NAME
krdist - remote file distribution client program
SYNOPSIS
krdist [ -DFn ] [ -A num ] [ -a num ] [ -d var=value ] [ -l
<local logopts> ] [ -L <remote logopts> ] [ -f distfile ] [
-M maxproc ] [ -m host ] [ -o distopts ] [ -t timeout ] [ -p
<rdistd-path> ] [ -P <rsh-path> ] [ name ... ]
krdist -DFn -c name ... [login@]host[:dest]
krdist -Server
krdist -V
DESCRIPTION
Krdist 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. Krdist reads commands from distfile to
direct the updating of files and/or directories. If dist-
file is `-', the standard input is used. If no -f option is
present, the program looks first for `distfile', then `Dist-
file' to use as the input. If no names are specified on the
command line, krdist will update all of the files and direc-
tories 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 krdist to interpret the remaining argu-
ments 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 krdist which used
this option to put krdist into server mode. If krdist is
started with the -Server command line option, it will
attempt to exec (run) the old version of krdist. This
option will only work if krdist was compiled with the loca-
tion of the old rdist (usually either /usr/ucb/oldrdist or
/usr/old/rdist) and that program is available at run time.
Krdist 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 and the target host is the string localhost
and the remote user name is the same as the local user name,
krdist will run the command
/bin/sh -c rdistd -S
Otherwise krdist run will run the command
rsh host -l remuser rdistd -S
where host is the name of the target host, remuser is the
name of the user to make the connection as and, rdistd is
the krdist server command on the target host as shown below.
If the rcmd(3) method is used, then krdist makes the connec-
tion 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 krdist to be run without being setuid to
``root''.
On each target host krdist 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 krdist on the remote (target) host.
OPTIONS
-A num
Set the minimum number of free files (inodes) on a
filesystem that must exist for krdist to update or
install a file.
-a num
Set the minimum amount of free space (in bytes) on a
filesystem that must exist for krdist 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 dist-
file. 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 krdist 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 LOG-
GING for details on the syntax for logopts.
-M num
Set the maximum number of simultaneously running child
krdist 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 krdist 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 com-
paring dates and sizes.
follow
Follow symbolic links. Copy the file that the
link points to rather than the link itself.
ignlnks
Ignore unresolved links. Krdist 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 ori-
ginal version of krdist, 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 krdist
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, own-
ership, and mode of the directory are checked.
numchkgroup
Use the numeric group id (gid) to check group own-
ership instead of the group name.
numchkowner
Use the numeric user id (uid) to check user owner-
ship 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.
sparse
Enable checking for sparse (aka wholely) files.
One of the most common types of sparse files are
those produced by ndbm(3). This option adds some
additional processing overhead so it should only
be enabled for targets likely to contain sparse
files.
-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 krdist server. The default
is 900 seconds.
-V Print version information and exit.
MESSAGE LOGGING
Krdist 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
(krdist) and the remote server (rdistd) each maintain their
own copy of what types of messages to log to what facili-
ties.
The -l logopts option to krdist tells krdist what logging
options to use locally. The -L logopts option to krdist
tells krdist 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/krdist.log=all,debug''.
syslog
Use the syslogd(8) facility.
notify
Use the internal krdist 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 dist-
file.
nerror
Normal errors that are not fatal.
ferror
Fatal errors.
warning
Warnings about errors which are not as serious as
nerror type messages.
debug
Debugging information.
all All but debug messages.
Here is a sample command line option:
-l stdout=all:syslog=change,notice:file=/tmp/krdist.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/krdist.log.
DISTFILES
The distfile contains a sequence of entries that specify the
files to be copied, the destination hosts, and what opera-
tions 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 speci-
fies 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 exam-
ples 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
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 under OPTIONS, has the same seman-
tics as on the command line except they only apply to the
files in the source list. The login name used on the desti-
nation host is the same as the local host unless the desti-
nation 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 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 com-
pleted 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 `:' (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/krdist )
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 ;
ENVIRONMENT
TMPDIR
Name of temporary directory to use. Default is /tmp.
FILES
distfile - input command file
$TMPDIR/rdist* - temporary file for update lists
HISTORY
This version of krdist is the same net version 6.1, except
that its default shell is a Kerberized version of rsh(1).
SEE ALSO
sh(1), csh(1), stat(2), rsh(1), rcmd(3), rdistd(8)
NOTES
If the basename of a file (the last component in the path-
name) 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
BUGS
Source files must reside on the local host where krdist is
executed.
Variable expansion only works for name lists; there should
be a general macro facility.
Krdist 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 krdist will report missing links. Only one
instance of a link should be listed in each target.