uux(1C)
NAME
uux - UNIX-to-UNIX system command execution
SYNOPSIS
uux [-] [-bcCjnprz] [-a name] [-g grade] [-s filename] [-x
debug_level] command-string
DESCRIPTION
The uux utility will gather zero or more files from various
systems, execute a command on a specified system and then
send standard output to a file on a specified system.
Note: For security reasons, most installations limit the
list of commands executable on behalf of an incoming request
from uux, permitting only the receipt of mail (see mail(1)).
(Remote execution permissions are defined in
/etc/uucp/Permissions.)
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 the following:
o An absolute path name.
o 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.
Anything else is prefixed by the current directory.
As an example, the command:
example% uux "!diff sys1!/home/dan/filename1 \
sys2!/a4/dan/filename2 > !~/dan/filename.diff"
will get the filename1 and filename2 files from the sys1 and
sys2 machines, execute a diff(1) command and put the results
in filename.diff in the local PUBDIR/dan/ directory. PUBDIR
is a public directory defined in the uucp source. By
default, this directory is /var/spool/uucppublic.
Any special shell characters (such as < > ; |) should be
quoted either by quoting the entire command-string, or quot-
ing the special characters as individual arguments. The
redirection operators >>, <<, >|, and >& cannot be used.
uux will attempt to get all appropriate files to the speci-
fied system where they will be processed. For files that are
output files, the file name must be escaped using
parentheses. For example, the command:
example% uux "a!cut -f1 b!/usr/filename > c!/usr/filename"
gets /usr/filename from system b and sends it to system a,
performs a cut command on that file and sends the result of
the cut command to system c.
uux will notify you if the requested command on the remote
system was disallowed. This notification can be turned off
by the -n option. The response comes by remote mail from the
remote machine.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
- The standard input to uux is made the standard input
to the command-string.
-a name
Uses name as the user job identification replacing the
initiator user-id. (Notification will be returned to
user-id name.)
-b Returns whatever standard input was provided to the
uux command if the exit status is non-zero.
-c Does not copy local file to the spool directory for
transfer to the remote machine (default).
-C Forces the copy of local files to the spool directory
for transfer.
-g grade
grade can be either a single letter, number, or a
string of alphanumeric characters defining a service
grade. The uuglist(1C) command determines whether it
is appropriate to use the single letter, number, or a
string of alphanumeric characters as a service grade.
The output from the uuglist command will be a list of
service grades that are available or a message that
says to use a single letter or number as a grade of
service.
-j Outputs the jobid string on the standard output which
is the job identification. This job identification can
be used by uustat(1C) to obtain the status or ter-
minate a job.
-n Does not notify the user if the command fails.
-p Same as -. The standard input to uux is made the
standard input to the command-string.
-r Does not start the file transfer, but just queues the
job.
-s filename
Reports status of the transfer in filename. This
option is accepted for compatibility, but it is
ignored because it is insecure.
-x debug_level
Produces debugging output on the standard output.
debug_level is a number between 0 and 9. As
debug_level increases to 9, more detailed debugging
information is given.
-z Sends success notification to the user.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment
variables that affect the execution of uux: LANG, LC_ALL,
LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0 Successful completion.
>0 An error occurred.
FILES
/etc/uucp/*
other data and programs
/etc/uucp/Permissions
remote execution permissions
/usr/lib/uucp/*
other programs
/var/spool/uucp
spool directories
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:
____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | SUNWbnuu |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Interface Stability | Standard |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
SEE ALSO
cut(1), mail(1), uucp(1C), uuglist(1C), uustat(1C), attri-
butes(5), environ(5), standards(5)
NOTES
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. There-
fore, the simple file name (without path or machine refer-
ence) must be unique within the uux request. The following
command will NOT work:
example% uux "a!diff b!/home/dan/xyz c!/home/dan/xyz > !xyz.diff"
But the command:
example% uux "a!diff a!/home/dan/xyz c!/home/dan/xyz > !xyz.diff"
will work (if diff is a permitted command.)
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", the request will fail.
The following restrictions apply to the shell pipeline pro-
cessed by uux:
o In gathering files from different systems, pathname
expansion in not performed by uux. Thus, a request
such as
uux "c89 remsys!~/*.c"
would attempt to copy the file named literally *.c to the
local system.
o 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.
o The use of the shell metacharacter * will probably not
do what you want it to do.
o The shell tokens << and >> are not implemented.
o The redirection operators >>, <<, >|, and >& cannot be
used.
o The reserved word ! cannot be used at the head of the
pipeline to modify the exit status.
o Alias substitution is not performed.
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