--- nfo/perl/libs/shortcuts.pm	2003/03/29 07:24:10	1.7
+++ nfo/perl/libs/shortcuts.pm	2003/04/04 17:31:59	1.8
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 ## ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-##  $Id: shortcuts.pm,v 1.7 2003/03/29 07:24:10 joko Exp $
+##  $Id: shortcuts.pm,v 1.8 2003/04/04 17:31:59 joko Exp $
 ## ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ##  $Log: shortcuts.pm,v $
+##  Revision 1.8  2003/04/04 17:31:59  joko
+##  + sub make_guid
+##
 ##  Revision 1.7  2003/03/29 07:24:10  joko
 ##  enhanced 'run_cmd': now tries to execute program with appropriate application (e.g. 'cmd.exe' or 'perl')
 ##
@@ -39,19 +42,20 @@
   run_cmd run_cmds
   get_chomped
   bool2status
+  make_guid
 );
 
 
-# - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -   main
-
 use Data::Dumper;
 use POSIX qw( strftime );
 #use IPC::Run qw( run timeout );
 use IPC::Run qw( start pump finish timeout ) ;
+use Carp;
+
+
 
 # $now_string = strftime "%a %b %e %H:%M:%S %Y", localtime;
 # see "perldoc -f localtime"
-
 sub now {
   my $options = shift;
   my $pattern = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S";
@@ -153,5 +157,31 @@
 
 sub RUNNING_IN_HELL () { $^O eq 'MSWin32' }
 
+# create global unique identifers using Data::UUID
+# if updating this code, please also modify Tangram::Storage::make_guid
+sub make_guid 
+  {
+    my $self = shift;
+
+    my $guid;
+
+    # try to use Data::UUID first ...
+    eval("use Data::UUID;");
+    if (!$@) {
+      my $ug = Data::UUID->new();
+      $guid = $ug->create_str();
+      
+    # ... if this fails, try to fallback to Data::UUID::PurePerl instead ...
+    } else {
+      eval("use Data::UUID::PurePerl;");
+      if (!$@) {
+        $guid = Data::UUID::PurePerl::generate_id();
+      } else {
+        croak "couldn't create globally unique identifier";
+      }
+    }
+    
+    return $guid;
+  }
 
 1;