Detecting system changes with Dnotify
FILE RESCUE
We'll show you how you can avoid the tragedy of lost files with a transparent, Perl-based version control system.
During early phases of a project, developers tend to experiment with various options, and sometimes it is too early to save prototypes in the version control system. If you haven’t set up a repository, or if you haven’t been able to agree on its structure, you might find yourself working without a safety net. In this case, good code might fall victim to an over-zealous rm * or your editor’s delete command. This month’s Perl script, noworries, can give you automatic version control. Whenever you save a file with your editor, and whenever you use the shell to manipulate files using commands like rm or mv, a daemon hidden in the background receives a message. When it does, it picks up the new or modified file, and uses RCS to version the file. All of this is transparent to the user. Figure 1 shows a user creating and then deleting a new file in the Shell. Without some Perl wizardry, the file, myfile would have been gone for good, but calling noworries -l myfile tells us that the versioner created a backup copy just 17 seconds earlier. noworries -r 1.1 myfile retrieves the file and writes its content to STDOUT.
Read full article as PDF:
Perl_noworries.pdf (248.09 kB)Tag Cloud
News
-
Munich Adopts Kolab
The Bavarian capital shuns Microsoft, Google, and other alternatives to implement an open-source groupware solution.
-
Canonical Announces Ubuntu Smartphones
Phone vendor partnerships bring Mark Shuttleworth's dream of Ubuntu on a phone a step closer to reality.
-
Piviti Seeks Funding
Donors will get to vote on new features for the free video editor.
-
Debian Tech Committee Votes for systemd
Debian project puts init out to pasture and says no to Ubuntu's Upstart.
-
The Mask: Scary New Face of Internet Intrusion
Ultra-sophisticated attack tool might have originated from a state-sponsored intelligence service.
-
Epoch 1.0 Released
New alternative for init comes with a small footprint and minimal configuration.
-
Wayland 1.4 Challenges X11
X marks the target for the next-generation windowing system.
-
Red Hat Adopts CentOS
Super-clone CentOS Linux gets beamed up to the mother ship.
-
W3C Promotes Media Source Extensions
HTML technology will enable new video editing and playback options.
-
Valve Announces SteamOS Beta
New Linux distro is optimzed for gaming.