X-Git-Url: https://thelambdalab.xyz/gitweb/index.cgi?p=elpher.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=elpher.texi;h=406dd8b2ef18e2c55aabda19d59b1ec2a825e468;hp=7229c9998324678055f736173601e4a6b4696628;hb=aff8a4eeb2bcd7a2b23f8d1480eadc020aa77361;hpb=b0582668d08172a2f17e016940dd745a76baa7b2 diff --git a/elpher.texi b/elpher.texi index 7229c99..406dd8b 100644 --- a/elpher.texi +++ b/elpher.texi @@ -1,17 +1,19 @@ \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*- @setfilename elpher.info -@settitle Elpher Manual v2.10.0 +@settitle Elpher Manual v3.1.0 @dircategory Emacs @direntry -* Elpher: (elpher). A gopher and gemini client for Emacs. +* Elpher: (elpher). A gopher and gemini client for Emacs. @end direntry @copying This manual documents Elpher, a gopher and gemini client for Emacs. -Copyright @copyright{} 2019, 2020 Tim Vaughan +Copyright @copyright{} 2019, 2020, 2021 Tim Vaughan@* +Copyright @copyright{} 2021 Daniel Semyonov@* +Copyright @copyright{} 2021 Alex Schroeder @quotation The source and documentation of Elpher is free software. You can @@ -42,12 +44,6 @@ the file COPYING in the same directory as this file for more details. @top Elpher @insertcopying -@end ifnottex - -@macro keycmd{key,cmd} -@item \key\ (@code{\cmd\}) -@findex \cmd\ -@end macro @menu * Introduction:: Elpher Overview: what's this all about? @@ -56,11 +52,15 @@ the file COPYING in the same directory as this file for more details. * Navigation:: Fundamentals of Elpher navigation * Bookmarks:: How to record and visit bookmarks * Gopher character encodings:: How Elpher selects encodings for gopher pages -* Encrypted gopher connections:: How and when TLS is enabled for gopher +* Encrypted gopher connections:: How and when TLS is enabled for gopher * Gemini support:: Support for the Gemini protocol * Finger support:: Support for the Finger protocol +* Local files:: Opening local files in elpher +* About pages:: Special pages and how to reference them * Customization:: How to customize various aspects of Elpher * Command Index:: +* News:: Changes introduced by major releases +* Acknowledgements:: Contributors to Elpher @detailmenu --- The Detailed Node Listing --- @@ -74,6 +74,13 @@ Navigation @end detailmenu @end menu +@end ifnottex + +@macro keycmd{key,cmd} +@item \key\ (@code{\cmd\}) +@findex \cmd\ +@end macro + @node Introduction, Installation, Top, Top @chapter Introduction @@ -98,9 +105,6 @@ auto-completing menu item navigation, direct visualization of image files where supported (no writing to disk), -@item -a bookmark management system, - @item basic support for the new ``heavier than gopher, lighter than the web'' Gemini protocol, @@ -134,10 +138,10 @@ to follow the instructions at @url{https://melpa.org/#/getting-started}. @kbd{M-x package-delete @key{RET} elpher @key{RET}}. @end example -While not recommended, it is also possible to install Elpher directly by -downloading the file @file{elpher.el} from -@url{gopher://thelambdalab.xyz/1/projects/elpher/}, adding it to a directory in -your @code{load-path}, and then adding +It is also possible to install Elpher directly by downloading the file +@file{elpher.el} from @url{gopher://thelambdalab.xyz/1/projects/elpher} +(you'll need to download the ``source archive'' and extract it), adding +it to a directory in your @code{load-path}, and then adding @example (require 'elpher) @@ -183,17 +187,24 @@ rather than stick with the cached version. To do this use @key{R}. (This is particularly useful for search query results, where this allows you to perform a different search.) -That's more-or-less it. Elpher supports a number of other features, such -as bookmarking, support for different coding schemes and TLS encryption, -and a variety of customization options, all of which are explained in -the rest of this document. However the emphasis is on keeping the basic +That's more-or-less it. Elpher supports a number of other features, +such a support for different coding schemes and TLS encryption, and a +variety of customization options, all of which are explained in the +rest of this document. However the emphasis is on keeping the basic navigation experience as intuitive and responsive as possible. +Note that you can launch multiple Elpher sessions in parallel by using +a prefix: + +@example +@kbd{C-u M-x elpher @key{RET}} +@end example + @node Navigation, Bookmarks, Quick Start, Top @chapter Navigation Throughout this manual, we use the word ``page'' to refer to any visualization of a response from a gopher or gemini server, be it a -menu/directory, query result, text file or image. We use +menu/directory, query result, text file or image. Elpher's navigation interface is inspired by the Emacs Info mode. Movement within a page is essentially the same as moving @@ -223,7 +234,8 @@ links and menu items. @keycmd{@key{TAB}, elpher-next-link} Move to the next link or menu item in the file. -@keycmd{@kbd{Shift-@key{TAB}}/@key{backtab}, @code{elpher-prev-link}} +@item @kbd{Shift-@key{TAB}} or @key{BACKTAB} (@code{elpher-prev-link}) +@findex elpher-prev-link Move to the previous link or menu item in the file. @keycmd{@key{m}, elpher-jump} @@ -232,6 +244,7 @@ or link text. (Unlike the previous two commands, this immediately opens the selected link. @end table + The following commands can be used to retrieve information about the current page, or the address of the link at point: @@ -272,7 +285,7 @@ Moving to a different page can be accomplished in several ways, described by the following command: @table @asis -@keycmd{@key{RET}\, @kbd{mouse-1}, elpher-follow-link} +@keycmd{@key{RET}\, @key{mouse-1}, elpher-follow-link} Follow the menu item or link at point (or selected with the mouse). Exactly what is meant by ``follow'' depends on the kind of item selected: @@ -308,8 +321,9 @@ Once a text, menu or query response page has been displayed, its contents are cached for the duration of the Emacs session. @keycmd{@key{g}, elpher-go} -Open a particular page by specifying either its full URL or just entering -a gopher host name. (The protocol defaults to gopher, so gemini links must include the @code{gemini://} prefix. +Open a particular page by specifying either its full URL or just +entering a gopher host name. (The protocol defaults to gopher, so gemini +links must include the @code{gemini://} prefix. If a unsupported protocol is used in the URL the result will be the same as following a URL link of the same type from a link in a page. @@ -325,7 +339,7 @@ structure of selectors. @keycmd{@key{O}, elpher-root-dir} Open the root page (empty selector) on the current host. -@keycmd{@key{u}\, @kbd{mouse-3}, elpher-back} +@keycmd{@key{u}\, @key{-}\, @key{^}\, @key{mouse-3}, elpher-back} Return to the previous page, where ``previous'' means the page where the page which was displayed immediately before the current page. @end table @@ -367,12 +381,26 @@ this will be automatically positioned on the link that was most recently followe from a given page. This means that, at least for links followed from menus and text files, the inverse of @key{u} is actually just @key{RET}. +Elpher actually maintains two histories, and there are two different +commands to access them: + +@table @asis +@keycmd{@key{s}, elpher-show-history} +This shows the history of the current buffer. This shows all the links +you would visit if you were to use @key{u} again and again. + +@keycmd{@key{S}, elpher-show-visited-pages} +This shows the entire Elpher browsing history. It includes all the +pages you visited in your current Emacs session. + +@end table @node Bookmarks, Gopher character encodings, Navigation, Top @chapter Bookmarks -Elpher has a very simple link bookmarking system involving the -following commands: +Elpher makes use of standard Emacs bookmarks. +@xref{Bookmarks, , , emacs, The Emacs Editor}. +The following commands are used to add new bookmarks: @table @asis @keycmd{@key{a}, elpher-bookmark-link} @@ -384,25 +412,37 @@ Add a bookmark for the current page. The minibuffer will prompt for a name for the bookmark, defaulting to the display string associated with the link that was followed to reach the current page. -@keycmd{@key{x}, elpher-unbookmark-link} -Immediately remove the bookmark (if one exists) to the link at point. -@keycmd{@key{X}, elpher-unbookmark-current} -Immediately remove the bookmark (if one exists) to the current page. +@keycmd{@key{B}, elpher-open-bookmarks} +Visit a page displaying all elpher bookmarks. +The behaviour of the this function depends on the customization variable +@code{elpher-use-emacs-bookmark-menu}. If nil (the default), the +command will visit a special elpher page listing all elpher-specific +bookmarks. If non-nil, the command will simply open the standard Emacs +bookmark list displaying all current bookmarks (including non-elpher +bookmarks). + +@keycmd{@kbd{C-x r l}, bookmark-bmenu-list} +This command opens the standard Emacs bookmark menu, with which bookmarks +can be renamed, deleted or annotated. -@keycmd{@key{B}, elpher-bookmarks} -Open a page displaying all current bookmarks. Note that this bookmark -page is added to the history just as if you had opened it using a link. -Thus to return to the previous page, use @kbd{u}. This also means -that you can peruse the various bookmarks by visiting them in turn, -using @kbd{u} to return to the bookmark page (where the position of point -is cached), then moving to another bookmarked link and so on. @end table -Bookmarks are stored as a s-exp in the file @file{elpher-bookmarks} -in the user emacs directory (usually @file{~/.emacs.d/}). -Any command which modifies the list of bookmarks immediately updates -this file. +On opening the bookmarks page, elpher will offer to import any legacy +(2.x) bookmarks files into the new system. Once the import is complete, +the original bookmarks file will have ``-legacy'' appended to it, so +so that elpher knows not to import it again. + +If you have any other legacy bookmark files (besides the one in the +original location, or specified in the @code{elpher-bookmarks-file} +customization variable, which should be automatically detected), you can +can import these using + +@example +@kbd{M-x elpher-bookmark-import @key{RET}} +@end example + +Once this is done, you may delete these legacy bookmarks files. @node Gopher character encodings, Encrypted gopher connections, Bookmarks, Top @chapter Gopher character encodings @@ -415,8 +455,8 @@ characters. To do this properly requires knowledge of the encoding system used by whoever authored the document. Unfortunately gopher lacks a systematic way of acquiring this necessary -information. Thus, the details of the coding system must be either inferred from the binary data, -or must be specified by the user. +information. Thus, the details of the coding system must be either +inferred from the binary data, or must be specified by the user. By default, Elpher applies Emacs' built-in character encoding detection system to the full (undecoded) response data and uses this to attempt to @@ -430,7 +470,7 @@ The alternative is to explicitly set the coding system used for decoding using the following command: @table @asis -@keycmd{@key{S},elpher-set-coding-system} +@keycmd{@key{!},elpher-set-coding-system} Causes a elpher to prompt for a coding system to use for decoding future gopher text. The @key{TAB} key can be used at this prompt to display a list of alternatives (which is extensive) and to auto-complete. An empty @@ -591,7 +631,7 @@ certificate file pair are erased from memory. Furthermore, in the case of throw-away certificates, the corresponding files are deleted. -@node Finger support, Customization, Gemini support, Top +@node Finger support, Local files, Gemini support, Top @chapter Finger support Incidentally, Elpher has native support for querying finger servers. @@ -624,7 +664,62 @@ Thus @code{finger://user@@hostname} and @code{finger://hostname/user} are both e (The precedence of the /user notation over the user@ notation reflects a preference of the community.) -@node Customization, Command Index, Finger support, Top +@node Local files, About pages, Finger support, Top +@chapter Local files + +Elpher supports opening local files via @samp{file:} URLs. + +For instance, pressing @key{g} and entering @code{file:~/document.gmi} +will load the file named @samp{document.gmi} in your home directory, +provided this file exists. + +Files opened in this way are rendered according to their name, and in +particular their extension. The current mappings are as follows: + +@table @asis + +@item @samp{txt} + +Plain text documents. All local text files are assumed to be +UTF-8-encoded. + +@item @samp{gemini},@samp{gmi} + +Gemini documents (i.e. documents of MIME type ``text/gemini''). All +local gemini files are assumed to be UTF-8-encoded. + +@item @samp{html},@samp{htm} + +HTML documents. All local HTML files are assumed to be UTF-8-encoded. + +@item @samp{png},@samp{jpg},@samp{jpeg},@samp{gif},@samp{bmp},@samp{tif},@samp{tiff} + +Image files. + +@item Anything else +A binary document, which elpher will simply offer to save somewhere +else. (Obviously this is not useful in its own right, but there's not +much that elpher can sensibly do with unknown binary files.) + +@end table + +Sadly, due to particulars of the format, gophermap files (i.e. files +containing literally the intended output of querying a directory +selector according to RFC 1436) cannot be rendered using @samp{file:}. + + +@node About pages, Customization, Local files, Top +@chapter About pages + +Like other browsers, elpher makes certain internally-generated pages +such as the initial welcome page, the bookmarks page, the history +stack and the list of visited pages pages accessible as URLs with +the ``about:'' type. + +This means that these pages can be bookmarked and, more usefully, +added to a local file to be rendered as a user-defined start page. + +@node Customization, Command Index, About pages, Top @chapter Customization Various parts of Elpher can be customized via the @@ -644,11 +739,149 @@ to display buffer headers, how to deal with ANSI escape sequences in text, the timeout to impose on network connections, and whether to prompt for confirmation when switching away from TLS. +One particularly important customization is the @code{elpher-start-page} +variable, which holds the URL of the page displayed initially when +elpher starts, and when @key{U} is pressed. By default this is set to +@samp{about:welcome}, but any URL can be substituted. For example, you +might want to create a text/gemini file named +@samp{~/.emacs/start-page.gmi} containing useful links and set the value +of @code{elpher-start-page} to @samp{file:~/.emacs/start-page.gmi} to have +these links displayed at startup. Alternatively, you might prefer +to set the value to @samp{about:bookmarks} so that the bookmarks page +is used as the start page instead. + See the customization group itself for details. -@node Command Index, , Customization, Top +@node Command Index, News, Customization, Top @unnumbered Command Index @printindex fn +@node News, Acknowledgements, Command Index, Top +@chapter News + +This chapter documents the major changes introduced by Elpher releases. + +@section v3.2.0 + +This version introduces several minor changes which, together, make it +possible to set up alternative start pages configured to your liking. + +@subsection About pages + +Special elpher pages such as the welcome page (previously ``start'' +page), the bookmarks page, the browsing history stack and list of +visited pages are now addressible via @samp{about:} URLs. For instance, +the standard welcome page has the address @samp{about:welcome}. + +@subsection Local files + +Local files can now be opened in elpher using @samp{file:} URLs. For +example, @kbd{g @samp{file:~/my-start.gmi}} will open +@samp{~/my-start.gmi} as a text/gemini document. @pxref{Local files} +for details. + +@subsection Customizable start pages + +The new customization variable @code{elpher-start-page} contains the URL +of the document to be loaded as elpher's ``start page''. By default +this is set to @samp{about:welcome}, but any elpher-accessible URL is +valid. @pxref{Customization} for suggestions. + +@section v3.1.0 + +@subsection Bookmarks system + +While Elpher bookmarks are still handled by the Emacs bookmark +system, this release introduces the option to retain the +original elpher bookmark page for the purpose of visiting those +bookmarks. In v3.1.0, @key{B} visits this page (and adds it to +the history stack, as in previous versions), which can be interacted +with using the standard elpher key bindings. + +Of course you can still view the bookmarks in the Emacs bookmark +menu, which you can access from anywhere using the default +binding @kbd{C-x r l} (or by following the link from the Elpher bookmarks +page). Indeed you will need to use this to rename, delete or otherwise +edit your bookmarks. + +If you prefer to avoid using the Elpher bookmark page entirely, you +use the customization variable @code{elpher-use-emacs-bookmark-menu} +to have the @key{B} key open the Emacs bookmark menu directly, as in +the previous release. + +@section v3.0.0 + +@subsection Bookmarks system + +Bookmarks are now handled by Emacs' own bookmark management system, +instead of Elpher's own system. +(For details, @xref{Bookmarks, , , emacs, The Emacs Editor}.) +This means two things. Firstly, +the bookmarks file (elpher-bookmarks by default) and format used by +previous versions are now deprecated. If these are detected, Elpher +will offer to import your old bookmarks when you first accessing the +bookmark list with the new version. A suffix will be added to your +old bookmarks file so that Elpher knows that the import is complete. + +Secondly, the old Elpher bookmark menu has been removed in the new +version. Instead, @key{B} brings up the menu provided by the Emacs +function @code{bookmark-bmenu-list}. This has different key and mouse +bindings to Elpher's old menu, but is much more functional. Bookmarks +can be renamed, deleted in groups, and much more. (Use @kbd{C-h m} with +the menu open to see the complete list.) + +@subsection History + +Browsing history can now be accessed via new bindings to @key{s} and @key{S}. +The former shows the current history ``stack'' (pages accessible with +the @key{u} key), while the latter shows a list of all pages which have +been visited in the current session. + +@subsection Socks connections + +Elpher can now use socks connections to browse via TOR. + +@subsection browse-url, Org and mu4e integration + +These integrations provide support for elpher-handling of gemini, gopher +and finger URLs using @code{browse-url}, in Org documents, and the mu4e +mail system. + +@subsection imenu integration + +Gemini document headers are now navigable via imenu. +For details, @xref{Imenu, , , emacs, The Emacs Editor}. + +@node Acknowledgements, , News, Top +@chapter Acknowledgements + +Elpher was originally written by Tim Vaughan. Recent maintenance has +been done by and with the help of Alex Schroeder. In addition, the +following people (in alphabetical order) have generously provided +assistance and/or patches: + +@itemize +@item Alexis +@item Christopher Brannon +@item Zhiwei Chen +@item condy0919 +@item Étienne Deparis +@item Roy Koushik +@item Simon Nicolussi +@item Noodles! +@item Jens Östlund +@item Abhiseck Paira +@item F. Jason Park +@item Omar Polo +@item Koushk Roy +@item Michel Alexandre Salim +@item Alex Schroeder +@item Daniel Semyonov +@item Simon South +@item Bradley Thornton +@item Vee +@end itemize + + @bye