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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:
68 .Bl -tag -width indent
74 the standard input is used.
84 option is not specified, the program looks first for
89 If no names are specified on the command line,
91 will update all of the files and directories listed in
93 Otherwise, the argument is taken to be the name of a file to be updated
94 or the label of a command to execute.
95 If label and file names conflict,
96 it is assumed to be a label.
97 These may be used together to update specific files
98 using specific commands.
100 Options specific to the second SYNOPSIS form:
105 to interpret the remaining arguments as a small
108 The equivalent distfile is as follows.
110 .Bd -ragged -offset indent -compact
115 .Bd -ragged -offset indent -compact
122 Options common to both forms:
125 Alternative program to provide
127 transport to the remote server. It must provide a binary-transparent path
128 to the remote server, and must have a command argument syntax that is
131 .It Fl d Ar var=value
138 option is used to define or override variable definitions in the
141 can be the empty string, one name, or a list of names surrounded by
142 parentheses and separated by tabs and/or spaces.
144 Follow symbolic links.
145 Copy the file that the link points to rather than the
148 Ignore unresolved links.
150 will normally try to maintain the link structure of files being transferred
151 and warn the user if all the links cannot be found.
153 Limit which machines are to be updated.
156 arguments can be given to limit updates to a subset of the hosts listed in the
159 Print the commands without executing them.
165 Files that are being modified are normally
166 printed on standard output.
169 option suppresses this.
171 Remove extraneous files.
172 If a directory is being updated, any files that exist
173 on the remote host that do not exist in the master directory are removed.
174 This is useful for maintaining truly identical copies of directories.
176 Verify that the files are up to date on all the hosts.
178 that are out of date will be displayed but no files will be changed
182 The whole file name is appended to the destination directory
184 Normally, only the last component of a name is used when renaming files.
185 This will preserve the directory structure of the files being
186 copied instead of flattening the directory structure.
188 renaming a list of files such as ( dir1/f1 dir2/f2 ) to dir3 would create
189 files dir3/dir1/f1 and dir3/dir2/f2 instead of dir3/f1 and dir3/f2.
192 Files are normally updated if their
203 not to update files that are younger than the master copy.
205 to prevent newer copies on other hosts from being replaced.
206 A warning message is printed for files which are newer than the master copy.
212 contains a sequence of entries that specify the files
213 to be copied, the destination hosts, and what operations to perform
215 Each entry has one of the following formats.
217 .Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
218 <variable name> `=' <name list>
219 [label:]<source list> `\->' <destination list> <command list>
220 [label:]<source list> `::' <time_stamp file> <command list>
223 The first format is used for defining variables.
224 The second format is used for distributing files to other hosts.
225 The third format is used for making lists of files that have been changed
226 since some given date.
230 list of files and/or directories on the local host which are to be used
231 as the master copy for distribution.
234 is the list of hosts to which these files are to be
235 copied. Each file in the source list is added to a list of changes
236 if the file is out of date on the host which is being updated (second format) or
237 the file is newer than the time stamp file (third format).
240 They are used to identify a command for partial updates.
242 Newlines, tabs, and blanks are only used as separators and are
244 Comments begin with `#' and end with a newline.
246 Variables to be expanded begin with `$' followed by one character or
247 a name enclosed in curly braces (see the examples at the end).
249 The source and destination lists have the following format:
250 .Bd -literal -offset indent
254 .Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
255 `(' <zero or more names separated by white-space> `)'
258 The shell meta-characters `[', `]', `{', `}', `*', and `?'
259 are recognized and expanded (on the local host only) in the same way as
261 They can be escaped with a backslash.
262 The `~' character is also expanded in the same way as
264 but is expanded separately on the local and destination hosts.
267 option is used with a file name that begins with `~', everything except the
268 home directory is appended to the destination name.
269 File names which do not begin with `/' or `~' use the destination user's
270 home directory as the root directory for the rest of the file name.
272 The command list consists of zero or more commands of the following
274 .Bd -ragged -offset indent -compact
275 .Bl -column except_patx pattern\ listx
276 .It "`install' <options> opt_dest_name `;'"
277 .It "`notify' <name list> `;'"
278 .It "`except' <name list> `;'"
279 .It "`except_pat' <pattern list> `;'"
280 .It "`special' <name list> string `;'"
286 command is used to copy out of date files and/or directories.
287 Each source file is copied to each host in the destination list.
288 Directories are recursively copied in the same way.
290 is an optional parameter to rename files.
293 command appears in the command list or
294 the destination name is not specified,
295 the source file name is used.
296 Directories in the path name will be created if they
297 do not exist on the remote host.
298 To help prevent disasters, a non-empty directory on a target host will
299 never be replaced with a regular file or a symbolic link.
300 However, under the `\-R' option a non-empty directory will be removed
301 if the corresponding filename is completely absent on the master host.
304 are `\-R', `\-h', `\-i', `\-v', `\-w', `\-y', and `\-b'
305 and have the same semantics as
306 options on the command line except they only apply to the files
308 The login name used on the destination host is the same as the local host
309 unless the destination name is of the format ``login@host".
313 command is used to mail the list of files updated (and any errors
314 that may have occurred) to the listed names.
315 If no `@' appears in the name, the destination host is appended to
317 (e.g., name1@host, name2@host, ...).
321 command is used to update all of the files in the source list
323 for the files listed in
325 This is usually used to copy everything in a directory except certain files.
333 is a list of regular expressions
337 If one of the patterns matches some string within a file name, that file will
339 Note that since `\e' is a quote character, it must be doubled to become
340 part of the regular expression. Variables are expanded in
342 but not shell file pattern matching characters. To include a `$', it
343 must be escaped with `\e'.
347 command is used to specify
349 commands that are to be executed on the
350 remote host after the file in
352 is updated or installed.
355 is omitted then the shell commands will be executed
356 for every file updated or installed. The shell variable `FILE' is set
357 to the current filename before executing the commands in
360 starts and ends with `"' and can cross multiple lines in
362 Multiple commands to the shell should be separated by `;'.
363 Commands are executed in the user's home directory on the host
367 command can be used to rebuild private databases, etc.
368 after a program has been updated.
370 The following is a small example:
371 .Bd -literal -offset indent
372 HOSTS = ( matisse root@arpa )
374 FILES = ( /bin /lib /usr/bin /usr/games
375 \t/usr/include/{*.h,{stand,sys,vax*,pascal,machine}/*.h}
376 \t/usr/lib /usr/man/man? /usr/ucb /usr/local/rdist )
378 EXLIB = ( Mail.rc aliases aliases.dir aliases.pag crontab dshrc
379 \tsendmail.cf sendmail.fc sendmail.hf sendmail.st uucp vfont )
383 \texcept /usr/lib/${EXLIB} ;
384 \texcept /usr/games/lib ;
385 \tspecial /usr/lib/sendmail "/usr/lib/sendmail -bz" ;
389 \texcept_pat ( \e\e.o\e$ /SCCS\e$ ) ;
391 IMAGEN = (ips dviimp catdvi)
394 /usr/local/${IMAGEN} -> arpa
395 \tinstall /usr/local/lib ;
398 ${FILES} :: stamp.cory
402 .Bl -tag -width /tmp/rdist* -compact
406 temporary file for update lists
409 A complaint about mismatch of
411 version numbers may really stem
412 from some problem with starting your shell, e.g., you are in too many groups.
417 type remote services executing successfully and in silence.
418 A common error is for non-interactive initialization scripts, like
420 to generate output (or to run other programs which generate output
421 when not attached to a terminal -- the most frequent offender is
423 This extra output will cause
425 to fail with the error message:
427 .Dl rdist: connection failed: version numbers don't match
439 Source files must reside on the local host where
443 There is no easy way to have a
445 command executed after all files
446 in a directory have been updated.
448 Variable expansion only works for name lists; there should be a general macro
452 aborts on files which have a negative mtime (before Jan 1, 1970).
454 There should be a `force' option to allow replacement of non-empty directories
455 by regular files or symlinks. A means of updating file modes and owners
456 of otherwise identical files is also needed.