------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rdist version number mis-match problem As rdist essentially does an 'rsh hostname rdist -S' (-S for server), and expects the version number returned as the very first thing, anything that login scripts output is interpreted as a version number, and it is rarely in the format that rdist expects. Try this: rsh hostname echo "hello" if you get anything except "hello", then your login script (eg .cshrc, .profile, whatever) is echoing something. Some of the potential problems are: stty (cannot be used on a socket) mesg (also requires a tty) anything that expects $prompt to be set (it's not set in non-interactive mode) any echos at all rdist not executable or on default path and others. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Remote Commands -- Always Execute To get rdist to always execute some commands on the remote either before or after the main bulk of the rdist you must copy a file across. The best way is to create a temporary file like ".rdist_exec" which you can copy across, and delete, so it is not there next time you run. EG: #!/bin/sh cd # go home touch .rdist_exec rdist -f - <<RDIST_EOF 2>&1 ( .rdist_exec ) -> ( machine ) special .exec_flag "remote pre-distibute command"; special .exec_flag "rm -rf .exec_flag"; # ...the rest of the rdist file... ( .rdist_exec ) -> ( machine ) special .exec_flag "remote post-distribute command"; special .exec_flag "rm -rf .exec_flag"; RDIST_EOF rm -f .rdist_exec # cleanup -------------------------------------------------------------------------------