NAME

       rstart - a sample implementation of a Remote Start client

SYNOPSIS

       rstart [-c context] [-g] [-l username] [-v] hostname command args ...

DESCRIPTION

       Rstart  is  a  simple  implementation of a Remote Start client as defined in "A Flexible Remote Execution
       Protocol Based on rsh".  It uses rsh as its underlying remote execution mechanism.

OPTIONS

       -c context
               This option specifies the context in which the command is to  be  run.   A  context  specifies  a
               general  environment  the  program  is  to  be run in.  The details of this environment are host-
               specific; the intent is that the client need not know how the environment must be configured.  If
               omitted,  the  context  defaults  to  X.  This should be suitable for running X programs from the
               host's "usual" X installation.

       -g      Interprets command as a generic command, as discussed in the protocol document.  This is intended
               to  allow  common  applications  to be invoked without knowing what they are called on the remote
               system.  Currently, the only generic commands defined are  Terminal,  LoadMonitor,  ListContexts,
               and ListGenericCommands.

       -l username
               This option is passed to the underlying rsh; it requests that the command be run as the specified
               user.

       -v      This option requests that rstart be verbose  in  its  operation.   Without  this  option,  rstart
               discards  output  from  the  remote's  rstart helper, and directs the rstart helper to detach the
               program from the rsh connection used to start it.  With this option, responses  from  the  helper
               are displayed and the resulting program is not detached from the connection.

NOTES

       This  is  a  trivial  implementation.   Far more sophisticated implementations are possible and should be
       developed.

       Error handling is nonexistent.  Without -v, error reports from the remote are discarded  silently.   With
       -v, error reports are displayed.

       The $DISPLAY environment variable is passed.  If it starts with a colon, the local hostname is prepended.
       The local domain name should be appended to unqualified host names, but isn't.

       The $SESSION_MANAGER environment variable should be passed, but isn't.

       X11 authority information is passed for the current display.

       ICE authority information should be passed, but isn't.  It  isn't  completely  clear  how  rstart  should
       select what ICE authority information to pass.

       Even  without  -v, the sample rstart helper will leave a shell waiting for the program to complete.  This
       causes no real harm and consumes relatively few resources, but if it is undesirable it can be avoided  by
       explicitly specifying the "exec" command to the shell, eg
       rstart somehost exec xterm
       This is obviously dependent on the command interpreter being used on the remote system; the example given
       will work for the Bourne and C shells.

SEE ALSO

       rstartd(1), rsh(1), A Flexible Remote Execution Protocol Based on rsh

AUTHOR

       Jordan Brown, Quarterdeck Office Systems