This is the explanation and instruction-sheet whatsit for note.

There are several possible ways this thing can be configured,
depending upon your preferences and the behaviour of /bin/sh.

Run ./config and answer the questions it asks.  In most cases,
accept the defaults and you'll wind up with a functional "note".

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The configuration options are as follows:

Which note: "ansi" is the default colour notepad.  If your terminal
                   does colour and your shell handles $(), use this one.
            "iv" requires the utilities in ivsut-0.97a.  Try 'which mdate'
                 and 'which mcat'.  If these are both found, use "iv".
            "mono" is monochrome, and works for some shells that can't
                   handle the $() substitution used in the other versions.

Position function: This is a minor but rather costly enhancement.
            If you have a really slow machine, answer "n".  Otherwise,
            accept the default.  This isn't thoroughly tested, by the way.
            It works okay on my setup.  This option is not available with
            the "mono" note, as I haven't yet figured out how to make it
            work with backtic-type substitution.

Editor command: Whatever you're most comfortable with.  I use 'pico -t'.

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In the "preconfigured" directory are the three versions of "note" as
configured with the defaults.  If you like, rename one of these to
"note" and move it to someplace in your path (such as /usr/local/bin).
Otherwise, run ./config and move the results to wherever.

Now, the important part: what do you need installed to run this thing?
The normal textutils that come with any decent unix: cat, sed, touch,
gzip/gunzip/zcat, expr (if you're using the position function), grep,
less, a text editor, and a Bourne-compatible shell.  

It should work on the majority of Linux, BSD, and AIX systems around.
It also works under Minix, with some hacking (compress instead of gzip).
I run it here under the four systems named, with bash, ksh, and ash.

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Usage: note [filename]

If you invoke note without arguments, it will create and use a file
in your home directory, "notepad.gz".  This file is stored compressed
in the interest of saving drive space.  It is also set to mode 600 so
that nobody else may access it.

If you give note a filename, e.g. 'note foo', it will create the file
named in the current directory, with default permissions (probably 644
unless you've set your umask differently).  You will, after creating
and adding to it, wind up with the compressed "foo.gz".

The options within note, displayed on the bottom line, should be self
explanatory.  The vi options are there for convenience, as I use a
different editor (pico) for simple babble but will fall back on vi for
anything beyond.

If your $EDITOR variable is set, note will use that for its default
editor.  Otherwise it'll use the one you select at configuration.
vi is always available of course.

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"note" is copyright 1998 by Andrew Costa <seagull@isys.ca>
Use it, copy it, change it, give it away, whatever.  It's free.
Just leave my name in it someplace.

