dat2ace - Create File objects for all files in a directory

This script is a shortcut way of entering information for many data files into a birchdb database. For each file in the target directory, write a File object to the file datfiles.ace, in the current working directory. datfiles.ace can be read in birchdb or lbirchdb in the Edit --> Read .ace file menu. File can then be added to Program or Package objects.

The target directory dirname is the name of a directory either in $BIRCH/dat or in $local/dat (= $BIRCH/local/dat). Even if dirname is a symbolic link to another directory, do NOT use the fully-qualified path of that directory on the command line, or incorrect filenames will be written to datfiles.ace. The safest way to run this command is to use the environment varibles, as shown in the SYNOPSIS.

If the directory $local/dat/fasta contains the file 'fastalibs', the following File object will be written to datfiles.ace:

File : "$local\/dat\/fasta\/fastalibs"
Pick_me_to_call "$ACE_FILE_LAUNCHER" "$local\/dat\/fasta\/fastalibs"

It is always a good idea to examine datfiles.ace in a text editor before reading it into the database. For example, you may wish to delete some File objects, or create new ones before reading this file into the database.
In .ace files, all Unix seperator characters are escaped using the '\' character.