path: root/doc/manual.txt

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////

CALCURSE - text-based organizer
===============================

Abstract
--------

This manual describes `calcurse` functionnalities, and how to use them. The
installation from source is first described, together with the available
command line arguments. The user interface is then presented, with all of the
customizable options that change `calcurse` behavior. Last, bug reporting
procedure is explained, as well as the way one can contribute to `calcurse`
development.

Introduction
------------

`calcurse` is a text-based calendar and scheduling application. It helps
keeping track of events, appointments and everyday tasks.  A configurable
notification system reminds user of upcoming deadlines, and the curses based
interface can be customized to suit user needs.  All of the commands are
documented within an online help system.

Overview
--------

Creation history
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I started thinking about this project when I was finishing my Ph.D.  in
Astrophysics... It started to be a little hard to organize myself, and I really
needed a good tool to help me in that difficult task ;)

I like programs which use Text User Interfaces, because they are simple, fast,
portable and efficient, so I thought about working on coding a simple calendar
using such an interface.  Moreover, I wanted to go on learning the `C`
language, which I only used for a while during my undergraduate studies. So I
thought that would be the good project to start in order to get organized and
to learn about a few `C` things !

Unfortunately, I finished my Ph.D. before finishing `calcurse`, but anyway, I
still wanted to work on it, hoping it would be helpful to other people.  So
here it is...

But why _calcurse_ anyway ?  Well, it is simply the concatenation of _CALendar_
and _nCURSEs_, the name of the library used to build the user interface.

Important features
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

`Calcurse` is multi-platform and intended to be lightweight, fast and reliable.
It is to be used inside a console or terminal, locally or on a distant machine
within an ssh (or similar) connection.

`Calcurse` can be run in two different modes : interactive or non-interactive
mode. The first mode allows oneself to view its own personal organizer almost
everywhere, thanks to the text-based interface.  The second mode permits to
easily build reminders just by adding `calcurse` with appropriate command line
arguments inside a cron tab or within a shell init script.

Moreover, `calcurse` was created with the end-user in mind, and tends to be as
friendly as possible. This means a complete on-line help system, together with
having all of the possible actions displayed at any time inside a status bar.
The user interface is configurable, and one can choose between several color
and layout combinations.  Key bindings are also configurable, to fit everyone's
needs.  Last, a configurable notification system reminds user of upcoming
appointments. The reminders are sent even if the user's interface is not
running, as calcurse is able to run in background.

Installation
------------

Requirements
~~~~~~~~~~~~

ncurses library
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

`Calcurse` requires only a `C` compiler, such as `cc` or `gcc`, and the
`ncurses` library.  It would be very surprising not to have a valid `ncurses`
library already installed on your computer, but if not, you can find it at the
following url: http://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses/

NOTE: It is also possible to link `calcurse` against the `ncursesw` library
      (ncurses with support for unicode).

[[install_requirements_gettext]]
gettext library
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

`calcurse` supports internationalization (*i18n* hereafter) through the
`gettext` utilities. This means `calcurse` can produce multi-lingual messages
if compiled with native language support (i.e. *NLS*).

However, *NLS* is optionnal and if you do not want to have support for
multi-lingual messages, you can disable this feature.  This is done by giving
the `--disable-nls` option to `configure` (see section
<<install_process,Install process>>).  To check if the `gettext` utilities are
installed on your system, you can search for the `libintl.h` header file for
instance:

----
$ locate libintl.h
----

If this header file is not found, then you can obtain the `gettext` sources at
the following url : http://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/gettext/

NOTE: Even if `libintl.h` is found on your system, it can be wise to specify
      its location during the <<install_process,install process>>, by using the
      `--with-libintl-prefix` option with `configure`. Indeed, the `configure`
      could fail to locate this library if installed in an uncommon place.

[[install_process]]
Install process
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First you need to gunzip and untar the source archive:

----
$ tar zxvf calcurse-2.9.0.tar.gz
----

Once you meet the requirements and have extracted the archive, the install
process is quite simple, and follows the standard three steps process:

----
$ ./configure
$ make
$ make install    # (may require root privilege)
----

Use `./configure --help` to obtain a list of possible options.

calcurse basics
---------------

Invocation
~~~~~~~~~~

[[basics_invocation_commandline]]
Command line arguments
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

`calcurse` takes the following options from the command line (both short and
long options are supported):

`-a, --appointment`::
  Print the appointments and events for the current day and exit.  The calendar
  from which to read the  appointments can be specified using the `-c` flag.

`-c <file>, --calendar <file>`::
  Specify the calendar file to use.  The default  calendar is
  `~/.calcurse/apts` (see section <<basics_files,calcurse files>>).

`-d <date|num>, --day <date|num>`::
  Print the appointments for the given date  or  for  the given  number  of
  upcoming days, depending on the argument format. Two possible formats are
  supported:
+
--
  * a date (possible formats described below).
  * a number `n`.
--
+
In the first  case,  the  appointment  list  for  the specified  date will be
returned, while in the second case the appointment list for the `n`  upcoming
days will be returned.  As an example, typing `calcurse -d  3`  will  display
your  appointments  for  today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow.  Possible
formats for specifying the date are defined inside the general configuration
menu (see <<options_general,General options>>), using the
`input_datefmt` variable.
+
Note: as for the `-a` flag, the calendar  from which to  read  the appointments
can be specified using the `-c` flag.

`-D <dir>, --directory <dir>`::
  Specify  the  data directory to use. This option is incompatible  with  -c.
  If  not  specified,   the default directory is `~/.calcurse/`.

`-h, --help`::
  Print  a  short  help  text  describing  the  supported command-line options,
  and exit.

`-i <file>, --import <file>`::
  Import the icalendar data contained in `file`.

`-n, --next`::
  Print the next appointment within upcoming 24 hours and exit.  The indicated
  time is the number of hours and minutes left before this appointment.
+
Note: the calendar from which to read the appointments can be specified using
the `-c` flag.

`-N, --note`::
  When used with the `-a` or `-t` flag, also print note content if one is
  associated with the displayed item.

`-r[num], --range[=num]`::
  Print events and appointments for the num number of days and exit. If no num
  is given, a range of 1 day is considered.

`-s[date], --startday[=date]`::
  Print  events  and appointments from date and exit.  If no date is given, the
  current day is considered.

`-S<regex>, --search=<regex>`::
  When used with the `-a`, `-d`, `-r`, `-s`, or `-t` flag, print only the items
  having a description that matches the given regular expression.

`--status`::
  Display  the  status of running instances of calcurse. If calcurse is
  running, this will tell  if  the  interactive mode  was  launched  or  if
  calcurse is running in background.  The process pid will also be indicated.

`-t[num], --todo[=num]`::
  Print the `todo` list and exit. If the optional number `num` is given, then
  only todos having a priority equal to `num` will be returned. The priority
  number must be between 1 (highest) and 9 (lowest). It is also possible to
  specify `0` for the priority, in which case only completed tasks will be
  shown.

`-v, --version`::
  Display `calcurse` version and exit.

`-x[format], --export[=format]`::
  Export user data to specified format. Events, appointments and todos are
  converted and echoed to stdout.  Two possible formats are available: ical and
  pcal (see section <<links_others,Links>> below).  If the optional
  argument `format` is not given, ical format is selected by default.
+
Note: redirect standard output to export data to a file, by issuing a command
such as:
+
----
$ calcurse --export > my_data.dat
----

[[basics_invocation_variable]]
Environment variable for i18n
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

`calcurse` can be compiled with native language support (see
<<install_requirements_gettext,gettext library>>). Thus, if you wish to have
messages displayed into your native language, first make sure it is available
by looking at the `po/LINGUAS` file.  This file indicates the set of available
languages by showing the two-letters corresponding code (for exemple, *fr*
stands for french).  If you do not find your language, it would be greatly
appreciated if you could help translating `calcurse` (see the <<contribute,How
to contribute?>> section).

If your language is available, run `calcurse` with the following command:

----
$ LC_ALL=fr_FR calcurse
----

... where *fr_FR* is the locale name in this exemple, but should be replaced by
the locale corresponding to the desired language.

You should also specify the charset to be used, because in some cases the
accents and such are not displayed correctly.  This charset is indicated at the
beginning of the po file corresponding to the desired language. For instance,
you can see in the fr.po file that it uses the iso-8859-1 charset, so you could
run `calcurse` using the following command:

----
$ LC_ALL=fr_FR.ISO8859-1 calcurse
----

Other environment variables
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The following environment variables affect the way `calcurse` operates:

`VISUAL`::
  Specifies the external editor to use for writing notes.

`EDITOR`::
  If the `VISUAL` environment variable is not set, then `EDITOR` will be used
  as the default external editor. If none of those variables are set, then
  `/usr/bin/vi` is used instead.

`PAGER`::
  Specifies the default viewer to be used for reading notes.  If this variable
  is not set, then `/usr/bin/less` is used.

User interface
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Non-interactive mode
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

When called with at least one of the following arguments: `-a`, `-d`, `-h`,
`-n`, `-t`, `-v`, `-x`, `calcurse` is started in non-interactive mode.  This
means the desired information will be displayed, and after that, `calcurse`
simply quits and you are driven back to the shell prompt.

That way, one can add a line such as `calcurse --todo --appointment` in its
init config file to display at logon the list of tasks and appointments
scheduled for the current day.

[[basics_interface_interactive]]
Interactive mode
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

NOTE: Key bindings that are indicated in this manual correspond to the default
      ones, defined when `calcurse` is launched for the first time. If those
      key bindings do not suit user's needs, it is possible to change them
      within the keys configuration menu (see <<options_keys,key bindings>>).

When called without any argument or only with the `-c` option, `calcurse` is
started in interactive mode. In this mode, you are shown an interface
containing three different panels which you can browse using the `TAB` key,
plus a notification bar and a status bar (see figure below).

----
 appointment panel---.                                   .---calendar panel
                     |                                   |
                     v                                   v
 +------------------------------------++----------------------------+
 |          Appointments              ||          Calendar          |
 |------------------------------------||----------------------------|
 |                 (|)  April 6, 2006 ||         April 2006         |
 |                                    ||Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun |
 |                                    ||                      1   2 |
 |                                    ||  3   4   5   6   7   8   9 |
 |                                    || 10  11  12  13  14  15  16 |
 |                                    || 17  18  19  20  21  22  23 |
 |                                    || 24  25  26  27  28  29  30 |
 |                                    ||                            |
 |                                    |+----------------------------+
 |                                    |+----------------------------+
 |                                    ||            ToDo            | todo
 |                                    ||----------------------------| panel
 |                                    ||                            |   |
 |                                    ||                            |   |
 |                                    ||                            |<--.
 |                                    ||                            |
 +------------------------------------++----------------------------+
 |---[ Mon 2006-11-22 | 10:11:43 ]---(apts)----> 01:20 :: lunch <---|<--.
 +------------------------------------------------------------------+ notify-bar
 | ? Help     R Redraw    H/L -/+1 Day      G GoTo       C Config   |
 | Q Quit     S Save      J/K -/+1 Week   Tab Chg View              |<-.
 +------------------------------------------------------------------+  |
                                                                       |
                                                                 status bar
----

The first panel represents a calendar which allows to highlight a particular
day, the second one contains the list of the events and appointments on that
day, and the last one contains a list of tasks to do but which are not assigned
to any specific day.

Depending on the selected view, the calendar could either display a monthly
(default as shown in previous figure) or weekly view.  The weekly view would
look like the following:

----
+------------------------------------+
|              Calendar              |
|----------------------------(# 13)--|
|    Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun     |
|     29  30  31  01  02  03  04     |
|                               <----+--  slice 1: 00:00 to 04:00 AM
|       --  --  --  --  --  --       |
|                               <----+--  slice 2: 04:00 to 08:00 AM
|       --  --  --  --  --  --       |
|                               <----+--  slice 3: 08:00 to 12:00 AM
|    -  --  --  --  --  --  --  -  <-+--  midday
|                               <----+--  slice 4: 12:00 to 04:00 PM
|       --  --  --  --  --  --       |
|                               <----+--  slice 5: 04:00 to 08:00 PM
|       --  --  --  --  --  --       |
|                               <----+--  slice 6: 08:00 to 12:00 PM
+------------------------------------+
----

The current week number is displayed on the top-right side of the panel (*# 13*
meaning it is the 13th week of the year in the above example). The seven days
of the current week are displayed in column. Each day is divided into slices of
4 hours each (6 slices in total, see figure above). A slice will appear in a
different color if an appointment falls into the corresponding time-slot.

In the appointment panel, one can notice the *`(|)`* sign just in front of the
date.  This indicates the current phase of the moon.  Depending on which is the
current phase, the following signs can be seen:

`  |) `::
  first quarter

` (|) `::
  full moon

`  (| `::
  last quarter

`  |  `::
  new moon

no sign::
  Phase of the moon does not correspond to any of the above ones.

At the very bottom of the screen there is a status bar, which indicates the
possible actions and the corresponding keystrokes.

Just above this status bar is the notify-bar, which indicates from left to
right : the current date, the current time, the calendar file currently in use
(apts on the above example, which is the default calendar file, see the
following section), and the next appointment within the upcoming 24 hours. Here
it says that it will be lunch time in one hour and twenty minutes.

NOTE: Some actions, such as editing or adding an item, require to type in some
      text. This is done with the help of the built-in input line editor.

Within this editor, if a line is longer than the screen width, a `>`, `*`, or
`<` character is displayed in the last column indicating that there are more
character after, before and after, or before the current position,
respectively. The line is scrolled horizontally as necessary.

Moreover, some editing commands are bound to particular control characters.
Hereafter are indicated the available editing commands (`^` stands for the
control key):

`^a`::
  moves the cursor to the beginning of the input line

`^b`::
  moves the cursor backward

`^d`::
  deletes one character forward

`^e`::
  moves the cursor to the end of the input line

`^f`::
  moves the cursor forward

`^h`::
  deletes one character backward

`^k`::
  deletes the input from the cursor to the end of the line

`^w`::
  deletes backward to the beginning of the current word

`ESCAPE`::
    cancels the editing

[[basics_daemon]]
Background mode
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When the daemon mode is enabled in the notification configuration menu (see
<<options_notify,Notify-bar settings>>), `calcurse` will stay in background
when the user interface is not running. In background mode, `calcurse` checks
for upcoming appointments and runs the user-defined notification command when
  necessary. When the user interface is started again, the daemon automatically
  stops.

`calcurse` background activity can be logged (set the `notify-daemon_log`
variable in the notification configuration <<options_notify,menu>>),
and in that case, information about the daemon start and stop time, reminders'
command launch time, signals received... will be written in the `daemon.log`
file (see section <<basics_files,files>>).

Using the `--status` command line option (see section
<<basics_invocation_commandline,Command line arguments>>), one can know if
`calcurse` is currently running in background or not.  If the daemon is
running, a message like the following one will be displayed (the pid of the
daemon process will be shown):

----
calcurse is running in background (pid 14536)
----

NOTE: To stop the daemon, just send the `TERM` signal to it, using a command
      such as: `kill daemon_pid`, where *daemon_pid* is the process id of the
      daemon (14536 in the above example).

[[basics_files]]
calcurse files
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following structure is created in your `$HOME`  directory (or in the
directory you specified with  the  -D  option) the first time `calcurse` is run
:

----
$HOME/.calcurse/
           |___notes/
           |___conf
           |___keys
           |___apts
           |___todo
----
`notes/`::
  this subdirectory contains descriptions of the notes which are attached to
  appointments, events or todos. One text file is created per note, whose name
  is built using mkstemp(3) and should be unique, but with no relation with the
  corresponding item's description.
`conf`::
  this file contains the user configuration
`keys`::
  this file contains the user-defined key bindings
`apts`::
  this file contains  all  of the events and user's appointments
`todo`::
  this file contains the todo list

NOTE: If the logging of calcurse daemon activity was set in the notification
      configuration menu, the extra file `daemon.log` will appear in calcurse
      data directory. This file contains logs about calcurse activity when
      running in background.

Import/Export capabilities
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The import and export capabilities offered by `calcurse` are described below.

Import
^^^^^^

Data in icalendar format as described in the rfc2445 specification (see
<<links_others,links>> section below) can be imported into calcurse.  Calcurse
ical parser is based on version 2.0 of this specification, but for now on, only
a subset of it is supported.

The following icalendar properties are handled by calcurse:

* `VTODO` items: "PRIORITY", "VALARM", "SUMMARY", "DESCRIPTION"

* `VEVENT` items: "DTSTART", "DTEND", "DURATION", "RRULE", "EXDATE", "VALARM",
  "SUMMARY", "DESCRIPTION"

The icalendar `DESCRIPTION` property will be converted into calcurse format by
adding a note to the item. If a "VALARM" property is found, the item will be
flagged as important and the user will get a notification (this is only
applicable to appointments).

Here are the properties that are not implemented:

* negative time durations are not taken into account (item is skipped)

* some recurence frequences are not recognize: "SECONDLY" / "MINUTELY" /
  "HOURLY"

* some recurrence keywords are not recognized (all those starting with `BY`):
  "BYSECOND" / "BYMINUTE" / "BYHOUR" / "BYDAY" / "BYMONTHDAY" / "BYYEARDAY" /
  "BYWEEKNO" / "BYMONTH" / "BYSETPOS" plus "WKST"

* the recurrence exception keyword "EXRULE" is not recognized

* timezones are not taken into account

Export
^^^^^^

Two possible export formats are available: `ical` and `pcal` (see section
<<links_others,Links>> below to find out about those formats).

Online help
~~~~~~~~~~~

At any time, the built-in help  system  can  be  invoked  by pressing the `?`
key. Once viewing the help screens, informations on a specific command can be
accessed  by  pressing the keystroke corresponding to that command.

Options
-------

All of the `calcurse` parameters are configurable from the Configuration menu
available when pressing `C`. You are then driven to a submenu with five
possible choices : pressing `C` again will lead you to the Color scheme
configuration, pressing `L` allows you to choose the layout of the main
`calcurse` screen (in other words, where to put the three different panels on
screen), pressing `G` permits you to choose between different general options,
pressing `K` opens the key bindings configuration menu, and last you can modify
the notify-bar settings by pressing `N`.

[[options_general]]
General options
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These options control `calcurse` general behavior, as described below:

`auto_save` (default: *yes*)::
  This option allows to automatically save the user's data (if set to *yes*)
  when quitting.  <p class="rq"><span class="valorise">warning:</span> No data
  will be automatically saved if `auto_save` is set to *no*.  This means the
  user must press `S` (for saving) in order to retrieve its modifications.

`periodic_save` (default: *0*)::
  If different from `0`, user's data will be automatically saved every
  *periodic_save* minutes.  When an automatic save is performed, two asterisks
  (i.e. `**`) will appear on the top right-hand side of the screen).

`confirm_quit` (default: *yes*)::
  If set to *yes*, confirmation is required before quitting, otherwise pressing
  `Q` will cause `calcurse` to quit without prompting for user confirmation.

`confirm_delete` (default: *yes*)::
  If this option is set to *yes*, pressing `D` for deleting an item (either a
  *todo*, *appointment*, or *event*), will lead to a prompt asking for user
  confirmation before removing the selected item from the list.  Otherwise, no
  confirmation will be needed before deleting the item.

`skip_system_dialogs` (default: *no*)::
  Setting this option to *yes* will result in skipping the system dialogs
  related to the saving and loading of data.  This can be useful to speed up
  the input/output processes.

`skip_progress_bar` (default: *no*)::
  If set to *yes*, this will cause the disappearing of the progress bar which
  is usually shown when saving data to file.  If set to *no*, this bar will be
  displayed, together with the name of the file being saved (see section
  <<basics_files,calcurse files>>).

`calendar_default_view` (default: *0*)::
  If set to `0`, the monthly calendar view will be displayed by default
  otherwise it is the weekly view that will be displayed.

`week_begins_on_monday` (default: *yes*)::
  One can choose between Monday and Sunday as the first day of the week. If the
  option `week_begins_on_monday` is set to *yes*, Monday will be first in the
  calendar view. Else if the option is set to *no*, then Sunday will be the
  first day of the week.

`output_datefmt` (default: *%D*)::
  This option indicates the format to be used when displaying dates in
  non-interactive mode. Using the default values, dates are displayed the
  following way: *mm/dd/aa*.  You can see all of the possible formats by typing
  `man 3 strftime` inside a terminal.

`input_datefmt` (default: *1*)::
  This option indicates the format that will be used to enter dates in
  *calcurse*. Four choices are available:
+
1. mm/dd/yyyy
2. dd/mm/yyyy
3. yyyy/mm/dd
4. yyyy-mm-dd

[[options_keys]]
Key bindings
~~~~~~~~~~~~

One can define it's own keybindings within the `Keys` configuration menu. The
default keys look like the one used by the `vim` editor, especially the
displacement keys. Anyway, within this configuration menu, users can redefine
all of the keys available from within calcurse's user interface.

To define new keybindings, first highlight the action to which it will apply.
Then, delete the actual key binding if necessary, and add a new one. You will
then be asked to press the key corresponding to the new binding. It is possible
to define more than one key binding for a single action.

An automatic check is performed to see if the new key binding is not already
set for another action. In that case, you will be asked to choose a different
one. Another check is done when exiting from this menu, to make sure all
possible actions have a key associated with it.

The following keys can be used to define bindings:

* lower-case, upper-case letters and numbers, such as `a`, `Z`, `0`

* CONTROL-key followed by one of the above letters

* escape, horizontal tab, and space keys

* arrow keys (up, down, left, and right)

* `HOME` and `END` keys

While inside the key configuration menu, an online help is available for each
one of the available actions. This help briefly describes what the highlighted
action is used for.

Color themes
~~~~~~~~~~~~

`calcurse` color theme can be customized to suit user's needs. To change the
default theme, the configuration page displays possible choices for foreground
and background colors.  Using arrows or calcurse displacement keys to move, and
`X` or space to select a color, user can preview the theme which will be
applied.  It is possible to keep the terminal's default colors by selecting the
corresponding choice in the list.

The chosen color theme will then be applied to the panel borders, to the
titles, to the keystrokes, and to general informations displayed inside status
bar. A black and white theme is also available, in order to support non-color
terminals.

NOTE: Depending on your terminal type and on the value of the `$TERM`
      environnement variable, color could or could not be supported. An error
      message will appear if you try to change colors whereas your terminal
      does not support this feature.  If you do know your terminal supports
      colors but could not get `calcurse` to display them, try to set your
      `$TERM` variable to another value (such as *xterm-xfree86* for instance).

Layout configuration
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The layout corresponds to the position of the panels inside `calcurse` screen.
The default layout makes the calendar panel to be displayed on the top-right
corner of the terminal, the todo panel on the bottom-right corner, while the
appointment panel is displayed on the left hand-side of the screen (see the
figure in section <<basics_interface_interactive,Interactive mode>> for an
exemple of the default layout).  By choosing another layout in the
configuration screen, user can customize `calcurse` appearence to best suit his
needs by placing the different panels where needed.

The following option is used to modify the layout configuration:

`layout` (default: *0*)::
  Eight different layouts are to be chosen from (see layout configuration
  screen for the description of the available layouts).

Sidebar configuration
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sidebar is the part of the screen which contains two panels: the calendar
and, depending on the chosen layout, either the todo list or the appointment
list.

The following option is used to change the width of the sidebar:

`side-bar_width` (default: *0*)::
  Width (in percentage, 0 being the minimum width) of the side bar.

[[options_notify]]
Notify-bar settings
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following options are used to modify the notify-bar behavior:

`notify-bar_show` (default: *yes*)::
  This option indicates if you want the notify-bar to be displayed or not.

`notify-bar_date` (default: *%a %F*)::
  With this option, you can specify the format to be used to display the
  current date inside the notification bar. You can see all of the possible
  formats by typing `man 3 strftime` inside a terminal.

`notify-bar_time` (default: *%T*)::
  With this option, you can specify the format to be used to display the
  current time inside the notification bar. You can see all of the possible
  formats by typing `man 3 strftime` inside a terminal.

`notify-bar_warning` (default: *300*)::
  When there is an appointment which is flagged as `important` within the next
  `notify-bar_warning` seconds, the display of that appointment inside the
  notify-bar starts to blink.  Moreover, the command defined by the
  `notify-bar_command` option will be launched.  That way, the user is warned
  and knows there will be soon an upcoming appointment.

`notify-bar_command` (default: *printf '\a'*)::
  This option indicates which command is to be launched when there is an
  upcoming appointment flagged as `important`. This command will be passed to
  the user's shell which will interpret it. To know what shell must be used,
  the content of the `$SHELL` environment variable is used. If this variable is
  not set, `/bin/sh` is used instead.
+
====
Say the `mail` command is available on the user's system, one can use the
following command to get notified by mail of an upcoming appointment (the
appointment description will also be mentioned in the mail body):

----
$ calcurse --next | mail -s "[calcurse] upcoming appointment!" user@host.com
----
====

`notify-all` (default: *no*)::
  Invert the sense of flagging an appointment as `important`. If this is
  enabled, all appointments will be notified - except for flagged ones.

`notify-daemon_enable` (default: *no*)::
  If set to yes, daemon mode will be enabled, meaning `calcurse` will run into
  background when the user's interface is exited. This will allow the
  notifications to be launched even when the interface is not running. More
  details can be found in section <<basics_daemon,Background mode>>.

`notify-daemon_log` (default: *no*)::
  If set to yes, `calcurse` daemon activity will be logged (see section
  <<basics_files,files>>).

Known bugs
----------

Incorrect highlighting of items appear when using calcurse black and white
theme together with a `$TERM` variable set to *xterm-color*.  To fix this bug,
and as advised by Thomas E. Dickey (`xterm` maintainer), *xterm-xfree86* should
be used instead of *xterm-color* to set the `$TERM` variable:

____
"The xterm-color value for $TERM is a bad choice for XFree86 xterm because it
is commonly used for a terminfo entry which happens to not support bce. Use the
xterm-xfree86 entry which is distributed with XFree86 xterm (or the similar one
distributed with ncurses)."
____

[[bugs]]
Reporting bugs and feedback
---------------------------

Please send bug reports and feedback to: `misc .at. calcurse .dot. org`.

[[contribute]]
How to contribute?
------------------

If you would like to contribute to the project, you can first send your
feedback on what you like or dislike, and if there are features you miss in
`calcurse`.  For now on, possible contributions concern the translation of
`calcurse` messages and documentation.

Translating documentation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NOTE: We recently dropped all translations of the manual files from the
      distribution tarball. There are plan to reintroduce them in form of a
      Wiki on the calcurse website. Please follow the mailing lists for
      up-to-date information.

The *doc/* directory of the source package already contains translated version
of `calcurse` manual. However, if the manual is not yet available into your
native language, it would be appreciated if you could help translating it.

To do so, just copy one of the existing manual file to `manual_XX.html`, where
*XX* identifies your language. Then translate this newly created file and send
it to the author (see <<bugs,Reporting bugs and feeback>>), so that it can be
included in the next `calcurse` release.

calcurse i18n
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As already mentioned, `gettext` utilities are used by `calcurse` to produce
multi-lingual messages. We are currently using
http://www.transifex.net/[Transifex] to manage those translations.

This section provides informations about how to translate those messages into
your native language. However, this howto is deliberately incomplete, focusing
on working with `gettext` for `calcurse` specifically.  For more comprehensive
informations or to grasp the Big Picture of Native Language Support, you should
refer to the `GNU gettext` manual at:
http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/

IMPORTANT: Since we switched to Transifex, editing *po* files is not necessary
           anymore as Transifex provides a user-friendly, intuitive web
           interface for translators. Knowlegde of `gettext` and the *po*
           format is still useful for those of you who prefer the command line
           and local editing. If you want to use the web UI to edit the
           translation strings, you can skip over to <<transifex_webui,Using
           the Transifex web UI>> tough.

Basically, three different people get involved in the translation chain:
coders, language coordinator, and translators. After a quick overview of how
things work, the translator tasks will be described hereafter.

Overview
^^^^^^^^

To be able to display texts in the native language of the user, two steps are
required: *internationalization* (i18n) and *localization* (l10n).

i18n is about making `calcurse` support multiple languages. It is performed by
coders, who will mark translatable texts and provide a way to display them
translated at runtime.

l10n is about making the i18n'ed `calcurse` adapt to the specific language of
the user, ie translating the strings previously marked by the developers, and
setting the environment correctly for `calcurse` to use the result of this
translation.

So, translatable strings are first marked by the coders within the `C` source
files, then gathered in a template file (*calcurse.pot* - the *pot* extension
meaning *portable object template*). The content of this template file is then
merged with the translation files for each language (*fr.po* for french, for
instance - with *po* standing for *portable object*, ie meant to be read and
edited by humans). A given translation team will take this file, translate its
strings, and send it back to the developers. At compilation time, a binary
version of this file (for efficiency reasons) will be produced (*fr.mo* - *mo*
stands for *machine object*, ie meant to be read by programs), and then
installed.  Then `calcurse` will use this file at runtime, translating the
strings according to the locale settings of the user.

Translator tasks
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Suppose someone wants to initiate the translation of a new language. Here are
the steps to follow:

* First, find out what the locale name is. For instance, for french, it is
  `fr_FR`, or simply `fr`. This is the value the user will have to put in his
  `LC_ALL` environment variable for software to be translated (see
  <<basics_invocation_variable,Environment variable for i18n>>).

* Then, go into the *po/* directory, and create a new po-file
  from the template file using the following command: `msginit -i calcurse.pot
  -o fr.po -l fr --no-translator` If you do not have `msginit` installed on
  your system, simply copy the *calcurse.pot* file to *fr.po* and edit the
  header by hand.

Now, having this *fr.po* file, the translator is ready to begin.

po-files
^^^^^^^^

The format of the po-files is quite simple. Indeed, po-files are made of four
things:

1. *location lines:* tells you where the strings can be seen (name of file and
   line number), in case you need to see a bit of context.

2. *msgid lines:* the strings to translate.

3. *msgstr lines:* the translated strings.

4. *lines prefixed with `#`:* comments (some with a special meaning, as we will
   see below).

Basically, all you have to do is fill the *msgstr* lines with the translation
of the above *msgid* line.

A few notes:

*Fuzzy strings*::
  You will meet strings marked with a `"#, fuzzy"` comment. `calcurse` won't
  use the translations of such strings until you do something about them.  A
  string being fuzzy means either that the string has already been translated
  but has since been changed in the sources of the program, or that this is a
  new string for which `gettext` made a 'wild guess' for the translation, based
  on other strings in the file.  It means you have to review the translation.
  Sometimes, the original string has changed just because a typo has been
  fixed. In this case, you won't have to change anything. But sometimes, the
  translation will no longer be accurate and needs to be changed.  Once you are
  done and happy with the translation, just remove the `"#, fuzzy"` line, and
  the translation will be used again in `calcurse`.

*c-format strings and special sequences*::
  Some strings have the following comment: `"#, c-format"`.  This tells that
  parts of the string to translate have a special meaning for the program, and
  that you should leave them alone.  For instance, %-sequences, like `"%s"`.
  These means that `calcurse` will replace them with another string. So it is
  important it remains.  There are also \-sequences, like `\n` or `\t`. Leave
  them, too. The former represents an end of line, the latter a tabulation.

*Translations can be wrapped*::
  If lines are too long, you can just break them like this:
+
----
msgid ""
"some very long line"
"another line"
----

*po-file header*::
  At the very beginning of the po-file, the first string form a header, where
  various kind of information has to be filled in. Most important one is the
  charset. It should resemble
+
----
"Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8\n"
----
+
You should also fill in the Last-Translator field, so that potential
contributors can contact you if they want to join you in the translation team,
or have remarks/typo fixes to give about the translations. You can either just
give your name/nick, or add an email address, for exemple:
+
----
"Last-Translator: Frederic Culot <frederic@culot.org>\n"
----

*Comments*::
  Adding comments (lines begining with the `#` character) can be a good way to
  point out problems or translation difficulties to proofreaders or other
  members of your team.

*Strings size*::
  `calcurse` is a curses/console program, thus it can be heavily dependant on
  the terminal size (number of columns). You should think about this when
  translating. Often, a string must fit into a single line (standard length is
  80 characters). Don't translate blindly, try to look where your string will
  be displayed to adapt your translation.

*A few useful tools*::
  The po-file format is very simple, and the file can be edited with a standard
  text editor.  But if you prefer, there are few specialized tools you may find
  convenient for translating:
+
* `poEdit` (http://www.poedit.org/)
* `KBabel` (http://i18n.kde.org/tools/kbabel/)
* `GTranslator` (http://gtranslator.sourceforge.net/)
* `Emacs` po mode
* `Vim` po mode

*And finally*::
  I hope you'll have fun contributing to a more internationalized world. :) If
  you have any more questions, don't hesitate to contact us at *misc .at.
  calcurse .dot. org*.

[[transifex_uploading]]
Uploading to Transifex
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

There's several different ways to upload a finished (or semi-finished)
translation for a new language to Transifex. The easiest way is to browse to
the http://www.transifex.net/projects/p/calcurse/teams/[Translation Teams] page
and request the addition of a new team.

As soon as we accepted your request, you will be able to upload your *po* file
on the
http://www.transifex.net/projects/p/calcurse/resource/calcursepot/[calcurse
resource page] by clicking the *Add translation* button at the bottom.

Using transifex-client
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You can also use a command line client to submit translations instead of having
to use the web interface every time you want to submit an updated version. If
you have a recent version of setuptools installed, you can get the CLI client
by issuing the following command:

----
$ easy_install -U transifex-client
----

Alternatively, you can get the source code of transifex-client at
http://pypi.python.org/pypi/transifex-client.

After you downloaded and installed the client, run the following commands in
the calcurse source directory to checkout the translation resources of
*calcurse*:

----
$ tx pull -a
----

To submit changes back to the server, use:

----
$ tx push -r calcurse.calcursepot -t -l <locale>
----

For more details, read up on transifex-client usage at the
http://help.transifex.net/user-guide/client/[The Transifex Command-line Client
v0.4] section of the http://help.transifex.net/[Transifex documentation].

[[transifex_webui]]
Using the Transifex web UI
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

As an alternative to editing *po* files, there is a web-based interface that
can be used to create and update translations. After having signed up and
created a new translation team (see <<transifex_uploading,Uploading to
Transifex>> on how to do that), click the *Add translation* button at the
bottom on the
http://www.transifex.net/projects/p/calcurse/resource/calcursepot/[calcurse
resource page], select the language you'd like to translate and choose
*Translate Online*.

Links
-----

This section contains links and references that may be of interest to you.

calcurse homepage
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The `calcurse` homepage can be found at http://calcurse.org

calcurse announce list
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you are interested in the project and want to be warned when a new release
comes out, you can subscribe to the `calcurse` announce list. In doing so, you
will receive an email as soon as a new feature appears in `calcurse`.

To subscribe to this list, send a message to *announce+subscribe .at. calcurse
.dot. org* with "subscribe" in the subject field.

////
calcurse RSS feed
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another possibility to get warned when new releases come out is to follow the
RSS feed at: http://calcurse.org/news_rss.xml

This RSS feed is updated each time a new version of calcurse is available,
describing newly added features.
////

[[links_others]]
Other links
~~~~~~~~~~~

You may want to look at the ical format specification (rfc2445) at:
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2445

The pcal project page can be found at: http://pcal.sourceforge.net/

Thanks
------

Its time now to thank other people without whom this program would not exist!
So here is a list of contributing persons I would like to thank :

* Alex for its patches, help and advices with `C` programming

* Gwen for testing and general discussions about how to improve `calcurse`

* Herbert for packaging `calcurse` for FreeBSD

* Zul for packaging `calcurse` for NetBSD

* Wain, Steffen and Ronald for packaging `calcurse` for Archlinux

* Kevin, Ryan, and fEnIo for packaging `calcurse` for Debian and Ubuntu

* Pascal for packaging `calcurse` for Slackware

* Alexandre and Markus for packaging `calcurse` for Mac OsX and Darwin

* Igor for packaging `calcurse` for ALT Linux

* Joel for its calendar script which inspired `calcurse` calendar view

* Michael Schulz and Chris M. for the german translation of `calcurse` and its
  manual

* Jose Lopez for the spanish translation of `calcurse` and its manual

* Neil Williams for the english translation

* Leandro Noferini for the italian translation

* Tony for its patch which helped improving the recur_item_inday() function,
  and for implementing the date format configuration options

* Jeremy Roon for the dutch translation

* Erik Saule for its patch implementing the `-N`, `-s`, `-S`, `-r` and `-D`
  flags

* people who write softwares I like and which inspired me, especially :

  - `vim` for the displacement keys
  - `orpheus` and `abook` for documentation
  - `pine` and `aptitude` for the text user interface
  - `tmux` for coding style

And last, many many thanks to all of the `calcurse` users who sent me their
feedback.