json-rpc-shell/README.adoc

json-rpc-shell
==============
:compact-option:

'json-rpc-shell' is a simple shell for running JSON-RPC 2.0 queries.

This software has been created as a replacement for the following shell, which
is written in Java: http://software.dzhuvinov.com/json-rpc-2.0-shell.html

Features
--------
In addition to most of the features provided by Vladimir Dzhuvinov's shell
you get the following niceties:

 - configurable JSON syntax highlight, which with prettyprinting turned on
   helps you make sense of the results significantly
 - ability to pipe output through a shell command, so that you can view the
   results in your favourite editor or redirect them to a file
 - ability to edit the input line in your favourite editor as well with Alt+E

Supported transports
--------------------
 - HTTP
 - HTTPS
 - WebSocket
 - WebSocket over TLS

WebSockets
~~~~~~~~~~
The JSON-RPC 2.0 spec doesn't say almost anything about underlying transports.
The way it's implemented here is that every request is sent as a single text
message.  If it has an "id" field, i.e. it's not just a notification, the
client waits for a message from the server in response.

There's no support so far for any protocol extensions, nor for specifying
the higher-level protocol (the "Sec-Ws-Protocol" HTTP field).

Packages
--------
Regular releases are sporadic.  git master should be stable enough.  You can get
a package with the latest development version from Archlinux's AUR, or from
openSUSE Build Service for the rest of mainstream distributions.  Consult the
list of repositories and their respective links at:

https://build.opensuse.org/project/repositories/home:pjanouch:git

Building and Usage
------------------
Build dependencies: CMake, pkg-config, help2man,
                    liberty (included), http-parser (included) +
Runtime dependencies: libev, Jansson, cURL, openssl,
                      readline or libedit >= 2013-07-12,

 $ git clone --recursive https://github.com/pjanouch/json-rpc-shell.git
 $ mkdir json-rpc-shell/build
 $ cd json-rpc-shell/build
 $ cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
 $ make

To install the application, you can do either the usual:

 # make install

Or you can try telling CMake to make a package for you.  For Debian it is:

 $ cpack -G DEB
 # dpkg -i json-rpc-shell-*.deb

Note that for versions of CMake before 2.8.9, you need to prefix `cpack` with
`fakeroot` or file ownership will end up wrong.

Run the program with `--help` to obtain usage information.

Contributing and Support
------------------------
Use this project's GitHub to report any bugs, request features, or submit pull
requests.  If you want to discuss this project, or maybe just hang out with
the developer, feel free to join me at irc://irc.janouch.name, channel #dev.

License
-------
'json-rpc-shell' is written by Přemysl Janouch <p.janouch@gmail.com>.

You may use the software under the terms of the ISC license, the text of which
is included within the package, or, at your option, you may relicense the work
under the MIT or the Modified BSD License, as listed at the following site:

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html