TIP(1) User Commands 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 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 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 executed.

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
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, 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 connection (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. 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. Or, 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 eight 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.

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

SEE ALSO

mail(1), vi(1), cu(1C), uucp(1C), ioctl(2), attributes(7)

BUGS

There are two additional variables, chardelay and linedelay, that are
currently not implemented.

November 28, 2001 TIP(1)