starch(1)

NAME

starch - STandalone application ARCHiver

SYNOPSIS

FCstarch [options] <sfx_path>FT

DESCRIPTION

Starch is a script that creates standalone application archives in the form of self-extracting executables (FCSFXFT). Users may specify the command, executables, libraries, data, and environment scripts associated with the application by specifying the appropriate command line options or by using a configuration file. starch is particularly useful for distributed computing, in that it makes an executable portable across different operating system variants.

OPTIONS

To create a FCSFXFT, simply specify the name of the FCSFXFT to create along with the <command> to execute and any other dependencies such as <executables>, <libraries>, <data>, or <environment> scripts.

If a <command> is specified, but no <executable> is passed, then the first token in the <command> will be used as the executable.

By default, FCstarchFT will use FClddFT to detect any necessary libraries from the specified set of <executables> and include them in the FCSFXFT.

-A: Do not automatically detect library dependencies.

-C <cfg>: Use configuration file.

-c <cmd>: Specify command to execute.

-d <npath:opath>: Add data (new path:old path).

-e <env>: Add environment script.

-l <lib>: Add library.

-x <exe>: Add executable.

-h: Show help message and exit.

-v

Display verbose messages (default: False).

Once a FCSFXFT is generated, you can use it as a normal executable.

CONFIGURATION FILE

The command line options may be stored in a configuration file and passed to starch using the FCstarch -CFT option. The format of the configuration file is as follows:

: [starch] executables = echo date hostname libraries = libz.so data = hosts.txt:/etc/hosts localtime:/etc/localtime images:/usr/share/pixmaps command = echo $(hostname) $(date $@)

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

The following environment variables will affect the execution of the FCSFXFT generated by FCstarchFT:

SFX_DIR

Determines the target directory where the FCSFXFT will be extracted. By default this is FC/tmp/$hostname.$user.$basename.dirFT.

SFX_EXTRACT_ONLY

Only extract the FCSFXFT. By default it is extracted and executed.

SFX_EXTRACT_FORCE

Extract the FCSFXFT even if the FCSFX_DIRFT exists. This is disabled by default to as an optimization to avoid unnecessarily extracting.

SFX_KEEP

Keep extracted files. By default the files will be removed after execution.

SFX_UNIQUE

Use FCmktempdFT to generate a unique FCSFX_DIRFT target directory. This will prevent FCSFX_KEEPFT from working properly since the names will change in between invocations.

EXIT STATUS

On success, returns zero. On failure, returns non-zero.

EXAMPLES

Package the date program:

: $ starch -c date -x date date.sfx

Package the date program using a configuration file:

: $ cat data.cfg
[starch]
executables = date
command = date
$ starch -C date.cfg date.sfx

Run standalone date program with parameters:

: $ ./date.sfx +%s

Only extract the archive:

: $ env SFX_EXTRACT_ONLY=1 ./date.sfx

Run and keep extracted directory:

: $ env SFX_KEEP=1 ./date.sfx

Run with unique directory:

: $ env SFX_UNIQUE=1 ./date.sfx

Advanced example involving a complex shell command:

: $ starch -v -x tar -x rm -c 'tar_test() { for f in $@; do if ! tar xvf $f; then exit 1; fi; done; rm $@'; }; tar_test' extract_and_remove.sfx
$ ./extract_and_remove.sfx *.tar.gz