RCS(1)			    General Commands 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 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 supe-
       ruser, or the -i option is present.

       Pathnames matching an RCS suffix denote RCS files;  all	others	denote
       working	files.	Names are paired as explained in ci(1).	 Revision num-
       bers 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 has no path prefix, try to place it
	      first into the subdirectory ./RCS, and  then  into  the  current
	      directory.   If the RCS file already exists, print an error mes-
	      sage.

       -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 omit-
	      ted, 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 filename.

	      This option is obsolescent, since RCS normally uses the  preced-
	      ing $Log$ 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 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 over-
	      lapping 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.	 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 adminis-
	      trator, but it is normally strict.

       -mrev:msg
	      Replace revision rev's log message with msg.

       -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
	      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 revi-
	      sion  of	all  the  named	 RCS  files;   this   contrasts	  with
	      rcs -nname:$ RCS/*  which associates name with the revision num-
	      bers 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 con-
	      sisting 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 pathname
	      cannot begin with -.  If file is omitted, obtain the  text  from
	      standard	input, terminated by end-of-file or by a line contain-
	      ing . by itself.	Prompt for the text if interaction  is	possi-
	      ble;  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, delet-
	      ing the existing text.

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

FILES
       rcs  accesses  files much as ci(1) does, except that it uses the effec-
       tive 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.
	      See ci(1) for details.

DIAGNOSTICS
       The RCS pathname and the revisions outdated are written to the diagnos-
       tic output.  The exit status is zero if and only if all operations were
       successful.

IDENTIFICATION
       Author: Walter F. Tichy.
       Manual Page Revision: 5.13; Release Date: 1995/06/05.
       Copyright (C) 1982, 1988, 1989 Walter F. Tichy.
       Copyright (C) 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 Paul Eggert.

SEE ALSO
       rcsintro(1),   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.

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 sema-
       phore file's name typically begins with , or ends with _.

       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.



GNU				  1995/06/05				RCS(1)