Open System Services Management and Operations Guide (G06.30+, H06.08+, J06.03+)

Remote OSS files can be found from the root (/) directory of the remote node. For example, the
files in /usr/share/man on the remote node named NODE1 would appear to your system as
/E/node1/usr/share/man.
Files visible through /E on the remote node are not visible to your system. That is, if you are on
NODE0, you cannot access files on NODE0 by looking in /E/node1/E/node0.
Your local node also has an entry in its own /E directory. That entry consists of a symbolic link to
its own root directory; for example, /E/node0 is a symbolic link to the / directory if your local
node is NODE0.
Some software permits you to specify files on your local node by prefixing the OSS pathname with
/E and the local node name (for example, on NODE0 you can enter
/E/node0/usr/share/man/cat5/filename.5 or
/E/node0/G/system/zossutl/T8620MAN). This form of pathname is intended for programming
use; it is not a good practice when using the OSS shell and should be avoided.
Using the Local Root Directory as a Pathname
Because /G and /E both appear in your local root directory, you should be very careful when
using OSS shell commands on or from the root directory. OSS shell commands that perform recursive
actions make no distinction between Guardian and OSS files or between local and remote files.
For example, a simple search with the find command that is intended to look for an OSS file also
searches all Guardian files on your local node and all files on all connected Expand nodes if you
enter just:
find / -name log*
Such a search would be extremely time-consuming and would return undesired information on /E
and /G files.
OSS shell commands that perform recursive operations include:
chgrp cp ls rm diff mv rmdir find pax
Other products running in the OSS environment might also have commands with recursive behavior.
For example, the grep, egrep, fgrep, tar, and cpio utilities should not be used on the /
directory because of the scope of the files involved.
Avoid specifying the / directory or using the wildcard character * on any object in an OSS shell
command. Using these commands when you are logged on with the super ID can have far-reaching
consequences.
Recursive OSS shell commands allow you to avoid unwanted behavior when the / directory is
specified in a recursive command. You use the -W flag in the command with one or both of the
following options to specify the behavior you want from that invocation of the command:
EffectOption
The /E directory is skipped during recursive operations.NOE
The /G directory is skipped during recursive operations.NOG
For example, the following command performs a recursive search of the / directory without
searching the /G and /E directories:
find / -W NOG -W NOE -name log*
See the Open System Services Shell and Utilities Reference Manual for more information on the
use of the -W flag with a specific command.
The OSS shell also supports an environment variable, UTILSGE, that allows you to specify recursive
command behavior for an entire terminal session (or until the value of UTILSGE is changed). The
84 Understanding the OSS File System