REMOTE(5) BSD Reference Manual REMOTE(5)
remote - remote host description file
The systems known by tip(1) and their attributes are stored in an ASCII
file which is structured somewhat like the termcap(5) file. Each line in
the file provides a description for a single remote host. Fields are
separated by a colon (':'). Lines ending with a "\" character immediately
followed by a newline are continued on the next line.
The first entry is the name(s) of the host system. If there is more than
one name for a system, the names are separated by vertical bars ('|').
After the name of the system comes the fields of the description. A field
name followed by an equal sign ('=') indicates a string value follows. A
field name followed by a pound sign ('#') indicates a following numeric
value.
Entries named "tip*" are used as default entries by tip(1) as follows.
When tip(1) is invoked with only a baud rate, it looks for an entry of
the form "tip<baud rate>". E.g. tip -300 will cause tip(1) to look for
the system tip300.
Capabilities are either strings (str), numbers (num), or boolean flags
(bool). A string capability is specified by capability=value; for exam-
ple, "dv=/dev/harris". A numeric capability is specified by
capability#value; for example, "xa#99". A boolean capability is specified
by simply listing the capability.
at (str) Auto call unit type.
be (bool) Initialize the tip(1) variable "beautify" to on, so that
non-printable characters will be discarded when scripting.
br (num) The baud rate used in establishing a connection to the re-
mote host. This is a decimal number. The default baud rate is 300
baud.
cm (str) An initial connection message to be sent to the remote
host. For example, if a host is reached through port selector,
this might be set to the appropriate sequence required to switch
to the host.
cu (str) Call unit if making a phone call. Default is the same as
the dv field.
dc (bool) This host is directly connected, and tip(1) should not ex-
pect carrier detect to be high, nor should it exit if carrier
detect drops.
di (str) Disconnect message sent to the host when a disconnect is
requested by the user.
du (bool) This host is on a dial-up line.
dv (str) UNIX device(s) to open to establish a connection. If this
file refers to a terminal line, tip(1) attempts to perform an ex-
clusive open on the device to ensure only one user at a time has
access to the port.
ec (bool) Initialize the tip(1) variable "echocheck" to on, so that
tip(1) will synchronize with the remote host during file transfer
by waiting for the last character transmitted to echo.
el (str) Characters marking an end-of-line. The default is NULL. "~"
escapes are only recognized by tip(1) after one of the characters
in el, or after a carriage-return.
es (str) The escape character for tip(1). The default is "~".
et (num) Number of seconds to wait for an echo response when
"echocheck" mode is on. The default value is 10 seconds.
ex (str) Set of non-printable characters not to be discarded when
scripting with beautification turned on. The default value is
"\t\n\b\f".
fo (str) Character used to force literal data transmission. The de-
fault value is '\020' (^P).
fs (str) Frame size for transfers. The default frame size is equal
to BUFSIZ.
hd (bool) The host uses half-duplex communication, local echo should
be performed.
hf (bool) Initialize the tip(1) variable "hardwareflow" to on, so
that hardware flow control (CRTSCTS) will be used for the connec-
tion with the remote host.
ie (str) Input end-of-file marks. The default is NULL.
nb (bool) Initialize the tip(1) variable "beautify" to off, so that
non-printable characters will not be discarded when scripting.
nt (bool) Initialize the tip(1) variable "tandem" to off, so that
XON/XOFF flow control will not be used to throttle data from the
remote host.
nv (bool) Initialize the tip(1) variable "verbose" to off, so that
verbose mode will be turned off.
oe (str) Output end-of-file string. The default is NULL. When tip(1)
is transferring a file, this string is sent at end-of-file.
pa (str) The type of parity to use when sending data to the host.
This may be one of "even", "odd", "none", "zero" (always set bit
8 to zero), or "one" (always set bit 8 to 1). The default is no
parity.
pn (str) Telephone number(s) for this host. Either a list of arbi-
trary dialing strings separated by commas, or a '@'. An at sign,
'@', tells tip(1) to search the phones(5) database for the list
of telephone numbers.
For modems or auto-call units that use a ',' in their dialing
strings (hayes, courier, t3000) tip(1) will convert any '=' in
the string to a ',' when dialing. For modems or auto-call units
that use a '=' in their dial strings, (v831), tip(1) will convert
any '_' to a '=' when dialing.
pr (str) Character that indicates end-of-line on the remote host.
The default value is '\n'.
ra (bool) Initialize the tip(1) variable "raise" to on, so that
lowercase letters are mapped to uppercase before sending them to
the remote host.
rc (str) Character that toggles case-mapping mode. The default value
is '\001' (^A).
re (str) The file in which to record session scripts. The default
value is tip.record.
rw (str) Initialize the tip(1) variable "rawftp" to on, so that all
characters will be sent as is during file transfers.
sc (bool) Initialize the tip(1) variable "script" to on, so that
everything transmitted by the remote host will be recorded.
ta (bool) Initialize the tip(1) variable "tandem" to on, so that
XON/XOFF flow control will be used to throttle data from the re-
mote host.
tb (bool) Initialize the tip(1) variable "tabexpand" to on, so that
each tab will be expanded to 8 spaces during file transfers.
tc (str) Indicates that the list of capabilities is continued in the
named description. This is used primarily to share common capa-
bility information.
vb (bool) Initialize the tip(1) variable "verbose" to on, so that
verbose mode will be turned on.
Here is a short example showing the use of the capability continuation
feature:
UNIX-1200:\
:dv=/dev/cau0:el=^D^U^C^S^Q^O@:du:at=ventel:ie=#$%:oe=^D:br#1200:
arpavax|ax:\
:pn=7654321%:tc=UNIX-1200
/etc/remote Global database.
tip(1), phones(5)
The remote file format appeared in 4.2BSD.
MirBSD #10-current June 5, 1993 2