proto(ADM)                      19 June 1992                      proto(ADM)


 Name

    proto  - prototype job file for at, cron and batch

 Syntax

    /usr/lib/cron/.proto

    /usr/lib/cron/.proto.queue

 Description

    When a job is submitted to at(C) or batch, the job is constructed as a
    shell script.  First, a prologue is constructed, consisting of:

    +  A header whether the job is an at job or a batch job (actually, at
       jobs submitted to all queues other than queue a, not just to the batch
       queue b, are listed as batch jobs); the header will be

          : at job

       for an at job, and

          : batch job

       for a batch job.

    +  A set of Bourne shell commands to make the environment (see
       environ(M)) for the at job the same as the current environment;

    +  A command to run the user's shell (as specified by the SHELL environ-
       ment variable) with the rest of the job file as input.

    at then reads a ``prototype file'' and constructs the rest of the job
    file from it.

    Text from the prototype file is copied to the job file, except for spe-
    cial ``variables'' that are replaced by other text:

       $d   is replaced by the current working directory

       $l   is replaced by the current file size limit (see ulimit(S))

       $m   is replaced by the current umask (see umask(S))

       $t   is replaced by the time at which the job should be run, expressed
            as seconds since January 1, 1970, 00:00 Greenwich Mean Time, pre-
            ceded by a colon

       $<   is replaced by text read by at from the standard input (that is,
            the commands provided to at to be run in the job)

    If the job is submitted in queue queue, at uses the file
    /usr/lib/cron/.proto.queue as the prototype file if it exists; otherwise
    it will use the file /usr/lib/cron/.proto.

 Examples

    The standard .proto file supplied is:

       #ident  "@(#)adm:.proto 1.2"
       cd $d
       ulimit $l
       umask $m
       $<

    which causes commands to change the current directory in the job to the
    current directory at the time at was run, to change the file size limit
    in the job to the file size limit at the time at was run, and to change
    the umask in the job to the umask at the time at was run, to be inserted
    before the commands in the job.

 Files

    /usr/lib/cron/.proto
    /usr/lib/cron/.proto.queue

 See also

    at(C), atcronsh(ADM), sysadmsh(ADM)