source: trunk/minix/man/man3/configfile.3@ 15

.TH CONFIGFILE 3
.SH NAME
configfile, config_read, config_delete, config_renewed, config_length, config_issub, config_isatom, config_isstring \- generic configuration file functions
.SH SYNOPSIS
.ft B
.nf
#include <configfile.h>

config_t *config_read(const char *\fIfile\fP, int \fIflags\fP, config_t *\fIcfg\fP)
void config_delete(config_t *\fIcfg\fP)
int config_renewed(config_t *\fIcfg\fP)
size_t config_length(config_t *\fIcfg\fP)
int config_issub(config_t *\fIcfg\fP)
int config_isatom(config_t *\fIcfg\fP)
int config_isstring(config_t *\fIcfg\fP)
.fi
.ft P
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.B configfile
routines operate on a generic configuration file that follows the syntax
described in
.BR configfile (5).
.PP
The interface presented by the functions above uses the following type and
definitions from <configfile.h>:
.PP
.if n .in +2
.if t .RS
.nf
.ta +\w'type'u +\w'const charmm'u +\w'word[];mm'u
typedef const struct config {
        config_t        *next;  /* Next configuration file thing. */
        config_t        *list;  /* For a { sublist }. */
        const char      *file;  /* File and line where this is found. */
        unsigned        line;
        int     flags;  /* Special flags. */
        char    word[]; /* Payload. */
} config_t;

.ta +\w'#definem'u +\w'CFG_SUBLISTm'u +\w'0x0000mm'u
#define CFG_CLONG       0x0001  /* strtol(word, &end, 0) is valid. */
#define CFG_OLONG       0x0002  /* strtol(word, &end, 010). */
#define CFG_DLONG       0x0004  /* strtol(word, &end, 10). */
#define CFG_XLONG       0x0008  /* strtol(word, &end, 0x10). */
#define CFG_CULONG      0x0010  /* strtoul(word, &end, 0). */
#define CFG_OULONG      0x0020  /* strtoul(word, &end, 010). */
#define CFG_DULONG      0x0040  /* strtoul(word, &end, 10). */
#define CFG_XULONG      0x0080  /* strtoul(word, &end, 0x10). */
#define CFG_STRING      0x0100  /* The word is enclosed in quotes. */
#define CFG_SUBLIST     0x0200  /* This is a sublist, so no word. */
#define CFG_ESCAPED     0x0400  /* Escapes are still marked with \e. */
.fi
.if n .in -2
.if t .RE
.PP
In memory a configuration file is represented as a list of
.B config_t
cells linked together with the
.B next
field ending with a null pointer.  A sublist between braces is attached to a
cell at the
.B list
field.
Words and strings are put in the
.B word
field, a null terminated string.  The
.B flags
field records the type and features of a cell.  The
.B CFG_*LONG
flags are set if a word is a number according to one of the
.B strtol
or
.B strtoul
calls.  Purely a number, no quotes or trailing garbage.  The
.B CFG_STRING
flag is set if the object was enclosed in double quotes.  Lastly
.B CFG_SUBLIST
tells if the cell is only a pointer to a sublist in braces.
.PP
Characters in a word or string may have been formed with the
.B \e
escape character.  They have been parsed and expanded, but the \e is still
present if
.B CFG_ESCAPED
is set.  The
.B word
array may be changed, as long as it doesn't grow longer, so one may remove
the \es like this:
.PP
.RS
.ta +4n +4n
.nf
if (cfg->flags & CFG_ESCAPED) {
        char *p, *q;
        p= q= cfg->word;
        for (;;) {
                if ((*q = *p) == '\e\e') *q = *++p;
                if (*q == 0) break;
                p++;
                q++;
        }
}
.fi
.RE
.PP
The low level syntax of a config file is checked when it is read.  If an
error is encountered a message is printed and the program exits with exit
code 1.  What the data means is not checked, that
should be done by the program using the data.  Only the atom
.B include
at the beginning of a list is special.  It should be followed by a string.
The string is seen as the name of a file, that is opened, read, and inserted
in place of the
.BR include .
Unless the name of the file starts with a
.BR / ,
it is sought relative to the directory the current file is found in.
Nonexistent files are treated as being empty.
.PP
The
.B file
and
.B line
fields in each cell tell where the cell was read.
.SS Functions
A configuration file is read with
.BR config_read .
The first argument is the file to read.  The second is either
.B 0
or
.B CFG_ESCAPED
to tell whether \e escapes should be fully expanded without leaving a trace,
or if they should still be marked with a \e so that the caller knows where
the excapes are.
The third argument,
.IR cfg ,
should be a null pointer on the first call.  If you want to reread a config
file that may have changed then
.I cfg
should be what you previously read.
.PP
With
.B config_delete
one can free up the memory that has been acquired with
.BR malloc (3)
to hold the contents of the configuration file.
.PP
To determine if the contents of configuration file has changed when reread
one uses
.BR config_renewed
after
.BR config_read .
It returns a "changed" flag that is set when the configuration file changed
and then clears that flag.  It returns true on the very first call.  For the
function to work you need to feed the old data back into
.BR config_read ,
not delete and reread.
.PP
The length of a series of config structures is told by
.BR config_length .
It follows the
.B next
fields, so a sublist between braces counts as one extra.
.PP
The
.BR config_issub ,
.BR config_isatom
and
.BR config_isstring
functions are just pretty macros to test if a cell references a sublist, is
a word/string, or is just a string.
.B CFG_SUBLIST
and
.B CFG_STRING
tell the same story.
.SH FILES
.TP \w'*/etc/*.confmmmm'u
.B */etc/*.conf
Several files in several
.B etc
directories.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR configfile (5).
.SH NOTES
The syntax of a config file puts some constraints on what you find in memory.
The top level list consists entirely of sublist cells.  These point to lists
that start with at least an atom, followed by a mix of atoms and sublist cells.
These sublists in turn point to a list of only sublist cells (recurse now.)
.PP
The struct config shown above is not exactly proper C to aid
readability, read <configfile.h> itself to see why.
.SH AUTHOR
Kees J. Bot (kjb@cs.vu.nl)