NAME File::RdistByRsync - read rdist distfiles, emulate using rsync SYNOPSIS use File::RdistByRsync @dist_blocks = parse_rdist($distfile, %options) ($args, $extras, @dist_blocks) = rdist(@ARGV); rsync(@ARGV) perl -MFile::RdistByRsync -e 'rsync(qw/rdist command flags/)' DESCRIPTION File::RdistByRsync parses and understands rdist distfiles and command lines. It can share it's understanding by returning what it got ("parse_rdist()" and "rdist()") or it can attempt to emulate rdist using rsync. Why? Well, because rdist is so slow it's unusable and rsync has such a limited interface that it's unusable. I'm sure a better specification language than rdist's could be developed, but rdist's language already exists so I used it to drive rsync. WARNING As of this writing, this code is still green. Use the "-D" "-n" and "-v" options and look at the output. Look carefully. If it looks good, then try running it for real. If it deletes all your files, then you didn't look carefully enough. Don't blame me. See the LICENSE. DATA STRUCTURE The main return value from rdist is an array of distribution blocks. They look like: { HOSTS => [ host1 user@host2 host3 etc...], FILES => [ /etc/rc.* /etc/hosts /usr etc...], EXCEPT => [ # tuples of type & file EXCEPT_PAT /etc/p.*d # regular expression EXCEPT /etc/rc.local # glob RSYNC_EXCLUDE /etc/rc.loc* # glob-style pattern exclusions RSYNC_INCLUDE /etc/rc.* # glob-style pattern inclusions ] SPECIAL => [ { FILES => /etc/login.conf # glob okay COMMAND => "cap_mkdb $FILE" # a command to run }, { FILES => /etc/named.conf # glob okay COMMAND => "ndc reload" # a command to run }, ] RSYNC_OPTION => [ --dry-run --verbose ] INSTALL => [ { DESTINATION => /usr # where to install FLAGS => { R => 1, # remove extra w => 1, # append whole path } } TSFILE => /some/file # touch file name } DETAILS @dist_blocks = parse_rdist($distfile, %options) There is one "dist_block" for each "::" or "->" entry in the distfile. The options supported by parse_rdist are "DEFINES => {}" which override variable definitions made in the distfile and "TARGETS => []" which filters the results so that entries that don't match label targets (if any match) and files that don't match file targets are removed. ($args, $extras, @dist_blocks) = rdist(@ARGV); "$args" comes from the Getopt::Declare manpage. See the grammer inside File::RdistByRsync for full details, but basically "$args-"{"-y"}> is true if "@ARGV" contained "-y". "$extras" is a hash of a few items that are sometimes useful. "$extras-"{HOSTS}> is the list of hosts specified with the "-m" option. "$extras-"{DEFINES}> is a hash of "-d" variable definitions. "$extras-"{RSYNCOPT}> is a list of rsync options specified in "@ARGV". "$extra-"{TARGETS}> is a list of distfile entries (by label) or filenames given in "@ARGV" to limit the scope of the invocation. "$extra-"{CFLAG}> is a dist_block created if there is a command-line style distfile. rsync(@ARGV) The "rsync()" function does the whole job. The "@ARGV" parameter should be an rdist-style command line. COMPATABILITY All rdist switches except "-i" are honored. The output is quite different from rdist. Multiple invocations of rsync can be required to do a single rdist. Two features of rdist are currently ignored: email notification and timestamp checking with "::" productions. There are some additional features that are useful when using "rsync()". First, the long-form of rsync command line arguments are noticed by "rdist()" and used by "rsync()". Second, in the "->" productions, three new commands are available: 'rsync_options' ';' 'rsync_include' ';' 'rsync_exclude' ';' Rsync_options will be passed to any rsync commands called by "rsync()" that operate on the block in question. Rsync_include and rsync_exclude will be passed to rsync with "- " prepended for the excludes and "+ " prepended for the includes. When building rsync exclusion lists, the order of the 'rsync_include', 'rsync_exclude', 'except', and 'except_pat' are taken into account and preserved. LICENSE Copyright (C) 2002 David Muir Sharnoff. License hereby granted for anyone to use, modify or redistribute this module at their own risk. Use of this module consitutes an agreement to indemnify and hold harmless the author(s) for whatever might happen when using this code. Please feed useful changes back to muir@idiom.com.