merge with my po4a branch & update both pot's
[ntk/apt.git] / doc / apt-config.8.xml
1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
2 <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN"
3 "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd" [
4
5 <!ENTITY % aptent SYSTEM "apt.ent">
6 %aptent;
7
8 ]>
9
10 <refentry>
11
12 <refentryinfo>
13 &apt-author.jgunthorpe;
14 &apt-author.team;
15 &apt-email;
16 &apt-product;
17 <!-- The last update date -->
18 <date>29 February 2004</date>
19 </refentryinfo>
20
21 <refmeta>
22 <refentrytitle>apt-config</refentrytitle>
23 <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
24 <refmiscinfo class="manual">APT</refmiscinfo>
25 </refmeta>
26
27 <!-- Man page title -->
28 <refnamediv>
29 <refname>apt-config</refname>
30 <refpurpose>APT Configuration Query program</refpurpose>
31 </refnamediv>
32
33 <!-- Arguments -->
34 <refsynopsisdiv>
35 <cmdsynopsis>
36 <command>apt-config</command>
37 <arg><option>-hv</option></arg>
38 <arg><option>-o=<replaceable>config string</replaceable></option></arg>
39 <arg><option>-c=<replaceable>file</replaceable></option></arg>
40 <group choice="req">
41 <arg>shell</arg>
42 <arg>dump</arg>
43 </group>
44 </cmdsynopsis>
45 </refsynopsisdiv>
46
47 <refsect1><title>Description</title>
48 <para><command>apt-config</command> is an internal program used by various
49 portions of the APT suite to provide consistent configurability. It accesses
50 the main configuration file <filename>/etc/apt/apt.conf</filename> in a
51 manner that is easy to use by scripted applications.</para>
52
53 <para>Unless the <option>-h</option>, or <option>--help</option> option is
54 given one of the commands below must be present.
55 </para>
56
57 <variablelist>
58 <varlistentry><term>shell</term>
59 <listitem><para>
60 shell is used to access the configuration information from a shell
61 script. It is given pairs of arguments, the first being a shell
62 variable and the second the configuration value to query. As output
63 it lists a series of shell assignments commands for each present value.
64 In a shell script it should be used like:
65 </para>
66
67 <informalexample><programlisting>
68 OPTS="-f"
69 RES=`apt-config shell OPTS MyApp::options`
70 eval $RES
71 </programlisting></informalexample>
72
73 <para>This will set the shell environment variable $OPTS to the value of
74 MyApp::options with a default of <option>-f</option>.</para>
75
76
77 <para>The configuration item may be postfixed with a /[fdbi]. f returns
78 file names, d returns directories, b returns true or false and i returns
79 an integer. Each of the returns is normalized and verified
80 internally.</para>
81 </listitem>
82 </varlistentry>
83
84 <varlistentry><term>dump</term>
85 <listitem><para>
86 Just show the contents of the configuration space.</para>
87 </listitem>
88 </varlistentry>
89
90 </variablelist>
91 </refsect1>
92
93 <refsect1><title>options</title>
94 &apt-cmdblurb;
95
96 <variablelist>
97
98 &apt-commonoptions;
99
100 </variablelist>
101 </refsect1>
102
103 <refsect1><title>See Also</title>
104 <para>&apt-conf;
105 </para>
106 </refsect1>
107
108 <refsect1><title>Diagnostics</title>
109 <para><command>apt-config</command> returns zero on normal operation, decimal 100 on error.
110 </para>
111 </refsect1>
112
113 &manbugs;
114
115 </refentry>
116