* merge from the mvo branch

[apt.git] / doc / apt-config.8.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN"
  "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd" [

<!ENTITY % aptent SYSTEM "apt.ent">
%aptent;

]>

<refentry>

 <refentryinfo>
   &apt-author.jgunthorpe;
   &apt-author.team;
   &apt-email;
   &apt-product;
   <!-- The last update date -->
   <date>29 February 2004</date>
 </refentryinfo>
 
 <refmeta>
   <refentrytitle>apt-config</refentrytitle>
   <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
 </refmeta>
 
 <!-- Man page title -->
 <refnamediv>
    <refname>apt-config</refname>
    <refpurpose>APT Configuration Query program</refpurpose>
 </refnamediv>

 <!-- Arguments -->
 <refsynopsisdiv>
   <cmdsynopsis>
      <command>apt-config</command>
      <arg><option>-hv</option></arg>
      <arg><option>-o=<replaceable>config string</replaceable></option></arg>
      <arg><option>-c=<replaceable>file</replaceable></option></arg>
      <group choice="req">
         <arg>shell</arg>
         <arg>dump</arg>
      </group>   
   </cmdsynopsis>
 </refsynopsisdiv>
 
 <refsect1><title>Description</title>
   <para><command>apt-config</command> is an internal program used by various
   portions of the APT suite to provide consistent configurability. It accesses
   the main configuration file <filename>/etc/apt/apt.conf</filename> in a
   manner that is easy to use by scripted applications.</para>

   <para>Unless the <option>-h</option>, or <option>--help</option> option is
   given one of the commands below must be present.
   </para>
   
   <variablelist>
     <varlistentry><term>shell</term>
     <listitem><para>
     shell is used to access the configuration information from a shell 
     script. It is given pairs of arguments, the first being a shell 
     variable and the second the configuration value to query. As output 
     it lists a series of shell assignments commands for each present value. 
     In a shell script it should be used like:
     </para>
     
<informalexample><programlisting>
OPTS="-f"
RES=`apt-config shell OPTS MyApp::options`
eval $RES
</programlisting></informalexample>

     <para>This will set the shell environment variable $OPTS to the value of
     MyApp::options with a default of <option>-f</option>.</para>

     
     <para>The configuration item may be postfixed with a /[fdbi]. f returns
     file names, d returns directories, b returns true or false and i returns
     an integer. Each of the returns is normalized and verified
     internally.</para>
     </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry><term>dump</term>
     <listitem><para>
     Just show the contents of the configuration space.</para>
     </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

   </variablelist>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1><title>options</title>
   &apt-cmdblurb;
   
   <variablelist>
   
     &apt-commonoptions;
     
   </variablelist>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1><title>See Also</title>
   <para>&apt-conf;
   </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1><title>Diagnostics</title>
   <para><command>apt-config</command> returns zero on normal operation, decimal 100 on error.
   </para>
 </refsect1>

 &manbugs;
 
</refentry>