RDIST(1)
NAME
rdist - remote file distribution client program
SYNOPSIS
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 ... [login@]host[:dest]
rdist -Server
rdist -V
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. If dist-
file 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 will update all of the files
and directories listed in distfile. Otherwise, the argu-
ment 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.
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] ;
The -Server option is recognized to provide partial back-
ward compatible support for older versions of rdist which
used this option to put rdist into server mode. If rdist
is started with the -Server command line option, it will
attempt to exec (run) the old version of rdist. This
option will only work if rdist was compiled with the loca-
tion of the old rdist (usually either /usr/ucb/oldrdist or
/usr/old/rdist) and that program is available at run time.
Rdist can use either the rcmd(3) function call or the
rsh(1c), remote shell, command to access each target host.
The method used is selected at compile-time. If the
rsh(1c) method is used and the target host is the string
localhost and the remote user name is the same as the
local user name, rdist will run the command
/bin/sh -c rdistd -S
Otherwise rdist run will run the command
rsh host -l remuser rdistd -S
where host is the name of the target host, remuser is the
name of the user to make the connection as and, rdistd is
the rdist server command on the target host as shown
below.
If the rcmd(3) method is used, then rdist makes the con-
nection to the target host itself and runs the rdistd
server program as shown below. The default, and preferred
method, is to use rsh(1c) to make the connection to target
hosts. This allows rdist to be run without being setuid
to ``root''.
On each target host Rdist 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 filename,
rdistd or <rdistd path> must be somewhere in the $PATH of
the user running rdist on the remote (target) host.
OPTIONS
-A num Set the minimum number of free files (inodes) on a
filesystem that must exist for rdist to update or
install a file.
-a num Set the minimum amount of free space (in bytes) on
a filesystem that must exist for rdist to update or
install a file.
-D Enable copious debugging messages.
-d var=value
Define var to have value. This option is used to
define or override variable definitions in the dis-
tfile. Value can be the empty string, one name, or
a list of names surrounded by parentheses and sepa-
rated by tabs and/or spaces.
-F Do not fork any child rdist processes. All clients
are updated sequentially.
-f distfile
Set the name of the distfile to use to be distfile
. If distfile is specified as ``-'' (dash) then
read from standard input (stdin).
-l logopts
Set local logging options. See the section MESSAGE
LOGGING for details on the syntax for logopts.
-L logopts
Set remote logging options. logopts is the same as
for local logging except the values are passed to
the remote server (rdistd). See the section MES-
SAGE LOGGING for details on the syntax for logopts.
-M num Set the maximum number of simultaneously running
child rdist processes to num. The default is 4.
-m machine
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.
-odistopts
Specify the dist options to enable. distopts is a
comma separated list of options which are listed
below. The valid values for distopts are:
verify 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.
whole Whole mode. The whole file name is appended
to the destination directory name. Nor-
mally, only the last component of a name is
used when renaming files. This will pre-
serve the directory structure of the files
being copied instead of flattening the
directory structure. For example, rdisting a
list of files such as /path/dir1/f1 and
/path/dir2/f2 to /tmp/dir would create files
/tmp/dir/path/dir1/f1 and
/tmp/dir/path/dir2/f2 instead of
/tmp/dir/dir1/f1 and /tmp/dir/dir2/f2.
noexec Automatically exclude executable files that
are in a.out(5) format from being checked or
updated.
younger
Younger mode. Files are normally updated if
their mtime and size (see stat(2)) disagree.
This 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 mes-
sage is printed for files which are newer
than the master copy.
compare
Binary comparison. Perform a binary compari-
son and update files if they differ rather
than comparing dates and sizes.
follow Follow symbolic links. Copy the file that
the link points to rather than the link
itself.
ignlnks
Ignore unresolved links. Rdist will nor-
mally try to maintain the link structure of
files being transferred and warn the user if
all the links cannot be found.
chknfs Do not check or update files on target host
that reside on NFS filesystems.
chkreadonly
Enable check on target host to see if a file
resides on a read-only filesystem. If a
file does, then no checking or updating of
the file is attempted.
chksym If the target on the remote host is a sym-
bolic link, but is not on the master host,
the remote target will be left a symbolic
link. This behavior is generally considered
a bug in the original version of rdist, but
is present to allow compatibility with older
versions.
quiet Quiet mode. Files that are being modified
are normally printed on standard output.
This option suppresses this.
remove 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 direc-
tories.
nochkowner
Do not check user ownership of files that
already exist. The file ownership is only
set when the file is updated.
nochkgroup
Do not check group ownership of files that
already exist. The file ownership is only
set when the file is updated.
nochkmode
Do not check file and directory permission
modes. The permission mode is only set when
the file is updated.
nodescend
Do not descend into a directory. Normally
rdist will recursively check directories.
If this option is enabled, then any files
listed in the file list in the distfile that
are directories are not recursively scanned.
Only the existence, ownership, and mode of
the directory are checked.
numchkgroup
Use the numeric group id (gid) to check
group ownership instead of the group name.
numchkowner
Use the numeric user id (uid) to check user
ownership instead of the user name.
savetargets
Save files that are updated instead of
removing them. Any target file that is
updates is first rename from file to
file.OLD.
-p <rdistd-path>
Set the path where the rdistd server is searched
for on the target host.
-P <rsh-path>
Set the path to the rsh(1c) command. The rsh-path
may be a colon seperated list of possible path-
names. In this case, the first component of the
path to exist is used. i.e.
/usr/ucb/rsh:/usr/bin/remsh , /usr/bsd/rsh.
-t timeout
Set the timeout period (in seconds) for waiting for
responses from the remote rdist server. The
default is 900 seconds.
-V Print version information and exit.
MESSAGE LOGGING
Rdist 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) and the remote server (rdistd) each main-
tain their own copy of what types of messages to log to
what facilities.
The -l logopts option to rdist tells rdist what logging
options to use locally. The -L logopts option to rdist
tells rdist what logging options to pass to the remote
rdistd server.
The form of logopts should be of form
facility=types:facility=types...
The valid facility names are:
stdout Messages to standard output.
file Log to a file. To specify the file name,
use the format ``file=filename=types''.
e.g. ``file=/tmp/rdist.log=all,debug''.
syslog Use the syslogd(8) facility.
notify Use the internal rdist notify facility.
This facility is used in conjunction with
the notify keyword in a distfile to specify
what messages are mailed to the notify
address.
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:
change Things that change. This includes files
that are installed or updated in some way.
info General information.
notice General info about things that change. This
includes things like making directories
which are needed in order to install a spe-
cific target, but which are not explicitly
specified in the distfile.
nerror Normal errors that are not fatal.
ferror Fatal errors.
warning
Warnings about errors which are not as seri-
ous as nerror type messages.
debug Debugging information.
all All but debug messages.
Here 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.
DISTFILES
The 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 sec-
ond 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 distribu-
tion. 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 for-
mat:
<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 like this:
list '-' list
or
list '+' list
or
list '&' list
If additional modifications are needed (e.g., ``all
servers and client machines except for the OSF/1
machines'') then the list will have to be explicitly con-
structed 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 back-
slash. The `~' character is also expanded in the same way
as csh but is expanded separately on the local and desti-
nation 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
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 `;'
`cmdspecial' <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 speci-
fied, 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 as specified above
under OPTIONS, has the same semantics as 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 dou-
bled 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. String starts and ends with
`"' and can cross multiple lines in distfile. Multiple
commands to the shell should be separated by `;'. Com-
mands 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 environment variables are set for
each special command:
FILE The full pathname of the local file that was just
updated.
REMFILE
The full pathname of the remote file that was just
updated.
BASEFILE
The basename of the remote file that was just
updated.
The cmdspecial command is similar to the special command,
except it is executed only when the entire command is com-
pleted 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 hostname ends in a ``+'' (plus sign), then the plus
is stripped off and NFS checks are disabled. This is
equivalent to disabling the -ochknfs 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} -> ${HOSTS}
install -oremove,chknfs ;
except /usr/lib/${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 ;
ENVIRONMENT
TMPDIR Name of temporary directory to use. Default is
/tmp.
FILES
distfile - input command file
$TMPDIR/rdist* - temporary file for update lists
SEE ALSO
sh(1) csh(1) stat(2) rsh(1c) rcmd(3)
DIAGNOSTICS
NOTES
If the basename of a file (the last component in the
pathname) is ".", then rdist assumes the remote (destina-
tion) name is a directory. i.e. /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
BUGS
Source files must reside on the local host where rdist is
executed.
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).
If a hardlinked file is listed more than once in the same
target, then rdist will report missing links. Only one
instance of a link should be listed in each target.