mni_perllib - The MNI Perl Library
use MNI::Startup;
use MNI::Spawn
use MNI::MiscUtilities;
use MNI::FileUtilities;
use MNI::PathUtilities;
use MNI::NumericUtilities;
use MNI::MINC;
use MNI::MINC::Utility;The MNI 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.
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 MNI Perl Library, mostly concentrated in the MNI::Startup and MNI::Spawn 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.
Each individual module is documented in the normal way, so you should be able to get documentation by typing (e.g.)
man MNI::FileUtilitiesat a shell prompt. If that doesn't work, complain to your system administrator, adjust your MANPATH environment variable to point to the appropriate place, or try
perldoc MNI::FileUtilitiesIn addition, there is a document called "Tips for Perl Hackers: A Guide to the MNI Perl Library" 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.
Greg Ward
Copyright (c) 1997 by Gregory P. Ward, McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University.
This file is part of the MNI Perl Library. It is free software, and may be distributed under the same terms as Perl itself.