rcp(1) rcp(1)
NAME
rcp - remote file copy
SYNOPSIS
rcp [-p] filename1 filename2
rcp [-pr] filename . . . directory
DESCRIPTION
The rcp command copies files between machines.
Files
/usr/lib/locale/locale/LC_MESSAGES/uxrcp
language-specific message file [See LANG on environ(5).]
USAGE
Each filename or directory argument is either a remote file
name of the form:
hostname:path
or a local file name (containing no : characters, or a /
before any : characters).
If a filename is not a full path name, it is interpreted
relative to your home directory on hostname. A path on a
remote host may be quoted (using \, ", or ') so that the
metacharacters are interpreted remotely.
rcp does not prompt for passwords; your current local user
name must exist on hostname and allow remote command execution
by rsh(1).
rcp handles third party copies, where neither source nor
target files are on the current machine. Hostnames may also
take the form
username@hostname:filename
to use username rather than your current local user name as
the user name on the remote host. rcp also supports Internet
domain addressing of the remote host, so that:
username@host.domain:filename
specifies the username to be used, the hostname, and the
domain in which that host resides. Filenames that are not
full path names will be interpreted relative to the home
directory of the user named username, on the remote host.
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 1
rcp(1) rcp(1)
The destination hostname may also take the form
hostname.username:filename to support destination machines
that are running older versions of rcp.
Each remote machine may have a file named /etc/hosts.equiv
containing a list of trusted host names with which it shares
user names. Users with the same user name on both the local
and remote machine may rcp from the machines listed in the
remote machine's /etc/hosts.equiv file without supplying a
password. Individual users may set up a similar private
equivalence list with the file .rhosts in their home
directories. Each line in this file contains two names: a
hostname and a username separated by a space. An entry in a
remote user's .rhosts file permits the user named username who
is logged into hostname to use rcp to access the remote
machine as the remote user without supplying a password. If
the name of the local host is not found in the
/etc/hosts.equiv file on the remote machine, and the local
user name and host name are not found in the remote user's
.rhosts file, then the rcp command will fail with the
diagnostic message Permission denied. Hostnames listed in
/etc/hosts.equiv and .rhosts files must be the official host
names listed in the hosts data base; nicknames may not be used
in either of these files.
To counter security problems, the .rhosts file must be owned
by either the remote user or by a privileged user.
Options
rcp takes the following options:
-p Attempt to give each copy the same modification times,
access times, and modes as the original file.
-r Copy each subtree rooted at filename; in this case the
destination must be a directory.
Warnings
rcp is meant to copy between different hosts; attempting to
rcp a file onto itself, as with:
rcp tmp/file myhost:/tmp/file
results in a severely corrupted file.
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 2
rcp(1) rcp(1)
rcp does not detect all cases where the target of a copy might
be a file in cases where only a directory should be valid.
rcp requires that the source host have permission to execute
commands on the remote host when doing third-party copies.
If you forget to quote metacharacters intended for the remote
host you get an incomprehensible error message.
REFERENCES
ftp(1), hosts.equiv(4), rlogin(1), rsh(1)
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 3