c51e26b5b6
Among other things, it has pretty much got native FreeBSD support, does not core dump on ^C, some sync problems, uid/gid caching fixes, symlink detection problems, portability to new platforms..
119 lines
4.6 KiB
Plaintext
119 lines
4.6 KiB
Plaintext
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Rdist Version 6.1.2
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February 15, 1996
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Michael Cooper
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University Computing Services
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University of Southern California
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mcooper@usc.edu
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GENERAL INFORMATION
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This is version 6.1 of Rdist from USC. It is based on rdist from
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4.3BSD (classic). It includes all fixes for all bugs known to the
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CSRG Berkeley folks. It has been running at USC and numerous other
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sites for some time now on a wide variety of platforms.
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This version of rdist is not directly compatible with rdist
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distributed with 4.3BSD and subsequent vendor releases, but does
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indirectly provide full backward compatibility.
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The current official version of rdist is available via anonymous ftp
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on usc.edu under /pub/rdist. The current version is always
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retrievable as file "/pub/rdist/rdist.tar.gz".
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CHANGES/FEATURES
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This version of rdist does not need to be setuid "root" at all. Rdist
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now uses the rsh(1c) [remote command] program to make connections to
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remote hosts, instead of making the connection directly. This
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eliminates the need to be run as "root". Many thanks to Chris
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Siebenmann <cks@utcc.utoronto.ca> and John DiMarco
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<jdd@cdf.toronto.edu> who came up with an rsh version of rcmd() that
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makes this possible.
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This version supports automatic system determination and configuration
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for pre-ported platforms. This means that rdist knows how to
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completely configure and compile itself for a number of platforms.
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Users don't need to worry about modifying any files to compile on a
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supported platform.
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See the ChangeLog file for the real details. The end of that file
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contains the major new features compared to rdist classic.
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A paper titled "Overhauling Rdist for the '90s" from USENIX LISA VI
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is available for anonymous ftp on usc.edu as "/pub/rdist/overhaul.ps.gz".
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PLATFORMS
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This version of rdist has been ported to most major, and a number of
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not so major, platforms. The complete list of supported platforms can
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be found by looking at all the config/os-*.h files.
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COMPATIBILITY
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This version of rdist differs greatly from older versions (as
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distributed with 4.3BSD) in that the client and the server portions
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are seperated into two distinct programs, rdist and rdistd,
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respectively. The protocol used to communicate between the client and
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server has also been extensively modified. These two items make
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providing "builtin" compatibility very difficult. However, backwards
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compatibility is possible, provided you have a binary or source copy
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of the old rdist.
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The way the old rdist started a server rdist is to run "rdist
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-Server". If the new rdist is run with the "-Server" option, then it
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will exec a copy of the old rdist (usually /usr/old/rdist or
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/usr/ucb/oldrdist). In this way, you get compatibility with hosts
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running the old rdist attempting to rdist to a machine running new
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rdist. If your host running new rdist wants to rdist to a host
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running the old rdist, then it must run the old rdist program
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(/usr/old/rdist or /usr/ucb/oldrdist).
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[[ for FreeBSD; /usr/bin/rdist is the "old" rdist, and /usr/local/bin/
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[[ is the location of the "new" rdist6 and rdistd.
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The definition _PATH_OLDRDIST in "config/config.h" controls the
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location of the old rdist. If this is not defined, or the defined
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program does not exist at runtime, then rdist will print an error when
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run with the "-Server" option.
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BUG REPORTS
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Bug reports should be sent to "rdist-bugs@usc.edu". All bug reports
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should include:
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1) The version of the rdist client and server you are running
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(use the -V option to rdist and rdistd)
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2) The platform (machine + OS name + OS version)
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3) A full description of the problem, including sample distfiles.
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4) If you have a patch to fix the problem, a context diff (diff -c)
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of the original files vs. the fixed files
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RDIST MAIL LISTS
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There are two rdist mailling lists described below. PLEASE DO NOT SEND
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GENERAL QUESTIONS TO ANY OF THESE LISTS.
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LIST NAME SUBSCRIPTION ADDRESS DESCRIPTION
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--------------- ----------------------- ------------------------------------
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rdist-announce rdist-announce-request Announcements about new versions
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of Rdist.
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rdist-dev rdist-dev-request Rdist developers mailling list.
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Discussion about rdist features,
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suggestions, bugs, etc. Will also
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receive all rdist-announce mail.
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Only those who are _SERIOUS_ about
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being an rdist developer should be
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on this list.
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To subscribe or unsubscribe, send email to the appropriate
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SUBSCRIPTION ADDRESS from above "@usc.edu". i.e.
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"rdist-dev-request@usc.edu" for the "rdist-dev" list.
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Archives are available for anonymous ftp from usc.edu as
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/pub/rdist/<LIST>.archive
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