xmlstar-devel — XMLStarlet Toolkit Developers list

[Xmlstar-devel] Offer to help with XMLStarlet

[Dagobert M. <da...@op...>]

Hi Rowan,

Am 04.04.2011 um 03:14 schrieb row...@us...:
> I am developing an XML/XSLT based micro-framework (under GPL), and 
> after wasting quite a bit of time writing a minimal libxml/libxslt based tool 
> for it, I realised it makes more sense to just use XMLStarlet (or maybe a 
> trimmed-down version for speed reasons). So it seems only fair to offer 
> to help/contribute in whatever way I can for XMLStarlet's code too.

Sure, I'll forward your mail to xmlstar-devel@ where I would recommend
you also subscribe to. Maybe the other developers (and notable Noam here)
have a suggestion on how you could help?

> Like yourself I have very limited and sporadic free-time, and also I am not 
> very experienced with C (yet) as Perl/shell-scripting/PHP/etc have been 
> my forté more, but so far I've not found C too foreign, but I'm certainly not 
> a C guru...
> 
> Also, although I despise Windows, I've been forced to spend a lot of my 
> time on a Windows (64 bit) machine of late, so maybe I can do some 
> packaging for 64 bit Windows, as you request on the site...? Let me 
> know.

Providing Windows packages would certainly be good. For starters I
suggest you package up the latest version and put it somewhere so
the other Windows users around can take a look and then we'll put it
in the SF download area.


Best regards

 -- Dago

Re: [Xmlstar-devel] XMLStarlet 1.1.0 Released

[Aleksandar I. <ale...@iv...>]

Hm, don't know where I was looking but rpmforge already contains 
xmlstarlet and they are pretty good in updating it, i.e. they have 
already pushed 1.0.1. update this morning when I asked.

I don't see a point in me uploading EL5 rpms, except that rpmforge has a 
patch renaming the binary from 'xml' to 'xmlstarlet'. Or is there a 
political issue I've missed?

On 04/04/2011 10:53 AM, Aleksandar Ivanisevic wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> Sorry I've missed a few versions, real life got in the way :(
> I have uploaded RHEL/CentOS5 RPMS for 1.1.0 now.
>
> I will also send a suggestion to rpmforge so that it carries it, for a
> bit more visibility.
>
> regards,
>
> On 04/04/2011 02:04 AM, Noam Postavsky wrote:
>> I just released version 1.1.0
>>
>> - bug fix for BSD/OSX: check that O_BINARY is declared before
>> #including io.h (Bug 3211822)
>> - select improvements
>> - add --elif and --else options
>> - sorting on multiple fields
>> - correct (for English) lexical sorting instead of ASCIIbetical
>> - only outputs namespaces that are actually used
>> - only outputs xsl:param inputFile if it's used
>> - don't make separate templates if there is only 1
>> - link to shared libxml and libxslt libraries by default
>> - add library version info to --version output
>> - add directory argument for ls; exit status indicates
>> failure/success instead of file count
>> - stop using old SAX1 interface, xmlstarlet will now link with a
>> libxml configured --without-sax1 and --without-legacy
>>
>> Noam
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Create and publish websites with WebMatrix
>> Use the most popular FREE web apps or write code yourself;
>> WebMatrix provides all the features you need to develop and
>> publish your website. http://p.sf.net/sfu/ms-webmatrix-sf
>> _______________________________________________
>> xmlstar-devel mailing list
>> xml...@li...
>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/xmlstar-devel
>>

Re: [Xmlstar-devel] XMLStarlet 1.1.0 Released

[Aleksandar I. <ale...@iv...>]

Hi,

Sorry I've missed a few versions, real life got in the way :(
I have uploaded RHEL/CentOS5 RPMS for 1.1.0 now.

I will also send a suggestion to rpmforge so that it carries it, for a 
bit more visibility.

regards,

On 04/04/2011 02:04 AM, Noam Postavsky wrote:
> I just released version 1.1.0
>
>      - bug fix for BSD/OSX: check that O_BINARY is declared before
>        #including io.h (Bug 3211822)
>      - select improvements
>        - add --elif and --else options
>        - sorting on multiple fields
>        - correct (for English) lexical sorting instead of ASCIIbetical
>        - only outputs namespaces that are actually used
>        - only outputs xsl:param inputFile if it's used
>        - don't make separate templates if there is only 1
>      - link to shared libxml and libxslt libraries by default
>      - add library version info to --version output
>      - add directory argument for ls; exit status indicates
>        failure/success instead of file count
>      - stop using old SAX1 interface, xmlstarlet will now link with a
>        libxml configured --without-sax1 and --without-legacy
>
> Noam
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Create and publish websites with WebMatrix
> Use the most popular FREE web apps or write code yourself;
> WebMatrix provides all the features you need to develop and
> publish your website. http://p.sf.net/sfu/ms-webmatrix-sf
> _______________________________________________
> xmlstar-devel mailing list
> xml...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/xmlstar-devel
>

[Xmlstar-devel] XMLStarlet 1.1.0 Released

[Noam P. <npo...@us...>]

I just released version 1.1.0

    - bug fix for BSD/OSX: check that O_BINARY is declared before
      #including io.h (Bug 3211822)
    - select improvements
      - add --elif and --else options
      - sorting on multiple fields
      - correct (for English) lexical sorting instead of ASCIIbetical
      - only outputs namespaces that are actually used
      - only outputs xsl:param inputFile if it's used
      - don't make separate templates if there is only 1
    - link to shared libxml and libxslt libraries by default
    - add library version info to --version output
    - add directory argument for ls; exit status indicates
      failure/success instead of file count
    - stop using old SAX1 interface, xmlstarlet will now link with a
      libxml configured --without-sax1 and --without-legacy

Noam

[Xmlstar-devel] Should XPath arguments interpret XML entities? (Bug 3240736)

[Noam P. <npo...@us...>]

It seems to me that XPath shouldn't be interpreted as XML, but I guess
an argument could be made in favour interpreting entities on practical
grounds. So I'd like to know if people want this feature.

thanks, Noam

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&aid=3240736&group_id=66612&atid=515106

[Xmlstar-devel] XMLStarlet 1.0.6

[Noam P. <npo...@us...>]

Hi list,

I just released 1.0.6:

    - Bug fixes:
       - c14n: set stdout to binary mode on Windows to avoid carriage
         returns (Bug 840665)
       - fix broken --help options
    - put actual behaviour of -P, -S options in --help output (see
      Bug/Feature Request 2858514)
    - remove unneeded escape of quote in ./configure --help
    - don't distribute xmlstarlet.spec: it's generated by ./configure
    - add src/xml.o depends on version.h to Makefile.am so compile
      will succeed without dependency info (eg after make distclean)
    - add test for subcommands' --help option
    - Portability fixes:
       - yes isn't portable, use an awk program instead
       - neither read -r nor xargs -0 are portable, escape the command
         lines to xargs instead
       - don't use nonportable echo -n option


Noam

[Xmlstar-devel] XMLStarlet 1.0.5 Released

[Noam P. <npo...@us...>]

Hello all,

I just released version 1.0.5:

   - Bug fixes:
      - use XSLT_PARSE_OPTIONS, else CDATA nodes can cause corruption (Bug 3158482)
      - fix typo in help message
      - get rid of warnings in -ansi -pedantic mode
      - required libxml2 version is 2.6.23
      - usage strings use argv[0] as program name
      - --help prints to stdout and exits with success
      - double /'s under msys to avoid path conversion
   - Portability fixes:
      - don't use xargs (-d isn't portable)
      - use -Wall only for gcc
   -Build system:
      - use -ansi in configure, and check for strdup declaration
      - seperate list of sources and tests into subdirs
      - check git version during make, not just autoconf
      - tarball releases of configure.ac have actual version number
        instead of querying git

Noam

Re: [Xmlstar-devel] Problems with 1.0.4 on Solaris

[Noam P. <npo...@us...>]

Dagobert Michelsen <da...@op...> writes:
>
> 1. There is an unconditional addition of "-Wall" to CFLAGS breaking
> e.g. the Sun Studio compilation. This should either be tested for
> during autoconf time or set only on GCC compilers.

Right, I should have thought of that.

>> Broken Pipe
>> FAIL: ./examples/bigxml-embed
>
> This looks like to come from the termination for "yes":

I'm confused about this one, why is "yes" failing?

>> xargs: illegal option -- d
>> xargs: Usage: xargs: [-t] [-p] [-e[eofstr]] [-E eofstr] [-I replstr] [-i[replstr]] [-L #] [-l[#]] [-n # [-x]] [-s size] [cmd [args ...]]
>
> Solaris /usr/bin/xargs has to my knowledge no separator setting.

Okay, I've rewritten to use a while read loop. I hope Solaris read takes -r.

Noam

[Xmlstar-devel] Problems with 1.0.4 on Solaris

[Dagobert M. <da...@op...>]

Hi,

I have some issues with the latest xmlstarlet 1.0.4 on Solaris 9 Sparc
with Sun Studio 12:

1. There is an unconditional addition of "-Wall" to CFLAGS breaking
e.g. the Sun Studio compilation. This should either be tested for
during autoconf time or set only on GCC compilers.

2. There are a couple of tests failing:

> gmake[3]: Entering directory `/home/dam/mgar/pkg/xmlstarlet/trunk/work/solaris9-sparc/build-isa-sparcv8/xmlstarlet-1.0.4'
> Broken Pipe
> XFAIL: ./examples/bigxml-dtd
> Broken Pipe
> FAIL: ./examples/bigxml-embed

This looks like to come from the termination for "yes":

current9s% sh -x bigxml-embed
+ . ./bigxml 
SEDLINUM_PROG=s/^\([^:]\+:[0-9]\{4\}\)[0-9]:.*$/\1x/p
+ xmldoc <a> foo </a> <!DOCTYPE root [<!ELEMENT root (a*)> <!ELEMENT a EMPTY>]> 
BAD=<a> foo </a>
DOCTYPE=<!DOCTYPE root [<!ELEMENT root (a*)> <!ELEMENT a EMPTY>]>
+ sed + -n s/^\([^:]\+:[0-9]\{4\}\)[0-9]:.*$/\1x/pecho -n  <?xml version="1.0"?> 

+ ./xmlstarlet val --embed --err - 
+ [ -n <!DOCTYPE root [<!ELEMENT root (a*)> <!ELEMENT a EMPTY>]> ] 
+ echo -n <!DOCTYPE root [<!ELEMENT root (a*)> <!ELEMENT a EMPTY>]> 
+ echo <root> 
+ head -69999 
+ yes <a /> 
Broken Pipe
+ echo -n <a> foo </a> 

> Broken Pipe
> FAIL: ./examples/bigxml-embed-ref
> Broken Pipe
> FAIL: ./examples/bigxml-relaxng
> Broken Pipe
> FAIL: ./examples/bigxml-well-formed
> Broken Pipe
> FAIL: ./examples/bigxml-xsd
> PASS: ./examples/count1
> PASS: ./examples/countnode1
> PASS: ./examples/c14n-default-attr
> PASS: ./examples/c14n1
> PASS: ./examples/c14n2
> PASS: ./examples/delete1
> PASS: ./examples/dtd1
> PASS: ./examples/dtd2
> PASS: ./examples/dtd3
> PASS: ./examples/dtd4
> PASS: ./examples/ed-literal
> PASS: ./examples/elem1
> PASS: ./examples/elem2
> PASS: ./examples/elem3
> PASS: ./examples/escape1
> PASS: ./examples/exslt1
> PASS: ./examples/findfile1
> PASS: ./examples/genxml1
> PASS: ./examples/hello1
> PASS: ./examples/localname1
> PASS: ./examples/look1
> PASS: ./examples/move1
> PASS: ./examples/noindent1
> PASS: ./examples/ns1
> PASS: ./examples/recover1
> PASS: ./examples/rename-attr1
> PASS: ./examples/rename-elem1
> PASS: ./examples/schema1
> xargs: illegal option -- d
> xargs: Usage: xargs: [-t] [-p] [-e[eofstr]] [-E eofstr] [-I replstr] [-i[replstr]] [-L #] [-l[#]] [-n # [-x]] [-s size] [cmd [args ...]]

Solaris /usr/bin/xargs has to my knowledge no separator setting.

> FAIL: ./examples/sel-literal
> PASS: ./examples/sel1
> PASS: ./examples/sort1
> PASS: ./examples/structure1
> PASS: ./examples/sum1
> PASS: ./examples/tab1
> PASS: ./examples/table1
> PASS: ./examples/table2
> PASS: ./examples/table3
> PASS: ./examples/update-attr1
> PASS: ./examples/unicode1
> PASS: ./examples/update-elem1
> PASS: ./examples/valid1
> PASS: ./examples/xinclude1
> PASS: ./examples/xsl-param1
> PASS: ./examples/xsl-sum1
> xargs: illegal option -- d
> xargs: Usage: xargs: [-t] [-p] [-e[eofstr]] [-E eofstr] [-I replstr] [-i[replstr]] [-L #] [-l[#]] [-n # [-x]] [-s size] [cmd [args ...]]
> FAIL: ./examples/sel-xpath-c
> xargs: illegal option -- d
> xargs: Usage: xargs: [-t] [-p] [-e[eofstr]] [-E eofstr] [-I replstr] [-i[replstr]] [-L #] [-l[#]] [-n # [-x]] [-s size] [cmd [args ...]]
> FAIL: ./examples/sel-xpath-v
> xargs: illegal option -- d
> xargs: Usage: xargs: [-t] [-p] [-e[eofstr]] [-E eofstr] [-I replstr] [-i[replstr]] [-L #] [-l[#]] [-n # [-x]] [-s size] [cmd [args ...]]
> FAIL: ./examples/sel-xpath-m
> xargs: illegal option -- d
> xargs: Usage: xargs: [-t] [-p] [-e[eofstr]] [-E eofstr] [-I replstr] [-i[replstr]] [-L #] [-l[#]] [-n # [-x]] [-s size] [cmd [args ...]]
> FAIL: ./examples/sel-xpath-i
> FIXME: can't delete namespace nodes
> XFAIL: ./examples/ed-namespace


Best regards

  -- Dago

Re: [Xmlstar-devel] XMLStarlet 1.0.4 Released

[Noam P. <npo...@us...>]

Aleksandar Ivanisevic <ale...@iv...> writes:

> should I build with --disable-static-libs? Seems sensible since if 
> libxml or libxslt is upgraded upstream between the releases, I don't 
> have to rebuild?

Yes, I added --disable-static-libs because a packager said Fedora
requires use of shared libraries. I am probably going to make use of
shared libs the default on Linux anyways.

> should I add .el5 to the release to indicate that the rpms are for el5?

I guess it would a good idea if they don't work on other distros, but
maybe someone who knows something about rpms can comment on this.

Noam

Re: [Xmlstar-devel] XMLStarlet 1.0.4 Released

[Aleksandar I. <ale...@iv...>]

Hi,

i have uploaded source and binary rpms for el5/i386 and x86_64.

A few questions:

should I build with --disable-static-libs? Seems sensible since if 
libxml or libxslt is upgraded upstream between the releases, I don't 
have to rebuild?

should I add .el5 to the release to indicate that the rpms are for el5?

On 16.01.11 20:27, Noam Postavsky wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I just released version 1.0.4
>
>     - Bug fixes:
>        - encode special XML characters in arguments (can now include quotes in xpath)
>        - non-zero exit code when input file is not found (Bug 3158488)
>        - ed with --pf/--ps options doesn't reformat output (Bug 3158490)
>        - exit() instead of segfault when trying to delete namespace nodes
>           (Bug 1120417)
>     - added --disable-static-libs ./configure option to use shared libxml2 and libxslt
>     - non-recursive make
>     - use TESTS and XFAIL_TESTS for testing, nicer output
>
> Noam

[Xmlstar-devel] XMLStarlet 1.0.4 Released

[Noam P. <npo...@us...>]

Hi all,

I just released version 1.0.4

   - Bug fixes:
      - encode special XML characters in arguments (can now include quotes in xpath)
      - non-zero exit code when input file is not found (Bug 3158488)
      - ed with --pf/--ps options doesn't reformat output (Bug 3158490)
      - exit() instead of segfault when trying to delete namespace nodes
         (Bug 1120417)
   - added --disable-static-libs ./configure option to use shared libxml2 and libxslt
   - non-recursive make
   - use TESTS and XFAIL_TESTS for testing, nicer output

Noam

[Xmlstar-devel] Fwd: Debian bugs

[Noam P. <npo...@us...>]

2011/1/13 Mònica Ramírez <mo...@pr...>:

> http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=583113
> http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=539573
>
> Would you prefer I duplicate these (and maybe future) bugs in xmlstarlet bug tracking
> system?

Yes, it's convenient to have all the bugs in one place. I'll take a
look at those bugs this weekend.

thanks, Noam

[Xmlstar-devel] Debian bugs

[Mònica R. A. <mo...@pr...>]

Hi,

First af all: pleased to meet all of you!

We have some bugs in Debian that affect xmlstarlet source code.
Here you have two bugs I have checked and think they're still
present:

http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=583113
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=539573

Would you prefer I duplicate these (and maybe future) bugs in xmlstarlet bug tracking
system?

Thanks!

[Xmlstar-devel] xmlstarlet: Debian package

[Dagobert M. <da...@op...>]

Hi Monica,

Am 11.01.2011 um 12:16 schrieb Mònica Ramírez Arceda:
> I am contacting you because I became the maintainer of xmlstarlet's
> package in Debian distribution [0].
> 
> Debian users report xmlstarlet bugs in [1]. I will try to report you
> those bugs that are involved with xmlstarlet source code, not with
> Debian package, and helping to fix them if I have skills enough :-)
> 
> I hope we can collaborate together, so Debian users can continue
> enjoying your software.

Excellent! Please subscribe to the xmlstar-devel mailing list
to coordinate your efforts:
 https://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=66612

Best regards

 -- Dago

> Cheers.
> 
> [0] http://packages.qa.debian.org/x/xmlstarlet.html
> [1] http://bugs.debian.org/xmlstarlet

Re: [Xmlstar-devel] Next Release

[Aleksandar I. <ale...@iv...>]

Sorry, thought I did it, but obviously got distracted ;)

anyway, upload a release and announce it here, and i'll rebuild the rpms 
asap.

On 01/10/2011 02:04 PM, Dagobert Michelsen wrote:
> Hi Noam,
>
> Am 08.01.2011 um 17:04 schrieb Noam Postavsky:
>> I'd like to make another bug fix release.  What's the best way of
>> handling the rpm packaging? It would be nice to get the exact changes
>> needed to build the rpm into the release itself.
>
> Aleksander offered to make those :-)
>
> Aleks: Would you mind subscribing to xmlstar-devel?
>
>
> Best regards
>
>    -- Dago
>
>
>

Re: [Xmlstar-devel] Next Release

[Dagobert M. <da...@op...>]

Hi Noam,

Am 08.01.2011 um 17:04 schrieb Noam Postavsky:
> I'd like to make another bug fix release.  What's the best way of
> handling the rpm packaging? It would be nice to get the exact changes
> needed to build the rpm into the release itself.

Aleksander offered to make those :-)

Aleks: Would you mind subscribing to xmlstar-devel?


Best regards

  -- Dago

[Xmlstar-devel] Next Release

[Noam P. <npo...@us...>]

Hello all,

I'd like to make another bug fix release.  What's the best way of
handling the rpm packaging? It would be nice to get the exact changes
needed to build the rpm into the release itself.

thanks,
Noam

Re: [Xmlstar-devel] enhanced_select branch

[Noam P. <npo...@us...>]

André Kaplan <ak...@la...> writes:

>> The more code there is, the greater the chance of screwing it up.
>
> What's your point here, I don't get it?
> It's about as true as saying: no code, no bug.

Just that adding features does have some cost. More features --> more
code --> (potentially) more bugs.

> xmlstarlet isn't responsible for the quoting in scripts.

No, but that's a reason to want to use it outside of a shell script.

Noam

Re: [Xmlstar-devel] enhanced_select branch

[André K. <ak...@la...>]

>> Anyway, adding other switches won't prevent you from using xmlstarlet
>> for one-liners if that's how you use it. I also use it for one- 
>> liners.
>> I just don't want to be stopped at the first hurdle.
>
> The more code there is, the greater the chance of screwing it up.

What's your point here, I don't get it?
It's about as true as saying: no code, no bug.

>>> If we do go in the "less verbose stylesheet direction", I think  
>>> there
>>> should be some kind of syntax defined instead of using options for
>>> everything. I don't find the dashes very pretty, and single letter
>>> options aren't all that human-readable.
>>
>> Well sure that's a matter of taste. I don't mind too much the dashes,
>> but I rarely write long xml commands directly in the terminal, I
>> directly integrate them in longer shell scripts.
>
> I forgot to mention the quoting, that's probably the worst thing.  
> Shell
> evaluation rules are sufficiently icky that I really try to avoid  
> longer
> shell scripts.

xmlstarlet isn't responsible for the quoting in scripts.
But it surely has a bug since it doesn't properly xml-escape its  
arguments.
Currently
xml sel -t -m '//x[@class = "A"]' -c '.' -b -b
isn't working, when it should.
You have to write: xml sel -t -m '//x[@class = "A"]' -c '.' - 
b -b

Are you referring to that particular issue (I think it's in the Bug  
tracker)?

Regards,
André

Re: [Xmlstar-devel] enhanced_select branch

[Noam P. <npo...@us...>]

André Kaplan <ak...@la...> writes:

> I felt a bit let down when I was trying to go over the one-liner since  
> things are rarely as simple as they look like.
> This is why I added options to support other xsl elements.
> First of I didn't much like the idea of writing:
> xml sel -t -i 'condition' -o 'yes' -b -i 'not(condition) -o 'no' -b -b
> for an if/then/else so I added support for choose/when/otherwise:
> xml sel -t --choose --when 'condition' -o 'yes' -b --otherwise -o 'no'  
> -b -b -b

I see your point, though in this specific instance we don't need to be
bound xslt's zany conditionals:

xml sel -t --if 'condition' -o 'yes' --else 'no' -b

>
> Anyway, adding other switches won't prevent you from using xmlstarlet  
> for one-liners if that's how you use it. I also use it for one-liners.
> I just don't want to be stopped at the first hurdle.

The more code there is, the greater the chance of screwing it up.

>> If we do go in the "less verbose stylesheet direction", I think there
>> should be some kind of syntax defined instead of using options for
>> everything. I don't find the dashes very pretty, and single letter
>> options aren't all that human-readable.
>
> Well sure that's a matter of taste. I don't mind too much the dashes,  
> but I rarely write long xml commands directly in the terminal, I  
> directly integrate them in longer shell scripts.

I forgot to mention the quoting, that's probably the worst thing. Shell
evaluation rules are sufficiently icky that I really try to avoid longer
shell scripts.

> As for the the syntax I don't quite understand.
> If that's a full language, then XQuery is already there.
> If that's some shortcuts or syntactic sugar to avoid typing dashes  
> then OK.

Hmm, maybe shell is good enough.

Noam

Re: [Xmlstar-devel] enhanced_select branch

[André K. <ak...@la...>]

>>>
>>> Is it worth adding all these options? Your example shell commands  
>>> look
>>> like XSL with shorter tags (<tagname></tagname> becomes --tagname or
>>> -t).
>>
>> Well that's what I wanted to discuss about!
>> I think some switches are definitely worth adding: var, key, choose/
>> when/otherwise, import, include.
>> Some are less worth it and as you say could be added with extra
>> switches or extended --elem and --attr (say --xelem and --xattr)  
>> which
>> would write xslt elements.
>>
>> Some switches could be shortcuts to longer xslt constructs (like
>> currently --template, --match): function and/or function call  
>> switches.
>>
>> In the end the command line will look like an XSLT stylesheet but  
>> less
>> verbose and hopefully human-readable.
>> But I also see xmlstarlet as a command-line xslt stylesheet designer.
>>
>
> Hmm, well I see it more as a little tool for when you have just a  
> small
> XML manipulation task that isn't worth the bother of writing a
> stylesheet: little one-liners. It would be interesting to hear others
> people's opinion on this.

I felt a bit let down when I was trying to go over the one-liner since  
things are rarely as simple as they look like.
This is why I added options to support other xsl elements.
First of I didn't much like the idea of writing:
xml sel -t -i 'condition' -o 'yes' -b -i 'not(condition) -o 'no' -b -b
for an if/then/else so I added support for choose/when/otherwise:
xml sel -t --choose --when 'condition' -o 'yes' -b --otherwise -o 'no'  
-b -b -b
Sure it's longer to write but it also opens new horizons.
Then things leading to another I added support to var, key.

Anyway, adding other switches won't prevent you from using xmlstarlet  
for one-liners if that's how you use it. I also use it for one-liners.
I just don't want to be stopped at the first hurdle.

I'd be interested in other people's opinion as well.

> If we do go in the "less verbose stylesheet direction", I think there
> should be some kind of syntax defined instead of using options for
> everything. I don't find the dashes very pretty, and single letter
> options aren't all that human-readable.

Well sure that's a matter of taste. I don't mind too much the dashes,  
but I rarely write long xml commands directly in the terminal, I  
directly integrate them in longer shell scripts.

As for the the syntax I don't quite understand.
If that's a full language, then XQuery is already there.
If that's some shortcuts or syntactic sugar to avoid typing dashes  
then OK.
For instance I'd prefer to write -a name=value to set an attribute  
rather than the current -a name -o value -b.
But the second syntax remains useful for more complex logic.

There's a learning curve as for any command-line or any tool, and if I  
don't want to have to remember what a short option means, I use the  
long one.
More typing but less head scratching three months later.

Regards,
André

Re: [Xmlstar-devel] XMLStarlet 1.0.3 released

[André K. <ak...@la...>]

> On Sat, Nov 20, 2010 at 6:55 PM, André Kaplan <ak...@la...>  
> wrote:
>> Is there a reason with xmlstarlet is linked statically?
>>
>> Regards,
>> André
>
> According to
> http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=820996&group_id=66612&atid=515109
>
>> I'm not planning to support linking with shared libraries.
>> I think having it statically liked make it self contained,
>> and easier
>> to handle for a user.
>> It also helps to avoid incomatibility problems in cases when
>> shared libraries are upgraded. Binaries which are released
>> pass regression testing with particular version of libxml2
>> and libxslt.
>
>> Thanks
>> --MG
>
> Although given that distro (eg Debian's, probably others') packages
> link with shared libraries,
> perhaps insisting on static linking isn't worthwhile.

While I understand the need for static linking under certain  
circumstances, I'd actually prefer to make a choice.
I think I've seen --enable-static options in configure.
I'd really appreciate it for xmlstarlet.

Regards,
André

Re: [Xmlstar-devel] enhanced_select branch

[Noam P. <npo...@us...>]

André Kaplan <ak...@la...> writes:

>>
>> Is it worth adding all these options? Your example shell commands look
>> like XSL with shorter tags (<tagname></tagname> becomes --tagname or
>> -t).
>
> Well that's what I wanted to discuss about!
> I think some switches are definitely worth adding: var, key, choose/ 
> when/otherwise, import, include.
> Some are less worth it and as you say could be added with extra  
> switches or extended --elem and --attr (say --xelem and --xattr) which  
> would write xslt elements.
>
> Some switches could be shortcuts to longer xslt constructs (like  
> currently --template, --match): function and/or function call switches.
>
> In the end the command line will look like an XSLT stylesheet but less  
> verbose and hopefully human-readable.
> But I also see xmlstarlet as a command-line xslt stylesheet designer.
>

Hmm, well I see it more as a little tool for when you have just a small
XML manipulation task that isn't worth the bother of writing a
stylesheet: little one-liners. It would be interesting to hear others
people's opinion on this.

If we do go in the "less verbose stylesheet direction", I think there
should be some kind of syntax defined instead of using options for
everything. I don't find the dashes very pretty, and single letter
options aren't all that human-readable.


> I think that my mail client breaks lines longer than 70 characters.
> I added the contrib/xml_struct.sh script in the enhanced_select branch.
> Hopefully you'll be able to use it.

Yup that fixed it.

Noam

Re: [Xmlstar-devel] enhanced_select branch

[André K. <ak...@la...>]

Hi Noam,

>> I've put an "enhanced" xml select version in the 'enhanced_select'
>> branch.
>>
>> The most useful switches to me currently are --var, --key and --
>> choose/--when/--otherwise. But --import might be useful also.
>> The --function/--param/--call-template/--with-param needs some
>> thinking since it's too verbose to my taste.
>>
>> I use variables mostly for clarity, and since they can hold nodesets,
>> it makes it easier to collect data from several places in an xml
>> document (or even several times from the same place).
>
> Is it worth adding all these options? Your example shell commands look
> like XSL with shorter tags (<tagname></tagname> becomes --tagname or
> -t).

Well that's what I wanted to discuss about!
I think some switches are definitely worth adding: var, key, choose/ 
when/otherwise, import, include.
Some are less worth it and as you say could be added with extra  
switches or extended --elem and --attr (say --xelem and --xattr) which  
would write xslt elements.

Some switches could be shortcuts to longer xslt constructs (like  
currently --template, --match): function and/or function call switches.

In the end the command line will look like an XSLT stylesheet but less  
verbose and hopefully human-readable.
But I also see xmlstarlet as a command-line xslt stylesheet designer.

>>
>> Here's a little script which dumps the structure of an XML document
>> and demonsrates the use of --var and --choose/--when/--otherwise
>> switches.
>
> I couldn't get this one to work. I got a whole bunch of warnings like:
>
> warning: failed to load external entity "b"
> warning: failed to load external entity "--when"

I think that my mail client breaks lines longer than 70 characters.
I added the contrib/xml_struct.sh script in the enhanced_select branch.
Hopefully you'll be able to use it.

Regards,
André