org-git-link does not support locational information within file

[Gregor Kappler <gregor.kappler@univie.ac.at>]

Hi org-moders,

I started using orgmode a while ago - and it revoluzionized my
workflow.  I could not keep up with my work without it!  Thanks for
the most versatile tool I ever used and still learn!

I recently found out about org-git-link 
(http://orgmode.org/worg/org-contrib/org-git-link.html), 
and realized it would be near perfect for my research usecase:

** Use Case: Project workflow with moving files, linked to in orgmode
1. Often projects do not arrive with a defined structure: In the
   initial phase I might get several data files and other documents -
   with little to no long-term specification.  Often it is unclear
   whether the files will evolve into some bigger coauthoring project
   involving data analyzes.
2. Consequently, in the initial phase of a project, my file management
   often is messy.  Only within my org files the structure is kept
   clean, respectively is evolving into an appropriate structure.  (I
   heavily use orgmode linking of files and mails.)  Also, (nearly)
   all files are kept in git.
3. I might be tidying file system folders several times during a
   project.
   1. This breaks links.
   2. I thought storing links to revisions of files would solve broken
      links, as links to moved files can be recovered with git.

I guess this might be a scenario some fellow org-moders are facing?

** Shortcomings of git-link in current org HEAD
Yet, org-git-link currently is too greedy for my daily use:
 1. they kill org-links for org headings, if the org files are
    versioned in a git repository (and all of mine are!) and
 2. they kill in-file-search information for versioned non-org files.

** My ugly hack
My intermediate solution is to remove/add the git-link hook as
appropriate with
(add-hook 'org-store-link-functions 'org-git-store-link)
(remove-hook 'org-store-link-functions 'org-git-store-link)

** Proposal of a better solution
I think a better solution for me would be:
 1. use org-git-store-link.
 2. use git versioned files transparently, i.e. org-git-store-link
    should support search (org-ids and text files) in linked git
    revisions of files.
 3. define an interactive function that can update the revision
    information of a link at mark to the current branch head of the
    file (so I can update all links to new FS folder structure.)


I am still lame at elisp - so my implementation skills are
limited. With the great work in org-git-link all backend stuff seems
there, only needing more glue. Any hints how to achieve this would be
very welcome!


Thanks, Gregor


-- 
--

Dr. Gregor Kappler

Fakultät für Psychologie 
Institut für Entwicklungspsychologie und 
Psychologische Diagnostik
http://www.univie.ac.at/Psychologie

Universität Wien
Liebiggasse 5
A-1010 Wien
mail: gregor.kappler@univie.ac.at
tel: +43 1 4277 47866