Re: Association program
On Tue, Aug 25, 1998 at 01:01:36PM -0600, vaidhy@wwdg.com wrote:
> I am planning to write a program that will associate file types to
> corresponding binaries. I would like to know if I am duplicating
> something. If not, I would like your advice on which shell should I start
> with..
>
> BTW, I am planning it only for CLI. Once done, I hope to package it for
> debian..
What kind of binaries do you want to associate with file types? Viewer
programs? In that case, look at the files /etc/mime.types and /etc/mailcap.
People seem to reinvent this wheel over and over again (hello, TkDesk and
KDE) -- please try to hold back if you can make mailcap do what you want.
My plate is a bit full right now: in the next two weeks or so, I have to
launch four products and a new web site for worldvisions.ca, publish a
user's guide, take over maintenance of the Linux apmd, fly home for a
holiday, and go to a hardware design expo in Toronto.
...but once I'm done all that (sure, no problem!) I was planning to start a
new project, tentatively called "intermedia," that will extend the
mime.types and mailcap systems with some new features:
- extension of /etc/magic to provide MIME types, so we can really detect
file types from _content_, instead of _filename_. (Whoever thought of
identifying files by their extension had been using Windows for way too
long.)
- magicfilter-like file conversion from any file type to any other,
using your already-installed filter programs.
The plan is to provide a simple command line tool and a library for use in
applications. Imagine being able to type this:
convert fax/*.g3 -o all-my-faxes.ps.gz
rather than try to remember the three or four filter programs you'd need to
do it by hand...
Anyone have any suggestions? Send them in now, _before_ I start!
Have fun,
Avery
who may die of exhaustion, but it'll be worth it
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