Net::Netrc(3pm)

NAME
Net::Netrc - OO interface to users netrc file

SYNOPSIS

    use Net::Netrc;

    $mach = Net::Netrc->lookup('some.machine');
    $login = $mach->login;
    ($login, $password, $account) = $mach->lpa;

DESCRIPTION
Net::Netrc is a class implementing a simple interface to the .netrc file used as by the ftp program.

Net::Netrc also implements security checks just like the ftp program, these checks are, first that the .netrc file must be owned by the user and second the ownership permissions should be such that only the owner has read and write access. If these conditions are not met then a warning is output and the .netrc file is not read.

THE .netrc FILE
The .netrc file contains login and initialization information used by the auto-login process. It resides in the user's home directory. The following tokens are recognized; they may be separated by spaces, tabs, or new-lines: Identify a remote machine name. The auto-login process searches the .netrc file for a machine token that matches the remote machine specified. Once a match is made, the subsequent .netrc tokens are processed, stopping when the end of file is reached or an- other machine or a default token is encountered. This is the same as machine name except that default matches any name. There can be only one default token, and it must be after all machine tokens. This is normally used as:

    default login anonymous password user@site
thereby giving the user automatic anonymous login to machines not specified in .netrc. Identify a user on the remote machine. If this token is present, the auto-login process will initiate a login using the specified name. Supply a password. If this token is present, the auto-login process will supply the specified string if the remote server requires a password as part of the login process. Supply an additional account password. If this token is present, the auto-login process will supply the specified string if the remote server requires an additional account password. Define a macro. Net::Netrc only parses this field to be compatible with ftp.

CONSTRUCTOR
The constructor for a Net::Netrc object is not called new as it does not really create a new object. But instead is called lookup as this is essentially what it does. Lookup and return a reference to the entry for MACHINE. If LOGIN is given then the entry returned will have the given login. If LOGIN is not given then the first entry in the .netrc file for MACHINE will be returned.

If a matching entry cannot be found, and a default entry exists, then a reference to the default entry is returned.

METHODS
Return the login id for the netrc entry Return the password for the netrc entry Return the account information for the netrc entry Return a list of login, password and account information fir the netrc entry

AUTHOR
Graham Barr <gbarr@ti.com>

SEE ALSO
the Net::Netrc manpage the Net::Cmd manpage

COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 1995-1997 Graham Barr. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.