hecto.c` by the `#define FILE_MUST_EXIST 1` statement.

Basic build tools are all that's required. On Ubuntu, apt-get install build-essential should get you all the tooling you need to build a binary.

Build it by running make.

You could use hecto to allow all users on a system access to edit files in the allowed paths by elevating the capabilities of hecto using linux capabilities. For instance, to bypass all ownership permission checks, you could set the following on the binary:

sudo setcap -v cap_dac_override+ep /usr/local/bin/hecto

Note that hecto will still be restricted to editing files as defined by FILE_MUST_EXIST and ALLOWED_PATHS options in hecto.c. 💥

• 99%+ of this comes straight from antirez's kilo project. Much obliged!