MERGE-INFO(1) XStow Reference Guide MERGE-INFO(1)NAME
merge-info, merge and unmerge GNU Info index files
SYNOPSIS
merge-info [OPTION ...] FILE FILE
DESCRIPTION
merge-info can merge and unmerge the GNU Info index files named 'dir'. These files are usally created by install-info at install time of an
application, or automatically generated by a mkinfodir script.
If you are installing 2 packages at two different locations, two different 'dir' files are created. Eg.: One in
/stow/foo/usr/local/info/dir
and one in
/stow/bar/usr/local/info/dir
This is the common case if you are using a tool like xstow(1). merge-info can handle this and can merge both 'dir' files and creates a new
'dir' file.
USAGE
merge-info [OPTION ...] FILE FILE
Merge two files:
merge-info /stow/foo/info/dir /stow/bar/info/dir
Remove the content of a 'dir' file from another 'dir' file
merge-info -u /stow/foo/info/dir /stow/bar/info/dir
OPTIONS -dl -debug-level INT
Set's the debug level. An unsigned integer is accepted. The default value is 0.
-h -help
Shows a help screen.
-V -Version
Displays the verion number of the XStow package. merge-info is shipped with xstow(1).
-u -unmerge
Unmerge instead of merge. Note: It is not possible splitting up one 'dir' file into two. But removing the content of one 'dir' file
from the other one is possible.
-o -outfile
Write the resulting 'dir' file not to stdout. Write it to a given file. Since merge-info does not open this outfile until all the
merging or unmerging stuff is done it is allowed that the outfile is one the source files. eg.:
merge-info -u foo/info/dir bar/info/dir -o foo/info/dir
-d -duplicate
Remove duplicate entries. When merging 2 files an entry can appear in more than one section. If you do not wan't this, use this option.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
XSTOW_DEBUG_LEVEL
Same as the -debug-level option.
AUTHORS
merge-info was written by Martin Oberzalek <kingleo@gmx.at>.
COPYING
merge-info, a tool for merging GNU Info index files.
Copyright (C) 2004-2005 by Martin Oberzalek <kingleo@gmx.at>
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
SEE ALSO info(1)install-info(1)xstow(1)XStow 1.0.0 2012-05-29 MERGE-INFO(1)
Check Out this Related Man Page
XSTOW.INI(5) XStow Reference Guide XSTOW.INI(5)NAME
xstow.ini, config file for XStow
CONTENT
The xstow.ini file contains some static informations about your system. It's possible setting most necessary values by setting the required
command line option, but in some cases this won't make sense if you are using xstow quite often.
SYNTAX
The syntax of the configuration file is simple. It's the same as it is used by KDE and GNOME.
The data is splitted into keys values and sections. The '#' sign marks a comment. Here is an example:
[traserve-links]
keep-targets = true
link = /usr/tmp # comment
[traserve-links]
is a section with the name "traserve-links"
keep-targets = true
is a key - value pair, where 'keep-targets' is the key and 'true' is the value.
PROCESSING
XStow processes the config files one after another. Static configuration options like the [debug]=>module option can be overwritten by the
next config file. List keys like [traverse-links]=>link will be appended to the list.
If you wan't more informations about the current stow setup call XStow like this:
xstow -s -dl 1 dummy-package | less
For getting information about which config files were processed you will have to set some environment values (see xstow(1) for details).
Eg.:
XSTOW_DEBUG_LEVEL=1 xstow -s -dl 1 dummy-package | less
DESCRIPTION
SECTION traserve-links
In this section a number of links are listed, which xstow will identify as links that are not part of an xstow managed package. Eg.: For
conforming to the FHS it is common setting a link from /usr/share/man to /usr/man. This will cause old applications installing theire
manpages in /usr/share/man, rather than in /usr/man.
But xstow is paranoid and believes that the link contains to something else and it is not allowed writing data into the directory the link
points to.
The simple solution is telling xstow which links should be handled as normal directories. These links can be listed in this section.
link = LINK
The value of this key must contain an absolute path to the link that should be handled as a normal directory. The link itself can be an
absolute, or relativ link. It is allowed that there are more than one link keys in this section.
keep-targets = BOOL
Allowed values are 'true' and '1' (incasesensitive). Anything else will be interpreted as false. If keep-targets is set to true the
target of the links in this section will automatically added to the keep-dirs section. This avoids that these targets will be removed
and the links will become dead links.
add-if-target = PATTERN
Automatic add all links which targets match the pattern to the link list. XStow will use this as the last chance for solving
dependencies. Only if all other tests failed the application will try appling this test. This means that it is no problem setting
[links]=>absolute-links to true and using a pattern like /* here. If keep-targets is set to true the applied links will added to the
keep-dirs list too.
add-if-target-regex = REGEX
Does the same as add-if-target, but support regular expressions. XStow will always try matching the regular expressions before the
normal shell patterns, cause a regex can be much more exact than a shell pattern.
SECTION keep-dirs
In this section directories are listed that should not be remove. When xstow removes a package and a directory becomes emty the directory
will be removed too.
dir = DIR
The value of this key must contain an absolute path to the directory that should be kept. It is allowed that there are more than one
dir keys in this section. The value should not end with a '/'!!
SECTION matches
XStow will try matching this pattern to all file names that were found in packages. Only the file names. So you do not have to care about
the slashes.
ignore = PATTERN
Ignore files matching this pattern. It is allowed that there are more than one ignore keys in this section.
ignore-regex = REGEX
Does the same as ignore, but support regular expressions. XStow will always try matching the regular expressions before the normal
shell patterns, cause a regex can be much more exact than a shell pattern.
copy = PATTERN
Copy files or directories matching this pattern instead of linking it. This makes sense in case of some global files that will be used
by more than one package and will be updated in the course of the installation process. Files that were installed this way won't be
removed in case of unstowing a package, since XStow can not handle package dependencies and does not know if any other package requires
the file. If a directory matches this expression the content of the directory will be copied recoursively. This can be useful in case
of some /etc files, installed by the installation process. It is allowed that there are more than one copy keys in this section.
copy-regex = REGEX
Does the same as copy, but support regular expressions. XStow will always try matching the regular expressions before the normal shell
patterns, cause a regex can be much more exact than a shell pattern.
nignore = NIGNORE_RULE
Ignore everything except file and directories matching this expression. eg: "systree/bintree". For using nignore support fnmatch and
configration file support has to be enabled. A rule (eg.: "systree/headertree" ) has a set of subrules (eg.: "systree" and
"headertree" ). These subrules are defined in a separate section which is named as the subrule. Eg, the subrule for "systree":
[systree]
dir = /usr
dir = /usr/local
follow = false
There is an example config file "nignore.ini" in the doc directory of this package.
SECTION NIGNORE-SUB-RULE
Description of a nignore subrule. This section is called like the nignore subrule, eg: "systree".
dir = DIR
Directories where a file of the package should be installed. You can use shell pattern's too (eg.: "/man/man*"), but use this feature
only if this subrule is the last one in an nignore rule.
follow = BOOL
Follow subdirs.
SECTION stow-dirs
dir = DIR
The value of this key must contain an absolute path to the directory that can be handled as it would be part of the own stow directory.
This means xstow is allowed to make changes in packages that are related to this directory. It is allowed that there are more than one
dir keys in this section. The value should not end with a '/'!!
auto-add-dirs = PATTERN
Automatically add a directory if it matches this pattern. In Stow directories, which were detected with this pattern, never will be
searched for configuration files. It is allowed that there are more than one auto-add-dirs keys in this section.
auto-add-dirs-regex = REGEX
Does the same as auto-add-dirs, but support regular expressions. XStow will always try matching the regular expressions before the
normal shell patterns, cause a regex can be much more exact than a shell pattern.
SECTION protect-dirs
The goal of this section is limiting the access within a legal target directory. Eg.: If your stow directory is '/stow' and you installing
packages this way:
make install DESTDIR=/stow/package_name
But the 'prefix' is set to '/usr/local'. In this case target directory will be '/', but the real target directory of package will be
'/usr/local'. The following keys withing this section allowing to restrict the installation access within the valid target directory.
dir = DIR
The value of this key must contain an absolute path to the directory that has not be changed. XStow is not allowed installing a package
there and withing the subdirectories, and will report an error, if it would. It is allowed that there are more than one dir keys in
this section. The value should not end with a '/'!!
auto-add-dirs = PATTERN
Automatically add a directory if it matches this pattern. It is allowed that there are more than one auto-add-dirs keys in this
section.
auto-add-dirs-regex = REGEX
Does the same as auto-add-dirs, but support regular expressions. XStow will always try matching the regular expressions before the
normal shell patterns, cause a regex can be much more exact than a shell pattern.
target = DIR
The value of this key must contain an absolute path to the directory that is allowed to be changed. If this value is set, XStow will
report an error if it would touch any other, or upper directory within the tree. It is allowed that there are more than one target
keys in this section. The value should not end with a '/'!!
target-add-traversable-links = BOOL
Automatically add the targets of traversable links to the targets list. This can be useful if you do not add manually all possible
targets of traversable links to the target list. By default this value is set to false.
If your stow directory is '/stow' and all packages should be installed in '/usr/local/' such a config file will make sense:
[traverse-links]
link = /usr/local/etc
[protect-dirs]
target = /usr/local
target-add-traversable-links = true
XStow will report an error if it would install a package outside of '/usr/local'
SECTION debug
These values will be ignored if one of these values is set by command line option.
module = MODULE
Set the default debug module.
level = INTEGER
Set the debug level.
SECTION config-files
in-home = BOOL
Search in home directory for a config file named "xstow.ini" or ".xstow.ini". Only in the home directory will be searched for hidden
files.
in-stow-dir = BOOL
Search in current stow directory for a config file
in-other-stow-dirs = BOOL
Search in other public stow directories for config files.
file = FILE
Read this config file too.
It is allowed that there are more than one file keys in this section.
SECTION links
absolute-paths = BOOL
Create links with absolute path names.
SECTION exec
If a package comes with some GNU info files, install-info creates an index directory named 'dir' in STOWDIR/PACKAGE/share/info. If this
is the first package with an info index file this won't be a problem.
If a second package creates another 'dir' file in the packages info directory, this file will not contain the informations from the
first package too and xstow will report a problem unless you use the ignore or copy option.
But using the copy option is not a solution since the content of each of the files is incomplete. You can use the ignore option and
run mkinfodir in the /usr/local/info directory after installing the package with xstow. (Such a script is available on various
distributions.)
The other solution is running a program that merges the old and the new 'dir' file. This section provides a hook, that allows
executing such tools if a file or directory matches a condition.
XStow shippes a programm called merge-info(1) that can be used this way.
There can be more than one exec Section within an ini file!
match = PATTERN
exec = COMMAND
Executes the command if a file matches the match expression. %t is replaces by the target file and %s is replaced by the source file.
exec-unstow = COMMAND
Executes the command if a file matches the match expression and a packages is unstowed. If exec-unstow is not set and a package will be
unstowed, nothing will be executed. %t is replaces by the target file and %s is replaced by the source file.
EXAMPLE xstow.ini
EXAMPLE 1
Here is an example xstow.ini which is common for a system where xstow is managing the /usr/local tree.
[traverse-links]
keep-targets = true
link = /usr/local/tmp
link = /usr/local/var
link = /usr/local/man
link = /usr/local/doc
link = /usr/local/info
[keep-dirs]
dir = /usr/local/bin
dir = /usr/local/sbin
dir = /usr/local/lib
dir = /usr/local/include
[matches]
ignore = *~
ignore = core
ignore = core.*
ignore = CVS
[exec]
match = dir # GNU info index file
exec = merge-info %t %s -o %t
exec-unstow = merge-info -u %t %s -o %t
[stow-dirs]
dir = /usr/local/stow
dir = /usr/local/stow2
EXAMPLE 2
This is an example xstow.ini for a system where xstow is managing the '/usr/local' tree, but the stow directory is '/stow'.
[matches]
ignore = *~
ignore = CVS
ignore = core*
[stow-dirs]
dir = /stow
[protect-dirs]
target = /usr/local
SEE ALSO xstow(1)merge-info(1) xstow.ini file.
XStow 1.0.0 2012-05-29 XSTOW.INI(5)