- Now allows rc:<file> override of ~/.taskrc file.

ChangeLog

@@ -11,10 +11,12 @@ represents a feature release, and the Z represents a patch.
 - Dependencies
 - Recurring tasks
 
+
 1.4.0 ()
   + "task undelete" can now undelete erroneously deleted tasks, provided no
     reports have been run (and therefore TDB::gc run)
   + Added averages to the "task history" report
+  + Added ability to override ~/.taskrc with rc:<file>
   + Bug: Fixed where Esc[0m sequences were being emitted for no good reason
   + Bug: Fixed underlined table headers when color is turned off
 

TUTORIAL

@@ -576,39 +576,6 @@ with no arguments will generate a help message that lists all these commands.
 
 
 
-Interacting with the Shell
---------------------------
-
-  Certain characters are interpreted by the shell.  For example, the "&".  If
-  you wish to include the & in a task description, you need to escape it, so
-  the shell doesn't interpret it.  For example:
-
-    % task add Buy bread & milk
-
-  This command is an error because of the &.  The shell will consider this to
-  be two commands:
-
-    % task add Buy bread &
-    % milk
-
-  The shell treats the & character as an indicator that the command is complete
-  and should be run in the background.  Then the shell considers "milk" to be a
-  command all by itself.  Which it is not.  One way to get around this is to
-  individually escape the & character:
-
-    % task add Buy bread \& milk
-
-  Another is to quote the entire description, with either ' or " characters:
-
-    % task add "Buy bread & milk"
-
-  Task itself interprets the commands, and it too can make mistakes.  For
-  example, any colon : character will be interpreted by task as a delimiter
-  between an attribute name and its value.  Currently there is no workaround
-  for this.
-
-
-
 % task <id> fg:... bg:...
 -------------------------
 
@@ -645,6 +612,61 @@ Interacting with the Shell
 
 
 
+% task rc:<file> ...
+--------------------
+
+  By specifying rc:<file>, it is possible to force task to use an alternate
+  .taskrc file.  By default, task looks in your home directory, so these two
+  commands are essentially identical:
+
+    % task list
+    % task rc:~/.taskrc list
+
+  What this override allows, is the possibility of keeping your task lists
+  completely separate, say for work and home.  This can be accomplished with
+  the following commands (valid for bash):
+
+    % alias htask="task rc:/home/me/.taskrc_home"
+    % alias wtask="task rc:/home/me/.taskrc_work"
+    % htask list
+    ...
+    % wtask list
+    ...
+
+
+
+Interacting with the Shell
+--------------------------
+
+  Certain characters are interpreted by the shell.  For example, the "&".  If
+  you wish to include the & in a task description, you need to escape it, so
+  the shell doesn't interpret it.  For example:
+
+    % task add Buy bread & milk
+
+  This command is an error because of the &.  The shell will consider this to
+  be two commands:
+
+    % task add Buy bread &
+    % milk
+
+  The shell treats the & character as an indicator that the command is complete
+  and should be run in the background.  Then the shell considers "milk" to be a
+  command all by itself.  Which it is not.  One way to get around this is to
+  individually escape the & character:
+
+    % task add Buy bread \& milk
+
+  Another is to quote the entire description, with either ' or " characters:
+
+    % task add "Buy bread & milk"
+
+  Task itself interprets the commands, and it too can make mistakes.  For
+  example, any colon : character will be interpreted by task as a delimiter
+  between an attribute name and its value.  Currently there is no workaround
+  for this.
+
+
 
 Configuring Task
 ----------------

html/task.html

@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
                 <p>
                   Download the
                   <a href="http://www.beckingham.net/task-1.4.0.tar.gz">latest version</a>
-                  of the task source code (1.4.0, ????????????????????????????????????????????????).
+                  of the task source code (1.4.0, ????????????????????).
                 </p>
 
                 <p>
@@ -51,6 +51,8 @@
                   <li>Added "task undelete" feature to restore a (very) recently deleted
                       task
                   <li>Added averages to the "task history" report
+                  <li>Added support for rc:&lt;file&gt; to allow override of the default
+                      ~/.taskrc file
                   <li>Fixed bug where Esc[0m sequences were being emitted for no good reason
                   <li>Fixed bug where table headers are underlined when color is turned off
                 </ul>
@@ -711,6 +713,65 @@ ID Project Pri Description
                   all the current configuration settings, as read from the .taskrc
                   file.
                 </p>
+
+                <strong>% task rc:&lt;file&gt; ...</strong>
+                <p>
+                  By specifying rc:<file>, it is possible to force task to use an alternate
+                  .taskrc file.  By default, task looks in your home directory, so these two
+                  commands are essentially identical:
+                </p>
+
+                <pre><code>% task list
+% task rc:~/.taskrc list</code></pre>
+
+                <p>
+                  What this override allows, is the possibility of keeping your task lists
+                  completely separate, say for work and home.  This can be accomplished with
+                  the following commands (valid for bash):
+                </p>
+
+                <pre><code>% alias htask="task rc:/home/me/.taskrc_home"
+% alias wtask="task rc:/home/me/.taskrc_work"
+% htask list
+...
+% wtask list
+...</code></pre>
+
+                <strong>% task &lt;id&gt; fg:... bg:...</strong>
+                <p>
+                  Not strictly a command, the setting of the fg and bg (foreground
+                  and background) attributes determines the colors used to represent
+                  the task.  Valid foreground colors are:
+                </p>
+
+                <pre><code>         bold          underline          bold_underline
+black    bold_black    underline_black    bold_underline_black
+red      bold_red      underline_red      bold_underline_red
+green    bold_green    underline_green    bold_underline_green
+yellow   bold_yellow   underline_yellow   bold_underline_yellow
+blue     bold_blue     underline_blue     bold_underline_blue
+magenta  bold_magenta  underline_magenta  bold_underline_magenta
+cyan     bold_cyan     underline_cyan     bold_underline_cyan
+white    bold_white    underline_white    bold_underline_white</code></pre>
+
+                <p>
+                  Note that these are not just colors, but combinations of colors and
+                  attributes.  Valid background colors are:
+                </p>
+
+                <pre><code>on_black    on_bright_black
+on_red      on_bright_red
+on_green    on_bright_green
+on_yellow   on_bright_yellow
+on_blue     on_bright_blue
+on_magenta  on_bright_magenta
+on_cyan     on_bright_cyan
+on_white    on_bright_white</code></pre>
+
+                <p>
+                  Note also that this capability does depend on whether your terminal
+                  program can display these colors.
+                </p>
               </div>
 
               <br />
@@ -756,42 +817,6 @@ ID Project Pri Description
                   delimiter between an attribute name and its value.  Currently there
                   is no workaround for this.
                 </p>
-
-                <strong>% task &lt;id&gt; fg:... bg:...</strong>
-                <p>
-                  Not strictly a command, the setting of the fg and bg (foreground
-                  and background) attributes determines the colors used to represent
-                  the task.  Valid foreground colors are:
-                </p>
-
-                <pre><code>         bold          underline          bold_underline
-black    bold_black    underline_black    bold_underline_black
-red      bold_red      underline_red      bold_underline_red
-green    bold_green    underline_green    bold_underline_green
-yellow   bold_yellow   underline_yellow   bold_underline_yellow
-blue     bold_blue     underline_blue     bold_underline_blue
-magenta  bold_magenta  underline_magenta  bold_underline_magenta
-cyan     bold_cyan     underline_cyan     bold_underline_cyan
-white    bold_white    underline_white    bold_underline_white</code></pre>
-
-                <p>
-                  Note that these are not just colors, but combinations of colors and
-                  attributes.  Valid background colors are:
-                </p>
-
-                <pre><code>on_black    on_bright_black
-on_red      on_bright_red
-on_green    on_bright_green
-on_yellow   on_bright_yellow
-on_blue     on_bright_blue
-on_magenta  on_bright_magenta
-on_cyan     on_bright_cyan
-on_white    on_bright_white</code></pre>
-
-                <p>
-                  Note also that this capability does depend on whether your terminal
-                  program can display these colors.
-                </p>
               </div>
 
               <br />

src/parse.cpp

@@ -346,54 +346,60 @@ void parse (
   for (size_t i = 0; i < args.size (); ++i)
   {
     std::string arg (args[i]);
-    size_t colon;               // Pointer to colon in argument.
-    std::string from;
-    std::string to;
 
-    // An id is the first argument found that contains all digits.
+    // Ignore any argument that is "rc:...", because that is the command line
-    if (command != "add"   && // "add" doesn't require an ID
+    // specified rc file.
-        task.getId () == 0 &&
+    if (arg.substr (0, 3) != "rc:")
-        validId (arg))
-      task.setId (::atoi (arg.c_str ()));
-
-    // Tags begin with + or - and contain arbitrary text.
-    else if (validTag (arg))
     {
-      if (arg[0] == '+')
+      size_t colon;               // Pointer to colon in argument.
-        task.addTag (arg.substr (1, std::string::npos));
+      std::string from;
-      else if (arg[0] == '-')
+      std::string to;
-        task.addRemoveTag (arg.substr (1, std::string::npos));
-    }
 
-    // Attributes contain a constant string followed by a colon, followed by a
+      // An id is the first argument found that contains all digits.
-    // value.
+      if (command != "add"   && // "add" doesn't require an ID
-    else if ((colon = arg.find (":")) != std::string::npos)
+          task.getId () == 0 &&
-    {
+          validId (arg))
-      std::string name  = arg.substr (0, colon);
+        task.setId (::atoi (arg.c_str ()));
-      std::string value = arg.substr (colon + 1, std::string::npos);
 
-      if (validAttribute (name, value, conf))
+      // Tags begin with + or - and contain arbitrary text.
-        task.setAttribute (name, value);
+      else if (validTag (arg))
-    }
+      {
+        if (arg[0] == '+')
+          task.addTag (arg.substr (1, std::string::npos));
+        else if (arg[0] == '-')
+          task.addRemoveTag (arg.substr (1, std::string::npos));
+      }
 
-    // Substitution of description text.
+      // Attributes contain a constant string followed by a colon, followed by a
-    else if (validSubstitution (arg, from, to))
+      // value.
-    {
+      else if ((colon = arg.find (":")) != std::string::npos)
-      task.setSubstitution (from, to);
+      {
-    }
+        std::string name  = arg.substr (0, colon);
+        std::string value = arg.substr (colon + 1, std::string::npos);
 
-    // Command.
+        if (validAttribute (name, value, conf))
-    else if (command == "")
+          task.setAttribute (name, value);
-    {
+      }
-      if (!isCommand (arg))
+
+      // Substitution of description text.
+      else if (validSubstitution (arg, from, to))
+      {
+        task.setSubstitution (from, to);
+      }
+
+      // Command.
+      else if (command == "")
+      {
+        if (!isCommand (arg))
+          descCandidate += std::string (arg) + " ";
+        else if (validCommand (arg))
+          command = arg;
+      }
+
+      // Anything else is just considered description.
+      else
         descCandidate += std::string (arg) + " ";
-      else if (validCommand (arg))
-        command = arg;
     }
-
-    // Anything else is just considered description.
-    else
-      descCandidate += std::string (arg) + " ";
   }
 
   if (validDescription (descCandidate))

src/task.cpp

@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@
 #endif
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-void shortUsage (Config& conf)
+static void shortUsage (Config& conf)
 {
   Table table;
   int width = conf.get ("defaultwidth", 80);
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ void shortUsage (Config& conf)
 }
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-void longUsage (Config& conf)
+static void longUsage (Config& conf)
 {
   shortUsage (conf);
 
@@ -210,6 +210,7 @@ void longUsage (Config& conf)
     << "  due:               Due date"                                     << "\n"
     << "  fg:                Foreground color"                             << "\n"
     << "  bg:                Background color"                             << "\n"
+    << "  rc:                Alternate .taskrc file"                       << "\n"
     <<                                                                        "\n"
     << "Any command or attribute name may be abbreviated if still unique:" << "\n"
     << "  task list project:Home"                                          << "\n"
@@ -224,6 +225,32 @@ void longUsage (Config& conf)
     << std::endl;
 }
 
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+void loadConfFile (int argc, char** argv, Config& conf)
+{
+  for (int i = 1; i < argc; ++i)
+  {
+    if (! strncmp (argv[i], "rc:", 3))
+    {
+      if (! access (&(argv[i][3]), F_OK))
+      {
+        std::string file = &(argv[i][3]);
+        conf.load (file);
+        return;
+      }
+      else
+        throw std::string ("Could not read configuration file '") + &(argv[i][3]) + "'";
+    }
+  }
+
+  struct passwd* pw = getpwuid (getuid ());
+  if (!pw)
+    throw std::string ("Could not read home directory from passwd file.");
+
+  std::string file = pw->pw_dir;
+  conf.createDefault (file);
+}
+
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 int main (int argc, char** argv)
 {
@@ -242,13 +269,7 @@ int main (int argc, char** argv)
     // Load the config file from the home directory.  If the file cannot be
     // found, offer to create a sample one.
     Config conf;
-    struct passwd* pw = getpwuid (getuid ());
+    loadConfFile (argc, argv, conf);
-    if (!pw)
-      throw std::string ("Could not read home directory from passwd file.");
-
-    // Create a default config file and data directory if necessary.
-    std::string home = pw->pw_dir;
-    conf.createDefault (home);
 
     TDB tdb;
     tdb.dataDirectory (conf.get ("data.location"));