.---------------------.
 / aka - also known as /
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Simple, persistent, shell-based command aliasing

Usage: aka alias               show stored aliases
       aka alias NAME CMD...   store an alias for CMD
       aka NAME [...]          run CMD, optionally with more arguments

By default, aliases are stored in the `.aka` file of the current working
directory. Optionally, the location of that file can be modified by setting the
AKA_FILE enviornment variable. Tested on Debian, OpenBSD, and OpenWRT, aka uses
portable shell syntax and should work everywhere that has a typical /bin/sh


Examples:

    $ aka alias demo more

    $ aka demo --version
    more from util-linux 2.36

    $ aka alias demo git

    $ aka demo --version
    git version 2.28.0

The command you alias can have parameters

    $ aka alias l ls -f

    $ aka l
    .aka .. aka aka_tiny . README .git

And you can pass additional parameters

    $ aka l -tR
    .. aka_tiny aka .git .aka README .

You can see all of the currently stored aliases

    $ aka alias
    l='ls -f'
    demo='git'

And edit them using your favorite text editor

    $ cat .aka
    alias demo='git'
    alias l='ls -f'

Everything that is not aliased will get executed as a regular command.

    $ aka python3 --version
    Python 3.8.6

## Why would anyone want this?

A practical use case might be to have

.
├── c_proj
│   └── .aka       | alias doit='make install'
├── go_proj
│   └── .aka       | alias doit='go run'
└── python_proj
    └── .aka       | alias doit='pip install .'

Now you can `aka doit` to your hearts content inside each of those folders, and
have that execute the appropriate build commands for the type of project it is.

    $ for x in *; do (cd $x && aka doit); done
    make: *** No rule to make target 'install'.  Stop.
    go run: no go files listed
    ERROR: Directory '.' is not installable. Neither 'setup.py' nor 'pyproject.toml' found.


## Installation

Grab aka, make it executable, and place it somewhere in your path.


## How it works

aka is a tiny portable shell script that gets executed via /bin/sh, sources
AKA_FILE and evals the positional parameters, thus applying aliases and
whatever other shell script shenanigans stored in AKA_FILE.

For example, this means that you can put something like

    alias my='AKA_FILE=~/.my_aliases aka'

in your shell's startup files, and thereafter use the `my` command as an `aka`
invocation that always sources ~/.my_aliases file in your home directory,
regardless of where you run it.

## Notes

Initial prototype uses aliases, which may not work for programs that depend on
establishing their behavior based on the `argv[0]` name they were called by
(busybox, for example).


## Ideas

[x] AKA_FILE environment variable set to the file containing the desired
    shellscript file to source. Otherwise we look for the `.aka` file in the
    current directory.

[ ] `aka unalias` command?

## Related Projects

https://direnv.net/
"direnv is an extension for your shell. It augments existing shells with a new
feature that can load and unload environment variables depending on the current
directory." The direnv website has links to a half dozen similar projects.