NAME

vcr —

execute a virtual console-specific command

SYNOPSIS

vcr [-kX] [-f filename] [-t tty]

vcr [-h | -V]

DESCRIPTION

The vcr utility executes one or more commands depending on which terminal (or virtual console) it is being run on. This is useful, at least for me, in that it allows the same commands to be run on the same virtual consoles day after day.

Options:

-f: Specify the definition file to read.
-h: Display program usage information and exit.
-k: Keep going even if one or more commands end with a non-zero exit code.
-t: Specify the terminal (or virtual console) to execute commands for instead of the current one.
-V: Display program version information and exit.
-X: Do not ask for confirmation when running in an X session without a terminal.

RETURN VALUES

The vcr utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

ENVIRONMENT

If the TTY variable is set, vcr will use it instead of the output of vcrtty(1) or tty(1) to determine the command to run. If the DISPLAY variable is set and the -X command-line option is supplied, vcr will skip the confirmation question and just execute the commands.

FILES

The vcr utility reads the commands to be executed from either the /usr/local/etc/vcr or, if present, the ~/.vcr definition file. This file's format is quite simple: the first whitespace-delimited field is the name of the terminal, the rest of the line is the command to execute. If the file contains more than one line for the same terminal, the commands are executed in succession in the order they are found in the file.

EXAMPLES

Well, just do it:

vcr

A sample ~/.vcr file:

/dev/ttyv2	centerim
  --ascii

/dev/ttyv4 screen -DR

/dev/ttyp1	fetchmail
  -ve200

/dev/ttyp1	fetchmail -ve25
  -Nd120

/dev/ttyv9 mutt

This file contains definitions for single commands to be executed on /dev/ttyv2, /dev/ttyv4 and /dev/ttyv9, and two commands to be executed on /dev/ttyp1.

HISTORY

The vcr utility was written by Peter Pentchev in 2009.

AUTHORS

Peter Penchev ⟨roam@ringlet.net⟩