cu(1C)
NAME
cu - call another UNIX system
SYNOPSIS
cu [-c device | -l line] [-s speed] [-b bits] [-h] [-n] [-
t] [-d] [-o | -e] [-L] [-C] [-H] telno | systemname
[local-cmd]
DESCRIPTION
The command cu calls up another UNIX system, a terminal, or
possibly a non-UNIX system. It manages an interactive
conversation with possible transfers of files. It is con-
venient to think of cu as operating in two phases. The first
phase is the connection phase in which the connection is
established. cu then enters the conversation phase. The -d
option is the only one that applies to both phases.
OPTIONS
cu accepts many options. The -c, -l, and -s options play a
part in selecting the medium. The remaining options are used
in configuring the line.
-b bits
Forces bits to be the number of bits processed on the
line. bits is either 7 or 8. This allows connection
between systems with different character sizes. By
default, the character size of the line is set to the
same value as the current local terminal, but the
character size setting is affected by LC_CTYPE also.
-c device
Forces cu to use only entries in the "Type" field (the
first field in the /etc/uucp/Devices file) that match
the user specified device, usually the name of a local
area network.
-C Runs the local-cmd specified at the end of the command
line instead of entering interactive mode. The stdin
and stdout of the command that is run refer to the
remote connection.
-d Prints diagnostic traces.
-e Sets an EVEN data parity. This option designates that
EVEN parity is to be generated for data sent to the
remote system.
-h Sets communication mode to half-duplex. This option
emulates local echo in order to support calls to other
computer systems that expect terminals to be set to
half-duplex mode.
-H Ignores one hangup. This allows the user to remain in
cu while the remote machine disconnects and places a
call back to the local machine. This option should be
used when connecting to systems with callback or dial-
back modems. Once the callback occurs subsequent hang-
ups will cause cu to terminate. This option can be
specified more than once. For more information about
dialback configuration, see remote(4) and System
Administration Guide: IP Services
-l line
Specifies a device name to use as the communication
line. This can be used to override the search that
would otherwise take place for the first available
line having the right speed. When the -l option is
used without the -s option, the speed of a line is
taken from the /etc/uucp/Devices file record in which
line matches the second field (the Line field). When
the -l and -s options are both used together, cu will
search the /etc/uucp/Devices file to check if the
requested speed for the requested line is available.
If so, the connection will be made at the requested
speed, otherwise, an error message will be printed and
the call will not be made. In the general case where
a specified device is a directly connected asynchro-
nous line (for instance, /dev/term/a), a telephone
number (telno) is not required. The specified device
need not be in the /dev directory. If the specified
device is associated with an auto dialer, a telephone
number must be provided.
-L Goes through the login chat sequence specified in the
/etc/uucp/Systems file. For more information about the
chat sequence, see System Administration Guide: IP
Services
-n Requests user prompt for telephone number. For added
security, this option will prompt the user to provide
the telephone number to be dialed, rather than taking
it from the command line.
-o Sets an ODD data parity. This option designates that
ODD parity is to be generated for data sent to the
remote system.
-s speed
Specifies the transmission speed (300, 1200, 2400,
4800, 9600, 19200, 38400). The default value is "Any"
speed which will depend on the order of the lines in
the /etc/uucp/Devices file.
-t Dials a terminal which has been set to auto answer.
Appropriate mapping of carriage-return to carriage-
return-line-feed pairs is set.
OPERANDS
The following operands are supported:
telno When using an automatic dialler, specifies the tele-
phone number with equal signs for secondary dial tone
or minus signs placed appropriately for delays of 4
seconds.
systemname
Specifies a uucp system name, which can be used rather
than a telephone number; in this case, cu will obtain
an appropriate direct line or telephone number from a
system file.
USAGE
Connection Phase
cu uses the same mechanism that uucp(1C) does to establish a
connection. This means that it will use the uucp control
files /etc/uucp/Devices and /etc/uucp/Systems. This gives cu
the ability to choose from several different media to estab-
lish the connection. The possible media include telephone
lines, direct connections, and local area networks (LAN).
The /etc/uucp/Devices file contains a list of media that are
available on your system. The /etc/uucp/Systems file con-
tains information for connecting to remote systems, but it
is not generally readable.
Note: cu determines which /etc/uucp/Systems and
/etc/uucp/Devices files to use based upon the name used to
invoke cu. In the simple case, this name will be "cu", but
you could also have created a link to cu with another name,
such as "pppcu", in which case cu would then look for a
"service=pppcu" entry in the /etc/uucp/Sysfiles file to
determine which /etc/uucp/Systems file to use.
The telno or systemname parameter from the command line is
used to tell cu what system you wish to connect to. This
parameter can be blank, a telephone number, a system name,
or a LAN specific address.
telephone number
A telephone number is a string consisting of the tone
dial characters (the digits 0 through 9, *, and #)
plus the special characters = and -. The equal sign
designates a secondary dial tone and the minus sign
creates a 4 second delay.
system name
A system name is the name of any computer that uucp
can call; the uuname(1C) command prints a list of
these names.
LAN address
The documentation for your LAN will show the form of
the LAN specific address.
If cu's default behavior is invoked (not using the -c or -l
options), cu will use the telno or systemname parameter to
determine which medium to use. If a telephone number is
specified, cu will assume that you wish to use a telephone
line and it will select an automatic call unit (ACU). Other-
wise, cu will assume that it is a system name. cu will fol-
low the uucp calling mechanism and use the /etc/uucp/Systems
and /etc/uucp/Devices files to obtain the best available
connection. Since cu will choose a speed that is appropriate
for the medium that it selects, you may not use the -s
option when this parameter is a system name.
The -c and -l options modify this default behavior. -c is
most often used to select a LAN by specifying a Type field
from the /etc/uucp/Devices file. You must include either a
telno or systemname value when using the -c option. If the
connection to systemname fails, a connection will be
attempted using systemname as a LAN specific address. The
-l option is used to specify a device associated with a
direct connection. If the connection is truly a direct con-
nection to the remote machine, then there is no need to
specify a systemname. This is the only case where a telno or
systemname parameter is unnecessary. On the other hand,
there may be cases in which the specified device connects to
a dialer, so it is valid to specify a telephone number. The
-c and -l options should not be specified on the same com-
mand line.
Conversation Phase
After making the connection, cu runs as two processes. The
transmit process reads data from the standard input and,
except for lines beginning with ~, passes it to the remote
system. The receive process accepts data from the remote
system and, except for lines beginning with ~, passes it to
the standard output. Normally, an automatic DC3/DC1 protocol
is used to control input from the remote so the buffer is
not overrun. Lines beginning with ~ have special meanings.
Commands
The transmit process interprets the following user initiated
commands:
~. Terminates the conversation.
~! Escapes to an interactive shell on the local system.
~!cmd...
Runs cmd on the local system (via sh -c).
~$cmd...
Runs cmd locally and send its output to the remote
system.
~%cd Changes the directory on the local system. Note: ~!cd
will cause the command to be run by a sub-shell, prob-
ably not what was intended.
~%take from [to]
Copies file from (on the remote system) to file to on
the local system. If to is omitted, the from argument
is used in both places.
~%put from [to]
Copies file from (on local system) to file to on
remote system. If to is omitted, the from argument is
used in both places.
~~line
Sends the line ~ line to the remote system.
~%break
Transmits a BREAK to the remote system (which can
also be specified as ~%b).
~%debug
Toggles the -d debugging option on or off (which can
also be specified as ~%d).
~t Prints the values of the termio structure variables
for the user's terminal (useful for debugging).
~l Prints the values of the termio structure variables
for the remote communication line (useful for debug-
ging).
~%ifc Toggles between DC3/DC1 input control protocol and no
input control. This is useful when the remote system
does not respond properly to the DC3 and DC1 charac-
ters (can also be specified as ~%nostop).
~%ofc Toggles the output flow control setting. When
enabled, outgoing data may be flow controlled by the
remote host (can also be specified as ~%noostop).
~%divert
Allows/disallows unsolicited diversions. That is,
diversions not specified by ~%take.
~%old Allows/disallows old style syntax for received diver-
sions.
~%nostop
Same as ~%ifc.
The receive process normally copies data from the remote
system to the standard output of the local system. It may
also direct the output to local files.
The use of ~%put requires stty(1) and cat(1) on the remote
side. It also requires that the current erase and kill char-
acters on the remote system be identical to these current
control characters on the local system. Backslashes are
inserted at appropriate places.
The use of ~%take requires the existence of echo(1) and
cat(1) on the remote system, and that the remote system must
be using the Bourne shell, sh. Also, tabs mode (see stty(1))
should be set on the remote system if tabs are to be copied
without expansion to spaces.
When cu is used on system X to connect to system Y and sub-
sequently used on system Y to connect to system Z, commands
on system Y can be executed by using ~~. Executing a tilde
command reminds the user of the local system uname. For
example, uname can be executed on Z, X, and Y as follows:
uname
Z
~[X]!uname
X
~~[Y]!uname
Y
In general, ~ causes the command to be executed on the ori-
ginal machine. ~~ causes the command to be executed on the
next machine in the chain.
EXAMPLES
Example 1: Dialling a system
To dial a system whose telephone number is 9 1 201 555 1234
using 1200 baud (where dialtone is expected after the 9):
example% cu -s 1200 9=12015551234
If the speed is not specified, "Any" is the default value.
Example 2: Logging in to a system on a direct line
To login to a system connected by a direct line:
example% cu -l /dev/term/b
or
example% cu -l term/b
Example 3: Dialling a system with specific line and speed
To dial a system with a specific line and speed:
example% cu -s 1200 -l term/b
Example 4: Using a system name
To use a system name:
example% cu systemname
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment
variables that affect the execution of cu: LC_CTYPE,
LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0 Successful completion.
>0 An error occurred.
FILES
/etc/uucp/Devices
device file
/etc/uucp/Sysfiles
system file
/etc/uucp/Systems
system file
/var/spool/locks/*
lock file
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:
____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | SUNWbnuu |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
SEE ALSO
cat(1), echo(1), stty(1), tip(1), uname(1), ct(1C),
uuname(1C), uucp(1C), remote(4), attributes(5), environ(5)
System Administration Guide: IP Services
NOTES
The cu utility takes the default action upon receipt of sig-
nals, with the exception of:
SIGHUP
Close the connection and terminate.
SIGINT
Forward to the remote system.
SIGQUIT
Forward to the remote system.
SIGUSR1
Terminate the cu process without the normal connection
closing sequence.
The cu command does not do any integrity checking on data it
transfers. Data fields with special cu characters may not be
transmitted properly. Depending on the interconnection
hardware, it may be necessary to use a ~. to terminate the
conversion, even if stty 0 has been used. Non-printing char-
acters are not dependably transmitted using either the ~%put
or ~%take commands. ~%put and ~%take cannot be used over
multiple links. Files must be moved one link at a time.
There is an artificial slowing of transmission by cu during
the ~%put operation so that loss of data is unlikely. Files
transferred using ~%take or ~%put must contain a trailing
newline, otherwise, the operation will hang. Entering a
<Control-D> command usually clears the hang condition.
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