[CALUG] Looking for a tool

[Jason Dixon]

On Oct 25, 2006, at 8:18 AM, Jason C. Miller wrote:

> I'm looking for a UNIX tool to perform a specific set of  
> functionality but I
> dont know if there's anything out there that would do the trick.

I've been called a UNIX tool.

> I need a very small and light-weight tool that will allow me to me to
> "insert" any number of data into a plain file and provide an  
> interface for
> performing that "insert" and also  "deletes" and "selects"  (using  
> database
> terminology).
>
> Confused yet?  :)
>
> I'm working on an application that has a really small footprint and  
> can't
> afford to run another database intance or provide any more table  
> space in
> any of the already-existing ones.  I'm looking for something that  
> will allow
> me to implement a "/tmp"-like storage facility for miscellaneous  
> data, but
> in a single file.
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> ---------
> EXAMPLE:   (using "STORE" as the storage filename)
>   Say I'm running a session-enabled website and need such a tool  
> for the
> task I'm describing above.  Here's the kind of thing it would do...
>
> $> sometool insert STORE "session id" "103847294837"
> $> sometool insert STORE "number_users" "4"
> $> sometool insert STORE "username" "foo"
> $> sometool insert STORE "privs" "read/write"
> $> sometool insert STORE "admin" "no"
>
> $> SESSION=` sometool select STORE "session_id" `
> $> echo ${SESSION}
> 103847294837
> $> USER=` sometool select STORE "username" `
> $> echo ${USER}
> foo
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> ---------
>
> I need something that's just that simple.  Just FYI...the session- 
> enabled
> website was stricly an example.  It is NOT what I'm working on.  It  
> just
> provided with a valid use-case for the tool.  The solution I'm  
> looking for
> can't be OS-dependent (so Linux or Solaris filesystem tricks in leu  
> of a
> tool are out the window).
>
> Any ideas?  :)

Nothing existing that I can think of.  Could be done in a few hours  
with either Perl or { sh + expect }.  I think it would make more  
sense in Perl, given the regex you'd need for SELECT statements.

--
Jason Dixon
DixonGroup Consulting
http://www.dixongroup.net