Parse::DebianChangelog - parse Debian changelogs and output them in other formats
use Parse::DebianChangelog;
my $chglog = Parse::DebianChangelog->init( { infile => 'debian/changelog',
HTML => { outfile => 'changelog.html' } );
$chglog->html;
# the following is semantically equivalent
my $chglog = Parse::DebianChangelog->init();
$chglog->parse( { infile => 'debian/changelog' } );
$chglog->html( { outfile => 'changelog.html' } );
my $changes = $chglog->dpkg_str( { since => '1.0-1' } );
print $changes;
Parse::DebianChangelog parses Debian changelogs as described in the Debian policy (version 3.6.2.1 at the time of this writing). See section "SEE ALSO" for locations where to find this definition.
The parser tries to ignore most cruft like # or /* */ style comments, CVS comments, vim variables, emacs local variables and stuff from older changelogs with other formats at the end of the file. NOTE: most of these are ignored silently currently, there is no parser error issued for them. This should become configurable in the future.
Beside giving access to the details of the parsed file via the "data" method, Parse::DebianChangelog also supports converting these changelogs to various other formats. These are currently:
Format as known from dpkg-parsechangelog(1). All requested entries (see "METHODS" for an explanation what this means) are returned in the usual Debian control format, merged in one stanza, ready to be used in a .changes file.
Similar to the dpkg format, but the requested entries are returned as one stanza each, i.e. they are not merged. This is probably the format to use if you want a machine-usable representation of the changelog.
Just a simple XML dump of the changelog data. Without any schema or DTD currently, just some made up XML. The actual format might still change. Comments and Improvements welcome.
The changelog is converted to a somewhat nice looking HTML file with some nice features as a quick-link bar with direct links to every entry. NOTE: This is not very configurable yet and was specifically designed to be used on http://packages.debian.org/. This is planned to be changed until version 1.0.
Creates a new object instance. Takes a reference to a hash as optional argument, which is interpreted as configuration options. There are currently no supported general configuration options, but see the other methods for more specific configuration options which can also specified to init.
If infile, instring or handle are specified (see parse), parse() is called from init. If a fatal error is encountered during parsing (e.g. the file can't be opened), init will not return a valid object but undef!
Can be used to delete all information about errors ocurred during previous parse runs. Note that parse() also calls this method.
Returns all error messages from the last parse run. If called in scalar context returns a human readable string representation. If called in list context returns an array of arrays. Each of these arrays contains
String if a string was parsed directlyNOTE: This format isn't stable yet and may change in later versions of this module.
Get the last non-parser error (e.g. the file to parse couldn't be opened).
Parses either the file named in configuration item infile, the string saved in configuration item instring or the open file handle saved in the configuration item handle. In the latter case, the handle can be named by using the optional configuration item handlename. Accepts a hash ref as optional argument which can contain configuration items.
Returns undef in case of error (e.g. "file not found", not parse errors) and the object if successful. If undef was returned, you can get the reason for the failure by calling the get_error method.
data returns an array (if called in list context) or a reference to an array of Parse::DebianChangelog::Entry objects which each represent one entry of the changelog.
This is currently merely a placeholder to enable users to get to the raw data, expect changes to this API in the near future.
This method supports the common output options described in section "COMMON OUTPUT OPTIONS".
(and dpkg_str)
dpkg returns a hash (in list context) or a hash reference (in scalar context) where the keys are field names and the values are field values. The following fields are given:
package name (in the first entry)
packages' version (from first entry)
target distribution (from first entry)
urgency (highest of all printed entries)
person that created the (first) entry
date (see below) as a Unix timestamp
date of the (first) entry
bugs closed by the entry/entries, sorted by bug number
content of the the entry/entries
dpkg_str returns a stringified version of this hash which should look exactly like the output of dpkg-parsechangelog(1). The fields are ordered like in the list above.
Both methods only support the common output options described in section "COMMON OUTPUT OPTIONS".
See dpkg.
(and rfc822_str)
rfc822 returns an array of hashes (in list context) or a reference to this array (in scalar context) where each hash represents one entry in the changelog. For the format of such a hash see the description of the "dpkg" method (while ignoring the remarks about which values are taken from the first entry).
rfc822_str returns a stringified version of this hash which looks similar to the output of dpkg-parsechangelog but instead of one stanza the output contains one stanza for each entry.
Both methods only support the common output options described in section "COMMON OUTPUT OPTIONS".
See rfc822.
(and xml_str)
xml converts the changelog to some free-form (i.e. there is neither a DTD or a schema for it) XML.
The method xml_str is an alias for xml.
Both methods support the common output options described in section "COMMON OUTPUT OPTIONS" and additionally the following configuration options (as usual to give in a hash reference as parameter to the method call):
directly write the output to the file specified
See xml.
(and html_str)
html converts the changelog to a HTML file with some nice features such as a quick-link bar with direct links to every entry. The HTML is generated with the help of HTML::Template. If you want to change the output you should use the default template provided with this module as a base and read the documentation of HTML::Template to understand how to edit it.
The method html_str is an alias for html.
Both methods support the common output options described in section "COMMON OUTPUT OPTIONS" and additionally the following configuration options (as usual to give in a hash reference as parameter to the method call):
directly write the output to the file specified
template file to use, defaults to tmpl/default.tmpl, so you most likely want to override that. NOTE: The plan is to provide a configuration file for the module later to be able to use sane defaults here.
path to the CSS stylesheet to use (a default might be specified in the template and will be honoured, see the default template for an example)
path to the CSS stylesheet to use for printing (see the notes for style about default values)
See html.
not yet documented
not yet documented
not yet documented
The following options are supported by all output methods, all take a version number as value:
Causes changelog information from all versions strictly later than version to be used.
(works exactly like the -v option of dpkg-parsechangelog).
Causes changelog information from all versions strictly earlier than version to be used.
Similar to since but also includes the information for the specified version itself.
Similar to until but also includes the information for the specified version itself.
The following options also supported by all output methods but don't take version numbers as values:
If set to a true value, all entries of the changelog are returned, this overrides all other options. While the XML and HTML formats default to all == true, this does of course not overwrite other options unless it is set explicitly with the call.
Expects a signed integer as value. Returns value entries from the top of the changelog if set to a positive integer, and abs(value) entries from the tail if set to a negative integer.
Expects a signed integer as value. Changes the starting point for count, either counted from the top (positive integer) or from the tail (negative integer). offset has no effect if count wasn't given as well.
Some examples for the above options. Imagine an example changelog with entries for the versions 1.2, 1.3, 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 3.0 and 3.1.
Call Included entries
format({ since => '2.0' }) 3.1, 3.0, 2.2
format({ until => '2.0' }) 1.3, 1.2
format({ from => '2.0' }) 3.1, 3.0, 2.2, 2.1, 2.0
format({ to => '2.0' }) 2.0, 1.3, 1.2
format({ count => 2 } 3.1, 3.0
format({ count => -2 } 1.3, 1.2
format({ count => 3,
offset => 2 } 2.2, 2.1, 2.0
format({ count => 2,
offset => -3 } 2.0, 1.3
format({ count => -2,
offset => 3 } 3.0, 2.2
format({ count => -2,
offset => -3 } 2.2, 2.1
Any combination of one option of since and from and one of until and to returns the intersection of the two results with only one of the options specified.
Parse::DebianChangelog::Entry, Parse::DebianChangelog::ChangesFilters
Description of the Debian changelog format in the Debian policy: http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-source.html#s-dpkgchangelog.
Frank Lichtenheld, <frank@lichtenheld.de>
Copyright (C) 2005 by Frank Lichtenheld
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA