def alias(name):
    """
    Give this node action an alias. It will also be accessable using that
    name in the deployment shell. This is useful, when you want to have special
    characters which are not allowed in Python function names, like dots, in
    the name of an action.
    """
    def decorator(func):
       if hasattr(func, 'action_alias'):
           func.action_alias.append(name)
       else:
           func.action_alias = [ name ]
       return func
    return decorator