NAME
aegis remove file - add files to be deleted to a change
SYNOPSIS
aegis -ReMove_file file-name... [ option... ]
aegis -ReMove_file -List [ option... ]
aegis -ReMove_file -Help
DESCRIPTION
The aegis -ReMove_file command is used to add files to be deleted to a
change. The file will be added to the list of files in the change, and
will be removed from the baseline at integration time.
This command may be used to remove tests, not just source files. Tests
are treated just like any other source file, and are subject to the
same process.
A file will be created in the development directory containing 1KB of
random text. The random text is sufficiently revolting that most
compilers will give error messages, should the file be referenced
accidentally. This is often very helpful when removing include files.
You may specify a directory name to remove all files in the named
directory tree. It is an error if there are no relevant files.
File Name Interpretation
The aegis program will attempt to determine the project file names from
the file names given on the command line. All file names are stored
within aegis projects as relative to the root of the baseline directory
tree. The development directory and the integration directory are
shadows of this baseline directory, and so these relative names apply
here, too. Files named on the command line are first converted to
absolute paths if necessary. They are then compared with the baseline
path, the development directory path, and the integration directory
path, to determine a baseline-relative name. It is an error if the
file named is outside one of these directory trees.
The -BAse_RElative option may be used to cause relative filenames to be
interpreted as relative to the baseline path; absolute filenames will
still be compared with the various paths in order to determine a
baseline-relative name.
The relative_filename_preference in the user configuration file may be
used to modify this default behavior. See aeuconf(5) for more
information.
Process Side Effects
This command will cancel any build or test registrations, because
adding a file logically invalidates them.
When the change files are listed (aegis -List Change_Files -TERse) the
removed files will not appear in the terse listing. Similarly, when
the project files are listed with an explicit change number (aegis
-List Project_Files -TERse -Change N) none of the change’s files,
including the the removed files, will not appear in the terse listing.
These two features are very helpful when calling aegis from within a
DMT to generate the list of source files.
Changing the Type of a File
If you want to change the type of a file (say, from a test to a source
file, or vice versa) you could do it as two changes, by first using
aerm(1) in one change and then using aenf(1) or aent(1) in a second
change, or you can combine both steps in the same change. Remember to
use the aerm -nowhiteout option or you will get a most peculiar new
file template.
Notification
The remove_file_command in the project config file is run, if set. The
project_file_command is also run, if set, and if there has been an
integration recently. See aepconf(5) for more information.
WHITEOUT
Aegis provides you with what is often called a “view path” which
indicates to development tools (compilers, build systems, etc) look
first in the development directory, then in the branch baseline, and so
on up to the trunk baseline.
The problem with view paths is that in order to remove files, you need
some kind of "whiteout" to say “stop looking, it’s been removed.”
When you user the aerm(1) or aemv(1) commands, this means "add
information to this change which will remove the file from the baseline
when this change is integrated". I.e. while the change is in the being
developed state, the file is only "removed" in the development
directory - it’s still present in the baseline, and will be until the
change is successfully integrated.
When you use the aerm(1) or aemv(1) commands, Aegis will create a 1K
file to act as the whiteout. It’s contents are rather ugly so that if
you compile or include the "removed" file accidentally, you get a fatal
error. This will remind you to remove obsolete references.
When the change in integrated, the removed file is not copied/linked
from the baseline to the integration directory, and is not copied from
the development directory. At this time it is physically gone (no
whiteout). It is assumed that because of the error inducing whiteout
all old references were found and fixed while the change was in the
being developed state.
File Manifests
When generating list of files to be compiled or linked, it is important
that the file manifest be generated from information known by Aegis,
rather than from the file system. This is for several reasons:
(a) Aegis knows exactly what (source) files are where, whereas
everything else is inferring Aegis’ knowledge; and
(b) looking in the file system is hard when the view path is longer
that 2 directories (and Aegis’ branching method can make it
arbitrarily long); and
(c) The whiteout files, and anything else left “lying around”, will
confuse any method which interrogates the file system.
The easiest way to use Aegis’ file knowledge is with something like an
awk(1) script processing the Aegis file lists. For example, you can do
this with make(1) as follows:
# generate the file manifest
manifest.make.inc: manifest.make.awk
( aegis -l cf -ter ; aegis -l pf -ter ) | \
awk -f manifest.make.awk > manifest.make.inc
# now include the file manifest
include manifest.make.inc
Note: this would be inefficient of you did it once per directory, but
there is nothing stopping you writing numerous assignments into the
manifest.make.inc file, all in one pass.
It is possible to do the same thing with Aegis’ report generator (see
aer(1) for more information), but this is more involved than the awk(1)
script. However, with the information "straight from the horse’s
mouth" as it were, it can also be much smarter.
This file manifest would become out-of-date without an interlock to
Aegis’ file operations commands. By using the project-file_command and
change_file_command fields of the project config file (see aepconf(5)
for more information), you can delete this file at strategic times.
/* run when the change file manifest is altered */
change_file_command = "rm -f manifest.make.inc";
/* run when the project file manifest is altered */
project_file_command = "rm -f manifest.make.inc";
The new file manifest will thus be re-built during the next aeb(1)
command.
Options and Preferences
There is a -No-WhiteOut option, which may be used to suppress whiteout
files when you use the aerm(1) and aemv(1) commands. There is a
corresponding -WhiteOut option, which is usually the default.
There is a whiteout_preference field in the user preferences file (see
aeuconf(5) for more information) if you want to set this option more
permanently.
Whiteout File Templates
The whiteout_template field of the project config file may be used to
produce language-specific error files. If no whiteout template entry
matches, a very ugly 1KB file will be produced - it should induce
compiler errors for just about any language.
If you want a more human-readable error message, entries such as
whiteout_template =
[
{
pattern = [ "*.[ch]" ];
body = "#error This file has been removed.";
}
];
can be very effective (this example assumes gcc(1) is being used).
If it is essential that no whiteout file be produced, say for C source
files, you could use a whiteout template such as
whiteout_template =
[
{ pattern = [ "*.c" ]; }
];
because an absent body sub-field means generate no whiteout file at
all.
You may have more than one whiteout template entry, but note that the
order of the entries is important. The first entry which matches will
be used.
File Action Adjustment
When this command runs, it first checks the change files against the
projects files. If there are inconsistencies, the file actions will be
adjusted as follows:
create If a file is being created, but another change set is
integrated which also creates the file, the file action in the
change set still being developed will be adjusted to "modify".
modify If a file is being modified, but another change set is
integrated which removes the file, the file action in the
change set still being developed will be adjusted to "create".
remove If a file is being removed, but another change set is
integrated which removes the file, the file will be dropped
from the change set still being developed.
OPTIONS
The following options are understood:
-BAse_RElative
This option may be used to cause relative filenames to be
considered relative to the base of the source tree. See
aeuconf(5) for the corresponding user preference.
-CUrrent_RElative
This option may be used to cause relative filenames to be
considered relative to the current directory. This is usually
the default. See aeuconf(5) for the corresponding user
preference.
-Change number
This option may be used to specify a particular change within a
project. See aegis(1) for a complete description of this
option.
-Help
This option may be used to obtain more information about how to
use the aegis program.
-List
This option may be used to obtain a list of suitable subjects
for this command. The list may be more general than expected.
-Not_Logging
This option may be used to disable the automatic logging of
output and errors to a file. This is often useful when several
aegis commands are combined in a shell script.
-Project name
This option may be used to select the project of interest.
When no -Project option is specified, the AEGIS_PROJECT
environment variable is consulted. If that does not exist, the
user’s $HOME/.aegisrc file is examined for a default project
field (see aeuconf(5) for more information). If that does not
exist, when the user is only working on changes within a single
project, the project name defaults to that project. Otherwise,
it is an error.
-TERse
This option may be used to cause listings to produce the bare
minimum of information. It is usually useful for shell
scripts.
-Verbose
This option may be used to cause aegis to produce more output.
By default aegis only produces output on errors. When used
with the -List option this option causes column headings to be
added.
-Wait This option may be used to require Aegis commands to wait for
access locks, if they cannot be obtained immediately. Defaults
to the user’s lock_wait_preference if not specified, see
aeuconf(5) for more information.
-No_Wait
This option may be used to require Aegis commands to emit a
fatal error if access locks cannot be obtained immediately.
Defaults to the user’s lock_wait_preference if not specified,
see aeuconf(5) for more information.
-WhiteOut
This option may be used to request that deleted files be
replaced by a “whiteout” file in the development directory.
The idea is that compiling such a file will result in a fatal
error, in order that all references may be found. This is
usually the default.
-No_WhiteOut
This option may be used to request that no “whiteout” file be
placed in the development directory.
See also aegis(1) for options common to all aegis commands.
All options may be abbreviated; the abbreviation is documented as the
upper case letters, all lower case letters and underscores (_) are
optional. You must use consecutive sequences of optional letters.
All options are case insensitive, you may type them in upper case or
lower case or a combination of both, case is not important.
For example: the arguments "-project, "-PROJ" and "-p" are all
interpreted to mean the -Project option. The argument "-prj" will not
be understood, because consecutive optional characters were not
supplied.
Options and other command line arguments may be mixed arbitrarily on
the command line, after the function selectors.
The GNU long option names are understood. Since all option names for
aegis are long, this means ignoring the extra leading ’-’. The
"--option=value" convention is also understood.
RECOMMENDED ALIAS
The recommended alias for this command is
csh% alias aerm ’aegis -rm \!* -v’
sh$ aerm(){aegis -rm "$@" -v}
ERRORS
It is an error if the change is not in the being developed state.
It is an error if the change is not assigned to the current user.
It is an error if the file does not exist in the baseline.
It is an error if the file is already part of the change.
EXIT STATUS
The aegis command will exit with a status of 1 on any error. The aegis
command will only exit with a status of 0 if there are no errors.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See aegis(1) for a list of environment variables which may affect this
command. See aepconf(5) for the project configuration file’s project_
specific field for how to set environment variables for all commands
executed by Aegis.
SEE ALSO
aecp(1) copy files into a change
aedb(1) begin development of a change
aemv(1) rename a file as part of a change
aenf(1) add files to be created to a change
aermu(1)
remove files to be deleted from a change
aeuconf(5)
user configuration file format
COPYRIGHT
aegis version 4.24.3.D001
Copyright (C) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,
2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 Peter
Miller
The aegis program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details use
the ’aegis -VERSion License’ command. This is free software and you
are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions; for details
use the ’aegis -VERSion License’ command.
AUTHOR
Peter Miller E-Mail: millerp@canb.auug.org.au
/\/\* WWW: http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~millerp/