CONFIG_DATA
Section: Perl Programmers Reference Guide (1)
Updated: 2016-01-15
Index?action=index Return to Main Contents
NAME
config_data - Query or change configuration of Perl modules
SYNOPSIS
# Get config/feature values config_data --module Foo::Bar --feature bazzable config_data --module Foo::Bar --config magic_number # Set config/feature values config_data --module Foo::Bar --set_feature bazzable=1 config_data --module Foo::Bar --set_config magic_number=42 # Print a usage message config_data --help
DESCRIPTION
The"config_data"tool provides a command-line interface to the configuration of Perl modules. By ``configuration, we mean something akin to ``user preferences or ``local settings''. This is a formalization and abstraction of the systems that people like Andreas Koenig (
"CPAN::Config"), Jon Swartz (
"HTML::Mason::Config"), Andy Wardley (
"Template::Config"), and Larry Wall (perl's own Config.pm) have developed independently. The configuration system employed here was developed in the context of
"Module::Build". Under this system, configuration information for a module
"Foo", for example, is stored in a module called
"Foo::ConfigData") (I would have called it
"Foo::Config", but that was taken by all those other systems mentioned in the previous paragraph...). These
"...::ConfigData"modules contain the configuration data, as well as publicly accessible methods for querying and setting (yes, actually re-writing) the configuration data. The
"config_data"script (whose docs you are currently reading) is merely a front-end for those methods. If you wish, you may create alternate front-ends. The two types of data that may be stored are called
"config"values and
"feature"values. A
"config"value may be any perl scalar, including references to complex data structures. It must, however, be serializable using
"Data::Dumper". A
"feature"is a boolean (1 or 0) value.
USAGE
This script functions as a basic getter/setter wrapper around the configuration of a single module. On the command line, specify which module's configuration you're interested in, and pass options to get or set"config"or
"feature"values. The following options are supported:
- module
- Specifies the name of the module to configure (required).:
- feature
- When passed the name of a
"feature"
, shows its value. The value will be 1 if the feature is enabled, 0 if the feature is not enabled, or empty if the feature is unknown. When no feature name is supplied, the names and values of all known features will be shown.: - config
- When passed the name of a
"config"
entry, shows its value. The value will be displayed using"Data::Dumper"
(or similar) as perl code. When no config name is supplied, the names and values of all known config entries will be shown.: - set_feature
- Sets the given
"feature"
to the given boolean value. Specify the value as either 1 or 0.: - set_config
- Sets the given
"config"
entry to the given value.: - eval
- If the
"--eval"
option is used, the values in"set_config"
will be evaluated as perl code before being stored. This allows moderately complicated data structures to be stored. For really complicated structures, you probably shouldn't use this command-line interface, just use the Perl API instead.: - help
- Prints a help message, including a few examples, and exits.:
AUTHOR
Ken Williams, [email protected]
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 1999, Ken Williams. All rights reserved.
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
SEE ALSO
Module::Build?(3), perl?(1).
