NAME

       rancid_par - parallel command processing

SYNOPSIS

       rancid_par [-dfiqx] [-c  command] [-l  logfile] [-n #] file [file...]

DESCRIPTION

       rancid_par  takes a list of files to run a command on.  The first line of each file begins
       with a colon (:) or a pound-sign (#).  If a colon, the remainder of the line is a  command
       to  run for each of the subsequent lines.  If a pound-sign, then each subsequent line is a
       (self-contained) command, unless the -c option was specified, in which case it operates as
       if the argument to -c had followed a colon on the first line.

       In  each  of  the  cases  where the lines of the file following the first are not commands
       (i.e.: colon or -c), instances of open-close braces ({}) in the command will  be  replaced
       by these values.

       For example, a inputfile whose contents is:

            : echo {}
            a
            b
            c

       run with rancid_par like so:

            %rancid_par -q inputfile

       will produce the following output (order will vary):

            b
            a
            c

       The command-line options are as follows:

       -c     Command  to  be  run  on  each of the arguments following the command-line options,
              where the first line of the input file(s) begins with a pound-sign (#).

       -d     Print debugging information on standard error (stderr).

       -f     No file or STDIN, just run a quantity of the command specified with -c.

       -i     Run commands interactively through (multiple) xterm(1) processes.

       -l     Prefix of logfile name, as in prefix.N where N is  the  rancid_par  process  number
              ([0..]).

              Default: par.log.<time>.[0..]

       -n     Number of simultaneous processes.

              Default: 3

       -q     Quiet  mode.   Do  not  log  anything.  -q is mutually exclusive with the -x and -l
              options and the option appearing last will take precedence.

       -x     View rancid_par logs in real-time via an xterm(1).

FILES

       par.log.T.N Log file; where T is the current time in seconds since the
       epoch and N is the rancid_par process number ([0..]).

                                         18 December 2007                           rancid_par(1)