RCS(1)		    UNIX Programmer's Manual		   RCS(1)


NAME
     rcs - change RCS file attributes

SYNOPSIS
     rcs [ options ] file ...

DESCRIPTION
     Rcs creates new RCS files or changes attributes of existing
     ones.  An RCS file contains multiple revisions of text, an
     access list, a change log, descriptive text, and some con-
     trol attributes.  For 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 -i option is present.

     Files ending in `,v' are RCS files, all others are working
     files. If a working file is given, rcs tries to find the
     corresponding RCS file first in directory ./RCS and then in
     the current directory, as explained in co (1).

     -i         creates and initializes a new RCS file, but does
		not deposit any revision.  If the RCS file has no
		path prefix, rcs tries to place it first into the
		subdirectory ./RCS, and then into the current
		directory.  If the RCS file already exists, an
		error message is printed.

     -alogins	appends the login names appearing in the comma-
		separated list logins to the access list of the
		RCS file.

     -Aoldfile	appends the access list of oldfile to the access
		list of the RCS file.

     -e[logins] erases the login names appearing in the comma-
		separated list logins from the access list of the
		RCS file.  If logins is omitted, the entire
		access list is erased.

     -cstring	sets the comment leader to string. The comment
		leader is printed before every log message line
		generated by the keyword $Log$	during checkout
		(see co). This is useful for programming
		languages without multi-line comments. During rcs
		-i or initial ci, the comment leader is guessed
		from the suffix of the working file.

     -l[rev]	locks the revision with number rev.  If a branch
		is given, the latest revision on that branch is
		locked.  If rev is omitted, the latest revision
		on the trunk is locked.  Locking prevents over-
		lapping changes.  A lock is removed with ci or


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		rcs -u (see below).

     -u[rev]	unlocks the revision with number rev.  If a
		branch is given, the latest revision on that
		branch is unlocked.  If rev is omitted, the
		latest lock held by the caller is removed.  Nor-
		mally, only the locker of a revision may unlock
		it.  Somebody else unlocking a revision breaks
		the lock. This causes a mail message to be sent
		to the original locker.  The message contains a
		commentary solicited from the breaker.	The com-
		mentary is terminated with a line containing a
		single `.' or control-D.

     -L         sets locking to strict. Strict locking means that
		the owner of an RCS file is not exempt from lock-
		ing for checkin.  This option should be used for
		files that are shared.

     -U         sets locking to non-strict. Non-strict locking
		means that the owner of a file need not lock a
		revision for checkin. This option should NOT be
		used for files that are shared.  The default (-L
		or -U) is determined by your system administra-
		tor.

     -nname[:rev]
		associates the symbolic name name with the branch
		or revision rev. Rcs prints an error message if
		name is already associated with another number.
		If rev is omitted, the symbolic name is deleted.

     -Nname[:rev]
		same as -n, except that it overrides a previous
		assignment of name.

     -orange	deletes ("outdates") the revisions given by
		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 rev1-rev2 means
		revisions rev1 to rev2 on the same branch, -rev
		means from the beginning of the branch containing
		rev up to and including rev, and rev- means from
		revision rev to the end of the branch containing
		rev.  None of the outdated revisions may have
		branches or locks.

     -q         quiet mode; diagnostics are not printed.

     -sstate[:rev]
		sets the state attribute of the revision rev to


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		state. If rev is omitted, the latest revision on
		the trunk is assumed; If rev is a branch number,
		the latest revision on that branch is assumed.
		Any identifier is acceptable for state.  A useful
		set of states is Exp (for experimental), Stab
		(for stable), and Rel (for released).  By
		default, ci sets the state of a revision to Exp.

     -t[txtfile]
		writes descriptive text into the RCS file
		(deletes the existing text).  If txtfile is omit-
		ted, rcs prompts the user for text supplied from
		the std. input, terminated with a line containing
		a single `.' or control-D.  Otherwise, the
		descriptive text is copied from the file txtfile.
		If the -i option is present, descriptive text is
		requested even if -t is not given.  The prompt is
		suppressed if the std. input is not a terminal.

DIAGNOSTICS
     The RCS file name and the revisions outdated are written to
     the diagnostic output.  The exit status always refers to the
     last RCS file operated upon, and is 0 if the operation was
     successful, 1 otherwise.

FILES
     The caller of the command must have read/write permission
     for the directory containing the RCS file and read permis-
     sion for the RCS file itself.  Rcs creates a semaphore file
     in the same directory as the RCS file to prevent simultane-
     ous update.  For changes, rcs always creates a new file. On
     successful completion, rcs deletes the old one and renames
     the new one.  This strategy makes links to RCS files use-
     less.

IDENTIFICATION
     Author: Walter F. Tichy, Purdue University, West Lafayette,
     IN, 47907.
     Revision Number: 3.1 ; Release Date: 83/04/04 .
     Copyright (C) 1982 by Walter F. Tichy.

SEE ALSO
     co (1), ci (1), ident(1), rcsdiff (1), rcsintro (1),
     rcsmerge (1), rlog (1), rcsfile (5), sccstorcs (8).
     Walter F. Tichy, "Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of
     a Revision Control System," in Proceedings of the 6th Inter-
     national Conference on Software Engineering, IEEE, Tokyo,
     Sept. 1982.

BUGS


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