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Format of the `.remsync' file
=============================

   The `.remsync' file saves all the information a site needs for
properly synchronizing a directory tree with remote sites.  Even if it
is meant to be editable using any ASCII editor, it has a very precise
format and one should be very careful while modifying it.  The
`.remsync' file is better handled through the `remsync' program and
commands.

   The `.remsync' file is made up of statements, one per line.  Each
line begins with a statement keyword followed by a single <TAB>, then
by one or more parameters.  The keyword may be omitted, in this case,
the keyword is said to be _empty_, and the line begins immediately with
the <TAB>.  After the <TAB>, if there are two parameters or more, they
should all be separated with a single space.  There should not be any
space between the last parameter and the end of line (unless there are
explicit empty parameters).

   The following table gives the possible keywords.  Their order of
presentation in the table is also the order of appearance in the
`.remsync' file.

`remsync'
     This statement identifies the `.remsync' format.  The only
     parameter states the file format version.

`local'
     This statement should appear exactly once, and has exactly two
     parameters.  The first parameter gives the electronic mail address
     the other sites should use for sending synchronization packages
     here.  The second parameter gives the name of the local directory
     tree to synchronize, in absolute notation.

`remote'
     This statement may appear zero, one or more times.  Each occurrence
     connects the synchronized directory tree to another tree on a
     remote site.  The first parameter gives one electronic mail
     address where to send remote synchronization packages.  The second
     parameter gives the name of the corresponding directory tree for
     this remote electronic mail address, in absolute notation.

`scan'
     This statement may appear zero, one or more times.  When it does
     not appear at all, the whole local directory tree will always be
     scanned, searching for files to synchronize.  When the statement
     appears at least once, the whole local directory tree will not be
     scanned, but only those files or directories appearing in one of
     these statements.  Each `scan' statement has exactly one
     parameter, giving one file or directory to be studied.  These are
     usually given relative to top directory of the local
     synchronization directory tree.  Shell wildcards are acceptable.

`ignore'
     This statement may appear zero, one or more times.  Each
     occurrence has one parameter giving a regular expression,
     according to Perl syntax for regular expressions.  These REGEXPs
     are applied against each file resulting from the scan.  If any of
     the `ignore' expression matches one of resulting file, the file is
     discarded and is not subject to remote synchronization.

   After all the statements beginning by the previous keywords, the
`.remsync' file usually contains many statements having the empty
keyword.  The empty keyword statement may appear zero, one or more
times.  Each occurrence list one file being remotely synchronized.  The
first parameter gives an explicit file name, usually given relative to
the top directory of the local synchronized directory tree.  Shell
wildcards are _not_ acceptable.

   Besides the file name parameter, there are supplementary parameters
to each empty keyword statement, each corresponding to one remote
statement in the `.remsync' file.  The second parameter corresponds to
the first remote, the third parameter corresponds to the second remote,
etc.  If there are more remote statements than supplementary parameters,
missing parameters are considered to be empty.

   Each supplementary parameter usually gives the last known checksum
value for this particular file, as computed on its corresponding
_remote_ site.  The parameter contains a dash `-' while the remote
checksum is unknown.  The checksum value for the _local_ copy of the
file is never kept anywhere in the `.remsync' file.  The special value
`666' indicates a checksum from hell, used when the remote file is
known to exist, but for which contradictory information has been
received from various sources.