RCS(1) - man - phpMan

RCS(1)                                 General Commands Manual                                RCS(1)



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 mul‐
       tiple revisions of text, an access list, a change log, descriptive text, and some control at‐
       tributes.  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  over‐
              rides  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.   Nor‐
              mally,  only  the locker of a revision can unlock it.  Somebody else unlocking a revi‐
              sion 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 so‐
              licited 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 ex‐
              empt 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 ca‐
              sual  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 al‐
              ready associated with another number.  If rev is symbolic, it is expanded before asso‐
              ciation.   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 con‐
              trasts  with  rcs -nname:$ RCS/*  which  associates name with the revision numbers ex‐
              tracted 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 re‐
              vision  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  con‐
              taining 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, as‐
              sume the latest revision on that branch.  If rev is omitted, assume the  latest  revi‐
              sion  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  de‐
              fault, 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 it‐
              self.  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 op‐
              tion 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 re‐
              compilation 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 com‐
              patibility with other RCS commands.

       At least one explicit option must be given, to ensure compatibility with future  planned  ex‐
       tensions 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  ac‐
       cesses,  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 spa‐
              ces 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''.  Other‐
              wise (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: 5.10.1; Release Date: 2022-02-19.
       Copyright © 2010-2022 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 sup‐
       ports 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.



GNU RCS 5.10.1                               2022-02-19                                       RCS(1)