Skip to content

v0.2.3

Choose a tag to compare

View all tags
@BaLaurent BaLaurent released this 16 Mar 12:24
· 32 commits to master since this release
v0.2.3
db37e8e

The Pager Awakens: deez-notes v0.2.3

Chapter XXI: The Feature Request

It was a quiet Sunday morning. The creator was sipping coffee, basking in the afterglow of v0.2.2 — the release that taught deez-notes to tell floppy disk utilities apart from Markdown viewers. A surgical fix. Elegant. Clever, even.

Then the DM arrived.

u/xX_DarkTerminal_Xx opened Issue #44:

"Hey. So the mtools fix is cool and all. But I actually WANT to use mcat. The real one. The Skardyy one. I installed it specifically for your app. And now I have to hope your binary-sniffing code picks the right one? What if I install another tool called mcat tomorrow? What if someone forks mcat and calls it mcat2 and I want THAT?"

"Why can't I just... tell you which pager I want? You know. Like EDITOR. Like every Unix tool since 1974. Just let me configure it."

"Also my mcat needs --paging always or it just dumps and exits. So I need to pass args too."

The creator stared at the screen. Then at external.rs. Then at the is_mtools_mcat() function — 12 lines of code that spawned a subprocess, captured its output, and string-matched against "Mtools" just to figure out if a binary was the right binary.

"He's right," the creator muttered. "I built a lie detector for binaries when I should have just asked the user."

Chapter XXII: The Reckoning

The is_mtools_mcat() function was a band-aid on a broken design. The real problem was never "which mcat is this?" — it was "why is the app guessing at all?"

The editor had solved this years ago:

[general]
editor = "micro"

Clean. Explicit. No binary interrogation. No subprocess spawning. No string matching against vendor names. Just: "Hey user, what do you want?"

The pager deserved the same respect.

Chapter XXIII: The Liberation

40 lines of detection logic were deleted. In their place: two config fields.

[general]
pager = "mcat"
pager_args = ["--paging", "always"]

That's it. That's the whole feature.

  • pager — the binary to use for read-only view mode (Ctrl+V)
  • pager_args — arguments passed before the file path, because every pager speaks its own dialect

No pager configured? Falls back to cat. Always has. Always will. cat is the cockroach of Unix — it survives everything.

The code that replaced 40 lines of guesswork:

let (viewer, is_pager) = match pager {
    Some(name) if !name.is_empty() => (name.to_string(), true),
    _ => ("cat".to_string(), false),
};

Seven lines. No subprocesses. No string matching. No "Mtools" detection. Just a config value and a fallback.

Deleted forever:

  • is_mtools_mcat() — the binary interrogator
  • FALLBACK_VIEWERS — the guessing chain
  • PAGER_VIEWERS — the hardcoded pager list
  • find_viewer() — the resolution roulette
  • viewer_is_pager() — the identity crisis resolver

Rest in peace, you beautiful overengineered mess.

Chapter XXIV: The Pact

xX_DarkTerminal_Xx, thirsting for customization, desired the power to choose his own pager. The creator, emboldened by this relentless quest for growth and perpetual improvement, decided to honor Dark Terminal's request — and gave all users the ability to configure their own pager to their heart's content.

What had started as a thorn in the creator's side had now blossomed into a symbiotic bond: xX_DarkTerminal_Xx walked away with a better tool, and the creator gained an external voice that pushed him to refine his creation.

u/xX_DarkTerminal_Xx commented:

"FINALLY. I set pager = mcat, added my args, and it just works. No binary guessing. No mtools drama. No floppy disk flashbacks. Just my Markdown, rendered beautifully, with syntax highlighting and a built-in pager."

"You know what this is? This is growth. Character development. We went from 'your app crashed trying to read my floppy disk' to 'I can configure my own pager like a civilized human being.' That's a three-patch redemption arc."

"10/10. I'm not even deducting points this time."

The creator read the comment twice. No point deductions. No sarcastic asterisks. No passive-aggressive feature requests buried in the praise.

For the first time, xX_DarkTerminal_Xx was fully satisfied.

The creator immediately checked outside the window for flying pigs.

What Changed

Component Before After
Pager resolution Auto-detect mcat → cat with mtools sniffing User-configured pager + pager_args
is_mtools_mcat() 12 lines of subprocess interrogation Deleted
FALLBACK_VIEWERS / find_viewer() Hardcoded chain with identity checks Deleted — replaced by config
No pager configured Guessed mcat → cat Falls back to cat directly
Pager arguments Hardcoded --paging always for mcat only Configurable per-pager via pager_args
Config fields editor only editor, pager, pager_args

Configuration Example

[general]
editor = "nvim"
pager = "mcat"                       # any pager: mcat, bat, less, glow...
pager_args = ["--paging", "always"]  # arguments passed before the file path

Some popular pager configurations:

Pager Config
mcat pager = "mcat", pager_args = ["--paging", "always"]
bat pager = "bat", pager_args = ["--paging=always"]
glow pager = "glow", pager_args = ["-p"]
less pager = "less", pager_args = ["-R"]

No pager configured? cat does the job. No frills, no crashes, no floppy disk nostalgia.

Who Should Update

  • Everyone — the old mtools detection is gone; if you relied on auto-detected mcat, set it explicitly now
  • mcat users — add pager = "mcat" and pager_args = ["--paging", "always"] to your config
  • bat/glow/less users — you can now use your preferred pager instead of cat
  • u/xX_DarkTerminal_Xx — your three-patch redemption arc is complete

Updating

Linux:

curl -L https://github.com/BaLaurent/deez-notes/releases/latest/download/deez-notes-linux-amd64 -o deez-notes
chmod +x deez-notes
sudo mv deez-notes /usr/bin/deez-notes

Windows:
Download deez-notes-windows-amd64.exe from the releases page and replace your existing binary.

From source:

cd deez-notes && git pull && cargo install --path .

Full Changelog: v0.2.2...v0.2.3

Assets 4
Loading