Config::Find(3)

NAME
Config::Find - Find configuration files in the native OS fashion

SYNOPSIS
  use Config::Find;

  my $filename=Config::Find->find;

  ...

  my $fn_foo=Config::Find->find( name => 'my_app/foo',
                                 mode => 'write',
                                 scope => 'user' );

  my $fn_bar=Config::Find->find( names => [qw(my_app/bar appbar)] );

  my $fh=Config::Find->open( name => 'foo',
                             scope => 'global',
                             mode => 'w' )

  my $fn=Config::Find->install( 'original/config/file.conf',
                                name => 'foo' );

  my $fn=Config::Find->find( file => $opt_c,
                             name => foo );

ABSTRACT
Config::Find searchs for configuration files using OS dependant heuristics.

DESCRIPTION
Every OS has different rules for configuration files placement, this module allows to easily find and create your app configuration files following those rules.

Config::Find references configuration files by the application name or by the application name and the configuration file name when the app uses several application files, i.e "emacs", "profile", "apache/httpd", "apache/ssl".

By default the $0 value is used to generate the configuration file name. To define it explicitly the keywords "name" or "names" have to be used:

name => "name" or "app/file"
    picks the first configuration file matching that name.

names => [qw(foo bar foo/bar)]
    picks the first configuration file matching any of the names passed.

Alternatively, the exact position for the file can be specified with the "file" keyword:

file => "/config/file/name.conf"
    explicit position of the configuration file.

    If undef is passed this entry is ignored and the search for the configuration file continues with the apropiate OS rules. This allows for:

      use Config::Find;
      use Getopt::Std;

      our $opt_c;
      getopts('c:');

      my $fn=Config::Find->find(file => $opt_c)

Methods in this package also accept the optional arguments "scope" and "mode":

scope => "user" or "global"
    Configuration files can be private to the application user or global to the OS, i.e. in unix there is the global "/etc/profile" and the user "~/.profile".

mode => "read" or "write"
    In "read" mode already existant file names are returned, in "write" mode the file names point to where the configuration file has to be stored.

  METHODS
All the methods in this package are class methods (you don't need an object to call them).

$fn=Config::Find->find(%opts)
    returns the name of the configuration file.

$fh=Config::Find->open(%opts)
    returns a open file handle for the configuration file. In write mode, the file and any nonexistant parent directories are created.

$fn=Config::Find->install($original, %opts)
    copies a configuration file to a convenient place.

  EXPORT
None, this module has an OO interface.

BUGS
Some Win32 OSs are not completely implemented and default to inferior modes, but hey, this is a work in progress!!!

Contributions, bug reports, feedback and any kind of comments are welcome.

SEE ALSO
Config::Find::Unix, Config::Find::Win32 for descriptions of the heuristics used to find the configuration files.

Config::Find::Any for information about adding support for a new OS.

Config::Auto give me the idea for this module.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
Copyright 2003-2008 by Salvador Fandiño García (sfandino@yahoo.com)

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.