rdist(1) rdist(1)
NAME [Toc] [Back]
rdist - remote file distribution program
SYNOPSIS [Toc] [Back]
rdist [ -bhinqvwyMR ] [ -f distfile ] [ -d var=value ] [ -m host ]
[ label... ]
rdist [ -bhinqvwyMR ] -c name... [login@]host[:dest]
DESCRIPTION [Toc] [Back]
rdist facilitates the maintaining of identical copies of files over
multiple hosts. It preserves the owner, group, mode, and modification
time of files if possible and can update programs that are executing.
-f distfile Specify a distfile for rdist to execute. distfile
contains a sequence of entries that specify the files to
be copied, the destination hosts, and what operations to
perform to do the updating. The format of distfile is
described in detail later. If distfile is -, the standard
input is used. If no -f option is present, the program
looks first for a file called distfile, then Distfile in
the local host's working directory to use as the input.
-d var=value
Define var to have value. The -d option is used to define
variable definitions in the distfile. value can be an
empty string, one name, or a list of name separated by
tabs and/or spaces and enclosed by a pair of parentheses.
However, if the variable specified is already defined in
the distfile, the -d option has no effect (because the
distfile overrides the -d option).
-m host Limit which machines are to be updated. Multiple -m
arguments can be given to limit updates to a subset of
hosts that are listed in the distfile. For more
information on the host format, refer to the section
destination_list.
label Label of a command to execute. The label must be defined
in distfile.
-c name... The -c option forces rdist to interpret the remaining
arguments as a small distfile. The equivalent distfile is
as follows.
( name ... ) -> [login@]host
install [dest] ;
Note: In IPv6 enabled systems to use the -c option with an
IPv6 address, the IPv6 address has to be enclosed in a
square bracket pair ([ and ]). An example invocation of
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rdist with the -c option and an IPv6 address is as shown
below:
rdist -c name 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.
-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.
-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 truly 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 transferred and
warn the user if it cannot find all the links.
-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 and
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.
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-M Check that mode, ownership, and group are the same in
addition to any other form of comparison that is in
effect. This option will cause files to be replaced but
will only correct the problem with a directory and print a
warning message.
The distfile used by rdist contains a sequence of entries that specify
the files to be copied, the destination hosts, and what 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 on the local host that have been changed
since some given date. (See EXAMPLES.)
variable_name
Specify the name of a variable.
name_list List of names (such as list of hosts or lists of files)
separated by tabs and/or spaces and enclosed by parentheses.
source_list
Specify a list of files and/or directories on the local host
to be used as the master copy for distribution. Each file
in the source_list is added to a list for changes, if the
file is out of date on the host that is being updated
(second format), or if the file is newer than the time stamp
file (third format). source_list may contain a single name,
or multiple names separated by tabs and/or spaces and
enclosed by parentheses.
destination_list
List of hosts to which these files are to be copied.
destination_list may contain a single name, or multiple
names separated by tabs and/or spaces and the whole list
must be enclosed by parentheses. The host names in the
destination_list can also be in the form login@host. For
example, root@arpa. In this case, the user root owns the
files distributed at arpa.
time_stamp_file
Specify a given date to generate a list of files on the
local host that were modified since that date.
label: Labels are optional. They are used to identify a command for
partial updates.
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rdist(1) rdist(1)
command_list
Specifies a list of commands to be performed.
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, source_list 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 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 -b,-h,-i, -v,-w,-y, -M, and -R, and
have the same semantics as options on the command line,
except that they only apply to the files in the specified
source_list. The login name used on the destination host is
the same as on the local host, unless the destination name
is of the form "login@host".
The notify command is used to mail the list of files updated
(and any errors that may have occurred) to the listed names,
in name_list. 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 the backslash (\) 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 backslash.
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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 double quotes (") and
can cross multiple lines in distfile. Multiple commands to
the shell should be separated by semi-colons (;). Commands
are executed in the user's home directory on the host being
updated. The special command can be used, for example, to
rebuild private databases after a program has been updated.
Shell variables cannot be used in the command because there
is no escape mechanism for the $ character.
Newlines, tabs, and blanks are only used as separators and are
otherwise ignored. Comments begin with # and end with a newline.
A generalized way of dynamically building variable lists is provided
by using a backquote syntax much like the shell. In this way,
arbitrary commands that generate stdout with space-separated words may
be used to build the list (see the use of cat command in the
examples).
Variables to be expanded begin with $ followed by the variable name
enclosed in curly braces.
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 directory as the root directory for the rest
of the file name.
DIAGNOSTICS [Toc] [Back]
A complaint about mismatch of rdist version numbers may mean that an
executable rdist is not in the shell's path on the remote system.
EXAMPLES [Toc] [Back]
The following is a small example.
HOSTS = ( matisse root@arpa )
FILES = ( /usr/lib /usr/bin /usr/local/games
/usr/include/{*.h,{sys,rpc*,arpa}/*.h}
/usr/man/man? `cat ./std-files` )
EXLIB = ( Mail.rc aliases aliases.dir aliases.pag crontab dshrc
sendmail.cf sendmail.fc sendmail.hf sendmail.st uucp vfont )
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${FILES} -> ${HOSTS}
install -R ;
except /usr/lib/${EXLIB} ;
except /usr/local/games/lib ;
special /usr/sbin/sendmail " /usr/sbin/sendmail -bz" ;
srcs:
/usr/local/src -> 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 ;
WARNINGS [Toc] [Back]
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 and in the special
command string; there should be a general macro facility.
rdist aborts on files that have a negative mtime (before Jan 1, 1970).
rdist does carry the atime when installing a file but will preserve it
on an updated file.
There should be a `force' option to allow replacement of non-empty
directories by regular files or symlinks.
AUTHOR [Toc] [Back]
rdist was developed by the University of California, Berkeley.
rdist appeared in the 4.3 Berkeley Software Distribution.
FILES [Toc] [Back]
distfile Input command file.
/tmp/rdist* Temporary file for update lists.
SEE ALSO [Toc] [Back]
sh(1), csh(1), stat(2).
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