A Few Words About Distrib

What is distrib? If the manual page is to be believed, "distrib is a front end for rdist". In general, this is true, but specifically it is much, much more.

This is a small introduction to the wonders of one of the more powerful UNIX power tools.

Outline

• Theory of operation: Distrib selects a set of "machines", processes a "Distfile", and "runs rdist" to "distribute customized files to hosts on your network". Quoted terms are white lies and are explained in the linked-to sections.
• Simple examples: to make sure you've got it
• Intro to msrc: the culture of distrib
• Exotic examples: more "interesting" stuff you can do