ASSIGN(1)               COMMAND REFERENCE               ASSIGN(1)



NAME
     assign, deassign - assign or deassign devices in a class

SYNOPSIS
     assign [ -f ] [ -r ] class ...
     deassign class ...

DESCRIPTION
     The assign and deassign commands use the file
     /etc/assign.classes to determine what devices are assignable
     and what class(es) they belong to.  Assignable devices are
     divided into classes (e.g. mag tape drive 0) so that all
     versions of a device can be assigned together (raw and
     cooked versions for example).  These classes, in turn, may
     be grouped into generic classes (e.g. any mag tape drive).
     These groupings are set up by the system administrator, and
     thus are installation dependent.

     Assign changes the owner of the device(s) in the requested
     class to the current UID.  If the requested class is a
     generic one, the first specific class found that is
     available is used.  The device(s) assume protection mode of
     read and write by owner only.  If more than one class is
     listed, the first one that contains an assignable device is
     used and the remainder are ignored.  This allows the user to
     specify the order that classes will be checked.

     The name of the specific class that was assigned is typed on
     standard output.  If no devices are available in the
     class(es) desired, an error message is typed on standard
     error, and the program exits with return code 1, unless the
     -r option is used.

     Deassign undoes the work of assign by releasing the device
     to the assignable pool.  The special form deassign all will
     deassign all devices you have.

     All devices are considered available to the superuser.  If
     the log file does not exist, logging is ignored.  The owner
     of devices that are free for assignment is the owner of the
     file /etc/assign.classes.

OPTIONS
     -f Does not prompt whether to deassign when used in
        conjunction with the -r flag.  This allows assign -r to
        be used in a shell script.

     -r Reassigns the devices of a requested class after
        determining that no requested class is available without
        overriding an assignment.  Mail is sent to the user with
        the previous assignment.  Unless used with the -f flag, a
        prompt is issued to determine whether to override the



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ASSIGN(1)               COMMAND REFERENCE               ASSIGN(1)



        previous assignment of the device(s).

EXAMPLES
          assign mt1 mt0

     would try to assign class mt1, and would try for mt0 only if
     mt1 is unavailable.

     Typical usage might be (using the Bourne shell):

          mt=`assign mt`
          while test ! "${mt}"
          do sleep 120; mt=`assign mt`; done

     Do whatever needs doing on the mag tape using device names:

          /dev/${mt}0 for 800 BPI cooked
          /dev/${mt}1 for 1600 BPI cooked
          /dev/r${mt}0 for 800 BPI raw
          /dev/r${mt}1 for 1600 BPI raw
          /dev/n${mt}0 for 800 BPI cooked, no rewind on close
          /dev/n${mt}1 for 1600 BPI cooked, no rewind on close
          /dev/nr${mt}0 for 800 BPI raw, no rewind on close
          /dev/nr${mt}1 for 1600 BPI raw, no rewind on close

     This assumes that the system administrator has set up a
     generic class name in /etc/assign.classes of mt and a
     specific class names of form mt0, mt1, mt2 ... and that the
     tape versions of the tape drives are named /dev/mt00,
     /dev/mt01, /dev/rmt00 ...  The shell variable mt will have
     the name of the assigned tape drive (e.g.  mt0, mt1, mt2
     ...)

FILES
     /etc/assign.classes
                  System file containing class specifications

     /usr/adm/devicelog
                  Log file for device usage

RETURN VALUE
     [NO_ERRS]      Command completed without error.

     [1]            No available class was found.

     [USAGE]        Incorrect command line syntax. Execution
                    terminated.

     [NP_WARN]      An error warranting a warning message
                    occurred. Execution continues.

     [NP_ERR]       An error occurred that was not a system



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                    error.  Execution terminated.

     [P_WARN]       A system error occurred. Execution continues.
                    See intro(2) for more information on system
                    errors.

     [P_ERR]        A system error occurred. Execution
                    terminated.  See intro(2) for more
                    information on system errors.

SEE ALSO
     assign.classes(5).











































Printed 5/12/88                                                 3

%%index%%
na:288,108;
sy:396,330;
de:726,2362;
op:3088,662;4110,47;
ex:4157,1314;
fi:5471,275;
rv:5746,492;6598,395;
se:6993,171;
%%index%%000000000153