RCS
Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: 1991/09/26
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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.
Pathnames 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 has no path prefix, 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
-
sets the comment leader to
string.
The comment leader
is printed before every log message line generated by the keyword
$Log$
during checkout (see
co(1)).
This is useful for programming
languages without multi-line comments.
An initial
ci ,
or an
rcs -i
without
-c,
guesses the comment leader from the suffix of the working file.
- -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.
A lock is removed with
ci
or
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 may unlock it.
Somebody else unlocking a revision breaks the lock.
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.
- -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 may 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
pathname may not 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.
- -Vn
-
Emulate RCS version
n.
See
co(1)
for details.
- -xsuffixes
-
Use
suffixes
to characterize RCS files.
See
ci(1)
for details.
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 pathname.
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.
See
ci(1)
for details.
DIAGNOSTICS
The RCS pathname 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.
Revision Number: 5.6; Release Date: 1991/09/26.
Copyright © 1982, 1988, 1989 by Walter F. Tichy.
Copyright © 1990, 1991 by Paul Eggert.
SEE ALSO
co(1), ci(1), ident(1), rcsdiff(1), rcsintro(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.
BUGS
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.
Index
- NAME
-
- SYNOPSIS
-
- DESCRIPTION
-
- OPTIONS
-
- COMPATIBILITY
-
- FILES
-
- ENVIRONMENT
-
- DIAGNOSTICS
-
- IDENTIFICATION
-
- SEE ALSO
-
- BUGS
-
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