Index: trunk/Ohana/src/opihi/lib.shell/multicommand.c
===================================================================
--- trunk/Ohana/src/opihi/lib.shell/multicommand.c	(revision 4689)
+++ trunk/Ohana/src/opihi/lib.shell/multicommand.c	(revision 7938)
@@ -1,3 +1,31 @@
 # include "opihi.h"
+
+static int server = 0;
+
+void multicommand_InitServer () {
+
+  char hostname[256], PASSWORD[256];
+
+  if (server != 0) {
+    /* check if down? */
+    fprintf (stderr, "error: server fd already defined\n");
+    exit (1);
+  }
+
+  /* find the defined server hostname */
+  if (VarConfig ("PANTASKS_SERVER", "%s", hostname) == NULL) {
+    gprint (GP_ERR, "pantasks server host undefined\n");
+    exit (2);
+  }
+
+  /* attempt to connect to the server */
+  server = GetClientSocket (hostname);
+
+  /* here we can perform the security handshaking */
+  VarConfig ("PASSWORD", "%s", PASSWORD);
+  SendCommand (server, strlen(PASSWORD), PASSWORD);
+  
+  return;
+}
 
 /* take input line and split into multiple lines
@@ -6,6 +34,10 @@
 int multicommand (char *line) {
  
-  int done, status;
+  int done, status, verbose;
   char *p, *q, *tmpline, *outline;
+  IOBuffer message;
+
+  /* if no server is defined, use 'verbose' mode for 'command' */ 
+  verbose = (server == 0);
 
   p = line; 
@@ -21,5 +53,54 @@
     stripwhite (tmpline);
     if (*tmpline) {
-      status = command (tmpline, &outline);
+
+      status = command (tmpline, &outline, verbose);
+
+      if (status == -1) {
+	if (server) {
+	  // send the command to the server instead
+	  if (!SendMessage (server, outline)) {
+	    switch (errno) {
+	      case EPIPE:
+		gprint (GP_ERR, "server connection has died\n");
+		exit (1);
+	      default:
+		gprint (GP_ERR, "I/O error sending server message\n");
+		exit (2);
+	    }
+	  }
+
+	  // receive the resulting stderr
+	  if (ExpectMessage (server, 2.0, &message)) {
+	    switch (errno) {
+	      case EPIPE:
+		gprint (GP_ERR, "server connection has died\n");
+		exit (1);
+	      default:
+		gprint (GP_ERR, "I/O error sending server message\n");
+		exit (2);
+	    }
+	  } else {
+	    gwrite (message.buffer, 1, message.Nbuffer, GP_ERR);
+	  }
+
+	  // receive the resulting stdout
+	  if (ExpectMessage (server, 2.0, &message)) {
+	    switch (errno) {
+	      case EPIPE:
+		gprint (GP_ERR, "server connection has died\n");
+		exit (1);
+	      default:
+		gprint (GP_ERR, "I/O error sending server message\n");
+		exit (2);
+	    }
+	  } else {
+	    gwrite (message.buffer, 1, message.Nbuffer, GP_LOG);
+	  }
+	} else {
+	  // if no server is defined, we treat an unknown command as an error
+	  status = FALSE;
+	}	
+      }
+
       if (outline != NULL) free (outline);
       if (!status && auto_break) done = TRUE;
@@ -31,2 +112,9 @@
 
 /* should skip ; surrounded by "" */
+
+/* commands which are not found are sent to the server socket if 
+   defined. commands executed by the server return their stderr
+   and stdout streams.  server commands should probably not block
+   the server for very long or multiple clients will interfere
+   with each other.  
+*/