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32 .\" @(#)rdist.1 8.3 (Berkeley) 3/17/94
33 .\" $FreeBSD: src/usr.bin/rdist/rdist.1,v 1.13.2.4 2001/12/21 10:07:20 ru Exp $
40 .Nd remote file distribution program
54 .Oo Ar login Ns @ Oc Ns Xo
55 .Ar host Ns Op : Ns Ar dest
59 is a program to maintain identical copies of files over multiple hosts.
60 It preserves the owner, group, mode, and mtime of files if possible and
61 can update programs that are executing.
65 to direct the updating of files and/or directories.
67 Options specific to the first SYNOPSIS form:
69 .Bl -tag -width indent
75 the standard input is used.
85 option is not specified, the program looks first for
90 If no names are specified on the command line,
92 will update all of the files and directories listed in
94 Otherwise, the argument is taken to be the name of a file to be updated
95 or the label of a command to execute.
96 If label and file names conflict,
97 it is assumed to be a label.
98 These may be used together to update specific files
99 using specific commands.
101 Options specific to the second SYNOPSIS form:
107 to interpret the remaining arguments as a small
110 The equivalent distfile is as follows.
112 .Bd -ragged -offset indent -compact
117 .Bd -ragged -offset indent -compact
124 Options common to both forms:
128 Alternative program to provide
130 transport to the remote server. It must provide a binary-transparent path
131 to the remote server, and must have a command argument syntax that is
134 .It Fl d Ar var=value
141 option is used to define or override variable definitions in the
144 can be the empty string, one name, or a list of names surrounded by
145 parentheses and separated by tabs and/or spaces.
147 Follow symbolic links.
148 Copy the file that the link points to rather than the
151 Ignore unresolved links.
153 will normally try to maintain the link structure of files being transferred
154 and warn the user if all the links cannot be found.
156 Limit which machines are to be updated.
159 arguments can be given to limit updates to a subset of the hosts listed in the
162 Print the commands without executing them.
168 Files that are being modified are normally
169 printed on standard output.
172 option suppresses this.
174 Remove extraneous files.
175 If a directory is being updated, any files that exist
176 on the remote host that do not exist in the master directory are removed.
177 This is useful for maintaining truly identical copies of directories.
179 Verify that the files are up to date on all the hosts.
181 that are out of date will be displayed but no files will be changed
185 The whole file name is appended to the destination directory
187 Normally, only the last component of a name is used when renaming files.
188 This will preserve the directory structure of the files being
189 copied instead of flattening the directory structure.
191 renaming a list of files such as ( dir1/f1 dir2/f2 ) to dir3 would create
192 files dir3/dir1/f1 and dir3/dir2/f2 instead of dir3/f1 and dir3/f2.
195 Files are normally updated if their
206 not to update files that are younger than the master copy.
208 to prevent newer copies on other hosts from being replaced.
209 A warning message is printed for files which are newer than the master copy.
215 contains a sequence of entries that specify the files
216 to be copied, the destination hosts, and what operations to perform
218 Each entry has one of the following formats.
220 .Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
221 <variable name> `=' <name list>
222 [label:]<source list> `\->' <destination list> <command list>
223 [label:]<source list> `::' <time_stamp file> <command list>
226 The first format is used for defining variables.
227 The second format is used for distributing files to other hosts.
228 The third format is used for making lists of files that have been changed
229 since some given date.
233 list of files and/or directories on the local host which are to be used
234 as the master copy for distribution.
237 is the list of hosts to which these files are to be
238 copied. Each file in the source list is added to a list of changes
239 if the file is out of date on the host which is being updated (second format) or
240 the file is newer than the time stamp file (third format).
243 They are used to identify a command for partial updates.
245 Newlines, tabs, and blanks are only used as separators and are
247 Comments begin with `#' and end with a newline.
249 Variables to be expanded begin with `$' followed by one character or
250 a name enclosed in curly braces (see the examples at the end).
252 The source and destination lists have the following format:
253 .Bd -literal -offset indent
257 .Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
258 `(' <zero or more names separated by white-space> `)'
261 The shell meta-characters `[', `]', `{', `}', `*', and `?'
262 are recognized and expanded (on the local host only) in the same way as
264 They can be escaped with a backslash.
265 The `~' character is also expanded in the same way as
267 but is expanded separately on the local and destination hosts.
270 option is used with a file name that begins with `~', everything except the
271 home directory is appended to the destination name.
272 File names which do not begin with `/' or `~' use the destination user's
273 home directory as the root directory for the rest of the file name.
275 The command list consists of zero or more commands of the following
277 .Bd -ragged -offset indent -compact
278 .Bl -column except_patx pattern\ listx
279 .It "`install' <options> opt_dest_name `;'
280 .It "`notify' <name list> `;'
281 .It "`except' <name list> `;'
282 .It "`except_pat' <pattern list> `;'
283 .It "`special' <name list> string `;'
289 command is used to copy out of date files and/or directories.
290 Each source file is copied to each host in the destination list.
291 Directories are recursively copied in the same way.
293 is an optional parameter to rename files.
296 command appears in the command list or
297 the destination name is not specified,
298 the source file name is used.
299 Directories in the path name will be created if they
300 do not exist on the remote host.
301 To help prevent disasters, a non-empty directory on a target host will
302 never be replaced with a regular file or a symbolic link.
303 However, under the `\-R' option a non-empty directory will be removed
304 if the corresponding filename is completely absent on the master host.
307 are `\-R', `\-h', `\-i', `\-v', `\-w', `\-y', and `\-b'
308 and have the same semantics as
309 options on the command line except they only apply to the files
311 The login name used on the destination host is the same as the local host
312 unless the destination name is of the format ``login@host".
316 command is used to mail the list of files updated (and any errors
317 that may have occurred) to the listed names.
318 If no `@' appears in the name, the destination host is appended to
320 (e.g., name1@host, name2@host, ...).
324 command is used to update all of the files in the source list
326 for the files listed in
328 This is usually used to copy everything in a directory except certain files.
336 is a list of regular expressions
340 If one of the patterns matches some string within a file name, that file will
342 Note that since `\e' is a quote character, it must be doubled to become
343 part of the regular expression. Variables are expanded in
345 but not shell file pattern matching characters. To include a `$', it
346 must be escaped with `\e'.
350 command is used to specify
352 commands that are to be executed on the
353 remote host after the file in
355 is updated or installed.
358 is omitted then the shell commands will be executed
359 for every file updated or installed. The shell variable `FILE' is set
360 to the current filename before executing the commands in
363 starts and ends with `"' and can cross multiple lines in
365 Multiple commands to the shell should be separated by `;'.
366 Commands are executed in the user's home directory on the host
370 command can be used to rebuild private databases, etc.
371 after a program has been updated.
373 The following is a small example:
374 .Bd -literal -offset indent
375 HOSTS = ( matisse root@arpa )
377 FILES = ( /bin /lib /usr/bin /usr/games
378 \t/usr/include/{*.h,{stand,sys,vax*,pascal,machine}/*.h}
379 \t/usr/lib /usr/man/man? /usr/ucb /usr/local/rdist )
381 EXLIB = ( Mail.rc aliases aliases.dir aliases.pag crontab dshrc
382 \tsendmail.cf sendmail.fc sendmail.hf sendmail.st uucp vfont )
386 \texcept /usr/lib/${EXLIB} ;
387 \texcept /usr/games/lib ;
388 \tspecial /usr/lib/sendmail "/usr/lib/sendmail -bz" ;
392 \texcept_pat ( \e\e.o\e$ /SCCS\e$ ) ;
394 IMAGEN = (ips dviimp catdvi)
397 /usr/local/${IMAGEN} -> arpa
398 \tinstall /usr/local/lib ;
401 ${FILES} :: stamp.cory
405 .Bl -tag -width /tmp/rdist* -compact
409 temporary file for update lists
422 A complaint about mismatch of
424 version numbers may really stem
425 from some problem with starting your shell, e.g., you are in too many groups.
430 type remote services executing successfully and in silence.
431 A common error is for non-interactive initialization scripts, like
433 to generate output (or to run other programs which generate output
434 when not attached to a terminal -- the most frequent offender is
436 This extra output will cause
438 to fail with the error message:
440 .Dl rdist: connection failed: version numbers don't match
442 Source files must reside on the local host where
446 There is no easy way to have a
448 command executed after all files
449 in a directory have been updated.
451 Variable expansion only works for name lists; there should be a general macro
455 aborts on files which have a negative mtime (before Jan 1, 1970).
457 There should be a `force' option to allow replacement of non-empty directories
458 by regular files or symlinks. A means of updating file modes and owners
459 of otherwise identical files is also needed.