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 RCS(1)                        GNU RCS 5.10.1                         RCS(1)
                                 2022-02-06



 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 control 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.

      Filenames matching an RCS suffix denote RCS files; all others denote
      working files.  Names are paired as explained in ci(1).  Revision
      numbers use the syntax described in ci(1).

 OPTIONS
      -i   Create and initialize a new RCS file, but do not deposit any
           revision.  If the RCS file name has no directory component, try
           to place it first into the subdirectory ./RCS, and then into the
           current directory.  If the RCS file already exists, print an
           error message.

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

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

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

      -b[rev]
           Set the default branch to rev.  If rev is omitted, the default
           branch is reset to the (dynamically) highest branch on the trunk.

      -cstring
           Set the comment leader to string.  An initial ci, or an rcs -i
           without -c, guesses the comment leader from the suffix of the
           working file name.

           This option is obsolescent, since RCS normally uses the preceding
           $Log$ line's prefix when inserting log lines during checkout (see
           co(1)).  However, older versions of RCS use the comment leader
           instead of the $Log$ line's prefix, so if you plan to access a



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           file with both old and new versions of RCS, make sure its comment
           leader matches its $Log$ line prefix.

      -ksubst
           Set the default keyword substitution to subst.  The effect of
           keyword substitution is described in co(1).  Giving an explicit
           -k option to co, rcsdiff, and rcsmerge overrides this default.
           Beware rcs -kv, because -kv is incompatible with co -l.  Use
           rcs -kkv to restore the normal default keyword substitution.

      -l[rev]
           Lock the revision with number rev.  If a branch is given, lock
           the latest revision on that branch.  If 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 rcs -u (see below).

      -u[rev]
           Unlock the revision with number rev.  If a branch is given,
           unlock the latest revision on that branch.  If 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 --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 . by itself.

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

      -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 not be used for files that are shared.  Whether
           default locking is strict is determined by your system
           administrator, but it is normally strict.

      -mrev:[msg]
           Replace revision rev's log message with msg.  If msg is omitted,
           it defaults to "*** empty log message ***".

      -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 rcs -u only as a low-level
           lock-breaking operation.

      -nname[:[rev]]
           Associate the symbolic name name with the branch or revision rev.
           Delete the symbolic name if both : and rev are omitted;
           otherwise, print an error message if name is already associated



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           with another number.  If rev is symbolic, it is expanded before
           association.  A rev consisting of a branch number followed by a .
           stands for the current latest revision in the branch.  A : with
           an empty rev stands for the current latest revision on the
           default branch, normally the trunk.  For example,
           rcs -nname: RCS/* associates name with the current latest
           revision of all the named RCS files; this contrasts with
           rcs -nname:$ RCS/* which associates name with the revision
           numbers extracted from keyword strings in the corresponding
           working files.

      -Nname[:[rev]]
           Act like -n, except override any 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 can have branches or locks.

      -q   Run quietly; do not print diagnostics.

      -I   Run interactively, even if the standard input is not a terminal.

      -sstate[:rev]
           Set the state attribute of the revision rev to state.  If rev is
           a branch number, assume the latest revision on that branch.  If
           rev is omitted, assume the latest revision on the default branch.
           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(1) sets the state of a revision to
           Exp.

      -t[file]
           Write descriptive text from the contents of the named file into
           the RCS file, deleting the existing text.  The file name cannot
           begin with -.  If file is omitted, obtain the text from standard
           input, terminated by end-of-file or by a line containing . by
           itself.  Prompt for the text if interaction is possible; see -I.
           With -i, descriptive text is obtained even if -t is not given.

      -t-string
           Write descriptive text from the string into the RCS file,
           deleting the existing text.

      -T   Preserve the modification time on the RCS file unless a revision
           is removed.  This option can suppress extensive recompilation



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           caused by a make(1) dependency of some copy of the working file
           on the RCS file.  Use this option with care; it can suppress
           recompilation even when it is needed, i.e. when a change to the
           RCS file would mean a change to keyword strings in the working
           file.

      -V   Print RCS's version number.

      -Vn  Emulate RCS version n.  See co(1) for details.

      -xsuffixes
           Use suffixes to characterize RCS files.  See ci(1) for details.

      -zzone
           Use zone as the default time zone.  This option has no effect; it
           is present for compatibility with other RCS commands.

      At least one explicit option must be given, to ensure compatibility
      with future planned extensions to the rcs command.

 COMPATIBILITY
      The -brev option generates an RCS file that cannot be parsed by RCS
      version 3 or earlier.

      The -ksubst options (except -kkv) generate an RCS file that cannot be
      parsed by RCS version 4 or earlier.

      Use rcs -Vn to make an RCS file acceptable to RCS version n by
      discarding information that would confuse version n.

      RCS version 5.5 and earlier does not support the -x option, and
      requires a ,v suffix on an RCS file name.

 FILES
      rcs accesses files much as 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 $ is specified.

 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.  Useful
           RCSINIT options include -q, -V, -x, and -z.

      RCS_MEM_LIMIT
           Normally, for speed, commands either memory map or copy into
           memory the RCS file if its size is less than the memory-limit,
           currently defaulting to ``unlimited''.  Otherwise (or if the
           initially-tried speedy ways fail), the commands fall back to



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           using standard i/o routines.  You can adjust the memory limit by
           setting RCS_MEM_LIMIT to a numeric value lim (measured in
           kilobytes).  An empty value is silently ignored.  As a side
           effect, specifying RCS_MEM_LIMIT inhibits fall-back to slower
           routines.

      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
      The RCS file name and the revisions outdated are written to the
      diagnostic output.  The exit status is zero if and only if all
      operations were successful.

 IDENTIFICATION
      Author: Walter F. Tichy.
      Manual Page Revision: 5.10.1; Release Date: 2022-02-06.
      Copyright c 2010-2022 Thien-Thi Nguyen.
      Copyright c 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 Paul Eggert.
      Copyright c 1982, 1988, 1989 Walter F. Tichy.

 SEE ALSO
      co(1), ci(1), ident(1), rcsclean(1), rcsdiff(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.

      The full documentation for RCS is maintained as a Texinfo manual.  If
      the info(1) and RCS programs are properly installed at your site, the
      command

           info rcs

      should give you access to the complete manual.  Additionally, the RCS
      homepage:

           http://www.gnu.org/software/rcs/

      has news and links to the latest release, development site, etc.

 BUGS
      A catastrophe (e.g. a system crash) can cause RCS to leave behind a
      semaphore file that causes later invocations of RCS to claim that the
      RCS file is in use.  To fix this, remove the semaphore file.  A
      semaphore file's name typically begins with , or ends with _.





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                                 2022-02-06



      The separator for revision ranges in the -o option used to be -
      instead of :, but this leads to confusion when symbolic names contain
      -.  For backwards compatibility rcs -o still supports the old -
      separator, but it warns about this obsolete use.

      Symbolic names need not refer to existing revisions or branches.  For
      example, the -o option does not remove symbolic names for the outdated
      revisions; you must use -n to remove the names.














































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