Re: alert user the NEWS file has changed

Re: alert user the NEWS file has changed

[Dan Jacobson]

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Marco sent this to me.  As it has a spam status rating of -37.7, it
must be good stuff.  Hence I will share it here. 


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From: Marco Parrone <marc0@autistici.org>
Date: 23 Apr 2003 14:32:37 +0200

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Dan Jacobson <jidanni@dman.ddts.net> writes:

> >> There should be a device to make sure the user knows the NEWS file
> >> has changed, saving a timestamp in his .emacs.

[...]

> Hmmm, I bet if I make the NEWS file one of the mailboxes tracked by
> gnus, that would be an interesting way of being aware if it changed...

[...]

You can download checkurls [1] version 0.5.0-alpha1 [2] [3], install
it, and put the following in your ~/.emacs:

  (shell-command "checkurl file_in_subdir_n_from_the_end:///usr/local/share/emacs:2:etc/NEWS &" "*checkurl*")

or

   checkurl file_in_subdir_n_from_the_end:///usr/local/share/emacs:2:etc/NEWS

in your ~/.profile.

This may send you and email a) the first time you run it, with the
full NEWS file, and b) each time you run it and the file is changed,
with a the differences from the previous version.

See `info checkurls' and `info checkurl' for more infos.

The URL can change depending on where you installed Emacs.

file_in_subdir_n_from_the_end://PATH:N:PATH2

This means the PATH2 file in the Nth subdir (counting from the end) in
the PATH directory.

So if you have

   marco@marc0host:~/web/marc0$ ls /usr/local/share/emacs/
   21.3.50  site-lisp
   marco@marc0host:~/web/marc0$ 

then

   file_in_subdir_n_from_the_end:///usr/local/share/emacs:2:etc/NEWS

will expand to

   /usr/local/share/emacs/21.3.50/etc/NEWS

And then in the future if you have

   marco@marc0host:~/web/marc0$ ls /usr/local/share/emacs/
   21.3.50  24.5.40 site-lisp
   marco@marc0host:~/web/marc0$ 

then

   file_in_subdir_n_from_the_end:///usr/local/share/emacs:2:etc/NEWS

will expand to

   /usr/local/share/emacs/24.5.40/etc/NEWS

1. http://www.autistici.org/marc0/CheckurlsHomepage.html
2. http://www.autistici.org/marc0/src/checkurls/checkurls-0.5.0-alpha1.tar.gz
3. http://www.autistici.org/marc0/src/checkurls/checkurls-0.5.0-alpha1.tar.gz

- -- 
Marco Parrone - marc0@autistici.org
www.autistici.org/marc0
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-- 
http://jidanni.org/ Taiwan(04)25854780

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indent-rigidly a real rightwinger

[Dan Jacobson]

"C-x TAB runs the command indent-rigidly
Indent all lines starting in the region sideways by ARG columns."

And indeed, it is great fun to do
<escape> h C-x TAB C-x TAB C-x TAB C-x TAB C-x TAB
and watch the whole paragraph march rightwards.

However, when you want it to march leftwards _in the same fashion_,
then depression sets in.  One can only come up with
<escape> h <escape> - 1 C-x TAB <escape> - 1 C-x TAB <escape> - 1 C-x
TAB <escape> - 1 C-x TAB <escape> - 1 C-x TAB
i.e. a tongue twister for the fingers and mind.

One can only conclude that RMS was a rightist. [Weak joke. sorry.]

P.S. I'm habituated to the escape key, but the point remains for meta users.

Anyway, please make a way to march text leftwards with just as much ease.
-- 
http://jidanni.org/ Taiwan(04)25854780

Re: indent-rigidly a real rightwinger

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Dan Jacobson <jidanni@dman.ddts.net>
> Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2003 08:21:22 +0800
> 
> There should be a device to make
> sure the user knows the NEWS file has changed, saving a timestamp in
> his .emacs.

That device is simply `t': NEWS _always_ changes in _every_ Emacs
release.  After unpacking the tarball, one should always read NEWS,
even before you build Emacs (since NEWS sometimes mentions new build
options).

alert user the NEWS file has changed

[Dan Jacobson]

>> There should be a device to make sure the user knows the NEWS file
>> has changed, saving a timestamp in his .emacs.

Eli> That device is simply `t': NEWS _always_ changes in _every_ Emacs
Eli> release.  After unpacking the tarball, one should always read NEWS,
Eli> even before you build Emacs (since NEWS sometimes mentions new build
Eli> options).

We are innocent users who don't know the administrator has freshened
emacs.  Or we are debian users who have done "apt-get upgrade" and
freshened 100s of packages...

Hmmm, I bet if I make the NEWS file one of the mailboxes tracked by
gnus, that would be an interesting way of being aware if it changed...

Wait, those 100s of packages also have their own change notes,
therefore why should emacs' be a special case that we want to read
more than the others?

Ok, never mind.
-- 
http://jidanni.org/ Taiwan(04)25854780

Re: alert user the NEWS file has changed

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Dan Jacobson <jidanni@dman.ddts.net>
> Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 05:56:17 +0800
> 
> Ok, never mind.

Exactly.