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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 $
34 .\" $DragonFly: src/usr.bin/rdist/rdist.1,v 1.4 2008/05/02 02:05:07 swildner Exp $
41 .Nd remote file distribution program
55 .Oo Ar login Ns @ Oc Ns Xo
56 .Ar host Ns Op : Ns Ar dest
60 is a program to maintain identical copies of files over multiple hosts.
61 It preserves the owner, group, mode, and mtime of files if possible and
62 can update programs that are executing.
66 to direct the updating of files and/or directories.
68 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:
106 to interpret the remaining arguments as a small
109 The equivalent distfile is as follows.
111 .Bd -ragged -offset indent -compact
116 .Bd -ragged -offset indent -compact
123 Options common to both forms:
126 Alternative program to provide
128 transport to the remote server. It must provide a binary-transparent path
129 to the remote server, and must have a command argument syntax that is
132 .It Fl d Ar var=value
139 option is used to define or override variable definitions in the
142 can be the empty string, one name, or a list of names surrounded by
143 parentheses and separated by tabs and/or spaces.
145 Follow symbolic links.
146 Copy the file that the link points to rather than the
149 Ignore unresolved links.
151 will normally try to maintain the link structure of files being transferred
152 and warn the user if all the links cannot be found.
154 Limit which machines are to be updated.
157 arguments can be given to limit updates to a subset of the hosts listed in the
160 Print the commands without executing them.
166 Files that are being modified are normally
167 printed on standard output.
170 option suppresses this.
172 Remove extraneous files.
173 If a directory is being updated, any files that exist
174 on the remote host that do not exist in the master directory are removed.
175 This is useful for maintaining truly identical copies of directories.
177 Verify that the files are up to date on all the hosts.
179 that are out of date will be displayed but no files will be changed
183 The whole file name is appended to the destination directory
185 Normally, only the last component of a name is used when renaming files.
186 This will preserve the directory structure of the files being
187 copied instead of flattening the directory structure.
189 renaming a list of files such as ( dir1/f1 dir2/f2 ) to dir3 would create
190 files dir3/dir1/f1 and dir3/dir2/f2 instead of dir3/f1 and dir3/f2.
193 Files are normally updated if their
204 not to update files that are younger than the master copy.
206 to prevent newer copies on other hosts from being replaced.
207 A warning message is printed for files which are newer than the master copy.
213 contains a sequence of entries that specify the files
214 to be copied, the destination hosts, and what operations to perform
216 Each entry has one of the following formats.
218 .Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
219 <variable name> `=' <name list>
220 [label:]<source list> `\->' <destination list> <command list>
221 [label:]<source list> `::' <time_stamp file> <command list>
224 The first format is used for defining variables.
225 The second format is used for distributing files to other hosts.
226 The third format is used for making lists of files that have been changed
227 since some given date.
231 list of files and/or directories on the local host which are to be used
232 as the master copy for distribution.
235 is the list of hosts to which these files are to be
236 copied. Each file in the source list is added to a list of changes
237 if the file is out of date on the host which is being updated (second format) or
238 the file is newer than the time stamp file (third format).
241 They are used to identify a command for partial updates.
243 Newlines, tabs, and blanks are only used as separators and are
245 Comments begin with `#' and end with a newline.
247 Variables to be expanded begin with `$' followed by one character or
248 a name enclosed in curly braces (see the examples at the end).
250 The source and destination lists have the following format:
251 .Bd -literal -offset indent
255 .Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
256 `(' <zero or more names separated by white-space> `)'
259 The shell meta-characters `[', `]', `{', `}', `*', and `?'
260 are recognized and expanded (on the local host only) in the same way as
262 They can be escaped with a backslash.
263 The `~' character is also expanded in the same way as
265 but is expanded separately on the local and destination hosts.
268 option is used with a file name that begins with `~', everything except the
269 home directory is appended to the destination name.
270 File names which do not begin with `/' or `~' use the destination user's
271 home directory as the root directory for the rest of the file name.
273 The command list consists of zero or more commands of the following
275 .Bd -ragged -offset indent -compact
276 .Bl -column except_patx pattern\ listx
277 .It "`install' <options> opt_dest_name `;'
278 .It "`notify' <name list> `;'
279 .It "`except' <name list> `;'
280 .It "`except_pat' <pattern list> `;'
281 .It "`special' <name list> string `;'
287 command is used to copy out of date files and/or directories.
288 Each source file is copied to each host in the destination list.
289 Directories are recursively copied in the same way.
291 is an optional parameter to rename files.
294 command appears in the command list or
295 the destination name is not specified,
296 the source file name is used.
297 Directories in the path name will be created if they
298 do not exist on the remote host.
299 To help prevent disasters, a non-empty directory on a target host will
300 never be replaced with a regular file or a symbolic link.
301 However, under the `\-R' option a non-empty directory will be removed
302 if the corresponding filename is completely absent on the master host.
305 are `\-R', `\-h', `\-i', `\-v', `\-w', `\-y', and `\-b'
306 and have the same semantics as
307 options on the command line except they only apply to the files
309 The login name used on the destination host is the same as the local host
310 unless the destination name is of the format ``login@host".
314 command is used to mail the list of files updated (and any errors
315 that may have occurred) to the listed names.
316 If no `@' appears in the name, the destination host is appended to
318 (e.g., name1@host, name2@host, ...).
322 command is used to update all of the files in the source list
324 for the files listed in
326 This is usually used to copy everything in a directory except certain files.
334 is a list of regular expressions
338 If one of the patterns matches some string within a file name, that file will
340 Note that since `\e' is a quote character, it must be doubled to become
341 part of the regular expression. Variables are expanded in
343 but not shell file pattern matching characters. To include a `$', it
344 must be escaped with `\e'.
348 command is used to specify
350 commands that are to be executed on the
351 remote host after the file in
353 is updated or installed.
356 is omitted then the shell commands will be executed
357 for every file updated or installed. The shell variable `FILE' is set
358 to the current filename before executing the commands in
361 starts and ends with `"' and can cross multiple lines in
363 Multiple commands to the shell should be separated by `;'.
364 Commands are executed in the user's home directory on the host
368 command can be used to rebuild private databases, etc.
369 after a program has been updated.
371 The following is a small example:
372 .Bd -literal -offset indent
373 HOSTS = ( matisse root@arpa )
375 FILES = ( /bin /lib /usr/bin /usr/games
376 \t/usr/include/{*.h,{stand,sys,vax*,pascal,machine}/*.h}
377 \t/usr/lib /usr/man/man? /usr/ucb /usr/local/rdist )
379 EXLIB = ( Mail.rc aliases aliases.dir aliases.pag crontab dshrc
380 \tsendmail.cf sendmail.fc sendmail.hf sendmail.st uucp vfont )
384 \texcept /usr/lib/${EXLIB} ;
385 \texcept /usr/games/lib ;
386 \tspecial /usr/lib/sendmail "/usr/lib/sendmail -bz" ;
390 \texcept_pat ( \e\e.o\e$ /SCCS\e$ ) ;
392 IMAGEN = (ips dviimp catdvi)
395 /usr/local/${IMAGEN} -> arpa
396 \tinstall /usr/local/lib ;
399 ${FILES} :: stamp.cory
403 .Bl -tag -width /tmp/rdist* -compact
407 temporary file for update lists
410 A complaint about mismatch of
412 version numbers may really stem
413 from some problem with starting your shell, e.g., you are in too many groups.
418 type remote services executing successfully and in silence.
419 A common error is for non-interactive initialization scripts, like
421 to generate output (or to run other programs which generate output
422 when not attached to a terminal -- the most frequent offender is
424 This extra output will cause
426 to fail with the error message:
428 .Dl rdist: connection failed: version numbers don't match
440 Source files must reside on the local host where
444 There is no easy way to have a
446 command executed after all files
447 in a directory have been updated.
449 Variable expansion only works for name lists; there should be a general macro
453 aborts on files which have a negative mtime (before Jan 1, 1970).
455 There should be a `force' option to allow replacement of non-empty directories
456 by regular files or symlinks. A means of updating file modes and owners
457 of otherwise identical files is also needed.