NAME

Shell::EnvImporter - Perl extension for importing environment variable changes from external commands or shell scripts

SYNOPSIS

use Shell::EnvImporter;

# Import environment variables exported from a shell script
my $sourcer  = Shell::EnvImporter->new(
                 file => $filename,
               );

# Import environment variables exported from a shell command
my $runner   = Shell::EnvImporter->new(
                 command => $shell_command,
               );


# Exert more control over the process
my $importer = Shell::EnvImporter->new(
                 shell           => $shellname,

                 command         => $command,
                 # -- OR --
                 file            => $file,

                 auto_run        => 0, 
                 auto_import     => 0,

                 import_modified => 1,
                 import_added    => 1,
                 import_removed  => 1,
                 # -- OR --
                 import_filter   => $coderef
               );

my $result = $importer->run() or die "Run failed: $@";


# Manual import by policy
$importer->env_import();

# -- OR --

# Manual import by filter
$importer->env_import_filtered();


# Restore environment
$importer->restore_env or die "Restore failed: $@";

DESCRIPTION

Shell::EnvImporter allows you to import environment variable changes exported by an external script or command into the current environment. The process happens in (up to) three stages:

Execution

- saves a backup copy of the current environment (%ENV)

- creates a shell script that sources the specified file (or runs the
  specified command) and prints out the environment

- runs the shell script in a separate process

- parses the output to determine success or failure and, on success,
  any changes to the environment

Importation

- imports variable changes by policy or filter.  

Restoration

- restores the environment (%ENV) to pre-run state

If 'auto_run' is true (the default), execution is kicked off automatically by the constructor. If 'auto_import' is true (the default), importation is kicked off automatically after execution. Restoration never happens automatically; you must call the restore() method explicitly.

CONTROLLING IMPORTS

Imports are controlled by two factors:

- the shell ignore list

- the import policy or the import filter

The shell ignore list is a list of variables to ignore, maintained by the shell object. These are generally variables that are changed automatically by the shell (e.g. SHLVL and PWD), providing little information to a noninteractive shell. The ignore list can be modified using the shell object's ignore() and ignore_*() methods; see the Shell::EnvImporter::Shell documentation for details. The ignore list overrides the import policy or the import filter (whichever is in effect).

An import policy indicates what action to take for each kind of environment change. If import_added is true, new variables added to the environment will be imported. If import_modified is true, variables whose value is changed will be imported. If import_removed is true, variables unset by the external script or command will be removed from the environment. The default policy is to import added and modified variables but not removed variables.

An import filter provides more control over importation. The import filter is a reference to a function that will be called with the variable name, the new value, and the type of change ('added', 'modified' or 'removed'); if it returns a true value, the variable will be imported. The import filter, if provided, overrides the import policy.

CONSTRUCTOR

new()
Create a new Shell::EnvImporter object.  Parameters are:
shell

Name of the shell to use. Currently supported: 'bash', 'csh', 'ksh', 'sh', 'tcsh', 'zsh', and of course, 'perl'. :)

command

Command to run in the language of the specified shell. Overridden by file.

file

File to be "sourced" by the specified shell.

auto_run

If set to a true value (the default), Shell::EnvImporter will run the shell command (or source the file) immediately, from the constructor. Set to a false value to delay execution until run() is called.

auto_import

If set to a true value (the default), import the changed environment immediately after running the command. Set to a false value to delay the import until import() (or import_filtered()) is called.

import_added
import_modified
import_removed

Specify import policy. (See CONTROLLING IMPORTS above).

import_filter

Use the supplied code ref to filter imports. Overrides import policy settings. (See CONTROLLING IMPORTS above).

METHODS

run()
run($command)

Run the supplied command, or run the command (or source the file) supplied during construction, returning a Shell::EnvImporter::Result object or undef with $@ set on error. It is an error to call run() without a command if none was supplied in the constructor.

env_import()
env_import($var)
env_import(@vars)
env_import(\@vars)

Perform a policy import (see CONTROLLING IMPORTS above). If an optional list (or array reference) of variable names is supplied, the import is restricted to those variables (subject to import policy). Returns a Shell::EnvImporter::Result object or undef with $@ set on error.

env_import_filtered()
env_import_filtered(\&filter)

Perform a filtered import (see CONTROLLING IMPORTS above), returning a Shell::EnvImporter::Result object or undef with $@ set on error. If no filter is supplied, the filter supplied to the constructor is used. It is an error to call env_import_filtered() without a filter if none was supplied in the constructor.

restore_env()

Restores the current environment (%ENV) to its state before shell script execution. It is an error to call restore_env before a successful run.

DATA MEMBERS

result()

Returns the importer's Shell::EnvImporter::Result object.

shellobj()

Returns the importer's Shell::EnvImporter::Shell object.

EXAMPLES

- Command Import

# Import environment variables set by a shell command
my $importer = Shell::EnvImporter->new(
                 command => 'ssh-agent'
               ) or die $@;

- "Sourced" File Import

# Import environment variables exported by a configuration file
my $importer = Shell::EnvImporter->new(
                 file => "$ENV{'HOME'}/.profile"
               ) or die $@;

- Policy import - modified only, bash script

my $importer = Shell::EnvImporter->new(
                 file            => '/etc/bashrc',
                 shell           => 'bash',
                 import_modified => 1,
                 import_added    => 0,
                 import_removed  => 0,
               );

- Import a specific variable

my $file     = '/etc/mydaemon.conf';
my $importer = Shell::EnvImporter->new(
                 file            => $file,
                 shell           => 'bash',
                 auto_import     => 0,
               );

my $result = $importer->env_import('MAX_CLIENTS');

if ($result->succeeded) {
  print "Max clients: $ENV{'MAX_CLIENTS'}\n";
} else {
  die("Error:  Source of '$file' failed: ", $result->stderr, "\n");
}

- Filtered import - all 'DB*' vars whose value references my homedir

my $file     = '/etc/mydaemon.conf';

my $filter = sub {
  my($var, $value, $change) = @_;

  return ($var =~ /^DB/ and $value =~ /$ENV{HOME}/);
};

my $importer = Shell::EnvImporter->new(
                 file            => $file,
                 shell           => 'bash',
                 import_filter   => $filter,
               );

print "Imported:  ", join(", ", $importer->result->imported), "\n";

- Unexported Variables in Bourne-like shells

# Get the default system font from /etc/sysconfig/i18n (a /bin/sh
# script).  Note that the variable is NOT exported, only set, so we
# use the 'set' command to print the environment.

my $sourcer  = Shell::EnvImporter->new(
                 file => '/etc/sysconfig/i18n',
               ) or die $@;

$sourcer->shellobj->envcmd('set');

$sourcer->run();

print "System font: $ENV{SYSFONT}\n";

SEE ALSO

Shell::EnvImporter::Result Shell::EnvImporter::Shell

AUTHOR

David Faraldo, <dfaraldo@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright (C) 2005-2006 by Dave Faraldo

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.  No warranty is expressed or implied.