Ubuntu Manpage: sccs — front end for the SCCS subsystem

NAME

     sccs — front end for the SCCS subsystem

SYNOPSIS

     sccs [-r] [-d path] [-T] [-V] [--version] [-p path] [--prefix=path] [--cssc] command [flags] [file ...]

DESCRIPTION

Sccs is a front end to the SCCS programs that helps them mesh more cleanly with the rest of UNIX. It also
includes the capability to run “set user id” to another user to provide additional protection (but see the
section entitled BUGS).

Basically, sccs runs the command with the specified flags and args. Each argument is normally modified to
be prepended with “SCCS/s.”.

Flags to be interpreted by the sccs program must be before the command argument. Flags to be passed to the
actual SCCS program must come after the command argument. These flags are specific to the command and are
discussed in the documentation for that command.

Besides the usual SCCS commands, several “pseudo-commands” can be issued. These are:

edit Equivalent to “get -e”.

delget Perform a delta on the named files and then get new versions. The new versions will have id
keywords expanded, and will not be editable. The -m, -p, -r, -s, and -y flags will be passed to
delta, and the -b, -c, -e, -i, -k, -l, -s, and -x flags will be passed to get.

deledit Equivalent to delget except that the get phase includes the -e flag. This option is useful for
making a checkpoint of your current editing phase. The same flags will be passed to delta as
described above, and all the flags listed for get above except -e and -k are passed to edit.

create Creates an SCCS file , taking the initial contents from the file of the same name. Any flags to
admin are accepted. If the creation is successful, the files are renamed with a comma on the
front. These should be removed when you are convinced that the SCCS files have been created
successfully.

fix Must be followed by a -r flag. This command essentially removes the named delta, but leaves you
with a copy of the delta with the changes that were in it. It is useful for fixing small compiler
bugs, etc. Since it doesn't leave audit trails, it should be used carefully.

clean This routine removes everything from the current directory that can be recreated from SCCS files.
It will not remove any files being edited. If the -b flag is given, branches are ignored in the
determination of whether they are being edited; this is dangerous if you are keeping the branches
in the same directory.

unedit This is the opposite of an edit or a “get -e”. It should be used with extreme caution, since any
changes you made since the get will be irretrievably lost.

info Gives a listing of all files being edited. If the -b flag is given, branches (i.e., SID´s with
two or fewer components) are ignored. If the -u flag is given (with an optional argument) then
only files being edited by you (or the named user) are listed.

check Like info except that nothing is printed if nothing is being edited, and a non-zero exit status is
returned if anything is being edited. The intent is to have this included in an install entry in
a makefile to insure that everything is included into the SCCS file before a version is installed.

tell Gives a newline-separated list of the files being edited on the standard output. Takes the -b and
-u flags like info and check.

diffs Gives a diff listing between the current version of the program(s) you have out for editing and
the versions in SCCS format. The -r, -c, -i, -x, and -t flags are passed to
get; the -l, -s, -e, -f, -h, -u, -n, -w, and -b options are passed to diff. The -a, -B, -d, -H,
-p, -q, -s, -v, and -y options are passed to diff but these options are (usually) specific to GNU
diff, and so may not be supported on systems other than GNU. The -C flag is passed to diff as -c.

print This command prints out verbose information about the named files.

Certain commands (such as admin) cannot be run “set user id” by all users, since this would allow anyone to
change the authorizations. These commands are always run as the real user.

--cssc Returns a zero exit value (for the GNU version only). No other operation is performed. This
flag is used by the test suite to determine if it needs to use the --prefix flag in order to
find the correct subprograms (non-GNU versions of sccs have the full pathnames for the
subprograms hard-coded). In this way, the CSSC test suite can be compiled ready for
installation in a particular directory, but the test suite can still be run before the suite
has been installed in its final position. This option is supported only by the GNU version
of sccs.

--prefix=foo Uses foo as the prefix for SCCS sub-commands. The default prefix is compiled into the
program and is usually “/usr/sccs”. You can discover the prefix setting with the -V flag.
This prefix is used without a final slash being appended, so values like
“/usr/local/bin/cssc-” can be used. This option is disallowed if the program is installed
setuid, and it is supported only by the GNU version of sccs. This option is not equivalent
to the -p flag.

--version Show version information; synonymous with the -V flag.

-r Runs sccs as the real user rather than as whatever effective user sccs is “set user id” to.

-d Specifies a root directory for the SCCS files. The default is the current directory. If
environment variable PROJECTDIR is set, it will be used to determine the -d flag.

-p Defines the pathname of the directory in which the SCCS files will be found; “SCCS” is the
default. The -p flag differs from the -d flag in that the -d argument is prepended to the
entire pathname and the -p argument is inserted before the final component of the pathname.
For example, “sccs -d/x -py get a/b” will convert to “get /x/a/y/s.b”. The intent here is to
create aliases such as “alias syssccs sccs -d/usr/src” which will be used as “syssccs get
cmd/who.c”. Please note that the -p flag is (very) different in purpose from the --prefix
option.

-T This flag causes the program to emit a debugging trace on stdout. This flag may be disabled
at compile time.

-V Shows the version information for the sccs program, and the subcommand prefix being used.
This option is supported only by the GNU version of sccs.

EXAMPLES

     To get a file for editing, edit it, and produce a new delta:

           sccs get -e file.c
           ex file.c
           sccs delta file.c

     To get a file from another directory:

           sccs -p/usr/src/sccs/s. get cc.c

     or

           sccs get /usr/src/sccs/s.cc.c

     To make a delta of a large number of files in the current directory:

           sccs delta *.c

     To get a list of files being edited that are not on branches:

           sccs info -b

     To delta everything being edited by you:

           sccs delta `sccs tell -u`

     In a makefile, to get source files from an SCCS file if it does not already exist:

           SRCS = <list of source files>
           $(SRCS):
                sccs get $(REL) $@

MAINTAINER

     This version of sccs is maintained by James Youngman, <jay@gnu.org>.

ENVIRONMENT

     PROJECTDIR

                   The PROJECTDIR environment variable is checked by the -d flag.  If it begins with a slash, it
                   is taken directly; otherwise, the home directory of a user of that name is examined for a
                   subdirectory “src” or “source”.  If such a directory is found, it is used.

DIAGNOSTICS

     There are many error messages, mostly brief but fairly obvious.  If all goes acording to plan, the
     program's exit status is zero.  Otherwise, it will be one of the following values:-

     0     No error; everything proceeded according to plan.

     64    Command line usage error

     69    Could not exec program

     70    Internal software error.  This should not happen.

     71    System error (e.g., can't fork)

     75    Temporary failure; retry later.  This error is returned when the system runs out of memory.

     77    Permission denied.  This error occurs when the program has been installed setuid, but SCCSDIR was not
           configured in at compile time.  This can also happen if something goes wrong when the program tries
           to drop its setuid or setgid privileges.  When a program exits due to a fatal signal, the shell
           usually adds 128 to the signal number and uses that as the return value.   Some systems also produce
           values in this range if there was a problem with the dynamic linker.

COPYING

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided
that the following conditions are met:

1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the
following disclaimer.

2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and
the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software must display the following
acknowledgement:

This product includes software developed by the University of California, Berkeley and its
contributors.

4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote
products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES,
INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF
SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND
ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR
OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.

HISTORY

     The sccs command appeared in 4.3BSD.

     This version of sccs has been slightly modified to support GNU Autoconf, and several new options (those
     beginning with two dashes and also -V) and to make it somewhat more portable.  The program otherwise
     remains largely unchanged.

BUGS

     It should be able to take directory arguments on pseudo-commands like the SCCS commands do.

     Though this program is mostly derived from the original BSD code, the subprograms accompanying it in the
     CSSC suite (admin, get, delta and so on) are not the original AT&T code.  Please do not count on these
     programs being secure.

     Other known bugs are listed in the file BUGS, which accompanies GNU CSSC.