Protesilaos Stavrou

🏆 I provide private lessons on Emacs, Linux, and Life in general: https://protesilaos.com/coach/. Lessons continue throughout the year.

Emacs: denote version 1.2.0

Denote is a simple note-taking tool. It is based on the idea that notes should follow a predictable and descriptive file-naming scheme. The file name must offer a clear indication of what the note is about, without reference to any other metadata. Denote basically streamlines the creation of such files while providing facilities to link between them.

Below are the release notes.

Denote now requires Emacs version 28.1 or higher

With the help of Noboru Ota (nobiot), we realised that Denote was broken on Emacs 27 for quite a while. The fact that we received no feedback about it suggests that this change is the best course of action going forward. Discussion: https://lists.sr.ht/~protesilaos/denote/%3C86r0yvzm12.fsf%40nobiot.com%3E#%3C86sfja78ik.fsf@nobiot.com%3E

Emacs 27 lacks certain Xref facilities that we need for the backlinking facility. It was holding us back for no good reason, while also adding to the maintenance burden.

If you are using Denote on Emacs 27 and things are working for you, there is no need to update the package. Do it when you also upgrade Emacs to a newer version.

Display context in backlinks’ buffer

By default, the generic backlinks’ buffer, which can be displayed with the command denote-link-backlinks (alias denote-link-show-backlinks-buffer), only shows the file names of the linked notes.

We have made it possible to produce a more informative view by showing the context of the link and also listing all links per file. This is done by setting the user option denote-backlinks-show-context to a non-nil value.

To illustrate the difference, this is the default backlinks’ buffer:

Backlinks to "On being honest" (20220614T130812)
------------------------------------------------

20220614T145606--let-this-glance-become-a-stare__journal.txt
20220616T182958--feeling-butterflies-in-your-stomach__journal.txt

And this is the one with denote-backlinks-show-context enabled:

Backlinks to "On being honest" (20220614T130812)
------------------------------------------------

20220614T145606--let-this-glance-become-a-stare__journal.txt
37: growing into it: [[denote:20220614T130812][On being honest]].
64: As I said in [[denote:20220614T130812][On being honest]] I have never
20220616T182958--feeling-butterflies-in-your-stomach__journal.txt
62: indifference.  In [[denote:20220614T130812][On being honest]] I alluded

Granted, here we show plain text though in Emacs the results have the appropriate colours of the active theme and are easier to read.

Thanks to Noboru Ota (nobiot) for implementing this feature. We discussed it at length on the mailing list: https://lists.sr.ht/~protesilaos/denote/%3C86r0yvzm12.fsf%40nobiot.com%3E.

Noboru has assigned copyright to the Free Software Foundation.

Dynamic Org blocks for lists of Denote links

Denote now includes the denote-org-dblock library. Activate it thus:

;; Register Denote's Org dynamic blocks
(require 'denote-org-dblock)

A dynamic block gets its contents by evaluating a given function, depending on the type of block. The type of block and its parameters are stated in the opening #+BEGIN line of the block. Typing C-c C-c with point on that line runs the function, with the given arguments, and populates the block’s contents accordingly.

What Denote has is ways to write blocks that produce a list of links matching a given regular expression while conforming with some other parameters. The manual explains how to use this powerful feature (which is necessarily specific to the Org file type): https://protesilaos.com/emacs/denote#h:8b542c50-dcc9-4bca-8037-a36599b22779.

Thanks to Elias Storms for authoring denote-org-dblock and for discussing this issue at length with me on the mailing list: https://lists.sr.ht/~protesilaos/denote/%3Cm2sfisexx7.fsf%40MBA21.fritz.box%3E.

Elias has assigned copyright to the Free Software Foundation.

Integration with the built-in project.el and xref.el libraries

Denote was already using Xref internally but has now gained more capabilities which help it find files more effectively. With the help of Emacs’ standard project library, all file-related prompts (e.g. to add a link) search all items in the denote-directory regardless of whether the user is in a subdirectory or not.

All Denote commands benefit from this refactoring. One such request to “Make denote-open-or-create work better across subfolders” was made in issue 114 on the GitHub mirror: https://github.com/protesilaos/denote/issues/114.

Thanks to Noboru Ota (nobiot) for introducing this feature together with a new system of “modules” for incorporating additional built-in functionality:

I will not document the new user option denote-modules right now as my ongoing job search prevented me from exploring the full potential of this feature. I promise to do it for the next version of Denote and update the manual accordingly. Nevertheless, the doc string of denote-modules already provides all one needs to get started.

Re-use last input in “do or create” commands

The commands denote-open-or-create, denote-link-or-create first prompt for an existing note. If they find it, they act on it, otherwise they prompt for the creation of a new note to operate on.

At the first prompt, it is common to use regular expressions and out-of-order pattern matching (such as with the orderless package), so the input can be something like _test ^2022 some title, which we obviously don’t want to automatically reuse as the new note’s actual title.

To this end, and to accommodate all workflows, we leverage Emacs’ minibuffer history to make the last input accessible with M-p at the minibuffer prompt (M-x previous-history-element). The text is available for further editing before it is submitted as the new note’s title. Simple, effective, and flexible!

Thanks to Guo Yong for starting the discussion that led me to this improvement: https://lists.sr.ht/~protesilaos/denote/%3CNF6pFBq--3-9%40tutanota.com%3E.

Add support for any file type

Denote provides the user option denote-file-type which specifies the file type to use for new notes. Options include Org mode (the default), Markdown+YAML, Markdown+TOML, and plain text. Furthermore, there exists the convenience command denote-type (alias denote-create-note-using-type) which prompts for a file type to use when creating a new note (I normally write in plain text, but sometimes switch to Org or Markdown).

The variable denote-file-types (which is NOT a user option) specifies all the parameters of what a “file type” means, such as how to format its front matter, what style of date+time to use, which file type extension to write, how to rename the file, what style of link to apply, and so on. Advanced users can now edit this variable to either register new file types or redefine the behaviour of existing ones. Read this comprehensive guide on how to do it: https://protesilaos.com/codelog/2022-10-30-demo-denote-custom-file-type/.

I repeat: this is for advanced users or, anyhow, for those who are prepared to maintain some custom code in their setup. The guide is accessible though and I am always willing to help anyone in need of assistance.

A relevant request for such a feature can be found in issue 86 on the GitHub mirror: https://github.com/protesilaos/denote/issues/86.

The denote-file-types were introduced by Jean-Philippe Gagné Guay in pull request 89 at the GitHub mirror and were part of Denote version 0.6.0: https://github.com/protesilaos/denote/pull/89. I have made lots of changes since then to make all parts of Denote work with it and to parameterise its various facets.

Exclude certain directories from all operations

The user option denote-excluded-directories-regexp instructs all Denote functions that read or check file/directory names to omit directories that match the given regular expression. The regexp needs to match only the name of the directory, not its full path.

Affected operations include file prompts and functions that return the available files in the denote-directory. File prompts are used by several commands, such as denote-link and denote-subdirectory. Functions that check for files include denote-directory-files and denote-directory-subdirectories.

Thanks to Graham Marlow for the contribution which was done in pull request 112 on the GitHub mirror: https://github.com/protesilaos/denote/pull/112.

The original contribution, with the subsequent tweaks I made to it, is within the eligible line count and thus does not require copyright assignment to the Free Software Foundation.

Exclude certain keywords from being inferred

The user option denote-excluded-keywords-regexp omits keywords that match a regular expression from the list of inferred keywords.

Keywords are inferred from file names and provided at relevant prompts as completion candidates when the user option denote-infer-keywords is non-nil.

Thanks to Stefan Thesing for proposing this idea in issue 115 on the GitHub mirror: https://github.com/protesilaos/denote/issues/115.

[ Other people participate in that thread and there may be something more coming out of it. ]

Use the citar-denote package for bibliography notes

Peter Prevos has produced the citar-denote package which makes it possible to write notes on BibTeX entries with the help of the citar package. These notes have the citation’s unique key associated with them in the file’s front matter. They also get a configurable keyword in their file name, making it easy to find them in Dired and/or retrieve them with the various Denote methods.

With citar-denote, the user leverages standard minibuffer completion mechanisms (e.g. with the help of the vertico and embark packages) to manage bibliographic notes and access those notes with ease. The package’s documentation covers the details: https://github.com/pprevos/citar-denote/.

Thanks to Peter Prevos for developing this package and for mentioning it on the Denote mailing list: https://lists.sr.ht/~protesilaos/denote/%3C877cz0e96r.fsf%40prevos.net%3E.

New functions and variables for developers

Developers or users who maintain custom code now have access to:

  • Function denote-keywords-sort
  • Function denote-keywords-prompt

Plus all the following which are related to the aforementioned denote-file-types:

  • Variable denote-org-link-format
  • Variable denote-md-link-format
  • Variable denote-id-only-link-format
  • Variable denote-org-link-in-context-regexp
  • Variable denote-md-link-in-context-regexp
  • Variable denote-id-only-link-in-context-regexp
  • Function denote-date-org-timestamp
  • Function denote-date-rfc3339
  • Function denote-date-iso-8601

Again, users can implement support for ANY FILE TYPE and use it to write notes in, either as their default choice or on-demand. If anything, this highlights the flexibility of Denote.

Miscellaneous

  • Added the denote-keywords-sort function. The intent is to abstract the task of sorting the keywords. Before, it was handled by the denote-keywords-prompt, which meant that keywords were not sorted when the denote function was called from Lisp. Thanks to Florian for bringing this matter to my attention, providing relevant feedback, and fixing an omission of mine in denote-rename-file: https://lists.sr.ht/~protesilaos/denote/%3C166689879712.8.6808878344988686135.71824507%40aboulafia.org%3E.

  • Expanded the manual’s entry on directory “silos” to include more code examples. Thanks to Viktor Haag for asking a question on the mailing list that inspired me to produce this entry: https://lists.sr.ht/~protesilaos/denote/%3CCANnkwC6NLd0VneUEqFrjh7TCUBLBgEtLCcPwM37JDvJXJCShVQ%40mail.gmail.com%3E.

  • Included a section in the manual with a non-exhaustive list of references to publications about Denote. As of this writing, it includes entries from David Wilson (SystemCrafters), Jack Baty, Jeremy Friesen, and Peter Prevos. If you have an article about Denote, please contact me about it directly or on the Denote mailing list and I will add it to the manual.

  • Tweaked how Org’s HTML export produces links in order to avoid broken subdirectory paths. Thanks to Thibaut Benjamin for the contribution, which was done in pull request 116 on the GitHub mirror: https://github.com/protesilaos/denote/pull/116.

    The change concerns a single line and thus Thibaut requires no copyright assignment to the Free Software Foundation.

  • Expanded the manual where necessary.

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