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.TH RCS 1 "\*(Dt" "GNU RCS \*(Rv"
.SH NAME
rcs \- change \*o attributes
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B rcs
.IR "options file " .\|.\|.
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B rcs
creates new \*os or changes attributes of existing ones.
An \*o contains multiple revisions of text,
an access list, a change log,
descriptive text,
and some control attributes.
For
.B 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
.B \-i
option is present.
.PP
Filenames matching an \*r suffix denote \*os;
all others denote working files.
Names are paired as explained in
.BR ci (1).
Revision numbers use the syntax described in
.BR ci (1).
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.B \-i
Create and initialize a new \*o, but do not deposit any revision.
If the \*o name has no directory component, try to place it
first into the subdirectory
.BR ./RCS ,
and then into the current directory.
If the \*o
already exists, print an error message.
.TP
.BI \-a "logins"
Append the login names appearing in the comma-separated list
.I logins
to the access list of the \*o.
.TP
.BI \-A "oldfile"
Append the access list of
.I oldfile
to the access list of the \*o.
.TP
.BR \-e [\f2logins\fP]
Erase the login names appearing in the comma-separated list
.I logins
from the access list of the \*o.
If
.I logins
is omitted, erase the entire access list.
.TP
.BR \-b [\f2rev\fP]
Set the default branch to
.IR rev .
If
.I rev
is omitted, the default
branch is reset to the (dynamically) highest branch on the trunk.
.TP
.BI \-c string
Set the comment leader to
.IR string .
An initial
.BR ci ,
or an
.B "rcs\ \-i"
without
.BR \-c ,
guesses the comment leader from the suffix of the working file name.
.RS
.PP
This option is obsolescent, since \*r normally uses the preceding
.B $\&Log$
line's prefix when inserting log lines during checkout (see
.BR co (1)).
However, older versions of \*r use the comment leader instead of the
.B $\&Log$
line's prefix, so
if you plan to access a file with both old and new versions of \*r,
make sure its comment leader matches its
.B $\&Log$
line prefix.
.RE
.TP
.BI \-k subst
Set the default keyword substitution to
.IR subst .
The effect of keyword substitution is described in
.BR co (1).
Giving an explicit
.B \-k
option to
.BR co ,
.BR rcsdiff ,
and
.B rcsmerge
overrides this default.
Beware
.BR "rcs\ \-kv",
because
.B \-kv
is incompatible with
.BR "co\ \-l".
Use
.B "rcs\ \-kkv"
to restore the normal default keyword substitution.
.TP
.BR \-l [\f2rev\fP]
Lock the revision with number
.IR rev .
If a branch is given, lock the latest revision on that branch.
If
.I 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
.B "rcs\ \-u"
(see below).
.TP
.BR \-u [\f2rev\fP]
Unlock the revision with number
.IR rev .
If a branch is given, unlock the latest revision on that branch.
If
.I rev
is omitted, remove the latest lock held by the caller.
Normally, only the locker of a revision can unlock it.
Somebody else unlocking a revision breaks the lock.
If RCS was configured
.BR "\-\-with-mailer" ,
then this causes a mail message to be sent to the original locker.
The message contains a commentary solicited from the breaker.
The commentary is terminated by end-of-file or by a line containing
.BR \&. "\ by"
itself.
.TP
.B \-L
Set locking to
.IR strict .
Strict locking means that the owner
of an \*o is not exempt from locking for checkin.
This option should be used for files that are shared.
.TP
.B \-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
.I not
be used for files that are shared.
Whether default locking is strict is determined by your system administrator,
but it is normally strict.
.TP
\f3\-m\fP\f2rev\fP\f3:\fP[\f2msg\fP]
Replace revision
.IR rev 's
log message with
.IR msg .
If
.I msg
is omitted, it defaults to "*** empty log message ***".
.TP
.B \-M
Do not send mail when breaking somebody else's lock.
This option is not meant for casual use;
it is meant for programs that warn users by other means, and invoke
.B "rcs\ \-u"
only as a low-level lock-breaking operation.
.TP
\f3\-n\fP\f2name\fP[\f3:\fP[\f2rev\fP]]
Associate the symbolic name
.I name
with the branch or
revision
.IR rev .
Delete the symbolic name if both
.B :
and
.I rev
are omitted; otherwise, print an error message if
.I name
is already associated with
another number.
If
.I rev
is symbolic, it is expanded before association.
A
.I rev
consisting of a branch number followed by a
.B .\&
stands for the current latest revision in the branch.
A
.B :
with an empty
.I rev
stands for the current latest revision on the default branch,
normally the trunk.
For example,
.BI "rcs\ \-n" name ":\ RCS/*"
associates
.I name
with the current latest revision of all the named \*os;
this contrasts with
.BI "rcs\ \-n" name ":$\ RCS/*"
which associates
.I name
with the revision numbers extracted from keyword strings
in the corresponding working files.
.TP
\f3\-N\fP\f2name\fP[\f3:\fP[\f2rev\fP]]
Act like
.BR \-n ,
except override any previous assignment of
.IR name .
.TP
.BI \-o range
deletes (\*(lqoutdates\*(rq) the revisions given by
.IR range .
A range consisting of a single revision number means that revision.
A range consisting of a branch number means the latest revision on that
branch.
A range of the form
.IB rev1 : rev2
means
revisions
.I rev1
to
.I rev2
on the same branch,
.BI : rev
means from the beginning of the branch containing
.I rev
up to and including
.IR rev ,
and
.IB rev :
means
from revision
.I rev
to the end of the branch containing
.IR rev .
None of the outdated revisions can have branches or locks.
.TP
.B \-q
Run quietly; do not print diagnostics.
.TP
.B \-I
Run interactively, even if the standard input is not a terminal.
.TP
.B \-s\f2state\fP\f1[\fP:\f2rev\fP\f1]\fP
Set the state attribute of the revision
.I rev
to
.IR state .
If
.I rev
is a branch number, assume the latest revision on that branch.
If
.I rev
is omitted, assume the latest revision on the default branch.
Any identifier is acceptable for
.IR state .
A useful set of states
is
.B Exp
(for experimental),
.B Stab
(for stable), and
.B Rel
(for
released).
By default,
.BR ci (1)
sets the state of a revision to
.BR Exp .
.TP
.BR \-t [\f2file\fP]
Write descriptive text from the contents of the named
.I file
into the \*o, deleting the existing text.
The
.IR file
name cannot begin with
.BR \- .
If
.I file
is omitted, obtain the text from standard input,
terminated by end-of-file or by a line containing
.BR \&. "\ by"
itself.
Prompt for the text if interaction is possible; see
.BR \-I .
With
.BR \-i ,
descriptive text is obtained
even if
.B \-t
is not given.
.TP
.BI \-t\- string
Write descriptive text from the
.I string
into the \*o, deleting the existing text.
.TP
.B \-T
Preserve the modification time on the \*o
unless a revision is removed.
This option can suppress extensive recompilation caused by a
.BR make (1)
dependency of some copy of the working file on the \*o.
Use this option with care; it can suppress recompilation even when it is needed,
i.e. when a change to the \*o
would mean a change to keyword strings in the working file.
.TP
.BI \-V
Print \*r's version number.
.TP
.BI \-V n
Emulate \*r version
.IR n .
See
.BR co (1)
for details.
.TP
.BI \-x "suffixes"
Use
.I suffixes
to characterize \*os.
See
.BR ci (1)
for details.
.TP
.BI \-z zone
Use
.I zone
as the default time zone.
This option has no effect;
it is present for compatibility with other \*r commands.
.PP
At least one explicit option must be given,
to ensure compatibility with future planned extensions
to the
.B rcs
command.
.SH COMPATIBILITY
The
.BI \-b rev
option generates an \*o that cannot be parsed by \*r version 3 or earlier.
.PP
The
.BI \-k subst
options (except
.BR \-kkv )
generate an \*o that cannot be parsed by \*r version 4 or earlier.
.PP
Use
.BI "rcs \-V" n
to make an \*o acceptable to \*r version
.I n
by discarding information that would confuse version
.IR n .
.PP
\*r version 5.5 and earlier does not support the
.B \-x
option, and requires a
.B ,v
suffix on an \*o name.
.SH FILES
.B rcs
accesses files much as
.BR ci (1)
does,
except that it uses the effective user for all accesses,
it does not write the working file or its directory,
and it does not even read the working file unless a revision number of
.B $
is specified.
.SH ENVIRONMENT
.TP
.B \s-1RCSINIT\s0
Options prepended to the argument list, separated by spaces.
A backslash escapes spaces within an option.
The
.B \s-1RCSINIT\s0
options are prepended to the argument lists of most \*r commands.
Useful
.B \s-1RCSINIT\s0
options include
.BR \-q ,
.BR \-V ,
.BR \-x ,
and
.BR \-z .
.TP
.B \s-1RCS_MEM_LIMIT\s0
Normally, for speed, commands either memory map or copy into memory
the \*o if its size is less than the
.IR memory-limit ,
currently defaulting to ``unlimited''.
Otherwise (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
.B \s-1RCS_MEM_LIMIT\s0
to a numeric value
.IR lim
(measured in kilobytes).
An empty value is silently ignored.
As a side effect, specifying
.B \s-1RCS_MEM_LIMIT\s0
inhibits fall-back to slower routines.
.TP
.B \s-1TMPDIR\s0
Name of the temporary directory.
If not set, the environment variables
.B \s-1TMP\s0
and
.B \s-1TEMP\s0
are inspected instead and the first value found is taken;
if none of them are set,
a host-dependent default is used, typically
.BR /tmp .
.SH DIAGNOSTICS
The \*o name and the revisions outdated are written to
the diagnostic output.
The exit status is zero if and only if all operations were successful.
.ds EY 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995
.SH IDENTIFICATION
Author: Walter F. Tichy.
.br
Manual Page Revision: \*(Rv; Release Date: \*(Dt.
.br
Copyright \(co 2010-2020 Thien-Thi Nguyen.
.br
Copyright \(co \*(EY Paul Eggert.
.br
Copyright \(co 1982, 1988, 1989 Walter F. Tichy.
.br
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR co (1),
.BR ci (1),
.BR ident (1),
.BR rcsclean (1),
.BR rcsdiff (1),
.BR rcsmerge (1),
.BR rlog (1),
.BR rcsfile (5).
.PP
Walter F. Tichy,
\*r\*-A System for Version Control,
.I "Software\*-Practice & Experience"
.BR 15 ,
7 (July 1985), 637-654.
.PP
The full documentation for \*r is maintained as a Texinfo manual.
If the
.BR info (1)
and \*r programs are properly installed at your site, the command
.IP
.B info rcs
.PP
should give you access to the complete manual.
Additionally, the \*r homepage:
.IP
.B http://www.gnu.org/software/rcs/
.PP
has news and links to the latest release, development site, etc.
.SH BUGS
A catastrophe (e.g. a system crash) can cause \*r to leave behind
a semaphore file that causes later invocations of \*r to claim
that the \*o is in use.
To fix this, remove the semaphore file.
A semaphore file's name typically begins with
.B ,
or ends with
.BR _ .
.PP
The separator for revision ranges in the
.B \-o
option used to be
.B \-
instead of
.BR : ,
but this leads to confusion when symbolic names contain
.BR \- .
For backwards compatibility
.B "rcs \-o"
still supports the old
.B \-
separator, but it warns about this obsolete use.
.PP
Symbolic names need not refer to existing revisions or branches.
For example, the
.B \-o
option does not remove symbolic names for the outdated revisions; you must use
.B \-n
to remove the names.
.br