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)