Codev
1, Codev
Codev is a COllaborative DEVelopment environment with command'based user interface,
as an ideal frontend for GNUnet
list of all projects will appear in a floating layer, at the center of the screen, called overview layer
overview layer:
, left panel:
, roots: home directory, plus attached devices
, project groups: content of roots
, main view:
projects: content of project groups
in a project view, the list of files of a project will be displayed in the left side'bar
opened files will be slightly highlighted
files and directories with names starting with a dot, will be hidden
".cache" directory inside a project is for files we don't want to share or backup
each opened file will have a side'bar at right showing its sections
there we can create new view corresponding to a section
sections with views will be slightly highlighted
text files will be opened in a text editor
directories containing media files, will be opened in a gallery view
files and directories inside a gallery, will be opened in a floating layer
non'local projects, web pages, PDF documents, etc, accessed from links inside the main project,
will be opened in a floating layer
web pages: move caret between visual elements (ignoring structural elements)
actions:
, next/previous word, line, paragraph, section
ask before crossing files
, next/previous section view, opened file
, go to the list of files to open a file view
, go to the list of sections to open a section view
, start and end selection, then copy or cut
, paste
, undo
, navigation: move, search
, selection
, completion
right click or ctrl+enter: show a list of available commands and their key bindings
collaborative development
flaws of version control systems:
, they double the storage (working directory, local repository)
, their design makes it difficult to modify the history
so in practice, the whole history must be kept indefinitely, even if not needed
when we download a project, a pristine copy is kept untouched in ".cache/codev/pristine",
and ref links will be created in the working directory, and then we can work on our own branch
after a while when we want to pull and merge changes made in the main branch,
first a three'way diff will be shown, based on the main branch, pristine, and the working directory,
then the user will be asked to accept all or some parts of the diff
to send a pull request to the main branch, first publish the pristine and the working directory (except .cache),
then send the two addresses to the main developer
the main developer will make a diff based on these two, plus her own working directory
we can use GNUnet to share files in a P2P (a opposed to client'server) network
2, command based user interface
command based user interfaces (using keyboard, voice, gesture) are faster, more convenient and more powerful,
than pointer based user interfaces (using mouse, touch, pen)
pointer based interface seems appealing at first sight, because of its discoverability
but with simple uniform GUI (ie the oposite of what we see in websites),
there is no need for a pointer based user interface
touch interface has an additional problem: interaction at a distance is not possible
touch interface can be useful in some special cases, but it's not good as a general interface
detection of voice commands is a relatively simple process (compared to general speech recognition),
because we only need to match against a relatively small set of commands
a headset with near range microphone can be used, to exclude far away sound sources
also it is better to put battery and transmitter of the headset in a separate unit which can be put in a pocket
this makes the headset lighter and safer
for those who neither can use all their fingers, nor can talk, gesture based (2d) input can be implemented
the ideal keyboard
navigation keys (arrows, page up, page down, home, end, esc), and ctrl/shift/alt based keybindings,
are available by pressing and holding "mod" key
pressing one "mod" key while holding the other one, is equivalent to Super key
to insert punctuations (in insert mode), press "pun"
after entering a punctuation charactor, it automatically returns to normal mode
unless the "pun" key is still pressed, in which case, it will return to normal mode after releasing "pun"
to insert numbers, press and hold "num"
pressing and releasing "Fn", sends "Super+L" key press (usually bound to session locking)
holding "Fn" and pressing a number eg 1, sends "F1" key
to insert capital letters, press comma then press the letter
to insert an all capital word, press two commas
the following letters will be inserted in capitalized form, until space is pressed
this is how it is implemented:
when comma key is pressed, keyboard enters the cap mode in which:
, pressing a letter key, sends a "backspace" key, and then the capitalized form of that letter,
and then the cap mode will be canceled
, pressing comma again, sends a "backspace" key, and activates caps mode,
which remains active until space (or enter or mod) is pressed
, pressing any other keys, acts like normal, and cancels the cap mode
Kinesis Advantage 2 keyboard
3, CodevShell
CodevShell is a Wayland shell, based on QuickShell
there is an application launcher which can be toggled by pressing "super" (mod+mod) or "alt+tab"
the first item in application launcher is "system", which opens the system menu:
, session (lock, suspend, exit, reboot, poweroff)
, connections
, timezone
, passwords
, packages (install, remove, update, make a new system)
, backup
to close the focused window, press "super+backspace" or "alt+escape"
press "alt+space" to show the terminal emulator; to close it press "ctrl+tab"
the entered command will be run in a new terminal view, inside a list at the right
when terminal view finishes its job, if there is any output, its be transfered to the history list under the prompt
to navigate between terminal views, use "ctrl+pageup" and "ctrl+pagedown" keys
to navigate in history list, use "up" and "down" arrow keys
to re'run a command in history, just press enter on it
to close a terminal view (that will also kill any running process) press "super+backspace" or "alt+escape"
you can easily create a backup on a removable storage device
backups will be done using "BTRFS send", so they will be incremental and fast
the backup device has two partition:
, a bootable UEFI partition that can recover your entire workflow on a new system
, an encrypted partition containing a backup of your home directory
each time the device is connected, the backup procedure will be run automatically
even in case of bit rot for data in home directory, this procedure repairs it automatically
SPM Linux (a work in progress) provides a user interface based on CodevShell and Codev
we can also use Alpine Linux as the underling system to run CodevShell and Codev
to do that follow these instructions (the commands must be run as root)
on a removable storage device create a UEFI partition, and format it with FAT32
; fdisk -l # find the device name, and write it in place of "sdx" in the following commands
; printf "g\nn\n1\n\n\nt\nuefi\nw\nq\n" | fdisk -w always /dev/sdx
; mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/sdx1
; mount /dev/sdx1 /mnt
extract the contents of the Alpine Linux installer image file, to /mnt
also copy the content of this project to /mnt/codev
now boot to the removable device
note that only UEFI systems are supported; they are the only ones supporting secure boot
to run a program as root:
; sudo <command>
using "sudo" in CodevShell does not suffer from these flaws:
https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions/comments/8mlil7/whats_the_point_of_the_sudo_password_prompt_if/
https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/119410/why-should-one-use-sudo
because:
, when a user enters "sudo" in command line, it will run /usr/bin/sudo
, reaching to terminal in CodevShell can't be manipulated by normal user
app launcher -> system -> sudo <command>
, CodevShell only allows keyboard input from real keyboard, or from the built'in on'screen keyboard
, there is no way for normal user to replace CodevShell
, sudo works only when called from CodevShell
all these imply:
, a malicious program can't steal root password (eg by faking password entry)
, to run a command as root, physical access is necessary, because there is no other way to enter root password
