sccs-comb(1)

📦 version 2022.10.16, in opensuse-leap 16.0

💅 sccs-comb(1) — the girlies' guide to comb ✨

okay so this is the sccs-comb manual, also known as comb (yes bestie, two names, she contains multitudes), and it's a User Commands situation, part of the sccs family (Solaris-ish vibes, SunOS 5.11 era, but she's been living in schilytools since 2006). let's get into it 🫶

🌸 NAME 🌸

sccs-comb, comb — combine SCCS deltas. that's it. that's the whole name section, and honestly? iconic. 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

/usr/ccs/bin/comb [-os] [-csid-list] [-psid]
    [-Xextended-options] [-Nbulk-spec] s.filename...

like, the full path and everything. she's official. /usr/ccs/bin/comb. no cap. 🎀

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so comb generates a shell script (see sh(1)) that you can use to reconstruct the s.files you point at. and where does that script go? straight to the standard output, bestie. the way that it just… writes it out for you. 😭

if you use a directory name in place of the s.filename argument, comb applies to all s.files in that directory. and if some of them are unreadable? those produce an error, but processing continues with the next file (if any). we don't stop the whole party for one unreadable file, periodt. ✨

oh and if you use − as the s.filename argument, that means the names of files are to be read from the standard input, one s.file per line. slay.

ngl the default behavior is kind of a vibe: if no options are specified, comb preserves only the most recent (leaf) delta in a branch, plus the minimal number of ancestors needed to preserve the history. minimalist queen. 👑

💖 OPTIONS 💖

the following options are supported:

  • -o — for each get -e generated, access the reconstructed file at the release of the delta to be created. otherwise, the reconstructed file is accessed at the most recent ancestor. heads up though: using -o may decrease the size of the reconstructed s.file, and it may also alter the shape of the delta tree of the original file. so, like, she can be a little chaotic. 🙈
  • -s — generate scripts to gather statistics rather than combining deltas. when you run those scripts, they report: the file name, size (in blocks) after combining, original size (also in blocks), and the percentage size change — computed by this formula:
100 * ( original − combined ) / original

so literally you can calculate the space that will be saved before actually doing the combining. queen of planning ahead. 🧚

  • -csid-list — include the indicated list of deltas; all other deltas are omitted. sid-list is a comma-separated list of SCCS delta IDs (SIDs). to specify a range of deltas, use a − separator instead of a comma, between two SIDs in the list. cute AND functional. 🍓
  • -pSID — the SID of the oldest delta to be preserved. that's the whole thing. short and mysterious. 💜
  • -Nbulk-spec — processes a bulk of SCCS history files. this option allows one to do an efficient mass processing of SCCS history files. mass processing era!!

the bulk-spec parameter is composed from an optional list of flag parameters followed by an optional path specifier.

the following flag types are supported:

  • ++ — if bulk-spec is preceded by a ++, comb(1) expects to process filenames that are prepended by a plus sign, the related SID and another plus sign, following the form:
+sid+filename

this permits each file to be retrieved with an individual SID. very demure, very mindful, very per-file. ✨

  • space — this is a placeholder dummy flag that allows one to use a prepared string for the -N option and to replace the space character by one of the supported flags on demand. a dummy flag, bestie. she's just holding the spot. 🫶

the following path specifier types are supported:

  • -N — the file name parameters to the comb command are not s.filename files but the names of the g-files. the s.filename names are automatically derived from the g-file names by prepending s. to the last path name component. both, s.filename and the g-file, are in the same directory.
  • -Ns. — the file name parameters to the comb command are s.filename files. the g-files names are automatically derived by removing s. from the beginning of the last path name component of the s.filename. both, s.filename and the g-file, are in the same directory.
  • -Ndir — the file name parameters to the comb command are not s.filename files but the names of the g-files. the s.filename names are put into directory dir; the names are automatically derived from the g-file names by prepending dir/s. to the last path name component.
  • -Ndir/s. — the file name parameters to the comb command are s.filename files in directory dir. the g-files names are automatically derived by removing dir/s. from the beginning of the last path name component of the s.filename.

a typical value for dir is SCCS. (love that for her 💅)

in order to overcome the limited number of exec(2) arguments, it is recommended to use − as the file name parameter for comb(1) and to send a list of path names to stdin. seriously, do this. it's the move.

this option is a SCHILY extension that does not exist in historic sccs implementations. 🫡
  • -Xextended-options — specify extended options. the argument extended-options may be a comma separated list of extended option names.

the following extended options are supported; they may be abbreviated as long as the abbreviation is still unique. options with parameter may not be abbreviated. no shortcuts for the ones with baggage, got it.

  • 0 — when reading filenames from stdin, triggered by a file name argument -, the filename separator is a null byte instead of a newline. this allows one to use long lists with arbitrary filenames. (which is exactly why -N + stdin is so recommended, iykyk 🧚)
  • help — print a short online help for available options. a little treat. 🎀
the -X option is a SCHILY extension that does not exist in historic sccs implementations.
  • -V, -version, --version — prints the comb version number string and exists.
this option is a SCHILY extension that does not exist in historic sccs implementations.

🌈 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES 🌈

see environ(7) for descriptions of the following environment variables that affect the execution of comb(1): LANG, LC_ALL, LC_COLLATE, LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.

  • SCCS_NO_HELP — if set, comb(1) will not automatically call help(1) with the SCCS error code in order to print a more helpful error message. scripts that depend on the exact error messages of SCCS commands should set the environment variable SCCS_NO_HELP and set LC_ALL=C.
read that again if you need to, bestie: if you're parsing error messages, set SCCS_NO_HELP AND LC_ALL=C. both. not one. both. 😤

⭐ EXIT STATUS ⭐

the following exit values are returned:

  1. 0 — successful completion. we love a zero. 💖
  2. 1 — an error occurred. ok at least she tells you. 😭

🎀 FILES 🎀

  • s.COMB — reconstructed SCCS file
  • comb????? — temporary file
  • dump.core — if the file dump.core exists in the current directory and a fatal signal is received, a coredump is initiated via abort(3).
ok the dump.core thing is a little unhinged but we respect it. create that file if you want core dumps on fatal signals. 💀

🦋 ATTRIBUTES 🦋

see attributes(7) for descriptions of the following attributes:

  • Attribute type: Availability — Attribute value: SUNWsprot

(that's the table, translated into a bullet list because we're not doing tables here, but the facts are identical, promise. 🫶)

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

sccs(1), sccs-add(1), sccs-admin(1), sccs-branch(1), sccs-cdc(1), sccs-check(1), sccs-clean(1), sccs-commit(1), sccs-create(1), sccs-cvt(1), sccs-deledit(1), sccs-delget(1), sccs-delta(1), sccs-diffs(1), sccs-edit(1), sccs-editor(1), sccs-enter(1), sccs-fix(1), sccs-get(1), sccs-help(1), sccs-histfile(1), sccs-info(1), sccs-init(1), sccs-istext(1), sccs-ldiffs(1), sccs-log(1), sccs-print(1), sccs-prs(1), sccs-prt(1), sccs-rcs2sccs(1), sccs-remove(1), sccs-rename(1), sccs-rmdel(1), sccs-root(1), sccs-sact(1), sccs-sccsdiff(1), sccs-status(1), sccs-tell(1), sccs-unedit(1), sccs-unget(1), sccs-val(1), bdiff(1), diff(1), what(1), sccschangeset(5), sccsfile(5), attributes(7), environ(7), standards(7).

like, the whole friend group. the entire roster. she knows everyone. 🔥

💜 DIAGNOSTICS 💜

use the SCCS help command for explanations (see sccs-help(1)).

🙈 BUGS 🙈

okay, real talk, comb may rearrange the shape of the tree of deltas. and it may not save any space — in fact, it is possible for the reconstructed file to actually be larger than the original. 😭 so like… vibe check your expectations before you commit. no cap.

mail other bugs and suggestions to schilytools@mlists.in-berlin.de or open a ticket at https://codeberg.org/schilytools/schilytools/issues.

the mailing list archive may be found at:

https://mlists.in-berlin.de/mailman/listinfo/schilytools-mlists.in-berlin.de.

🧚 AUTHORS 🧚

the SCCS suite was originally written by Marc J. Rochkind at Bell Labs in 1972. (1972!! ancient queen behavior. 💅) Release 4.0 of SCCS — which introduced new versions of the programs admin(1), get(1), prt(1), and delta(1) — was published on February 18, 1977; it introduced the new text based SCCS v4 history file format (previous SCCS releases used a binary history file format). the SCCS suite was later maintained by various people at AT&T and Sun Microsystems. since 2006, the SCCS suite has been maintained by Joerg Schilling and the schilytools project authors. a whole lineage. we stan a long-running open source project. 🫶

🍓 SOURCE DOWNLOAD 🍓

the source code for sccs is included in the schilytools project and may be retrieved from the schilytools project at Codeberg at

https://codeberg.org/schilytools/schilytools.

the download directory is

https://codeberg.org/schilytools/schilytools/releases.

and that's the page, bestie!! ✨ this was sccs-comb(1) from SunOS 5.11, dated 2022/10/06 — go forth and combine those deltas responsibly, and remember: the reconstructed file might be bigger, and that's just how it is sometimes. mwah. 💖🎀🦋

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