Getting started with `biblio`

User Support
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#1

What happened?

I want to use biblio to manage my references. I followed instructions described her:

to set citar-bibliography, citar-library-paths, and citar-notes-paths

However, after restart / reload functions concerning citar give:

Make sure to set citar-bibliography and related paths.

What did you expect to happen?

I expected citar / biblio to be functional after settings paths.

Steps to reproduce

  1. install vanilla Doom emacs
  2. uncomment “biblio” in ~/.doom.d/init.el
  3. configure “biblio” like such in ~/.doom.d/config.el
;; biblio
(after! citar
  (setq! citar-bibliography '("~/references/references.bib"))
  (setq! citar-library-paths '("~/references/library/files"))
  (setq! citar-notes-paths '("~/references/notes")))
  1. SPC h r r to sync config
  2. SPC q R to restart emacs

Note that in my case, there are some other packages installed (see dump). However, I tried these particular “Steps to reproduce” and got the same (undesired) result.

SPC h v of citar-bibliography returns the expected value:

Value ("/Users/felix/references/references.bib")

System information


Loading data dump...

Note

I also asked here (configuration - Configuring biblio package / citar on Doom emacs - Stack Overflow) but only now figured discourse is probably the btter place for these questions.

#2

That particular message is no longer in the citar source. I would suggest adding (unpin citar) to your packages.el to see if the issue goes away. If it doesn’t then report back here or file a issue at the github repo for citar.

#3

Thanks for the answer. Unpinning helped to make the error message go away.

I got a new one though: when I want to use a citar function, I get:

Symbol's function definition is void: citar-file--has-file-field

I can also file an issue on either Doom emacs or citar - something seems to be off.

EDIT: nevermind, I had to re-compile all packages (doom build) another time. Seems like there was a hiccup. Maybe it’s still wise to mention that another version of citar should be used for Doom emacs?

#4

Coming soon.

#5

Thanks for the PR! Very cool you were working on it already.

I saw it’s merged - I removed the unpin, upgraded my installation, and it seems to work now!

Just as another question: if I have the workflow of (a) scanning papers in the literature (b) adding them to my library using different tags, and (c) citing these papers in my notes, how would I use the biblio module most effectively?

I found I can easily add bibtex entries manually and citar can find them and add them to notes (point c). However, I’m struggling to find an efficient way to do (a) and (b).

I tried using elfeed for (a) but don’t understand how I can access the full text efficiently:

;; rss feeds
 (setq elfeed-feeds (quote
    (("https://feeds.feedburner.com/acs/jacsat" chemistry jacs)
    ("https://feeds.feedburner.com/acs/jctcce" theory computation jctc)
 )))

Papers pop up with M + x + elfeed but I don’t see how I can go to their website or add them to my biblio library.

Sorry if that’s a total beginner question - I am a total beginner :)

#6

A number of people use Zotero with the Better BibTeX extension to collect and auto-export the bib file.

You can also use ZotFile if you want to store your attachments in a different directory, with different file names (like the citekey-based ones used in Citar by default).

#7

Thank you! is there no good way to do that from within emacs though?

#8

That depends on how much work you are willing to put in. There is biblio which you can use to add bibtex entries if it has a backend you can use. Else you have to write one. It has one for arxiv which uses rss feeds so you can look there for inspiration if you decide to pursue this. If the data source provides a link to the pdf etc downloading can also be done through emacs.

#9

Did you see this video I included a link to in the citar README?

https://emacsconf.org/2021/talks/research/

Might give you some ideas, along the lines of what @rahguzar was suggesting (though note that citar has changed since he did that; in particular the API).

But in short, it doesn’t appear to be that straightforward.

Also, the best solution probably depends a lot on your particular workflow; in particular, what sorts of bibliographic resources you consume.

#10

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