An administrative command for
setting up or changing the default attributes of RCS files.
Among other things,
rcs
lets you set strict locking (
-L
),
delete revisions (
-o
), and override locks set by
co
(
-l
and
-u
).
RCS files have an access list (created via
-a
); anyone whose username
is on the list can run
rcs
. The access list is often
empty, meaning that
rcs
is available to everyone.
In addition, you can always invoke
rcs
if you
own the file, if you're a privileged user, or if you
run
rcs
with
-i
.
rcs
accepts the standard options
-q
,
-V
, and
-x
.
-
-a
users
-
Append the comma-separated list of
users
to the access list.
-
-A
otherfile
-
Append
otherfile
's access list to the access list of
files
.
-
-b[
R
]
-
Set the default branch to
R
or, if
R
is omitted, to the
highest branch on the trunk.
-
-c'
s
'
-
The comment character for
$Log
keywords is set to string
s
.
By default,
co
expands embedded
$Log
keywords
into comments preceded by
#
. You could, for example, set
s
to
.\"
for troff files or set
s
to
*
for
C programs. (You would need to manually insert an
enclosing
/*
and
*/
before and after
$Log
.)
-
-e[
users
]
-
Erase everyone (or only the specified
users
) from the access list.
-
-i
-
Create (initialize) an RCS file but don't deposit a revision.
-
-I
-
Interactive mode; prompt user even when standard input is not a terminal.
(New in RCS Version 5.)
-
-k
c
-
Use
c
as the default style for keyword substitution.
(See
co
for values of
c
.)
-kkv
restores the default
substitution style; all other styles create incompatibilities with
RCS Version 4 or earlier.
-
-l[
R
]
-
Lock revision
R
or the latest revision.
-l
"retroactively locks" a file and is useful if you checked
out a file incorrectly by typing
co
instead of
co -l
.
-
-L
-
Turn on strict locking (the default).
This means that everyone, including the owner
of the RCS file, must use
co -l
to edit files.
Strict locking is recommended when files are to be shared. (See
-U
.)
-
-m
R
:
msg
-
Use the
msg
string to replace the log message of revision
R
.
(New in RCS Version 5.6.)
-
-n
flags
-
Add or delete an association between a revision and a name.
flags
can be:
-
name
:
R
-
Associate
name
with revision
R
.
-
name
:
-
Associate
name
with latest revision.
-
name
-
Remove association of
name
.
-
-N
flags
-
Same as
-n
but overwrite existing
names
.
-
-o
R_list
-
Delete (outdate) revisions listed in
R_list
.
R_list
can be specified as:
R1
,
R1
-
R2
,
R1
-
, or
-
R2
. When a branch is given,
-o
deletes only the latest revision on it.
RCS Version 5.6 has changed the range separator character to
:
,
although
-
is still valid.
-
-s
state
[
:
R
]
-
Set the state of revision
R
(or the latest revision)
to the word
state
.
-
-t[
file
]
-
Replace RCS file description with contents of
file
or, if no file is given, with standard output.
-
-t-
string
-
Replace RCS file description with
string
.
-
-u[
R
]
-
The complement of
-l
: unlock a revision that was previously
checked out via
co -l
. If someone else did the check out,
you are prompted to state the reason for breaking the lock.
This message is mailed to the original locker.
-
-U
-
Turn on non-strict locking. Everyone except the file owner must
use
co -l
to edit files. (See
-L
.)
Associate the label
To_customer
with the latest revision of all
RCS files:
rcs -nTo_customer: RCS/*
Add three users to the access list of file
beatle_deals
:
rcs -ageorge,paul,ringo beatle_deals
Delete revisions 1.2 through 1.5:
rcs -o1.2-1.5 doc
Replace an RCS file description with the contents of a variable:
echo "$description" | rcs -t
file