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:
[traverse-links]
keep-targets = true
link = /usr/tmp # comment
[traverse-links]
is a section with the name "traverse-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 traverse-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 ALSOxstow(1)merge-info(1)xstow.ini file.
XStow 1.0.2 2014-04-06 XSTOW.INI(5)
