NAME
    IniConf - A Module for reading .ini-style configuration files

SYNOPSIS
      use IniConf;

DESCRIPTION
    IniConf provides a way to have readable configuration files outside your
    Perl script. The configuration can be safely reloaded upon receipt of a
    signal.

USAGE
    Get a new IniConf object with the *new* method:

      $cfg = IniConf->new( -file => "/path/configfile.ini" );
      $cfg = new IniConf -file => "/path/configfile.ini";

    Optional named parameters may be specified after the configuration file
    name. See the *new* in the METHODS section, below.

    INI files consist of a number of sections, each preceeded with the
    section name in square brackets. Parameters are specified in each
    section as Name=Value. Any spaces around the equals sign will be
    ignored, and the value extends to the end of the line

      [section]
      Parameter=Value

    Both the hash mark (#) and the semicolon (;) are comment characters.
    Lines that begin with either of these characters will be ignored. Any
    amount of whitespace may preceed the comment character.

    Multiline or multivalued fields may also be defined ala UNIX "here
    document" syntax:

      Parameter=<<EOT
      value/line 1
      value/line 2
      EOT

    You may use any string you want in place of "EOT". Note that what
    follows the "<<" and what appears at the end of the text MUST match
    exactly, including any trailing whitespace.

    See the METHODS section, below, for settable options.

    Values from the config file are fetched with the val method:

      $value = $cfg->val('Section', 'Parameter');

    If you want a multi-line/value field returned as an array, just specify
    an array as the receiver:

      @values = $cfg->val('Section', 'Parameter');

METHODS
  new (-file=>$filename, [-option=>value ...] )

    Returns a new configuration object (or "undef" if the configuration file
    has an error). One IniConf object is required per configuration file.
    The following named parameters are available:

    *-default* section
              Specifies a section is used for default values. For example,
              if you look up the "permissions" parameter in the "users"
              section, but there is none, IniConf will look to your default
              section for a "permissions" value before returning undef.

    *-reloadsig* signame
              You may specify a signal (such as SIGHUP) that will cause the
              configuration file to be read. This is useful for static
              daemons where a full restart in order to realize a
              configuration change would be undesirable. Note that your
              application must be tolerant of the signal you choose. If a
              signal handler was already in place before the IniConf object
              is created, it will be called after the configuration file is
              reread. The signal handler will not be re-enabled until after
              the configuration file is reread any the previous signal
              handler returns.

    *-reloadwarn* 0|1
              Set -reloadwarn => 1 to enable a warning message (output to
              STDERR) whenever the config file is reloaded. The reload
              message is of the form:

                PID <PID> reloading config file <file> at YYYY.MM.DD HH:MM:SS

              See your system documentation for information on valid
              signals.

    *-nocase* 0|1
              Set -nocase => 1 to handle the config file in a
              case-insensitive manner (case in values is preserved,
              however). By default, config files are case-sensitive (i.e., a
              section named 'Test' is not the same as a section named
              'test'). Note that there is an added overhead for turning off
              case sensitivity.

  val ($section, $parameter)

    Returns the value of the specified parameter in section $section.

  setval ($section, $parameter, $value, [ $value2, ... ])

    Sets the value of parameter $section in section $section to $value (or
    to a set of values). See below for methods to write the new
    configuration back out to a file.

    You may not set a parameter that didn't exist in the original
    configuration file. setval will return *undef* if this is attempted.
    Otherwise, it returns 1.

  newval($setion, $parameter, $value [, $value2, ...])

    Adds a new value to the configuration file.

  delval($section, $parameter)

    Deletes the specified value from the configuration file

  ReadConfig

    Forces the config file to be re-read. Also see the *-reloadsig* option
    to the new method for a way to connect this method to a signal (such as
    SIGHUP).

  Sections

    Returns an array containing section names in the configuration file. If
    the *nocase* option was turned on when the config object was created,
    the section names will be returned in lowercase.

  Parameters ($sectionname)

    Returns an array containing the parameters contained in the specified
    section.

  GroupMembers ($group)

    Returns an array containing the members of specified $group. Groups are
    specified in the config file as new sections of the form

      [GroupName MemberName]

    This is useful for building up lists. Note that parameters within a
    "member" section are referenced normally (i.e., the section name is
    still "Groupname Membername", including the space).

  WriteConfig ($filename)

    Writes out a new copy of the configuration file. A temporary file
    (ending in .new) is written out and then renamed to the specified
    filename. Also see BUGS below.

  RewriteConfig

    Same as WriteConfig, but specifies that the original configuration file
    should be rewritten.

DIAGNOSTICS
  @IniConf::errors

    Contains a list of errors encountered while parsing the configuration
    file. If the *new* method returns undef, check the value of this to find
    out what's wrong. This value is reset each time a config file is read.

BUGS
    *  IniConf won't know if you change the signal handler that it's using
       for config reloads.

    *  The signal handling stuff is almost guaranteed not to work on
       non-UNIX systems.

    *  The output from [Re]WriteConfig/OutputConfig might not be as pretty
       as it can be. Comments are tied to whatever was immediately below
       them.

    *  No locking is done by [Re]WriteConfig. When writing servers, take
       care that only the parent ever calls this, and consider making your
       own backup.

    *  The Windows INI specification (if there is one) probably isn't
       followed exactly. First and foremost, IniConf is for making
       easy-to-maintain (and read) configuration files.

VERSION
    Version 0.93

AUTHOR
      Scott Hutton
        E-Mail:        shutton@pobox.com
        WWW Home Page: http://www.pobox.com/~shutton/

      Later hacked on by Rich Bowen
            E-Mail:                 rbowen@rcbowen.com
            URL:                    http://www.rcbowen.com/

COPYRIGHT
    Copyright (c) 1996,1997 Scott Hutton. All rights reserved. This program
    is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the
    same terms as Perl itself.

	Copyright (c) 2000, Rich Bowen. Uh ... same as what Scott said.

