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