nimlinks

nimlinks is a set of tools for macOS to create and handle special links to files. These special links overcome a few problems that affect regular symbolic links and macOS aliases when used with file servers:

• they are ignored by many sync apps like Synology Drive and Owncloud/Nextcloud
• they are not flexible enough with remote locations: if a regular symbolic link is created over an AFP connection in LAN it won't work when connected to the same remote over a WebDAV connection in WAN.

Setup

1. Create some symbolic links in your /usr/local/bin:

$ cd nimlinks
$ ln -s $(pwd)/opener/python_opener/nimlinks.py /usr/local/bin/nimlinks
$ ln -s $(pwd)/nimlinks_creator/python_nimlinks_creator/nimlinks_creator.py /usr/local/bin/nimlinks_creator

2. Create config.ini (see config.ini.template)
3. In macOS set opener/macos_app_opener/nimlinks.app as default app for opening .nimlink and .nimautolink files.
4. Copy nimlinks_creator/macos_app_service/Create nimlink.workflow to ~/Library/Services/

Usage in macOS

Use a .nimlink file in the same way as you would use a regular macOS alias file but when the link is in a LOCAL SYNC ROOT dir (a dir under a sync app like Synology Drive or Owncloud).
When you want to move a large file/dir to the REMOTE OFFSYNC ROOT dir (a dir in a remote file server), the you need to use a .nimautolink file.

⭐ How to

• Open a .nimlink or .nimautolink file: just double click.
• Create a .nimlink: right click on the target, then Services > Create nimlink
• Move a file/dir offsync to a file server/NAS:
  • Move the file/dir in the REMOTE OFFSYNC ROOT, keeping a mirrored dirs structure
  • Append the postfix | offsync to the dir/file name, eg:
    .../IT/PYTHON/DJANGO | offsync/
.../BANKS/statement | offsync.iso
  • To create the relative .nimautolink file run:

  $ nimautolinks_creator/nimautolinks_creator.py

More details

The following sections contain more details about the project.

2 link types

.nimlink

They are text files containing a path that points to a target: a local or remote file/dir. They are created via the macOS Services context menu.

.nimautolink

They are empty files. Their own absolute path points to a mirrored target in a REMOTE OFFSYNC ROOT. They are created automatically running nimautolinks_creator. See next section.

Mirrored REMOTE OFFSYNC ROOT and LOCAL SYNC ROOT

Files sync apps like Synology Drive or Owncloud/Nextcloud are cool, but usually you want to keep only part of your documents collection in there. The remaining part is typically stored in a remote offsync root, in a file server.

We call:

• LOCAL SYNC ROOT the dir in your laptop with your sync'ed documents
• REMOTE OFFSYNC ROOT the dir in your remote file server with all th eother documents

It is handy to keep a mirrored dirs structures between the 2 roots. And mark the files/dirs moved offsycn with the postfix | offsync. .nimautolink file are automatically created to help you navigate from the sync root to the offsync root.

Example:

Development

The project has 3 tools:

• opener dir contains:
  • the macOS app set as default app for .nimlink and .nimautolink files. You can edit this app with Automator. This app runs a shell command to call the python opener.
  • the python opener actually handler the .nimlink and .nimautolink files: it finds the target, mounts the remote if necessary and finally opens the target with Finder.
• nimlinks_creator dir contains:
  • the macOS service available in the macOS Services context manager for files/dirs. You can edit this service with Automator. This service runs a shell command to call the python nimlinks creator.
  • the python nimlinks creator actually creates the .nimlink file, pointing at the selected dir/file.
• nimautolinks_creator dir contains the python script to run after having moved a dir/file from LOCAL SYNC ROOT to REMOTE OFFSYNC ROOT.

When writing Python code, try to:

• write code compatible with Python 2 and 3 so that it works in old and new macOS versions
• do not use any external library, so that no virtualenv is necessary. This way scripts work in any vanilla macOS.

See the development.md files in each dir.

Copyright

Copyright 2019 puntonim (https://github.com/puntonim). No License.