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This is doc/stow.info, produced by makeinfo version 4.13 from
./doc/stow.texi.
This manual describes GNU Stow version 2.2.2 (9 November 2015), a
program for managing the installation of software packages.
Software and documentation is copyrighted by the following:
(C) 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 Bob Glickstein <bobg+stow@zanshin.com>
(C) 2000, 2001 Guillaume Morin <gmorin@gnu.org>
(C) 2007 Kahlil (Kal) Hodgson <kahlil@internode.on.net>
(C) 2011 Adam Spiers <stow@adamspiers.org>
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission
notice are preserved on all copies.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of
this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided
also that the section entitled "GNU General Public License" is
included with the modified manual, and provided that the entire
resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
permission notice identical to this one.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
manual into another language, under the above conditions for
modified versions, except that this permission notice may be
stated in a translation approved by the Free Software Foundation.
INFO-DIR-SECTION System administration
START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* Stow: (stow). GNU Stow.
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY

File: stow.info, Node: Top, Next: Introduction, Up: (dir)
Stow
****
This manual describes GNU Stow 2.2.2 (9 November 2015), a program for
managing the installation of software packages.
* Menu:
* Introduction:: Description of Stow.
* Terminology:: Terms used by this manual.
* Invoking Stow:: Option summary.
* Ignore Lists:: Controlling what gets stowed.
* Installing Packages:: Using Stow to install.
* Deleting Packages:: Using Stow to uninstall.
* Conflicts:: When Stow can't stow.
* Mixing Operations:: Multiple actions per invocation.
* Multiple Stow Directories:: Further segregating software.
* Target Maintenance:: Cleaning up mistakes.
* Resource Files:: Setting default command line options.
* Compile-time vs Install-time:: Faking out `make install'.
* Bootstrapping:: When stow and perl are not yet stowed.
* Reporting Bugs:: How, what, where, and when to report.
* Known Bugs:: Don't report any of these.
* GNU General Public License:: Copying terms.
* Index:: Index of concepts.
--- The Detailed Node Listing ---
Ignore Lists
* Motivation For Ignore Lists::
* Types And Syntax Of Ignore Lists::
* Justification For Yet Another Set Of Ignore Files::
Advice on changing compilation and installation parameters
* GNU Emacs::
* Other FSF Software::
* Cygnus Software::
* Perl and Perl 5 Modules::

File: stow.info, Node: Introduction, Next: Terminology, Prev: Top, Up: Top
1 Introduction
**************
Stow is a tool for managing the installation of multiple software
packages in the same run-time directory tree. One historical difficulty
of this task has been the need to administer, upgrade, install, and
remove files in independent packages without confusing them with other
files sharing the same file system space. For instance, it is common to
install Perl and Emacs in `/usr/local'. When one does so, one winds up
with the following files(1) in `/usr/local/man/man1':
a2p.1
ctags.1
emacs.1
etags.1
h2ph.1
perl.1
s2p.1
Now suppose it's time to uninstall Perl. Which man pages get removed?
Obviously `perl.1' is one of them, but it should not be the
administrator's responsibility to memorize the ownership of individual
files by separate packages.
The approach used by Stow is to install each package into its own
tree, then use symbolic links to make it appear as though the files are
installed in the common tree. Administration can be performed in the
package's private tree in isolation from clutter from other packages.
Stow can then be used to update the symbolic links. The structure of
each private tree should reflect the desired structure in the common
tree; i.e. (in the typical case) there should be a `bin' directory
containing executables, a `man/man1' directory containing section 1 man
pages, and so on.
Stow was inspired by Carnegie Mellon's Depot program, but is
substantially simpler and safer. Whereas Depot required database files
to keep things in sync, Stow stores no extra state between runs, so
there's no danger (as there was in Depot) of mangling directories when
file hierarchies don't match the database. Also unlike Depot, Stow will
never delete any files, directories, or links that appear in a Stow
directory (e.g., `/usr/local/stow/emacs'), so it's always possible to
rebuild the target tree (e.g., `/usr/local').
For information about the latest version of Stow, you can refer to
`http://www.gnu.org/software/stow/'.
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) As of Perl 4.036 and Emacs 19.22.

File: stow.info, Node: Terminology, Next: Invoking Stow, Prev: Introduction, Up: Top
2 Terminology
*************
A "package" is a related collection of files and directories that
you wish to administer as a unit -- e.g., Perl or Emacs -- and that
needs to be installed in a particular directory structure -- e.g., with
`bin', `lib', and `man' subdirectories.
A "target directory" is the root of a tree in which one or more
packages wish to _appear_ to be installed. A common, but by no means
the only such location is `/usr/local'. The examples in this manual
will use `/usr/local' as the target directory.
A "stow directory" is the root of a tree containing separate
packages in private subtrees. When Stow runs, it uses the current
directory as the default stow directory. The examples in this manual
will use `/usr/local/stow' as the stow directory, so that individual
packages will be, for example, `/usr/local/stow/perl' and
`/usr/local/stow/emacs'.
An "installation image" is the layout of files and directories
required by a package, relative to the target directory. Thus, the
installation image for Perl includes: a `bin' directory containing
`perl' and `a2p' (among others); an `info' directory containing Texinfo
documentation; a `lib/perl' directory containing Perl libraries; and a
`man/man1' directory containing man pages.
A "package directory" is the root of a tree containing the
installation image for a particular package. Each package directory
must reside in a stow directory -- e.g., the package directory
`/usr/local/stow/perl' must reside in the stow directory
`/usr/local/stow'. The "name" of a package is the name of its
directory within the stow directory -- e.g., `perl'.
Thus, the Perl executable might reside in
`/usr/local/stow/perl/bin/perl', where `/usr/local' is the target
directory, `/usr/local/stow' is the stow directory,
`/usr/local/stow/perl' is the package directory, and `bin/perl' within
is part of the installation image.
A "symlink" is a symbolic link. A symlink can be "relative" or
"absolute". An absolute symlink names a full path; that is, one
starting from `/'. A relative symlink names a relative path; that is,
one not starting from `/'. The target of a relative symlink is
computed starting from the symlink's own directory. Stow only creates
relative symlinks.

File: stow.info, Node: Invoking Stow, Next: Ignore Lists, Prev: Terminology, Up: Top
3 Invoking Stow
***************
The syntax of the `stow' command is:
stow [OPTIONS] [ACTION FLAG] PACKAGE ...
Each PACKAGE is the name of a package (e.g., `perl') in the stow
directory that we wish to install into (or delete from) the target
directory. The default action is to install the given packages,
although alternate actions may be specified by preceding the package
name(s) with an ACTION FLAG.
The following options are supported:
`-d DIR'
`--dir=DIR'
Set the stow directory to DIR. Defaults to the value of the
environment variable `STOW_DIR' if set, or the current directory
otherwise.
`-t DIR'
`--target=DIR'
Set the target directory to DIR instead of the parent of the stow
directory. Defaults to the parent of the stow directory, so it is
typical to execute `stow' from the directory `/usr/local/stow'.
`--ignore=REGEXP'
This (repeatable) option lets you suppress acting on files that
match the given perl regular expression. For example, using the
options
--ignore='*.orig' --ignore='*.dist'
will cause stow to ignore files ending in `.orig' or `.dist'.
Note that the regular expression is anchored to the end of the
filename, because this is what you will want to do most of the
time.
Also note that by default Stow automatically ignores a "sensible"
built-in list of files and directories such as `CVS', editor
backup files, and so on. *Note Ignore Lists::, for more details.
`--defer=REGEXP'
This (repeatable) option avoids stowing a file matching the given
regular expression, if that file is already stowed by another
package. This is effectively the opposite of `--override'.
(N.B. the name `--defer' was chosen in the sense that the package
currently being stowed is treated with lower precedence than any
already installed package, not in the sense that the operation is
being postponed to be run at a later point in time; do not confuse
this nomenclature with the wording used in *note Deferred
Operation::.)
For example, the following options
--defer=man --defer=info
will cause stow to skip over pre-existing man and info pages.
Equivalently, you could use `--defer='man|info'' since the
argument is just a Perl regex.
Note that the regular expression is anchored to the beginning of
the path relative to the target directory, because this is what
you will want to do most of the time.
`--override=REGEXP'
This (repeatable) option forces any file matching the regular
expression to be stowed, even if the file is already stowed to
another package. For example, the following options
--override=man --override=info
will permit stow to overwrite links that point to pre-existing man
and info pages that are owned by stow and would otherwise cause a
conflict.
The regular expression is anchored to the beginning of the path
relative to the target directory, because this is what you will
want to do most of the time.
`--no-folding'
This disables any further *note tree folding:: or *note tree
refolding::. If a new subdirectory is encountered whilst stowing
a new package, the subdirectory is created within the target, and
its contents are symlinked, rather than just creating a symlink
for the directory. If removal of symlinks whilst unstowing a
package causes a subtree to be foldable (i.e. only containing
symlinks to a single package), that subtree will not be removed
and replaced with a symlink.
`--adopt'
*Warning!* This behaviour is specifically intended to alter the
contents of your stow directory. If you do not want that, this
option is not for you.
When stowing, if a target is encountered which already exists but
is a plain file (and hence not owned by any existing stow
package), then normally Stow will register this as a conflict and
refuse to proceed. This option changes that behaviour so that the
file is moved to the same relative place within the package's
installation image within the stow directory, and then stowing
proceeds as before. So effectively, the file becomes adopted by
the stow package, without its contents changing.
This is particularly useful when the stow package is under the
control of a version control system, because it allows files in
the target tree, with potentially different contents to the
equivalent versions in the stow package's installation image, to
be adopted into the package, then compared by running something
like `git diff ...' inside the stow package, and finally either
kept (e.g. via `git commit ...') or discarded (`git checkout HEAD
...').
`-n'
`--no'
`--simulate'
Do not perform any operations that modify the file system; in
combination with `-v' can be used to merely show what would happen.
`-v'
`--verbose[=N]'
Send verbose output to standard error describing what Stow is
doing. Verbosity levels are 0, 1, 2, and 3; 0 is the default.
Using `-v' or `--verbose' increases the verbosity by one; using
`--verbose=N' sets it to N.
`-p'
`--compat'
Scan the whole target tree when unstowing. By default, only
directories specified in the "installation image" are scanned
during an unstow operation. Scanning the whole tree can be
prohibitive if your target tree is very large. This option
restores the legacy behaviour; however, the `--badlinks' option to
the `chkstow' utility may be a better way of ensuring that your
installation does not have any dangling symlinks (*note Target
Maintenance::).
`-V'
`--version'
Show Stow version number, and exit.
`-h'
`--help'
Show Stow command syntax, and exit.
The following ACTION FLAGS are supported:
`-D'
`--delete'
Delete (unstow) the package name(s) that follow this option from
the "target directory". This option may be repeated any number of
times.
`-R'
`--restow'
Restow (first unstow, then stow again) the package names that
follow this option. This is useful for pruning obsolete symlinks
from the target tree after updating the software in a package.
This option may be repeated any number of times.
`-S'
`--stow'
explictly stow the package name(s) that follow this option. May be
omitted if you are not using the `-D' or `-R' options in the same
invocation. *Note Mixing Operations::, for details of when you
might like to use this feature. This option may be repeated any
number of times.

File: stow.info, Node: Ignore Lists, Next: Installing Packages, Prev: Invoking Stow, Up: Top
4 Ignore Lists
**************
* Menu:
* Motivation For Ignore Lists::
* Types And Syntax Of Ignore Lists::
* Justification For Yet Another Set Of Ignore Files::

File: stow.info, Node: Motivation For Ignore Lists, Next: Types And Syntax Of Ignore Lists, Prev: Ignore Lists, Up: Ignore Lists
4.1 Motivation For Ignore Lists
===============================
In many situations, there will exist files under the package
directories which it would be undesirable to stow into the target
directory. For example, files related version control such as
`.gitignore', `CVS', `*,v' (RCS files) should typically not have
symlinks from the target tree pointing to them. Also there may be
files or directories relating to the build of the package which are not
needed at run-time.
In these cases, it can be rather cumbersome to specify a `--ignore'
parameter for each file or directory to be ignored. This could be
worked around by ensuring the existence of `~/.stowrc' containing
multiple `--ignore' lines, or if a different set of files/directories
should be ignored depending on which stow package is involved, a
`.stowrc' file for each stow package, but this would require the user
to ensure that they were in the correct directory before invoking stow,
which would be tedious and error-prone. Furthermore, since Stow shifts
parameters from `.stowrc' onto ARGV at run-time, it could clutter up
the process table with excessively long parameter lists, or even worse,
exceed the operating system's limit for process arguments.
Therefore in addition to `--ignore' parameters, Stow provides a way
to specify lists of files and directories to ignore.

File: stow.info, Node: Types And Syntax Of Ignore Lists, Next: Justification For Yet Another Set Of Ignore Files, Prev: Motivation For Ignore Lists, Up: Ignore Lists
4.2 Types And Syntax Of Ignore Lists
====================================
If you put Perl regular expressions, one per line, in a
`.stow-local-ignore' file within any top level package directory, in
which case any file or directory within that package matching any of
these regular expressions will be ignored. In the absence of this
package-specific ignore list, Stow will instead use the contents of
`~/.stow-global-ignore', if it exists. If neither the package-local or
global ignore list exist, Stow will use its own built-in default ignore
list, which serves as a useful example of the format of these ignore
list files:
# Comments and blank lines are allowed.
RCS
.+,v
CVS
\.\#.+ # CVS conflict files / emacs lock files
\.cvsignore
\.svn
_darcs
\.hg
\.git
\.gitignore
.+~ # emacs backup files
\#.*\# # emacs autosave files
^/README.*
^/LICENSE.*
^/COPYING
Stow first iterates through the chosen ignore list (built-in, global,
or package-local) as per above, stripping out comments (if you want to
include the `#' symbol in a regular expression, escape it with a
blackslash) and blank lines, placing each regular expressions into one
of two sets depending on whether it contains the `/' forward slash
symbol.
Then in order to determine whether a file or directory should be
ignored:
1. Stow calculates its path relative to the top-level package
directory, prefixing that with `/'. If any of the regular
expressions containing a `/' _exactly_(1) match a subpath(2) of
this relative path, then the file or directory will be ignored.
2. If none of the regular expressions containing a `/' match in the
manner described above, Stow checks whether the _basename_(3) of
the file or directory matches _exactly_ against the remaining
regular expressions which do not contain a `/', and if so, ignores
the file or directory.
3. Otherwise, the file or directory is not ignored.
For example, if a file `bazqux' is in the `foo/bar' subdirectory of
the package directory, Stow would use `/foo/bar/bazqux' as the text for
matching against regular expressions which contain `/', and `bazqux' as
the text for matching against regular expressions which don't contain
`/'. Then regular expressions `bazqux', `baz.*', `.*qux', `bar/.*x',
and `^/foo/.*qux' would all match (causing the file to be ignored),
whereas `bar', `baz', `qux', and `o/bar/b' would not (although `bar'
would cause its parent directory to be ignored and prevent Stow from
recursing into that anyway, in which case the file `bazqux' would not
even be considered for stowing).
As a special exception to the above algorithm, any
`.stow-local-ignore' present in the top-level package directory is
_always_ ignored, regardless of the contents of any ignore list,
because this file serves no purpose outside the stow directory.
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) Exact matching means the regular expression is anchored at the
beginning and end, in contrast to unanchored regular expressions which
will match a substring.
(2) In this context, "subpath" means a contiguous subset of path
segments; e.g for the relative path `one/two/three', there are six
valid subpaths: `one', `two', `three', `one/two', `two/three',
`one/two/three'.
(3) The "basename" is the name of the file or directory itself,
excluding any directory path prefix - as returned by the `basename'
command.

File: stow.info, Node: Justification For Yet Another Set Of Ignore Files, Prev: Types And Syntax Of Ignore Lists, Up: Ignore Lists
4.3 Justification For Yet Another Set Of Ignore Files
=====================================================
The reader may note that this format is very similar to existing ignore
list file formats, such as those for `cvs', `git', `rsync' etc., and
wonder if another set of ignore lists is justified. However there are
good reasons why Stow does not simply check for the presence of say,
`.cvsignore', and use that if it exists. Firstly, there is no
guarantee that a stow package would contain any version control
meta-data, or permit introducing this if it didn't already exist.
Secondly even if it did, version control system ignore lists
generally reflect _build-time_ ignores rather than _install-time_, and
there may be some intermediate or temporary files on those ignore lists
generated during development or at build-time which it would be
inappropriate to stow, even though many files generated at build-time
(binaries, libraries, documentation etc.) certainly do need to be
stowed. Similarly, if a file is _not_ in the version control system's
ignore list, there is no way of knowing whether the file is intended
for end use, let alone whether the version control system is tracking
it or not.
Therefore it seems clear that ignore lists provided by version
control systems do not provide sufficient information for Stow to
determine which files and directories to stow, and so it makes sense
for Stow to support independent ignore lists.

File: stow.info, Node: Installing Packages, Next: Deleting Packages, Prev: Ignore Lists, Up: Top
5 Installing Packages
*********************
The default action of Stow is to install a package. This means creating
symlinks in the target tree that point into the package tree. Stow
attempts to do this with as few symlinks as possible; in other words, if
Stow can create a single symlink that points to an entire subtree within
the package tree, it will choose to do that rather than create a
directory in the target tree and populate it with symlinks.
5.1 Tree folding
================
For example, suppose that no packages have yet been installed in
`/usr/local'; it's completely empty (except for the `stow'
subdirectory, of course). Now suppose the Perl package is installed.
Recall that it includes the following directories in its installation
image: `bin'; `info'; `lib/perl'; `man/man1'. Rather than creating
the directory `/usr/local/bin' and populating it with symlinks to
`../stow/perl/bin/perl' and `../stow/perl/bin/a2p' (and so on), Stow
will create a single symlink, `/usr/local/bin', which points to
`stow/perl/bin'. In this way, it still works to refer to
`/usr/local/bin/perl' and `/usr/local/bin/a2p', and fewer symlinks have
been created. This is called "tree folding", since an entire subtree
is "folded" into a single symlink.
To complete this example, Stow will also create the symlink
`/usr/local/info' pointing to `stow/perl/info'; the symlink
`/usr/local/lib' pointing to `stow/perl/lib'; and the symlink
`/usr/local/man' pointing to `stow/perl/man'.
Now suppose that instead of installing the Perl package into an empty
target tree, the target tree is not empty to begin with. Instead, it
contains several files and directories installed under a different
system-administration philosophy. In particular, `/usr/local/bin'
already exists and is a directory, as are `/usr/local/lib' and
`/usr/local/man/man1'. In this case, Stow will descend into
`/usr/local/bin' and create symlinks to `../stow/perl/bin/perl' and
`../stow/perl/bin/a2p' (etc.), and it will descend into
`/usr/local/lib' and create the tree-folding symlink `perl' pointing to
`../stow/perl/lib/perl', and so on. As a rule, Stow only descends as
far as necessary into the target tree when it can create a tree-folding
symlink. However, this behaviour can be changed via the `--no-folding'
option; *note Invoking Stow::.
5.2 Tree unfolding
==================
The time often comes when a tree-folding symlink has to be undone
because another package uses one or more of the folded subdirectories in
its installation image. This operation is called "splitting open" or
"unfolding" a folded tree. It involves removing the original symlink
from the target tree, creating a true directory in its place, and then
populating the new directory with symlinks to the newly-installed
package _and_ to the old package that used the old symlink. For
example, suppose that after installing Perl into an empty `/usr/local',
we wish to install Emacs. Emacs's installation image includes a `bin'
directory containing the `emacs' and `etags' executables, among others.
Stow must make these files appear to be installed in `/usr/local/bin',
but presently `/usr/local/bin' is a symlink to `stow/perl/bin'. Stow
therefore takes the following steps: the symlink `/usr/local/bin' is
deleted; the directory `/usr/local/bin' is created; links are made from
`/usr/local/bin' to `../stow/emacs/bin/emacs' and
`../stow/emacs/bin/etags'; and links are made from `/usr/local/bin' to
`../stow/perl/bin/perl' and `../stow/perl/bin/a2p'.
5.3 Ownership
=============
When splitting open a folded tree, Stow makes sure that the symlink it
is about to remove points inside a valid package in the current stow
directory. _Stow will never delete anything that it doesn't own_.
Stow "owns" everything living in the target tree that points into a
package in the stow directory. Anything Stow owns, it can recompute if
lost: symlinks that point into a package in the stow directory, or
directories that only contain symlinks that stow "owns". Note that by
this definition, Stow doesn't "own" anything _in_ the stow directory or
in any of the packages.
5.4 Conflicts during installation
=================================
If Stow needs to create a directory or a symlink in the target tree and
it cannot because that name is already in use and is not owned by Stow,
then a "conflict" has arisen. *Note Conflicts::.

File: stow.info, Node: Deleting Packages, Next: Conflicts, Prev: Installing Packages, Up: Top
6 Deleting Packages
*******************
When the `-D' option is given, the action of Stow is to delete a
package from the target tree. Note that Stow will not delete anything
it doesn't "own". Deleting a package does _not_ mean removing it from
the stow directory or discarding the package tree.
To delete a package, Stow recursively scans the target tree,
skipping over any directory that is not included in the installation
image.(1) For example, if the target directory is `/usr/local' and the
installation image for the package being deleted has only a `bin'
directory and a `man' directory at the top level, then we only scan
`/usr/local/bin' and `/usr/local/bin/man', and not `/usr/local/lib' or
`/usr/local/share', or for that matter `/usr/local/stow'. Any symlink
it finds that points into the package being deleted is removed. Any
directory that contained only symlinks to the package being deleted is
removed.
6.1 Refolding "foldable" trees.
===============================
After removing symlinks and empty subdirectories, any directory that
contains only symlinks to a single other package is considered to be a
previously "folded" tree that was "split open." Stow will refold the
tree by removing the symlinks to the surviving package, removing the
directory, then linking the directory back to the surviving package.
However, this behaviour can be prevented via the `--no-folding' option;
*note Invoking Stow::.
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) This approach was introduced in version 2 of GNU Stow.
Previously, the whole target tree was scanned and stow directories were
explicitly omitted. This became problematic when dealing with very
large installations. The only situation where this is useful is if you
accidentally delete a directory in the package tree, leaving you with a
whole bunch of dangling links. Note that you can enable the old
approach with the `-p' option. Alternatively, you can use the
`--badlinks' option get stow to search for dangling links in your
target tree and remove the offenders manually.

File: stow.info, Node: Conflicts, Next: Mixing Operations, Prev: Deleting Packages, Up: Top
7 Conflicts
***********
If, during installation, a file or symlink exists in the target tree and
has the same name as something Stow needs to create, and if the
existing name is not a folded tree that can be split open, then a
"conflict" has arisen. A conflict also occurs if a directory exists
where Stow needs to place a symlink to a non-directory. On the other
hand, if the existing name is merely a symlink that already points
where Stow needs it to, then no conflict has occurred. (Thus it is
harmless to install a package that has already been installed.)
For complex packages, scanning the stow and target trees in tandem,
and deciding whether to make directories or links, split-open or fold
directories, can actually take a long time (a number of seconds).
Moreover, an accurate analysis of potential conflicts requires us to
take into account all of these operations.
7.1 Deferred Operation
======================
Since version 2.0, Stow now adopts a two-phase algorithm, first
scanning for any potential conflicts before any stowing or unstowing
operations are performed. If any conflicts are found, they are
displayed and then Stow terminates without making any modifications to
the filesystem. This means that there is much less risk of a package
being partially stowed or unstowed due to conflicts.
Prior to version 2.0, if a conflict was discovered, the stow or
unstow operation could be aborted mid-flow, leaving the target tree in
an inconsistent state.

File: stow.info, Node: Mixing Operations, Next: Multiple Stow Directories, Prev: Conflicts, Up: Top
8 Mixing Operations
*******************
Since version 2.0, multiple distinct actions can be specified in a
single invocation of GNU Stow. For example, to update an installation
of Emacs from version 21.3 to 21.4a you can now do the following:
stow -D emacs-21.3 -S emacs-21.4a
which will replace emacs-21.3 with emacs-21.4a using a single
invocation.
This is much faster and cleaner than performing two separate
invocations of stow, because redundant folding/unfolding operations can
be factored out. In addition, all the operations are calculated and
merged before being executed (*note Deferred Operation::), so the
amount of of time in which GNU Emacs is unavailable is minimised.
You can mix and match any number of actions, for example,
stow -S pkg1 pkg2 -D pkg3 pkg4 -S pkg5 -R pkg6
will unstow pkg3, pkg4 and pkg6, then stow pkg1, pkg2, pkg5 and pkg6.

File: stow.info, Node: Multiple Stow Directories, Next: Target Maintenance, Prev: Mixing Operations, Up: Top
9 Multiple Stow Directories
***************************
If there are two or more system administrators who wish to maintain
software separately, or if there is any other reason to want two or more
stow directories, it can be done by creating a file named `.stow' in
each stow directory. The presence of `/usr/local/foo/.stow' informs
Stow that, though `foo' is not the current stow directory, even if it
is a subdirectory of the target directory, nevertheless it is _a_ stow
directory and as such Stow doesn't "own" anything in it (*note
Installing Packages::). This will protect the contents of `foo' from a
`stow -D', for instance.
When multiple stow directories share a target tree, if a tree-folding
symlink is encountered and needs to be split open during an
installation, as long as the top-level stow directory into which the
existing symlink points contains `.stow', Stow knows how to split open
the tree in the correct manner.

File: stow.info, Node: Target Maintenance, Next: Resource Files, Prev: Multiple Stow Directories, Up: Top
10 Target Maintenance
*********************
From time to time you will need to clean up your target tree. Since
version 2, Stow provides a new utility `chkstow' to help with this. It
includes three operational modes which performs checks that would
generally be too expensive to be performed during normal stow execution.
The syntax of the `chkstow' command is:
chkstow [OPTIONS]
The following options are supported:
`-t DIR'
`--target=DIR'
Set the target directory to DIR instead of the parent of the stow
directory. Defaults to the parent of the stow directory, so it is
typical to execute `stow' from the directory `/usr/local/stow'.
`-b'
`--badlinks'
Checks target directory for bogus symbolic links. That is, links
that point to non-existent files.
`-a'
`--aliens'
Checks for files in the target directory that are not symbolic
links. The target directory should be managed by stow alone,
except for directories that contain a `.stow' file.
`-l'
`--list'
Will display the target package for every symbolic link in the
stow target directory.

File: stow.info, Node: Resource Files, Next: Compile-time vs Install-time, Prev: Target Maintenance, Up: Top
11 Resource Files
*****************
Default command line options may be set in `.stowrc' (current
directory) or `~/.stowrc' (home directory). These are parsed in that
order, and effectively prepended to you command line. This feature can
be used for some interesting effects.
For example, suppose your site uses more than one stow directory,
perhaps in order to share around responsibilities with a number of
systems administrators. One of the administrators might have the
following in their `~/.stowrc' file:
--dir=/usr/local/stow2
--target=/usr/local
--ignore='~'
--ignore='^CVS'
so that the `stow' command will default to operating on the
`/usr/local/stow2' directory, with `/usr/local' as the target, and
ignoring vi backup files and CVS directories.
If you had a stow directory `/usr/local/stow/perl-extras' that was
only used for Perl modules, then you might place the following in
`/usr/local/stow/perl-extras/.stowrc':
--dir=/usr/local/stow/perl-extras
--target=/usr/local
--override=bin
--override=man
--ignore='perllocal\.pod'
--ignore='\.packlist'
--ignore='\.bs'
so that when you are in the `/usr/local/stow/perl-extras' directory,
`stow' will regard any subdirectories as stow packages, with
`/usr/local' as the target (rather than the immediate parent directory
`/usr/local/stow'), overriding any pre-existing links to bin files or
man pages, and ignoring some cruft that gets installed by default.

File: stow.info, Node: Compile-time vs Install-time, Next: Bootstrapping, Prev: Resource Files, Up: Top
12 Compile-time vs Install-time
*******************************
Software whose installation is managed with Stow needs to be installed
in one place (the package directory, e.g. `/usr/local/stow/perl') but
needs to appear to run in another place (the target tree, e.g.,
`/usr/local'). Why is this important? What's wrong with Perl, for
instance, looking for its files in `/usr/local/stow/perl' instead of in
`/usr/local'?
The answer is that there may be another package, e.g.,
`/usr/local/stow/perl-extras', stowed under `/usr/local'. If Perl is
configured to find its files in `/usr/local/stow/perl', it will never
find the extra files in the `perl-extras' package, even though they're
intended to be found by Perl. On the other hand, if Perl looks for its
files in `/usr/local', then it will find the intermingled Perl and
`perl-extras' files.
This means that when you compile a package, you must tell it the
location of the run-time, or target tree; but when you install it, you
must place it in the stow tree.
12.1 Advice on changing compilation and installation parameters
===============================================================
Some software packages allow you to specify, at compile-time, separate
locations for installation and for run-time. Perl is one such package;
see *note Perl and Perl 5 Modules::. Others allow you to compile the
package, then give a different destination in the `make install' step
without causing the binaries or other files to get rebuilt. Most GNU
software falls into this category; Emacs is a notable exception. *Note
GNU Emacs::, and *note Other FSF Software::.
Still other software packages cannot abide the idea of separate
installation and run-time locations at all. If you try to `make
install prefix=/usr/local/stow/FOO', then first the whole package will
be recompiled to hardwire the `/usr/local/stow/FOO' path. With these
packages, it is best to compile normally, then run `make -n install',
which should report all the steps needed to install the just-built
software. Place this output into a file, edit the commands in the file
to remove recompilation steps and to reflect the Stow-based
installation location, and execute the edited file as a shell script in
place of `make install'. Be sure to execute the script using the same
shell that `make install' would have used.
(If you use GNU Make and a shell [such as GNU bash] that understands
`pushd' and `popd', you can do the following:
1. Replace all lines matching `make[N]: Entering directory DIR' with
`pushd DIR'.
2. Replace all lines matching `make[N]: Leaving directory DIR' with
`popd'.
3. Delete all lines matching `make[N]: Nothing to be done for RULE'.
Then find other lines in the output containing `cd' or `make'
commands and rewrite or delete them. In particular, you should be able
to delete sections of the script that resemble this:
for i in DIR_1 DIR_2 ...; do \
(cd $i; make ARGS ...) \
done
Note, that's "should be able to," not "can." Be sure to modulate these
guidelines with plenty of your own intelligence.
The details of stowing some specific packages are described in the
following sections.
* Menu:
* GNU Emacs::
* Other FSF Software::
* Cygnus Software::
* Perl and Perl 5 Modules::

File: stow.info, Node: GNU Emacs, Next: Other FSF Software, Prev: Compile-time vs Install-time, Up: Compile-time vs Install-time
12.2 GNU Emacs
==============
Although the Free Software Foundation has many enlightened practices
regarding Makefiles and software installation (see *note Other FSF
Software::), Emacs, its flagship program, doesn't quite follow the
rules. In particular, most GNU software allows you to write:
make
make install prefix=/usr/local/stow/PACKAGE
If you try this with Emacs, then the new value for PREFIX in the `make
install' step will cause some files to get recompiled with the new
value of PREFIX wired into them. In Emacs 19.23 and later,(1) the way
to work around this problem is:
make
make install-arch-dep install-arch-indep prefix=/usr/local/stow/emacs
In 19.22 and some prior versions of Emacs, the workaround was:
make
make do-install prefix=/usr/local/stow/emacs
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) As I write this, the current version of Emacs is 19.31.

File: stow.info, Node: Other FSF Software, Next: Cygnus Software, Prev: GNU Emacs, Up: Compile-time vs Install-time
12.3 Other FSF Software
=======================
The Free Software Foundation, the organization behind the GNU project,
has been unifying the build procedure for its tools for some time.
Thanks to its tools `autoconf' and `automake', most packages now
respond well to these simple steps, with no other intervention
necessary:
./configure OPTIONS
make
make install prefix=/usr/local/stow/PACKAGE
Hopefully, these tools can evolve to be aware of Stow-managed
packages, such that providing an option to `configure' can allow `make'
and `make install' steps to work correctly without needing to "fool"
the build process.

File: stow.info, Node: Cygnus Software, Next: Perl and Perl 5 Modules, Prev: Other FSF Software, Up: Compile-time vs Install-time
12.4 Cygnus Software
====================
Cygnus is a commercial supplier and supporter of GNU software. It has
also written several of its own packages, released under the terms of
the GNU General Public License; and it has taken over the maintenance of
other packages. Among the packages released by Cygnus are `gdb',
`gnats', and `dejagnu'.
Cygnus packages have the peculiarity that each one unpacks into a
directory tree with a generic top-level Makefile, which is set up to
compile _all_ of Cygnus' packages, any number of which may reside under
the top-level directory. In other words, even if you're only building
`gnats', the top-level Makefile will look for, and try to build, `gdb'
and `dejagnu' subdirectories, among many others.
The result is that if you try `make -n install
prefix=/usr/local/stow/PACKAGE' at the top level of a Cygnus package,
you'll get a bewildering amount of output. It will then be very
difficult to visually scan the output to see whether the install will
proceed correctly. Unfortunately, it's not always clear how to invoke
an install from the subdirectory of interest.
In cases like this, the best approach is to run your `make install
prefix=...', but be ready to interrupt it if you detect that it is
recompiling files. Usually it will work just fine; otherwise, install
manually.

File: stow.info, Node: Perl and Perl 5 Modules, Prev: Cygnus Software, Up: Compile-time vs Install-time
12.5 Perl and Perl 5 Modules
============================
Perl 4.036 allows you to specify different locations for installation
and for run-time. It is the only widely-used package in this author's
experience that allows this, though hopefully more packages will adopt
this model.
Unfortunately, the authors of Perl believed that only AFS sites need
this ability. The configuration instructions for Perl 4 misleadingly
state that some occult means are used under AFS to transport files from
their installation tree to their run-time tree. In fact, that confusion
arises from the fact that Depot, Stow's predecessor, originated at
Carnegie Mellon University, which was also the birthplace of AFS. CMU's
need to separate install-time and run-time trees stemmed from its use of
Depot, not from AFS.
The result of this confusion is that Perl 5's configuration script
doesn't even offer the option of separating install-time and run-time
trees _unless_ you're running AFS. Fortunately, after you've entered
all the configuration settings, Perl's setup script gives you the
opportunity to edit those settings in a file called `config.sh'. When
prompted, you should edit this file and replace occurrences of
inst.../usr/local...
with
inst.../usr/local/stow/perl...
You can do this with the following Unix command:
sed 's,^\(inst.*/usr/local\),\1/stow/perl,' config.sh > config.sh.new
mv config.sh.new config.sh
Hopefully, the Perl authors will correct this deficiency in Perl 5's
configuration mechanism.
Perl 5 modules--i.e., extensions to Perl 5--generally conform to a
set of standards for building and installing them. The standard says
that the package comes with a top-level `Makefile.PL', which is a Perl
script. When it runs, it generates a `Makefile'.
If you followed the instructions above for editing `config.sh' when
Perl was built, then when you create a `Makefile' from a `Makefile.PL',
it will contain separate locations for run-time (`/usr/local') and
install-time (`/usr/local/stow/perl'). Thus you can do
perl Makefile.PL
make
make install
and the files will be installed into `/usr/local/stow/perl'. However,
you might prefer each Perl module to be stowed separately. In that
case, you must edit the resulting Makefile, replacing
`/usr/local/stow/perl' with `/usr/local/stow/MODULE'. The best way to
do this is:
perl Makefile.PL
find . -name Makefile -print | \
xargs perl -pi~ -e 's,^(INST.*/stow)/perl,$1/MODULE,;'
make
make install
(The use of `find' and `xargs' ensures that all Makefiles in the
module's source tree, even those in subdirectories, get edited.) A
good convention to follow is to name the stow directory for a Perl
MODULE `cpan.MODULE', where `cpan' stands for Comprehensive Perl
Archive Network, a collection of FTP sites that is the source of most
Perl 5 extensions. This way, it's easy to tell at a glance which of
the subdirectories of `/usr/local/stow' are Perl 5 extensions.
When you stow separate Perl 5 modules separately, you are likely to
encounter conflicts (*note Conflicts::) with files named `.exists' and
`perllocal.pod'. One way to work around this is to remove those files
before stowing the module. If you use the `cpan.MODULE' naming
convention, you can simply do this:
cd /usr/local/stow
find cpan.* \( -name .exists -o -name perllocal.pod \) -print | \
xargs rm

File: stow.info, Node: Bootstrapping, Next: Reporting Bugs, Prev: Compile-time vs Install-time, Up: Top
13 Bootstrapping
****************
Suppose you have a stow directory all set up and ready to go:
`/usr/local/stow/perl' contains the Perl installation,
`/usr/local/stow/stow' contains Stow itself, and perhaps you have other
packages waiting to be stowed. You'd like to be able to do this:
cd /usr/local/stow
stow -vv *
but `stow' is not yet in your `PATH'. Nor can you do this:
cd /usr/local/stow
stow/bin/stow -vv *
because the `#!' line at the beginning of `stow' tries to locate Perl
(usually in `/usr/local/bin/perl'), and that won't be found. The
solution you must use is:
cd /usr/local/stow
perl/bin/perl stow/bin/stow -vv *

File: stow.info, Node: Reporting Bugs, Next: Known Bugs, Prev: Bootstrapping, Up: Top
14 Reporting Bugs
*****************
Please send bug reports to the current maintainers by electronic mail.
The address to use is `<bug-stow@gnu.org>'. Please include:
* the version number of Stow (`stow --version');
* the version number of Perl (`perl -v');
* the system information, which can often be obtained with `uname
-a';
* a description of the bug;
* the precise command you gave;
* the output from the command (preferably verbose output, obtained by
adding `--verbose=3' to the Stow command line).
If you are really keen, consider developing a minimal test case and
creating a new test. See the `t/' directory in the source for lots of
examples.
Before reporting a bug, please read the manual carefully, especially
*note Known Bugs::, to see whether you're encountering something that
doesn't need reporting. (*note Conflicts::).

File: stow.info, Node: Known Bugs, Next: GNU General Public License, Prev: Reporting Bugs, Up: Top
15 Known Bugs
*************
There are no known bugs in Stow version 2.2.2! If you think you have
found one, please *note Reporting Bugs::.

File: stow.info, Node: GNU General Public License, Next: Index, Prev: Known Bugs, Up: Top
GNU General Public License
**************************
Version 2, June 1991
Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
Preamble
========
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INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF
DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU
OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY
OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN
ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs
=============================================
If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest
possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it
free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these
terms.
To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safest
to attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively
convey the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least
the "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.
ONE LINE TO GIVE THE PROGRAM'S NAME AND AN IDEA OF WHAT IT DOES.
Copyright (C) 19YY NAME OF AUTHOR
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., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper
mail.
If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like
this when it starts in an interactive mode:
Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) 19YY NAME OF AUTHOR
Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details
type `show w'. This is free software, and you are welcome
to redistribute it under certain conditions; type `show c'
for details.
The hypothetical commands `show w' and `show c' should show the
appropriate parts of the General Public License. Of course, the
commands you use may be called something other than `show w' and `show
c'; they could even be mouse-clicks or menu items--whatever suits your
program.
You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or
your school, if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program,
if necessary. Here is a sample; alter the names:
Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright
interest in the program `Gnomovision'
(which makes passes at compilers) written
by James Hacker.
SIGNATURE OF TY COON, 1 April 1989
Ty Coon, President of Vice
This General Public License does not permit incorporating your
program into proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine
library, you may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary
applications with the library. If this is what you want to do, use the
GNU Library General Public License instead of this License.

File: stow.info, Node: Index, Prev: GNU General Public License, Up: Top
Index
*****
[index]
* Menu:
* absolute symlink: Terminology. (line 43)
* adopting existing files: Invoking Stow. (line 97)
* configuration files: Resource Files. (line 6)
* conflicts <1>: Conflicts. (line 6)
* conflicts: Installing Packages. (line 85)
* deferred operation <1>: Mixing Operations. (line 15)
* deferred operation: Conflicts. (line 24)
* deletion: Deleting Packages. (line 6)
* directory folding: Installing Packages. (line 16)
* dry run: Invoking Stow. (line 120)
* folding trees: Installing Packages. (line 16)
* ignore lists <1>: Motivation For Ignore Lists.
(line 26)
* ignore lists: Ignore Lists. (line 6)
* ignoring files and directories: Ignore Lists. (line 6)
* installation: Installing Packages. (line 6)
* installation conflicts: Installing Packages. (line 85)
* installation image: Terminology. (line 23)
* maintenance: Target Maintenance. (line 6)
* mixing operations: Mixing Operations. (line 6)
* ownership: Installing Packages. (line 72)
* package: Terminology. (line 6)
* package directory: Terminology. (line 30)
* package name: Terminology. (line 30)
* refolding trees: Deleting Packages. (line 25)
* relative symlink: Terminology. (line 43)
* resource files: Resource Files. (line 6)
* simulated run: Invoking Stow. (line 120)
* splitting open folded trees: Installing Packages. (line 51)
* stow directory: Terminology. (line 16)
* symlink: Terminology. (line 43)
* target directory: Terminology. (line 11)
* tree folding: Installing Packages. (line 16)
* tree refolding: Deleting Packages. (line 25)
* tree unfolding: Installing Packages. (line 51)
* tree unsplitting: Installing Packages. (line 51)
* unfolding trees: Installing Packages. (line 51)
* verbosity levels: Invoking Stow. (line 126)

Tag Table:
Node: Top1445
Node: Introduction2967
Ref: Introduction-Footnote-15130
Node: Terminology5172
Node: Invoking Stow7535
Node: Ignore Lists14338
Node: Motivation For Ignore Lists14602
Node: Types And Syntax Of Ignore Lists16097
Ref: Types And Syntax Of Ignore Lists-Footnote-119260
Ref: Types And Syntax Of Ignore Lists-Footnote-219426
Ref: Types And Syntax Of Ignore Lists-Footnote-319642
Node: Justification For Yet Another Set Of Ignore Files19787
Node: Installing Packages21385
Ref: tree folding21947
Ref: Tree unfolding23825
Node: Deleting Packages25893
Ref: tree refolding26925
Ref: Deleting Packages-Footnote-127470
Node: Conflicts28058
Ref: Deferred Operation29044
Node: Mixing Operations29645
Node: Multiple Stow Directories30637
Node: Target Maintenance31697
Node: Resource Files32927
Node: Compile-time vs Install-time34533
Node: GNU Emacs37943
Ref: GNU Emacs-Footnote-138928
Node: Other FSF Software38992
Node: Cygnus Software39753
Node: Perl and Perl 5 Modules41232
Node: Bootstrapping44787
Node: Reporting Bugs45568
Node: Known Bugs46547
Node: GNU General Public License46795
Node: Index65935

End Tag Table