xenial (1) rcs.1.gz

Provided by: rcs_5.9.4-3_amd64 bug

NAME

       rcs - change RCS file attributes

SYNOPSIS

       rcs options file ...

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,  the  caller's  login  name must be on the access list, except if the access list is empty, the
       caller is the owner of the file or the superuser, or the -i option is present.

       Filenames matching an RCS suffix denote RCS files; all others denote working files.  Names are paired  as
       explained in ci(1).  Revision numbers use the syntax described in ci(1).

OPTIONS

       -i     Create  and  initialize a new RCS file, but do not deposit any revision.  If the RCS file name has
              no directory component, try to place it first into the  subdirectory  ./RCS,  and  then  into  the
              current directory.  If the RCS file already exists, print an error message.

       -alogins
              Append  the login names appearing in the comma-separated list logins to the access list of the RCS
              file.

       -Aoldfile
              Append the access list of oldfile to the access list of the RCS file.

       -e[logins]
              Erase the login names appearing in the comma-separated list logins from the access list of the RCS
              file.  If logins is omitted, erase the entire access list.

       -b[rev]
              Set  the  default  branch  to  rev.   If  rev  is  omitted,  the  default  branch  is reset to the
              (dynamically) highest branch on the trunk.

       -cstring
              Set the comment leader to string.  An initial ci, or an rcs -i without  -c,  guesses  the  comment
              leader from the suffix of the working file name.

              This  option  is  obsolescent,  since  RCS  normally  uses  the preceding $Log$ line's prefix when
              inserting log lines during checkout (see co(1)).  However, older versions of RCS use  the  comment
              leader  instead  of the $Log$ line's prefix, so if you plan to access a file with both old and new
              versions of RCS, make sure its comment leader matches its $Log$ line prefix.

       -ksubst
              Set the default keyword substitution to subst.  The effect of keyword substitution is described in
              co(1).   Giving an explicit -k option to co, rcsdiff, and rcsmerge overrides this default.  Beware
              rcs -kv, because -kv is incompatible with co -l.  Use  rcs -kkv  to  restore  the  normal  default
              keyword substitution.

       -l[rev]
              Lock the revision with number rev.  If a branch is given, lock the latest revision on that branch.
              If rev is omitted, lock the latest revision on the default branch.  Locking  prevents  overlapping
              changes.  If someone else already holds the lock, the lock is broken as with rcs -u (see below).

       -u[rev]
              Unlock  the  revision  with  number rev.  If a branch is given, unlock the latest revision on that
              branch.  If rev is omitted, remove the latest lock held by the caller.  Normally, only the  locker
              of  a  revision  can  unlock  it.  Somebody else unlocking a revision breaks the lock.  If RCS was
              configured --with-mailer, then 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 by end-of-
              file or by a line containing . by itself.

       -L     Set 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.

       -U     Set  locking  to  non-strict.   Non-strict  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.  Whether  default
              locking is strict is determined by your system administrator, but it is normally strict.

       -mrev:[msg]
              Replace  revision  rev's  log  message with msg.  If msg is omitted, it defaults to "*** empty log
              message ***".

       -M     Do not send mail when breaking somebody else's lock.  This option is not meant for casual use;  it
              is  meant for programs that warn users by other means, and invoke rcs -u only as a low-level lock-
              breaking operation.

       -nname[:[rev]]
              Associate the symbolic name name with the branch or revision rev.  Delete  the  symbolic  name  if
              both  :  and rev are omitted; otherwise, print an error message if name is already associated with
              another number.  If rev is symbolic, it is expanded before association.  A  rev  consisting  of  a
              branch  number  followed by a . stands for the current latest revision in the branch.  A : with an
              empty rev stands for the current latest revision on the default branch, normally the  trunk.   For
              example,  rcs -nname: RCS/*  associates name with the current latest revision of all the named RCS
              files; this contrasts with rcs -nname:$ RCS/* which associates  name  with  the  revision  numbers
              extracted from keyword strings in the corresponding working files.

       -Nname[:[rev]]
              Act like -n, except override any previous assignment of name.

       -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 can have
              branches or locks.

       -q     Run quietly; do not print diagnostics.

       -I     Run interactively, even if the standard input is not a terminal.

       -sstate[:rev]
              Set the state attribute of the revision rev to state.  If rev  is  a  branch  number,  assume  the
              latest  revision  on  that  branch.   If rev is omitted, assume the latest revision on the default
              branch.   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(1) sets the state of a
              revision to Exp.

       -t[file]
              Write descriptive text from the contents of the  named  file  into  the  RCS  file,  deleting  the
              existing  text.   The  file  name  cannot  begin with -.  If file is omitted, obtain the text from
              standard input, terminated by end-of-file or by a line containing . by  itself.   Prompt  for  the
              text  if interaction is possible; see -I.  With -i, descriptive text is obtained even if -t is not
              given.

       -t-string
              Write descriptive text from the string into the RCS file, deleting the existing text.

       -T     Preserve the modification time on the RCS file unless a revision  is  removed.   This  option  can
              suppress  extensive  recompilation caused by a make(1) dependency of some copy of the working file
              on the RCS file.  Use this option with care; it can suppress recompilation even when it is needed,
              i.e. when a change to the RCS file would mean a change to keyword strings in the working file.

       -V     Print RCS's version number.

       -Vn    Emulate RCS version n.  See co(1) for details.

       -xsuffixes
              Use suffixes to characterize RCS files.  See ci(1) for details.

       -zzone Use  zone  as  the  default time zone.  This option has no effect; it is present for compatibility
              with other RCS commands.

       At least one explicit option must be given, to ensure compatibility with future planned extensions to the
       rcs command.

COMPATIBILITY

       The -brev option generates an RCS file that cannot be parsed by RCS version 3 or earlier.

       The -ksubst options (except -kkv) generate an RCS file that cannot be parsed by RCS version 4 or earlier.

       Use  rcs -Vn to make an RCS file acceptable to RCS version n by discarding information that would confuse
       version n.

       RCS version 5.5 and earlier does not support the -x option, and requires a ,v suffix on an RCS file name.

FILES

       rcs accesses files much as ci(1) does, except that it uses the effective user for all accesses,  it  does
       not write the working file or its directory, and it does not even read the working file unless a revision
       number of $ is specified.

ENVIRONMENT

       RCSINIT
              Options prepended to the argument list, separated by spaces.  A backslash escapes spaces within an
              option.   The  RCSINIT  options  are prepended to the argument lists of most RCS commands.  Useful
              RCSINIT options include -q, -V, -x, and -z.

       RCS_MEM_LIMIT
              Normally, for speed, commands either memory map or copy into memory the RCS file if  its  size  is
              less  than  the  memory-limit,  currently  defaulting  to  ``unlimited''.   Otherwise  (or  if the
              initially-tried speedy ways fail), the commands fall back to using standard i/o routines.  You can
              adjust  the  memory limit by setting RCS_MEM_LIMIT to a numeric value lim (measured in kilobytes).
              An empty value is silently ignored.  As a side effect, specifying RCS_MEM_LIMIT inhibits fall-back
              to slower routines.

       TMPDIR Name of the temporary directory.  If not set, the environment variables TMP and TEMP are inspected
              instead and the first value found is taken; if none of them are set, a host-dependent  default  is
              used, typically /tmp.

DIAGNOSTICS

       The  RCS  file  name and the revisions outdated are written to the diagnostic output.  The exit status is
       zero if and only if all operations were successful.

IDENTIFICATION

       Author: Walter F. Tichy.
       Manual Page Revision: 5.9.4; Release Date: 2015-06-21.
       Copyright © 2010-2015 Thien-Thi Nguyen.
       Copyright © 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 Paul Eggert.
       Copyright © 1982, 1988, 1989 Walter F. Tichy.

SEE ALSO

       co(1), ci(1), ident(1), rcsclean(1), rcsdiff(1), rcsmerge(1), rlog(1), rcsfile(5).

       Walter F. Tichy, RCS--A System for Version Control, Software--Practice & Experience 15,  7  (July  1985),
       637-654.

       The  full  documentation  for RCS is maintained as a Texinfo manual.  If the info(1) and RCS programs are
       properly installed at your site, the command

              info rcs

       should give you access to the complete manual.  Additionally, the RCS homepage:

              http://www.gnu.org/software/rcs/

       has news and links to the latest release, development site, etc.

BUGS

       A catastrophe (e.g. a system crash) can cause RCS to leave behind a  semaphore  file  that  causes  later
       invocations  of  RCS  to  claim  that the RCS file is in use.  To fix this, remove the semaphore file.  A
       semaphore file's name typically begins with , or ends with _.

       The separator for revision ranges in the -o option used to be - instead of :, but this leads to confusion
       when  symbolic  names  contain -.  For backwards compatibility rcs -o still supports the old - separator,
       but it warns about this obsolete use.

       Symbolic names need not refer to existing revisions or branches.  For example, the  -o  option  does  not
       remove symbolic names for the outdated revisions; you must use -n to remove the names.