dantecatalfamo/sysctl.el

Manage sysctl through Emacs

sysctl.el

View and edit sysctl in a hierarchical structure in Emacs. Works on Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and macOS. Will work over TRAMP via SSH as well, including multiple hops.

Commands

sysctl Generate the sysctl buffer

Keybindings

• C-c C-c Set the value of current position in the sysctl tree
• C-c C-k Refresh the value of current position in the sysctl tree

sysctl.el's Issues

Fix parsing for FreeBSD's multiline values

FreeBSD's sysctl output contains many multiline values that mess with the way this package parses lines

feature request: item and value on the same line using org-columns

I don't use this package very much but I suggest showing the item and value on the same line. org makes this possible using the built-in org-columns.

I have made a modification that achieves this. The following code:

• inserts metadata for org-columns rendering
• tells org-mode to show all headers and subheaders ("content")
• increases the depth by one
• encodes the sysctl item value as a org-property ":VALUE:", for org-columns input.
• moves the cursor back to the top of the buffer

(defun sysctl-construct-tree (lines-list)
  "Turn LINES-LIST into an org hierarchy."
  ;; org-columns formatting
  (insert "* sysctl\n")
  (insert ":PROPERTIES:\n"
          ":COLUMNS: %40ITEM(Item) %80VALUE(Value)" "\n"
          ":END:\n"
          "#+STARTUP: content\n")
  (let (path)
    (dolist (line lines-list)
      (let ((line-path (car line))
            (line-value (cdr line))
            (depth 1))
        (while line-path
          (unless (string= (nth (- depth 1) path)
                           (car line-path))
            (insert (concat (make-string (+ 1 depth) ?*) " " (car line-path) "\n"))
            (sysctl--readonly-previous-line))
          (setq line-path (cdr line-path)
                depth (1+ depth)))
        (setq path (car line))
        (insert (concat ":PROPERTIES:\n" ;; shown as org-property for org-column
                        ":VALUE: " line-value "\n"
                        ":END:\n")))))
 (goto-line 0))

How to use it:

1. Redefine sysctl-construct-tree as shown above.
2. M-x sysctl
3. C-u C-c C-x C-c (org-columns) to turn on org-columns mode and show the item and value org-column overlay.
4. Press q anywhere on the overlays to remove org-columns overlays.

Pros:

• Able to see the item name and value on one line
• Able to leverage org-columns editing mode

Cons:

• Does not work for multi-line entries.
• Not yet working for org-column editing mode

Tested on:

• Emacs 26.1
• org-plus-contrib 20191230 package
• Debian 10 Linux x64

References:
https://orgmode.org/manual/Column-view.html
https://orgmode.org/worg/org-tutorials/org-column-view-tutorial.html