rcp(1) rcp(1)
NAME [Toc] [Back]
rcp - remote file copy
SYNOPSIS [Toc] [Back]
Copy Single File
rcp [-p] [-S size] [-R size] source_file1 dest_file
Copy Multiple Files [Toc] [Back]
rcp [-p] [-S size] [-R size] source_file1 [source_file2]... dest_dir
Copy One or More Directory Subtrees [Toc] [Back]
rcp [-p] [-S size] [-R size] -r source_dir1 [source_dir2]... dest_dir
Copy Files and Directory Subtrees [Toc] [Back]
rcp [-p] [-S size] [-R size] -r file_or_dir1 [file_or_dir2]... dest_dir
In Kerberos V5 Network Authentication Environments [Toc] [Back]
Copy Single File
rcp [-k realm] [-P] [-p] [-S size] [-R size] source_file1 dest_file
Copy Multiple Files [Toc] [Back]
rcp [-k realm] [-P] [-p] [-S size] [-R size] source_file1
[source_file2]... dest_dir
Copy One or More Directory Subtrees [Toc] [Back]
rcp [-k realm] [-P] [-p] [-S size] [-R size] -r source_dir1
[source_dir2]... dest_dir
Copy Files and Directory Subtrees [Toc] [Back]
rcp [-k realm] [-P] [-p] [-S size] [-R size] -r file_or_dir1
[file_or_dir2]... dest_dir
DESCRIPTION [Toc] [Back]
The rcp command copies files, directory subtrees, or a combination of
files and directory subtrees from one or more systems to another. In
many respects, it is similar to the cp command (see cp(1)).
To use rcp, you must have read access to files being copied, and read
and search (execute) permission on all directories in the directory
path. Note that there are special requirements for third-party
transfers, which are described in the Third-Party Transfers section
below.
In a Kerberos V5 Network Authentication environment, rcp uses the
Kerberos V5 protocol while initiating the connection to a remote host.
The authorization mechanism is dependent on the command line options
used to invoke remshd on the remote host (i.e., -K, -R, -r, or -k).
Kerberos authentication and authorization rules are described in the
Secure Internet Services man page, sis(5).
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Although Kerberos authentication and authorizations may apply, the
Kerberos mechanism is not applied when copying files. The files are
still transferred in clear text over the network.
The fallback option can be set in the krb5.conf file within
appdefaults Section. Refer to the krb5.conf(4) manpage for more
information on the appdefaults Section. If fallback is set to true
and the kerberos authentication fails, rcp will use the non-secure
mode of authentication.
Note: Command line options override the configuration file
options.
Options and Arguments [Toc] [Back]
rcp recognizes the following options and arguments:
source_file, source_dir
This option specifies the name of an existing file
or directory on a local or remote machine that you
want to be copied to a specified destination. The
source file and directory names are constructed as
follows:
user_name@hostname:pathname/filename
or
user_name@hostname:pathname/dirname
Component parts of file and directory names are
described below. If multiple existing files
and/or directory subtrees (source_file1,
source_file2, ..., etc.) are specified, then the
destination must be a directory. Shell file name
expansion is allowed on both local and remote
systems. Multiple files and directory subtrees
can be copied from one or more systems to a single
destination directory by using a single command.
dest_file This option specifies the name of the destination
file. If host name and path name are not
specified, then the existing file is copied into a
file named dest_file in the current directory on
the local system. If dest_file already exists and
is writable, then the existing file is
overwritten. The destination file names are
constructed in the same way as source files except
that the usage of file name expansion characters
is forbidden in the case of destination file
names.
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dest_dir This option specifies the name of the destination
directory. If host name and path names are not
specified, then the existing file is copied into a
directory named dest_dir in the current directory
on the local system. If dest_dir already exists
in the specified directory path (or current
directory if not specified), then a new directory
named dest_dir is created underneath the existing
directory named dest_dir. The destination
directory names are constructed the in same way as
source directory tree names except that the usage
of file name expansion characters is forbidden in
the case of destination directory names.
If the source_dir has more than one file to be
copied, the dest_dir does not exist, and if the -r
option is used for recursive copying, then rcp
first creates the dest_dir and later copies the
files under the source_dir to the dest_dir.
file_or_dir If a combination of files and directories are
specified for copying (either explicitly or by
file name expansion), then only files are copied
unless the -r option is specified. If the -r
option is present, then all the files and
directory subtrees whose names match the specified
file_or_dir name are copied.
-k realm This option is applicable only in a secure
environment based on Kerberos V5. It can be used
to obtain tickets from the remote host in the
specified realm instead of the remote host's
default realm as specified in the configuration
file krb.realms.
-P This option is applicable only in a secure
environment based on Kerberos V5. It disables
Kerberos authentication. If the remote host has
been configured to prevent non-secure access,
using this option would result in the generic
error,
krcmd: connect: hostname: Connection refused
See DIAGNOSTICS in remshd(1M) for more details.
-p This option can be used to preserve (duplicate)
modification times and modes (permissions) of
source files, ignoring the current setting of the
umask file creation mode mask. If this option is
specified, rcp preserves the sticky bit only if
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the target user is superuser.
If the -p option is not specified, rcp preserves
the mode and owner of dest_file if it already
exists; otherwise rcp uses the mode of the source
file modified by the umask on the destination
host. Modification and access times of the
destination file are set to the time when the copy
was made.
-S size This option sets the size of the socket send
buffer.
-R size This option sets the size of the socket receive
buffer.
-r This option can be used to recursively copy
directory subtrees rooted at the source directory
name. If any directory subtrees are to be copied,
rcp recursively copies each subtree rooted at the
specified source directory name to directory
dest_dir. If source_dir is being copied to an
existing directory of the same name, rcp creates a
new directory source_dir within dest_dir and
copies the subtree rooted at source_dir to
dest_dir/source_dir. If dest_dir does not exist,
rcp first creates it and copies the subtree rooted
at source_dir to dest_dir and the output will be
similar irrespective of whether a wildcard
character (source_dir/*) is used for copying or
otherwise.
Constructing File and Directory Names [Toc] [Back]
As indicated above, file and directory names contain one, two, or four
component parts:
user_name Login name to be used for accessing directories and
files on remote system.
hostname Hostname of remote system where directories and
files are located.
pathname Absolute directory path name or directory path name
relative to the login directory of user user_name.
filename Actual name of source or destination file. File
name expansion is allowed on source file names.
dirname Actual name of source or destination directory
subtree. File name expansion is allowed on source
directory names.
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Each file or directory argument is either a remote file name of the
form hostname:path, or a local file name (with a slash (/) before any
colon (:)). hostname can be either an official host name or an alias
(see hosts(4)). If hostname is of the form ruser@rhost, ruser is used
on the remote host instead of the current user name. An unspecified
path (that is, hostname:) refers to the remote user's login directory.
If path does not begin with /, it is interpreted relative to the
remote user's login directory on hostname. Shell metacharacters in
remote paths can be quoted with backslash (\), single quotes (''), or
double quotes (""), so that they will be interpreted remotely.
rcp does not prompt for passwords. In a non-secure or traditional
environment, user authorization is checked by determining if the
current local user name or any user name specified via ruser exists on
rhost. In a Kerberos V5 Network Authentication or secure environment,
the authorization method is dependent upon the command line options
for remshd (see remshd(1M) for details). In either case, remote
command execution via remsh(1) and rcmd(3N), or rcmd_af(3N) in case of
IPv6 systems, must be allowed and remshd(1M) must be executable on the
remote host.
Third-Party Transfers [Toc] [Back]
Third-party transfers in the following form:
rcp ruser1@rhost1:path1 ruser2@rhost2:path2
are performed as:
remsh rhost1 -l ruser1 rcp path1 ruser2@rhost2:path2
Therefore, for a such a transfer to succeed, ruser2 on rhost2 must
allow access by ruser1 from rhost1 (see hosts.equiv(4)).
rcp With IPv6 Address
To invoke rcp with an IPv6 address, the IPv6 address must be enclosed
in a pair of square brackets ([ and ]) as shown in the example below.
rcp source user@[IPv6_address]:dest
If the IPv6 address is not enclosed within square brackets, the first
occurrence of a colon (:) is treated as the separator between the
hostname and the path.
WARNINGS [Toc] [Back]
The rcp routine is confused by any output generated by commands in a
.cshrc file on the remote host (see csh(1)).
Copying a file onto itself, for example:
rcp path `hostname`:path
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may produce inconsistent results. The current HP-UX version of rcp
simply copies the file over itself. However, some implementations of
rcp, including some earlier HP-UX implementations, corrupt the file.
In addition, the same file may be referred to in multiple ways, for
example, via hard links, symbolic links, or NFS. It is not guaranteed
that rcp will correctly copy a file over itself in all cases.
Implementations of rcp based on the 4.2BSD version (including the
implementations of rcp prior to HP-UX 7.0) require that remote users
be specified as rhost.ruser. If the first remote host specified in a
third party transfer (rhost1 in the example below) uses this older
syntax, the command must have the form:
rcp ruser1@rhost1:path1 rhost2.ruser2:path2
since the target is interpreted by rhost1. A common problem is
encountered when two remote files are to be copied to a remote target
that specifies a remote user. If the two remote source systems,
rhost1 and rhost2, each expect a different form for the remote target,
the command:
rcp rhost1:path1 rhost2:path2 rhost3.ruser3:path3
will certainly fail on one of the source systems. Perform such a
transfer using two separate commands.
With the existing implementation of rcp, the remote copy may result in
a system overwrite as described in the following example.
rcp -r path root@hostname: /
In this example, if you run rcp as root, and unintentionally type a
space between the colon (:) and the slash (/), then rcp assumes both
path and root@hostname: (the remote machine's root directory) as
source. rcp always interprets the last argument as the destination.
Therefore, the destination directory is the local machine's root
directory (/). rcp copies the content of path to the root directory
(/) first. It then does another copy with root@hostname as source to
the root directory (/) again. This second copy overwrites the local
system's root directory (/) with the remote system's root directory
(/).
DIAGNOSTICS [Toc] [Back]
Diagnostics can occur from both the local and remote hosts. Those
diagnostics that occur on the local host before the connection is
completely established are written to standard error. Once the
connection is established, any error messages from the remote host are
written to standard output, like any other data.
Error! could not retrieve authentication type.
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Please notify sys admin. [Toc] [Back]
There are two authentication mechanisms used by rcp. One
authentication mechanism is based on Kerberos and the other is
not. The type of authentication mechanism is obtained from a
system file which is updated by inetsvcs_sec(1M). If the system
file does not contain known authentication types, the above error
is displayed.
AUTHOR [Toc] [Back]
rcp was developed by the University of California, Berkeley.
SEE ALSO [Toc] [Back]
cp(1), ftp(1), remsh(1), remshd(1M), inetsvcs_sec(1M), rcmd(3N),
rcmd_af(3N), hosts(4), hosts.equiv(4), krb5.conf(4), sis(5).
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