CI(1) CI(1)
NAME
ci - check in RCS revisions
SYNOPSIS
ci [options] file ...
DESCRIPTION
ci stores new revisions into RCS files. Each file name
ending in ,v is taken to be an RCS file. All others are
assumed to be working files containing new revisions. ci
deposits the contents of each working file into the corre-
sponding RCS file. If only a working file is given, ci
tries to find the corresponding RCS file in an RCS subdi-
rectory and then in the working file's directory. For
more details, see FILE NAMING below.
For ci to work, the caller's login must be on the access
list, except if the access list is empty or the caller is
the superuser or the owner of the file. To append a new
revision to an existing branch, the tip revision on that
branch must be locked by the caller. Otherwise, only a
new branch can be created. This restriction is not
enforced for the owner of the file if non-strict locking
is used (see rcs(1)). A lock held by someone else may be
broken with the rcs command.
Normally, ci checks whether the revision to be deposited
is different from the preceding one. If it is not differ-
ent, ci aborts the deposit, asking beforehand if possible.
A deposit can be forced with the -f option.
For each revision deposited, ci prompts for a log message.
The log message should summarize the change and must be
terminated by end-of-file or by a line containing . by
itself. If several files are checked in ci asks whether
to reuse the previous log message. If the standard input
is not a terminal, ci suppresses the prompt and uses the
same log message for all files. See also -m.
The number of the deposited revision can be given by any
of the options -f, -I, -k, -l, -q, -r, or -u.
If the RCS file does not exist, ci creates it and deposits
the contents of the working file as the initial revision
(default number: 1.1). The access list is initialized to
empty. Instead of the log message, ci requests descrip-
tive text (see -t below).
OPTIONS
-r[rev]
assigns the revision number rev to the checked-in
revision, releases the corresponding lock, and
deletes the working file. This is the default.
rev may be symbolic, numeric, or mixed.
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If rev is a revision number, it must be higher than
the latest one on the branch to which rev belongs,
or must start a new branch.
If rev is a branch rather than a revision number,
the new revision is appended to that branch. The
level number is obtained by incrementing the tip
revision number of that branch. If rev indicates a
non-existing branch, that branch is created with
the initial revision numbered rev.1.
If rev is omitted, ci tries to derive the new revi-
sion number from the caller's last lock. If the
caller has locked the tip revision of a branch, the
new revision is appended to that branch. The new
revision number is obtained by incrementing the tip
revision number. If the caller locked a non-tip
revision, a new branch is started at that revision
by incrementing the highest branch number at that
revision. The default initial branch and level
numbers are 1.
If rev is omitted and the caller has no lock, but
owns the file and locking is not set to strict,
then the revision is appended to the default branch
(normally the trunk; see the -b option of rcs(1)).
Exception: On the trunk, revisions can be appended
to the end, but not inserted.
-f[rev]
forces a deposit; the new revision is deposited
even it is not different from the preceding one.
-k[rev]
searches the working file for keyword values to
determine its revision number, creation date,
state, and author (see co(1)), and assigns these
values to the deposited revision, rather than com-
puting them locally. It also generates a default
login message noting the login of the caller and
the actual checkin date. This option is useful for
software distribution. A revision that is sent to
several sites should be checked in with the -k
option at these sites to preserve the original num-
ber, date, author, and state. The extracted key-
word values and the default log message may be
overridden with the options -d, -m, -s, -w, and any
option that carries a revision number.
-l[rev]
works like -r, except it performs an additional
co -l for the deposited revision. Thus, the
deposited revision is immediately checked out again
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and locked. This is useful for saving a revision
although one wants to continue editing it after the
checkin.
-u[rev]
works like -l, except that the deposited revision
is not locked. This lets one read the working file
immediately after checkin.
-q[rev]
quiet mode; diagnostic output is not printed. A
revision that is not different from the preceding
one is not deposited, unless -f is given.
-I[rev]
interactive mode; the user is prompted and ques-
tioned even if the standard input is not a termi-
nal.
-d[date]
uses date for the checkin date and time. The date
is specified in free format as explained in co(1).
This is useful for lying about the checkin date,
and for -k if no date is available. If date is
empty, the working file's time of last modification
is used.
-mmsg uses the string msg as the log message for all
revisions checked in.
-nname assigns the symbolic name name to the number of the
checked-in revision. ci prints an error message if
name is already assigned to another number.
-Nname same as -n, except that it overrides a previous
assignment of name.
-sstate
sets the state of the checked-in revision to the
identifier state. The default state is Exp.
-tfile writes descriptive text from the contents of the
named file into the RCS file, deleting the existing
text. The file name may not begin with -.
-t-string
Write descriptive text from the string into the RCS
file, deleting the existing text.
The -t option, in both its forms, has effect only
during an initial checkin; it is silently ignored
otherwise.
During the initial checkin, if -t is not given, ci
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obtains the text from standard input, terminated by
end-of-file or by a line containing . by itself.
The user is prompted for the text if interaction is
possible; see -I.
For backward compatibility with older versions of
RCS, a bare -t option is ignored.
-wlogin
uses login for the author field of the deposited
revision. Useful for lying about the author, and
for -k if no author is available.
-Vn Emulate RCS version n. See co(1) for details.
FILE NAMING
Pairs of RCS files and working files may be specified in
three ways (see also the example section of co(1)).
1) Both the RCS file and the working file are given. The
RCS file name is of the form path1/workfile,v and the
working file name is of the form path2/workfile where
path1/ and path2/ are (possibly different or empty) paths
and workfile is a file name.
2) Only the RCS file is given. Then the working file is
created in the current directory and its name is derived
from the name of the RCS file by removing path1/ and the
suffix ,v.
3) Only the working file is given. Then ci looks for an
RCS file of the form path2/RCS/workfile,v or
path2/workfile,v (in this order).
If the RCS file is specified without a path in 1) and 2),
then ci looks for the RCS file first in the directory
./RCS and then in the current directory.
FILE MODES
An RCS file created by ci inherits the read and execute
permissions from the working file. If the RCS file exists
already, ci preserves its read and execute permissions.
ci always turns off all write permissions of RCS files.
FILES
Several temporary files may be created. A semaphore file
is created in the directory containing the RCS file. The
effective user+group must be able to read the RCS file and
to search and write the directory containing the RCS file.
Normally, the real user+group must be able to read the
working file and to search and write the directory con-
taining the working file; however, some older hosts that
do not conform to Posix 1003.1-1990 cannot easily switch
between real and effective ids, so on these hosts the
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effective user+group is used for all accesses. The effec-
tive user+group is the same as the real user+group unless
your copy of RCS has setuid or setgid privileges. These
privileges yield extra security if RCS files are protected
so that only the effective user+group can write RCS direc-
tories. Further protection can be achieved by granting
access only to the effective user+group.
ci never changes an RCS or working file; instead, it
unlinks the file and creates a new one. This strategy
breaks hard links to such files, but does not affect sym-
bolic links.
DIAGNOSTICS
For each revision, ci prints the RCS file, the working
file, and the number of both the deposited and the preced-
ing revision. The exit status is zero if and only if all
operations were successful.
IDENTIFICATION
Author: Walter F. Tichy.
Revision Number: 1.2; Release Date: 1992/01/04.
Copyright (C) 1982, 1988, 1989 by Walter F. Tichy.
Copyright (C) 1990 by Paul Eggert.
SEE ALSO
co(1), ident(1), rcs(1), rcsdiff(1), rcsintro(1),
rcsmerge(1), rlog(1), rcsfile(5)
Walter F. Tichy, RCS--A System for Version Control,
Software--Practice & Experience 15, 7 (July 1985),
637-654.
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