XStow, replacement for GNU Stow
xstow [OPTION ...] PACKAGE
xstow-static [OPTION ...] PACKAGE
xstow-stow [OPTION ...] PACKAGE
XStow is a replacement of GNU Stow (stow) written in C++. It
supports all features of Stow with some extensions.
XStow as GNU Stow, are programs for managing the installation of software
packages, keeping them separate (/usr/local/stow/emacs
vs. /usr/local/stow/perl, for example) while making them appear to be
installed in the same place (/usr/local).
By default 3 versions of XStow will be compiled
- xstow
-
The default binary (dynamically linked)
- xstow-static
-
A static version with all enabled features except the ncurses support
- xstow-stow
-
A static version with few extensions, which results in a smaller binary.
All features that will blow up the binary and not required for being
compatible to GNU Stow are disabled.
xstow [OPTION ...] PACKAGE
Install a package
xstow foobar
Uninstall package
xstow -D foobar
- -dl -debug-level INT
-
Set's the debug level. An unsigned integer is accepted. The
default value is 0.
- -dm -debug-module [ALL|ARG|MAIN|TREE|CPPDIR]
-
Filter messages from a specific module.
- -h -help
-
Shows a help screen.
- -V -Version
-
Displays XStows version number and supported features.
- -n -no
-
Do not actually make changes
- -c -conflicts
-
Scan for conflicts, implies -n.
- -s -simulate
-
Simulate installation. If this option is set permission problems will
be ignored and -verbose will be set to 1.
- -d -dir DIR
-
Set stow dir to DIR. The default is the current directory.
- -d -target DIR
-
Set target to DIR. The default is the parent of the stow directory.
- -v -verbose [0|1|2|3]
-
Increase verboseness. Possible levels are 0,1,2 or 3. Simple setting
-v or -verbose adds 1.
- -D -delete
-
Unstow instead of stow. Deinstall the package.
- -R -restow
-
The same like -delete followed by an reinstall.
- -ap -absolute-path
-
Create symlinks with absolute path names. XStow can always handle
packages which were installed with this option. Installing one package
with absolute path names and one without is no problem. Only the
creation of the symlinks will be affected by this option. This will
cause that if one package is installed with this option and one
without, some of the symlinks of the first package, when they have to
be recreated will be recreated as relative ones. It is not good idea
doing this, even XStow does not have any problems with it.
Warning: Breaks compatibility with Stow!
- -tr -traversable LINKS
-
A list of links pointing to directories, that can be ignored.
eg.: /usr/local/man is a link to /usr/local/share/man
Warning: Breaks compatibility with Stow!
- -tkt -tr-keep-targets
-
Add the list of traversable links also to the keep targets list. This
prevents the targets of the links from beeing removed by XStow, which
would cause that the traversable link becomes a dead link.
- -tre -tr-auto PATTERN
-
Automatically add links which target matches this pattern.
- -tre -tr-auto-regex REGEX
-
Automatically add links which target matches this pattern.
- kd -keep-dirs DIR
-
A list of directories, that should not be removed when a package will be
removed. Warning: Breaks compatibility with Stow!
- -i -ignore PATTERN
-
Ignore files that matches this pattern.
- -ire -ignore-regex REGEX
-
Ignore files that matches this expression.
- -cp -copy PATTERN
-
Copy files or directories that matching this pattern.
- -cre -copy-regex REGEX
-
Copy files or directories that matching this expression.
- -sd -stow-dirs DIR
-
A list of other stow dirs, that xstow is allowed change
- -sda -sd-auto PATTERN
-
Automatically add directories to the list when matching this
expression.
- -sde -sd-auto-regex REGEX
-
Automatically add directories to the list when matching this
expression.
- -pd -protect-dirs DIR
-
A list of other dirs, that xstow is not allowed change
- -pda -pd-auto PATTERN
-
Automatically add directories to the list when matching this
expression.
- -pde -pd-auto-regex REGEX
-
Automatically add directories to the list when matching this
expression.
- -pdt -pd-targets DIRS
-
A list of dirs, xstow is allowed to change.
- -pta -pdt-add-traversable DIRS
-
Automatically add the targets of traversable links to the targets list.
- -f -force
-
Skip conflicts if possible.
-
On success.
-
On a missspelled call of stow.
-
If an internal error occours. This does not include if stowing a
package fails. If a package cannot be installed 0 is returned.
-
Installing the package failed of some reason.
Since the debugging of the command line parsing can be hard if the
debugging level is set by the command line there are two evironment
variables:
- XSTOW_DEBUG_LEVEL
-
Same as the -debug-level option.
- XSTOW_DEBUG_MODULE
-
Same as the -debug-module option.
Both values will be overwritten by the settings of the command line,
after the command line was parsed.
The configuration file xstow.ini can be located in /etc and/or in the
current stow directory. For possible settings and syntax
of this file see xstow.ini(5)
In this manpage there are some detailed informations of some special
settings of XStow too. Please read it!
As an example we install the ixlib library into the /usr/local/ tree.
tar xvfz ixlib-0.96.2.tar.gz
cd ixlib-0.96.2
./configure
make
So far, this was business as usual.
Note: by default the configure script prepares the application for
beeing installed into /usr/local/. Have a look at configure --help for
more info.
Now installation is done by not installing ixlib directly into
/usr/local/, we install it into /usr/local/stow/ixlib-0.96.2/.
make install prefix=/usr/local/stow/ixlib-0.96.2/
The last point is creating all necessare symlinks so that ixlib's
include files can be found by the compiler in
/usr/local/include. Therefore we are using xstow.
cd /usr/local/stow
xstow ixlib-0.96.2
And all symlinks will be created.
After calling the configure script and make, XStow is installed into
the stow directory as I showed it in the upper example.
make install prefix=/usr/local/stow/xstow-0.1.0
Then you switch to the stow directory and call XStow
cd /usr/local/stow
xstow-0.1.0/bin/xstow xstow-0.1.0
That is it.
By default XStow is fully Stow compatible. The usage of some of the
advanced features can cause that Stow cannot handle the tree any
more.
XStow supports all command line options of Stow. Even it's
format.
Eg.:
|
| xstow --verbose=2 foobar |
There are some nitty gritty cases, but no known bugs.
Stow requires Perl. But what's on systems where no Perl is available,
or not yet installed? I tried compiling Stow with perlcc, but it
failed.
XStow was written by Martin Oberzalek <kingleo@gmx.at>.
XStow a replacement of GNU Stow written in C++.
Copyright (C) 2002 by Martin Oberzalek <kingleo@gmx.at>
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
xstow.ini(5) stow(1)
GNU Stow has an excelent documentation. Have a look at the manual.
http://www.gnu.org/software/stow/