Module Name:	pkgsrc
Committed By:	agc
Date:		Wed Jul 14 11:43:31 UTC 2004

Modified Files:
	pkgsrc/doc: CHANGES

Log Message:
Initial import of vip, a script which lets you edit data (via $EDITOR
or $VISUAL) at any point in a pipe. From a nudge from David Maxwell.

        Normally, in a pipeline, when you need to edit some phase of the data
        stream, you use a standard tool such as sed, grep, or awk to alter,
        filter, or otherwise manipulate the stream. One potential problem with
        this approach is that the manipulations have to be very well thought out
        in advance. Another is that the manipulations will probably need to be
        applied uniformly. And third, the data must be very well understood in
        advance. Not all situations and data easily conform to these
        constraints.

        Alternatively, when the changes needed for the data are more than
        trivial, or perhaps you just don't feel like expending the mental energy
        needed to work out all the expressions in advance, a typical approach
        might be to run some process or pipeline, dump output to a file, edit
        the file with vi, pico, or emacs, then push the data along to the next
        phase by using the file as input to some additional process or pipeline.
        The catch here - other than the sheer awkwardness of this process - is
        that you have to remember to come back later and clean up all of those
        little and not-so-little "temporary" files.

        So, wouldn't you just like to be able to tap in an edit session at any
        arbitrary point in the pipeline, do your magic on the data, then have it
        automagically continue on its merry way? The vip program provides this
        functionality, and operates syntactically just like any other filter.


To generate a diff of this commit:
cvs rdiff -r1.6551 -r1.6552 pkgsrc/doc/CHANGES

Please note that diffs are not public domain; they are subject to the
copyright notices on the relevant files.