libpurple-to-markdown (0.1.6)
Installation
pip install --index-url About this package
Conversion script from various messaging formats to markdown.
Markdown Message Conversion.
Conversion script from various messaging formats to markdown.
Supported input formats:
- Pidgin/Libpurple chat program HTML-based logs. This backend is not actively maintained.
- SyncTech Backup & Restore XML-based backup format.
Motivation
Messaging applications are mostly good at sending real-time messages to other people, but they generally do not possess any useful archival features. Most messages are write-once read-once, and the apps where built for this use case. More and more through, I am attracted to the prospect of archival; of understanding who I am and who I were when I wrote those messages.
I recently discovered Obsidian and liked the prospect of cross-referencing my notes with my old chat logs. Libpurple uses HTML logs if you haven't configured it to something else (which I haden't).
I no longer use IRC or Pidgin as my entire friend group have switched to using Matrix.
Usage
There are two main import patterns:
- One-off archival import: For when you have a large set of messages to import for a service that you don't use very much anymore.
- Recurring import: For when you are still using the service, and want to import on a recurring basis.
This program will be default not overwrite existing files, as the user might have modified it.
Special consideration must be taking for recurring imports if you expect to be
modifying the resulting files, for example if you are inserting links
using Obsidian's unlinked mentions feature. You might want to use the
--skip-this-period flag to avoid importing the current period until it has
become the last period. That way you won't accidentally modify the log, because
it has been finalized.
One-off
This is the recommended command for the one-off case:
python -m libpurple_to_markdown LOG_DIRECTORY --output OUTPUT_FOLDER
Recurring
This is the recommended command for the recurring import case:
python -m libpurple_to_markdown LOG_DIRECTORY --output OUTPUT_FOLDER --skip-this-period --period month
TODO
- SyncTech: Decode MMS parts and reconstruct image attachments.