NAME

VCP::Filter::map - rewrite name and branch number.


SYNOPSIS

  ## From the command line:
   vcp <source> map: p1 r1   p2 r2 -- <dest>

  ## In a .vcp file:

    Map:
            name_glob_1<branch_1> name_out_1<branch_result_1>
            name_glob_2<branch_2> name_out_2<branch_result_2>
            # ... etc ...


DESCRIPTION

Maps source files, revisions, and branches to destination files and branches while copying a repository. This is done by rewriting the name and branch_id of revisions according to a list of rules.

Rules

A rule is a pair of expressions specifying a pattern to match against the each incoming revision's name and branch_id and a result to use to replace the revision's name and branch_id.

The list of rules is evaluated top down; the last rule in the list that matches is used to generate the new name and branch_id. There is a default rule that applies to all files

Note that sorting is performed in the destination, so the map will affect the sort order and the original file name and branch_id are lost.

Patterns and Rule Expressions

Patterns and rules are composed of two subexpressions, the name_expr and the branch_id_expr like so:

    name_expr<branch_id_expr>

The <branch_id_expr> (including angle brackets) is optional and may be forbidden by some sources or destinations that embed the concept of a branch in the name_expr. (See VCP::Dest::p4 for an example, though this may be changed in the future).

For now, the symbols # and @ are reserved for future used in all expressions and must be escaped using \, and various shell-like wildcards are implemented in pattern expressions.

Pattern Expressions

Both the name_expr and branch_id_expr specify patterns using shell regular expression syntax with the extension that parenthesese are used to extract portions of the match in to numbered variables which may be used in the result construction, like Perl regular expressions:

   ?      Matches one character other than "/"
   *      Matches zero or more characters other than "/"
   ...    Matches zero or more characters, including "/"
   (foo)  Matches "foo" and stores it in the $1, $2, etc

Some example pattern name_exprs are:

   Pattern
   name_expr  Matches
   =========  =======
   foo        the top level file "foo"
   foo/bar    the file "foo/bar"
   ...        all files (like a missing name_expr)
   foo/...    all files under "foo/"
   .../bar    all files named "bar" anywhere
   */bar      all files named "bar" one dir down
   ....pm     all files ending in ".pm"
   ?.pm       all top level 4 char files ending in ".pm"
   \?.pm      the top level file "?.pm"
   (*)/...    all files in subdirs, puts the top level dirname in $1

Unix-style slashes are used, even on operating systems where that may not be the preferred local custom. A pattern consisting of the empty string is legal and matches everything (NOTE: currently there is no way to take advantage of this; quoting is not implemented in the forms parser yet. use "..." instead).

Relative paths are taken relative to the rev_root indicated in the source specification for pattern name_exprs (or in the destination specification for result name_exprs). For now, a relative path is a path that does not begin with the character /, so be aware that the pattern (/) is relative. This is a limitation of the implementation and may change, until it does, don't rely on a leading "(" making a path relative and use multiple rules to match multiple absolute paths.

If no name_expr is provided, ... is assumed and the pattern will match on all filenames.

Some example pattern branch_id_exprs are:

    Pattern
    branch_id_expr  Matches files on
    ===========  ================
    <>           no branch
    <...>        all branches (like a missing <branch_id_expr>
    <foo>        branch "foo"
    <R...>       branches beginning with "R"
    <R(...)>     branches beginning with "R", the other chars in $1

If no branch_id_expr is provided, files on all branches are matched. * and ... still match differently in pattern branch_id_exprs, as in <name_expr> patterns, but this is likely to make no difference, as I've not yet seen a branch label with a "/" in it. Still, it is wise to avoid "*" in branch_id_expr patterns.

Some example composite patterns are (any $ variables set are given in parenthesis):

    Pattern            Matches
    =======            =======
    foo<>              top level files named "foo" not on a branch
    (...)<>            all files not on a branch ($1)
    (...)/(...)<>      all files not on a branch ($1,$2)
    ...<R1>            all files on branch "R1"
    .../foo<R...>      all files "foo" on branches beginning with "R"
    (...)/foo<R(...)>  all files "foo" on branches beginning with "R" ($1, $2)

Escaping

Null characters and newlines are forbidden in all expressions.

The characters #, @, [, ], {, }, >, < and $ must be escaped using a \, as must any wildcard characters meant to be taken literally.

In result expressions, the wildcard characters *, ?, the wildcard trigraph ... and parentheses must each be escaped with single \ as well.

No other characters are to be escaped.

Case sensitivity

By default, all patterns are case sensitive. There is no way to override this at present; one will be added.

Result Expressions

Result expressions look a lot like patthern expressions except that wildcards are not allowed and $1 and ${1} style variable interpolation is.

Result Actions: <delete>> and <<keep>>

The result expression <<delete>> indicates to delete the revision, while the result expression "<<keep>>" indicates to pass it through unchanged:

    Map:
    #   Pattern            Result
    #   =================  ==========
        old_stuff/...      <<delete>>  # Delete all files in /old
        old_stuff/.../*.c  <<keep>>    # except these

<<delete> > and <<keep> > may not appear in results; they are standalone tokens.

The default rule

There is a default rule

    ...  <<keep>>  ## Default rule: passes everything through as-is

that is evaluated before all the other rules. Thus, if no other rule matches a revision, it is passed through unchanged.

Command Line Parsing

For large maps or repeated use, the map is best specified in a .vcp file. For quick one-offs or scripted situations, however, the map: scheme may be used on the command line. In this case, each parameter is a "word" and every pair of words is a ( pattern, result ) pair.

Because vcp command line parsing is performed incrementally and the next filter or destination specifications can look exactly like a pattern or result, the special token "--" is used to terminate the list of patterns if map: is from on the command line. This may also be the last word in the Map: section of a .vcp file, but that is superfluous. It is an error to use "--" before the last word in a .vcp file.


LIMITATIONS

There is no way (yet) of telling the mapper to continue processing the rules list. We could implement labels like <<label> > to be allowed before pattern expressions (but not between pattern and result), and we could then impelement <<goto label> >. And a <<next> > could be used to fall through to the next label. All of which is wonderful, but I want to gain some real world experience with the current system and find a use case for gotos and fallthroughs before I implement them. This comment is here to solicit feedback :).


AUTHOR

Barrie Slaymaker <barries@slaysys.com>


COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 2000, 2001, 2002 Perforce Software, Inc. All rights reserved.

See VCP::License (vcp help license) for the terms of use.


Last updated: Fri Nov 8 13:07:22 2002