Re: [Orgmode] Re: RELEASE: Org-mode 6.08a

[Manish]

  On Mon, Oct 6, 2008 at 9:56 AM, Austin Frank wrote:
  > As always, thanks so much for the hard work!  And also to John!
  >
  > On Sun, Oct 05 2008, Carsten Dominik wrote:
  >
  >> New attachment system
  >> ---------------------
  >>
  >>     You can now attach files to each node in the outline tree.  This
  >>     works by creating special directories based on the ID of an entry,
  >>     and storing files in these directories.  Org can keep track of
  >>     changes to the attachments by automatically committing changes to
  >>     git.  See the manual for more information.
  >>
  >>     Thanks to John Wiegley who contributed this fantastic new concept
  >>     and wrote org-attach.el to implement it.
  >
  > Well!  My curiosity's certainly piqued, but I confess that I don't quite
  > get the applications here.  Any chance Carsten or John would be willing
  > to let us know how they're using this?

Let me take a stab at it.

1. Create a test file. test.org
2. Add a task to it.
3. Do `C-c C-a' while on the task.
4. Press `a' from the launcher menu to add an attachment.
5. Select a file to be attached to it (somewhere in a subdirectory
   named data where org files are contained (careful, it will /move/
   the file, not copy it.)
6. Attach another file to it using #3-5 (or use `c'.)
7. Press `C-c C-a' followed by `o' to open an attachment from the
   options.

I am sure there's more to it but this was enough for me to be
convinced of it's utility.  I just wish that:

1. it copied attachemnts instead of moving them (may be an option),
   and
2. there was another option to archive the attachment directory from
the launcher menu itself (a `Z' for zip, just like there is `D' for
deletion.)

  >
  > Also, the synopsis above and the manual both mention git integration,
  > but I don't understand what exactly is done.  It sounds like if the org
  > file lives in a directory that is a git repo, any additions or changes
  > to the files in the auto-generated data/ subdirectory are automatically
  > committed?  Is this the right idea?  What does the synchronize command
  > do if the directory isn't a git repo?

If the directory where attchments are kept/maintained (not the Org
files themselves) is turned into a git repo, then org-attach.el will
automatically commit changes to it.

  >
  > I am thrilled to see a move towards some nice defaults for org and git
  > integration.  I see that in org-attach.el you're using shell-command to
  > call git directly.  If you don't mind, may I ask if you considered using
  > git.el that is distributed with git (in contrib/emacs/), or even magit
  > (http://zagadka.vm.bytemark.co.uk/magit/)?

I am not sure but I think git.el and magit.el etc. make it easier for
the end-user to interact with git but org-attach.el just needs to
execute add and commit on the git repo so an additional dependency can
be avoided.

As always, thank you Carsten and John for the amazing amazing
software.

-- Manish