rdist - remote file distribution client program
rdist [-DFn] [-A num] [-a num] [-d var=value]
[-l local_logopts] [-L remote_logopts] [-f distfile]
[-M maxproc] [-m host] [-o distopts] [-t timeout]
[-p rdistd-path] [-P rsh-path] [name ...]
rdist [-DFn] [-c name ...[user@]host[:dest]
rdist -V
The rdist(1) utility is a program you can use 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. The rdist(1) utility 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 'Distfile' to use as the input. If no names are specified on the command line, rdist(1) will update all of the files and directories 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 can be used together to update specific files using specific commands.
The -c option forces rdist(1) to interpret the remaining arguments as a small distfile. The equivalent distfile is as follows.
( name ... ) -> [user@]host
install [dest] ;
The rdist(1) utility uses the rcmd(3) function call or the rsh(1) to access each target host.
With the rcmd(3) method, rdist(1) makes the connection to the target host itself and runs the rdistd(1) server program as described in this topic.
On each target host, rdist(1) will attempt to run the command
rdistd -S
or
"rdistd_path" -S
if the -p option was specified. If no -p option is
included, or the rdistd_path is a simple file name,
rdistd(1) or rdistd_path must be somewhere in the
PATH of the user running rdist(1) on the remote
(target) host.
The rdist(1) utility uses a collection of predefined message facilities that each contain a list of message types specifying which types of messages to send to that facility. The local client (rdist(1)) and the remote server (rdistd(1)) each maintain their own copy of which types of messages to log to which facilities.
The -l logopts option to rdist(1) tells rdist(1) which logging options to use locally. The -L logopts option to rdist(1) tells rdist(1) which logging options to pass to the remote rdistd(1) server.
The form of logopts should be of form
facility=types:facility=types...
The valid facility names are as follows:
"file=filename=types"
For example:Types should be a comma-separated list of message types. Each message type specified enables that message level. This is unlike the syslog(3) system facility, which uses an ascending order scheme. The following are the valid types:
The following is a sample command-line option:
-l stdout=all:syslog=change,notice:file=/tmp/rdist.log=all
This entry will set local message logging to have all but debug
messages sent to standard output, change and notice messages will
be sent to syslog(3), and all messages will be written to
the file /tmp/rdist.log.
The distfile contains a sequence of entries that specify the files to be copied, the destination hosts, and which operations 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.
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 {} (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 )
These simple lists can be modified by using one level of set addition, subtraction, or intersection, as in the following example:
list '-' list
or
list '+' list
or
list '&' list
If additional modifications are needed (for example, "all servers and client computers except for the OSF/1 computers"), the list must be explicitly constructed in steps using "temporary" variables.
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 '\'. The '~' character is also expanded in the same way as csh(1), but it is expanded separately on the local and destination hosts. When the -owhole option is used with a file name that begins with '~', everything except the home directory is appended to the destination name. File names that 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.
The install command is used to copy out of date files, directories, or both. Each source file is copied to each host in the destination list. Directories are recursively copied in the same way. The opt_dest_name parameter 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. The -o distopts option (previously specified under OPTIONS) has the same semantics as on the command line, except that they only apply to the files in the source list. The user name used on the destination host is the same as the local host unless the destination name is of the format "user@host".
The notify command is used to mail the list of files updated (and any errors that might have occurred) to the listed names. If no '@' appears in the name, the destination host is appended to the name (for example, name1@host, name2@host, and so on). This command is not currently supported by Interix.
The except command is used to update all of the files in the source list except 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 regex(1) for details). If one of the patterns matches some string within a file name, that file will be ignored. Because '\' 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, the shell commands will be executed for every file updated or installed. 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 and such after a program has been updated. The following environment variables are set for each special command:
The cmdspecial command is similar to the special command, except that it is executed only when the entire command is completed instead of after each file is updated. The list of files is placed in the environment variable FILES. Each file name in FILES is separated by a ':' (colon).
If a host name ends in a plus sign (+), the '+' is stripped off and NFS checks are disabled. This is equivalent to disabling the -o chknfs option just for this one host.
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} -> ${HOSTS}
install -oremove,chknfs,numchkgroup ;
except /usr/lib/${EXLIB} ;
except /usr/games/lib ;
special /usr/lib/sendmail "/usr/lib/sendmail -bz" ;
srcs:
/usr/src/bin -> arpa
install -onumchkgroup ;
except_pat ( \\.o\$ /SCCS\$ ) ;
IMAGEN = (ips dviimp catdvi)
imagen:
/usr/local/${IMAGEN} -> arpa
install -onumchkgroup /usr/local/lib ;
notify ralph ;
${FILES} :: stamp.cory
install -onumchkgroup ;
notify Administrator ;
The rdist(1) utility makes use of the following environment variables, if set:
If the base name of a file (the last component in the path name) is ".", rdist assumes the remote (destination) name is a directory. Thus, /tmp/. means that /tmp should be a directory on the remote host.
The following options are still recognized for backwards compatibility:
-v -N -O -q -b -r -R -s -w -y -h -i -x
Source files must reside on the local host where rdist(1) is executed.
Group names with spaces in them will cause rdist(1) to fail. The rdist(1) protocol cannot handle spaces in group names. When the source of the file is on Interix, always use the option numchkgroup.
Variable expansion only works for name lists; there should be a general macro facility.
The rdist(1) utility aborts on files that have a negative mtime (before Jan 1, 1970).
If a hard-linked file is listed more than once in the same target, rdist(1) will report missing links. Only one instance of a link should be listed in each target.
sh(1)
csh(1)
stat(1)
rsh(1)
rcmd(3)