PROTO(6)                                                 PROTO(6)

     NAME
          proto - file system prototype

     DESCRIPTION
          A proto file defines a file system hierarchy, for programs
          that create, copy or operate on them, such as fs(1) or
          mkfs(8). The proto file defines the hierarchy as a set of
          names relative to an existing hierarchy, for instance in an
          existing file system or a list of path names in an archive.
          Files in the existing hierarchy that are not specified in
          the proto file are ignored.  Fsproto(2) provides functions
          to read a prototype file and enumerate the names it selects
          in an existing hierarchy.

          Each line of the proto file specifies a file (where the term
          `file' includes directories).  Indentation is significant,
          with each level of indentation corresponding to a level in
          the file tree.  Each line contains up to five fields sepa-
          rated by white space:

               name perm uid gid source

          Name is the last path element in the resulting file tree.
          Perm specifies the permissions, as described below.  Uid is
          the owner of the file, and gid is the group owning the file.
          Source is the name of a file in the current name space (not
          the source file tree) from which to copy name's content.
          All fields except name are optional.  If a field such as
          perm or uid is not given, or is given as `-', its value is
          taken from the existing file.

          A name starting with `$' is taken as a reference to an envi-
          ronment variable (see sh(1) and env(3)) and replaced by the
          value of that variable.  If the first name in a directory is
          `+', all of the files are represented, and all subdirecto-
          ries recursively.  If the first name is `*', all of the
          names in the corresponding existing directory are repre-
          sented, but only the names of subdirectories, not their con-
          tent.  If the first name is `%', only non-directory names
          are represented excluding both the names and content of sub-
          directories.

          Perm has the form:

               [d] [a] [l] oct

          where the optional letters set file attributes (`d' direc-
          tory, `a' append-only, and `l' exclusive-use), and oct is an
          octal number giving the permissions for user, group and oth-
          ers (see chmod(1)).

     Page 1                       Plan 9            (printed 11/23/24)

     PROTO(6)                                                 PROTO(6)

     EXAMPLES
          Denote all files in a given file system:

               +

          Denote all files in the current user's home directory:

               usr
                    $user

          Specify a subset of files in /dis:

               dis
                    *
                    install
                         *
                    lib
                         arg.dis
                         names.dis

     FILES
          /lib/proto            directory of prototype files
          /lib/proto/all        prototype for whole hierarchy (ie,
                                line containing `+')
          /lib/proto/portproto  generic prototype file

     SEE ALSO
          fs(1), fsproto(2), kfs(4), mkfs(8)

     Page 2                       Plan 9            (printed 11/23/24)