# 2.11BSD#431 - /usr/man/cat1/rdist.0

    RDIST(1)	    UNIX Programmer's Manual		 RDIST(1)

    NAME
         rdist - remote file distribution program

    SYNOPSIS
         rdist [ -nqbRhivwy ] [ -f distfile ] [ -d var=value ]  [  -m
         host ] [ name ... ]

         rdist [ -nqbRhivwy ] -c name ... [login@]host[:dest]

    DESCRIPTION
         Rdist is a program to maintain  identical	copies	of  files
         over  multiple  hosts.  It preserves the owner, group, mode,
         and mtime of files if possible and can update programs  that
         are executing.  Rdist reads commands from distfile to direct
         the updating of files and/or directories.	 If  distfile  is
         `-',  the	standard  input  is  used.   If  no  -f option is
         present, the program looks first for `distfile', then `Dist-
         file' to use as the input.  If no names are specified on the
         command line, rdist will update all of the files and  direc-
         tories listed in distfile.  Otherwise, the argument is taken
         to be the name of a file to be updated or	the  label  of	a
         command  to execute. If label and file names conflict, it is
         assumed to be a label.  These may be used together to update
         specific files using specific commands.

         The -c option forces rdist to interpret the remaining  argu-
         ments  as	a  small distfile.  The equivalent distfile is as
         follows.

    	  ( name ... ) -> [login@]host
    	       install	 [dest] ;

         Other options:

         -d   Define var to have value.  The -d  option  is  used  to
    	  define  or  override	variable definitions in the dist-
    	  file.  Value can be the empty string, one  name,  or	a
    	  list	of  names surrounded by parentheses and separated
    	  by tabs and/or spaces.

         -m   Limit which machines are to  be  updated.  Multiple  -m
    	  arguments  can be given to limit updates to a subset of
    	  the hosts listed the distfile.

         -n   Print the commands without executing them. This  option
    	  is useful for debugging distfile.

         -q   Quiet mode. Files that are being modified are  normally
    	  printed  on  standard  output. The -q option suppresses
    	  this.

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         -R   Remove  extraneous  files.  If  a  directory	is  being
    	  updated,  any  files that exist on the remote host that
    	  do not exist in the master directory are removed.  This
    	  is  useful  for  maintaining truely identical copies of
    	  directories.

         -h   Follow symbolic links. Copy  the  file  that	the  link
    	  points to rather than the link itself.

         -i   Ignore unresolved links.  Rdist will	normally  try  to
    	  maintain  the  link structure of files being transfered
    	  and warn the user if all the links cannot be found.

         -v   Verify that the files are up to date on all the  hosts.
    	  Any files that are out of date will be displayed but no
    	  files will be changed nor any mail sent.

         -w   Whole mode. The whole file name is appended to the des-
    	  tination  directory  name. Normally, only the last com-
    	  ponent of a name is used  when  renaming  files.   This
    	  will	preserve  the  directory  structure  of the files
    	  being copied instead of flattening the directory struc-
    	  ture.  For  example, renaming a list of files such as (
    	  dir1/f1  dir2/f2  )  to   dir3   would   create   files
    	  dir3/dir1/f1	and  dir3/dir2/f2  instead of dir3/f1 and
    	  dir3/f2.

         -y   Younger mode. Files are normally updated if their mtime
    	  and  size  (see stat(2)) disagree. The -y option causes
    	  rdist not to update files that  are  younger	than  the
    	  master  copy.  This can be used to prevent newer copies
    	  on other hosts from being replaced.  A warning  message
    	  is  printed  for  files which are newer than the master
    	  copy.

         -b   Binary comparison.  Perform  a  binary  comparison  and
    	  update files if they differ rather than comparing dates
    	  and sizes.

         Distfile contains a sequence of  entries  that  specify  the
         files  to	be copied, the destination hosts, and what opera-
         tions to perform to do the updating. Each entry has  one  of
         the following formats.

    	  <variable name> `=' <name list>
    	  [ label: ] <source list> `->' <destination list> <command list>
    	  [ label: ] <source list> `::' <time_stamp file> <command list>

         The first format is used for defining variables.  The second
         format  is  used for distributing files to other hosts.  The
         third format is used for making lists  of	files  that  have
         been  changed  since  some  given	date.	The  source  list

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         specifies a list of files and/or directories  on  the  local
         host  which  are to be used as the master copy for distribu-
         tion.  The destination list is the list of  hosts	to  which
         these  files are to be copied.  Each file in the source list
         is added to a list of changes if the file is out of date  on
         the  host which is being updated (second format) or the file
         is newer than the time stamp file (third format).

         Labels are optional. They are used to identify a command for
         partial updates.

         Newlines, tabs, and blanks are only used as  separators  and
         are  otherwise ignored. Comments begin with `#' and end with
         a newline.

         Variables to be expanded begin  with  `$'	followed  by  one
         character	or a name enclosed in curly braces (see the exam-
         ples at the end).

         The source and destination lists have the following format:

    	  <name>
         or
    	  `(' <zero or more names separated by white-space> `)'

         The shell meta-characters `[', `]', `{', `}', `*',  and  `?'
         are  recognized and expanded (on the local host only) in the
         same way as csh(1).  They can be escaped with  a  backslash.
         The  `~'  character  is also expanded in the same way as csh
         but is expanded separately  on  the  local  and  destination
         hosts.   When  the  -w  option is used with a file name that
         begins with `~', everything except  the  home  directory  is
         appended  to  the destination name.  File names which do not
         begin with `/' or `~' use the destination user's home direc-
         tory as the root directory for the rest of the file name.

         The command list consists of zero or more	commands  of  the
         following format.

    	  `install'  <options>	  opt_dest_name `;'
    	  `notify'   <name list>  `;'
    	  `except'   <name list>  `;'
    	  `except_pat'		  <pattern list>`;'
    	  `special'  <name list>  string `;'

         The install command is used to copy out of date files and/or
         directories.  Each source file is copied to each host in the
         destination list.	Directories are recursively copied in the
         same  way.  Opt_dest_name is an optional parameter to rename
         files.  If no install command appears in the command list or
         the  destination name is not specified, the source file name

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         is used.  Directories in the path name will  be  created  if
         they  do  not  exist  on  the  remote host.  To help prevent
         disasters, a non-empty directory on a target host will never
         be  replaced  with  a regular file or a symbolic link.  How-
         ever, under the `-R' option a non-empty  directory  will  be
         removed  if  the corresponding filename is completely absent
         on the master host.  The options are `-R', `-h', `-i', `-v',
         `-w',  `-y', and `-b' and have the same semantics as options
         on the command line except they only apply to the	files  in
         the  source  list.   The  login name used on the destination
         host is the same as the local host  unless  the  destination
         name is of the format ``login@host".

         The notify command is used to mail the list of files updated
         (and  any errors that may have occured) to the listed names.
         If no `@' appears in  the	name,  the  destination  host  is
         appended to the name (e.g., name1@host, name2@host, ...).

         The except command is used to update all of the files in the
         source  list except for the files listed in name list.  This
         is usually used to copy everything  in  a	directory  except
         certain files.

         The except_pat command is like  the  except  command  except
         that  pattern  list  is  a  list of regular expressions (see
         ed(1) for details).  If one of  the  patterns  matches  some
         string  within a file name, that file will be ignored.  Note
         that since `\' is a quote character, it must be  doubled  to
         become  part  of  the  regular  expression.   Variables  are
         expanded in pattern list but not shell file pattern matching
         characters.  To include a `$', it must be escaped with `\'.

         The special command is used to specify sh(1)  commands  that
         are to be executed on the remote host after the file in name
         list is updated or installed.  If the name list  is  omitted
         then  the	shell  commands  will  be executed for every file
         updated or installed.  The shell variable `FILE' is  set  to
         the  current  filename  before  executing	the  commands  in
         string.  String starts and ends with `"' and can cross  mul-
         tiple  lines  in  distfile.  Multiple  commands to the shell
         should be separated by `;'.  Commands are	executed  in  the
         user's  home  directory on the host being updated.  The spe-
         cial command can be used to rebuild private databases,  etc.
         after a program has been updated.

         The following is a small example.

    	  HOSTS = ( matisse root@arpa)

    	  FILES = ( /bin /lib /usr/bin /usr/games
    		     /usr/include/{*.h,{stand,sys,vax*,pascal,machine}/*.h}
    		     /usr/lib /usr/man/man? /usr/ucb /usr/local/rdist )

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    	  EXLIB = ( Mail.rc aliases aliases.dir aliases.pag crontab dshrc
    		     sendmail.cf sendmail.fc sendmail.hf sendmail.st uucp vfont )

    	  ${FILES} -> ${HOSTS}
    		     install -R ;
    		     except /usr/lib/${EXLIB} ;
    		     except /usr/games/lib ;
    		     special /usr/sbin/sendmail "/usr/sbin/sendmail -bz" ;

    	  srcs:
    	  /usr/src/bin -> arpa
    		     except_pat ( \\.o\$ /SCCS\$ ) ;

    	  IMAGEN = (ips dviimp catdvi)

    	  imagen:
    	  /usr/local/${IMAGEN} -> arpa
    		     install /usr/local/lib ;
    		     notify ralph ;

    	  ${FILES} :: stamp.cory
    		     notify root@cory ;

    FILES
         distfile	    input command file
         /tmp/rdist*    temporary file for update lists

    SEE ALSO
         sh(1), csh(1), stat(2)

    DIAGNOSTICS
         A complaint about mismatch  of  rdist  version  numbers  may
         really  stem  from  some  problem	with starting your shell,
         e.g., you are in too many groups.

    BUGS
         Source files must reside on the local host  where	rdist  is
         executed.

         There is no easy way to  have  a  special	command  executed
         after all files in a directory have been updated.

         Variable expansion only works for name lists;  there  should
         be a general macro facility.

         Rdist aborts on files which have a  negative  mtime  (before
         Jan 1, 1970).

         There should be a `force' option  to  allow  replacement  of
         non-empty directories by regular files or symlinks.  A means
         of updating file modes and  owners  of  otherwise	identical

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    RDIST(1)	    UNIX Programmer's Manual		 RDIST(1)

         files is also needed.

    Printed 11/26/99	October 22, 1996			6

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