UUX(C) UNIX System V
Name
uux - UNIX-to-UNIX system command execution
Syntax
uux [ options ] command-string
Description
uux will gather zero or more files from various systems,
execute a command on a specified system and then send
standard output to a file on a specified system.
NOTE: For security reasons, most installations limit the
list of commands executable on behalf of an incoming request
from uux, permitting only the receipt of mail (see mail(C)).
(Remote execution permissions are defined in
/usr/lib/uucp/Permissions.)
The command-string is made up of one or more arguments that
look like a shell command line, except that the command and
file names may be prefixed by system-name!. A null system-
name is interpreted as the local system.
File names may be one of
(1) a full path name;
(2) a path name preceded by ~xxx where xxx is a login
name on the specified system and is replaced by
that user's login directory;
(3) anything else is prefixed by the current
directory.
As an example, the command
uux "!diff usg!/usr/dan/file1 pwba!/a4/dan/file2 >
!~/dan/file.diff"
will get the file1 and file2 files from the ``usg'' and
``pwba'' machines, execute a diff(C) command and put the
results in file.diff in the local PUBDIR/dan/ directory.
Any special shell characters such as <>;| should be quoted
either by quoting the entire command-string, or quoting the
special characters as individual arguments.
uux will attempt to get all files to the execution system.
For files that are output files, the file name must be
escaped using parentheses. For example, the command
uux a!cut -f1 b!/usr/file \(c!/usr/file\)
gets /usr/file from system ``b'' and sends it to system
``a'', performs a cut command on that file and sends the
result of the cut command to system ``c''.
uux will notify you if the requested command on the remote
system was disallowed. This notification can be turned off
by the -n option. The response comes by remote mail from
the remote machine.
The following options are interpreted by uux:
- The standard input to uux is made the standard
input to the command-string.
-aname Use name as the user identification replacing the
initiator user-id. (Notification will be returned
to the user.)
-b Return whatever standard input was provided to the
uux command if the exit status is non-zero.
-c Do not copy local file to the spool directory for
transfer to the remote machine (default).
-C Force the copy of local files to the spool
directory for transfer.
-ggrade Grade is a single letter/number; lower ASCII
sequence characters will cause the job to be
transmitted earlier during a particular
conversation.
-j Output the jobid ASCII string on the standard
output which is the job identification. This job
identification can be used by uustat to obtain the
status or terminate a job.
-n Do not notify the user if the command fails.
-p Same as -: The standard input to uux is made the
standard input to the command-string.
-r Do not start the file transfer, just queue the
job.
-sfile Report status of the transfer in file.
-xdebug_level
Produce debugging output on the standard output.
The debug_level is a number between 0 and 9;
higher numbers give more detailed information.
-z Send success notification to the user.
Files
/usr/spool/uucp/* spool directories
/usr/lib/uucp/Permissions
remote execution permissions
/usr/lib/uucp/* other data and programs
See Also
mail(C), uucp(C), uustat(C)
Warnings
Only the first command of a shell pipeline may have a
system-name!. All other commands are executed on the system
of the first command.
The use of the shell metacharacter * will probably not do
what you want it to do. The shell tokens << and >> are not
implemented.
The execution of commands on remote systems takes place in
an execution directory known to the uucp system. All files
required for the execution will be put into this directory
unless they already reside on that machine. Therefore, the
simple file name (without path or machine reference) must be
unique within the uux request. The following command will
NOT work:
uux "a!diff b!/usr/dan/xyz c!/usr/dan/xyz > !xyz.diff"
but the command
uux "a!diff a!/usr/dan/xyz c!/usr/dan/xyz > !xyz.diff"
will work. (If diff is a permitted command.)
Notes
Protected files and files that are in protected directories
that are owned by the requester can be sent in commands
using uux. However, if the requester is root, and the
directory is not searchable by ``other,'' the request will
fail.
Standards Conformance
uux is conformant with:
AT&T SVID Issue 2, Select Code 307-127;
and The X/Open Portability Guide II of January 1987.
(printed 2/15/90) UUX(C)