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NAME

       vadm - manipulate and administer version object base

SYNOPSIS

       vadm [ version binding options ] [ options ] [ action ] name..

       Options: [ -?fq ] [ -cache ] [ -force ] [ -help ] [ -nomail ]
                [ -quiet ] [ -stdin ] [ -version ]

       Actions: [ -alias version alias name ] [ -attr attribute ]
                [ -chaut user ] [ -chmod protection ] [ -chown user ]
                [ -delattr attribute name ] [ -d (or -delete) ]
                [ -l (or -lock) [version binding] ] [ -newgen ] [ -promote ]
                [ -set description | note | intent ] [ -setc comment leader ]
                [ -unlock [version binding] ] [ -unpromote ]

       vattr [ version binding options ] attribute name..

       vrm [ version binding options ]  name..

       sbmt [ version binding options ] name..

       publ [ version binding options ] name..

       accs [ version binding options ] name..

       frze [ version binding options ] name..

DESCRIPTION

       vadm  is a general purpose command to perform all sorts of actions upon
       parts of an AtFS object repository. It can be used to lock or unlock an
       AtFS  object  for modification, to delete a particular object instance,
       to associate symbolic (alias) names with version objects, to promote or
       unpromote certain version objects from one status to another, to modify
       an objects access permissions, to set or modify a descriptive entry  of
       particular  version  objects,  to  set  or  modify  an  eventual change
       intention, and to set or unset various object attributes  such  as  the
       author or any user defined attributes.

       vattr  and vrm are short forms for vadm -attr and vadm -delete. See the
       descriptions of the -attr and the -delete options for details.

       sbmt, publ, accs, and frze are alternate program names  for  vadm  that
       represent   status-change  operations  for  version  objects.  See  the
       description of option -promote for details.

       The typical command invocation is supplemented by one or  more  command
       options,  version  binding  options   defining the versions to be acted
       upon,  an  action  specifier  indicating  the  sort  of  action  to  be
       performed, and a set of object names defining the initial subset of the
       object base that’s going to be manipulated.

       Object names may be given in bound version notation,  i.e.  a  notation
       that   identifies   a   particular   version   of   an   object   (e.g.
       mkattr.c[2.4]). It is  also  possible  to  use  a  previously  assigned
       symbolic  name  rather  than  a  numerical version identification (e.g.
       mkattr.c[tools-V4R3]). Make sure to  escape  the  bracket-symbols  when
       using csh(1) or tcsh(1) because they have meaning to these shells.

OPTIONS

       For  version selection, any version binding option, as described on the
       vbind(1) manual page, may be given, or a version bind directive may  be
       given in brackets added to the file name.

       -?, -help
              print brief instructions about using vadm

       -cache apply the requested operation to objects residing in the derived
              object cache. The set of actions that may be performed on binary
              pool objects is limited.

       -f, -force
              don’t  ask  for  confirmation  when  deleting  versions  from  a
              history.

       -nomail
              Suppress the notification mail to the user who holds the lock on
              a history when breaking this lock (-unlock option).

       -q, -quiet
              suppress  any  prompts,  informal  messages  and user dialogues.
              Default values are assumed for everything that  might  otherwise
              be  inquired  interactively.  This  option  is  useful for batch
              operation.

       -stdin forces vadm to read a descriptive  text,  note  or  intent  from
              standard  input if action -set is selected. The note is used for
              all specified  AtFS  objects.  Otherwise  your  favorite  editor
              (taken from the EDITOR environment variable) is invoked.

       -version
              print  version  information  about  the  vadm program itself. No
              action will be performed on the database.

       vadm will perform all of its operations upon a specified  set  of  AtFS
       version  objects.  In case no such set is specified, the operation will
       be applied to the most recently saved versions of the named  object(s).

ACTIONS

       The kind of action to be performed upon a specified set of AtFS objects
       is indicated by a keyword. The following actions are defined:

       -alias version alias name
              assigns the version alias name to  the  specified  version.  The
              name  works  as  an  alias for the version number, so it must be
              different from any other symbolic name assigned to  any  version
              object  in a particular object history. It is, however, possible
              to assign the same symbolic name to version objects in different
              object  histories.  An  object  history  is usually denoted by a
              name, similarly to a files name.
              The use of  alias  names  is  a  simple  but  effective  way  to
              associate  component  members of a system configuration. Typical
              symbolic names will look something  like  Mysystem_Release_4.22,
              indicating  that  version  objects  with  this  name are part of
              release 4.22 of the system in question.

       -attr attrname
              Return rthe value of the named attribute. This may be a standard
              attribute  or a user defined attribute. Check the list below for
              a complete list of standard attribute names.

       -attr attrname[+|-]=[@|^|!|*]value
              defines a user defined attribute with name attrname and sets  it
              to  the  value  value  for  all specified version objects.  This
              option may also be used to set the  value  of  certain  standard
              attributes  (see  list  below).   If  attrname  is followed by a
              single equal-symbol, the respective value of the object  is  set
              (or  reset)  to the specified value. Any previous values will be
              overwritten. If attrname is immediately followed by the  symbols
              ‘‘plus-equal’’  (+=),  the  specified  attribute  value  will be
              appended to the  current  value  of  the  referenced  attribute.
              Accordingly,  ‘‘minus-equal’’  (-=)  should remove the specified
              value from the given attribute. In the  current  implementation,
              removal of single values is not supported.
              There  are  four  basic  kinds of user defined attribute values:
              genuine values, reference values, execution values, and  pointer
              values.  The kind of an attribute value is determined when it is
              set.  If the first character of value is an  at  character  (@),
              the rest of value is taken to be the name of a file the contents
              of which will be taken as the  value  of  the  attribute.   This
              substitution  takes  place immediately, i.e. the attribute has a
              genuine value.  If the  filename  is  specified  as  ‘‘-’’,  the
              attributes  value will be read from standard input. If the first
              character is a circumflex character (^), the rest  of  value  is
              interpreted  as  the  name  of  a  file  whose  contents will be
              substituted for the attribute when it is  cited.  If  the  first
              character  of  value  is  an exclamation mark character (!), the
              rest of value is interpreted as the  name  of  a  program  whose
              standard output will be substituted for the attribute when it is
              cited. Execution values can be used to generate  highly  dynamic
              attributes  or  even  a  primitive  form  of  event triggers. An
              asterisk (*) as first character of value indicates a pointer  to
              another  version. In this case, the remainder of value must be a
              valid bound filename.
              User defined attributes may be of arbitrary length. Any sequence
              of ASCII characters - with the exception of \01 (control-A) - is
              allowed to make up an attribute value.  If attrname was  already
              set  to  some  value, the previous value will be replaced by the
              newly specified one.

       -attr @attrfile
              With a @filename argument, the  -attr  option  reads  names  and
              values of user defined attributes from the named file Each entry
              (each line)  in  the  attribute  file  must  have  a  format  as
              described  above.  The  files  last  character must be a newline
              character.

       -chaut user
              sets user the author of a  particular  revision.  Normally,  the
              author  of  a  revision  is  considered  the user who saved that
              revision. However, as certain permissions are tied to the author
              attribute  of  a  revision, circumstances may occur that make it
              necessary to change the author.

       -chmod protection
              changes the access permission  code  of  the  specified  version
              objects to the supplied three-octal-digit protection. Currently,
              the access permissions are  centered  around  UNIX’  notions  of
              owner,  group, and world access as well as the access categories
              read, write, and execute. These permissions are  inherited  upon
              save  from  the  permissions  of  the file representing the busy
              object of an AtFS history. See chmod(2) for details.

       -chown user
              sets user the owner of an entire object history. This option  is
              not  supported  on  BSD  type systems, as only the superuser may
              change the owner of a file.

       -delattr attrname
              deletes the user defined attribute  attrname  from  the  set  of
              attributes associated with the specified version objects.

       -d, -delete
              removes  the  specified  version  objects  from the object base,
              provided  the  objects’  status  is  saved.  Any  other   status
              indicates  that some kind of project interaction concerning this
              object might be in progress. If the programmer wants  to  delete
              such   a  version  object  anyway,  he  has  to  -unpromote  the
              respective objects status to saved before  it  can  actually  be
              deleted.

       -l, -lock [version binding]
              tries  to  reserve  the  privilege  to  add  a new version to an
              objects history, thus preventing  multiple  programmers  working
              upon  the  same  object base from interfering with each other by
              saving concurrent updates.  If the locking  operation  succeeds,
              write  permission  is  given  for the corresponding files in the
              development directory. When setting a  new  lock  on  an  object
              history,  the  requesting  user  is  prompted  for  an  optional
              description of the planned changes.
              In order to lock an object  history  successfully,  the  history
              must  not  be locked by any other programmer, and the programmer
              requesting the lock must  have  write  permission  on  the  AtFS
              subdirectory hosting the object base.
              As  ShapeTools  allows  locking  of  single generations within a
              history,  -lock  optionally  expects  an  argument  denoting   a
              generation.  Default is the most recent generation. The argument
              may be a generation number (e.g.  2),  a  version  number  (e.g.
              1.4), or a version alias (e.g. release-4.7).

       -newgen
              opens  a  new  generation by duplicating the identified version.
              The version must be  locked.  Any  existing  busy  versions  are
              ignored  by this action. If no version binding is specified, the
              last saved version is taken by default.

       -promote
              assigns the next-better value to the  specified  objects’  state
              attribute.   There are six states that an object instance can be
              in: busy, saved,  proposed,  published,  accessed,  and  frozen.
              Version   states  are  intended  to  relate  to  visibility  and
              operational restrictions (see  for  example  -delete)  within  a
              complex project environment.
              Due  to the current lack of project library support, the version
              states have very little actual functionality. Implemented to its
              full  extent, certain state transitions may only be triggered by
              appropriately authorized users. The transitions  busysaved  and
              savedproposed will be triggered by regular programmers, whereas
              the remaining transitions have to be initiated  by  the  project
              administrator.
              Each  transition corresponds to a specific action or interaction
              within a general software project communication scheme. As these
              actions/interactions  will  be  functionally  supported  by  the
              project support system currently under development, the explicit
              manipulation  of  object  states  will  no  longer  be necessary
              (except, perhaps for manual adjusting of ill situations).
              The following actions relate to the state transitions:
              save (busysaved, performed by programmer)
              sbmt (savedproposed, performed by programmer)
              accpt (proposedpublished, performed by project administrator)
              accs (publishedaccessed, performed by any project member)
              release (accessedfrozen, performed by project administrator)
              A different interface to the status control facilities  of  vadm
              is  provided  by the program aliases sbmt, publ, accs, and frze.
              These commands correspond  to  conceptual  project  interactions
              like submit, publish, access, and freeze.
              Submit  is  the  operation performed by a team programmer when a
              work result (such as a completed change request) is proposed for
              inclusion into the official system configuration. The associated
              status is proposed.
              Publish is an operation that is typically performed  by  members
              of  the quality assurance group, when a work result, as proposed
              by a team programmer is approved  and  thus  included  into  the
              current  official system configuration. The associated status is
              published.
              Access is an operation that is  performed  during  configuration
              identification,  when  component versions of a (sub-)product are
              incorporated   into   some    other    (partial)    (sub-)system
              configuration.  The associated status is accessed.
              Freeze  is  an  operation that is performed during configuration
              identification, when a  global  release  of  the  entire  system
              configuration is established. The associated status is frozen

       -set [description | note | intent]
              allows to set or modify the descriptive text for an AtFS history
              object (i.e.  an  entire  version  history),  the  note  usually
              describing  the  differences of a version object with respect to
              its preceding version, or an entry describing a planned  change.
              (Re-)  setting  the  change  intention  may be appropriate, if a
              previously set change intent has been consumed by a sbmt command
              that retained the lock on an object history.
              vadm  will check the callers environment for the EDITOR variable
              and  invoke  the  program  identified  therein.  If  the  EDITOR
              variable  is  not  set,  the  systems  default  editor  will  be
              activated.  The user may write an arbitrary  length  descriptive
              or note entry using the editor. When the user leaves the editor,
              the resulting text is stored with  the  object  history  or  the
              specified version objects.

       -setc comment_string
              sets  commentstring as the (sequence of) character(s) that opens
              a comment line within  the  formalism  of  the  document.   This
              comment_string will be prepended to the lines of the log history
              when the $__log$ attribute is expanded  within  the  text  of  a
              revision.

       -unlock
              gives up the previously reserved privilege to update the history
              of an AtFS  object  and  clears  the  write-permission  for  the
              corresponding  files.  -unlock  may  be  used by the owner of an
              object history to break a lock previously set by any programmer.
              This  option  is useful to resolve deadlock situations resulting
              from careless use of -lock, or  exceptional  circumstances  that
              require  immediate  updating  of  an object history, even if the
              lock holder is not present.  The previous owner of a broken lock
              is  notified  by  a mail message. Under some circumstances mail-
              notifications upon broken locks can be  annoying  (e.g.  when  a
              development tree has been moved to another system or domain with
              locked busy-versions; in this case  the  owner  must  break  the
              locks  to check the busy-versions back into the version archives
              at the new site). To avoid this effect, the switch  -nomail  can
              be used to suppress mail notification.
              An  eventually  expressed  change  intention (see -lock) will be
              cleared.
              Technically, the owner of an objects history is the owner of the
              AtFS subdirectory hosting the object base.

       -unpromote
              reverses   a  state  transition  carried  out  through  a  prior
              -promote.  The same remarks about functional embedding (and thus
              hiding  the  state  transitions)  of  state transitions made for
              -promote hold for -unpromote.

PREDEFINED ATTRIBUTE NAMES

       Name    Meaning              Value                 Remarks

       alias   version alias names  list of alias names, like1,3
                                    ‘‘vadm-4.2pre7’’ or ‘‘ShapeTools-1.4’’
       atime   time of last access  e.g. ‘‘Tue Jan 14 18:47:06 1992’’3
       author  user who saved a version                     user@do.ma.in (domain name does1,3
                                    usually not include the hostname)
       cachekey                     unique key for cached versionscompound numeric built from3
                                    creation date, process id, and a serial
                                    number e.g. ‘‘740148430.18469.6’’
       clead   comment line leader symbol                   dependent on file type1
                                    e.g. ‘‘# ’’ for Shapefiles
       ctime   time of last status change                   as atime
       Description                  descriptive text for modulemulti line text2
       dsize   size of delta to previous                    numeric
               version in bytes
       generation                   major revision number   numeric1,3
       Header  RCS-style version header                     text
       Intent  change intent        multi line text         2
       host    name of current host e.g. ‘‘avalanche’’      3
       Log     cumulative descriptive entries               multi line text
               of all versions from the first
               up to this one
       lock/locker                  user who locks a historyas author3
       ltime   time of last lock transaction                as atime3
       mode    access pprotection   e.g. ‘‘-rw-r--r--’’     1
       mtime   time of last modification                    as atime3
       name    name part of an object identifier            e.g. ‘‘foo’’ for ‘‘foo.c’’3
       note    short note describing the                    multi line text1, 2
               changes in this version
       owner   user who owns the repository in              as author1,3
               which this version is archived
       pred    bound version identifier of                  e.g. ‘‘foo.c[3.22]’’ or ‘‘n/a’’
               preceding version
       revision                     minor revision number   numeric1,3
       rtime   last time when history was locked            as atime
       self    bound version identifier for                 e.g. ‘‘foo.c[3.23]’’
               this version
       selfpath                     bound version identifier fore.g. ‘‘/usr/proj/sample/foo.c[3.23]’’
               this version including path
       size    size of the version in bytes                 numeric3
       state/status                 version status          symbolic integers (busy,1,3
                                    saved, proposed, published,
                                    accessed, and frozen)
       stime   time when the version was saved              as atime3
       succ    bound version identifier of                  as pred
               successive version
       syspath pathname part of an object                   e.g. ‘‘/usr/proj/sample’’3
               identifier           for ‘‘/usr/proj/sample/foo.c’’
       type    suffix part of an object                     e.g. ‘‘c’’ for ‘‘foo.c’’3
               identifier
       unixname                     UNIX file name of this versione.g. ‘‘foo.c’’
       unixpath                     UNIX file name of this versione.g. ‘‘/usr/proj/sample/foo.c’’
               including path
       version compound version number                      e.g. ‘‘3.22’’1,3
               consisting of generation
               and revision number
       vtime   version time, modification time              as atime
               for busy versions od save time
               for saved/cached versions
       xpoff   pseudo attribute that turns                  none
               off subsequent attribute
               expansions
       xpon    pseudo attribute that turns                  none
               subsequent attribute
               expansion on

       1 - may be modified by vadm -attr name=value.
       2 - may be modified by vadm -set <type>.
       3 - recognized by attr* predicates in version bind rules (see bindrules(7)).

ENVIRONMENT

       EDITOR

SEE ALSO

       save(1), retrv(1), vl(1), vbind(1)

AUTHORS

       Uli.Pralle@cs.tu-berlin.de,                Axel.Mahler@cs.tu-berlin.de,
       Andreas.Lampen@cs.tu-berlin.de