RCS(1RCS) COMMAND REFERENCE RCS(1RCS)
NAME
rcs - change RCS file attributes
SYNOPSIS
rcs [ -Aoldfilename ] [ -L ] [ -Nname[:rev] ] [ -P ] [ -U ]
[ -alogins ] [ -cstring ] [ -elogins ] [ -i ] [ -lrev ]
[ -nname[:rev] ] [ -orange ] [ -q ] [ -sstate[:rev] ]
[ -ttxtfilename ] [ -u[rev] ] filename ...
DESCRIPTION
Rcs creates new RCS files or changes attributes of existing
ones. An RCS file contains multiple revisions of text, an
access list, a change log, descriptive text, and some
control attributes. For rcs to work, your login name must
be on the access list. This doesn't apply if the access
list is empty, you are the owner of the file or the
superuser, or the -i option is present.
Files ending in ,v are RCS files; all others are working
files. If a working file is given, rcs tries to find the
corresponding RCS file first in directory ./RCS and then in
the current directory, as explained in co(1rcs).
OPTIONS
-alogins
Appends the login names appearing in the comma-separated
list logins to the access list of the RCS file.
-cstring
Sets the comment leader to string. The comment leader is
printed before every log message line generated by the
keyword $Log$ during checkout (see co). This is useful
for programming languages without multi-line comments.
During rcs -i or initial ci, the comment leader is
guessed from the suffix of the working file.
-e[logins]
Erases the login names appearing in the comma-separated
list logins from the access list of the RCS file. If
logins is omitted, the entire access list is erased.
-i Creates and initializes a new RCS file, but does not
deposit any revision. If the RCS file has no path
prefix, rcs tries to place it first into the
subdirectory ./RCS, and then into the current directory.
If the RCS file already exists, an error message is
printed.
You are prompted to enter descriptive text as described
in ci(1rcs).
-l[rev]
Printed 10/17/86 1
RCS(1RCS) COMMAND REFERENCE RCS(1RCS)
Locks the revision with number rev. If a branch is
given, the latest revision on that branch is locked. If
rev is omitted, the latest revision on the trunk is
locked. Locking prevents overlapping changes. A lock
is removed with ci or rcs -u (see below).
-nname[:rev]
Associates the symbolic name name with the branch or
revision rev. Rcs prints an error message if name is
already associated with another number. If rev is
omitted, the symbolic name is deleted.
-orange
Deletes (outdates) the revisions given by range. A
range consisting of a single revision number means that
revision. A range consisting of a branch number means
the latest revision on that branch. A range of the form
rev1-rev2 means revisions rev1 to rev2 on the same
branch. -rev means from the beginning of the branch
containing rev up to and including rev. And rev- means
from revision rev to the end of the branch containing
rev. None of the outdated revisions may have branches
or locks.
-q Quiet mode. Diagnostics are not printed.
-sstate[:rev]
Sets the state attribute of the revision rev to state.
If rev is omitted, the latest revision on the trunk is
assumed; If rev is a branch number, the latest revision
on that branch is assumed. Any identifier is acceptable
for state. A useful set of states is Exp (for
experimental), Stab (for stable), and Rel (for
released). By default, ci sets the state of a revision
to Exp.
-t[txtfilename]
Writes descriptive text into the RCS file (deletes the
existing text). If txtfilename is omitted, rcs prompts
you for text supplied from the standard input,
terminated with a line containing a single dot (.) or
<CTRL-D>. Otherwise, the descriptive text is copied
from the file txtfilename. If the -i option is present,
descriptive text is requested even if -t is not given.
The prompt is suppressed if the standard input is not a
terminal.
-u[rev]
Unlocks the revision with number rev. If a branch is
given, the latest revision on that branch is unlocked.
If rev is omitted, the latest lock held by the caller is
removed. Normally, only the locker of a revision may
Printed 10/17/86 2
RCS(1RCS) COMMAND REFERENCE RCS(1RCS)
unlock it. Somebody else unlocking a revision breaks
the lock. To break another user's lock, the rev must be
specified. This causes a mail message to be sent to the
original locker. The message contains a commentary
solicited from the breaker. The commentary is
terminated with a line containing a single dot (.) or
<CTRL-D>.
-Aoldfilename
Appends the access list of oldfilename to the access
list of the RCS file.
-L Sets locking to strict. Strict locking means that the
owner of an RCS file is not exempt from locking for
checkin. This option should be used for files that are
shared.
-Nname[:rev]
Same as -n, except that it overrides a previous
assignment of name.
-P Causes the access and modification dates of the RCS file
to stay the same before and after modification, unless
the current revision was outdated. See CAVEATS.
-U Sets locking to nonstrict. Nonstrict locking means that
the owner of a file need not lock a revision for
checkin. This option should NOT be used for files that
are shared. The default is strict locking, but this may
be changed by setting the environment variable RCSLOCK
to nonstrict.
EXAMPLES
The following example unlocks the current revision of the
file example.c if it is locked (if it is not locked, a
message to that effect is printed):
rcs -u example.c
FILES
The caller of the command must have read/write permission
for the directory containing the RCS file and read
permission for the RCS file itself. Rcs creates a semaphore
file in the same directory as the RCS file to prevent
simultaneous update. For changes, rcs always creates a new
file. On successful completion, rcs deletes the old one and
renames the new one. This strategy makes links to RCS files
useless.
Printed 10/17/86 3
RCS(1RCS) COMMAND REFERENCE RCS(1RCS)
,RCSt$$ Temporary storage for data during
changes. $$ is the current process
id.
,*, The semaphore file. This file
prevents other rcs updates to the
file.
DIAGNOSTICS
The RCS filename and the revisions outdated are written to
the diagnostic output.
VARIABLES
RCSLOCK If set to nonstrict, all new RCS files will
have locking set to nonstrict mode.
Otherwise, locking is strict.
RETURN VALUE
[NO_ERRS] Command completed without error.
[USAGE] Incorrect command line syntax. Execution
terminated.
[NP_ERR] An error occurred that was not a system
error. Execution terminated.
CAVEATS
The maximum number of revisions that can be stored in a
single RCS file is 719. When there are more than 700
revisions in a file, a warning message is printed on the
terminal (if possible) every time an RCS command works on
the file. See the manual page for rcsfile(5rcs) for
information on what action to take in this case.
The maximum length of a description message (see -i) is 2048
characters. Longer messages are truncated.
On older versions of RCS, the maximum number of revisions
that can be stored in a single RCS file is 239. No warning
is displayed on the terminal if this number is exceeded.
The -P option is supplied so that make does not think that a
file has been changed just because the administrative
information was modified. This causes make to do less work,
but it can cause problems if the values of any of the RCS
keyword values are used. For example, if a revision logging
system is used to store the version numbers of source files
into the object code, these numbers may not be correct if
the -P option is used.
SEE ALSO
ci(1rcs), co(1rcs), ident(1rcs), rlog(1rcs), rcsdiff(1rcs),
Printed 10/17/86 4
RCS(1RCS) COMMAND REFERENCE RCS(1RCS)
rcsintro(1rcs), rcsmerge(1rcs), rcsfile(5rcs).
Printed 10/17/86 5
%%index%%
na:72,68;
sy:140,663;
de:803,825;
op:1628,1445;3217,3073;6434,1566;
ex:8000,269;
fi:8269,545;8958,358;
di:9316,171;
va:9487,235;
rv:9722,338;
ca:10060,1295;
se:11355,196;11695,173;
%%index%%000000000214