CI(1)

NAME
ci - check in RCS revisions

SYNOPSIS
ci [options] file ...

DESCRIPTION
ci stores new revisions into RCS files. Each file name ending in ,v is taken to be an RCS file. All others are assumed to be working files containing new revisions. ci deposits the contents of each working file into the corresponding RCS file. If only a working file is given, ci tries to find the corresponding RCS file in an RCS subdirectory and then in the working file's directory. For more details, see FILE NAMING below.

For ci to work, the caller's login must be on the access list, except if the access list is empty or the caller is the superuser or the owner of the file. To append a new revision to an existing branch, the tip revision on that branch must be locked by the caller. Otherwise, only a new branch can be created. This restriction is not enforced for the owner of the file if non-strict locking is used (see rcs(1)). A lock held by someone else may be broken with the rcs command.

Normally, ci checks whether the revision to be deposited is different from the preceding one. If it is not different, ci aborts the deposit, asking beforehand if possible. A deposit can be forced with the -f option.

For each revision deposited, ci prompts for a log message. The log message should summarize the change and must be terminated by end-of-file or by a line containing . by itself. If several files are checked in ci asks whether to reuse the previous log message. If the standard input is not a terminal, ci suppresses the prompt and uses the same log message for all files. See also -m.

The number of the deposited revision can be given by any of the options -f, -I, -k, -l, -q, -r, or -u.

If the RCS file does not exist, ci creates it and deposits the contents of the working file as the initial revision (default number: 1.1). The access list is initialized to empty. Instead of the log message, ci requests descriptive text (see -t below).

OPTIONS

-r[rev]
    assigns the revision number rev to the checked-in revision, releases the corresponding lock, and deletes the working file. This is the default. rev may be symbolic, numeric, or mixed.

    If rev is a revision number, it must be higher than the latest one on the branch to which rev belongs, or must start a new branch.

    If rev is a branch rather than a revision number, the new revision is appended to that branch. The level number is obtained by incrementing the tip revision number of that branch. If rev indicates a non-existing branch, that branch is created with the initial revision numbered rev.1.

    If rev is omitted, ci tries to derive the new revision number from the caller's last lock. If the caller has locked the tip revision of a branch, the new revision is appended to that branch. The new revision number is obtained by incrementing the tip revision number. If the caller locked a non-tip revision, a new branch is started at that revision by incrementing the highest branch number at that revision. The default initial branch and level numbers are 1.

    If rev is omitted and the caller has no lock, but owns the file and locking is not set to strict, then the revision is appended to the default branch (normally the trunk; see the -b option of rcs(1)).

    Exception: On the trunk, revisions can be appended to the end, but not inserted.

-f[rev]
    forces a deposit; the new revision is deposited even it is not different from the preceding one.

-k[rev]
    searches the working file for keyword values to determine its revision number, creation date, state, and author (see co(1)), and assigns these values to the deposited revision, rather than computing them locally. It also generates a default login message noting the login of the caller and the actual checkin date. This option is useful for software distribution. A revision that is sent to several sites should be checked in with the -k option at these sites to preserve the original number, date, author, and state. The extracted keyword values and the default log message may be overridden with the options -d, -m, -s, -w, and any option that carries a revision number.

-l[rev]
    works like -r, except it performs an additional co -l for the deposited revision. Thus, the deposited revision is immediately checked out again and locked. This is useful for saving a revision although one wants to continue editing it after the checkin.

-u[rev]
    works like -l, except that the deposited revision is not locked. This lets one read the working file immediately after checkin.

-q[rev]
    quiet mode; diagnostic output is not printed. A revision that is not different from the preceding one is not deposited, unless -f is given.

-I[rev]
    interactive mode; the user is prompted and questioned even if the standard input is not a terminal.

-d[date]
    uses date for the checkin date and time. The date is specified in free format as explained in co(1). This is useful for lying about the checkin date, and for -k if no date is available. If date is empty, the working file's time of last modification is used.

-mmsg
    uses the string msg as the log message for all revisions checked in.

-nname
    assigns the symbolic name name to the number of the checked-in revision. ci prints an error message if name is already assigned to another number.

-Nname
    same as -n, except that it overrides a previous assignment of name.

-sstate
    sets the state of the checked-in revision to the identifier state. The default state is Exp.

-tfile
    writes descriptive text from the contents of the named file into the RCS file, deleting the existing text. The file name may not begin with -.

-t-string
    Write descriptive text from the string into the RCS file, deleting the existing text.

    The -t option, in both its forms, has effect only during an initial checkin; it is silently ignored otherwise.

    During the initial checkin, if -t is not given, ci obtains the text from standard input, terminated by end-of-file or by a line containing . by itself. The user is prompted for the text if interaction is possible; see -I.

    For backward compatibility with older versions of RCS, a bare -t option is ignored.

-wlogin
    uses login for the author field of the deposited revision. Useful for lying about the author, and for -k if no author is available.

-Vn Emulate RCS version n. See co(1) for details.

FILE NAMING
Pairs of RCS files and working files may be specified in three ways (see also the example section of co(1)).

1) Both the RCS file and the working file are given. The RCS file name is of the form path1/workfile,v and the working file name is of the form path2/workfile where path1/ and path2/ are (possibly different or empty) paths and workfile is a file name.

2) Only the RCS file is given. Then the working file is created in the current directory and its name is derived from the name of the RCS file by removing path1/ and the suffix ,v.

3) Only the working file is given. Then ci looks for an RCS file of the form path2/RCS/workfile,v or path2/workfile,v (in this order).

If the RCS file is specified without a path in 1) and 2), then ci looks for the RCS file first in the directory ./RCS and then in the current directory.

FILE MODES
An RCS file created by ci inherits the read and execute permissions from the working file. If the RCS file exists already, ci preserves its read and execute permissions. ci always turns off all write permissions of RCS files.

FILES
Several temporary files may be created. A semaphore file is created in the directory containing the RCS file. The effective user+group must be able to read the RCS file and to search and write the directory containing the RCS file. Normally, the real user+group must be able to read the working file and to search and write the directory containing the working file; however, some older hosts that do not conform to Posix 1003.1-1990 cannot easily switch between real and effective ids, so on these hosts the effective user+group is used for all accesses. The effective user+group is the same as the real user+group unless your copy of RCS has setuid or setgid privileges. These privileges yield extra security if RCS files are protected so that only the effective user+group can write RCS directories. Further protection can be achieved by granting access only to the effective user+group.

ci never changes an RCS or working file; instead, it unlinks the file and creates a new one. This strategy breaks hard links to such files, but does not affect symbolic links.

DIAGNOSTICS
For each revision, ci prints the RCS file, the working file, and the number of both the deposited and the preceding revision. The exit status is zero if and only if all operations were successful.

IDENTIFICATION
Author: Walter F. Tichy.
Revision Number: ; Release Date: .
Copyright © 1982, 1988, 1989 by Walter F. Tichy.
Copyright © 1990 by Paul Eggert.

SEE ALSO
co(1), ident(1), rcs(1), rcsdiff(1), rcsintro(1), rcsmerge(1), rlog(1), rcsfile(5)
Walter F. Tichy, RCS--A System for Version Control, Software--Practice & Experience 15, 7 (July 1985), 637-654.