RDIST(1) 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 ] [ -odistopts ] [ -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 distfile 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 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.
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 backward 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 will
only work if /usr/bsd/ordist 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, then rdist runs the
command
rsh HOST -l USER RDISTD
where HOST is the name of the target host, USER 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
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makes the connection 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 distfile. Value can be the empty
string, one name, or a list of names surrounded by parentheses and
separated 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 MESSAGE LOGGING for details on the syntax for
logopts.
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-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. 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, 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 message is printed for files which are
newer than the master copy.
compare
Binary comparison. Perform a binary comparison 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.
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ignlnks
Ignore unresolved links. Rdist will normally 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 symbolic 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 directories.
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.
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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 pathnames. 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 maintain 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''.
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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
specific 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 serious as nerror type
messages.
verbose
Detailed status 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.
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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 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 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 constructed 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 backslash. The `~' character is also
expanded in the same way as csh but is expanded separately on the local
and destination hosts. When the -owhole option is used with a file name
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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 specified, the source file
name is used. Directories in the path name will be created if they do
not exist on the remote host. The -odistopts 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 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. 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
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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 completed 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 `:' (semi-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 ;
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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), ordist(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 (destination) 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
Rdist will not work with clients that are running an old (pre-5.3)
version of rdist. The old version ordist(1) is retained for backwards
compatibility. You should use ordist if you are pushing files to old
clients.
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.
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