CONFIGDATA(1) User Contributed Perl Documentation CONFIGDATA(1)

NAME
       configdata - Query or change configuration of Perl modules

SYNOPSIS
         # Get config/feature values
         configdata -module Foo::Bar -feature bazzable
         configdata -module Foo::Bar -config magicnumber

         # Set config/feature values
         configdata -module Foo::Bar -setfeature bazzable=1
         configdata -module Foo::Bar -setconfig magicnumber=42

         # Print a usage message
         configdata -help

DESCRIPTION
       The "configdata" 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 emplyed 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 publically accessible methods for
       querying and setting (yes, actually re-writing) the configuration data.
       The "configdata" 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.

UUSSAAGGEE
       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.

       setfeature
           Sets the given "feature" to the given boolean value.  Specify the
           value as either 1 or 0.

       setconfig
           Sets the given "config" entry to the given value.

       eval
           If the "-eval" option is used, the values in "setconfig" 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, kwilliams@cpan.org

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).



perl v5.8.8                       2007-09-23                    CONFIGDATA(1)