Provided by: xstow_1.1.0-1_amd64 
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 ALSO
xstow(1) merge-info(1) xstow.ini file.