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.\" ========================================================================
.\"
.IX Title "mni_perllib 3"
.TH mni_perllib 3 "1997-08-06" "perl v5.10.1" "User Contributed Perl Documentation"
.\" For nroff, turn off justification.  Always turn off hyphenation; it makes
.\" way too many mistakes in technical documents.
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.SH "NAME"
mni_perllib \- The MNI Perl Library
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.IX Header "SYNOPSIS"
.Vb 3
\&   use MNI::Startup;
\&   use MNI::Spawn
\&   use MNI::Batch;
\&
\&   use MNI::MiscUtilities;
\&   use MNI::FileUtilities;
\&   use MNI::PathUtilities;
\&   use MNI::NumericUtilities;
\&
\&   use MNI::NetCDF;                  # not yet!
\&   use MNI::MINC;
\&   use MNI::MINC::Utility;
.Ve
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.IX Header "DESCRIPTION"
The \s-1MNI\s0 Perl Library is a collection of Perl modules designed to aid in
the writing of programs that process large amounts of data by running
low-level programs to do the real number crunching\-\-\-in other words,
glorified shell scripts.  The hallmarks of such programs are long
running times (from a few minutes to several hours), several large
temporary files, and a steady stream of launching other programs to
gradually transform the input file(s) into output file(s), via those
temporary files.
.PP
Desirable characteristics of such programs are that they write their
temporary files in a uniquely-named directory that is cleaned up when
they complete successfully or crash; that they print an explicit account
both of their own command line and of all commands that they execute;
that the failure of any individual sub-program automatically causes the
failure of the whole procedure; and that all of the above can be
custom-controlled both by the programmer and the end user.  All of these
features and many more are provided by the \s-1MNI\s0 Perl Library, mostly
concentrated in the \fIMNI::Startup\fR and \fIMNI::Spawn\fR modules.  Many
other useful routines for interacting with the filesystem, performing
common string hacks on Unix filenames, performing common numeric hacks,
and so forth are provided by the other modules.
.PP
Each individual module is documented in the normal way, so you should be
able to get documentation by typing (e.g.)
.PP
.Vb 1
\&   man MNI::FileUtilities
.Ve
.PP
at a shell prompt.  If that doesn't work, complain to your system
administrator, adjust your \f(CW\*(C`MANPATH\*(C'\fR environment variable to point to
the appropriate place, or try
.PP
.Vb 1
\&   perldoc MNI::FileUtilities
.Ve
.PP
In addition, there is a document called \*(L"Tips for Perl Hackers: A Guide
to the \s-1MNI\s0 Perl Library\*(R" that contains a higher-level view and lots of
useful tips that don't really belong in the documentation for individual
modules.  This document is distributed with the library; check the
distribution or ask your system administrator where it can be found.
It will eventually be available online via the World-Wide Web.
.SH "AUTHOR"
.IX Header "AUTHOR"
Greg Ward, greg@bic.mni.mcgill.ca.
.SH "COPYRIGHT"
.IX Header "COPYRIGHT"
Copyright (c) 1997 by Gregory P. Ward, McConnell Brain Imaging Centre,
Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University.
.PP
This file is part of the \s-1MNI\s0 Perl Library.  It is free software, and may
be distributed under the same terms as Perl itself.