note/README

note 0.4.1 by Thomas Linden, 18/01/2000


Introduction
============

	This is a small console program written in
	perl, which allows you to manage notes similar
	to programs like "knotes" from commandline.

	This version is completely rewritten and it is
	able to display colored output.

	You can add, edit, list and delete as many notes
	as you want. You can run note from the commandline
	or interactive from within your console.

	There are now two version of note in one package:
		o (binary) the binary version resists in the
		  subdirectory "binary-db". 
		  It uses a binary file for data storage.
		  The format of this file will be described
		  later on. 
		o (mysql) the mysql version resists in the
		  subdirectory mysql-db. It uses a mysql
		  database as backend. There are some
		  special installation steps required in 
		  order to run the mysql version which are 
		  documented in the README within this
		  subdirectory.



Requirements
============

	You need the following things:
		o perl installed (5.004x)
		o The module IO::Seekable, which should be 
		  already installed with your perl distributuion.
		o Mysql.pm if you want to use the mysql version.



Installation
============

	Simple: Copy it to a place inside your $PATH, 
	probably as root. (for example to /usr/bin).

	For installation instructions for the mysql version see
	mysql-db/README.



Configuration
=============

	This version of note doesn't neccessarily need
	a configuration file. But you can have one and change
	some default values. Take a look to the file config/noterc
	provided with this tarball. There are detailed instructions
	about every available parameter.
	Simply copy this file into your home-directory and name it
	.noterc



Usage
=====
	Usage of the mysql and binary version is similar, there
	are only differences between the database backends of
	each other.

	If you don't know, how to run note, try "note -h" first. 
	It will tell you all available commandline options.

	To create a new note, simply run "note". You can enter
	the note (the length is by default limited to 1024 bytes,
	which you can change from your config file).
	End by typing a . on a line itself. note will tell you the 
	number of the note.

	If you want to view the note, type "note 1", if the notenumber
	was 1. 

	If you want to get an overview of all notes, type "note -l".
	You will get a list of all notes, containing the number,
	the first line and the creation date.

	To edit a certain note, type "note -e 1". It will invoke your
	editor (vi or pico). You can edit it, after saving, note
	will store the changed note to the database.

	Of course you can drop a certain note: "note -d 1" deletes
	note number 1. If a note in the middle or the beginning of
	the database will be deleted, note will recount the other
	existent notes. For example there are 3 notes, number 1, 2
	and 3. If you delete number 2, then number 3 will become
	number 2.

	If you cannot remember, which note you are looking for, you
	can use the search capability of note: "note -s <searchstring>".
	note will search the whole note database case insensitive for
	an occurence of this string and tell you the number and first-
	line it have.

	Instead of using note from the commandline you can use the
	interactive mode. Run note with "note -i". If you need assistance
	type "?" or "h" at the "command>" prompt. The interactive mode
	provides you the most functions of note.

	You can also dump the contents of your note-database into a 
	ASCII-textfile. You can use this file later to import it into
	your note-database. This is usefull, if you want quickly trans-
	fer your notes from one host to another (i.e. you could mail
	your note-dump form your office to home and import it there
	for further use).
	The dumps from the two versions of note are in the same format.



Format of the notedb (binary version)
=====================================

	The database where the notes are stored is a binary file of
	the following format:
	It consists of three fixed length fields per entry. The fields
	have the following types:
		o Number: Integer (1 byte)
		o Note:   String (default 1024 bytes)
		o Time:   String (default 64 bytes)
	You can change the sizes of the fields "Note" and "Time" in
	the configfile "~/.noterc". If it does not exist, the above
	defaults will be used.
	If the data to be stored is smaller then the size of the field,
	it will be filled with ZERO's ("\0"). The Note and the Time
	fields will be uuencoded before storage. Of course, this is
	no security, never mind...



The note-database (mysql version)
=================================
	
	The sql-database for the mysql version has the following design:
	+--------+---------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
	| Field  | Type    | Null | Key | Default | Extra          |
	+--------+---------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
	| number | int(10) |      | PRI | 0       | auto_increment |
	| note   | text    | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
	| date   | text    | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
	+--------+---------+------+-----+---------+----------------+



Format of the ASCII-dump file (note -D)
=======================================

	The dump of a note-database (if you use note -D) has the following
	format:
	
	--- snip ---
	Number: 1
	Timestamp: 14.01.2000 00:25:01
	This is a sample text
	in a sample note.

	Number: 2
	Timestamp: 14.01.2000 02:37:40
	And this is another sample
	of a note.
	--- snip ---
	
	You can reimport a dump into your note-database with "note -I <file>"
	Existing notes will not overwritten, note will append the imported
	data to your note-database.




Security
========

	You can't use the following hints with the mysql version!
	Refer to the mysql manual for more informations about
	security of mysql databases:
	http://www.mysql.org/Manual_chapter/manual_Privilege_system.html
	
	If you want to protect the notedb against unauthorized persons
	(even root), you might want to use pgp. I use gpg (GNU privacy
	guard), which is compatible to pgp, usage should be similar.
	You could add a function to your .profile or .bashrc or whatever:
	--- snip ---
		function note
		{
			gpg -o ~/.notedb -d ~/.notedb.gpg
			note $1 $2 $3
			gpg -e ~/.notedb --yes -r username
			rm -rf ~/.notedb
		}
	--- snip ---
	You should replace <username> with your real username. After applying
	this function to your .profile, issue the following command:
		"source .profile"
	You shell will reread the file, so you can try it out without the need
	of new login.
	This function assumes, there exists a file called "~/.notedb.gpg",
	therefore you need to encrypt your notedb once before you can use this
	funcion:
		"gpg -e ~/.notedb --yes -r username"

	Here is, how to do it with pgp, create a shell script with the following
	content:
	--- snip ---
		#!/bin/sh
		/bin/echo -n "passphrase:"
		pgp -o ~/.notedb -d ~/.notedb.pgp > /dev/null 2>&1
		rm -f ~/.notedb.pgp > /dev/null 2>&1
		note.pl $1 $2 $3
		pgp -e ~/.notedb tlinden > /dev/null 2>&1
		rm -f ~/.notedb > /dev/null 2>&1
	--- snip ---
	Do "chmod 700 whatevername". That's it.	

	If you don't make use of encryption, I suggest you to chmod it:
		"chmod 600 .notedb"
	So, only you can read the file (and root or any intruder who became root).	



Comments
========

	You can send any comments to Thomas Linden <tom@daemon.de>.
	If you find a bug or if you have a suggestion for improvement of the script
	feel free to send me a patch ;-)



License
=======

	This script comes with absolutely NO WARRANTY. It is distributed under the
	terms of the GNU General Public License. Use it at your own risk :-)
	You can read the complete GPL at: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html



Author
======

	The author is Thomas Linden.




Last changed
============

	18.01.2000