tip(1)
NAME
tip - connect to remote system
SYNOPSIS
tip [-v] [-speed-entry] {hostname | phone-number | device}
DESCRIPTION
The tip utility establishes a full-duplex terminal connec-
tion to a remote host. Once the connection is established, a
remote session using tip behaves like an interactive ses-
sion on a local terminal.
The remote file contains entries describing remote systems
and line speeds used by tip.
Each host has a default baud rate for the connection, or you
can specify a speed with the -speed-entry command line argu-
ment.
When phone-number is specified, tip looks for an entry in
the remote file of the form:
tip -speed-entry
When tip finds such an entry, it sets the connection speed
accordingly. If it finds no such entry, tip interprets
-speed-entry as if it were a system name, resulting in an
error message.
If you omit -speed-entry, tip uses the tip0 entry to set a
speed for the connection.
When device is specified, tip attempts to open that device,
but will do so using the access privileges of the user,
rather than tip's usual access privileges (setuid uucp). The
user must have read/write access to the device. The tip
utility interprets any character string beginning with the
slash character (/) as a device name.
When establishing the connection, tip sends a connection
message to the remote system. The default value for this
message can be found in the remote file.
When tip attempts to connect to a remote system, it opens
the associated device with an exclusive-open ioctl(2) call.
Thus, only one user at a time may access a device. This is
to prevent multiple processes from sampling the terminal
line. In addition, tip honors the locking protocol used by
uucp(1C).
When tip starts up, it reads commands from the file .tiprc
in your home directory.
OPTIONS
-v Display commands from the .tiprc file as they are exe-
cuted.
USAGE
Typed characters are normally transmitted directly to the
remote machine, which does the echoing as well.
At any time that tip prompts for an argument (for example,
during setup of a file transfer), the line typed may be
edited with the standard erase and kill characters. A null
line in response to a prompt, or an interrupt, aborts the
dialogue and returns you to the remote machine.
Commands
A tilde (~) appearing as the first character of a line is an
escape signal which directs tip to perform some special
action. tip recognizes the following escape sequences:
~^D
~. Drop the connection and exit (you may still be logged
in on the remote machine). Note: If you rlogin and
then run tip on the remote host, you must type ~~.
(tilde tilde dot) to end the tip session. If you type
~. (tilde dot), it terminates the rlogin.
~c [name]
Change directory to name. No argument implies change
to your home directory.
~! Escape to an interactive shell on the local machine.
Exiting the shell returns you to tip.
~> Copy file from local to remote.
~< Copy file from remote to local.
~p from [ to ]
Send a file to a remote host running the UNIX system.
When you use the put command, the remote system runs
the command string
cat > to
while tip sends it the from file. If the to file is
not specified, the from file name is used. This com-
mand is actually a UNIX-system-specific version of the
`~>' command.
~t from [ to ]
Take a file from a remote host running the UNIX sys-
tem. As in the put command the to file defaults to the
from file name if it is not specified. The remote host
executes the command string
cat from; echo ^A
to send the file to tip.
~| Pipe the output from a remote command to a local pro-
cess. The command string sent to the local system is
processed by the shell.
~C Connect a program to the remote machine. The command
string sent to the program is processed by the shell.
The program inherits file descriptors 0 as remote line
input, 1 as remote line output, and 2 as tty standard
error.
~$ Pipe the output from a local process to the remote
host. The command string sent to the local system is
processed by the shell.
~# Send a BREAK to the remote system.
~s Set a variable (see the discussion below).
~^Z Stop tip. Only available when run under a shell that
supports job control, such as the C shell.
~^Y Stop only the "local side" of tip. Only available when
run under a shell that supports job control, such as
the C shell. The "remote side" of tip, that is, the
side that displays output from the remote host, is
left running.
~? Get a summary of the tilde escapes.
Copying files requires some cooperation on the part of the
remote host. When a ~> or ~< escape is used to send a file,
tip prompts for a file name (to be transmitted or received)
and a command to be sent to the remote system, in case the
file is being transferred from the remote system. While tip
is transferring a file, the number of lines transferred will
be continuously displayed on the screen. A file transfer may
be aborted with an interrupt.
Auto-call Units
tip may be used to dial up remote systems using a number of
auto-call unit's (ACUs). When the remote system description
contains the du capability, tip uses the call-unit (cu), ACU
type (at), and phone numbers (pn) supplied. Normally, tip
displays verbose messages as it dials.
Depending on the type of auto-dialer being used to establish
a connection, the remote host may have garbage characters
sent to it upon connection. The user should never assume
that the first characters typed to the foreign host are the
first ones presented to it. The recommended practice is to
immediately type a kill character upon establishing a con-
nection (most UNIX systems either support @ or Control-U as
the initial kill character).
tip currently supports the Ventel MD-212+ modem and DC
Hayes-compatible modems.
When tip initializes a Hayes-compatible modem for dialing,
it sets up the modem to auto-answer. Normally, after the
conversation is complete, tip drops DTR, which causes the
modem to "hang up."
Most modems can be configured so that when DTR drops, they
re-initialize themselves to a preprogrammed state. This can
be used to reset the modem and disable auto-answer, if
desired.
Additionally, it is possible to start the phone number with
a Hayes S command so that you can configure the modem before
dialing. For example, to disable auto-answer, set up all the
phone numbers in /etc/remote using something like
pn=S0=0DT5551212. The S0=0 disables auto-answer.
Remote Host Description
Descriptions of remote hosts are normally located in the
system-wide file /etc/remote. However, a user may maintain
personal description files (and phone numbers) by defining
and exporting the REMOTE shell variable. The remote file
must be readable by tip, but a secondary file describing
phone numbers may be maintained readable only by the user.
This secondary phone number file is /etc/phones, unless the
shell variable PHONES is defined and exported. The phone
number file contains lines of the form:
system-name phone-number
Each phone number found for a system is tried until either a
connection is established, or an end of file is reached.
Phone numbers are constructed from `0123456789-=*', where
the `=' and `*' are used to indicate a second dial tone
should be waited for (ACU dependent).
tip Internal Variables
tip maintains a set of variables which are used in normal
operation. Some of these variables are read-only to normal
users (root is allowed to change anything of interest).
Variables may be displayed and set through the ~s escape.
The syntax for variables is patterned after vi(1) and
mail(1). Supplying all as an argument to the ~s escape
displays all variables that the user can read. Alterna-
tively, the user may request display of a particular vari-
able by attaching a ? to the end. For example, `~s escape?'
displays the current escape character.
Variables are numeric (num), string (str), character (char),
or Boolean (bool) values. Boolean variables are set merely
by specifying their name. They may be reset by prepending a
! to the name. Other variable types are set by appending an
= and the value. The entire assignment must not have any
blanks in it. A single set command may be used to interro-
gate as well as set a number of variables.
Variables may be initialized at run time by placing set com-
mands (without the ~s prefix) in a .tiprc file in one's home
directory. The -v option makes tip display the sets as they
are made. Comments preceded by a # sign can appear in the
.tiprc file.
Finally, the variable names must either be completely speci-
fied or an abbreviation may be given. The following list
details those variables known to tip.
beautify
(bool) Discard unprintable characters when a session
is being scripted; abbreviated be. If the nb capabil-
ity is present, beautify is initially set to off. Oth-
erwise, beautify is initially set to on.
baudrate
(num) The baud rate at which the connection was esta-
blished; abbreviated ba. If a baud rate was specified
on the command line, baudrate is initially set to the
specified value. Or, if the br capability is present,
baudrate is initially set to the value of that capa-
bility. Otherwise, baudrate is set to 300 baud. Once
tip has been started, baudrate can only changed by the
super-user.
dialtimeout
(num) When dialing a phone number, the time (in
seconds) to wait for a connection to be established;
abbreviated dial. dialtimeout is initially set to 60
seconds, and can only changed by the super-user.
disconnect
(str) The string to send to the remote host to discon-
nect from it; abbreviated di. If the di capability is
present, disconnect is initially set to the value of
that capability. Otherwise, disconnect is set to a
null string ("").
echocheck
(bool) Synchronize with the remote host during file
transfer by waiting for the echo of the last character
transmitted; abbreviated ec. If the ec capability is
present, echocheck is initially set to on. Otherwise,
echocheck is initially set to off.
eofread
(str) The set of characters which signify an end-of-
transmission during a ~< file transfer command; abbre-
viated eofr. If the ie capability is present, eofread
is initially set to the value of that capability. Oth-
erwise, eofread is set to a null string ("").
eofwrite
(str) The string sent to indicate end-of-transmission
during a ~> file transfer command; abbreviated eofw.
If the oe capability is present, eofread is initially
set to the value of that capability. Otherwise,
eofread is set to a null string ("").
eol (str) The set of characters which indicate an end-of-
line. tip will recognize escape characters only after
an end-of-line. If the el capability is present, eol
is initially set to the value of that capability. Oth-
erwise, eol is set to a null string ("").
escape
(char) The command prefix (escape) character; abbrevi-
ated es. If the es capability is present, escape is
initially set to the value of that capability. Other-
wise, escape is set to `~'.
etimeout
(num) The amount of time, in seconds, that tip should
wait for the echo-check response when echocheck is
set; abbreviated et. If the et capability is present,
etimeout is initially set to the value of that capa-
bility. Otherwise, etimeout is set to 10 seconds.
exceptions
(str) The set of characters which should not be dis-
carded due to the beautification switch; abbreviated
ex. If the ex capability is present, exceptions is
initially set to the value of that capability. Other-
wise, exceptions is set to `\t\n\f\b'.
force (char) The character used to force literal data
transmission; abbreviated fo. If the fo capability is
present, force is initially set to the value of that
capability. Otherwise, force is set to \377 (which
disables it).
framesize
(num) The amount of data (in bytes) to buffer between
file system writes when receiving files; abbreviated
fr. If the fs capability is present, framesize is ini-
tially set to the value of that capability. Otherwise,
framesize is set to 1024.
halfduplex
(bool) Do local echoing because the host is half-
duplex; abbreviated hdx. If the hd capability is
present, halfduplex is initially set to on. Otherwise,
halfduplex is initially set to off.
hardwareflow
(bool) Do hardware flow control; abbreviated hf. If
the hf capability is present, hardwareflow is ini-
tially set to on. Otherwise, hardwareflowcontrol is
initially set to off.
host (str) The name of the host to which you are connected;
abbreviated ho. host is permanently set to the name
given on the command line or in the HOST environment
variable.
localecho
(bool) A synonym for halfduplex; abbreviated le.
log (str) The name of the file to which to log information
about outgoing phone calls. log is initially set to
/var/adm/aculog, and can only be inspected or changed
by the super-user.
parity
(str) The parity to be generated and checked when
talking to the remote host; abbreviated par. The pos-
sible values are:
none>
zero Parity is not checked on input, and the parity bit is
set to zero on output.
one Parity is not checked on input, and the parity bit is
set to one on output.
even Even parity is checked for on input and generated on
output.
odd Odd parity is checked for on input and generated on
output.
If the pa capability is present, parity is initially set to
the value of that capability; otherwise, parity is set to
none.
phones
The file in which to find hidden phone numbers. If the
environment variable PHONES is set, phones is set to
the value of PHONES. Otherwise, phones is set to
/etc/phones. The value of phones cannot be changed
from within tip.
prompt
(char) The character which indicates an end-of-line on
the remote host; abbreviated pr. This value is used to
synchronize during data transfers. The count of lines
transferred during a file transfer command is based on
receipt of this character. If the pr capability is
present, prompt is initially set to the value of that
capability. Otherwise, prompt is set to \n.
raise (bool) Upper case mapping mode; abbreviated ra. When
this mode is enabled, all lower case letters will be
mapped to upper case by tip for transmission to the
remote machine. If the ra capability is present, raise
is initially set to on. Otherwise, raise is initially
set to off.
raisechar
(char) The input character used to toggle upper case
mapping mode; abbreviated rc. If the rc capability is
present, raisechar is initially set to the value of
that capability. Otherwise, raisechar is set to \377
(which disables it).
rawftp
(bool) Send all characters during file transfers; do
not filter non-printable characters, and do not do
translations like \n to \r. Abbreviated raw. If the rw
capability is present, rawftp is initially set to on.
Otherwise, rawftp is initially set to off.
record
(str) The name of the file in which a session script
is recorded; abbreviated rec. If the re capability is
present, record is initially set to the value of that
capability. Otherwise, record is set to tip.record.
remote
The file in which to find descriptions of remote sys-
tems. If the environment variable REMOTE is set,
remote is set to the value of REMOTE. Otherwise,
remote is set to /etc/remote. The value of remote can-
not be changed from within tip.
script
(bool) Session scripting mode; abbreviated sc. When
script is on, tip will record everything transmitted
by the remote machine in the script record file speci-
fied in record. If the beautify switch is on, only
printable ASCII characters will be included in the
script file (those characters between 040 and 0177).
The variable exceptions is used to indicate characters
which are an exception to the normal beautification
rules. If the sc capability is present, script is ini-
tially set to on. Otherwise, script is initially set
to off.
tabexpand
(bool) Expand TAB characters to SPACE characters dur-
ing file transfers; abbreviated tab. When tabexpand
is on, each tab is expanded to eight SPACE characters.
If the tb capability is present, tabexpand is ini-
tially set to on. Otherwise, tabexpand is initially
set to off.
tandem
(bool) Use XON/XOFF flow control to limit the rate
that data is sent by the remote host; abbreviated ta.
If the nt capability is present, tandem is initially
set to off. Otherwise, tandem is initially set to on.
verbose
(bool) Verbose mode; abbreviated verb; When verbose
mode is enabled, tip prints messages while dialing,
shows the current number of lines transferred during a
file transfer operations, and more. If the nv capabil-
ity is present, verbose is initially set to off. Oth-
erwise, verbose is initially set to on.
SHELL (str) The name of the shell to use for the ~! command;
default value is /bin/sh, or taken from the environ-
ment.
HOME (str) The home directory to use for the ~c command.
Default value is taken from the environment.
EXAMPLES
Example 1: Using the tip command
An example of the dialog used to transfer files is given
below.
arpa% tip monet
[connected]
...(assume we are talking to a UNIX system)...
ucbmonet login: sam
Password:
monet% cat sylvester.c
~> Filename: sylvester.c
32 lines transferred in 1 minute 3 seconds
monet%
monet% ~< Filename: reply.c
List command for remote host: cat reply.c
65 lines transferred in 2 minutes
monet%
...(or, equivalently)...
monet% ~p sylvester.c
...(actually echoes as ~[put] sylvester.c)...
32 lines transferred in 1 minute 3 seconds
monet%
monet% ~t reply.c
...(actually echoes as ~[take] reply.c)...
65 lines transferred in 2 minutes
monet%
...(to print a file locally)...
monet% ~|Local command: pr h sylvester.c | lpr
List command for remote host: cat sylvester.c
monet% ~^D
[EOT]
...(back on the local system)...
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
The following environment variables are read by tip.
REMOTE
The location of the remote file.
PHONES
The location of the file containing private phone
numbers.
HOST A default host to connect to.
HOME One's log-in directory (for chdirs).
SHELL The shell to fork on a `~!' escape.
FILES
/etc/phones
/etc/remote
/var/spool/locks/LCK..*
lock file to avoid conflicts with UUCP
/var/adm/aculog
file in which outgoing calls are logged
~/.tiprc
initialization file
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:
____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | SUNWcsu |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
SEE ALSO
cu(1C), mail(1), uucp(1C), vi(1), ioctl(2), attributes( 5)
BUGS
There are two additional variables, chardelay and linedelay,
that are currently not implemented.
Man(1) output converted with
man2html