updaters(4nis)

updaters -- configuration file for NIS updating

Synopsis

/var/yp/updaters

Description

The file /var/yp/updaters is a makefile (see make(1)) which is used for updating Network Information Service (NIS) data bases.

Usage

Databases can only be updated in a secure network, that is, one that has a publickey(4bnu) data base. Each entry in the file is a make target for a particular NIS data base. For example, if there is a NIS data base named publickey.byname that can be updated, there should be a make target named publickey.byname in the updaters file with the command to update the file.

The information necessary to make the update is passed to the update command through standard input. The information passed is described below (all items are followed by a newline, except for the actual bytes of key and actual bytes of date).

network name of client wishing to make the update (a string)
kind of update (an integer)
number of bytes in key (an integer)
actual bytes of key
number of bytes in data (an integer)
actual bytes of data

After getting this information through standard input, the command to update the particular data base should decide whether the user is allowed to make the change. If not, it should exit with the status YPERR_ACCESS. If the user is allowed to make the change, the command should make the change and exit with a status of zero. If there are any errors that may prevent the updater from making the change, it should exit with the status that matches a valid NIS error code described in <rpcsvc/ypclnt.h>.

References

make(1), publickey(4bnu), yp_update(3rpc), ypupdated(1Mnis)