OSF DCE Administration Guide--Core Components

Chapter 2. Using the DCE Control Program
Command Language
In Chapter 1, we provided a high-level look at some ways to use the DCE control
program to administer your DCE environment. In this chapter, we will discuss some
syntax rules and some of the more important commands you’ll need to use in composing
your dcecp administration commands and task scripts.
The dcecp command language consists of DCE administration commands like directory
create and object modify, as well as Tcl built-in commands such as if and foreach.We
won’t discuss DCE administration commands here. These commands are discussed in
sections that deal with administering the particular DCE component. Instead, we will
focus on using the more generic syntax rules and built-in commands.
The Tool Command Language (Tcl) on which dcecp is based is a general-purpose
language that is also used for other applications besides dcecp. Although there are many
ways you can use Tcl for various purposes, we will limit our discussion to those
commands most likely to be used for administering DCE environments. Furthermore,
our command discussions don’t describe every aspect of individual commands. Rather,
they suggest why and how you might use a command in the context of administering a
DCE environment. If you’re not already familiar with Tcl, you’ll likely need to have
access to the appropriate Tcl documentation, including the Tcl reference pages, for
writing sophisticated commands and task scripts.
2.1 Chapter Preview
This chapter walks you through the basic dcecp syntax and then looks at some
commands that you’re likely to use in interactive commands and task scripts. The
discussions will focus on
• Use of variables as an easy way to pass data around in your command or script
• Command substitution as a way to channel the output from one command to the input
of another command
• Grouping elements together so that dcecp parses commands correctly
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