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RDIST(1)		     General Commands 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.

     Options specific to the first SYNOPSIS form:

     -	     If distfile is `-', the standard input is used.

     -f distfile
	     Use the specified distfile.

     If  either  the  -f or `-' option is not specified, the program looks first
     for "distfile", then "Distfile" to use as the input.  If no names are spec-
     ified on the command line, rdist will update all of the files and	directo-
     ries  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 to-
     gether to update specific files using specific commands.

     Options specific to the second SYNOPSIS form:

     -c 	 Forces rdist to interpret the remaining arguments  as	a  small
		 distfile.

		 The equivalent distfile is as follows.

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

     Options common to both forms:

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

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

     -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.

     -m host	 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 use-
		 ful for debugging distfile.

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

     -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.

     -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  destination
		 directory  name. Normally, only the last component of a name is
		 used when renaming files.  This  will	preserve  the  directory
		 structure  of	the files being copied instead of flattening the
		 directory structure. 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  re-
		 placed.  A warning message is printed for files which are newer
		 than the master copy.

     Distfile  contains  a  sequence  of  entries  that  specify the files to be
     copied, the destination hosts, and what operations to perform to do the up-
     dating. 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  specifies  a list of files and/or directories on the local host which
     are to be used as the master copy for distribution.  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 up-
     dates.

     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 examples 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(1) 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 directory 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.	Directo-
     ries 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  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.
     However, 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  er-
     rors  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  es-
     caped with `\'.

     The  special  command is used to specify sh(1) commands that are to be exe-
     cuted on the remote host after the file in name  list  is	updated  or  in-
     stalled.	If the name list is omitted then the shell commands will be exe-
     cuted 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 multiple 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
     special  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 )

	   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/lib/sendmail "/usr/lib/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)

HISTORY
     The rdist command appeared in 4.3BSD.

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 directo-
     ries by regular files or symlinks.  A means of updating file modes and own-
     ers of otherwise identical files is also needed.

4.3 Berkeley Distribution	  July 27, 1991 			RDIST(1)
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