--- loncom/lonnet/perl/lonnet.pm	2000/10/04 15:59:07	1.35
+++ loncom/lonnet/perl/lonnet.pm	2000/10/05 19:27:23	1.36
@@ -41,6 +41,10 @@
 # refreshstate()     : refresh the state information string
 # symblist(map,hash) : Updates symbolic storage links
 # rndseed()          : returns a random seed  
+# getfile(filename)  : returns the contents of filename, or a -1 if it can't
+#                      be found, replicates and subscribes to the file
+# filelocation(dir,file) : returns a farily clean absolute reference to file 
+#                          from the directory dir
 #
 # 6/1/99,6/2,6/10,6/11,6/12,6/14,6/26,6/28,6/29,6/30,
 # 7/1,7/2,7/9,7/10,7/12,7/14,7/15,7/19,
@@ -52,8 +56,10 @@
 # 06/26 Ben Tyszka
 # 06/30,07/15,07/17,07/18,07/20,07/21,07/22,07/25 Gerd Kortemeyer
 # 08/14 Ben Tyszka
-# 08/22,08/28,08/31,09/01,09/02,09/04,09/05,09/25,09/28,09/30,
+# 08/22,08/28,08/31,09/01,09/02,09/04,09/05,09/25,09/28,09/30 Gerd Kortemeyer
 # 10/04 Gerd Kortemeyer
+# 10/04 Guy Albertelli
+
 
 package Apache::lonnet;
 
@@ -1061,6 +1067,38 @@ sub rndseed {
                .$symbchck);
 }
 
+# ------------------------------------------------------------ Serves up a file
+# returns either the contents of the file or a -1
+sub getfile {
+  my $file=shift;
+  if (! -e $file ) {
+    &subscribe($file);
+    &repcopy($file);
+  }
+  if (! -e $file ) { return -1; };
+  my $fh=Apache::File->new($file);
+  my $a='';
+  while (<$fh>) { $a .=$_; }
+  return $a
+}
+
+sub filelocation {
+  my ($dir,$file) = @_;
+  my $location;
+  $file=~ s/^\s*(\S+)\s*$/$1/; ## strip off leading and trailing spaces
+  $file=~s/^$perlvar{'lonDocRoot'}//;
+  $file=~s:^/*res::;
+  if ( !( $file =~ m:^/:) ) {
+    $location = $dir. '/'.$file;
+  } else {
+    $location = '/home/httpd/html/res'.$file;
+  }
+  $location=~s://+:/:g; # remove duplicate /
+  while ($location=~m:/../:) {$location=~ s:/[^/]+/\.\./:/:g;} #remove dir/..
+
+  return $location;
+}
+
 # ------------------------------------------------------------- Declutters URLs
 
 sub declutter {