Yodel is an almost complete replacement for the AlpineCmds interface. It uses a Button-style interface similar to Maintain.

We assume that the reader is familiar with Alpine, the IFS servers, FS, and Cedar. At the time this document was prepared, Alpine documentation is available in [Cedar]<Cedar®>Documentation>AlpineDoc.tioga. In the same directory, AlpineInterfaces.tioga is interesting for the programmer wishing to see all the interfaces for Alpine available on the client workstations. For the Walnut user, a description of how to use Walnut (and hence Alpine) is on [Cedar]<Cedar®>Documentation>WalnutDoc.tioga. A paper on Alpine is stored in [indigo]<Alpine>Doc>AlpinePaper.tioga. An old overview is available in [indigo]<Alpine>Doc>EarlyDesign>AlpineOverview.bravo (a Bravo format file).

If you have done a bringover of /Cedar/CedarChest®/Top/Environment.df into ///Commands, then you are ready to use Yodel (provided ///Commands in in your Search Path).

Otherwise, use the DF software to bringover the public parts of /Indigo/Cedar®/Top/Yodel.df. It would be a good idea to add "Imports [Cedar]<Cedar®>Top>Yodel.df Of >" to your personal df file.

Enter the "Yodel" command to the commander. A toolbox icon will appear labeled "Yodel". Opening this icon will produce a viewer on the left side of the screen.

Yodel may be put into a checkpoint. You may have multiple instances of Yodel on the desktop at the same time. Don't button ahead for confirm.

Yodel has four levels: User, FileProperties, OwnerProperties, and Administrator. The User level has commands that are the ones a user will use most often: list files, delete files, copy a file, and rename a file. The FileProperties level allows the user to examine and change the properties associated with a single Alpine file (see the Alpine documentation for what the properties mean). The OwnerProperties level allows the properties associated with a single owner (an account on Alpine — equivlanet to a directory on an IFS) to be examined and changed. The Administrator level is meant for wizards and administrators. It can add or remove users, change quotas, and other server administrative functions. FS (files on your local disk) and IFS files can only be used at the user level. One other button of note is the "STOP" button. Bugging this will attempt to stop and cleanup the running operation.

Along with the menus at the top of the viewer, there is a typescript area on the bottom. This provides a log of the actions taken as well as a place to present the output of the commands.

Yodel will (normally) not break any locks in doing its job when running at the User level. This is a feature! If you list your files on Alpine while Walnut has your Walnut.DBLog locked, your Walnut transaction will not be aborted due to Yodel. If you ask it to list a file that has a lock set, the file name will be listed but none of the properties will be shown. This can be overridden at the Administrator level, and ordinary users can set this option.

All commands operate only on the source entry, "Source", except for the copy and rename commands. For the these commands, there is both a source and destination. The true form of an Alpine file name is "[server]<owner>filename!version". The name of the server is a Grapevine RName such as Luther.alpine. All Alpine servers have a name ending in ".alpine". If the server name is left blank, then the local file system, FS, is used. The server may also be an IFS file server such as Ivy or Indigo. If you left bug the Source or Destination buttons, Yodel will cycle through good guesses for reasonable server names (i.e., "[Luther.Alpine]", "[Ebbetts.Alpine]", "[Ivy]", "[Indigo]", "[Cyan]", ""). These are the defaults. You can set your own prefixes in you profile using the Yodel.NamePrefixes profile entry.

The owner or directory used by Yodel is either given explicitly in angle brackets in the Source and Destination menu entry, or it is inferred from the logged in user's name. This inferring works like this: for the local disk, the "" directory is used (i.e., "///"); for an IFS Yodel will strip the Grapevine registry (e.g., ".pa ") — if there is one — from the user name and use it as the directory; and for an Alpine server, the directory (called the owner in alpine parlance) is the user.

The final part of the filename is the filename (including subdirectories, file name base, and extension) and the version. The use of "*" in the filename is supported only for the List and Delete commands (described below), but not in the server name. A null filename is inferred to mean "*" in List. If versions are omitted from filenames, then it defaults to "!*" (i.e. all versions) for "List" and "!L" for delete (i.e., the oldest version).

Hence, some valid Alpine filenames for "List" where the user is ``Hagmann.pa'' are as follows:

For an IFS server where the user is again Hagmann.pa, some valid filenames for List are as follows:

For the local disk, some examples are:

These conventions are an attempt to follow the conventions in the various packages that exist. If your are in doubt what a pattern means, use the List command. It will show you the full GName (an FS term) pattern it thinks you want.

The User level allows you to list, delete, rename and copy files. Selecting the "Options" command pops up an extra menu that displays and allows the changing of the selection of the properties printed when the "List" command is given, and other options for "Delete". "byteLength" and "createTime" are enabled as defaults. Reselecting "Options" will push the extra menu (make it go away). After setting the "Source", pushing the "List" button will list the files matching the pattern. List of files on an Alpine file server will use the options. FS and IFS files will always show byte size and create date, no matter what the options are. Alpine files that match the pattern and which you do not have permission to read the property list, will be omitted from the list. Delete works on a file pattern. Files matching the pattern will be deleted automatically if ``AutoDelete'' is set, otherwise confirmation via the ``Yes'' and ``No'' buttons is required. If a non-zero ``Keep'' is specified (on the Options pup-up buttons), then for all Files matching the pattern, a file will be deleted if it has a version that is more than the ``Keep'' versions less than or equal to the maximim version for the file. The ``Keep'' may be changed by buttoning the ``Keep n versions'' button (left for increase, middle for 1, and right for decrease). Files may be copied among Alpine file servers, the local disk (FS) and IFS servers. The source and destination are either explicit files, or the source is a pattern and the destination is a directory (i.e., the destination ends in a ``>'' or ``/''). Normally the byte length of the file determines how much is copied. For files stored on Alpine servers that have extension "segment", are being copied to an IFS or to the local file system, and have a byte length of zero, then the whole file given by the file size is copied and the byte length set appropriately. The copy from Alpine to an IFS is done in two stages. First, the file is copied to a local file named "///temp/qqqscratch.yodel", then this file is copied to the IFS. After this is done, "///temp/qqqscratch.yodel" is deleted. (FS does not support unnamed files.) "FullCopy" works exactly like "Copy" except for an Alpine to Alpine copy. Here the file is replicated as nearly as possible: the file size is the same, and all the bytes up to the byte length or high water mark, which ever is greater, are copied. File properties are set to be the same as the original file except for "owner" and "stringName".

The FileProperties level allows the user to examine and change the properties of a particular Alpine file. Only one file is worked on at a time. Enter the file to be used in the menus and push "Examine". The properties will be displayed on the display (provided that you have permission to read them). You can edit any, all or none of them, and when you are pleased with the result, push "Apply" to write them to the server. Access lists are separated by commas and/or spaces. Yodel makes no restrictions on what can be put into a property list provided that Alpine will accept it. Alpine makes certain requirements of the semantics of the property lists (e.g., Alpine always insists that "owner" be on the owner access list, and will silently insert it if it is omitted). Do not change the ``stringName'' unless you know what you are doing.

The OwnerProperties level lets you see and change the default keep and the create access list associated with some owner (user), and to change the read and modify access to the ``root file'' for the owner. The owner modified is given in between "<" and ">" in the "Source" entry (it will default to you). The ``root file'' is the file that keeps the directory information. As such, it is a file as far as Alpine is concerned. However, it has no name as far as the directory system is concerned (actually, its name is ``$$$.btree''). Pushing Get causes the lists to be displayed, and Put writes the new lists to the server. It is a good idea to keep the lists for "createAccess" for the owner, and "modifyAccess" for the root file the same. The user's current quota and how much space is in use can be displayed by pushing Quota.

The Administrator level has only one button of interest to normal users. The "Break Locks" button will change the default of not breaking locks in User level functions, to allow for the breaking of locks if needed. This might cause other transactions to abort (e.g. Walnut's transaction can be aborted).

Other Administrator functions require the user to be an "Alpine Wheel". The first function is to make a new owner via the "CreateOwner" button. This makes a new owner (a directory) on Alpine, and requires the "quota" field to be filled in before pushing the button. The owner created is given in between "<" and ">" in the "Source" entry. "DestroyOwner" removes the owner in the "Source" entry. An owner's quota can be changed via the "WriteQuota" button. (The quota can be read by going to the OwnerProperties level and doing a "Quota". You might have to "Assert Wheel", described below, to do this.) The "ListOwners" command will list all owners, their "spaceInUse" (pages recorded as actually used), and their "quota". (I think that this only needs a read locks on the "owner database", and does not seem to abort other transactions.) At the beginning of the list is the summation of all the "spaceInUse" and "quota". The "ReadStatistics" button will request from the server some statistics about owners, quotas, and spaceInUse. As of this writing, the "total quota", "total space in use" and "volume group size" all look bogus.

The final button on the Administrator level is "Assert Wheel". Access to files and property lists are protected. Normally, only a user with the correct properties can do some function (e.g., you cannot list someone else's files if they have protected them). By setting "Assert Wheel", Yodel will try to do further functions as an Alpine Wheel. Wheels can thus list all files for anyone. Wheels will not automatically use Alpine Wheel privileges at non-Administrator levels unless the "Assert Wheel" button is "on".

The following errors can appear on the typescript: