NAME
    File::Remote - Read/write/edit remote files transparently

SYNOPSIS
       #
       # Two ways to use File::Remote
       #
       # First, the function-based style. Here, we can use the 
       # special :replace tag to overload Perl builtins!
       #
       use File::Remote qw(:replace);       # special :replace tag

       # read from a remote file
       open(REMOTE, "host:/remote/file") or die $!;
       print while (<REMOTE>);
       close(REMOTE);

       # writing a local file still works!
       open(LOCAL, ">>/local/file");
       print LOCAL "This is a new line.\n";
       close(LOCAL); 
 
       mkdir("host:/remote/dir", 0755);
       unlink("host:/remote/file");
       unlink("/local/file");               # still works too!
       symlink("host:/remote/src", "host:/remote/dest");

       chown("root", "other", "host:/remote/dir/file");
       chmod(0600, "host:/remote/dir/file");

       #  
       # Next, the object-oriented style, if you don't want to
       # mess with the builtins.
       #
       use File::Remote;
       my $remote = new File::Remote;
 
       # Standard filehandles
       $remote->open(FILE, ">>host:/remote/file") or die $!;
       print FILE "Here's a line that's added.\n";
       $remote->close(FILE);
 
       # Create a new file and change its permissions
       $remote->mkdir("host:/remote/dir");
       $remote->touch("host:/remote/dir/file");
 
       # Move files around
       $remote->copy("/local/file", "host:/remote/file") or warn $!;
       $remote->move("host:/remote/file", "/local/file");
 
       # Read and write whole files
       my @file = $remote->readfile("host:/remote/file");
       $remote->writefile("/local/file", @file);
 
       # Backup a file with a suffix
       $remote->backup("host:/remote/oldfile", "save");
 
       # Use secure connection methods
       my $secure = new File::Remote (rsh => "/usr/local/bin/ssh",
                                      rcp => "/usr/local/bin/scp");
       $secure->unlink("/local/file");
       $secure->rmdir("host:/remote/dir");

DESCRIPTION
    This module takes care of dealing with files regardless of whether
    they're local or remote. It allows you to create and edit files without
    having to worry about their physical location on the network. If a file
    passed into a function is of the form "host:/path/to/file", then
    "File::Remote" uses rsh/rcp (or ssh/scp, depending on how you configure
    it) to edit the file remotely. Otherwise, it assumes the file is local
    and passes calls directly through to Perl's core functions.

    The nice thing about this module is that you can use it for *all* your
    file calls, since it handles both remote and local files transparently.
    This means you don't have to put a whole bunch of checks for remote
    files in your code. Plus, if you use the function-oriented interface
    along with the ":replace" tag, you can actually redefine the Perl
    builtin file functions. This means that your existing Perl scripts can
    automatically handle remote files with no re-engineering(!).

    There are two ways to program with "File::Remote", an object-oriented
    style and a function-oriented style. Both methods work equally well,
    it's just a matter of taste. One advantage of the object-oriented method
    is that this allows you to read and write from different servers using
    different methods (eg, rsh vs. ssh) simultaneously:

       # Object-oriented method
       use File::Remote;
       my $remote = new File::Remote;
       my $secure = new File::Remote (rsh => "/bin/ssh", rcp => "/bin/scp");

       # Securely copy, write, and remove a file in one swoop...
       $remote->open(LOCAL, "/local/file") or die "Open failed: $!\n";
       $secure->open(REMOTE, "host:/remote/file") or die "Open failed: $!\n";
       print REMOTE "$_" while (<LOCAL>);

       $remote->close(LOCAL);
       $secure->close(REMOTE);

       # And let's move some files around securely
       $secure->move("/local/file", "host:/remote/file");
       $secure->copy("host:/remote/file", "/local/file");

    To use the function-oriented interface, you must import the special tag
    called ":replace" which will actually replace the Perl builtin
    functions:

       # Replace Perl's file methods with File::Remote's
       use File::Remote qw(:replace);

       open(FILE, ">host:/remote/file") or die "Open failed: $!\n";
       print FILE "Hello, world!\n";
       close(FILE) or die "Close failed: $!\n";

       mkdir("/local/new/dir", "2775");
       mkdir("host:/remote/new/dir");
       chown("root", "other", "/local/new/dir");
       unlink("host:/remote/file");

    This is pretty neat; since "File::Remote" will pass calls to local files
    straight through to Perl's core functions, you'll be able to do all this
    "transparently" and not care about the locations of the files. Plus,
    this has the big advantage of making your existing Perl scripts capable
    of dealing with remote files without having to rewrite any code.

    Because the names for the "File::Remote" methods clash with the Perl
    builtins, if you use the function-oriented style with the ":standard"
    tag there is an extra 'r' added to the front of the function names.
    Thus, "<$remote-"open>> becomes 'ropen' in the ":standard"
    function-oriented version:

       # Function-oriented method
       use File::Remote qw(:standard);      # use standard function names
       setrsh("/share/bin/ssh");
       setrcp("/share/bin/scp");

       # same functionality, but there's an "r" prefix
       ropen(FILE, "host:/remote/file") or die "Open failed: $!\n";
       print while (<FILE>);
       rclose(FILE) or die "Close failed: $!\n";

       runlink("host:/remote/file");
       rmkdir("host:/remote/dir");
       rchmod("0700", "host:/remote/dir");

    That's kinda nasty, though. I recommend you use the ":replace" tag,
    personally.

FUNCTIONS
    Below are each of the functions you can make use of with "File::Remote".
    Remember, for the function-oriented style, unless you use the ":replace"
    tag you'll have to add an extra 'r' to the start of each function name.
    For all functions, the file arg can be either local or remote.

  new(opt => val, opt => val)

    This is the main constructor when you're using the object-oriented
    method of calling. You only need to use this if you're using the
    object-oriented calling form. You can pass it three arguments which
    change how it works:

       rsh  -  path to your rsh or ssh program
       rcp  -  path to your rcp or scp program
       tmp  -  path to your tmp directory

    So, for example:

       use File::Remote;
       my $secure = File::Remote->new(rsh => '/usr/local/bin/ssh',
                                      rcp => '/usr/local/bin/scp',
                                      tmp => '/var/run');
       $secure->copy($src, $dest);

    The above would setup your "$secure" object so that calls to methods on
    it would use ssh and scp for connections.

  setrsh(prog) ; setrcp(prog) ; settmp(dir)

    These perform the equivalent functionality to setting the above flags,
    for use in the function-oriented method of calling. So, if you were to
    decide you didn't want to use the OO method, but instead wanted to use
    the drop-in replacement function method (which I prefer):

       use File::Remote qw(:replace);

       setrsh('/usr/local/bin/ssh'); 
       setrcp('/usr/local/bin/scp'); 
       settmp('/var/run'); 

       copy($src, $dest);

    That chain of calls would have the exact same effect, only using the
    function-oriented format instead of the object-oriented format.

  open(HANDLE, file) ; close(HANDLE)

    Used to open and close files just like the Perl builtins. These
    functions accept both string filehandles and typeglob references, so any
    valid Perl open calls:

       open(FILE, ">> $file");
       open(*FILE, ">$file");
       open(\*FH, "< $file");

    Should work, except for the 5.6 and later:

       open(my $fh, $file);

    This does not work when using "File::Remote". Patches to overcome this
    are welcomed.

  touch(file)

    Updates the modification time on a file, or creates it if it doesn't
    exist, just like the UNIX touch command.

  mkdir(dir [, mode]) ; rmdir(dir [, recurse])

    Create a dir with optional octal mode [mode]; remove a dir tree
    optionally recursively. By default, rmdir works recursively, and the
    mode of the new dir from mkdir depends on your umask.

  copy(file1, file2)

    Simply copies a file, just like File::Copy's function of the same name.
    You can also address it as 'cp' (if you import the :aliases tag).

  move(file1, file2)

    Moves a file ala File::Copy. You can also address it as 'mv' (if you
    import the :aliases tag).

  chmod(mode, file) ; chown(owner, group, file)

    Change the permissions or the owner of a file.

  unlink(file)

    Remove a file. You can also address it as 'rm' (if you import the
    :aliases tag).

  link(file1, file2)

    Create a hard link between two files. The caveat to this function is
    that both files must be local, or both files must be remote.

  symlink(file1, file2)

    Works just like link only creates symbolic instead of hard links.

  readlink(file)

    This reads what a symbolic link points to, just like the Perl builtin.

  backup(file, [file|suffix])

    This backs up a file, useful if you're going to be manipulating it. If
    you just call it without the optional second filename or suffix, the
    suffix 'bkup' will be added to the file. Either file can be local or
    remote; this is really just a front-end to File::Remote::copy().

  readfile(file) , writefile(file, @data)

    These read and write whole files in one swoop, just like File::Slurp.
    readfile() returns an array of the file, and writefile just returns
    success or failure.

  append(file, @data) , prepend(file, @data)

    Similar to writefile(), only these don't overwrite the file, these
    either append or prepend the data to the file.

EXAMPLES
    Here's some more examples of how to use this module:

  1. Add a new user to /etc/passwd on your server

    This might be useful if you've got some type of web-based newuser
    program that runs on a host other than the one you have to edit
    /etc/passwd on:

       # Function-oriented method
       use File::Remote qw(:replace);

       $passwd = "server:/etc/passwd";
       backup($passwd, 'old');              # back it up to be safe
       open(PASSWD, ">>$passwd") or die "Couldn't write $passwd: $!\n";
       print PASSWD "$newuser_entry\n";
       close(PASSWD);

  2. Securely copy over a bunch of files

    Hopefully you would use loops and variable names to make any actual code
    look much cleaner...

       # Object-oriented method
       use File::Remote
       my $secure = File::Remote->new(rsh => "/share/bin/ssh",
                                      rcp => "/share/bin/scp",
                                      tmp => "/var/tmp");

       # Move files
       $secure->move("client:/home/bob/.cshrc", "client:/home/bob/.cshrc.old");
       $secure->copy("/etc/skel/cshrc.user", "client:/home/bob/.cshrc");
       $secure->copy("/etc/skel/kshrc.user", "client:/home/bob/.kshrc");
   
  3. Use rsync w/ ssh for really fast transfers

    Here we're assuming we're getting some huge datastream from some other
    process and having to dump it into a file in realtime. Note that the
    remote file won't be updated until close() is called.

       # Function-oriented, no :replace tag, so all functions
       # will be prefixed with an 'r'
       use File::Remote qw(:standard);

       setrsh("/local/bin/ssh");
       setrcp("/local/bin/rsync -z -e /local/bin/ssh");
       settmp("/my/secure_tmp"); 

       $file = "server:/local/dir/some/huge/file";
       ropen(REMOTE, ">>$file") or die "Couldn't write $file: $!\n";
       while(<DATASTREAM>) {
          print REMOTE $_;
       }
       rclose(REMOTE);              # file is finally updated

    Again, I don't like the ":standard" tag, but it's there if you want it.
    The only difference between the different calling forms is syntax - the
    functionality of all three is the same.

NOTES
    "File::Remote" only works on UNIX systems.

    The main caveat to "File::Remote" is that you have to have rsh/rcp or
    ssh/scp access to the hosts you want to manipulate files on. Make sure
    you consider the security implications of this, especially if you live
    outside a firewall.

    Enabling autoflush ($|) won't have any effect on remote filehandles,
    since the remote file is not synched until close() is called on the
    filehandle.

    "File::Remote" does not support remote pipes.

    Because of speed, by default no checks are made as to whether or not
    rsh/rcp or their equivalents are executable. To change this, see the
    source.

ANNOYANCES
    When using the ":replace" tag and "-w", you may get warnings of the
    form:

       Name "main::FILE" used only once: possible typo

    These result from the fact that Perl 5 uses bareword filehandles, and
    can safely be ignored. If they're really annoying you, any of these
    solutions will work:

       use File::Remote qw(:replace);

       { local $^W; open(FILE, $file) }     # there's more
       open(*FILE, $file);                  # than one way
       open(\*FILE, $file);                 # to do it

    Using any of these will eliminate the warnings. If you know of a way to
    make these disappear, I'd love to hear from you...

BUGS
    Because of the internal implementation of open() on remote files, it is
    not possible to read from an ever-growing remote file ("tail" it).
    Basically, a snapshot of the remote file is taken when you open it for
    reading. Patches to overcome this limitation are welcomed.

    Perl scripts that are tainted or setuid might not work with
    "File::Remote" because of its reliance on system() calls, depending on
    your %ENV. To work around this, simply add an "undef %ENV" statement to
    the top of your script, which you should be doing anyways.

    If you have a bug report or suggestion, please direct them to me (see
    below). Please be specific and include the version of "File::Remote"
    you're using.

VERSION
    $Id: Remote.pm,v 1.14 2001/05/04 20:54:22 nwiger Exp $

AUTHOR
    Copyright (c) 1998-2001 Nathan Wiger, Nateware <nate@nateware.com>. All
    Rights Reserved.

    This module is free software; you may copy this under the terms of the
    GNU General Public License, or the Artistic License, copies of which
    should have accompanied your Perl kit.