How about this for a change log script:

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#!/usr/bin/perl

# $Id: changelog.pl,v 1.1 2005/09/07 11:47:15 megglest Exp $
# $Log: changelog.pl,v $
# Revision 1.1  2005/09/07 11:47:15  megglest
# almost done
#

# given a statement
# log that statement in either the specified ChangeLog file
# or in the nearest ChangeLog file found

use Getopt::Std;
use strict;

# globals
my @months = (
    'Jan', 'Feb', 'Mar', 'Apr', 'May', 'Jun',
    'Jul', 'Aug', 'Sep', 'Oct', 'Nov', 'Dec'
);
my $datepattern = '^\d\d\s+\w\w\w\s+\d\d\s+';

# parse the command line
our ($opt_h, $opt_v, $opt_u, $opt_m, $opt_f);
getopts('hvu:m:f:');
&usage if $opt_h;
#&usage if !defined($opt_m) and !defined($opt_f);
$opt_u = (getpwuid($>))[0] unless $opt_u;

###############
## main loop
###############
my $date = &today;
my $time = &now;
my $file = &findChangeLog;
my $msg = &getMessage($file, $opt_m);
my $append = &beenUpdated($file, $date);
$append = 2 if ! -f $file;
open(OUT, ">> $file") or die "$0: cannot append file '$file': $!";
print OUT "\n" if $append != 2;
print OUT "$date\n" if $append;
print OUT "\t* $time $opt_u\n";
if(ref($msg) eq 'SCALAR') {
    print OUT "\t  ", ${$msg}, "\n";
} else {
    print OUT "\t  ", join("\n\t  ", @{$msg}), "\n";
}
close(OUT);

###############
## utility functions
###############

# get today's date
sub today {
    my @t = localtime;
    return sprintf("%02d %-3s %02d", $t[3], $months[$t[4]], $t[5] + 19
+00);
}

# get today's date
sub now {
    my @t = localtime;
    return sprintf("%02d:%02d", $t[2], $t[1]);
}

# find the nearest ChangeLog file
sub findChangeLog {
    return $opt_f if $opt_f;
    my $pwd = $ENV{'PWD'} || `pwd`;
    chomp($pwd);
    my @a = split('/', $pwd);
    unshift(@a, '/');
    my $file;
    my $keep = &isroot ? '/ChangeLog' : "$pwd/ChangeLog";
    foreach my $part (@a) {
        $file .= '/' if length($file);
        $file .= $part;
        my $fn = $file . '/ChangeLog';
        $fn =~ s,//,/,go;
        $keep = $fn if -f $fn;
    }
    $keep =~ s,//,/,go;
    return $keep;
}

# is the user root?
sub isroot {
    return 1 if $> == 0;
    return 0;
}

# has the file been updated today?
sub beenUpdated {
    my $fn = shift;
    my $date = shift;
    my $lastdate;

    return 0 unless -f $fn;
    open(IN, "< $fn") or die "$0: cannot read file '$fn': $!";
    while(<IN>) {
        chomp;
        $lastdate = $_ if /$datepattern/o;
    }
    close(IN);
    return $lastdate eq $date;
}

# if no -m supplied, present an editor asking the user for a message
sub getMessage {
    my $file = shift;
    my $msg = shift;

    return \$msg if defined($msg);

    $msg = 'Not a terminal and no message suppled' if(system('tty -s')
+ >> 8) == 1;

    $ENV{'TMPDIR'} = '/tmp' unless $ENV{'TMPDIR'};        # set a defa
+ult directory
    my $tfile = "$ENV{'TMPDIR'}/changelog.$$";
    $ENV{'EDITOR'} = 'vi' unless $ENV{'EDITOR'};        # set the defa
+ult editor
    $ENV{'VISUAL'} = 'vi' unless $ENV{'VISUAL'};        # set the defa
+ult editor

    # create the temporary file
    open(OUT, "> $tfile") or die "$0: cannot create file '$tfile': $!"
+;
    print OUT "CL ------------------------------------------\n";
    print OUT "CL Enter a ChangeLog Message for file '$file'\n";
    print OUT "CL All lines beginning with 'CL' are ignored\n";
    print OUT "CL ------------------------------------------\n";
    close(OUT);

    # ask the user to edit the file
    system("$ENV{'VISUAL'} $tfile");

    # read the file contents in
    # remove all the junk messages
    open(IN, "grep -v '^CL' $tfile |") or die "$0: cannot read file '$
+tfile': $!";
    my @lines = <IN>;
    chomp(@lines);
    close(IN);

    # retun the message string
    return \@lines;
}

# how to use this script
sub usage {
    print "usage: $0: [-m MESSAGE][-f CHANGELOGFILE][-u USERNAME][-vh]
+\n";
    print "\t-m MESSAGE       - message to log\n";
    print "\t-f CHANGELOGFILE - specific ChangeLog file to log the mes
+sage\n";
    print "\t-u USERNAME      - username to log the message against\n"
+;
    print "\t-v               - verbose\n";
    print "\t-h               - help (this message)\n";
    exit 1;
}

__END__

=pod

TODO

=cut

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