SNose - Simplenote Object Synchronisation (Explicit)

A command line client / python script using the Simplenote.py module from mrtazz (Daniel Schauenberg) that allows you to synchronise just the (text) files you specify within a directory across multiple machines.

FAQ

1. You thought of the name "snose" first and then tried to wangle in something to make it an acronym, didn't you? Yes.

Inspiration

Basically I wanted a way to synchronise arbitrary "dotfiles" without the "expense" of a Git repository:

• Git seems a bit overkill
• I'm not really bothered about versioning, just synchronisation
• I just want to synchronise some files within a directory, not all of them (just imagine the .gitignore!)

How to use

Will probably work in Python 2 and 3 (and was initially developed under Python 2), but I've taken to using 3 as much as I can day to day so I won't be catching bugs for 2.

In general - Authentication

Probably the best way is to store your credentials in .netrc with a machine of host "simple-note.appspot.com" and using the login and password entries. But you can also provide the username and password on the command line like so:

python snose.py --username=me@email.com --password=mypassword

A token based approach would be nice, but for that I'd need to modify simplenote.py.

Snort - Importing a new file

Take a file from the current directory and import into Simplenote as a new note:

python snose.py --username=<me@email.com> --password=<mypassword> --snort --file=<filename.ext>

Note that snose works with with files in subdirectories as well, etc. The only issue I could see there would be cross-platform. I.e. path differences between Windows and *Nix.

Sniff - Importing an existing file

Take a file from the current directory and "match" it to an existing note within Simplenote

python snose.py  --username=<me@email.com> --password=<mypassword> --sniff=<key> --file=<filename.ext>

Where key is the id used by Simplenote to identify the note. So the best way to find this is to make sure the noted is tagged as "snose" in Simplenote and then you can use snose.py --snot to find the key.

Sneeze - Export an existing file

Export a file from Simplenote to the current directory.

python snose.py  --username=<me@email.com> --password=<mypassword> --sneeze=<key> --file=<filename.ext>

Alternatively Snose can try to be clever: If you have file:filename.txt in the first three lines of the file (in a comment, etc) then you can do:

python snose.py  --username=<me@email.com> --password=<mypassword> --sneeze=<key>

And it'll try and figure out the filename it should be exported as.

Sync - Synchronise files

Reads files in the .snose index file and synchronises them with Simplenote.

python snose.py  --username=<me@email.com> --password=<mypassword> --sync

You can pass the optional --hanky flag at the same time to perform a dry run; although the dry run can't indicate when merging will occur, only the ultimate direction of the update.

python snose.py  --username=<me@email.com> --password=<mypassword> --sync --hanky

Snot - List files available for synchronisation with SNose

Lists all files on Simplenote tagged "snose":

python snose.py  --username=<me@email.com> --password=<mypassword> --snot

I could do with making this also list what is currently being synchronised based on the index. To make this most useful I suggest including the name of the file as a comment in the first line of the file. It's pretty slow.

Blow - Rollback to the previous version of a note

(Yeah, the command names are getting a bit rubbish now)

Rolls back a note both locally and remotely to the previous version.

python snose.py --username=<me@email.com> --password=<mypassword> --blow=<key>

The blow command requires Simplenote.py to be at this commit at least.

How it works

It's really quite simple (after all, I've done it), basically it creates a .snose file in the current directory that is json formatted. This is basically a Python dictionary that maps a filename (from the current directory) to a simplenote note (via the key) and also includes other simplenote data such as the modification date, version number and sync number (so it can figure out how to sync).

It then just implements the Simplenote recommendation from the api:

1. Iterates through each file stored in the .snose index.
2. First of all looks for local modifications (compares modification date of the file with what is stored in the index).
3. Then attempts to update the remote version on Simplenote, but will merge the content if the remote has also changed. If merging occurs both the local and remote are updated.
4. Then checks for remote updates by comparing version numbers and updates local copies if necessary.

To Do

• Files in subdirectories, what happens there? I've just assumed all files in same directory as index They work just fine! However, robust cross-platform support would be nice to handle/interpret file path differences between platforms.
• Using tags to contain filename: "filename:pants.txt" Some potential character limitations though? But an interesting idea for meta data. - I went for pulling it from a commented line in the file instead.
• Add ability to "snort" multiple files
• List files currently being synchronised (read the .snose index). The --snot lists files tagged snose on Simplenote and the two might not necessarily be the same (i.e you've chose to sync some files on one machine and a different set on another).
• Write updated index file once after sync, instead of writing for each file change (although writing per file does have it's advantage from an error handling point of view)