From 40019b4384c01dd75a554295151ff7d22f5ff68e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Matthias Beyer Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2016 15:43:08 +0100 Subject: Update {README,CONTRIBUTING}.md to contain more detailed information --- README.md | 92 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--- 1 file changed, 88 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) (limited to 'README.md') diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index de6e7091..65948ff6 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -3,14 +3,98 @@ Imag is a CLI PIM suite with a nice API-ish commandline interface, so you can integrate it in your tools of coice (Editor, MUA, RSS reader, etc etc). +## Goal + +Our goal is to + +> Create a fast, reliable, forwards/backwards compatible commandline personal +> information management suite which covers all aspects of personal information +> management, consists of reusable parts and integrates well with known +> commandline tools. + +We try to accomplish these requirements: + +* "fast": We use the awesome, fast and safe programming language "Rust" +* "reliable": We try to test every aspect of our software. Our build process + ensures that the build breaks whenever a library interface changes and the + modules which use the library are not updated. +* "forwards/backwards compatible:" Our (plain text) on-disk data format and + storage library both ensure that incompatibilities are captured and resolved + ([using](https://crates.io/crates/semver) [semver](https://semver.org)) +* "commandline": We ensure that everything can be done by commandline calls, for + some modules there might be a curses-like UI, but there are no graphical + clients and there never will be any within this codebase. We use + [clap](https://crates.io/crates/clap) for commandline-interface building and + we try to keep the interface easy and consistent between modules. +* "personal": We store everything as plain text in a store inside the users + `$HOME` directory. There will be a version-control (most surely `git`) hook + integrated to sync between several machines. There are no multi-user features + included or planned at the time of writing. +* "information management": We want to give the user the possibility to put + every single information about their personal lives into the store and we try + hard to provide a sane interface to query and retrieve data from this + database. +* "covers all the aspects of personal information management": We want to + provide modules for: + * contact management + * calendar + * diary + * notes + * personal wiki + * news (rss) + * passwords + * images + * music + * movies + * personal project management + * podcast management + * ledger + * mail + * bibliography management + * ... and many, many more. +* "constists of reusable parts": Every functionality is implemented as library. + The binaries we ship are just commandline-interace-to-library-interface + translators +* "integrates well with known commandline tools": We do not re-invent the wheel. + **We do not implement "yet another password manager", but use + [the standard unix password manager](https://www.passwordstore.org/), do not + implement a news reader, but use [newsbeuter](http://www.newsbeuter.org/), + do not reimplement a mail reader, etc etc.** + We do not copy images, movies or other data to the store but "link" them into + the store, so you can use imag tools to query and access this data, but still + live with your beloved commandline apps. We do not want to duplicate work but + reuse as much as possible. + You don't like one of the applications we use (for example `pass` as password + manager)? Sure, feel free to submit patches so the user is able to switch the + used tool, as long as it doesn't break the workflow. We will happily merge + them! + +## Current state of development + +**This application is in _really_ early development.** + +We have implemented the very +core of the system: the store library. There's also some progress on utility +libraries for linking entries, tagging and the hook system of the store is in +progress as well. +There is also one commandline application: "imag-store" (the "store" subcommand) +available by now, but this is meant for developers and debugging purposes as it +provides direct core-level store access. + +Though, the very core of the system is stable and nothing prevents _you_ from +contributing and implementing a module, though some convenience is not yet +provided (as the libraries are work-in-progress). + +## Documentation + For detailed information, please read [the documentation](./doc/) (You can either read the Markdown files or compile it to HTML/PDF using [pandoc](http://pandoc.org)). -_Nothing here yet. This is about to be written as soon as there is a working -base implemented._ +## License -# License +We chose to distribute this software under terms of GNU LGPLv2.1. -This code is released under terms of GNU LGPLv2.1. +This dicision was made to ensure everyone can write applications which use the +imag core functionality which is distributed with the imag source distribution. -- cgit v1.2.3