file transfer with netcat

netcat lets you stream bytes over the network. When used with tar, you can transfer files and directories.

Say you have two computers — bam and boom — and you want to copy the ~/pictures/ directory from bam to boom.

First, on host boom:

netcat -l -q 0 -p 3000 | tar xzv

Second, on host bam:

tar czv ~/pictures/ | nc -q 0 boom 3000

Done.

Scalpel sound editor

Edit: Scalpel now has its own website.

weblink: easy file sharing

Weblink sets up a small Web server on your computer to make some of your files available as downloadable web links.

First things first

Check that you have python installed, download weblink, and type: 

chmod +x ./weblink

Basic usage

To share /home/pierre/lolcat.jpg, type:

./weblink /home/pierre/lolcat.jpg

The file is accessible to you through http://localhost:8888/. On the internet, the file is downloadable at http://n.n.n.n:8888/ where n.n.n.n is your computer IP address. The link is valid until weblink is stopped.

Important: If you have a firewall, you must open port 8888. If you have a NAT router, you must configure it to forward port 8888 to your computer.

Weblink screenshot

Share several files

You can share several files by passing them on the command-line or by using wildcards:

./weblink lolcat1.jpg lolcat2.jpg xkcd*.png

Password protection

To protect access to your files, you may specify a pseudo-password with the --pass option. For example, type:

./weblink --pass abcdef lolcat.jpg

and lolcat.jpg will be available at:

http://n.n.n.n:8888/abcdef/

If you can’t think of a password, use the --randompass option instead.

./weblink --randompass lolcat.jpg

Port number
You can run weblink on a different port with the -p option:

./weblink -p 7777 lolcat.jpg

Kudos to the python developers for making writing weblink so easy!

[download weblink]

pygtk + pynotify: notification from statusicon

Code snippet that displays a libnotify bubble coming from a GTK statusicon. The bubble appears when you click the icon.

Screenshot of the notification bubble coming from statusicon

[download statusicon-notification.py]

#!/usr/bin/env python
 
import gtk
import pynotify
 
def callback(icon):
    notification.show()
 
pynotify.init("Some Application or Title")
notification = pynotify.Notification("Title", "body", "dialog-warning")
notification.set_urgency(pynotify.URGENCY_NORMAL)
notification.set_timeout(pynotify.EXPIRES_NEVER)
 
icon = gtk.status_icon_new_from_stock(gtk.STOCK_ABOUT)
icon.connect('activate', callback)
notification.attach_to_status_icon(icon)
 
gtk.main()

Cross-platform configuration file handler

This is a python class to manage a configuration file, regardless of the operating system. Configuration is a set of (key, value) that can be set and retrieved by using SimpleConfig as a dictionary. Keys and values must all be strings. Example usage:

conf = SimpleConfig('myapp')   # Load configuration file if it exists
conf['foo'] = '3'              # Set a value
conf.save()                    # Save the configuration file on disk
conf.delete()                  # Delete file, it was just an example

SimpleConfig builds the configuration file path using the operating system name and the application name:

  • Unix: $HOME/.appname
  • Mac: $HOME/Library/Application Support/appname
  • Windows: $HOMEPATH\Application Data\appname

Tested on Linux and Windows XP so far.

[download SimpleConfig.py]

import os
import stat
from ConfigParser import SafeConfigParser
from UserDict import IterableUserDict
 
__all__ = ['SimpleConfig', 'UnsupportedOSError']
 
class UnsupportedOSError(Exception): pass
 
class SimpleConfig(IterableUserDict):
    """Cross-platform configuration file handler.
 
    This is a class to manage a configuration file, regardless of the
    operating system. Configuration is a set of (key, value) that can
    be set and retrieved by using SimpleConfig as a dictionary. Keys
    and values must all be strings. Example usage::
 
    >>> conf = SimpleConfig('myapp')   # Load configuration file if it exists
    >>> conf['foo'] = '3'              # Set a value
    >>> conf.save()                    # Save the configuration file on disk
    >>> conf.delete()                  # Delete file, it was just an example
 
    SimpleConfig builds the configuration file path using the
    operating system name and the application name:
 
    * Unix: $HOME/.appname
    * Mac: $HOME/Library/Application Support/appname
    * Windows: $HOMEPATH\Application Data\\appname
 
    Tested on Linux and Windows XP so far. 
 
    """
 
    section = 'main'
 
    def __init__(self, appname):
        """Open the configuration file and fill the dictionary.
 
        ``appname`` is the application identifier, it is used to build
        the configuration file path.  If the file does not exist, the
        dictionary is left empty.
        """
        IterableUserDict.__init__(self)
        self.filename = self._filename(appname)
        self.parser = SafeConfigParser()
        self.parser.read(self.filename)
        if not self.parser.has_section(self.section):
            self.parser.add_section(self.section)
        for name, value in self.parser.items(self.section):
            self.data[name] = value
 
 
    def save(self):
        """Save the configuration file on disk."""
        for name, value in self.data.items():
            self.parser.set(self.section, str(name), str(value))
        f = open(self.filename, 'w')
        self.parser.write(f)
        f.close()
 
 
    def delete(self):
        """Delete the configuration file."""
        os.chmod(self.filename, stat.S_IWRITE)
        os.remove(self.filename)
 
 
    def _filename(self, appname):
        # os.name is 'posix', 'nt', 'os2', 'mac', 'ce' or 'riscos'
        if os.name == 'posix':
            filename = "%s/.%s" % (os.environ["HOME"], appname)
 
        elif os.name == 'mac':
            filename = ("%s/Library/Application Support/%s" %
                        (os.environ["HOME"], appname))
 
        elif os.name == 'nt':
            filename = ("%s\Application Data\%s" %
                        (os.environ["HOMEPATH"], appname))
        else:
            raise UnsupportedOSError(os.name)
 
        return filename
 
 
if __name__ == "__main__":
 
    def test():
        conf = SimpleConfig("myapp")
        filename = conf.filename
        port = "3000"
        message = "Hello World!"
        conf["port"] = port
        conf["message"] = message
        conf.save()
 
        conf = SimpleConfig("myapp")
        assert conf["port"] == port
        assert conf["message"] == message
        conf.delete()
        assert not os.path.exists(filename)
 
    test()
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