From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Nick Dokos Subject: Re: Fwd: Mac OS Alias file links Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2014 08:42:49 -0400 Message-ID: <87y4z8hyk6.fsf@gmail.com> References: <87ioqcfepi.fsf@bzg.ath.cx> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:50872) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1WZgEF-0006z2-C0 for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 14 Apr 2014 08:43:22 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1WZgE3-0002eP-SN for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 14 Apr 2014 08:43:15 -0400 Received: from plane.gmane.org ([80.91.229.3]:59511) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1WZgE3-0002eC-Le for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 14 Apr 2014 08:43:03 -0400 Received: from list by plane.gmane.org with local (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1WZgE1-0005Sl-OH for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 14 Apr 2014 14:43:01 +0200 Received: from pool-98-110-160-12.bstnma.fios.verizon.net ([98.110.160.12]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Mon, 14 Apr 2014 14:43:01 +0200 Received: from ndokos by pool-98-110-160-12.bstnma.fios.verizon.net with local (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Mon, 14 Apr 2014 14:43:01 +0200 List-Id: "General discussions about Org-mode." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org To: emacs-orgmode@gnu.org Ken Mankoff writes: > Hi Bastien, > > Thanks for letting me know it displays properly and email received. The > URL works for me this morning too. > > On 2014-04-14 at 05:22, Bastien wrote: >> Even for those who uses MacOSX, you should perhaps be more specific >> on how Org-mode would store such links, then somebody might step up. > > Aliases are a type of links ("ln" on linux, "shortcut" on Windows > "alias" on OS X (OS X of course also supports "ln")). The difference > between an OS X alias and "ln" is that if the target is moved, the OS X > alias still points to it, and double-clicking on an alias (or issuing > the "open" command in a terminal) will open the target, wherever it > is. I just checked in a VM and Windows Shortcuts also behave this way. > > Therefore, if in addition to "file:" there were an "alias:" option, Org > could link to files that move. I think this is a powerful feature. I > imagine "alias:" would be an option when I press C-cl, and a way to set > it as the default when I press C-ucl. > > That is, links would be [[alias:foo][FileName]] where "foo" is a string > version (hashed?) of the alias. > > In BibDesk, "foo" is ~1200 characters long, and according to the BibDesk > documentation, that ~1200 characters is: > >> The Bdsk-File entries store Mac OS aliases, which contain a file ID >> and absolute path. Bdsk-File entries also store a relative path, which >> is used if the alias is broken. > > So it looks like an Alias can be hashed some way and stored as just a > string. An example BibDesk entry in by BibTeX file looks like: > > @article{citekey, > Author = {Someone}, > Journal = {Nature}, > Pages = {24--42}, > Title = {{A Paper}}, > Bdsk-File-1 = {YnBsa...etc for 1200 characters...}} > > Opening the file with C-o would involve un-hashing it, and then treating > it the same way a "file:" is opened. > > I imagine Org would mostly store the links the same way it stores file > links. The change would be that since the link is the alias (long ugly > string), the description would be required, and perhaps default to > /path/to/filename. Although since the whole point is that the /path/to/ > can change, perhaps the default name would just be filename. > What does emacs do when you C-x C-f an alias? If it opens it properly (i.e. opens the target file) then why is anything needed in org? It seems to me that a file: link should just work. If it does not, then maybe that's where the capability should be added. Org seems to be the wrong place for it. But note that everything I know about aliases, I learnt in the last five minutes, so I could be way off the mark. -- Nick