From 01d0d036a482dfb2b8be3e1a9d1f4d5deaddb9cb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Paul Beckingham Date: Sat, 10 Jul 2010 12:30:01 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] Documentation - Synched the wiki FAQ with the man page. --- doc/man/task-faq.5 | 102 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 102 insertions(+) diff --git a/doc/man/task-faq.5 b/doc/man/task-faq.5 index 1781974b1..857069dda 100644 --- a/doc/man/task-faq.5 +++ b/doc/man/task-faq.5 @@ -12,6 +12,108 @@ has a rich list of commands that allow you to do various things with it. Welcome to the task FAQ. If you have would like to see a question answered here, please send us a note at . + + + + + +.TP +.B Q: When I redirect the output of task to a file, I lose all the colors. How do I fix this? +A: Task knows (or thinks it knows) when the output is not going directly to a +terminal, and strips out all the color control characters. This is based on +the assumption that the color control codes are not wanted in the file. Prevent +this with the following entry in your .taskrc file: + + _forcecolor=on + +.TP +.B Q: How do I backup my task data files? Where are they? +A: Task writes all pending tasks to the file + + ~/.task/pending.data + +and all completed and deleted tasks to + + ~/.task/completed.data + +They are text files, so they can just be copied to another location for +safekeeping. Don't forget there is also the ~/.taskrc file that contains your +task configuration data. To be sure, and to future-proof your backup, consider +backing up all the files in the ~/.task directory. + +.TP +.B Q: How can I separate my work tasks from my home tasks? Specifically, can I keep them completely separate? +A: You can do this by creating an alternate .taskrc file, then using shell +aliases. Here are example Bash commands to achieve this: + + % cp ~/.taskrc ~/.taskrc_home + % (now edit .taskrc_home to change the value of data.location) + % alias wtask="task" + % alias htask="task rc:~/.taskrc_home" + +This gives you two commands, 'wtask' and 'htask' that operate using two +different sets of task data files. + +.TP +.B Q: Can I revert to a previous version of task? How? +A: Yes, you can revert to a previous version of task, simply by downloading an +older version and installing it. If you find a bug in task, then this may be the +only way to work around the bug, until a patch release is made. + +Note that it is possible that the task file format will change. For example, the +format changed between versions 1.5.0 and 1.6.0. Task will automatically upgrade +the file but if you need to revert to a previous version of task, there is the +file format to consider. This is yet another good reason to back up your task +data files! + +.TP +.B Q: I'm using Ubuntu 9.04, and I want task to word-wrap descriptions. How do I do this? +A: You need to install ncurses, by doing this: + + % sudo apt-get install libncurses5-dev + +Then you need to rebuild task from scratch, starting with + + % cd task-X.X.X + % ./configure + ... + +The result should be a task program that knows the width of the terminal window, +and wraps accordingly. + +Note that there are binary packages that all include this capability. + +.TP +.B Q: How do I build task under Cygwin? +A: Task is built the same way everywhere. But under Cygwin, you'll need to make +sure you have the following packages available first: + + gcc + make + libncurses-devel + libncurses8 + +The gcc and make packages allow you to compile the code, and are therefore +required, but the ncurses packages are optional. Ncurses will allow task to +determine the width of the window, and therefore use the whole width and wrap +text accordingly, for a more aesthetically pleasing display. + +Note that there are binary packages that all include this capability. + +.TP +.B Q: Do colors work under Cygwin? +A: They do, but only in a limited way. You can use regular foreground colors +(black, red, green ...) and you can regular background colors (on_black, on_red, +on_green ...), but underline and bold are not supported. + +If you run the command: + + % task colors + +Task will display all the colors it can use, and you will see which ones you can use. + +See the 'man task-color' for more details on which colors can be used. + .TP .B Q: Where does task store the data? By default, task creates a .taskrc file in your home directory and populates it