--- /dev/null
+# setup
+ $ cat >foo.conf <<'EOF'
+ > ; ---------------------
+ > [group cephnet]
+ > addr = 10.3.14.0/24
+ >
+ > [global]
+ > pid file = /home/sage/ceph/src/out/$name.pid
+ >
+ > [osd]
+ > osd data = /mnt/osd$id
+ > [osd.3]
+ > host = cosd3
+ > EOF
+
+To extract the value of the "osd data" option for the osd0 daemon,
+
+ $ ceph-conf -c foo.conf "osd data" --name osd.0
+ /mnt/osd0
+
+This is equivalent to doing specifying sections [osd0], [osd.0],
+[osd], or [global], in that order of preference:
+
+# TODO the "admin" here seems like an actual bug
+
+ $ ceph-conf -c foo.conf "osd data" -s osd0 -s osd.0 -s osd -s global
+ /mnt/osdadmin
+
+To list all sections that begin with osd:
+
+ $ ceph-conf -c foo.conf -l osd
+ osd
+ osd.3