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RepRoot-0.02
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/ RepRoot

NAME

RepRoot - the simplest way to find the root directory of your source code repository

VERSION

Version 0.02

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).

NOTE: RepRoot uses the $RealBin value from the FindBin module, which reports the canonical path (all symlinks are resolved to their targets). Since you shouldn't have symlinks inside your codebase, and RepRoot shouldn't have to explore outside your codebase, this shouldn't bother most people.

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 <ofer@netapt.com>. 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:

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