note - a perl script for maintaining notes.

This is the perl script 'note' in version 1.4.2 from 24/09/2024.

Introduction

This is a small console program written in perl, which allows you to manage notes similar to programs like "knotes" from command line.

There are a couple of different databases backends, which you can use with note:

• binary - this is the default backend and uses a binary file to store your notes.
• mysql - this backend uses a mysql database to store your notes. You can switch easily to another DBMS since this module uses the Perl standard module "DBI" for database- access. See below for more info on this topic!
• dbm - this module uses two DBM files for data storage and requires the module DB_FILE, which is part of the perl standard distribution. See below for more details about the DBM module.
• general - uses the module Config::General for storage, which makes the data file portable, since it is a plain ascii file (binary content will be base64 encoded).
• text - uses the Storable module for data storage (a serializer). Storable is included with perl, and since it's written in C, it's very fast. But the resulting data files are not that portable as the once of NOTEDB::general are.
• pwsafe3 - uses the PWSAFE3 file format, which is securely encrypted. The file can be opened with any other program which supports the format. There are windows programs and apps for mobile phones available. I highly recommend to use this backend if you ever intend to store sensitive information in it!

Where to

You can download the source at http://www.daemon.de/NOTE or https://github.com/tlinden/note.

If you are using debian, you run can apt-get ìnstall note.

If you are using gentoo, you can emerge it.

Features

• Several different database backends, mysql(DBI), dbm, binary (bin file), general and text (text files).
• Command line interface using the standard perl module Getopt::Long, which allows you to use short or long command-line options.
• Interactive interface (pure ascii), the following functions are available in interactive mode: list, display, topic, delete, edit, help.
• Highly configurable using a perlish configfile ~/.noterc. although it is configurable it is not required, note can run without a configfile using useful default presets.
• Colourized output is supported using ASCII Escape-Sequences.
• The user can customize the color for each item.
• Data can be stored in various different database backends, since all database access is excluded from the program itself in perl modules.
• Notes can be deleted, edited and you can search trough your notes.
• Notes can be categorized. Each category (topic) can contain multiple notes and even more sup-topics. There is no limitation about sub topics.
• You can view all notes in a list and it is possible only to view notes under a certain topic.
• There is a tree-view, which allows you to get an overview of your topic-hierarchy.
• Notes can be encrypted using DES or IDEA algorithms and Crypt::CBC.
• You can dump the contents of your note database into a plain text file, which can later be imported. Imports can be appended or it can overwrite an existing database (-o).
• Note has scripting capabilities, you can create a new note by piping another commands output to note, you can also import a notedump from stdin as well es duming to stdout instead a file. Additional, there is an option --raw available, which prints everything out completely without formatting.
• for better performance, note can cache the database for listings or searching.
• It can be installed without root-privileges.
• If Term::ReadLine (and Term::ReadLine::Gnu) is installed, history and auto-completion are supported in interactive mode.
• Last, a while ago a user stated: "... it simply does, what it says ..."

Requirements

You need the following things:

• perl installed (5.004x)

• The module IO::Seekable and Fcntl, which should be already installed with your perl distribuion if you want to use the binary database backend.

• DBI module and DBI::mysql if you want to use the mysql database backend.

• The module DB_FILE if you want to use the DBM module.

• Getopt::Long (part of perl std distribution)

• Term::ReadLine and optionally Term::ReadLine::Gnu if you want to use the auto-completion and history functionality.

• Config::General if you want to use the NOTEDB::general backend.

• YAML is needed to create backups using -D. Please note, that this format is deprecated starting with 1.4.0.

  The support will be removed in 1.5.0. Please switch to JSON format as soon as possible, either by using the -j commandline option or the UseJSON configuration value.

• The Crypt::PWSafe3 module if you want to use the pwsafe3 backend.

Installation

Unpack the tar-ball and issue the following command:

$ perl Makefile.PL

This creates the Makefile neccessary for installing. You may add some additional variables to the command line, the most important one is PREFIX.

Then enter the following command to prepare the installation process:

$ make

After that, you are ready to install. Become root and issue:

# make install

The installation process installs all modules for every available data backends. The default note configuration does not require additional perl modules. If you want to use the mysql backend refer to the installation instructions for the mysql database installation in mysql/README.

If you want to use encryption support, you will need at least Crypt:CBC and Crypt::Blowfish (or Crypt::DES or whatever you prefer). You won't need to manually install any of this if you want to use the pwsafe3 backend, in that case install Crypt::PWSafe3 with all its dependencies.

Configuration

This version of note doesn't necessarily need a configuration file. But you can have one and change some default values. Take a look at the file config/noterc provided with this tarball. There are detailed instructions about every available parameter. Simply copy this file into your home-directory and name it .noterc If you decide not to use the default database backend (a binary file), you will need a configuration!

Usage

Refer to the note(1) manpage for usage instructions.

Getting help

Although I'm happy to hear from note users in private email, that's the best way for me to forget to do something.

In order to report a bug, unexpected behavior, feature requests or to submit a patch, please open an issue on github: https://github.com/TLINDEN/note/issues.

Deprecation notes

The binary database format will be removed with version 1.5.0. No deprecation note is being printed for now.

The text database format will be either removed or will use another backend module for security reasons. The perl module Storable will not be used anymore.

Copyright and License

Copyright (c) 1999-2013 Thomas Linden Copyright (c) 2013-2024 Thomas von Dein

Licensed under the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE version 3.

You can read the complete GPL at: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html

Author

T.v.Dein

Contributors / Credits

Shouts to all those guys who helped me to enhance note: THANKS A LOT!

Jens Heunemann - sub tree. Peter Palmreuther - various additions.

And many other people who sent bug reports, feature requests. If you feel that I forgot your name in this list, then please send me an email and I'll add you.