Return to mkgrdates.dst CVS log

Up to [CSRG BSD Unix] / 43BSDTahoe / new / nntp / doc

Annotation of 43BSDTahoe/new/nntp/doc/mkgrdates.dst, revision 1.1.1.1

1.1       root        1: .\"
                      2: .\" @(#)mkgrdates.dst  1.3     (Berkeley) 10/15/87
                      3: .\"
                      4: .TH MKGRDATES 8C "26 October 1985"
                      5: .UC 4
                      6: .SH NAME
                      7: mkgrdates \- Make the newsgroup creation date file
                      8: for the NNTP server
                      9: .SH SYNOPSIS
                     10: .B NEWSLIB/mkgrdates
                     11: .SH NOTICE
                     12: .I Mkgrdates
                     13: is no longer used, and does not need to be run
                     14: from crontab.
                     15: It is included only for completeness and backward compatibility.
                     16: For more information, see the manual page for
                     17: .I nntpd.
                     18: .SH DESCRIPTION
                     19: .I Mkgrdates
                     20: maintains the newsgroup creation date file for the
                     21: Network News Transfer Protocol server,
                     22: which uses it for the NEWGROUPS command.
                     23: When executed,
                     24: .I mkgrdates
                     25: goes through the active file,
                     26: .IR NEWSLIB/active ,
                     27: and creates the file
                     28: .I NEWSLIB/groupdates
                     29: containing the creation dates and times of the
                     30: newsgroups in the active file.  The
                     31: .I groupdates
                     32: file has one line for each newsgroup, in the form
                     33: ``date newsgroup'' where ``date'' is the newsgroup's
                     34: creation time, in seconds since midnight, Jan. 1,
                     35: 1970, GMT,
                     36: and ``newsgroup'' is the name of the newsgroup in question.
                     37: .PP
                     38: Since generating the
                     39: .I groupdates
                     40: file is expensive, when
                     41: .I mkgrdates
                     42: is run it creates the file
                     43: .I NEWSLIB/mkgdstats
                     44: containing the length, in bytes, of the active file.
                     45: The next time
                     46: .I mkgrdates
                     47: is invoked, it compares the contents of the
                     48: .I mkgdstats
                     49: file against the length of the active file, and
                     50: exits if these lengths are the same.  If the
                     51: lengths are not the same, it rebuilds the
                     52: .I groupdates
                     53: file, and sets the
                     54: .I mkgdstats
                     55: file to the appropriate value.
                     56: This scheme avoids a fair amount of what would
                     57: be wasted computing.
                     58: .PP
                     59: .I Mkgrdates
                     60: should be run once or twice a day by an entry in
                     61: .I /usr/lib/crontab
                     62: .SH BUGS
                     63: It's a crock;
                     64: .I mkgrdates'
                     65: function needs to be done by the news system.
                     66: NNTP version 1.4 does not use this program at all,
                     67: and decides whether a group is ``new'' or not by
                     68: a (rather poor) heuristic.
                     69: .SH AUTHOR
                     70: Phil Lapsley
                     71: .SH SEE ALSO
                     72: cron(1),
                     73: nntpd(8C)

This archive runs on limited infrastructure. Preserving old code on modern bandwidth. Automated agents are requested to crawl responsibly.