Note that until changes are made for the new API, getpaper
needs a rehaul. See the text file.
Download, add bibtex, query bibtex, strip propaganda, print, and/or open papers based on reference!
Here, papers are academic journal articles, usually somehow related to nuclear astrophysics, which is my interest. It mainly relies on the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) and would typically take queries following the Journal/Volume/Page format. In a full blown operation, here is what happens:
getpaper
some options, including a journal name, a volume, and a page numbergetpaper
checks if ADS has a matching query (and if there are multiple returns, prompts you to choose one)getpaper
checks if you have a matching bibkey in your library.bib file, so as not to duplicategetpaper
checks the expected output PDF file name, so as not to download for no reasongetpaper
will download the paper (if you have subscription access)getpaper
can let you handle captchas at APSgetpaper
will ensure that what was downloaded looks like a legitimate PDF and not rubbishgetpaper
will strip the first page of the PDF if it's nonsense about the online journal with your IP addressgetpaper
will link the downloaded location of the paper into the bibtex entrygetpaper
will create a sensible directory structure like articles/2013 to place the paper if neededgetpaper
will open the paper if you asked it togetpaper
will print the paper if you asked it to (please have an idea of the page length first!)If you didn't have subscription access, perhaps because you are at home or travelling...
getpaper
can accept an SSH user and host to a machine at your work, and use that server to transparently download and transfer the paper to your local machine (though you should set up passwordless SSH and ensure your work machine has the right tools). However, I have been unable to test or bugcheck this option for several years owing to firewalls. Thus you can expect particularly APS journals would not work at the very least.And it will do all that, with a simple, single command. That could save you at least sixty seconds doing it yourself!
What it will not do:
You probably want to be using JabRef to manage your library.bib file. It's awesome...
getpaper
is just a single shell script. While it needs a run configuration file, it will initialize one for you the first time you run it. Many of the features are possible owing to lovely free software. Although getpaper
checks for the dependencies it requires itself, here is a list with a brief description:
getpaper
uses this to validate a download as being a pdf.It also requires the common system tools: grep, sed, and awk.