The Grunt Tools are boxenv's mechanisms of customizability. By storing information about file-and-directory locations in preference files, boxenv can allow programs to customize what places things get installed in (and looked for in).
However, sometimes, the method by which a task can be accomplished can vary from one Unix-like system to another. Sometimes, as a matter of fact, the same Operating System can be installed on different machines, but the way to acheive a task might vary due to the way that something (maybe even the hardware) is set up.
For example, let's say you want to prepare a CD-ROM. You would do it one way if your computer has a CD-ROM and a different way if your computer doesn't have a CD-ROM, but is connected to a network in which another machine does.
One way to deal with such variance is to lay the burden on the developers of the higher-level programs that use these features. But that's not how boxenv does it. Instead, for boxenv isolates such system-specific details, and delegates them to separate low-level programs called grunt tools.
Grunt tools are called that because what they do is little grunt work for the other programs.
Obviously, the grunt tools are not part of boxenv itself, because their implementation can not be standard. But though their implementation is not standard, their function needs to be. So though they are not included in boxenv it's self, this documentation package does cover them.
Though some of the grunt tools might have their own individual implementations on specific machines or networks, others will be standard for all (or most) machines of a given Operating System or relase thereof. Such grunt tools that are common to all machines of the same Operating System release, though they are not part of boxenv itslef, should be included in any QuickSet package released for boxenv.
For each grunt tool described here, what will be mentioned is (a) the name of the grunt tool, (b) information on it's usage that is to be detailed enough to hopefully keep the behavior standard and (c) if possible, information to help you find a packaged implementation of a grunt tool (so that you don't have to always code it yourself).
burn-as-cd: Prepares a CD-ROM from either a directory or an ISO disk-image.
my-su-command: Portably executes a command as the Superuser.
