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
- 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 filename.
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. 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.
- -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
pathname 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 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.
Manual Page Revision: ; Release Date: .
Copyright © 1982, 1988, 1989 Walter F. Tichy.
Copyright © 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 Paul Eggert.
SEE ALSO
rcsintro(1), 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.
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.