query-pr(1) GNATS User Utilities query-pr(1)NAMEquery-pr - query problem reports in the GNATS database
SYNOPSISquery-pr
[--output file | -o file]
[--list-databases] [--list-fields] [--list-input-fields]
[--responsible-address address]
[--field-type type]
[--field-description description]
[--valid-values values]
[--format format | -f format]
[--full | -F] [--summary | -q]
[--database database | -d database]
[--and | -&] [--or | -|]
[--expr expr]
[--debug | -D]
[--help | -h] [--version | -V]
[PR ...]
Non-network-mode options:
[--print-sh-vars] [--print-directory-for-database]
Network-mode-only options:
[--host host | -H host] [--port port] [--user user | -v user]
[--passwd passwd | -w passwd]
Deprecated Options
[--list-categories | -j] [--list-classes | -J]
[--list-responsible | -k] [--list-submitters | -l]
[--list-states | -T] [--category category | -c category]
[--synopsis synopsis | -y synopsis]
[--confidential confidential | -C confidential]
[--multitext multitext | -m multitext]
[--originator originator | -O originator]
[--release release | -A release] [--class class | -L class]
[--cases cases | -E cases] [--quarter quarter | -Q quarter]
[--keywords keywords | -K keywords]
[--priority priority | -p priority]
[--responsible responsible | -r responsible] [--restricted | -R]
[--severity severity | -e severity] [--skip-closed | -x]
[--sql | -i] [--sql2 | -I] [--state state | -s state]
[--submitter submitter | -S submitter] [--text text | -t text]
[--required-before date | -u date]
[--required-after date | -U date]
[--arrived-before date | -b date]
[--arrived-after date | -a date]
[--modified-before date | -B date]
[--modified-after date | -M date]
[--closed-before date | -z date] [--closed-after date | -Z date]
DESCRIPTION
Queries the GNATS database according to options and returns either se‐
lected Problem Reports (PRs) or other requested information. query-pr
can query PRs located in either a local database or via gnatsd.
PRs may be selected via the use of the --expr option, directly by num‐
ber, or by the use of the (now deprecated) field-specific query opera‐
tors.
By default, query options are connected with a logical AND. For exam‐
ple,
query-pr --category=foo --responsible=bar
only prints PRs which have a Category field of foo and a Responsible
field of bar.
The --or option may be used to connect query options with a logical OR.
For example,
query-pr --category=baz --or --responsible=blee
prints PRs which have either a Category field of baz or a Responsible
field of blee.
The use of these options is strongly discouraged, as they will be
deleted in the next release. The expressions specified by the --expr
option are much more flexible.
OPTIONS--help, -h
Prints a (rather longish) help message.
--version, -V
Displays the program version to stdout.
--output file, -o file
The results of the query will be placed in this file.
--database database, -d database
Specifies the database to be used for the query. If no database
is specified, the database named default is assumed. (This option
overrides the database specified in the GNATSDB environment vari‐
able; see the ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES section for more information.)
--list-categories, -j
Lists the available PR categories for the selected database.
--list-classes, -J
Lists the available PR classes for the selected database.
--list-responsible, -k
Lists the users that appear in the database's responsible list.
--list-submitters, -l
Lists the valid submitters for this database.
--list-states, -T
Lists the valid PR states for PRs in this database.
The previous --list-* options are deprecated and will be removed in the
next release; their functionality can be replaced with
query-pr--valid-values field
where field is one of Category, Class, Responsible, Submitter-Id, or
State.
--list-databases
Lists the known databases.
--list-fields
Lists the entire set of field names for PRs in the selected
database.
--list-input-fields
Lists the fields that should be provided when creating a new PR
for the currently-specified database. The fields are listed in
an order that would make sense when used in a template or form.
--field-type field
Returns the data type contained in PR field field. The current
set of data types includes text, multitext, enum, multienum, in‐
teger, date, and text-with-regex-qualifier.
--field-description field
Returns a human-readable description of the intended purpose of
field.
--valid-values field
For fields of type enum, a list of valid values (one per line)
is returned. Otherwise, a regular expression is returned that
describes the legal values in field.
--responsible-address name
The mail address of name is returned; name is assumed to be a
name either appearing in the database's responsible list, or is
otherwise a user on the system.
--print-sh-vars
A set of /bin/sh variables is returned that describe the select‐
ed database. They include:
GNATSDB
The name of the currently-selected database.
GNATSDB_VALID
Set to 1 if the selected database is valid.
GNATSDBDIR
The directory where the database contents are stored.
DEBUG_MODE
Set to 1 if debug mode has been enabled for the database.
DEFAULTCATEGORY
The default category for PRs in the database.
DEFAULTSTATE
The default state for PRs in the database.
--print-directory-for-database
Returns the directory where the selected database is located.
--format format, -f format
Used to specify the format of the output PRs, See FORMATS below
for a complete description.
--full, -F
When printing PRs, the entre PR is displayed. This is exactly
equivalent to
query-pr--format full
--summary, -q
When printing PRs, a summary format is used. This is exactly
equivalent to
query-pr--format summary
--debug, -D
Enables debugging output for network queries.
--host host, -H host
Specifies the hostname of the gnatsd server to communicate with.
This overrides the value in the GNATSDB environment variable.
--port port
Specifies the port number of the gnatsd server to communicate
with. This overrides the value in the GNATSDB environment vari‐
able.
--user user, -v user
Specifies the username to login with when connecting to the
gnatsd server. This overrides the value in the GNATSDB environ‐
ment variable.
--passwd passwd, -w passwd
Specifies the password to login with when connecting to the
gnatsd server. This overrides the value in the GNATSDB environ‐
ment variable.
--and, -&, --or, -|,
These options are used when connecting multiple query operators
together. They specify whether the previous and subsequent op‐
tions are to be logically ANDed or logically ORed.
--expr expr
Specifies a query expression to use when searching for PRs. See
the QUERY EXPRESSIONS section.
The remaining deprecated options are not described here, since their
use is fairly obvious and their functionality is completely replaced by
the use of the --expr option. (Some sort of shorthand option for
querying fields may appear in the next release.)
FORMATS
Printing formats for PRs are in one of three forms:
formatname
This is a named format which is described by the database
(specifically, these formats are described in the dbconfig file
associated with the database). The default configuration con‐
tains five such formats: standard, full, summary, sql, and sql2.
The first three are the ones most commonly used when performing
queries. standard is the format used by default if no other
format is specified.
Use of the latter two are discouraged; they are merely kept for
historical purposes.
Other named formats may have been added by the database adminis‐
trator.
fieldname
A single field name may appear here. Only the contents of this
field will be displayed.
´"printf string" fieldname fieldname . . .´
This provides a rather flexible mechanism for formatting PR out‐
put. (The formatting is identical to that provided by the named
formats described by the database configuration.) The printf
string can contain the following % sequences:
%[positionalspecifiers]s: Prints the field as a string. The
positional specifiers are similar to those of printf, as +, -
and digit qualifiers can be used to force a particular alignment
of the field contents.
%[positionalspecifiers]S: Similar to %s, except that the field
contents are terminated at the first space character.
%[positionalspecifiers]d: Similar to %s, except that the field
contents are written as a numeric value. For integer fields,
the value is written as a number. For enumerated fields, the
field is converted into a numeric equivalent (i.e. if the field
can have two possible values, the result will be either 1 or 2).
For date fields, the value is written as seconds since Jan 1,
1970.
%F: The field is written as it would appear within a PR, com‐
plete with field header.
%D: For date fields, the date is written in a standard GNATS
format.
%Q: For date fields, the date is written in an arbitrary "SQL"
format.
An example printf formatted query (note the quoting of the whole
format specification):
query-pr--format '"%s, %s" Synopsis State'
QUERY EXPRESSIONS
Query expressions are used to select specific PRs based on their field
contents. The general form is
fieldname|"value" operator fieldname|"value" [booleanop ...]
value is a literal string or regular expression; it must be surrounded
by double quotes, otherwise it is interpreted as a fieldname.
fieldname is the name of a field in the PR.
operator is one of:
= The value of the left-hand side of the expression must exactly
match the regular expression on the right-hand side of the ex‐
pression.
~ Some portion of the left-hand side of the expression must match
the regular expression on the right-hand side.
== The value of the left-hand side must be equal to the value on
the right-hand side of the expression.
The equality of two values depends on what type of data is
stored in the field(s) being queried. For example, when query‐
ing a field containing integer values, literal strings are in‐
terpreted as integers. The query expression
Number == "0123"
is identical to
Number == "123"
as the leading zero is ignored. If the values were treated as
strings instead of integers, then the two comparisons would re‐
turn different results.
!= The not-equal operator. Produces the opposite result of the ==
operator.
<,> The left-hand side must have a value less than or greater than
the right-hand side. Comparisons are done depending on the type
of data being queried; in particular, integer fields and dates
use a numeric comparison, and enumerated fields are ordered de‐
pending on the numeric equivalent of their enumerated values.
booleanop is either | [or], or & [and]. The query expression
Category="baz" | Responsible="blee"
is identical to the second query example with --or given earlier; it
selects all PRs with a Category field of baz or a Responsible field of
blee.
The not operator ! may be used to negate a test:
! Category="foo"
searches for PRs where the category is not equal to the regular expres‐
sion foo.
Parenthesis may be used to force a particular interpretation of the ex‐
pression:
!(Category="foo" & Submitter-Id="blaz")
skips PRs where the Category field is equal to foo and the Submitter-Id
field is equal to blaz. Parenthesis may be nested to any arbitrary
depth.
Fieldnames can be specified in several ways. The simplest and most ob‐
vious is just a name:
Category="foo"
checks the value of the category field for the value "foo".
A fieldname qualifier may be prepended to the name of the field; a
colon is used to separate the qualifier from the name. To refer di‐
rectly to a builtin field name:
builtin:Number="123"
In this case, Number is interpreted as the builtin name of the field to
check. (This is useful if the fields have been renamed. For more dis‐
cussion of builtin field names, see dbconfig(5).)
To scan all fields of a particular type, the fieldtype qualifier may be
used:
fieldtype:Text="bar"
searches all text fields for the regular expression bar.
Note that it is not necessary that the right-hand side of the expres‐
sion be a literal string. To query all PRs where the PR has been modi‐
fied since it was closed, the expression
Last-Modified != Closed-Date
will work; for each PR, it compares the value of its Last-Modified
field against its Closed-Date field, and returns those PRs where the
values differ. However, this query will also return all PRs with empty
Last-Modified or Closed-Date fields. To further narrow the search:
Last-Modified != Closed-Date & Last-Modified != "" & Closed-Date
!= ""
In general, comparing fields of two different types (an integer field
against a date field, for example) will probably not do what you want.
Also, a field specifier may be followed by the name of a subfield in
braces:
State[type] != "closed"
or even
builtin:State[type] != "closed"
Subfields are further discussed in dbconfig(5).
QUERY BY MAILquery-pr can also be accessed by electronic mail, if your version of
GNATS is configured for this. To use this feature, simply send mail to
the address query-pr@your-site with command line arguments or options
in the Subject: line of the mail header. GNATS replies to your mail
with the results of your query. The default settings for the query-pr
mail server are shown below; to override the --state parameter, specify
--state=state in the Subject: line of the mail header. You can not
query on confidential Problem Reports by mail.
--restricted --state="open|analyzed|feedback|suspended"
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
The GNATSDB environment variable is used to determine which database to
use. For a local database, it contains the name of the database to ac‐
cess.
For network access via gnatsd, it contains a colon-separated list of
strings that describe the remote database in the form
server:port:databasename:username:password
Any of the fields may be omitted except for server, but at least one
colon must appear; otherwise, the value is assumed to be the name of a
local database.
If GNATSDB is not set, it is assumed that the database is local and
that its name is default.
SEE ALSO
Keeping Track: Managing Messages With GNATS (also installed as the GNU
Info file gnats.info)
databases(5), dbconfig(5), delete-pr(8), edit-pr(1)file-pr(8), gen-in‐
dex(8), gnats(7), gnatsd(8), mkcat(8), mkdb(8), pr-edit(8), query-
pr(1), queue-pr(8), send-pr(1).
COPYING
Copyright (c) 1993, 94, 95, 96, 1997, 1999, 2003, Free Software Founda‐
tion, Inc.
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
preserved on all copies.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the en‐
tire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permis‐
sion notice identical to this one.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manu‐
al into another language, under the above conditions for modified ver‐
sions, except that this permission notice may be included in transla‐
tions approved by the Free Software Foundation instead of in the origi‐
nal English.
GNATS August 2003 query-pr(1)
