rconftool

Rconftool is a software reimplementation of Sam Varshavchik's sysconftool, written in Ruby. Its primary objective is to ensure that configuration files stay up-to-date by removing obsolete settings and adding all the necessary ones when upgrading applications from one version to another.

Application creators must distribute their configuration files along with some simple markup metadata in comments and make sure that the 'make install' or 'make install-configure' target invokes rconftool. Developers can use rconftool as a library function or run it from the command line. Additionally, it allows the installation of groups of files from one directory tree to another recursively.

The software is available under distribution using the MIT license. To install Rconftool, you can either use the rconftool.rb directly from your current directory or copy it to Ruby's library search path. A command is available for doing this, which will automatically do the work.

Rconftool offers two methods of use, which include using it as a command-line tool and as a library. As a command-line tool, the software offers a variety of options to install files, include installing a 'foo.dist' to 'foo' and files foo.orig and bar.orig as foo.txt and bar.txt.

As a library, developers can install single files using the Rconftool::install function with different parameters. Additionally, the command-line interface can also be used in this method by providing necessary arguments to the Rconftool::Processor function.

Overall, the Rconftool software is a useful tool for keeping configuration files up-to-date when upgrading applications. Its distribution using the MIT license, simple markup metadata, and provision of two usage methods make it an accessible and versatile option.