SCCS(1POSIX)

📦 version 2017a, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

ok so bestie, you just opened SCCS(1POSIX) from the POSIX Programmer's Manual 💖 and honestly? It's giving "grandma of version control but she still ate." Let's get into it, no cap. 🦋

✨ PROLOG ✨

This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. The Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult the corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.

heads up fr fr: that's the standard disclaimer every POSIX page carries. Linux might do its own thing, or the thing might not exist at all on Linux. Check the Linux page, okay? 🫶

👑 NAME 👑

sccs — front end for the SCCS subsystem (DEVELOPMENT)

yup. That's the whole name section. Short, sweet, iconic.

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

sccs [-r] [-d path] [-p path] command [options...] [operands...]

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

The sccs utility is a front end to the SCCS programs. It also includes the capability to run set-user-id to another user to provide additional protection.

The sccs utility shall invoke the specified command with the specified options and operands. By default, each of the operands shall be modified by prefixing it with the string "SCCS/s.".

the way that every operand just automatically gets SCCS/s. glued onto the front?? Main character behavior honestly. ✨

The command can be the name of one of the SCCS utilities in this volume of POSIX.1-2017 (admin, delta, get, prs, rmdel, sact, unget, val, or what) or one of the pseudo-utilities listed in the EXTENDED DESCRIPTION section.

🔥 OPTIONS 🔥

The sccs utility shall conform to the Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1-2017, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines, except that options operands are actually options to be passed to the utility named by command. When the portion of the command:

command [options ... ] [operands ... ]

is considered, all of the pseudo-utilities used as command shall support the Utility Syntax Guidelines. Any of the other SCCS utilities that can be invoked in this manner support the Guidelines to the extent indicated by their individual OPTIONS sections.

The following options shall be supported preceding the command operand:

  • -d path — A pathname of a directory to be used as a root directory for the SCCS files. The default shall be the current directory. The -d option shall take precedence over the PROJECTDIR variable. See -p.
  • -p path — A pathname of a directory in which the SCCS files are located. The default shall be the SCCS directory.

The -p option differs from the -d option in that the -d option-argument shall be prefixed to the entire pathname and the -p option-argument shall be inserted before the final component of the pathname. For example:

sccs -d /x -p y get a/b

converts to:

get /x/a/y/s.b

This allows the creation of aliases such as:

alias syssccs="sccs -d /usr/src"

which is used as:

syssccs get cmd/who.c
  • -r — Invoke command with the real user ID of the process, not any effective user ID that the sccs utility is set to. Certain commands (admin, check, clean, diffs, info, rmdel, and tell) cannot be run set-user-ID by all users, since this would allow anyone to change the authorizations. These commands are always run as the real user.
vibe check on -r: it's the "run me as actually-me, not as whoever I'm cosplaying as" switch. And those seven commands are always run as the real user no matter what, because letting just anyone flip the authorizations would be a whole security situation. Not the move. 🙈

🎀 OPERANDS 🎀

The following operands shall be supported:

  • command — An SCCS utility name or the name of one of the pseudo-utilities listed in the EXTENDED DESCRIPTION section.
  • options — An option or option-argument to be passed to command.
  • operands — An operand to be passed to command.

🌈 STDIN 🌈

See the utility description for the specified command.

🧚 INPUT FILES 🧚

See the utility description for the specified command.

💜 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES 💜

The following environment variables shall affect the execution of sccs:

  • LANG — Provide a default value for the internationalization variables that are unset or null. (See the Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1-2017, Section 8.2, Internationalization Variables for the precedence of internationalization variables used to determine the values of locale categories.)
  • LC_ALL — If set to a non-empty string value, override the values of all the other internationalization variables.
  • LC_CTYPE — Determine the locale for the interpretation of sequences of bytes of text data as characters (for example, single-byte as opposed to multi-byte characters in arguments and input files).
  • LC_MESSAGES — Determine the locale that should be used to affect the format and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error.
  • NLSPATH — Determine the location of message catalogs for the processing of LC_MESSAGES.
  • PROJECTDIR — Provide a default value for the -d path option. If the value of PROJECTDIR begins with a <slash>, it shall be considered an absolute pathname; otherwise, the value of PROJECTDIR is treated as a user name and that user's initial working directory shall be examined for a subdirectory src or source. If such a directory is found, it shall be used. Otherwise, the value shall be used as a relative pathname.

Additional environment variable effects may be found in the utility description for the specified command.

PROJECTDIR is lowkey the diva here — starts with /? absolute path. Doesn't? Then it's a username, and we go snooping in their home dir for src or source. If it's there, slay, we use it. If not, it's just a relative path. 💫

🫶 ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS 🫶

Default.

⭐ STDOUT ⭐

See the utility description for the specified command.

⭐ STDERR ⭐

See the utility description for the specified command.

⭐ OUTPUT FILES ⭐

See the utility description for the specified command.

🦋 EXTENDED DESCRIPTION 🦋

The following pseudo-utilities shall be supported as command operands. All options referred to in the following list are values given in the options operands following command.

  • check — Equivalent to info, except that nothing shall be printed if nothing is being edited, and a non-zero exit status shall be returned if anything is being edited. The intent is to have this included in an install entry in a makefile to ensure that everything is included into the SCCS file before a version is installed.
  • clean — Remove everything from the current directory that can be recreated from SCCS files, but do not remove any files being edited. If the -b option is given, branches shall be ignored in the determination of whether they are being edited; this is dangerous if branches are kept in the same directory.
bestie, watch out: that -b on clean is dangerous if you keep branches in the same directory. Say it with me: do not. 🚫
  • create — Create an SCCS file, taking the initial contents from the file of the same name. Any options to admin are accepted. If the creation is successful, the original files shall be renamed by prefixing the basenames with a comma. These renamed files should be removed after it has been verified that the SCCS files have been created successfully.
  • delget — Perform a delta on the named files and then get new versions. The new versions shall have ID keywords expanded and shall not be editable. Any -m, -p, -r, -s, and -y options shall be passed to delta, and any -b, -c, -e, -i, -k, -l, -s, and -x options shall be passed to get.
  • deledit — Equivalent to delget, except that the get phase shall include the -e option. This option is useful for making a checkpoint of the current editing phase. The same options shall be passed to delta as described above, and all the options listed for get above except -e shall be passed to edit.
  • diffs — Write a difference listing between the current version of the files checked out for editing and the versions in SCCS format. Any -r, -c, -i, -x, and -t options shall be passed to get; any -l, -s, -e, -f, -h, and -b options shall be passed to diff. A -C option shall be passed to diff as -c.
  • edit — Equivalent to get -e.
  • fix — Remove the named delta, but leave a copy of the delta with the changes that were in it. It is useful for fixing small compiler bugs, and so on. The application shall ensure that it is followed by a -r SID option. Since fix does not leave audit trails, it should be used carefully.
fr fr: no audit trail means nobody knows you did it. Use with care, okay? 😭
  • info — Write a listing of all files being edited. If the -b option is given, branches (that is, SIDs with two or fewer components) shall be ignored. If a -u user option is given, then only files being edited by the named user shall be listed. A -U option shall be equivalent to -u<current user>.
  • print — Write out verbose information about the named files, equivalent to sccs prs.
  • tell — Write a <newline>-separated list of the files being edited to standard output. Takes the -b, -u, and -U options like info and check.
  • unedit — This is the opposite of an edit or a get -e. It should be used with caution, since any changes made since the get are lost.
⚠️ unedit reality check: everything you changed since the get? Gone. Poof. 💀 Use it with caution, not on a whim.

🌟 EXIT STATUS 🌟

The following exit values shall be returned:

  • 0 — Successful completion.
  • >0 — An error occurred.

🧨 CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS 🧨

Default.

The following sections are informative.

🌸 APPLICATION USAGE 🌸

Many of the SCCS utilities take directory names as operands as well as specific filenames. The pseudo-utilities supported by sccs are not described as having this capability, but are not prohibited from doing so.

so basically: they're not advertised as doing the directory thing, but nobody's stopping them either. iykyk. 💅

✨ EXAMPLES ✨

  1. To get a file for editing, edit it and produce a new delta:
sccs get -e file.c
ex file.c
sccs delta file.c
  1. To get a file from another directory:
sccs -p /usr/src/sccs/s. get cc.c

or:

sccs get /usr/src/sccs/s.cc.c
  1. To make a delta of a large number of files in the current directory:
sccs delta *.c
  1. To get a list of files being edited that are not on branches:
sccs info -b
  1. To delta everything being edited by the current user:
sccs delta $(sccs tell -U)
  1. In a makefile, to get source files from an SCCS file if it does not already exist:
SRCS = <list of source files>
$(SRCS):
    sccs get $(REL) $@

example 5 is the moment honestly — sccs tell -U feeding straight into sccs delta?? The pipeline ate and left no crumbs. 🔥

💭 RATIONALE 💭

sccs and its associated utilities are part of the XSI Development Utilities option within the XSI option.

SCCS is an abbreviation for Source Code Control System. It is a maintenance and enhancement tracking tool. When a file is put under SCCS, the source code control system maintains the file and, when changes are made, identifies and stores them in the file with the original source code and/or documentation. As other changes are made, they too are identified and retained in the file.

Retrieval of the original and any set of changes is possible. Any version of the file as it develops can be reconstructed for inspection or additional modification. History data can be stored with each version, documenting why the changes were made, who made them, and when they were made.

🔮 FUTURE DIRECTIONS 🔮

None.

💫 SEE ALSO 💫

okay bestie, when you're done with this one and you're like "wait, what else though??" — here's the whole friend group 👯‍♀️💖

  • admin — the admin utility, go say hi
  • delta — delta, obvs
  • get — get, for when you need to get the file
  • make — make
  • prs — prs
  • rmdel — rmdel
  • sact — sact
  • unget — unget
  • val — val
  • what — what

and then, bc this page does NOT do it alone, she references her sources 📚✨

  • The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2017, Chapter 8, Environment Variables 🌍
  • POSIX.1‐2017, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines 📐
fr fr, if you're out here trying to understand the env vars or how the utility syntax is supposed to behave, those two are the plug. go read them. iykyk 💅

okay so legal time, but make it cute bc we respect the paperwork 🫶

Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1-2017, Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7, 2018 Edition, Copyright (C) 2018 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group.

💀 real talk: if there is any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. like, that's the final boss. no cap. don't come for this page, come for the Standard.

The original Standard can be obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html 🌐

🙈 typos & oopsies 🙈

Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page are most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of the source files to man page format. like, the vibes survived the journey, the formatting maybe did not 😭

To report such errors, see https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html 🐛✨

and that's a wrap on this whole entire page bestie!! 🌈🎀 you made it to the end, main character energy fr 💅

this one comes to you from IEEE/The Open Group, dated 2017, and it lives in the manual as SCCS(1POSIX) — go forth and version your files responsibly, mwah 💖🦋🌸

📦 where this page comes from