oldrdist - remote file distribution program
oldrdist [-nqbRhivwy] [-f distfile] [-d var=value] [-m host]
[name ...]
oldrdist [-nqbRhivwy] -c name ... [login@]host[:dest]
oldrdist 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. oldrdist
reads commands
from distfile to direct the updating of files and/or directories.
Options specific to the first SYNOPSIS form:
-f distfile Use the specified distfile. If distfile is
``-'', the standard
input is used.
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
specified on the command line, oldrdist 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 may
be used together to update specific files using specific
commands.
Options specific to the second SYNOPSIS form:
-c Forces oldrdist 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. oldrdist will normally try
to maintain
the link structure of files being transferred 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 in 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.
-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.
-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 oldrdist
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.
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. 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 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 examples at the end).
The source and destination lists have the following format:
<name>
or
`(' <zero or more names separated by whitespace> `)'
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. 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 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 errors
that may have occurred) 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 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 ;
distfile input command file
/tmp/rdist* temporary file for update lists
A complaint about mismatch of oldrdist version numbers may
really stem
from some problem with starting your shell, e.g., you are in
too many
groups.
csh(1), sh(1), stat(2)
The oldrdist command appeared in 4.3BSD.
Source files must reside on the local host where oldrdist 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.
oldrdist 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 files is also needed.
OpenBSD 3.6 December 30, 1993
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