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:

               [traserve-links]
               keep-targets = true
               link = /usr/tmp  # comment

       [traserve-links]
           is a section with the name "traserve-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 traserve-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.