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.

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.

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

-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(1)). 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 default
branch is locked. Locking prevents overlapping changes.
A lock is removed with ci or 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. Normally, 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 commentary 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 locking 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 administrator.

-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 state.
If rev is a branch number, the latest revision on that
branch is assumed. If rev is omitted, the latest
revision on the default 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(1) sets the state of
a revision to Exp.

-t[txtfile]
writes descriptive text into the RCS file (deletes the
existing text). If txtfile is omitted, rcs prompts the
user for text supplied from the standard 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 standard 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 permission for the RCS
file itself. Rcs creates a semaphore file in the same directory as
the RCS file to prevent simultaneous 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 useless.

IDENTIFICATION
Author: Walter F. Tichy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN,
47907.
Revision Number: 1.2 ; Release Date: 91/08/20 .
Copyright (c) 1982, 1988, 1989 by Walter F. Tichy.

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