Lintian::Data(3) Debian Package Checker Lintian::Data(3)
NAME
Lintian::Data - Lintian interface to query lists of keywords
SYNOPSIS
my $keyword;
my $list = Lintian::Data->new('type');
if ($list->recognizes($keyword)) {
# do something ...
}
my $hash = Lintian::Data->new('another-type', qr{\s++});
if ($hash->value($keyword) > 1) {
# do something ...
}
if ($list->value($keyword) > 1) {
# do something ...
}
my @keywords = $list->all;
if ($list->matches_any($keyword)) {
# do something ...
}
DESCRIPTION
Lintian::Data provides a way of loading a list of keywords or key/value
pairs from a file in the Lintian root and then querying that list. The
lists are stored in the data directory of the Lintian root and consist
of one keyword or key/value pair per line. Blank lines and lines
beginning with "#" are ignored. Leading and trailing whitespace is
stripped.
If requested, the lines are split into key/value pairs with a given
separator regular expression. Otherwise, keywords are taken verbatim
as they are listed in the file and may include spaces.
This module allows lists such as menu sections, doc-base sections,
obsolete packages, package fields, and so forth to be stored in simple,
easily editable files.
NB: By default Lintian::Data is lazy and defers loading of the data
file until it is actually needed.
Interface for the CODE argument
This section describes the interface between for the CODE argument for
the class method new.
The sub will be called once for each key/pair with three arguments,
KEY, VALUE and CURVALUE. The first two are the key/value pair parsed
from the data file and CURVALUE is current value associated with the
key. CURVALUE will be "undef" the first time the sub is called with
that KEY argument.
The sub can then modify VALUE in some way and return the new value for
that KEY. If CURVALUE is not "undef", the sub may return "undef" to
indicate that the current value should still be used. It is not
permissible for the sub to return "undef" if CURVALUE is "undef".
Where Perl semantics allow it, the sub can modify CURVALUE and the
changes will be reflected in the result. As an example, if CURVALUE is
a hashref, new keys can be inserted etc.
INSTANCE METHODS
dataset
"keyorder"
all Returns all keywords listed in the data file as a list in original
order. In a scalar context, returns the number of keywords.
recognizes (KEY)
Returns true if KEY was listed in the data file represented by this
Lintian::Data instance and false otherwise.
resembles (KEY)
Returns true if the data file contains a key that is a case-
insensitive match to KEY, and false otherwise.
value (KEY)
Returns the value attached to KEY if it was listed in the data file
represented by this Lintian::Data instance and the undefined value
otherwise.
matches_any(KEYWORD[, MODIFIERS])
Returns true if KEYWORD matches any regular expression listed in
the data file. The optional MODIFIERS serve as modifiers on all
regexes.
load
FILES
LINTIAN_INCLUDE_DIR/data
The files loaded by this module must be located in this directory.
Relative paths containing a "/" are permitted, so files may be
organized in subdirectories in this directory.
Note that lintian supports multiple LINTIAN_INCLUDE_DIRs.
AUTHOR
Originally written by Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org> for Lintian.
SEE ALSO
lintian(1), <https://lintian.debian.org/manual/section-2.6.html>
Lintian v2.114.0ubuntu1.7 2025-10-14 Lintian::Data(3)
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