ci man page on 4.4BSD
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CI(1) CI(1)
NAME
ci - check in RCS revisions
SYNOPSIS
ci [options] file ...
DESCRIPTION
ci stores new revisions into RCS files. Each pathname matching an RCS
suffix is taken to be an RCS file. All others are assumed to be work‐
ing files containing new revisions. ci deposits the contents of each
working file into the corresponding RCS file. If only a working file
is given, ci tries to find the corresponding RCS file in an RCS subdi‐
rectory and then in the working file's directory. For more details,
see FILE NAMING below.
For ci to work, the caller's login must be on the access list, except
if the access list is empty or the caller is the superuser or the owner
of the file. To append a new revision to an existing branch, the tip
revision on that branch must be locked by the caller. Otherwise, only
a new branch can be created. This restriction is not enforced for the
owner of the file if non-strict locking is used (see rcs(1)). A lock
held by someone else may be broken with the rcs command.
Unless the -f option is given, ci checks whether the revision to be
deposited differs from the preceding one. If not, instead of creating
a new revision ci reverts to the preceding one. To revert, ordinary ci
removes the working file and any lock; ci -l keeps and ci -u removes
any lock, and then they both generate a new working file much as if
co -l or co -u had been applied to the preceding revision. When
reverting, any -n and -s options apply to the preceding revision.
For each revision deposited, ci prompts for a log message. The log
message should summarize the change and must be terminated by end-of-
file or by a line containing . by itself. If several files are checked
in ci asks whether to reuse the previous log message. If the standard
input is not a terminal, ci suppresses the prompt and uses the same log
message for all files. See also -m.
If the RCS file does not exist, ci creates it and deposits the contents
of the working file as the initial revision (default number: 1.1). The
access list is initialized to empty. Instead of the log message, ci
requests descriptive text (see -t below).
The number rev of the deposited revision can be given by any of the
options -f, -I, -k, -l, -M, -q, -r, or -u. rev may be symbolic,
numeric, or mixed. If rev is $, ci determines the revision number from
keyword values in the working file.
If rev is a revision number, it must be higher than the latest one on
the branch to which rev belongs, or must start a new branch.
If rev is a branch rather than a revision number, the new revision is
appended to that branch. The level number is obtained by incrementing
the tip revision number of that branch. If rev indicates a non-exist‐
ing branch, that branch is created with the initial revision numbered
rev.1.
If rev is omitted, ci tries to derive the new revision number from the
caller's last lock. If the caller has locked the tip revision of a
branch, the new revision is appended to that branch. The new revision
number is obtained by incrementing the tip revision number. If the
caller locked a non-tip revision, a new branch is started at that revi‐
sion by incrementing the highest branch number at that revision. The
default initial branch and level numbers are 1.
If rev is omitted and the caller has no lock, but owns the file and
locking is not set to strict, then the revision is appended to the
default branch (normally the trunk; see the -b option of rcs(1)).
Exception: On the trunk, revisions can be appended to the end, but not
inserted.
OPTIONS
-r[rev]
checks in a revision, releases the corresponding lock, and
removes the working file. This is the default.
The -r option has an unusual meaning in ci. In other RCS com‐
mands, -r merely specifies a revision number, but in ci it also
releases a lock and removes the working file. See -u for a
tricky example.
-l[rev]
works like -r, except it performs an additional co -l for the
deposited revision. Thus, the deposited revision is immediately
checked out again and locked. This is useful for saving a revi‐
sion although one wants to continue editing it after the
checkin.
-u[rev]
works like -l, except that the deposited revision is not locked.
This lets one read the working file immediately after checkin.
The -l, -r, and -u options are mutually exclusive and silently
override each other. For example, ci -u -r is equivalent to
ci -r because -r overrides -u.
-f[rev]
forces a deposit; the new revision is deposited even it is not
different from the preceding one.
-k[rev]
searches the working file for keyword values to determine its
revision number, creation date, state, and author (see co(1)),
and assigns these values to the deposited revision, rather than
computing them locally. It also generates a default login mes‐
sage noting the login of the caller and the actual checkin date.
This option is useful for software distribution. A revision
that is sent to several sites should be checked in with the -k
option at these sites to preserve the original number, date,
author, and state. The extracted keyword values and the default
log message may be overridden with the options -d, -m, -s, -w,
and any option that carries a revision number.
-q[rev]
quiet mode; diagnostic output is not printed. A revision that
is not different from the preceding one is not deposited, unless
-f is given.
-I[rev]
interactive mode; the user is prompted and questioned even if
the standard input is not a terminal.
-d[date]
uses date for the checkin date and time. The date is specified
in free format as explained in co(1). This is useful for lying
about the checkin date, and for -k if no date is available. If
date is empty, the working file's time of last modification is
used.
-M[rev]
Set the modification time on any new working file to be the date
of the retrieved revision. For example, ci -d -M -u f does not
alter f's modification time, even if f's contents change due to
keyword substitution. Use this option with care; it can confuse
make(1).
-mmsg uses the string msg as the log message for all revisions checked
in.
-nname assigns the symbolic name name to the number of the checked-in
revision. ci prints an error message if name is already
assigned to another number.
-Nname same as -n, except that it overrides a previous assignment of
name.
-sstate
sets the state of the checked-in revision to the identifier
state. The default state is Exp.
-tfile writes descriptive text from the contents of the named file into
the RCS file, deleting the existing text. The file may not
begin with -.
-t-string
Write descriptive text from the string into the RCS file, delet‐
ing the existing text.
The -t option, in both its forms, has effect only during an ini‐
tial checkin; it is silently ignored otherwise.
During the initial checkin, if -t is not given, ci obtains the
text from standard input, terminated by end-of-file or by a line
containing . by itself. The user is prompted for the text if
interaction is possible; see -I.
For backward compatibility with older versions of RCS, a bare -t
option is ignored.
-wlogin
uses login for the author field of the deposited revision. Use‐
ful for lying about the author, and for -k if no author is
available.
-Vn Emulate RCS version n. See co(1) for details.
-xsuffixes
specifies the suffixes for RCS files. A nonempty suffix matches
any pathname ending in the suffix. An empty suffix matches any
pathname of the form RCS/file or path/RCS/file. The -x option
can specify a list of suffixes separated by /. For example,
-x,v/ specifies two suffixes: ,v and the empty suffix. If two
or more suffixes are specified, they are tried in order when
looking for an RCS file; the first one that works is used for
that file. If no RCS file is found but an RCS file can be cre‐
ated, the suffixes are tried in order to determine the new RCS
file's name. The default for suffixes is installation-depen‐
dent; normally it is ,v/ for hosts like Unix that permit commas
in file names, and is empty (i.e. just the empty suffix) for
other hosts.
FILE NAMING
Pairs of RCS files and working files may be specified in three ways
(see also the example section).
1) Both the RCS file and the working file are given. The RCS pathname
is of the form path1/workfileX and the working pathname is of the form
path2/workfile where path1/ and path2/ are (possibly different or
empty) paths, workfile is a filename, and X is an RCS suffix. If X is
empty, path1/ must be RCS/ or must end in /RCS/.
2) Only the RCS file is given. Then the working file is created in the
current directory and its name is derived from the name of the RCS file
by removing path1/ and the suffix X.
3) Only the working file is given. Then ci considers each RCS suffix X
in turn, looking for an RCS file of the form path2/RCS/workfileX or (if
the former is not found and X is nonempty) path2/workfileX.
If the RCS file is specified without a path in 1) and 2), ci looks for
the RCS file first in the directory ./RCS and then in the current
directory.
ci reports an error if an attempt to open an RCS file fails for an
unusual reason, even if the RCS file's pathname is just one of several
possibilities. For example, to suppress use of RCS commands in a
directory d, create a regular file named d/RCS so that casual attempts
to use RCS commands in d fail because d/RCS is not a directory.
EXAMPLES
Suppose ,v is an RCS suffix and the current directory contains a subdi‐
rectory RCS with an RCS file io.c,v. Then each of the following com‐
mands check in a copy of io.c into RCS/io.c,v as the latest revision,
removing io.c.
ci io.c; ci RCS/io.c,v; ci io.c,v;
ci io.c RCS/io.c,v; ci io.c io.c,v;
ci RCS/io.c,v io.c; ci io.c,v io.c;
Suppose instead that the empty suffix is an RCS suffix and the current
directory contains a subdirectory RCS with an RCS file io.c. The each
of the following commands checks in a new revision.
ci io.c; ci RCS/io.c;
ci io.c RCS/io.c;
ci RCS/io.c io.c;
FILE MODES
An RCS file created by ci inherits the read and execute permissions
from the working file. If the RCS file exists already, ci preserves
its read and execute permissions. ci always turns off all write per‐
missions of RCS files.
FILES
Several temporary files may be created in the directory containing the
working file, and also in the temporary directory (see TMPDIR under
ENVIRONMENT). A semaphore file or files are created in the directory
containing the RCS file. With a nonempty suffix, the semaphore names
begin with the first character of the suffix; therefore, do not specify
a suffix whose first character could be that of a working filename.
With an empty suffix, the semaphore names end with _ so working file‐
names should not end in _.
ci never changes an RCS or working file. Normally, ci unlinks the file
and creates a new one; but instead of breaking a chain of one or more
symbolic links to an RCS file, it unlinks the destination file instead.
Therefore, ci breaks any hard or symbolic links to any working file it
changes; and hard links to RCS files are ineffective, but symbolic
links to RCS files are preserved.
The effective user must be able to search and write the directory con‐
taining the RCS file. Normally, the real user must be able to read the
RCS and working files and to search and write the directory containing
the working file; however, some older hosts cannot easily switch
between real and effective users, so on these hosts the effective user
is used for all accesses. The effective user is the same as the real
user unless your copies of ci and co have setuid privileges. As
described in the next section, these privileges yield extra security if
the effective user owns all RCS files and directories, and if only the
effective user can write RCS directories.
Users can control access to RCS files by setting the permissions of the
directory containing the files; only users with write access to the
directory can use RCS commands to change its RCS files. For example,
in hosts that allow a user to belong to several groups, one can make a
group's RCS directories writable to that group only. This approach
suffices for informal projects, but it means that any group member can
arbitrarily change the group's RCS files, and can even remove them
entirely. Hence more formal projects sometimes distinguish between an
RCS administrator, who can change the RCS files at will, and other
project members, who can check in new revisions but cannot otherwise
change the RCS files.
SETUID USE
To prevent anybody but their RCS administrator from deleting revisions,
a set of users can employ setuid privileges as follows.
· Check that the host supports RCS setuid use. Consult a trustworthy
expert if there are any doubts. It is best if the seteuid() system
call works as described in Posix 1003.1a Draft 5, because RCS can
switch back and forth easily between real and effective users, even
if the real user is root. If not, the second best is if the setuid()
system call supports saved setuid (the {_POSIX_SAVED_IDS} behavior of
Posix 1003.1-1990); this fails only if the real user is root. If RCS
detects any failure in setuid, it quits immediately.
· Choose a user A to serve as RCS administrator for the set of users.
Only A will be able to invoke the rcs command on the users' RCS
files. A should not be root or any other user with special powers.
Mutually suspicious sets of users should use different administra‐
tors.
· Choose a path name B that will be a directory of files to be executed
by the users.
· Have A set up B to contain copies of ci and co that are setuid to A
by copying the commands from their standard installation directory D
as follows:
mkdir B
cp D/c[io] B
chmod go-w,u+s B/c[io]
· Have each user prepend B to their path as follows:
PATH=B:$PATH; export PATH # ordinary shell
set path=(B $path) # C shell
· Have A create each RCS directory R with write access only to A as
follows:
mkdir R
chmod go-w R
· If you want to let only certain users read the RCS files, put the
users into a group G, and have A further protect the RCS directory as
follows:
chgrp G R
chmod g-w,o-rwx R
· Have A copy old RCS files (if any) into R, to ensure that A owns
them.
· An RCS file's access list limits who can check in and lock revisions.
The default access list is empty, which grants checkin access to any‐
one who can read the RCS file. If you want limit checkin access,
have A invoke rcs -a on the file; see rcs(1). In particular,
rcs -e -aA limits access to just A.
· Have A initialize any new RCS files with rcs -i before initial
checkin, adding the -a option if you want to limit checkin access.
· Give setuid privileges only to ci, co, and rcsclean; do not give them
to rcs or to any other command.
· Do not use other setuid commands to invoke RCS commands; setuid is
trickier than you think!
ENVIRONMENT
RCSINIT
options prepended to the argument list, separated by spaces. A
backslash escapes spaces within an option. The RCSINIT options
are prepended to the argument lists of most RCS commands. Use‐
ful RCSINIT options include -q, -V, and -x.
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
For each revision, ci prints the RCS file, the working file, and the
number of both the deposited and the preceding revision. The exit sta‐
tus is zero if and only if all operations were successful.
IDENTIFICATION
Author: Walter F. Tichy.
Revision Number: 5.9; Release Date: 1991/10/07.
Copyright © 1982, 1988, 1989 by Walter F. Tichy.
Copyright © 1990, 1991 by Paul Eggert.
SEE ALSO
co(1), ident(1), make(1), rcs(1), rcsclean(1), rcsdiff(1), rcsintro(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.
GNU 1991/10/07 CI(1)
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