1RCS(1) General Commands Manual RCS(1)
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6 rcs - change RCS file attributes
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9 rcs [ options ] file ...
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12 Rcs creates new RCS files or changes attributes of existing ones. An
13 RCS file contains multiple revisions of text, an access list, a change
14 log, descriptive text, and some control attributes. For rcs to work,
15 the caller's login name must be on the access list, except if the
16 access list is empty, the caller is the owner of the file or the supe‐
17 ruser, or the -i option is present.
18 Files ending in `,v' are RCS files, all others are working files. If a
20 working file is given, rcs tries to find the corresponding RCS file
21 first in directory ./RCS and then in the current directory, as
22 explained in co (1).
23 -i creates and initializes a new RCS file, but does not deposit
25 any revision. If the RCS file has no path prefix, rcs tries
26 to place it first into the subdirectory ./RCS, and then into
27 the current directory. If the RCS file already exists, an
28 error message is printed.
29 -alogins appends the login names appearing in the comma-separated
31 list logins to the access list of the RCS file.
32 -Aoldfile appends the access list of oldfile to the access list of the
34 RCS file.
35 -e[logins] erases the login names appearing in the comma-separated list
37 logins from the access list of the RCS file. If logins is
38 omitted, the entire access list is erased.
39 -cstring sets the comment leader to string. The comment leader is
41 printed before every log message line generated by the key‐
42 word $Log$ during checkout (see co). This is useful for
43 programming languages without multi-line comments. During
44 rcs -i or initial ci, the comment leader is guessed from the
45 suffix of the working file.
46 -l[rev] locks the revision with number rev. If a branch is given,
48 the latest revision on that branch is locked. If rev is
49 omitted, the latest revision on the trunk is locked. Lock‐
50 ing prevents overlapping changes. A lock is removed with ci
51 or rcs -u (see below).
52 -u[rev] unlocks the revision with number rev. If a branch is given,
54 the latest revision on that branch is unlocked. If rev is
55 omitted, the latest lock held by the caller is removed.
56 Normally, only the locker of a revision may unlock it.
57 Somebody else unlocking a revision breaks the lock. This
58 causes a mail message to be sent to the original locker.
59 The message contains a commentary solicited from the
60 breaker. The commentary is terminated with a line contain‐
61 ing a single `.' or control-D.
62 -L sets locking to strict. Strict locking means that the owner
64 of an RCS file is not exempt from locking for checkin. This
65 option should be used for files that are shared.
66 -U sets locking to non-strict. Non-strict locking means that
68 the owner of a file need not lock a revision for checkin.
69 This option should NOT be used for files that are shared.
70 The default (-L or -U) is determined by your system adminis‐
71 trator.
72 -nname[:rev]
74 associates the symbolic name name with the branch or revi‐
75 sion rev. Rcs prints an error message if name is already
76 associated with another number. If rev is omitted, the sym‐
77 bolic name is deleted.
78 -Nname[:rev]
80 same as -n, except that it overrides a previous assignment
81 of name.
82 -orange deletes ("outdates") the revisions given by range. A range
84 consisting of a single revision number means that revision.
85 A range consisting of a branch number means the latest revi‐
86 sion on that branch. A range of the form rev1-rev2 means
87 revisions rev1 to rev2 on the same branch, -rev means from
88 the beginning of the branch containing rev up to and includ‐
89 ing rev, and rev- means from revision rev to the end of the
90 branch containing rev. None of the outdated revisions may
91 have branches or locks.
92 -q quiet mode; diagnostics are not printed.
94 -sstate[:rev]
96 sets the state attribute of the revision rev to state. If
97 rev is omitted, the latest revision on the trunk is assumed;
98 If rev is a branch number, the latest revision on that
99 branch is assumed. Any identifier is acceptable for state.
100 A useful set of states is Exp (for experimental), Stab (for
101 stable), and Rel (for released). By default, ci sets the
102 state of a revision to Exp.
103 -t[txtfile]
105 writes descriptive text into the RCS file (deletes the
106 existing text). If txtfile is omitted, rcs prompts the user
107 for text supplied from the std. input, terminated with a
108 line containing a single `.' or control-D. Otherwise, the
109 descriptive text is copied from the file txtfile. If the -i
110 option is present, descriptive text is requested even if -t
111 is not given. The prompt is suppressed if the std. input is
112 not a terminal.
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115 The RCS file name and the revisions outdated are written to the diag‐
116 nostic output. The exit status always refers to the last RCS file
117 operated upon, and is 0 if the operation was successful, 1 otherwise.
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120 The caller of the command must have read/write permission for the
121 directory containing the RCS file and read permission for the RCS file
122 itself. Rcs creates a semaphore file in the same directory as the RCS
123 file to prevent simultaneous update. For changes, rcs always creates a
124 new file. On successful completion, rcs deletes the old one and renames
125 the new one. This strategy makes links to RCS files useless.
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128 Author: Walter F. Tichy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907.
129 Revision Number: 3.1 ; Release Date: 83/04/04 .
130 Copyright © 1982 by Walter F. Tichy.
131
133 co (1), ci (1), ident(1), rcsdiff (1), rcsintro (1), rcsmerge (1), rlog
134 (1), rcsfile (5), sccstorcs (8).
135 Walter F. Tichy, "Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Revision
136 Control System," in Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on
137 Software Engineering, IEEE, Tokyo, Sept. 1982.
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140Purdue University 6/29/83 RCS(1)