Here is a list of common phrases used throughout this Wiki, the README page and in the source code itself.

• Task: An entry consisting of (at minimum) some plaintext. Additional components:

  • Creation Date: The date and time at which a particular task was first added by tx.
  • Finished Date: The date and time at which a particular task was marked as finished by tx.
  • ID: Also called hash in the source code. It is an SHA-1 checksum of a particular task's text field, used by the original t to sort tasks. This field purely exists for backwards-compatibility.

  A task may appear in two variants:

  • Active task: A task that is currently not marked as finished.
  • Finished task: A task that is currently marked as finished.

• Tasklist: A collection of tasks. Variants:

  • Active tasklist: A tasklist which holds all the active tasks. Shortened as MainList in the source code.
  • Finished tasklist: A tasklist which holds all the finished tasks. Shortened as DoneList in the source code.

  Note: Sometimes (e.g.: when talking about Syncing), the term Tasklist may refer to both active and finished tasklists grouped together for the sake of conciseness.

• Taskfile: A regular file which holds a serialized active or finished tasklist and can be interpreted by tx/t. Variants:

  • Active taskfile: Simply called Taskfile in the source code. An active taskfile contains an active tasklist.
  • Finished taskfile: Also called Donefile in the source code. A finished taskfile contains a finished tasklist. A finished taskfile's path is derived from the corresponding active taskfile's path.
  • Backup taskfile: Also called Backupfile and BackupDonefile in the source code. A backup taskfile is created every time a taskfile is saved by tx (except when creating backups is disabled by the user).

• Syncing: The act of storing a tasklist in a remote place in order to allow that particular tasklist to remain up-to-date among multiple computers and/or tx clients. Relevant terms:

  • Sync service: A HTTP server conforming to the JSON Blob API and thus capable of storing serialized tasklists.
  • Sync ID: A unique identifier for a tasklist on a Sync service, used for communication with the Sync service.
  • Sync URL: The URL of a particular Sync service. Used for communication.
  • LastNetworkUpdate: A term used in the source code. Signifies the latest time a successful upload occured. Used to compare with a local file's last modified time to determine if a taskfile is out-of-date or not.
  • Syncfile: A Syncing information file is used to persist the parameters above. The path to a Syncfile is derived from its corresponding Taskfile's path.

• Callback: A user-specified shell command called after a successful saving operation.

• Selectors: See Selectors page.