-- Miscellaneous auxiliary functions.

function form_date(days)
    _check_required(days, 'number')

    return os.date("%d-%b-%Y", os.time() - days * 60 * 60 * 24)
end


function get_password(prompt)
    _check_optional(prompt, 'string')

    if (prompt ~= nil) then
        io.write(prompt)
    else
        io.write('Enter password: ')
    end

    ifsys.noecho()
    local p = io.read()
    ifsys.echo()

    return p
end


function pipe_to(command, data)
    _check_required(command, 'string')
    _check_required(data, 'string')

    f = ifsys.popen(command, "w")

    ifsys.write(f, data)

    return ifsys.pclose(f)
end

function pipe_from(command)
    _check_required(command, 'string')

    f = ifsys.popen(command, "r")

    local string = ''
    while (true) do
        s = ifsys.read(f)
        if (s ~= nil) then
            string = string .. s
        else
            break
        end
    end

    return ifsys.pclose(f), string
end


function become_daemon(interval, commands)
    _check_required(interval, 'number')
    _check_required(commands, 'function')

    ifsys.daemon()

    repeat
        pcall(commands)
    until (ifsys.sleep(interval) ~= 0)
end