+@cmd{HOST} executes one or more commands, each provided as a string in
+the required @subcmd{COMMAND} subcommand, in the shell of the
+underlying operating system. PSPP runs each command in a separate
+shell process and waits for it to finish before running the next one.
+If a command fails (with a nonzero exit status, or because it is
+killed by a signal), then PSPP does not run any remaining commands.
+
+PSPP provides @file{/dev/null} as the shell's standard input. If a
+process needs to read from stdin, redirect from a file or device, or
+use a pipe.
+
+PSPP displays the shell's standard output and standard error as PSPP
+output. Redirect to a file or @code{/dev/null} or another device if
+this is not desired.
+
+The following example runs @code{rsync} to copy a file from a remote
+server to the local file @file{data.txt}, writing @code{rsync}'s own
+output to @file{rsync-log.txt}. PSPP displays the command's error
+output, if any. If @code{rsync} needs to prompt the user (@i{e.g.}@: to
+obtain a password), the command fails. Only if the @code{rsync}
+succeeds, PSPP then runs the @code{sha512sum} command.
+
+@example
+HOST COMMAND=['rsync remote:data.txt data.txt > rsync-log.txt'
+ 'sha512sum -c data.txt.sha512sum].
+@end example
+
+By default, PSPP waits as long as necessary for the series of commands
+to complete. Use the optional @subcmd{TIMELIMIT} subcommand to limit
+the execution time to the specified number of seconds.