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Getting Shit Done

I came across an old LifeHacker article Get Shit Done Blocks Distracting Web Sites So You Can Do As the Name Instructs, that mentions a productivity script, get-shit-done. So I went to the github repository only to discover that the Python script was no longer functional. I didn't have permission to fix the script at the site, so here's a quick note-to-self to get around to that. Until then...

[Edit]: There's a better, live branch at GitHub. Use leftnode's version.

Here's an archive of my changes before I discovered leftnode's branch.

  • The syntax errors were fixed. (Like the "play" string in the dictionary at the end that was supposed to be the play method.)

  • It's more Windows friendly. Changing the "hosts" file doesn't require a network driver restart in Windows.

  • You no longer have to specify an argument, "work" or "play." It'll just toggle modes every time you run it now.

  • When reverting to "play" mode, it retains whatever was in the hosts file after the endToken now.

  • I removed the bit of code that optionally reads in from an ini file. The ini file format (the keys, in particular) struck me as awkward.

#!/usr/bin/env python

import sys
import getpass
import subprocess
import os

def exit_error(error):
    print >> sys.stderr, error
    exit( 1 )

restartNetworkingCommand = ["/etc/init.d/networking", "restart"]
# Windows users may have to set up an exception for write access
# to the hosts file in Windows Security Essentials.
hostsFile = '/etc/hosts'
startToken = '## start-gsd'
endToken = '## end-gsd'
siteList = ['', '',
            '', '', '',
            '', '',
            '', '', '',
            '', '', '',
            '', '', '',
            '', '',
            '', '', '',
            '', '', '',
            '', '',
            '', '']

def rehash():
    if sys.platform != 'cygwin':

def work():
    with open( hostsFile, 'a' ) as hFile:
        print >> hFile, startToken
        for site in siteList:
            print >> hFile, "\t" + site
            if site.count( '.' ) == 1:
                print >> hFile, "\twww." + site
        print >> hFile, endToken

def play( startIndex, endIndex, lines ):
    with open(hostsFile, "w") as hFile:
        hFile.writelines( lines[0:startIndex] )
        hFile.writelines( lines[endIndex+1:] )

if __name__ == "__main__":
    if sys.platform != 'cygwin' and getpass.getuser() != 'root':
        exit_error( 'Please run script as root.' )

    # Determine if our siteList is already present.
    startIndex = -1
    endIndex = -1
    with open(hostsFile, "r") as hFile:
        lines = hFile.readlines()
        for i, line in enumerate( lines ):
            line = line.strip()
            if line == startToken:
                startIndex = i
            elif line == endToken:
                endIndex = i

    if startIndex > -1 and endIndex > -1:
        play( startIndex, endIndex, lines )

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