Re: gnus-registry flags API

[Ted Zlatanov <tzz@lifelogs.com>]

On Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:52:29 -0600 Ted Zlatanov <tzz@lifelogs.com> wrote: 

TZ> On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 15:56:36 -0600 Ted Zlatanov <tzz@lifelogs.com> wrote: 
TZ> Sure, but keep in mind the registry in its current form gets big
TZ> quickly.  It should probably be compressed, if not trimmed.  If it's
TZ> trimmed then you only have the latest anyhow (in my experience 50,000
TZ> entries cover 99% of my needs); if we decide to compress it that's extra
TZ> work but probably good for the user's disk space.
TZ> ...
TZ> Well, we get to two questions:

TZ> 1) do we push the registry on everyone?  If yes, then we should do 

TZ> (when (file-exists-p gnus-registry-cache-file)
TZ> (gnus-registry-initialize))

TZ> in gnus.el.  If not...

TZ> 2) when we notify the user, we should offer to turn
TZ> gnus-registry-enabled on, and in gnus.el we'll have

TZ> (when gnus-registry-enabled 
TZ> (gnus-registry-initialize))

TZ> Either approach is OK with me.  It really depends on how much everyone
TZ> likes the registry and wants it on by default.  IMO (2) is the better
TZ> approach but complicates the code since we have to do the enabled check
TZ> everywhere we offer user functionality.
TZ> ...
TZ> It will match an unanchored regular expression, so "^nntp" should do
TZ> it.  We could add a gnus-registry-ignored-methods, which by default is
TZ> ("nntp" "nnrss" "nndraft" "nnil") or something similar, and then match
TZ> on "^method:".  Let me know which one you like better, I have no
TZ> preference.

TZ> Any opinions on the three items above?

TZ> Labels are done, but I've called them 'marks' consistently.  Before I
TZ> had flags, labels, and marks.  It was not nice.  The label is always
TZ> just a symbol.

TZ> The mark functionality in gnus-registry.el uses process/prefix
TZ> correctly, I think.

TZ> gnus-registry-trim will always keep articles with marks and any other
TZ> extra symbols you put in gnus-registry-extra-entries-precious.

TZ> Please test and review if you have a chance.

I haven't heard back about these questions, so:

1)

Has anyone started using registry marks?  They work for me but let me
know if you have issues or questions.  Also a formatting function that
shows them in the modeline would be nice, but since there can be many
flags and little space I'm not sure what's the best way to display them.

Also, what keys should I bind to set custom flags in the group and
article buffers?

2)

If no one has objections, I'll set up the interactive query for registry
first-time use in gnus.el.  There will be three values for
gnus-registry-enabled:

nil: unknown, ask the user next time
t: enable
'no-thanks: user doesn't want it

Every user will have to answer it by default.  Is that a bad idea?  What
else can I do?

Ted