Re: [ANN] New Org duration library

[Detlef Steuer <steuer@unibw-hamburg.de>]

Dear Nicolas,

after updating org this morning from git I get:

org-duration-to-minutes: Invalid duration format: " 9:00"

if I try to invoke my agenda with C-c a a

What gives me headaches: I don't use, AFAIK, durations anywhere
and a grep over my org files shows *no* occurence of " 9:00".

This is the complete relevant part of the message buffer:

org-duration-to-minutes: Invalid duration format: " 9:00"
Quit
Making completion list... [2 times]
Quit [4 times]
Saving file /home/steuer/.emacs.d/init.el...
Wrote /home/steuer/.emacs.d/init.el
Press key for agenda command (unrestricted):
org-duration-to-minutes: Invalid duration format: " 9:00"

Any idea? My agenda is inaccessible for me at the moment, what is
not so nice.

Regards
Detlef

Am Mon, 13 Feb 2017 15:10:38 +0100
schrieb Nicolas Goaziou <mail@nicolasgoaziou.fr>:

> Hello,
> 
> * TL;DR;
> 
> `org-time-clocksum-format', `org-time-clocksum-use-fractional' and
> `org-time-clocksum-fractional-format' are obsolete. If you changed
> them, consider modifying ~org-duration-format~ instead.
> 
> Variable `org-time-clocksum-use-effort-durations' is also obsolete.
> Consider setting `org-duration-units' instead.
> 
> * Rationale
> 
> In current stable version, time duration handling is unsatisfactory:
> 
> - There are overlapping and confusing functions:
>   `org-minutes-to-clocksum-string', `org-hh:mm-string-to-minutes' and
>   `org-duration-string-to-minutes'.
> 
> - Duration format is powerful but complex to handle since there are
> four variables involved: `org-time-clocksum-format',
>   `org-time-clocksum-use-fractional',
>   `org-time-clocksum-fractional-format' and
>   `org-time-clocksum-use-effort-durations'.
> 
> - More importantly, if you set that format to something fancy, it is
> not possible anymore to read the produced string back.
> 
> Therefore, I implemented and merged a simple "duration" library that
> takes care of reading and producing such durations. Quoting the file's
> commentary:
> 
>     This library provides tools to manipulate durations.  A duration
>     can have multiple formats:
>  
>       - 3:12
>       - 1:23:45
>       - 1y 3d 3h 4min
>       - 3d 13:35
>       - 2.35h
>  
>     More accurately, it consists of numbers and units, as defined in
>     variable `org-duration-units', separated with white spaces, and
>     a "H:MM" or "H:MM:SS" part.  White spaces are tolerated between
> the number and its relative unit.  Variable `org-duration-format'
>     controls durations default representation.
>  
>     The library provides functions allowing to convert a duration to,
>     and from, a number of minutes: `org-duration-to-minutes' and
>     `org-duration-from-minutes'.  It also provides two lesser tools:
>     `org-duration-p', and `org-duration-h:mm-only-p'.
>  
>     Users can set the number of minutes per unit, or define new units,
>     in `org-duration-units'.  The library also supports canonical
>     duration, i.e., a duration that doesn't depend on user's settings,
>     through optional arguments.
> 
> At the cost of some incompatibilities if you introduced some fancy
> duration format, and a slightly more limited choice of representation,
> we get a more consistent and sturdy interface.
> 
> * About base unit design choice
> 
> The base unit for a duration is the minute. I hesitated with the more
> natural second but
> 
> - Org time precision is the minute,
> 
> - `org-duration-to-minutes' and `org-duration-from-minutes' can be
>   drop-in replacements for the functions quoted above,
> 
> - We would need to handle floats anyway as we don't require custom
> units to be multiple of the base unit.
> 
> 
> Feedback welcome.
> 
> Regards,
> 



-- 

"Wisely and slow. Those stumble that run fast."
Shakespeare -- Romeo and Juliet

Dr. Detlef Steuer
Helmut-Schmidt-Universität
Fakultät WiSo
Holstenhofweg 85
22043 Hamburg

Tel:  040/6541-2819
mail: steuer@hsu-hh.de