NYSHELL(1)

📦 version 2025.09.18.4, in nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable

💅 NYSHELL(1) — General Commands Manual, bestie

okay so this is nyshell(1), straight out of the General Commands Manual, and honestly? she's a little niche but she works. sit down, grab a strawberry drink 🍓, and let me tell you about her.

✨ NAME ✨

nyshell — the tool that generates shell scripts to build nypatchy output. that's the whole vibe. 🎀

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

nyshell logfile options cradle [ print ] [ .go ]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so nyshell is one of the programs in the Nypatchy suite — the whole crew that deals with Patchy Master Files (aka PAM files), and yeah, you should see nypatchy(1) for the big picture, iykyk.

what she does specifically: you hand her the log file from a nypatchy run, and she makes you a shell script that compiles, like, all the source code files nypatchy spat out. iconic behavior honestly 👑

she's basically fcasplit's cousin, except — and this is the main character detail — she takes the log file as input instead of a source file, and she remembers which source files have already been compiled in previous runs. she has memory. she's not doing the same work twice. periodt. 💅

🌈 USAGE 🌈

okay let's walk through the lineup:

  • logfile — the name of the log file coming out of nypatchy. default extension is .log, so you can be lazy about it 🫶
  • cradle — a cradle file you may give, which adds extra setup options like which compilers you want or which compiler flags to use. (peep the reference manual for the nitty-gritty, bestie.)
  • print — the file where informational output goes. if you omit it, the default is standard output, easy.
  • options — a sequence of single-character flags. yes, single characters, we'll get to the list.

here's the tea on what she produces: she generates a shell script file named name.shfca — where name is the part of logfile with the extension chopped off — and you can run that script to build all the object files. and then there's name.xqtlog, which is the file that "remembers" the current state. she's keeping receipts. 🧾

and listen — the command should be ended with .go unless you actually want to drop into the Nypatchy interactive shell. don't skip the .go and then act surprised, bestie 😭

✨ OPTIONS ✨

okay important housekeeping first: options go in as one single string of characters, no space separation, and no using the - character — with exactly one exception: you can put - in place of the options field when you don't want any options at all. and alphabetic options are not case-sensitive, so go off, capitalize however you feel. 💖

  • A — Force recompilation of all routines. everything gets rebuilt. no shortcuts, no mercy 🔥
  • B — Bypass tests based on the .xqtlog file. she's not checking the receipts this time.
  • E — Bypass tests based on the .xqtlog file if it is empty. (only when it's empty, okay, don't get it twisted)
  • H — Print help information only. just the help, nothing else, tyvm 🎀
  • Q — "quick" — Do not print the setup. quiet girlie mode 🤫
  • S — Print the setup only — and heads up, this one only works together with H.
  • U — "up to date" — Check that all .o files are ready to go into a library. a little vibe check on your object files ⭐
  • V — "verbose" — Print the complete setup. she's telling you everything 🗣️

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

the whole friend group, go say hi:

fcasplit(1), nycheck(1), nydiff(1), nyindex(1), nylist(1), nypatchy(1), nymerge(1), nysynopt(1), nytidy(1), yexpand(1)

also, the reference manual for the whole Nypatchy suite is available in compressed PostScript format at this URL, yes it's giving vintage but it's still there:

http://wwwasdoc.web.cern.ch/wwwasdoc/psdir/p5refman.ps.gz

and two little cheat codes for you 🫶:

  • running the command nyshell help .no also gives some brief help on usage.
  • running the command nyshell - hs .no prints the default setup (compiler names and options) that will be used in the generated shell scripts. chef's kiss for debugging 👑

🎀 AUTHOR 🎀

this manual page was written by Kevin McCarty <kmccarty@debian.org> for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others — sharing is caring, bestie). it's licensed under the GNU General Public License, version 2 or later (at your choice). slay, and legally so.

Copyright (C) Kevin B. McCarty, 2008.

okay that's the whole page, you're basically an expert now, go build something beautiful 💅🦋🌸

sign-off: this was nyshell(1) from the General Commands Manual, dated Mar 12, 2008 — ily, go compile responsibly ✨
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