Ubuntu Manpage: query-pr - query problem reports in the GNATS database

NAME

       query-pr - query problem reports in the GNATS database

SYNOPSIS

       query-pr
              [--output file | -o file]
              [--list-databases] [--list-fields] [--list-input-fields]
              [--responsible-address address]
              [--field-type type]
              [--field-description description]
              [--valid-values values]
              [--format format | -f format]
              [--full | -F] [--summary | -q]
              [--database database | -d database]
              [--and | -&] [--or | -|]
              [--expr expr]
              [--debug | -D]
              [--help | -h] [--version | -V]
              [PR ...]

   Non-network-mode options:
              [--print-sh-vars] [--print-directory-for-database]

   Network-mode-only options:
              [--host host | -H host] [--port port] [--user user | -v user] [--passwd passwd | -w passwd]

   Deprecated Options
              [--list-categories | -j] [--list-classes | -J] [--list-responsible | -k] [--list-submitters | -l]
              [--list-states | -T] [--category category | -c category] [--synopsis synopsis | -y synopsis]
              [--confidential confidential | -C confidential] [--multitext multitext | -m multitext]
              [--originator originator | -O originator] [--release release | -A release]
              [--class class | -L class] [--cases cases | -E cases] [--quarter quarter | -Q quarter]
              [--keywords keywords | -K keywords] [--priority priority | -p priority]
              [--responsible responsible | -r responsible] [--restricted | -R]
              [--severity severity | -e severity] [--skip-closed | -x] [--sql | -i] [--sql2 | -I]
              [--state state | -s state] [--submitter submitter | -S submitter] [--text text | -t text]
              [--required-before date | -u date] [--required-after date | -U date]
              [--arrived-before date | -b date] [--arrived-after date | -a date]
              [--modified-before date | -B date] [--modified-after date | -M date]
              [--closed-before date | -z date] [--closed-after date | -Z date]

DESCRIPTION

       Queries the GNATS database according to options and returns either selected Problem Reports (PRs) or oth‐
       er requested information.  query-pr can query PRs located in either a local database or via gnatsd.

       PRs  may be selected via the use of the --expr option, directly by number, or by the use of the (now dep‐
       recated) field-specific query operators.

       By default, query options are connected with a logical AND.  For example,
              query-pr --category=foo --responsible=bar
       only prints PRs which have a Category field of foo and a Responsible field of bar.

       The --or option may be used to connect query options with a logical OR. For example,
              query-pr --category=baz --or --responsible=blee
       prints PRs which have either a Category field of baz or a Responsible field of blee.

       The use of these options is strongly discouraged, as they will be deleted in the next release.   The  ex‐
       pressions specified by the --expr option are much more flexible.

OPTIONS

--help, -h
Prints a (rather longish) help message.

--version, -V
Displays the program version to stdout.

--output file, -o file
The results of the query will be placed in this file.

--database database, -d database
Specifies the database to be used for the query. If no database is specified, the database named
default is assumed. (This option overrides the database specified in the GNATSDB environment vari‐
able; see the ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES section for more information.)

--list-categories, -j
Lists the available PR categories for the selected database.

--list-classes, -J
Lists the available PR classes for the selected database.

--list-responsible, -k
Lists the users that appear in the database's responsible list.

--list-submitters, -l
Lists the valid submitters for this database.

--list-states, -T
Lists the valid PR states for PRs in this database.

The previous --list-* options are deprecated and will be removed in the next release; their functionality
can be replaced with

query-pr --valid-values field

where field is one of Category, Class, Responsible, Submitter-Id, or State.

--list-databases
Lists the known databases.

--list-fields
Lists the entire set of field names for PRs in the selected database.

--list-input-fields
Lists the fields that should be provided when creating a new PR for the currently-specified data‐
base. The fields are listed in an order that would make sense when used in a template or form.

--field-type field
Returns the data type contained in PR field field. The current set of data types includes text,
multitext, enum, multienum, integer, date, and text-with-regex-qualifier.

--field-description field
Returns a human-readable description of the intended purpose of field.

--valid-values field
For fields of type enum, a list of valid values (one per line) is returned. Otherwise, a regular
expression is returned that describes the legal values in field.

--responsible-address name
The mail address of name is returned; name is assumed to be a name either appearing in the data‐
base's responsible list, or is otherwise a user on the system.

--print-sh-vars
A set of /bin/sh variables is returned that describe the selected database. They include:

GNATSDB
The name of the currently-selected database.

GNATSDB_VALID
Set to 1 if the selected database is valid.

GNATSDBDIR
The directory where the database contents are stored.

DEBUG_MODE
Set to 1 if debug mode has been enabled for the database.

DEFAULTCATEGORY
The default category for PRs in the database.

DEFAULTSTATE
The default state for PRs in the database.

--print-directory-for-database
Returns the directory where the selected database is located.

--format format, -f format
Used to specify the format of the output PRs, See FORMATS below for a complete description.

--full, -F
When printing PRs, the entre PR is displayed. This is exactly equivalent to

query-pr --format full

--summary, -q
When printing PRs, a summary format is used. This is exactly equivalent to

query-pr --format summary

--debug, -D
Enables debugging output for network queries.

--host host, -H host
Specifies the hostname of the gnatsd server to communicate with. This overrides the value in the
GNATSDB environment variable.

--port port
Specifies the port number of the gnatsd server to communicate with. This overrides the value in
the GNATSDB environment variable.

--user user, -v user
Specifies the username to login with when connecting to the gnatsd server. This overrides the
value in the GNATSDB environment variable.

--passwd passwd, -w passwd
Specifies the password to login with when connecting to the gnatsd server. This overrides the
value in the GNATSDB environment variable.

--and, -&, --or, -|,
These options are used when connecting multiple query operators together. They specify whether
the previous and subsequent options are to be logically ANDed or logically ORed.

--expr expr
Specifies a query expression to use when searching for PRs. See the QUERY EXPRESSIONS section.

The remaining deprecated options are not described here, since their use is fairly obvious and their
functionality is completely replaced by the use of the --expr option. (Some sort of shorthand option for
querying fields may appear in the next release.)

FORMATS

Printing formats for PRs are in one of three forms:

formatname
This is a named format which is described by the database (specifically, these formats are de‐
scribed in the dbconfig file associated with the database). The default configuration contains
five such formats: standard, full, summary, sql, and sql2.

The first three are the ones most commonly used when performing queries. standard is the format
used by default if no other format is specified.

Use of the latter two are discouraged; they are merely kept for historical purposes.

Other named formats may have been added by the database administrator.

fieldname
A single field name may appear here. Only the contents of this field will be displayed.

´"printf string" fieldname fieldname . . .´

This provides a rather flexible mechanism for formatting PR output. (The formatting is identical
to that provided by the named formats described by the database configuration.) The printf string
can contain the following % sequences:

%[positionalspecifiers]s: Prints the field as a string. The positional specifiers are similar to
those of printf, as +, - and digit qualifiers can be used to force a particular alignment of the
field contents.

%[positionalspecifiers]S: Similar to %s, except that the field contents are terminated at the
first space character.

%[positionalspecifiers]d: Similar to %s, except that the field contents are written as a numeric
value. For integer fields, the value is written as a number. For enumerated fields, the field is
converted into a numeric equivalent (i.e. if the field can have two possible values, the result
will be either 1 or 2). For date fields, the value is written as seconds since Jan 1, 1970.

%F: The field is written as it would appear within a PR, complete with field header.

%D: For date fields, the date is written in a standard GNATS format.

%Q: For date fields, the date is written in an arbitrary "SQL" format.

An example printf formatted query (note the quoting of the whole format specification):

query-pr --format '"%s, %s" Synopsis State'

QUERY EXPRESSIONS

Query expressions are used to select specific PRs based on their field contents. The general form is

fieldname|"value" operator fieldname|"value" [booleanop ...]

value is a literal string or regular expression; it must be surrounded by double quotes, otherwise it is
interpreted as a fieldname.

fieldname is the name of a field in the PR.

operator is one of:

= The value of the left-hand side of the expression must exactly match the regular expression on the
right-hand side of the expression.

~ Some portion of the left-hand side of the expression must match the regular expression on the
right-hand side.

== The value of the left-hand side must be equal to the value on the right-hand side of the expres‐
sion.

The equality of two values depends on what type of data is stored in the field(s) being queried.
For example, when querying a field containing integer values, literal strings are interpreted as
integers. The query expression

Number == "0123"

is identical to

Number == "123"

as the leading zero is ignored. If the values were treated as strings instead of integers, then
the two comparisons would return different results.

!= The not-equal operator. Produces the opposite result of the == operator.

<,> The left-hand side must have a value less than or greater than the right-hand side. Comparisons
are done depending on the type of data being queried; in particular, integer fields and dates use
a numeric comparison, and enumerated fields are ordered depending on the numeric equivalent of
their enumerated values.

booleanop is either | [or], or & [and]. The query expression
Category="baz" | Responsible="blee"
is identical to the second query example with --or given earlier; it selects all PRs with a Category
field of baz or a Responsible field of blee.

The not operator ! may be used to negate a test:
! Category="foo"
searches for PRs where the category is not equal to the regular expression foo.

Parenthesis may be used to force a particular interpretation of the expression:
!(Category="foo" & Submitter-Id="blaz")
skips PRs where the Category field is equal to foo and the Submitter-Id field is equal to blaz. Paren‐
thesis may be nested to any arbitrary depth.

Fieldnames can be specified in several ways. The simplest and most obvious is just a name:
Category="foo"
checks the value of the category field for the value "foo".

A fieldname qualifier may be prepended to the name of the field; a colon is used to separate the qualifi‐
er from the name. To refer directly to a builtin field name:

builtin:Number="123"

In this case, Number is interpreted as the builtin name of the field to check. (This is useful if the
fields have been renamed. For more discussion of builtin field names, see dbconfig(5).)

To scan all fields of a particular type, the fieldtype qualifier may be used:

fieldtype:Text="bar"

searches all text fields for the regular expression bar.

Note that it is not necessary that the right-hand side of the expression be a literal string. To query
all PRs where the PR has been modified since it was closed, the expression

Last-Modified != Closed-Date

will work; for each PR, it compares the value of its Last-Modified field against its Closed-Date field,
and returns those PRs where the values differ. However, this query will also return all PRs with empty
Last-Modified or Closed-Date fields. To further narrow the search:

Last-Modified != Closed-Date & Last-Modified != "" & Closed-Date != ""

In general, comparing fields of two different types (an integer field against a date field, for example)
will probably not do what you want.

Also, a field specifier may be followed by the name of a subfield in braces:

State[type] != "closed"

or even

builtin:State[type] != "closed"

Subfields are further discussed in dbconfig(5).

QUERY BY MAIL

       query-pr  can  also  be accessed by electronic mail, if your version of GNATS is configured for this.  To
       use this feature, simply send mail to the address query-pr@your-site with command line arguments  or  op‐
       tions  in  the  Subject:  line  of  the mail header.  GNATS replies to your mail with the results of your
       query.  The default settings for the query-pr mail server are shown below; to override the --state  para‐
       meter,  specify --state=state in the Subject: line of the mail header.  You can not query on confidential
       Problem Reports by mail.

       --restricted --state="open|analyzed|feedback|suspended"

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       The GNATSDB environment variable is used to determine which database to use.  For a  local  database,  it
       contains the name of the database to access.

       For  network  access  via  gnatsd, it contains a colon-separated list of strings that describe the remote
       database in the form

       server:port:databasename:username:password

       Any of the fields may be omitted except for server, but at least one colon must  appear;  otherwise,  the
       value is assumed to be the name of a local database.

       If GNATSDB is not set, it is assumed that the database is local and that its name is default.

COPYING

       Copyright (c) 1993, 94, 95, 96, 1997, 1999, 2003, Free Software Foundation, Inc.

       Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this manual provided the copyright notice
       and this permission notice are preserved on all copies.

       Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this manual under  the  conditions  for
       verbatim  copying,  provided  that  the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
       permission notice identical to this one.

       Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual into another language, under the
       above conditions for modified versions, except that this permission notice may be  included  in  transla‐
       tions approved by the Free Software Foundation instead of in the original English.

GNATS                                              August 2003                                       query-pr(1)