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# So you need a calendar?

Don Harper

2008-08-04

# So you need a calendar?

So, one of the things we have been using computers for is to keep track of our lives. And this means a scheduling or calendaring tool. Some tools out there do this fine, and some do it very well.

I have to keep track of a lot of appointments. From conference calls for work, to each member of the family’s schedules, to random, but highly important reminders. Most calendaring programs out there will let you set up a reoccurring event by day of the month, or the date. But, what if you need to do something two days before the end of the month, every month? Or, you need to do something every full moon, but not on the blue moon? Or, you have a standing meeting with your boss every other Monday morning, execpt when Monday is a holiday, then the meeting shifts to Tuesday? Oh, and you want something that you can run over an ssh session, while on your smart phone, or you friend’s smart phone?

The answer is simple: remind. remind can do this, and more. Need to set something up by the Hebrew Calendar? Check. Want your calendar to run a shell command for you on a holiday, specific day of the month, or phase of the moon? Check.

Most modern Linux distrobutions include remind nowdays, as it is so darn usefull. In addition, it runs just fine under Solaris, and the BSDs, including MacOS X. If fact, over at 43Folders, they have a whole section their wiki for remind. The wiki has many tips and tricks on how to use remind to its fullest.

In my next post, I will share some tips on how I get remind to remind me of events.