=head1 NAME

gnubatch.hosts - hosts description file

=head1 DESCRIPTION

F<gnubatch.hosts> is used to inform the B<GNUbatch> batch
scheduling system, and in particular btsched(8) and xbnetserv(8),
which other host machines are to be attached.

The host machines should in general be provided for in the standard
file F</etc/hosts>.

The file consists of comment lines introduced by the B<#> character,
and of lines consisting of up to 4 fields, of which only
the first is mandatory. These fields are as follows:

=head2 Host name

This is the name of the host.

Alternatively an internet address of the form C<193.112.238.10> may be
given if necessary and an alias is provided on the next field,
but this is not recommended.

=head2 Alias name

This is the name of an alias to be used in preference to the host name
to refer to the machine. To be particularly beneficial, this should be
shorter than the host name.

If this field is not required, but subsequent fields are required,
then the alias name may be replaced by a single B<-> sign.

=head2 Flags

This is a comma-separated list of markers to denote information about
the connection. The currently-supported markers are B<probe>,
B<dos(>I<username>B<)> and B<manual>, any or all of which may be
specified.

=over 8

=item probe

Indicates that a datagram should be sent, and a reply
awaited, from the host, before a full-blown connection is
attempted. This is recommended wherever possible, or it is not sure in
which order machines are booted.

=item manual

indicates that no connection at all is attempted. To connect to the
machine in question, then btconn(1) should be invoked.

=item trusted

indicates that the host is "trusted" by the current machine, which
transmits information about Windows clients and their password
validations, so the other host need not make such enquiries.

=item client

=item clientI<(username)>

indicates that no connection is attempted; the current machine is
acting as a server for Windows clients. The specified I<username> is to be
considered as the owner of any jobs submitted, and the user to whom
charges should be applied and to which privileges apply; see
gbch-user(1).

If I<(username)> is omitted, then the Windows user is assumed, which
should correspond to a user name on the host system.

=item clientuser

=item clientuserI<(machine)>

Indicates that the whole entry identifies a "roaming user" who might
be using one of several Windows clients, possibly with C<IP> addresses
assigned via C<DHCP>. The host name in this case is replaced by the
Windows user name, and the alias gives the Unix user name if
different.

If I<(machine)> is specified, then a password is demanded at the
Windows client if the client's C<IP> address does not match that of
I<machine>.

=item dosI<(username)>

Is a synonym for B<client>I<(username)> kept for historical reasons.

=item dosuserI<(username)>

Is a synonym for B<clientuser>I<(username)> kept for historical
reasons.

=item external

Is a synonym for B<client> (no username) kept for future extensions.

=item pwchk

Always demand the user's Unix password when first starting up.

=back

=head2 Timeout

This gives a timeout value in seconds after which the interface is to
be considered closed following a connection or alternatively to await
a connection after a B<probe> request.

A default of 1000 seconds applies if none is specified.

In the case of Windows clients, the "login" is considered to be
dropped after this time, and the user may be asked for a password
again.

=head1 LOCAL ADDRESS

On some machines, the "local" host address may be different from that
obtained by looking at the result of I<gethostname>(3). To specify a
different address for "this" machine, a line of the form:

 localaddress 193.112.238.112

may be specified, but this B<must> precede all other host names in the
file.

=head1 FILES

F<gnubatch.hosts>
hosts description file

=head1 COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software. You may redistribute copies of it under the
terms of the GNU General Public License
<http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

=head1 AUTHOR

John M Collins, Xi Software Ltd.

=cut

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