NAME

       Dpkg::Interface::Storable - common methods related to object serialization

DESCRIPTION

       Dpkg::Interface::Storable is only meant to be used as parent class for other objects. It
       provides common methods that are all implemented on top of two basic methods parse() and
       output().

BASE METHODS

       Those methods must be provided by the object that wish to inherit from
       Dpkg::Interface::Storable so that the methods provided can work.

       $obj->parse($fh, $desc)
           This methods initialize the object with the data stored in the filehandle. $desc is
           optional and is a textual description of the filehandle used in error messages.

       $string = $obj->output($fh)
           This method returns a string representation of the object in $string and it writes the
           same string to $fh (if it's defined).

PROVIDED METHODS

       $obj->load($filename)
           Initialize the object with the data stored in the file. The file can be compressed, it
           will be uncompressed on the fly by using a Dpkg::Compression::FileHandle object. If
           $filename is "-", then the standard input is read (no compression is allowed in that
           case).

       $obj->save($filename)
           Store the object in the file. If the filename ends with a known compression extension,
           it will be compressed on the fly by using a Dpkg::Compression::FileHandle object. If
           $filename is "-", then the standard output is used (data are written uncompressed in
           that case).

       "$obj"
           Return a string representation of the object.

AUTHOR

       Raphaël Hertzog <hertzog@debian.org>.