Notes on Free Software-based calendaringWhy I love pcal
I have recently switched to using pcal to manage my personal and work schedules, and am very pleased with the results. I used a Palm Pilot for years but it was difficult to interface with gnu/linux (at that time) and all my calendar and schedule data was in the palm's proprietary format. I switched to simple text files for a while, but missed the graphical display of a calendar.
With pcal, I feel like I have the best of both worlds. I maintain the calendar electronically, benefitting from fast input, clear organization, and safe backup. I carry a printed version, meaning I always have my calendar with me, using it doesn't require batteries (only a pen or pencil), and it's not a big deal if I misplace it.
pcal produces very simple, clear calendars that I enjoy using. And because pcal's .calendar file is a simple text file, it is viewable on any system, and through simple ssh, and is compatible with standard unix utilities.
There are two scripts that I use alongside pcal. One sends me daily emails containing that day's and upcoming events. The second is a script that automates the things I do often with pcal, namely --- generating a personal and a group calendar, viewing, printing, emailing the calendars to people, uploading the group calendar to a web server, etc.
Here is Kris' description of the operation of the script:
The following bash script can be put in a cron job to parse a pcal .calendar file once a day (mine does it at 4am) and send an email containing the today's, tomorrow's, and one week from today's events. An example email from the script:
TODAY'S EVENTS (Sep 30, 2007):
30/09/07 Hiro's parents leave?
TOMORROW'S EVENTS (Oct 01, 2007):
01/10/07 11:30-18 Work at JACCC ticket office
ONE WEEK FROM TODAY (Oct 07, 2007):
07/10/07 Jason lesson at practice space
07/10/07 Maz to go to Japan?
07/10/07 Shoj out with HiroshimaI have this script saved as my_daily_reminder_script.sh in my /usr/local/bin directory. Note that the permissions must allow the program to be executed (I ran "chmod 750 /usr/local/bin/my_daily_reminder_script.sh" and "chown <username> /usr/local/bin/my_daily_reminder_script.sh" as root.)
Test the script by running it. Make sure there are entries for today, tomorrow, and one week from today in your .calendar file so the three searches performed in the script will all return something. If the script is working properly, you should receive an email containing the events.
Once the script appears to be working properly, put an entry in crontab (crontab -e) to run the script at a set time every day. Mine runs the script at 4am and looks like this:
xuxa@chappa:/tmp$ crontab -l
00 4 * * * /usr/local/bin/my_daily_reminder_script.shThat should do it! Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions. kris at k--b <.> org
Here is Kris' description of the operation of the script:
I'm in a band and am responsible for the band's schedule. I'm using pcal and a simple script to keep the members up to date with the group's performance schedule.The script generates a calendar of the band's gigs, uploads it to our web server, and alerts the members that a new version is available. The script sends an email to all the members (and our agent) that includes the dates that have changed since the last update. Members use these updates to keep their personal calendars (both electronic and hand-written in our case) up to date.
Group-relevant entries in the .calendar file include a searchable tag ("ON", for On Ensemble, in our case). The script first pulls out the tagged entries (with grep) and then uses pcal to generate the group's calendar.
Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions! kris at k--b <.> org