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.TH splitconf 1 "9 October 2003" "Straylight/Edgeware"
.SH NAME
splitconf \- break a single configuration file out into small chunks
.
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B splitconf
.B \-u
.IR config
.I file
...
.br
.B splitconf
.B \-d
.I config
.br
.B splitconf
.RB [ \-s \]
.I config
.
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.B splitconf
program breaks a configuration file into lots of small files, and
remembers what they are.  It is designed to be
.IR safe :
if writing any of the components fails, none of the files is changed.
Alas, the update is not quite atomic -- doing that involves messing with
symbolic links and is just too much like hard work.
.PP
The command-line arguments are as follows:
.TP
.B \-h, \-\-help
Print a very short help message to standard output and exit.
.TP
.B \-u, \-\-unsplit
Gather a list of
.IR file s
into a single
.BR splitconf -managed
configuration file
.IR config .
.TP
.B \-d, \-\-delete
Delete the files split out from
.IR config .
.TP
.B \-s, \-\-split
Split files out from
.IR config .
(This is the default.)
.
.SH SPLITCONF FILES
The input files to
.B splitconf
start with a
.I preamble
section, followed by a number of
.I file
sections.
.PP
The preamble section may contain:
.hP \*o
blank lines, which are ignored;
.hP \*o
meta-comments, which begin with a
.RB ` ## '
pair, and are also ignored;
.hP \*o
option settings, of the form
.RI ` option
.B =
.IR value '
(see below); and
.hP \*o
one-liner file contents descriptions, of the form
.RI ` name \c
.B :
.IR contents '.
.PP
A file section begins with a line of the form
.RB ` [ \c
.IR name \c
.BR ] '
and is followed by lines to write to the file.  In these lines, comments
(lines beginning with a
.RB ` ## '
are stripped out, and any trailing blank lines are removed.  Also, any
line beginning with an exclamation mark
.RB ` ! '
is written out with the leading exclamation mark removed.
.PP
A file section with an empty
.I name
is treated specially: its contents are scanned for more preamble
directives.
.PP
Options are as follows.
.TP
.B prefix
A string to attach to the front of all subsequent filenames, until
overridden.  (Default is empty.)
.TP
.B before
A shell command to execute before starting to write any files.  There is
only one before-command, which is the one current when the first file is
written.
.TP
.B after
A shell command to execute after committing the changes or backing out.
There is only one after-command, which is the last one set in the
configuration file.
.SH BUGS
None known.
.SH AUTHOR
Mark Wooding, <mdw@distorted.org.uk>