UUX(1) UUX(1)
NAME
uux - unix to unix command execution
SYNOPSIS
uux [ options ] command-string
DESCRIPTION
Uux will gather zero or more files from various systems,
execute a command on a specified system and then send stan-
dard output to a file on a specified system. Note that, for
security reasons, many installations will limit the list of
commands executable on behalf of an incoming request from
uux. Many sites will permit little more than the receipt of
mail (see mail(1)) via uux.
The command-string is made up of one or more arguments that
look like a Shell command line, except that the command and
file names may be prefixed by system-name!. A null system-
name is interpreted as the local system.
File names may be one of
(1) a full path name;
(2) a path name preceded by ~xxx where xxx is a login
name on the specified system and is replaced by that
user's login directory;
(3) anything else is prefixed by the current directory.
As an example, the command
uux "!diff usg!/usr/dan/file1 pwba!/a4/dan/file2 >
!~/dan/file.diff"
will get file1 and file2 from the `usg' and `pwba' machines,
execute a diff command and put the results in file.diff in
the local ~/dan/ directory.
Any special shell characters such as <>;| should be quoted
either by quoting the entire command-string, or quoting the
special characters as individual arguments.
Uux will attempt to get all files to the execution system.
For files that are output files, the file name must be
escaped using parentheses. For example, the command
uux a!cut -f1 b!/usr/file \(c!/usr/file\)
gets /usr/file from system `b' and send it to system `a',
UUX(1) UUX(1)
performs a cut command on that file and send the result of
the cut command to system `c'.
Uux will notify you by mail if the requested command on the
remote system was disallowed. This notification can be
turned off by the -n option.
The following options are interpreted by uux:
- The standard input to uux is made the standard input to
the command-string.
-aname
Use name as the user identification replacing the ini-
tiator user-id. (Notification will be returned to the
user.)
-b Return standard input to the command if the exit status
is non-zero.
-c Don't copy local file to the spool directory for trans-
fer to the remote machine (default).
-C Force the copy of local files to the spool directory
for transfer.
-ggrade
Grade is a single letter/number; lower ASCII sequence
characters will cause the job to be transmitted earlier
during a particular conversation.
-j Output the jobid ASCII string on the standard output
which is the job identification. This job identifica-
tion can be used by uustat to obtain the status or ter-
minate a job.
-n Do not notify the user if the comand fails.
-p Same as -: The standard input to uux is made the stan-
dard input to the command-string.
-r Don't start the file transfer, just queue the job.
-sfile
Report status of the transfer in file.
-xdebug-level
Produce debugging output on stdout. The debug_level is
a number between 0 and 9; higher numbers give more
detailed information.
-z Notify the user if the command succeeds.
UUX(1) UUX(1)
FILES
/usr/lib/uucp/spool spool directories
/usr/lib/uucp/* other data and programs
SEE ALSO
uucp(1)
WARNINGS
Only the first command of a shell pipeline may have a
system-name!. All other commands are executed on the system
of the first command.
The use of the shell metacharacter * will probably not do
what you want it to do. The shell tokens << and >> are not
implemented.
The execution of commands on remote systems takes place in
an execution directory known to the uucp system. All files
required for the execution will be put into this directory
unless they already reside on that machine. Therefore, the
simple file name (without path or machine reference) must be
unique within the uux request. The following command will
NOT work:
uux "a!diff b!/usr/dan/xyz c!/usr/dan/xyz > !xyz.diff"
but the command
uux "a!diff a!/usr/dan/xyz c!/usr/dan/xyz > !xyz.diff"
will work. (If diff is a permitted command.)
BUGS
Protected files and files that are in protected directories
that are owned by the requester can be sent in commands
using uux. However, if the requester is root, and the direc-
tory is not searchable by "other" or the file is not read-
able by "other", the request will fail due to a bug in
setuid().