CLIAPP(5) File Formats Manual CLIAPP(5)
NAME
cliapp - config file and option conventions for Python command line framework
DESCRIPTION
cliapp is a Python programming framework for writing command line applications for Unix-like operating systems. This manual page describes
the conventions for configuration files and command line parsing provided by cliapp.
Configuration file variables and command line options are handled by cliapp under a uniform abstraction: every setting is available both in
configuration files and command line options. There are a few settings, provided by the framework itself, which are only available on the
command line. For example, --help outputs a short help text, listing all the available options, and --dump-config outputs a list of cur-
rent configuration settings.
Command line parsing follows GNU conventions: short options start with a single dash, long options with two dashes, and options may be used
anywhere on the command line. The order of options versus non-options does not matter. The exception is some of the options provided by
the framework, which are executed immediately when found, and may be prevent the rest of the options from being parsed. (--dump-config is
one of these, so use it at the end of the command line only.)
Some settings may have aliases, which can be only a single character, and in that case they're parsed as single-character option names.
Some applications have subcommands, which means that the first non-option argument is used to tell the application what to do. This is
similar to what many version control systems do, for example CVS, svn, bzr, and git. Options are global, and are not specific to subcom-
mands. Thus, --foo means the same thing, regardless of what subcommand is being used.
Configuration files
Configuration files use INI file syntax. All the settings are in the [config] section. Other sections are allowed, but it is up to the
application to give meaning to them.
Multiple configuration files may be read. Settings from later ones override settings from earlier ones. Options override settings from
the configuration files.
String list settings
Some settings may be a list of values (each value being a string). For example, there might be a setting for patterns to search for, and
multiple patterns are allowed. On the command line, that happens by using the option multiple times. In the configuration file, all val-
ues are given on one line, separated by commas. This is a non-standard extension to the INI file syntax. There is no way to escape com-
mas.
Example:
[config]
pattern = foo, bar, foobar
Boolean (true/false or on/off or yes/no) settings
When a setting can be either on or off, it's called a Boolean setting. Such settings are turned off by default, and turned on if used on
the command line. In a configuration file, they need to be set to a value: if the value is one of yes, on, true, or the number 1, the set-
ting is turned on. Any other value means it is turned off.
[config]
verbose = true
attack-kittens = no
This turns the verbose setting on, but does not launch attack kittens.
Logging and log files
Programs using cliapp automatically support several options for configuring the Python logging module. See the --help output for options
starting with log for details. Logging can happen to a file or the system log. Log files can be rotated automatically based on size.
The --trace option enables additional debug logging, which is usually only useful for programmers. The option configures the tracing
library for Python, by Lars Wirzenius, which allows logging values of variables and other debug information in a way that is very light-
weight when the tracing is turned off. The option specifies for which source code files to turn on tracing. The actual logging happens
via the normal Python logging facilities, at the debug level.
Python profiling support
You can run the application under the Python profiler (cProfile) by setting an environment variable. The name of the variable is FOO_PRO-
FILE, where FOO is the name of the program, as set by the application code or determined by cliapp automatically. The value of the envi-
ronment variable is the name of the file to which the resulting profile is to be written.
FILES
cliapp reads a list of configuration files at startup, on behalf of the application. The name of the application is included in the name.
In the filenames below, the application name is progname.
/etc/progname.conf
Global configuration file.
/etc/progname/*.conf
More global configuration files. These are read in ASCII sorted order.
~/.progname.conf
Per-user configuration file.
~/.config/progname/*.conf
More per-user configuration files. Again, ASCII sorted order.
CLIAPP(5)