Zeitgeist Project

News

Zeitgeist (Bluebird) 0.8.99~alpha2 released!

On behalf of the Zeitgeist team I am happy to announce the release of
Zeitgeist 0.8.99~alpha2.

What is Zeitgeist?
---------------------------------------

Zeitgeist is a service which logs the users's activities and events,
anywhere from files opened to websites
visited and conversations, and makes this information readily
available for other applications to use. It is also
able to establish relationships between items based on similarity and
usage patterns.

Website: http://zeitgeist-project.com/
Launchpad Project (with bug tracker): https://launchpad.net/zeitgeist
Wiki: http://wiki.zeitgeist-project.com/, (http://live.gnome.org/Zeitgeist)

See also:

* Sub-projects of Zeitgeist:
 - Extensions for Zeitgeist - https://launchpad.net/zeitgeist-extensions
 - Data-sources for Zeitgeist - https://launchpad.net/zeitgeist-datasources
 - Datahub for Zeitgeist - https://launchpad.net/zeitgeist-datahub

* Dedicated Graphical User Interfaces:
 - GNOME Activity Journal - https://launchpad.net/gnome-activity-journal
 - Activity Log Manager - https://launchpad.net/activity-log-manager
 - Other users: Synapse, Unity, etc.

Where can you get it?
-------------------------------
http://launchpad.net/zeitgeist/0.9/0.9.0/+download/zeitgeist-0.8.99~alpha2.tar.bz2

What has changed?
--------------------------

Engine:
 - Enhanced error handling and reporting (LP: #848710, #760111, #903667).
 - Automatic recovery after database corruption (LP: #743857).
 - Added a new prefix operator ("+") to query for exact matches (LP: #884193).
 - The database file is now only readable by the user (LP: #910273).
 - GVFS usage in StorageMonitor has been disabled for now (LP: #905898).
 - Fixed a problem where the FTS extension could block the DB (LP: #919111).
 - Fixed a bug in FTS's automatic re-indexing.
 - Events with duplicate subjects are now cleanly rejected (LP: #909708).
 - Debug messages are no longer displayed by default (LP: #906451).
 - Guess interpretation and manifestation when empty (LP: #899602).
 - Implemented network status monitoring in StorageMonitor.
 - Fixed histogram extension to handle timezones.
 - Various memory usage and query speed improvements (LP: #910190).
 - Added an environment variable for disabling extensions.

Overall:
 - Updated to shared-desktop-ontologies version 0.8.1. This introduces
   WebDataObject and makes MusicPiece a child of Audio.

Zeitgeist (Bluebird) 0.8.99~alpha1 released!

Hey everyone,

On behalf of the Zeitgeist team I'd like to announce that today we're releasing the latest version of Zeitgeist (0.8.99-alpha1). It's quite unusual for Zeitgeist to do alpha releases, but this one is special - the entire daemon was rewritten from Python to Vala, which most likely brings a couple of new bugs, but also fixes another bunch of old bugs. Therefore we'd need people to test the release to see if there are some outstanding issues we missed.

As usual, the tarball is available on Launchpad. Of course we'll be also pushing the package into our PPA soon (although the alpha release may be only available for Oneiric users). Please report any bugs you encounter to either Zeitgeist's freedesktop.org bugzilla or to our Launchpad bug page.

The biggest difference you'll be able to see at this point is much faster startup time, other than that the changes will be minimal - we're still using the same database, as well as the same DBus API, so everything should be working as before. One thing we did break is the API for the Activity Journal extension, so if you want to continue using it with this and further releases, you need to update also Activity Journal.

What's still missing is a rewrite of our FTS extension (which provides search capabilities), so for the time being we're still using the old one written in Python which is included in the tarball.

Before I wrap up, I'd like to say huge thank you to Collabora and Canonical, who sponsored the development, and of course to the whole team: Seif (seiflotfy), Siegfried (RainCT), Mikkel (kamstrup) and Manish (m4n1sh).

 --
Michal Hruby (mhr3)

Zeitgeist 0.8.2 "Not Quite Blue" released!

On behalf of the Zeitgeist team I am happy to announce the release of
Zeitgeist 0.8.2 "Not Quite Blue".

What is Zeitgeist?
---------------------------------------

Zeitgeist is a service which logs the users's activities and events,
anywhere from files opened to websites
visited and conversations, and makes this information readily
available for other applications to use. It is also
able to establish relationships between items based on similarity and
usage patterns.

Website: http://zeitgeist-project.com/
Launchpad Project (with bug tracker): https://launchpad.net/zeitgeist
Wiki: http://wiki.zeitgeist-project.com/, (http://live.gnome.org/Zeitgeist)

See also:

* Sub-projects of Zeitgeist:
 - Extensions for Zeitgeist - https://launchpad.net/zeitgeist-extensions
 - Data-sources for Zeitgeist - https://launchpad.net/zeitgeist-datasources
 - Datahub for Zeitgeist - https://launchpad.net/zeitgeist-datahub

* Dedicated Graphical User Interfaces:
 - GNOME Activity Journal - https://launchpad.net/gnome-activity-journal
 - Activity Log Manager - https://launchpad.net/activity-log-manager
 - Other users: Synapse, Unity, etc.

Where can you get it?
-------------------------------
http://launchpad.net/zeitgeist/0.8/0.8.2/+download/zeitgeist-0.8.2.tar.gz

What has changed?
--------------------------

Engine:

 - Storage Monitor: Add support for Network Manager 0.9.
 - The text field in subject templates is now allowed to end with an
   asterisk (*) character (which is treated as plain text).
 - Correctly handle current_uri in subject templates from old clients
   (instead of forcing it to the same value as the subject's uri).
 - Substantially increase the amount of events that can be deleted in
   a single DeleteEvents call.

Python API:

 - Correctly specify the D-Bus interface when using introspection.
 - Fix possible exception when the available method list hasn't been loaded.
 - The Event constructor now supports creating independent copies of events.

Kind regards,

--
Siegfried-Angel Gevatter Pujals (RainCT)
Free Software Developer

Zeitgeist 0.8.1.1 "Grass Frog" released!

On behalf of the Zeitgeist team I am happy to announce the release of
Zeitgeist 0.8.1.1 "Grass Frog".

This release includes some bug fixes for Zeitgeist 0.8.1.

What is Zeitgeist?
---------------------------------------

Zeitgeist is a service which logs the users's activities and events,
anywhere from files opened to websites
visited and conversations, and makes this information readily
available for other applications to use. It is also
able to establish relationships between items based on similarity and
usage patterns.

Website: http://zeitgeist-project.com/
Launchpad Project (with bug tracker): https://launchpad.net/zeitgeist
Wiki: http://wiki.zeitgeist-project.com/, (http://live.gnome.org/Zeitgeist)

See also:

* Sub-projects of Zeitgeist:
 - Extensions for Zeitgeist - https://launchpad.net/zeitgeist-extensions
 - Data-sources for Zeitgeist - https://launchpad.net/zeitgeist-datasources
 - Datahub for Zeitgeist - https://launchpad.net/zeitgeist-datahub

* Dedicated Graphical User Interfaces:
 - GNOME Activity Journal - https://launchpad.net/gnome-activity-journal
 - Activity Log Manager - https://launchpad.net/activity-log-manager
 - Other users: Synapse, Unity, etc.

Where can you get it?
-------------------------------
http://launchpad.net/zeitgeist/0.8/0.8.1.1/+download/zeitgeist-0.8.1.1.tar.gz

What has changed?
--------------------------

Engine:

 - Load extensions after the internal database lookup/cache tables have
   been initialized.
 - Fix problem when replacing an existing Zeitgeist instance (LP: #809569).
 - Fix possible crash when zeitgeist-datahub isn't available (LP: #791392).

Python API:

 - Fix regression that broke properties (get_version and get_extensions).

Kind regards,

--
Siegfried-Angel Gevatter Pujals (RainCT)
Free Software Developer

Zeitgeist 0.8.1 "The Snake and the Holy Grail" released

On behalf of the Zeitgeist team I am proud to announce the release of
Zeitgeist 0.8.1 "The Snake and the Holy Grail".

This release features mostly enhancements to the Python API, and
some engine stability improvements.

What is Zeitgeist?
---------------------------------------

Zeitgeist is a service which logs the users's activities and events,
anywhere from files opened to websites
visited and conversations, and makes this information readily
available for other applications to use. It is also
able to establish relationships between items based on similarity and
usage patterns.

Website: http://zeitgeist-project.com/
Launchpad Project (with bug tracker): https://launchpad.net/zeitgeist
Wiki: http://wiki.zeitgeist-project.com/, (http://live.gnome.org/Zeitgeist)

See also:

* Sub-projects of Zeitgeist:
 - Extensions for Zeitgeist - https://launchpad.net/zeitgeist-extensions
 - Data-sources for Zeitgeist - https://launchpad.net/zeitgeist-datasources
 - Datahub for Zeitgeist - https://launchpad.net/zeitgeist-datahub

* Dedicated Graphical User Interfaces:
 - GNOME Activity Journal - https://launchpad.net/gnome-activity-journal
 - Activity Log Manager - https://launchpad.net/activity-log-manager
 - Other users: Synapse, Unity, etc.

Where can you get it?
-------------------------------
http://launchpad.net/zeitgeist/0.8/0.8.1/+download/zeitgeist-0.8.1.tar.gz

What has changed?
--------------------------

Engine:

 - Added a GetDataSourceFromId D-Bus method to the data-source registry
  extension (LP: #691690).
 - A backup of the database is created before attempting schema upgrades. If
  something goes wrong, the backup is automatically restored (LP: #660307).
 - Fixed the "extensions" D-Bus property when it's an empty list (LP: #787691).
 - Add PID to the output being logged in ~/.cache/ (LP: #806030).
 - Ensure the engine doesn't attempt to close twice in a row (LP: #793714).
 - Minor memory usage improvements.

Python API:

 - Changed _DBusInterface to update introspected data after reconnections.
 - Added support for registering custom Event and Subject subclasses with
  ZeitgeistClient (LP: #799199).
 - Fixed reconnection after a Zeitgeist restart so that the method call trig-
  gering the reconnection also works -and not only later calls- (LP: #736176).
 - Added signal reconnection on engine restart for extensions (LP: #806967).
 - Added an "iteritems()" method to all enumerations (RelevantResultType,
  StorageState and ResultType).
 - Added a "from_timestamp(timestamp)" method to TimeRange.

Kind regards,

--
Siegfried-Angel Gevatter Pujals (RainCT)
Free Software Developer

More on Zeitgeist memory consumption

After writing a script to clean up my Zeitgeist DB (not deleting events), optimizing an FTS issue and vacuuming, my 2 Zeitgeist processes now uses around 12 MB with normal usage (logging everything and using Synapse) and Docky… I will look into the 64 Bit issue soon, but with 32 Bit I hope this stays constant for a while.

I will blog more about this experience soon…

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Follow Zeitgeist development on Facebook and Twitter

Hi everybody,
As you all know Zeitgeist has been trying to make rapid strides in the linux desktop and the Zeitgeist team is working really hard to enhance and improve the desktop experience and integration in Ubuntu, KDE and GNOME.

To get more feedback from our fellow users and updating our beloved readers about all the development that has been brewing in the camp, we have decided to have a Zeitgeist Twitter account and a Facebook page.

Twitter http://twitter.com/TeamZeitgeist
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=117610428264866

Do follow the twiiter page and like the Facebook page to keep yourself informed. We would start posting a lot of things. You can even pass on your wish if you find bug trackers too difficult to use. It doesnt matter if you a programmer or artist or lawyer or a rock/metal musician. All of you are welcome.

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Hello Planet KDE

Hello KDE,
With this awesome week in Randa 2011 and being a KDE GSoC mentor to Mr. Trever Fischer. I will be posting about the process of integrating Zeitgeist into KDE and the work with Nepomuk.
I will be posting more stuff soon.
Cheers
Seif

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Zeitgeist on its way into KDE

You can read about it here…

The basic structure of events as understood by both projects Nepomuk and Zeitgeist are different.

Nepomuk looks at events as an “activity on a subject” with a duration with a start and end. Zeitgeist on the other hand looks as an event as an entitiy in time. So Open and Close are 2 different events for Zeitgeist while in Nepomuk their are properties of an Event.

Yet this did not stand in our way. We reached a solution where no side had to compromise but only purely collaborate.

To cut it short…

  1. Zeitgeist and Nepomuk worked on extending NUAO for the Shared Desktop Ontology
  2. Zeitgeist will still use its own ontology but map everything into NUAO before pushing into Nepomuk. Our internal DB will be kept for our own reasons. It is encouraged that developers who want to ask for events to interact with Nepomuk though. Yet it will be possible to interact with Zeitgeist (we can search over Nepomuk via an extension)
  3. Here is the structure for the implementation.
  4. We got this more or less working… without having to change Zeitgeist code! This is all done over Zeitgeist extensions, leaving Nepomuk and Zeitgeist unchanged.

I must say this was a great week. Sebastian Trueg, Ivan Cukic and Trever Fischer just made it happen. And I am glad we are moving forward.

P.S: I am here with Ryan Lortie. KDE has been holding us hostage in a room because we are GNOMErs :P (kidding). No honestly it was very productive and having Zeitgeist and dconf now in adoption by KDE is just a good example of cross desktop collaboration.

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Releasing Zeitgeist Datasources 0.8.0

One behalf of Zeitgeist Team I am happy to release zeitgeist-datasources 0.8.0

Zeitgeist Datasources are a collection of extensions/ addons/plugins which log the activities of the user and insert it in the zeitgeist engine which can be later used for lot of useful tasks. These extensions insert lots of extra events apart from the ones logged by zeitgeist-datahub
http://wiki.zeitgeist-project.com/Getting_Started

The extensions present are

  • Eye of GNOME
  • gedit
  • Totem
  • Rhythmbox
  • Tomboy
  • Chrome
  • Emacs
  • Firefox 4.0
  • Geany
  • Telepathy
  • Vim
  • XChat
  • Bazaar

Get the release tarball from here
https://launchpad.net/zeitgeist-datasources/0.8/0.8.0

Few of the extensions require Zeitgeist 0.8.0 to build.
https://launchpad.net/zeitgeist/0.8/0.8.0

Launchpad project Page

More info about Zeitgeist

Package for Ubuntu would be available on Zeitgeist PPA. I have built it in my PPA, it needs to be tested and then copied to the Zeitgeist PPA. If you have added the PPA, then you should get the update