NAME
rstart - a sample implementation of a Remote Start client
SYNOPSIS
rstart [-c context] [-g] [-l username] [-v] hostname command args ...
DESCRIPTION
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.
OPTIONS
-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.
NOTES
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.
SEE ALSO
rstartd(1), rsh(1), A Flexible Remote Execution Protocol Based on rsh
AUTHOR
Jordan Brown, Quarterdeck Office Systems