README

   1 == What this is ==
   2
   3 Nagios-mode is an Emacs mode for editing Nagios configuration
   4 files. Nagios is monitoring software that is configured via plain-text
   5 (*.cfg) files. Those configuration files have a C-like syntax, and a
   6 bunch of special keywords. Witin Emacs, nagios-mode will apply syntax
   7 highlighting to them, possibly alerting you to the fact that you have
   8 done something wrong, and making your buffers look pretty in any case.
   9
  10
  11 == How to install it ==
  12
  13 Stick nagios-mode.el somewhere, and add that place to your Emacs load
  14 path. For example,
  15
  16   (setq load-path
  17     (append (list "~/.home/emacs/modes/nagios-mode/")
  18       load-path))
  19
  20 is how I do it. With that in your load path, you just have to add
  21 nagios-mode to your auto-load list,
  22
  23   (autoload 'nagios-mode "nagios-mode" nil t)
  24
  25 And tell Emacs to use it automatically when editing *.cfg files,
  26
  27   (setq auto-mode-alist
  28     (append (list '("\\.cfg$" . nagios-mode))
  29       auto-mode-alist))
  30
  31 which works great so long as you don't edit any other *.cfg files that
  32 have a different syntax.
  33
  34
  35 == How it works ==
  36
  37 The macros and object definitions are parsed from the Nagios source
  38 code. Object definitions are found within xdata/xodtemplate.h, while
  39 the macros are cleverly hidden within include/macros.h. Once they have
  40 been parsed, they are cut and pasted in to nagios-mode.el.
  41
  42 The directives are a bit tricker. They too are parsed from the Nagios
  43 source (xdata/xodtemplate.c), but not all of the names map nicely to
  44 internal C variables, so there's no explicit list of them. Instead we
  45 try to piece together the valid names based on what Nagios's config
  46 parser is looking for. It's possible that some have been overlooked.
  47
  48 The helper scripts for this can be found in the "utils" directory.
  49
  50
  51 == Bugs et cetera ==
  52
  53 Send all bug reports, feature requests, and unprompted criticism to
  54 michael@orlitzky.com.