RSTART
Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: rstart 1.0.5
Page Index
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