tip(1) manual page
Table of Contents
tip - connect to remote system
tip [ -v ] [ -speed-entry ]
hostname | phone-number
SUNWcsu
tip establishes
a full-duplex terminal connection to a remote host. Once the connection is
established, a remote session using tip behaves like an interactive session
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 argument.
When phone-number is specified, tip looks for an entry in
the remote file of the form:
- tip -speed-entry
When it 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 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.
- -v
- Display commands from
the .tiprc file as they are executed.
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.
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).
- ~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 command is actually a UNIX
-system-specific version of
the ‘~>’ command.
- ~t from
- [ to ]
Take a file from a remote host running the UNIX
system. 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 process. 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,
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.
tip may be used
to dial up remote systems using a number of auto-call unit’s (ACU
’s). 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 connection (most
UNIX
systems either support @ or CTRL-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
such 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.
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 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. Alternatively, the user may request
display of a particular variable 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 interrogate as well as set a number of
variables.
Variables may be initialized at run time by placing set commands
(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 specified 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 capability is present, beautify is
initially set to off; otherwise, beautify is initially set to on.
- baudrate
- (num) The baud rate at which the connection was established; abbreviated
ba. If a baud rate was specified on the command line, baudrate is initially
set to the specified value; otherwise, if the br capability is present,
baudrate is initially set to the value of that capability; 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 disconnect
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; abbreviated eofr. If the ie capability
is present, eofread is initially set to the value of that capability; otherwise,
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; otherwise, eol is
set to a null string ("").
- escape
- (char) The command prefix (escape) character;
abbreviated es. If the es capability is present, escape is initially set
to the value of that capability; otherwise, 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 capability; otherwise,
etimeout is set to 10 seconds.
- exceptions
- (str) The set of characters which
should not be discarded due to the beautification switch; abbreviated ex.
If the ex capability is present, exceptions is initially set to the value
of that capability; otherwise, 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 initially
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 initially 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 possible 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 systems. 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 cannot 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 specified 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 initially set to on; otherwise, script is initially
set to off.
- tabexpand
- (bool) Expand TAB
characters to SPACE
characters during file
transfers; abbreviated tab. When tabexpand is on, each tab is expanded
to 8 SPACE
characters. If the tb capability is present, tabexpand is initially
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 capability is present,
verbose is initially set to off; otherwise, 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 environment.
- HOME
- (str) The home directory
to use for the ~c command; default value is taken from the environment.
An example of the dialogue used to transfer files is given below.
arpa% tip monet[connected]...(assume we are talking to a UNIX system)...ucbmonet
login: samPassword:monet% cat > sylvester.c~> Filename: sylvester.c32 lines
transferred in 1 minute 3 secondsmonet%monet% ~< Filename: reply.cList command
for remote host: cat reply.c65 lines transferred in 2 minutesmonet%...(or,
equivalently)...monet% ~p sylvester.c...(actually echoes as ~[put] sylvester.c)...32
lines transferred in 1 minute 3 secondsmonet%monet% ~t reply.c...(actually
echoes as ~[take] reply.c)...65 lines transferred in 2 minutesmonet%...(to print
a file locally)...monet% ~|Local command: pr -h sylvester.c | lprList command
for remote host: cat sylvester.cmonet% ~^D[EOT]...(back on the local system)...
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.
- /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
cu(1C)
, mail(1)
, uucp(1C)
, vi(1)
, ioctl(2)
There are two
additional variables chardelay and linedelay that are currently not implemented.
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