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 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.
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 28 Nov 2001 1
User Commands tip(1)
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,
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 28 Nov 2001 2
User Commands tip(1)
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 pro-
cessed 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).
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 28 Nov 2001 3
User Commands tip(1)
~^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 sup-
ports 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."
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 28 Nov 2001 4
User Commands tip(1)
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
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 28 Nov 2001 5
User Commands tip(1)
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 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, bau-
drate 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, bau-
drate 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 capabil-
ity. Otherwise, disconnect is set to a null
string ("").
echocheck (bool) Synchronize with the remote host dur-
ing file transfer by waiting for the echo of
the last character transmitted; abbreviated
ec. If the ec capability is present, echo-
check is initially set to on. Otherwise,
echocheck is initially set to off.
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 28 Nov 2001 6
User Commands tip(1)
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 ini-
tially 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 com-
mand; 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. Other-
wise, eol is set to a null string ("").
escape (char) The command prefix (escape) charac-
ter; 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 capabil-
ity. 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'.
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 28 Nov 2001 7
User Commands tip(1)
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. Other-
wise, 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 ini-
tially 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. Other-
wise, hardwareflowcontrol is initially set
to off.
host (str) The name of the host to which you are
connected; abbreviated ho. host is per-
manently set to the name given on the com-
mand line or in the HOST environment vari-
able.
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.
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 28 Nov 2001 8
User Commands tip(1)
parity (str) The parity to be generated and checked
when talking to the remote host; abbreviated
par. The possible values are:
none> Parity is not checked on input, and
zero 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 capabil-
ity; 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 ini-
tially set to the value of that capability.
Otherwise, prompt is set to \n.
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 28 Nov 2001 9
User Commands tip(1)
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 capabil-
ity. Otherwise, raisechar is set to \377
(which disables it).
rawftp (bool) Send all characters during file
transfers; do not filter non-printable char-
acters, 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 ses-
sion script is recorded; abbreviated rec. If
the re capability is present, record is ini-
tially 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
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 28 Nov 2001 10
User Commands tip(1)
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 char-
acters 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 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 mes-
sages 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
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 28 Nov 2001 11
User Commands tip(1)
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).
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 28 Nov 2001 12
User Commands tip(1)
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 outgo-
ing 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.
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 28 Nov 2001 13
The above content is © 1994, 2001 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
It is provided here for reference only.
If you are not sure what the usage "tip into" means, ask Carl.