home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- FRED(1C) USER COMMANDS FRED(1C)
-
-
-
- NAME
- fred - a white pages user interface (FRont-End to Dish)
-
- SYNOPSIS
- fred [options] [command arguments ...]
-
- whois arguments ... (as in "fred whois rose -org psi")
-
- DESCRIPTION
- The fred program is a front-end to the OSI Directory, and in
- particular the dish (1c) program. It is most useful as an
- interface to the white pages service.
-
- The fred program is meant to be similar to the WHOIS service
- familiar to most users of the network. There are some
- differences however.
-
- First, users in the white pages are uniquely identified by
- their distinguished name, e.g.,
-
- "@c=US@o=NYSERNet Inc.@cn=Manager"
-
- In contrast, users of the WHOIS service are uniquely identi-
- fied by their WHOIS handle, a brief key, e.g., "MTR". Since
- distinguished names are much longer than WHOIS handles, fred
- maintains a list of aliases during its execution. When an
- entry for something is retrieved, it is assigned a numeric
- alias for its name.
-
- Second, searches in the white pages are relative to an
- "area". The default area is set by your system administra-
- tor. It can be changed using the area command. Because the
- white pages are distributed, searches occurring at higher
- areas are more expensive in terms of time, networking
- resources, etc.
-
- Third, the white pages are highly structured. As such, you
- can potentially retrieve much more detailed information
- about an entry. Although the fred should prove useful for
- the majority of queries, it is purposefully limited in its
- searching capabilities. Users desiring a more powerful
- interface, should use dish (1c) directly.
-
- EXAMPLES
- The command syntax, while meant to be intuitive, is tedious.
- Here are a few simple examples:
-
- whois "smith"
- looks for any entries with this name in the default
- area (choice of matching on the entry's surname or
- fullname is based on the value of the `namesearch'
- variable).
-
- whois surname "smith"
- looks for any entries with this surname.
-
- whois fullname "john smith"
- looks for any entries with this fullname.
-
- whois "smith" -org nyser
- looks for any entries with this name in any organiza-
- tion with "nyser" in its name. This is probably the
- most common usage of the program.
-
- whois "smith" -area "@c=US@o=NYSERNet Inc."
- could be used if you already know the "area" that the
- user resides in.
-
- whois "smith" -area 17
- could be used if an alias were already established for
- this area.
-
- whois @c=US@cn=Manager
- looks for the entry with this distinguished name (han-
- dle).
-
- whois !7
- could be used if an alias were already established for
- this entry.
-
- whois mrose@cheetah.nyser.net
- looks for any entries with the given mailbox.
-
- whois -title operator
- looks for any entries who are operators.
-
- whois -org *
- reports on all registered organizations (in the default
- geographical area).
-
- whois -org * -geo @c=GB
- reports on all registered organizations under @c=GB.
-
- Here is a somewhat more common example:
-
- fred> whois schoffstall -org psi
- Trying @c=US@o=Performance Systems International ...
- 3 matches found.
- 2. Marvin Schoffstall marv@psi.com
- 3. Martin Schoffstall schoff@psi.com
- 4. Steve Schoffstall steve@psi.com
-
- fred> whois !3
- Martin Schoffstall (3) schoff@psi.com
- ...
-
- COMMANDS
- On start-up, fred will read a file called fredrc in the
- ISODE system directory (usually /usr/local/etc/ ). Then,
- fred reads the file .fredrc in the user's home directory.
- These files, if present, contain user-preference commands.
- Afterwards, fred prompts for commands.
-
- Typing INTR at the top-level does nothing, but typing it
- twice in a row at the top-level terminates fred; typing INTR
- during additional prompting causes fred to abort the com-
- mand.
-
- alias [name]
- With no arguments, prints all aliases defined for this
- session. With an argument, defines a numeric alias for
- that name.
-
- area [[record-type] location]
- With no arguments, prints the default area used by the
- whois command when consulting the white pages. With a
- single argument, this sets the default area. The dis-
- tinguished value ".." may be used to go up one level in
- the tree. If the value is relative (i.e., does not
- start with the "@"-sign), then the value is appended
- onto the current location. With two arguments, this
- sets the default area for searches of the indicated
- record type (which are described in the next section).
- This is particularly useful since it also provides
- heuristics to the whois command as to the depth to be
- used for searching.
-
- edit Invokes an editor to modify the user's entry in the
- white pages.
-
- help [command ...]
- Prints help information. For detailed information, try
- "help ?".
-
- manual
- Prints this detailed documentation about fred.
-
- quit Terminates fred.
-
- report [subject]
- Allows you to enter a report that is mailed to your
- local white pages manager.
-
- set [variable [value]]
- Manipulates fred's settings:
-
- variable function
- debug debug fred
- manager mail address of local white pages manager
- namesearch type of name used for matching
- (either "fullname" or "surname")
- pager program to use for terminal pagination
- phone always display phone numbers
- in one-liner
- query confirm two-step operations
- soundex use soundex for matching
- when no wildcards are present
- timelimit maximum number of seconds to
- spend searching
- verbose verbose interaction
- watch watch dialogue with dish
-
- thisis [name [password]]
- Tells the white pages service who you are. This is
- only needed when you want to modify your own entry.
- Normally, this is determined automatically when fred
- starts.
-
- whois [arguments ...]
- Consults the white pages.
-
- WHOIS
- The syntax of the whois command is similar to that provided
- by the WHOIS service:
-
- input-field [record-type] [area-designator] [output-control]
-
- These four components may occur in any order. Only the
- input-field need be present.
-
- INPUT FIELD
- This component tells the white pages what to look for.
-
- .<name> or name <name>
- gives the name of the target.
- surname <name>
- fullname <name>
-
- Searching for names follows these rules: if the "*"-
- sign appears at the beginning and/or end of the name,
- then wildcard-style matching is used: the "*"-sign
- matches zero or more characters at the beginning or end
- of a name. Otherwise, if soundex has been enabled (set
- the variable `soundex' to `on'), then imprecise match-
- ing occurs according to a Soundex algorithm. Other-
- wise, if searching is to occur for a person's surname,
- then a case-insensitive match is used. Finally, as a
- last resort, fred will force a rather liberal
- wildcard-style match.
-
-
-
-
- Sun Release 4.0 Last change: 06 Jan 1990 4
-
-
-
-
-
-
- FRED(1C) USER COMMANDS FRED(1C)
-
-
-
- For compatibility with the WHOIS service, an input
- field of "NAME." is equivalent to "NAME*" (i.e., a par-
- tial match for names having the given prefix). Simi-
- larly, an input field of "*NAME" is equivalent to
- "NAME expand". Thus, to have wildcard matching at the
- beginning of the name, use two "*"-signs, e.g., "**inc"
- matches names ending in "inc". (A terrible hack, but
- that's the price one pays to be consistent with the
- WHOIS service.)
-
- !<handle> or handle <handle>
- gives the unique handle (distinguished name) of the
- target. This may be an alias rather than a dis-
- tinguished name.
-
- mailbox <mailbox>
- gives the mailbox of the target.
-
- If a keyword is not given, then fred attempts to intuit
- which kind of input field is being provided. In most cases,
- fred will treat field as a name, unless it contains the
- "@"-sign, which makes it either a handle or a mailbox.
-
- RECORD TYPE
- This component tells the white pages what kind of entry to
- look for.
-
- person or -title NAME,
- organization,
- unit (a division under an organization),
- role (a role within an organization),
- locality, or
- dsa (a white pages server).
-
- If this component is not present, fred will not limit its
- search to any particular kind of entry.
-
- AREA DESIGNATOR
- This component takes one of two forms. The most common form
- is one of the switches:
-
- -org (short for -organization ),
- -unit, or,
- -locality,
-
- followed by a name. For example,
-
- -org nyser
-
- tells fred to limit the search to those organizations whose
- name contains "nyser".
-
- In addition the switch `-geo' followed by a location in the
- white pages may be used to override the default area for
- searching for these objects. For example,
-
- -org ucl -area @c=GB
-
- tells fred to limit the search to those organizations whose
- name contains "ucl" that reside directly under @c=GB.
-
- In the second form, the area designator consists of the
- switch -area followed by a location in the white pages;
- e.g.,
-
- -area "@c=US@o=NYSERNet Inc."
-
- Note the use of double-quotes to make the string following
- area appear as a single argument. If an alias has already
- been established for this location, then the number of the
- alias can be used instead.
-
- OUTPUT CONTROL
- expand or *
- give a detailed listing and show children of matched
- entries.
-
- ~ The opposite of expand. (Included for compatibility
- with the WHOIS service.)
-
- subdisplay or %
- give a one-line listing and show children of matched
- entries.
-
- full or |
- give a detailed listing, even on ambiguous matches
-
- summary or $
- give a one-line listing, even on unique matches.
-
- OPTIONS
- -f Inhibits reading of the user's .fredrc on startup.
-
- -v Sets verbose (default for interactive use).
-
- -w Sets watch.
-
- FILES
- /usr/local/etc/dsaptailor system QUIPU tailoring file
- $HOME/.quipurc user's QUIPU tailoring file
- /usr/local/etc/fredrc system runcom file
- $HOME/.fredrc user's runcom file
-
- SEE ALSO
- dish(1c),
- NYSERNet White Pages Pilot Project: User's Guide,
- The ISO Development Environment: User's Manual--Volume 5:
- QUIPU
-
- DIAGNOSTICS
- All obvious.
-
- AUTHOR
- Marshall T. Rose, NYSERNet Inc.
-
- BUGS
- The emulation of the old whois command format is imperfect.
- Most notably, you need to quote names so they appear as a
- single token to the fred. For example:
-
- % fred whois "Dal Santo"
-
- won't work, whilst
-
- % fred whois '"Dal Santo"'
-
- will work (the shell strips off one layer of quoting).
- That's progress for you.
-