RDIST(1) OpenBSD Reference Manual RDIST(1)NAMErdist - remote file distribution client program
SYNOPSISrdist [-DFnV] [-Server] [-A num] [-a num] [-c mini_distfile] [-d
var=value] [-f distfile] [-L remote_logopts] [-l local_logopts]
[-M maxproc] [-m host] [-o distopts] [-P rsh-path] [-p rdistd-path]
[-t timeout] [name ...]
DESCRIPTIONrdist 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.
If the file /etc/Distfile exists, it will be run automatically by the
clock daemon cron(8), via the system script daily(8).
If name is specified, it 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.
rdist uses a remote shell command to access each target host. By
default, ssh(1) is used unless overridden by the -P option or the RSH
environment variable. If the target host is the string ``localhost'' and
the remote user name is the same as the local user name, rdist will run
the command:
/bin/sh -c rdistd -S
Otherwise, rdist run will run the command:
ssh <host> -l <login_name> rdistd -S
host is the name of the target host; login_name is the name of the user
to make the connection as.
On each target host rdist will attempt to run the command:
rdistd -S
Or if the -p option was specified, rdist will attempt to run the command:
<rdistd path> -S
If no -p option is specified, or <rdistd path> is a simple filename,
rdistd(1) or <rdistd path> must be somewhere in the PATH of the user
running rdist on the remote (target) host.
The options are as follows:
-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.
-c mini_distfile
Forces rdist to interpret the remaining arguments as a small
distfile. The format is:
$ rdist-c name ... [login@]host[:dest]
The equivalent distfile is as follows:
( name ... ) -> [login@]host
install [dest] ;
-D Enable copious debugging messages.
-d var=value
Define var to have value. This option is used to define or
override variable definitions in 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 distfile. If `-' (dash) is used
then read from standard input (stdin).
-L remote_logopts
Set remote logging options. See the section MESSAGE LOGGING for
details on the syntax for remote_logopts.
-l local_logopts
Set local logging options. See the section MESSAGE LOGGING for
details on the syntax for local_logopts.
-M maxproc
Set the maximum number of simultaneously running child rdist
processes to maxproc. The default is 4.
-m host
Limit which machines are to be updated. Multiple -m arguments
can be given to limit updates to a subset of the hosts listed in
distfile.
-n Print the commands without executing them. This option is useful
for debugging a distfile.
-o distopts
Specify the dist options to enable. distopts is a comma
separated list of options which are listed below. The valid
values for distopts are:
chknfs Do not check or update files on the target host that
reside on NFS filesystems.
chkreadonly
Enable a check on the 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.
compare
Binary comparison. Perform a binary comparison and
update files if they differ rather than comparing dates
and sizes.
defgroup[=groupname]
If the group of a file to be transferred does not exist
on the destination host, use the specified group instead.
If groupname is not specified, the bin group is used.
defowner[=owner]
If the owner of a file to be transferred does not exist
on the destination host, use the specified owner instead.
If owner is not specified, the user bin is used.
follow Follow symbolic links. Copy the file that the link
points to rather than the link itself.
history
When savetargets and history are both defined then the
target file that is updated is first renamed from file to
file.NNN where NNN increases for each generation update.
The first generation is 001, and the last is 999. After
999 generations, the counter is reset and stuck to 001,
and 001 will get overwritten all the time. This is
undesirable behavior, so some other method needs to be
devised to clean up or limit the number of generations.
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.
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.
nochkowner
Do not check user ownership of files that already exist.
The file ownership 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.
noexec Automatically exclude executable binary files that are in
a.out(5) or elf(5) format from being checked or updated.
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.
quiet Quiet mode. Files that are being modified are normally
printed on standard output. This option suppresses that.
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.
savetargets
Save files that are updated instead of removing them.
Any target file that is updated is first renamed from
file to file.OLD.
sparse Enable checking for sparse files. One of the most common
types of sparse files are those produced by db(3). This
option adds some additional processing overhead so it
should only be enabled for targets likely to contain
sparse files.
updateperm
Do not send the whole file when the size and the
modification time match. Instead, just update the
ownership, group, and permissions as necessary.
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 and no mail will be 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 /p/dir1/f1
and /p/dir2/f2 to /tmp/dir would create files
/tmp/dir/p/dir1/f1 and /tmp/dir/p/dir2/f2 instead of
/tmp/dir/dir1/f1 and /tmp/dir/dir2/f2.
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.
-P rsh-path
Set the path to the remote shell command. rsh-path may be a
colon separated list of possible pathnames. In this case, the
first component of the path to exist is used. For example,
/usr/bin/ssh:/usr/bin/rsh or /usr/bin/ssh.
-p rdistd-path
Set the path where the rdistd server is searched for on the
target host.
-Server
This 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, /usr/bin/oldrdist.
-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.
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> :: <timestamp 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 timestamp file (third format).
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).
Labels are optional. They are used to identify a specific command to
execute (for example, allowing an update of a subset of a repository).
The source and destination lists have the following format:
<name>
or
`(' <zero or more names separated by whitespace> `)'
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 ksh(1). They
can be escaped with a backslash. The `~' character is also expanded in
the same way as ksh(1) but is expanded separately on the local and
destination hosts. When the -o whole option is used with a file name
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 -o distopts option as specified above
has the same semantics as on the command line except distopts only
applies 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 basic regular expressions (see re_format(7) 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 used, for example, to rebuild private databases 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 FILES environment
variable. Each file name in FILES is separated by a `:' (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 -o
chknfs option just for this one host.
MESSAGE LOGGINGrdist 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 and the remote server each
maintain their own copy of what types of messages to log to what
facilities.
The -l local_logopts option specifies the logging options to use locally;
-L remote_logopts specifies the logging options to pass to the remote
server.
Logging options should be of the form:
facility=types:facility=types...
The valid facility names are:
file Log to a file. To specify the file name, use the format
``file=filename=types''. For example:
file=/tmp/rdist.log=all,debug
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.
stdout Messages to standard output.
syslog Use the syslogd(8) facility.
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:
all All but debug messages.
change Things that change. This includes files that are installed
or updated in some way.
debug Debugging information.
ferror Fatal errors.
info General information.
nerror Normal errors that are not fatal.
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.
warning
Warnings about errors which are not as serious as nerror
type 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.
ENVIRONMENT
RSH Name of the default remote shell program to use. The default is
ssh(1).
TMPDIR Name of the temporary directory to use. The default is /tmp.
FILES
{d,D}istfile rdist command file.
/etc/Distfile System-wide rdist command file.
$TMPDIR/rdist* Temporary file for update lists.
EXAMPLES
The following is an example distfile:
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.db crontab dshrc
sendmail.cf 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 -bi" ;
srcs:
/usr/src/bin -> arpa
except_pat ( \\.o\$ /SCCS\$ ) ;
IMAGEN = (ips dviimp catdvi)
imagen:
/usr/local/${IMAGEN} -> arpa
install /usr/local/lib ;
notify ralph ;
sendmail.cf :: stamp.cory
notify root@cory ;
Using the above distfile:
Update everything that's out of date, making any relevant notifications:
$ rdist
Update files in /usr/src/bin to host ``arpa'', except for files with
names ending ``.o'' or ``/SCCS'':
$ rdist srcs
Update sendmail.cf if it's older than timestamp file stamp.cory,
notifying root@cory if an update has happened:
$ rdist sendmail.cf
SEE ALSOrdistd(1), rsh(1), sh(1), ssh(1), re_format(7), daily(8), syslogd(8)STANDARDS
The options [-bhiNOqRrsvwxy] are still recognized for backwards
compatibility.
CAVEATS
If the basename of a file (the last component in the pathname) is `.',
rdist assumes the remote (destination) name is a directory. That is,
/tmp/. means that /tmp should be a directory on the remote host.
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, rdist
will report missing links. Only one instance of a link should be listed
in each target.
The defowner, defgroup, and updateperm options are extensions to the
6.1.0 protocol and will not work with earlier versions of rdist 6.
OpenBSD 4.9 February 15, 2009 OpenBSD 4.9