kaarvok/README.org

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* Kaarvok

  : I doubled you. I twinned you. Equal and original. And tasty.

** Introduction

   Kaarvok is a directory template system. It allows you to create
   templates of directories which will be filled-in by variables you
   describe. Variable names can appear both in files and file or
   directory names.

** Creating templates

   Templates can be created by putting the desired directories and
   files in the =kaarvok-templates-directory= (by default
   "~/.emacs.d/templates"). Files ending in =.etpl= will be looked
   through for possible substitutions, other files are copied
   directly. File and directory names can just be or contain variables
   and will be expanded.

   Variables are delimited by the =kaarvok-template-var-delimiter= (by
   default "$!").

** Using templates

   Once a proper template has been made it can be used. Every file and
   directory in the template is iterated over and each file's and
   directory's name is looked over to check for variables. Any file
   ending in =.etpl= is also looked through for variables. Any other
   file is just copied to the destination.

   The value for each variable is requested as it is encountered.
   After you give a value it is stored under the variable's name and
   used again at later occurrences. These values are stored in the
   =kaarvok-value-alist=, as such you could fill this variable with some
   values to (semi-)automate the template to directory process.

   The dot (=.=) in a variable's value is replaced by a slash (=/=) when
   put in a file or directory name. This causes, for example
   =oni.project.module= to turn into the directory structure
   =oni/project/module=. This was done to help with the creation of Java
   projects, where modules separated by dots appear as a directory
   hierarchy on the file-system with the same names.

** Invoking kaarvok

   This project is primarily an Emacs module, but because one of my
   friends dislikes Emacs I also made a shell script which works
   mostly the same way.

*** The Emacs way

    The main entry point from within Emacs is the
    =kaarvok-create-project-from-template= command. When called it will
    ask you which template you would like to use and where you would
    like to send it to. Any variables that have unknown values will be
    asked for whenever they're found.

*** The Shell way

    Using the shell script you need to specify the template name and
    destination on the command-line. This will call Emacs in batch
    mode and will also request a value for each variable as they are
    found.

** License

   This project is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public
   License version 3 or (at your option) any later version. You can
   read the terms of this license [[file:COPYING][here]].