Adding to README

Signed-off-by: Luke Kanies <luke@puppetlabs.com>

1 files changed, 103 insertions, 2 deletions

diff --git a/README.markdown b/README.markdown
index eaf95ad5d..f72d85f04 100644
--- a/README.markdown
+++ b/README.markdown
@@ -1,8 +1,109 @@
-Puppet Data CLI
-===============
+Puppet Interfaces
+=================
 A set of executables that provide complete CLI access to Puppet's
 core data types.  They also provide Interface classes for
 each of the core data types, which are extensible via plugins.
 
 For instance, you can create a new action for catalogs at
 lib/puppet/interface/catalog/$action.rb.
+
+This is a Puppet module and should work fine if you install it
+in Puppet's module path.
+
+Note that this only works with Puppet 2.6.next (and thus will work
+with 2.6.5), because there is otherwise a bug in finding Puppet applications.
+
+This is meant to be tested and iterated upon, with the plan that it will be
+merged into Puppet core once we're satisfied with it.
+
+Usage
+-----
+The general usage is:
+
+  $ puppet <type> <verb> <name>
+
+So, e.g.:
+
+  $ puppet facts find myhost.domain.com
+  $ puppet node destroy myhost
+
+You can use it to list all known data types and the available terminus classes:
+
+  $ puppet interface list
+  catalog                       : active_record, compiler, queue, rest, yaml
+  certificate                   : ca, file, rest
+  certificate_request           : ca, file, rest
+  certificate_revocation_list   : ca, file, rest
+  file_bucket_file              : file, rest
+  inventory                     : yaml
+  key                           : ca, file
+  node                          : active_record, exec, ldap, memory, plain, rest, yaml
+  report                        : processor, rest, yaml
+  resource                      : ral, rest
+  resource_type                 : parser, rest
+  status                        : local, rest
+
+But most interestingly, you can use it for two main purposes:
+
+* As a client for any Puppet REST server, such as catalogs, facts, reports, etc.
+* As a local CLI for any local Puppet data
+
+A simple case is looking at the local facts:
+
+  $ puppet facts find localhost
+
+If you're on the server, you can look in that server's fact collection:
+
+  $ puppet facts --mode master --vardir /tmp/foo --from yaml find localhost
+
+Note that we're setting both the vardir and the 'mode', which switches from the default 'agent' mode to server mode (requires a patch in my branch).
+
+If you'd prefer the data be outputted in json instead of yaml, well, you can do that, too:
+
+  $ puppet find --mode master facts --vardir /tmp/foo --from yaml --format pson localhost
+
+To test using it as an endpoint for compiling and retrieving catalogs from a remote server, (from my commit), try this:
+
+  # Terminal 1
+  $ sbin/puppetmasterd --trace --confdir /tmp/foo --vardir /tmp/foo --debug --manifest ~/bin/test.pp --certname localhost --no-daemonize
+
+  # Terminal 2
+  $ sbin/puppetd --trace --debug --confdir /tmp/foo --vardir /tmp/foo --certname localhost --server localhost --test --report
+
+  # Terminal 3, actual testing
+  $ puppet data --certname localhost --server localhost --mode master --confdir /tmp/foo --vardir /tmp/foo --trace --from rest catalog find localhost
+
+This compiles a test catalog (assuming that ~/bin/test.pp exists) and returns it.  With the right auth setup, you can also get facts:
+
+  $ puppet facts --certname localhost --server localhost --mode master --confdir /tmp/foo --vardir /tmp/foo --trace --from rest find localhost
+
+Or use IRB to do the same thing:
+
+  $ irb
+  >> require 'puppet/interface'
+  => true
+  >> interface = Puppet::Interface.interface(:facts).new
+  => #<Puppet::Interface::Facts:0x1024a1390 @format=:yaml>
+  >> facts = interface.find("myhost"); nil
+
+Like I said, a prototype, but I'd love it if people would play it with some and make some recommendations.
+
+Extending
+---------
+Like most parts of Puppet, these are easy to extend.  Just drop a new action into a given interface's directory.  E.g.:
+
+  $ cat lib/puppet/interface/catalog/select.rb 
+  # Select and show a list of resources of a given type.
+  Puppet::Interface::Catalog.action :select do |*args|
+    host = args.shift
+    type = args.shift
+    catalog = Puppet::Resource::Catalog.indirection.find(host)
+
+    catalog.resources.reject { |res| res.type != type }.each { |res| puts res }
+  end
+  $ puppet catalog select localhost Class
+  Class[main]
+  Class[Settings]
+  $
+
+Notice that this gets loaded automatically when you try to use it.  So, if you have a simple command you've written, such as for cleaning up nodes or diffing catalogs, you an port it to this framework and it should fit cleanly.