emacs helper: sanitize package lists so they can be diff'd

emacs/fixpkglists.py

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+#!/usr/bin/python
+# I do not understand the insanities of Emacs Lisp.
+
+import sys
+data=sorted(sys.stdin.read().replace('\n', '').replace('\\', '').replace('"', '').split())
+tabbed = ['\t' + name for name in data]
+print '"\t\\\n'+ '\t\\\n'.join(tabbed) + '\t\\\n"'

emacs/sortregion.el

@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+;; goal: sanitize package lists so they can be reasobably diff'ed
+
+;; approach: define an emacs function which transforms this:
+
+;; fasel="apt-transport-https alsa-utils apache2 autoconf automake avahi-daemon bash-completion \
+;; u-boot-tools usb-modeswitch usbutils v4l-utils vim wget wireless-tools \
+;; wpasupplicant wvdial zd1211-firmware"
+
+;; into this (in-place):
+
+;; fasel="	\
+;; 	alsa-utils	\
+;; 	apache2	\
+;; 	apt-transport-https	\
+;; 	autoconf	\
+;; 	automake	\
+;; 	avahi-daemon	\
+;; 	bash-completion	\
+;; 	u-boot-tools	\
+;; 	usb-modeswitch	\
+;; 	usbutils	\
+;; 	v4l-utils	\
+;; 	vim	\
+;; 	wget	\
+;; 	wireless-tools	\
+;; 	wpasupplicant	\
+;; 	wvdial	\
+;; 	zd1211-firmware	\
+;; "
+
+;; usage: mark region including double quotes, then execute M-/
+
+
+;; file this into a Python script:
+
+;; #!/usr/bin/python
+
+;; import sys
+;; data=sorted(sys.stdin.read().replace('\n', '').replace('\\', '').replace('"', '').split())
+;; tabbed = ['\t' + name for name in data]
+;; print '"\t\\\n'+ '\t\\\n'.join(tabbed) + '\t\\\n"'
+
+;; fix scriptName below
+;; add to .emacs
+
+
+
+;; lifted from: http://ergoemacs.org/emacs/elisp_perl_wrapper.html
+
+(defun do-something-region (startPos endPos)
+  "Do some text processing on region.
+This command calls the external script “wc”."
+(interactive "r")
+  (let (scriptName)
+    (setq scriptName "/home/mah/omap-image-builder/emacs/fixpkglists.py") ; full path to your script
+    (shell-command-on-region startPos endPos scriptName nil t nil t)
+    ))
+
+(global-set-key (kbd "M-/") 'do-something-region )