ostroff@oswego.Oswego.EDU (Boyd Ostroff) (06/26/88)
(-: Please forgive me if these are dumb questions, but this is my first setup of the USENET news software :-) I've got everything compiled on my 3B1 and the USENET and RN software seems to work fine locally, so my next step is to set up a newsfeed. In reading the docs I'm puzzled by Appendix A (Setting up a Compressed, Batched Newsfeed). It says "First, BATCH must have been #define'd when you built the source directory. BATCH should be defined as a program name (by default, unbatch)." Well, I've grepped through all the def.*, localize.* and *.c files and don't see ANY reference to BATCH. Does it really need to be #define'd? All of the other #defines that I'm not using have been /* commented out */, but BATCH just doesn't seem to be there at all. If I just want to use the default "unbatch" program, do I need to define BATCH, or will adding the the "F" flag to the third field in my newsfeed's sys entry take care of everything? Also, appendix A says to add a line to your crontab which runs *hourly* saying "sendbatch -c frobozz". My newsfeed is a long distance call, so I really don't want to call it hourly. Does "sendbatch" just spool news for regualar UUCP transfers, or does it initiate a call? Why should it be run hourly instead of once a day? Any help will be greatly appreciated! Any other suggestions/tips for sending batched, compressed news would be most welcome. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: Boyd Ostroff, Technical Director :: System Operator, "The CallBoard" :: Department of Theatre, SUNY Oswego :: - Serving the performing arts - :: Internet: ostroff@oswego.Oswego.EDU :: (315) 947-6414, 300/1200 baud, 8N1 :: Voice: (315) 341-2138 :: UUCP ...sunybcs!oswego!cboard!ostroff :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
)) (06/27/88)
In article <831@oswego.Oswego.EDU> ostroff@oswego.UUCP (Boyd Ostroff) writes: >I've got everything compiled on my 3B1 and the USENET and RN software seems >to work fine locally, so my next step is to set up a newsfeed. In reading >the docs I'm puzzled by Appendix A (Setting up a Compressed, Batched Newsfeed). >It says "First, BATCH must have been #define'd when you built the source >directory. BATCH should be defined as a program name (by default, unbatch)." BATCH is obsolete - doesn't apply to 2.11 - the BATCH program of 2.10 and previous has been moved inside "rnews". Actually, BATCH was only used for *incoming* batches. You do need BATCHDIR set properly though. The "F" flag in the sys file simply appends the file name of an article into a file in the BATCHDIR with the same name as the site (unless you specify a full path name in the sys file). Sendbatch takes this list of file names and cuts it into batches controlled by the sendbatch parameters as to how large, compression etc. >Also, appendix A says to add a line to your crontab which runs *hourly* >saying "sendbatch -c frobozz". My newsfeed is a long distance call, so >I really don't want to call it hourly. Does "sendbatch" just spool news >for regualar UUCP transfers, or does it initiate a call? Why should it >be run hourly instead of once a day? sendbatch does invoke "uux" - which queues it for uucp. Whether or not uux automatically starts up uucp is up to uux. You can parameterize this (if your UUCP supports it) with the following macros in localize.sh (ultimately creating) defs.h: #define DFTXMIT "uux - -r -z -gd %s!rnews < %s" /* your uux can't do it */ #define UXMIT "uux -r -z -gd -c %s!rnews '<' %s" /* If uux -c is ok */ If I recall correctly: "-r" means queue but don't call. "-z" means send ack only if the remote execute fails, and "-gd" is grade. Your uux probably supports -r, but probably not -gd. "-z" is implemented by the neighbor (if at all). If you use HDB or BSD4.3 UUCP the grades can be used to great advantage (Eg: you prioritize communications, and can set things up to only transmit stuff that matches a certain grade at certain times - eg: you can queue news in UUCP at any time, but only transfer mail during working hours). "SPOOLNEWS" is also handy as well for controlling when incoming batches are processed. Whether you want to invoke sendbatch every hour is up to you. If you only want to send batches during off-hours, you probably want to run sendbatch hourly during off-hours only. Running sendbatch more frequently evens out processing load, but may fragment batches somewhat. Compress is usually a big performance hit and is invoked from sendbatch so only run it during the times you don't mind it. -- Chris Lewis, Spectrix Microsystems Inc, Phone: (416)-474-1955 UUCP: {uunet!mnetor, utcsri!utzoo, lsuc, yunexus}!spectrix!clewis Moderator of the Ferret Mailing List (ferret-list,ferret-request@spectrix)