NAME

newfile - create new files from templates

SYNOPSIS

This man page documents newfile v. 1.0.13.

This is newfile v. 1.0.11. Release: "Plastic leather, 13DDD"

usage: newfile -h

        newfile -V

        newfile [options] -s⎪--show

        newfile [options] -D<project>

        newfile [options] -d<template>

        newfile [options] -t<template> <file> ...

        newfile [options] -p<template>.<projectname> [<dir>]
                (note: <dir> defaults to <projectname> if omitted)

    -h, --help                       Show this help.
    -V, --version                    Show version and copyright.
    -v, --verbose                    Turn on verbose messages.
    -l, --license=LICENSE            Set license type.
    -t, --filetype=TEMPLATE          Set file TEMPLATE to use.
                                     Do *not* use with -p/--project.
    -p=TEMPLATE.PROJECTNAME          Set project TEMPLATE to use, and
                                     PROJECTNAME of project being built.
                                     Do *not* use with -t/--filetype.
        --project
    -s, --show                       Show installed file templates, project
                                     templates, and license types.
    -P, --pdoc=PROJECT               Show embedded docs for PROJECT.
    -T, --doc=TEMPLATE               Show embedded docs for TEMPLATE.
    -x, --exec-bit                   Make the resulting file executable.
                                     This option has no effect if a project
                                     template is selected.
    -a, --author=AUTHOR              Set name of author.
    -e, --email=EMAIL                Set author's email address.
    -o, --organization=ORGANIZATION  Set author's organization name.
    -c, --owner=COPYRIGHT_OWNER      Set copyright owner's name.
    -I, --include=DIR                Add DIR to search path.
    -D, --define=VAR[=value]         Define a variable. Value defaults to 1.

DESCRIPTION

newfile is a program for creating starter files, or trees of files, by processing templates with a C-preprocessor-like syntax.

Finding templates

Directory searching

Templates and projects (file tree templates) are found by looking in the search path for a directory containing the template file(s). For each directory in the search path, three subdirs are searched: "licenses", "projects", and "templates".

The user can create a directory hierarchy $HOME/.newfile in which to place new or modified templates and projects. This directory is searched before the system include directory. It should have the appropriate subdirectories for "licenses", "projects", and/or "templates", just like the system include directory.

Other search directories can be added with the "-I/--include" command line option. They will be searched before either the user's include directory or the system include directory, in the reverse order from that given on the command line.

Naming template files

Unlike older versions of this program, template subdirectories are always just 1 level deep. That is, e.g., the "templates" subdirectory will not have any subdirectories of its own. This simplifies the searching process immensely; in return, files must be named according to specific rules.

For file templates, the name should be "tmpl@FILETYPE", where "FILETYPE" is the value given to the "-t/--template" command line option. E.g., the template for ruby files ("-t rb") is "tmpl@rb". These files are all located in the "templates" subdirectory of each directory on the search path.

For license templates, the name should be "LTYPE@REALNAME", where "LTYPE" is the value given to the "-l/--license" command line option, and "REALNAME" is the actual name of the file. These files are all located (by convention) in the "licenses" subdirectory of each directory on the search path.

For project templates, the naming convention is similar to that for licenses, with the added feature that a "!" in the filename indicates a "/" in the final directory name. This is how subdirectories in the project are specified. E.g., "auto@src!Makefile.am" means the file "Makefile.am" in the "src" subdirectory of the project directory. These files are all located (by convention) in the "projects" subdirectory of each directory on the search path.

Variables

Builtins

Some variables are built into the system, and should always be defined. Some will get default values if not defined.

TEMPLATE: The name of the template used to construct the current project or file(s).
NAME: The name of the input file, minus any directory prefix.
NAMEID: An identifier based on NAME.
PROJECT: If a project template is being expanded, this is the name of the template.
PROJECTID: An identifier based on PROJ.
LICENSE: Defined by the command line option "-l/--license". Licenses are a special case of project templates, and their files are mixed in with a project template's file. In the case of a single file, the value of LICENSE determines which directory to search for a file called "license" that is included in the generated file.
AUTHOR: Defined by the command line option "-a/--author". The name of the author of the code or document. If not given, taken from the user's full name in the "/etc/passwd" file.
EMAIL: Defined by the command line option "-e/--email". If not given, constructed from the user's login name and the hostname.
ORGANIZATION: The organization to which the author belongs, in the context of the code or document being created. If not given, defaults to the value of AUTHOR.
OWNER: Defined by the command line option "-o/--owner". The owner of the copyright. May be an arbitrary string, or one of the special strings "org", "organization", or "author". If not given, defaults to "author".
BODY: If defined, indicates to many templates to include extra boilerplate text to define a skeleton body for the file. See the individual templates for details. The shell and ruby templates are especially good examples, since these are the languages I've been using most and these templates have received the most attention to detail.
c(omment): The value of a leading string to be prefixed to text in a comment block. This is handled entirely within the templates themselves.

Getting a variable's value

The syntax <:VARIABLE> will be substituted with the value of the variable. If the variable does not exist, it will be replaced with the string "*UNDEFINED*".

Checking if a variable is defined

The special function defined("VARIABLE") can be used in preprocessor conditionals (the section on "Preprocessor directives") to test if a variable is defined or not.

Note: the quotes around the variable name are required.

Files

Checking if a file exists

The special function exists("filename") can be used in preprocessor conditionals (the section on "Preprocessor directives") to test if a variable is defined or not.

Note: the quotes around the filename are required.

Note: Relative paths are evaluated relative to the directory from which newfile was run. (newfile does not change directory in the course of execution.)

Line continuation

Lines used to control the preprocessor (the section on "Preprocessor directives") may be continued by ending the line with the characters "%+". No spaces may appear after these characters in order for the line to be continued.

Preprocessor directives

The pre-processor supports a set of directives very similar to the C preprocessor. The leading character for all directives in "%", and must occur in the first column of the line.

%define VAR [VALUE]

Define or redefined a variable. One layer of quotes is stripped from the optional value unless the open quote is preceded by a literal backslash ("\"). The default value is "1".

%undef VAR

Undefine a variable, if it is defined.

%license

Insert the contents of the currently defined license header. This is a file called, e.g., "LTYPE@license.inc", where LTYPE is the license type, such as BSD or GPL.

%include <file>

Insert the contents of "file" at this point. The file is found by searching the current search path. Variable substitution is performed on "file", so "%include <<:BODY>>" will include the file whose name is in the variable "BODY".

%if COND-EXPRESSION

Test a conditional expression. Expressions are evaluated by the Ruby interpreter after variable substitution. The text up to the next matching "%elif", "%else", or "%endif" is used if the expression is true.

%elif COND-EXPRESSION

Shorthand for "%else", followed by "%if", but saves an extra "%endif".

%else

The text up to the matching "%endif" if used if the previously tested condition(s) was/were false.

%endif

Ends a "%if/%elif/%else" sequence.

%metastr STR

Sets the string used to start preprocessor directives to STR. It is initially set to "%". This directive remains in effect only until the end of the file in which it occurs. It cannot be used in an included file to change the interpretation of the enclosing file.

Note: If the template needs to include a license file, it would be a good idea to wait until after that is done before using this directive.

Note: This directive was added specifically to allow creation of MagicPoint templates, which have a "%if" statement. To avoid confusion, try to avoid its use wherever possible.

%metapush STR

Sets the string used to start preprocessor directives to STR. It is initially set to "%". This directive remains in effect only until the "?metapop" directive is encountered. All "%metapush" directives are undone at the end of the file in which they were found.

%metapop

Sets the string used to start preprocessor directives to what it was before the most recent "%metapush".

%end

Causes the preprocessor to ignore the rest of the file. You can, e.g., put documentation about the template after a "%end".

All other lines are either copied with variable substitution, or ignored, depending on the current conditional state.

DIAGNOSTICS

The preprocessor attempts to issue error messages that are as accurate as possible. Each error message is formatted like gcc's error messages, and shows the included files leading up to the point of the the error.

ENVIRONMENT

NEWFILE: String containing default command line options. Normal shell quoting conventions apply.

FILES

$HOME/.alane-newfile/*
$PREFIX/share/alane-newfile/*

CAVEATS

•: Does not check before overwriting existing files.

BUGS

•: Doesn't always issue good error messages and exit gracefully if bad input is given. Too much of the Ruby exception mechanism may be exposed to the user.

RESTRICTIONS

See the BSD License in the file "LICENSE" in the source distribution.

NOTES

There's still room for improvement, but the basic engine is solid. What is needed now are more templates, and getting all the templates documented.

A command line option to fetch template documentation after a %end would be really nice, too.

AUTHOR

AlanE@geeksrus.net

HISTORY

This is the third rendition of this program, written first in shell, then in Python, and finally in ruby. In this case, I think ruby allows easier transition from intent to code than Python.