path: root/gnu/libexec/uucp/uux/uux.1

''' $Id$
.TH uux 1 "Taylor UUCP 1.06"
.SH NAME
uux \- Remote command execution over UUCP
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B uux
[ options ] command
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.I uux
command is used to execute a command on a remote system, or to execute
a command on the local system using files from remote systems.
The command
is not executed immediately; the request is queued until the
.I uucico
(8) daemon calls the system and executes it.  The daemon is
started automatically unless one of the
.B \-r
or
.B \-\-nouucico
options is given.

The actual command execution is done by the
.I uuxqt
(8) daemon.

File arguments can be gathered from remote systems to the execution
system, as can standard input.  Standard output may be directed to a
file on a remote system.

The command name may be preceded by a system name followed by an
exclamation point if it is to be executed on a remote system.  An
empty system name is taken as the local system.

Each argument that contains an exclamation point is treated as naming
a file.  The system which the file is on is before the exclamation
point, and the pathname on that system follows it.  An empty system
name is taken as the local system; this must be used to transfer a
file to a command being executed on a remote system.  If the path is
not absolute, it will be appended to the current working directory on
the local system; the result may not be meaningful on the remote
system.  A pathname may begin with ~/, in which case it is relative to
the UUCP public directory (usually /var/spool/uucppublic) on the
appropriate system.  A pathname may begin with ~name/, in which case
it is relative to the home directory of the named user on the
appropriate system.

Standard input and output may be redirected as usual; the pathnames
used may contain exclamation points to indicate that they are on
remote systems.  Note that the redirection characters must be quoted
so that they are passed to
.I uux
rather than interpreted by the shell.  Append redirection (>>) does
not work.

All specified files are gathered together into a single directory
before execution of the command begins.  This means that each file
must have a distinct base name.  For example,
.br
.in +0.5i
.nf
uux 'sys1!diff sys2!~user1/foo sys3!~user2/foo >!foo.diff'
.fi
.in -0.5i
will fail because both files will be copied to sys1 and stored under
the name foo.

Arguments may be quoted by parentheses to avoid interpretation of
exclamation points.  This is useful when executing the
.I uucp
command on a remote system.

A request to execute an empty command (e.g.,
.I uux sys!)
will create a poll file for the specified system.
.SH OPTIONS
The following options may be given to
.I uux.
.TP 5
.B \-, \-p, \-\-stdin
Read standard input and use it as the standard input for the command
to be executed.
.TP 5
.B \-c, \-\-nocopy
Do not copy local files to the spool directory.  This is the default.
If they are
removed before being processed by the
.I uucico
(8) daemon, the copy will fail.  The files must be readable by the
.I uucico
(8) daemon,
as well as the by the invoker of
.I uux.
.TP 5
.B \-C, \-\-copy
Copy local files to the spool directory.
.TP 5
.B \-l, \-\-link
Link local files into the spool directory.  If a file can not be
linked because it is on a different device, it will be copied unless
one of the
.B \-c
or
.B \-\-nocopy
options also appears (in other words, use of
.B \-\-link
switches the default from
.B \-\-nocopy
to
.B \-\-copy).
If the files are changed before being processed by the
.I uucico
(8) daemon, the changed versions will be used.  The files must be
readable by the
.I uucico
(8) daemon, as well as by the invoker of
.I uux.
.TP 5
.B \-g grade, \-\-grade grade
Set the grade of the file transfer command.  Jobs of a higher grade
are executed first.  Grades run 0 ... 9 A ... Z a ... z from high to
low.
.TP 5
.B \-n, \-\-notification=no
Do not send mail about the status of the job, even if it fails.
.TP 5
.B \-z, \-\-notification=error
Send mail about the status of the job if an error occurs.  For many
.I uuxqt
daemons, including the Taylor UUCP
.I uuxqt,
this is the default action; for those,
.B \-\-notification=error
will have no effect.  However, some
.I uuxqt
daemons will send mail if the job succeeds unless the
.B \-\-notification=error
option is used, and some other
.I uuxqt
daemons will not send mail if the job fails unless the
.B \-\-notification=error
option is used.
.TP 5
.B \-r, \-\-nouucico
Do not start the
.I uucico
(8) daemon immediately; merely queue up the execution request for later
processing.
.TP 5
.B \-j, \-\-jobid
Print jobids on standard output.  A jobid will be generated for each
file copy operation required to perform the operation.  These file
copies may be cancelled by passing the jobid to the
.B \-\-kill
switch of
.I uustat
(1), which will make the execution impossible to complete.
.TP 5
.B \-a address, \-\-requestor address
Report job status to the specified e-mail address.
.TP 5
.B \-x type, \-\-debug type
Turn on particular debugging types.  The following types are
recognized: abnormal, chat, handshake, uucp-proto, proto, port,
config, spooldir, execute, incoming, outgoing.  Only abnormal, config,
spooldir and execute are meaningful for
.I uux.

Multiple types may be given, separated by commas, and the
.B \-\-debug
option may appear multiple times.  A number may also be given, which
will turn on that many types from the foregoing list; for example,
.B \-\-debug 2
is equivalent to
.B \-\-debug abnormal,chat.
.TP 5
.B \-I file, \-\-config file
Set configuration file to use.  This option may not be available,
depending upon how
.I uux
was compiled.
.TP 5
.B \-v, \-\-version
Report version information and exit.
.TP 5
.B \-\-help
Print a help message and exit.
.SH EXAMPLES
.br
.nf
uux -z - sys1!rmail user1
.fi
Execute the command ``rmail user1'' on the system sys1, giving it as
standard input whatever is given to
.I uux
as standard input.  If a failure occurs, send a message using
.I mail
(1).

.br
.nf
uux 'diff -c sys1!~user1/file1 sys2!~user2/file2 >!file.diff'
.fi
Fetch the two named files from system sys1 and system sys2 and execute
.I diff
putting the result in file.diff in the current directory.  The current
directory must be writable by the
.I uuxqt
(8) daemon for this to work.

.br
.nf
uux 'sys1!uucp ~user1/file1 (sys2!~user2/file2)'
.fi
Execute 
.I uucp
on the system sys1 copying file1 (on system sys1) to sys2.  This
illustrates the use of parentheses for quoting.
.SH RESTRICTIONS
The remote system may not permit you to execute certain commands.
Many remote systems only permit the execution of
.I rmail
and
.I rnews.

Some of the options are dependent on the capabilities of the
.I uuxqt
(8) daemon on the remote system.
.SH FILES
The file names may be changed at compilation time or by the
configuration file, so these are only approximations.

.br
/etc/uucp/config - Configuration file.
.br
/var/spool/uucp -
UUCP spool directory.
.br
/var/spool/uucp/Log -
UUCP log file.
.br
/var/spool/uucppublic -
Default UUCP public directory.
.SH SEE ALSO
mail(1), uustat(1), uucp(1), uucico(8), uuxqt(8)
.SH BUGS
Files can not be referenced across multiple systems.

Too many jobids are output by
.B \-\-jobid,
and there is no good way to cancel a local execution requiring remote
files.
.SH AUTHOR
Ian Lance Taylor
(ian@airs.com)