NAME
RepRoot - the simplest way to find the root directory of your source
code repository
VERSION
Version 0.01
SYNOPSIS
In the root of your source code repository:
touch .reproot
In your perl script:
use RepRoot;
my $schema = "$RepRoot::ROOT/data/sql/schema.sql";
...
DESCRIPTION
When RepRoot is first loaded, it determines which directory your script
lives in and looks in there for a file named .reproot. If it doesn't
find it there, it will search up the path, one level at a time, until it
finds it or errors out. When the .reproot file is found, the
$RepRoot::ROOT variable is set to that path.
Additionally, if the .reproot file is more than 0 bytes, the file's
contents will be excuted using the perl "do" function, allowing for
additional custom configuration (such as "use lib" statements to add
your repository libraries to the perl include path).
BUT WHY?
Let's look at a typical scenario where RepRoot would be useful.
Your company has a source code repository with a fairly standard layout:
> find project_x/
project_x/bin/
project_x/bin/foo.pl
project_x/data/
project_x/data/sql/
project_x/data/sql/schema.sql
project_x/docs/
project_x/lib/
project_x/lib/perl/
project_x/lib/perl/MyCustomLib.pm
You have some custom perl libraries under lib/perl/, some perl scripts
under bin/, and a file containing your database schema in
data/sql/schema.sql.
In order to access the perl libraries you have to include something like
this at the top of every perl script:
use lib "../lib/perl";
Similar problem is you want to access the schema file:
my $schema_file = "../data/sql/schema.sql";
The problems are:
- it's ugly
- the path is relative and depends on where the script lies within the repository,
which means it must be updated if the script is moved
You can use RepRoot to solve the problem by doing the following:
1) create a .reproot file in the root of the repository (in the
hypothetical case, that would be directly under project_x/)
2) add some code to .reproot to include the path to your custom perl
libs:
use lib "$RepRoot::ROOT/lib/perl";
1;
3) use RepRoot in your perl scripts:
use RepRoot;
use MyCustomLib;
my $schema_file = "$RepRoot::ROOT/data/sql/schema.sql";
Don't forget that if you include anything at all in .reproot (if
filesize > 0 bytes), the contents will be executed, and the last value
must be true or it will fail. So, just like when you write a perl
module, make sure to stick a "1;" on a line by itself at the end.
AUTHOR
Written by Ofer Nave <
[email protected]>. Sponsered by Shopzilla, Inc.
(formerly BizRate.com).
BUGS
Please report any bugs or feature requests to "bug-reproot at
rt.cpan.org", or through the web interface at
<
http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=RepRoot>. I will be
notified, and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on your
bug as I make changes.
SUPPORT
You can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command.
perldoc RepRoot
You can also look for information at:
* AnnoCPAN: Annotated CPAN documentation
<
http://annocpan.org/dist/RepRoot>
* CPAN Ratings
<
http://cpanratings.perl.org/d/RepRoot>
* RT: CPAN's request tracker
<
http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=RepRoot>
* Search CPAN
<
http://search.cpan.org/dist/RepRoot>
COPYRIGHT & LICENSE
Copyright 2006 by Shopzilla, Inc, all rights reserved.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.
See
http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html
