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nicl(1)			  BSD General Commands Manual		       nicl(1)

NAME
     nicl — NetInfo command line utility

SYNOPSIS
     nicl [options] datasource [command]

	  options:
		-c	     create new datasource
		-ro	     read-only
		-p	     prompt for password
		-u user	     authenticate as user
		-P password  authentication password
		-raw	     datasource is a NetInfo directory
		-t	     datasource is host/tag
		-v	     verbose output
		-q	     quiet - no interactive prompt
		-x500	     X.500 names

	  commands:
		-read dir [key ...]
		-list dir [key]
		-search dir scopemin scopemax key val [key val] ...
		-path dir
		-load [delim key val ...] ...
		-create [path [key [val ...]]]
		-append dir key val ...
		-merge dir key val ...
		-insert dir key val index
		-rename dir old_key new_key
		-delete dir [key [val ...]]
		-copy dir new_parent
		-move dir new_parent
		-source file
		-echo string
		-history [<=>] [version]
		-statistics
		-domainname
		-rparent
		-resync
		-flush

	  available only in interactive mode:
		-cd dir
		-pwd
		-auth [user [password]]
		-quit

	  support for experimental X.500 mode:
		-refs
		-setrdn dir key

DESCRIPTION
     nicl is general-purpose utility for operating on NetInfo databases.  Its
     commands allow one to create, read, and manage NetInfo data.  If invoked
     without any commands, nicl runs in an interactive mode, reading commands
     from standard input.  Interactive processing is terminated by the quit
     command, or by end of file.  Leading dashes ("-") are optional for all
     commands.

     nicl operates on a datasource specified on the command line.  This may be
     a domain name, a NetInfo server of the form "host/tag", or a file.
     Domain names may be absolute paths beginning with a slash ("/"), or rela‐
     tive domain paths beginning with a dot (".") character, which specifies
     the local domain, or "..", specifying the local domain's parent.  If the
     -t option has been specified, then the datasource is a host/tag specifi‐
     cation.  Hosts may be given by name or IP address.	 If the -raw option
     has been specified, then the datasource is a NetInfo-format database, for
     example "/var/db/netinfo/local.nidb".  The user invoking nicl must have
     sufficient file-system permissions to read the database files.

     In "raw" mode, nicl operates directly on the database without communicat‐
     ing with a server for that database.

DIRECTORY SPECIFICATION
     Many commands take a directory as an option.  Directories may be speci‐
     fied as a directory ID number or as a path.  NetInfo paths are specified
     by a list of slash-separated components.  Each component is of the form:

	   value
     or
	   key=value

     In the first form, the key defaults to "name".  Thus the following two
     paths are equivalent:

	   /users/alice
	   /name=users/name=alice

     Note that NetInfo does not require any key to have unique values.	When
     matching a directory path, NetInfo will match the first directory it
     finds with a given key and value.	For example, the following path will
     locate a user with a gid  of "100":

	   /users/gid=100

     Many users may have a gid value of 100.  This path will match the first
     in some search order.  The only unique identifier for NetInfo directories
     is the directory ID number.  This number is printed in the output of the
     list command, and is printed by the read command if the nicl is invoked
     with the -v (verbose) flag.

     If path components contain keys or values with embedded slash characters,
     the slash characters must be escaped with a leading backslash character.
     Since the shell also processes escape characters, an extra backslash is
     required to correctly specify an escape.  For example, to read a direc‐
     tory with the name "/Alpha" in the "/exports" directory, one of the fol‐
     lowing paths could be used:

	   nicl	 . -read /exports/\\/Alpha
	   nicl	 . -read /exports/name=\\/Alpha

X.500 MODE
     nicl was developed using an internal datastore "engine" with operations
     supporting both the legacy NetInfo network protocol and LDAP Version 3.
     Development work is still in progress in this area.  Some nicl commands
     have been written for use in "X.500" mode, invoked by use of the -x500
     flag.  Support for X.500-style data organization, naming, and access is
     still experimental and under active development.

COMMANDS
     The action of each command is described below.  Some commands have
     aliases.  For example, "cat" and "." are aliases for "read".  Command
     aliases are listed in parentheses.

   read (cat .)
     Usage: read dir [key ...]

     Prints a directory.  Each properties are printed one per line.  The prop‐
     erty key is followed by a colon, then a space-separated list of the val‐
     ues for that property.  Note that a value which contains embedded spaces
     will appear identical to a pair of values.	 If The -v flag for verbose
     output has been given, then read prints the directory (record) ID number,
     its version number, serial number, a count of child directories and a
     list of child directory ID numbers.  Attributes are printed separately
     from meta-attributes (those having a leading underscore character).

   list (ls)
     Usage: list dir [key]

     Lists the subdirectories of the given directory.  Subdirectories are
     listed one per line.  The directory ID number is printed first, then the
     values of "name" key.  If an optional key argument is given, then the
     values for that key are used, rather than the values for the "name" key.

     Note that subdirectories that do not have a "name" key (or the key given
     as an option) are not listed.

   search
     path scopemin scopemax key val [key val] ...

     Searches for directories that match a pattern.  The search is rooted at
     the given directory.  The following two arguments control the scope of
     the search by specifying the starting and ending depth of the search.  If
     scopemin argument is 0, for example, the search will include the starting
     directory itself.	A value of 1 will start searching at the subdirecto‐
     ries of the starting directory.  The value of scopemax specifies the max‐
     imum depth of the search.	A value of 0 stops the search at the starting
     directory.	 A value of 1 stops the search one level down.	A value of -1
     causes the search to have no maximum depth.

     Following the scope arguments are one or more key and value pairs.
     Directories that have matching keys and values will be printed.

   path
     Usage: path path

     Prints the directories from the given directory to the root directory.

   load
     Usage: load [delim key val ...] ...

     Creates a child directory of the current directory.  This command allows
     a directory to be created with a number of properties.  The first charac‐
     ter given in the input is subsequently used as a delimiter to separate
     key val ... sets.	For example, to create a directory with the name
     "foo", and a property "bar" with the values "a", "b", and "c", and a
     property "baz" with the values "abc" and "def":

	   load + name foo + bar a b c + baz abc def

     Any single character may be used as a delimiter.

   create (mk)
     Usage: create [path [key [val ...]]]

     Creates a new directory, property, or value.  If a directory path is
     given, the create command will create the directory path if it does not
     exist.  If a key is given, then a property with that key will be created.

     WARNING - If a property with the given key already exists, it will be
     destroyed and a new property will be created in its place.	 To add values
     to an existing property, use the append or merge commands.

     If values are included in the command, these values will be set for the
     given key.

     If it is invoked without any arguments as a single command-line argument
     to nicl , the create command will create a new database.  For example, to
     create a new database "/tmp/test_db":

	   nicl	  -raw /tmp/test_db -create

     The "mk" alias is not available for creating a new database.  Note that a
     new database may also be created by using the -c option on the command
     line.

   append
     Usage: append path key val ...

     Appends one or more values to a property in a given directory.  The prop‐
     erty is created if it does not exist.

   merge
     Usage: merge path key val ...

     Appends one or more values to a property in a given directory if the
     property does not already have those values.  The property is created if
     it does not exist.

   insert
     Usage: insert path key val index Inserts the given value in the list of
     values of the given key in the specified directory.  index is an integer
     value.  An index of 0 specifies that the value should be inserted at the
     head of the list.	An index greater than the number of values in the list
     causes the value to be appended.  The property is created if it does not
     exist.

   rename
     Usage: rename path old_key new_key

     Changes a property key.

   delete (rm)
     Usage: delete path [key [val ...]]

     Delete a directory, property, or value.  If a directory path is given,
     the delete command will delete the directory.  If a key is given, then a
     property with that key will be deleted.  If one or more values are given,
     those values will be removed from the property with the given key.

   copy (cp)
     Usage: copy path new_parent

     Recursively copies a directory to a new parent directory.

   move (mv)
     Usage: move path new_parent

     Moves a directory to a new parent directory.  In raw mode, move moves a
     directory by detaching it from its parent directory and re-attaching it
     to a new parent.  When connected to a NetInfo server, the directory is
     recursively copied to the new parent directory, then the original is
     removed.

   history (hist)
     Usage: history [<=>] [version]

     Locates directories by reference to the database version number.  When a
     new database is created, it starts with a version number of zero.	Each
     modification of the database causes the version number to be incremented.
     The database version number is saved with the directory that was modified
     at that time.  When a directory is added or removed, the parent directory
     is modified, and thus the parent directory carries the version number for
     that modification.

     The history command lists directories that have been modified before, at,
     or after a specific version of the database.   The < argument is used to
     locate directories that changed before a specific version.	 The > argu‐
     ment locates directories that changed after a specific version.  The =
     after locates the single directory that changed at a specific version.
     This is also the default if none of these arguments is given.

     If a version number is omitted, the current database version number is
     used.  To determine the current database version:

	   nicl	 . -history

   statistics (stats)
     Usage: statistics

     Prints various statistics.	 If the datasource is a raw database this
     includes the database checksum, version number, maximum directory ID num‐
     ber, and counts of fetch, save, and remove operations.  If the datasource
     is a NetInfo server, then this command prints all statistics available
     from the server.

   domainname (name)
     Usage: domainname

     Prints the NetInfo domain name.  Not available in raw mode.

   rparent
     Usage: rparent

     Prints the IP address and tag of the server's parent domain server.  No
     output is printed if the server has no parent.  Not available in raw
     mode.

   resync
     Usage: resync

     If connected to a NetInfo clone server, this command causes the clone to
     check its database and re-synchronize with the master if necessary.  If
     connected to a master server, this command causes the master to send a
     message to all clones, causing them all to re-synchronize.	 Not available
     in raw mode.

   flush
     Usage: flush

     Flushes the directory cache.

   echo
     Usage: echo string

     Prints the string to standard output.  This is handy when executing a
     script.

   source (<)
     Usage: source file

     Redirects standard input to read commands from the named file.  After the
     commands in the file have been processed, control returns to the command
     line (if invoked interactively).

INTERACTIVE COMMANDS
   cd
     Usage: cd dir

     Sets the current directory.  Path names for other nicl commands may be
     relative to the current directory.

   pwd
     Usage: pwd Prints the path of the current directory.

   auth (su)
     Usage: auth [user [password]]

     Authenticate as the named user, or as "root" if no user is specified.  If
     a password is supplied, then that password is used for authentication,
     otherwise the command prompts for a password.

   quit (q exit)
     Usage: quit Ends processing of interactive commands and terminates the
     program.

X.500 MODE COMMANDS
   refs
     Usage: refs Used with -x500 mode.	Lists parent domain and child domain
     references.  Domains are printed as LDAP URLS.

   setrdn
     Usage: setrdn path key

     Used with -x500 mode.  This command creates a meta-attribute "rdn" key in
     the specified directory, with the key as the value of the "rdn" meta-
     attribute.	 When nicl is invoked with the -x500 flag, X.500-style naming
     is used.  The "rdn" meta-attribute of a directory specifies which key
     will be used for the relative distinguished name (RDN).  By default, the
     "name" property is used to form the RDN.

FILES
     /var/db/netinfo/*.nidb

SEE ALSO
     nidump(8), nifind(1), nigrep(1), niload(8), nireport(1), niutil(1)

Mac OS			       December 15, 2000			Mac OS
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