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rstart - a sample implementation of a Remote
Start client
rstart [-c context] [-g] [-l username] [-v] hostname command
args ...
Rstart is a simple implementation of a Remote Start client
as defined in "A Flexible Remote Execution Protocol Based on rsh". It uses
rsh as its underlying remote execution mechanism.
- -c context
- This
option specifies the context in which the command is to be run. A context
specifies a general environment the program is to be run in. The details
of this environment are host-specific; the intent is that the client need
not know how the environment must be configured. If omitted, the context
defaults to X. This should be suitable for running X programs from the
host's "usual" X installation.
- -g
- Interprets command as a generic command,
as discussed in the protocol document. This is intended to allow common
applications to be invoked without knowing what they are called on the
remote system. Currently, the only generic commands defined are Terminal,
LoadMonitor, ListContexts, and ListGenericCommands.
- -l username
- This option
is passed to the underlying rsh; it requests that the command be run as
the specified user.
- -v
- This option requests that rstart be verbose in its
operation. Without this option, rstart discards output from the remote's
rstart helper, and directs the rstart helper to detach the program from
the rsh connection used to start it. With this option, responses from the
helper are displayed and the resulting program is not detached from the
connection.
This is a trivial implementation. Far more sophisticated
implementations are possible and should be developed.
Error handling is
nonexistent. Without -v, error reports from the remote are discarded silently.
With -v, error reports are displayed.
The $DISPLAY environment variable
is passed. If it starts with a colon, the local hostname is prepended.
The local domain name should be appended to unqualified host names, but
isn't.
The $SESSION_MANAGER environment variable should be passed, but isn't.
X11 authority information is passed for the current display.
ICE authority
information should be passed, but isn't. It isn't completely clear how rstart
should select what ICE authority information to pass.
Even without -v, the
sample rstart helper will leave a shell waiting for the program to complete.
This causes no real harm and consumes relatively few resources, but if
it is undesirable it can be avoided by explicitly specifying the "exec"
command to the shell, eg
rstart somehost exec xterm
This is obviously dependent on the command interpreter being used on
the remote system; the example given will work for the Bourne and C shells.
rstartd(1)
, rsh(1)
, A Flexible Remote Execution Protocol Based
on rsh
Jordan Brown, Quarterdeck Office Systems
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