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#1 2014-05-19 03:48:45

quequotion
Member
From: Oita, Japan
Registered: 2013-07-29
Posts: 813
Website

Arch User Script Repository?

As I was browsing through the sticky, which is full of useful stuff, I found searching this ever longer and more disorganized thread for a script for a particular purpose difficult.

Wouldn't it be great to have an organized repository for these contributions?

What I have in mind is a user-managed wiki with categorized tag organization, such that scripts could be organized by tags like:

Coding: bash; python; perl; etc...

Purpose: batch file management; network administration; setting toggle; etc...

Length: one-liner; script and config file; multiple files; etc..

And also rated with tags like:

Quality: best-practice syntax; obsolete coding; etc... *

Portability: POSIX compliant; bash only; depends on something; etc...

Where available, it would also be convenient to link to a relevant post in the forum.

* Not for criticism, but to suggest improvements and have them implemented.

Last edited by quequotion (2014-05-19 03:50:40)

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#2 2014-05-19 09:27:17

moetunes
Member
From: A comfortable couch
Registered: 2010-10-09
Posts: 1,033

Re: Arch User Script Repository?

All that's needed for this to happen is for someone to volunteer to do it and someone to volunteer to host it.
wink


You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me.

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#3 2014-05-19 10:30:21

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: Arch User Script Repository?

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#4 2014-05-19 13:58:42

quequotion
Member
From: Oita, Japan
Registered: 2013-07-29
Posts: 813
Website

Re: Arch User Script Repository?

moetunes wrote:

All that's needed for this to happen is for someone to volunteer to do it and someone to volunteer to host it.
wink

I'd be happy to volunteer some time. I have in mind to start by personally archiving all the scripts in that sticky. I don't have the resources to host it sad

karol wrote:

That's unfortunate, but perhaps it could be revived yet. I can see two things this needs desperately: publicity and simplification.
Publicity being for the more important of the two by far. I've come across several user's personal dotfiles repositories but this is the first I've known that Archwiki is hosting a list of them.

The layout could use some work. That table is scary. It would be more friendly if it were organized as a list of programs first.

Something like this:

Lookup:
The wiki lists programs for which config files are available ->
Users select a program they want config files for ->
The wiki list repositories in which config files for that program are available by repository name, submission date, or latest commit.

Submission:
Submission form (on the Wiki?) takes a url for some version control system repository (git) ->
Submitted repositories have a file in their root directory listing available config files ("dotfiles", a whitespace delineated list of program names) ->
A script on the wiki server reads "dotfiles" and updates or creates pages for the listed programs ->
A script on the wiki server periodically checks for commits (bandwidth=money, so this must be limited) and updates as needed.

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#5 2014-05-19 16:57:20

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: Arch User Script Repository?

quequotion wrote:

That table is scary.

Just like configuring your programs. If you're careful, great things will happen. if you're not careful, well, it was nice knowing you ;-)

There are relatively few Arch-centric tools and configs, so why not use e.g. http://www.commandlinefu.com/commands/browse ?
Instead of a script-repo, why not improve upstream documentation or send patches to fix bugs / add features? I think internet search engines do a good-enough job of making well-described pieces of code possible to find. It may be faster to create something from scratch than to try to categorize and polish various scripts and oneliners no-one may be interested in.

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#6 2014-05-20 06:41:29

quequotion
Member
From: Oita, Japan
Registered: 2013-07-29
Posts: 813
Website

Re: Arch User Script Repository?

karol wrote:

Just like configuring your programs. If you're careful, great things will happen. if you're not careful, well, it was nice knowing you ;-)

A fact I'm all too familiar with, which is why I'd love to see a "comments" section for each program with availabke dotfiles. Still, that's not the kind of scary I meant; that table is confusing. It's too much information at once; lists usernames I don't recognize and program names I half recognize; some of the program names are clickable and others not for no immediately apparent reason; clicking each username takes me to their repositories where I'm not certain that the list of programs I'd seen before actually reflects what I see now. Scary.

There are relatively few Arch-centric tools and configs, so why not use e.g. http://www.commandlinefu.com/commands/browse ?
Instead of a script-repo, why not improve upstream documentation or send patches to fix bugs / add features? I think internet search engines do a good-enough job of making well-described pieces of code possible to find. It may be faster to create something from scratch than to try to categorize and polish various scripts and oneliners no-one may be interested in.

Indeed, there are already plenty of resources for scripts; I'd just like to see one based on the arch community's contributions which, while not necessarily arch-specific, tend to use better coding practice, more intuitive design, and better documentation (especially when supported by the archwiki) than much of what I can find on google.

Improving upstream is great, but not always possible. User's scripts may do things that are useful for everybody or only serve a particular niche interest, although that niche may include a few dozen people. A script may do something that doesn't conform to it's upstream components' design but isn't woth forking over.

Just like custom dotfiles may be worth sharing but not officially endorsing, there are reasons an individual's scripts may be worth sharing but not merging upstream. On the other hand, a well publicised and refined script that solves a particular problem better than anything else could garner enough attention to inspire someone to convert it to an actual program or merge it's functionality into an existing one, just as a particularly brilliant and well-known configuration may supplant an obsolete default.

Regardless, aside from the hosting server, this should be entirely user-managed and voluntary. The intention is to provide a place to share and improve scripts that serve the needs of arch users in a (more or less) equivalent way that the AUR allows them to share and improve packages.

I'm going to set aside a little time to work on the infrastructure that would make this work. I need the practice anyway.

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