Plugin: gopts

• infos = Information about the gopts plugin is in keys below
• infos/author = Klemens Böswirth k.boe.nosp@m.swir.nosp@m.th+gi.nosp@m.t@gm.nosp@m.ail.c.nosp@m.om
• infos/licence = BSD
• infos/needs =
• infos/provides =
• infos/recommends =
• infos/placements = hook procgetstorage
• infos/status = recommended productive maintained nodep libc
• infos/metadata = args args/index command opt opt/long opt/arg opt/flagvalue opt/help opt/hidden opt/# opt/#/long opt/#/arg opt/#/flagvalue opt/#/hidden env env/#
• infos/description = Parses command-line options using elektra-opts

Introduction

This plugin allows applications to access command-line options and environment variables via the KDB.

It is implemented as a simple frontend for the parser implemented in the internal elektraGetOpts.

For more information on how to write the necessary specification and on using command-line options in general, take a look at the dedicated tutorial

Depending on the calling context and configuration, this plugin might use operating system specific functions to determine command-line arguments and environment variables. Which operating system's functions the plugin uses is determined at compile-time.

Note: One of the system-specific implementations of this plugin relies on procfs. Therefore, if you compile the plugin on a system with procfs, the plugin may not work on other machine with the same OS or even on the same machine, if procfs is not mounted.

Installation

See installation. The package is called libelektra5-experimental.

Basic Usage

The preferred way of using this plugin is via a kdbOpen contract:

KeySet * contract = ksNew (0, KS_END);
elektraGOptsContract (contract, argc, argv, environ, parentKey, NULL);
 
KDB * kdb = kdbOpen (contract, parentKey);
 
// gopts automatically mounted
KeySet * ks = ksNew (0, KS_END);
kdbGet (kdb, ks, parentKey);

Configuration Keys

The plugin accepts a number of configuration keys.

• /offset: You can set this key to an integer n. The plugin will then ignore the first n command-line arguments and only pass the rest on to the parser.
• /help/usage: The value of this key is used to replace the standard usage line in the auto-generated help message.
• /help/prefix: The value of this key is inserted between the usage line and the options list in the auto-generated help message.

Global KeySet

The plugin also takes part of its configuration from the global KeySet. All keys the plugin uses are below system:/elektra/gopts. This prefix is abbreviated to // below.

This plugin may use the following keys from the global KeySet:

• //parent: If present, the plugin will use this key instead of the one provided by kdbGet as the parent key pass on to the parser. Specifically, the plugin uses this keys value as the key name for a new key that is passed to the parser.
• //argc: If present and //parent is present as well, the plugin expects //argv to be present as well. This key must be binary and its value must be an int.
• //argv: If present and //parent is present as well, the plugin expects //argc to be present as well. The values of //argc and //argv will be used instead of using the OS specific implementation. This key must be binary and its value must be a const char * const *.
• //envp: If present and //parent is present as well, the value of this key will be used as the list of environment variables. This key must be binary and its value must be a const char * const *.
• //args: If present and //parent is present as well, but //argc and //argv are absent, this will be used as the list of command-line arguments. This key must be binary and its value must be a zero-byte separated (and terminated) list of strings.
• //env: If present and //parent is present as well, but //envp is absent, this will be used as the list of environment variable. This key must be binary and its value must be a zero-byte separated (and terminated) list of strings.