root@ispi.UUCP (Super user) (08/17/88)
To all of you who responded to my cry for help, thank you. It turns out that my problem (as many of you pointed out) was related to running two expires at the same time. After I had put them in a shell script and ran that script, the problem went away. I have copied all of the replies I received up to now below. Again, Thanks. Jonathan Bayer Intelligent Software Products, Inc. 19 Virginia Ave. Rockville Centre, NY 11570 uunet!ispi!jbayer From uunet!ateng!chip Mon Aug 15 00:47:19 1988 Received: from ateng.UUCP by uunet.UU.NET (5.59/1.14) with UUCP id AA00116; Fri, 12 Aug 88 17:09:53 EDT Received: by ateng.uucp (Smail 3.1.3.2) id <m0dkgrj-0001AAC@ateng.uucp>; Fri, 12 Aug 88 12:07 EDT Message-Id: <m0dkgrj-0001AAC@ateng.uucp> Date: Fri, 12 Aug 88 12:07 EDT From: uunet!ateng!chip (Chip Salzenberg) To: ispi!root Subject: Re: active file disappering Newsgroups: news.admin,comp.unix.xenix,comp.sources.bugs In-Reply-To: <157@ispi.UUCP> Organization: A T Engineering, Tampa, FL Cc: In article <157@ispi.UUCP> you write: >00 17 * * * /usr/lib/news/expire -e 31 -E 31 -I -n comp.mail.maps >00 17 * * * /usr/lib/news/expire -e 3 -E 31 -I -n all,!comp.mail.maps Don't run two expires at the same time; that can be hazardous. Try this: 00 17 * * * [expire comp.mail.maps] 15 17 * * * [expire all but comp.mail.maps] In truth, you may want to forget the two expire runs, and just move maps to another directory when they arrive, un-sharing them in the process. -- Chip Salzenberg <chip@ateng.uu.net> or <uunet!ateng!chip> A T Engineering stuck in a closet with Vanna White From uunet!uiucdcs!harvard!garp!henry Mon Aug 15 00:47:20 1988 Received: from uiucdcs.UUCP by uunet.UU.NET (5.59/1.14) with UUCP id AA20094; Fri, 12 Aug 88 19:40:01 EDT Received: by a.cs.uiuc.edu (UIUC-5.52/9.7) id AA04652; Fri, 12 Aug 88 09:38:48 CDT Received: by harvard.harvard.edu; Fri, 12 Aug 88 10:43:23 EDT Received: by GARP.MIT.EDU with sendmail-5.54/4.7 id <AA05547@GARP.MIT.EDU>; Fri, 12 Aug 88 10:36:25 EDT Date: Fri, 12 Aug 88 10:36:25 EDT From: uunet!uiucdcs!harvard!GARP.MIT.EDU!henry (Henry Mensch) Message-Id: <8808121436.AA05547@GARP.MIT.EDU> To: ispi!root (Super user) Subject: Re: active file disappering Newsgroups: news.admin,comp.unix.xenix,comp.sources.bugs In-Reply-To: <157@ispi.UUCP> Organization: The Temple of St. Todd the Incontinent In article <157@ispi.UUCP> you write: >I think the expire I am running is to blame. The following are the >entries in the crontabs file for expire: > >00 17 * * * /usr/lib/news/expire -e 31 -E 31 -I -n comp.mail.maps >00 17 * * * /usr/lib/news/expire -e 3 -E 31 -I -n all,!comp.mail.maps you shouldn't run two expires at once!!! this is what's trashing your history file... -- # Henry Mensch / <henry@garp.mit.edu> / E40-379 MIT, Cambridge, MA # {decvax,harvard,mit-eddie}!garp!henry / <henry@uk.ac.sussex.cvaxa> From uunet!marque!lakesys!steven Mon Aug 15 00:47:23 1988 Received: from marque.UUCP by uunet.UU.NET (5.59/1.14) with UUCP id AA29018; Sat, 13 Aug 88 11:19:58 EDT Received: by marque.mu.edu (smail2.5) id AA00348; 13 Aug 88 10:57:18 EDT (Sat) Received: by lakesys.UUCP (smail2.5) id AA09126; 13 Aug 88 09:34:40 CDT (Sat) To: ispi!root Subject: Re: active file disappering Newsgroups: news.admin,comp.unix.xenix,comp.sources.bugs In-Reply-To: <157@ispi.UUCP> Organization: Lake Systems - Milwaukee, WI Cc: Message-Id: <8808130934.AA09126@lakesys.UUCP> Date: 13 Aug 88 09:34:40 CDT (Sat) From: uunet!lakesys!steven (Steven Goodman) In article <157@ispi.UUCP> you write: [ copied article deleted] Same thing recently happened here! Perhaps someone sent some sort of control message out? Steven -- Steven M. Goodman Lake Systems - Milwaukee, Wisconsin {ihnp4,uwvax}!uwmcsd1!lakesys!steven {rutgers,uunet}!marque!/ --- Steven M. Goodman Lake Systems - Milwaukee, Wisconsin {ihnp4,uwvax}!uwmcsd1!lakesys!steven {rutgers,uunet}!marque!/ From uunet!lll-winken!lll-crg!ames!coherent!dplatt Mon Aug 15 00:47:25 1988 Received: from lll-winken.UUCP by uunet.UU.NET (5.59/1.14) with UUCP id AA19381; Sat, 13 Aug 88 23:32:59 EDT Received: by lll-winken.llnl.gov (smail2.5) id AA00435; 13 Aug 88 20:17:37 PDT (Sat) Received: from ames.arc.nasa.gov by lll-crg.llnl.gov (5.54/1.14) id AA02623; Fri, 12 Aug 88 11:20:51 PDT Received: Fri, 12 Aug 88 10:22:46 PDT by ames.arc.nasa.gov (5.59/1.2) Received: from improper.coherent.com by coherent.com (3.2/SMI-3.2) id AA18642; Fri, 12 Aug 88 10:18:28 PDT Received: by improper.coherent.com (3.2/SMI-3.2) id AA14474; Fri, 12 Aug 88 10:18:29 PDT Date: Fri, 12 Aug 88 10:18:29 PDT From: uunet!lll-crg!ames!coherent!dplatt (Dave Platt) Message-Id: <8808121718.AA14474@improper.coherent.com> To: ispi!root Subject: Re: active file disappering Newsgroups: news.admin,comp.unix.xenix,comp.sources.bugs In-Reply-To: <157@ispi.UUCP> Organization: Coherent Thought Inc., Palo Alto CA I'm only guessing, but... to misquote a certain sweater-clad gentleman, "Can you say 'race condition'?" Running two expirations simultaneously is probably a _very_ bad idea. Each one is going to try to rewrite the active and history files, and one expire is probably vaporizing the file created by the other. Rather than running two expires from the crontab, put the expire commands in a shell-script file, and run this script out of the crontab. That way, the expirations will run back-to-back rather than overlapped. -- Dave Platt VOICE: (415) 493-8805 USNAIL: Coherent Thought Inc. 3350 West Bayshore #205 Palo Alto CA 94303 UUCP: ...!{ames,sun,uunet}!coherent!dplatt DOMAIN: dplatt@coherent.com INTERNET: coherent!dplatt@ames.arpa, ...@sun.com, ...@uunet.uu.net From uunet!lll-winken!psuhcx!psuvax1!wcf Tue Aug 16 01:07:25 1988 Received: from lll-winken.UUCP by uunet.UU.NET (5.59/1.14) with UUCP id AA10767; Mon, 15 Aug 88 13:04:47 EDT Received: by lll-winken.llnl.gov (smail2.5) id AA21480; 15 Aug 88 09:59:33 PDT (Mon) Received: by psuvax1.cs.psu.edu (5.59/Psu2.1) id AA06974; Mon, 15 Aug 88 10:21:36 EDT Received: by hcx.psu.edu (5.51/smail2.5/02-17-88) id AA24648; Mon, 15 Aug 88 10:17:45 EDT Date: Mon, 15 Aug 88 10:17:45 EDT From: uunet!psuhcx!psuvax1!psuhcx!wcf (Bill Fenner) Message-Id: <8808151417.AA24648@hcx.psu.edu> To: ispi!root Subject: Re: active file disappering Newsgroups: news.admin,comp.unix.xenix,comp.sources.bugs In-Reply-To: <157@ispi.UUCP> Organization: Penn State University Cc: In article <157@ispi.UUCP> you write: [copied article deleted] This happened to us a while ago - check what user you're running expire as. Also check all the permissions on all the files, and on /usr/spool/news/* (permissions and ownerships). They should *all* be owned by the same user, whether it be news, usenet, or root. Bill -- Bitnet: wcf@psuhcx.bitnet Bill Fenner | Internet: wcf@hcx.psu.edu | This space UUCP: {gatech,rutgers}!psuvax1!psuhcx!wcf | for rent Fido: Sysop at 263/42 | From uunet!uiucdcs!sys1!trsvax!trsvax.tandy.COM!gordon Tue Aug 16 01:07:27 1988 Received: from uiucdcs.UUCP by uunet.UU.NET (5.59/1.14) with UUCP id AA09961; Mon, 15 Aug 88 19:45:47 EDT Received: from uxc.cso.uiuc.edu by a.cs.uiuc.edu with SMTP (UIUC-5.52/9.7) id AA27784; Mon, 15 Aug 88 16:28:16 CDT Received: by uxc.cso.uiuc.edu (5.51/9.7) id AA04045; Mon, 15 Aug 88 16:31:14 CDT Received: by sys1 from trsvax id: <00029370-880815151801-227@sys1.TANDY.COM> Date: Mon, 15 Aug 88 14:01:48 CDT From: uunet!uiucdcs!trsvax.tandy.COM!gordon (Gordon Burditt) Message-Id: <8808151901.AA23367@trsvax.tandy.COM> To: ispi!root Subject: active file disappering Some suggestions, but not based on checking source code ... > I have been having a problem for the past two days of the active > file in /usr/lib/news being deleted after receiving a feed. I have > copied an active file from my backup, did an "expire -r -I -e 999999 -E 999999" Warning: if you're on a 16-bit int machine, maybe you should cut down the expiration limit so it will fit into an integer. If 999999 % 65536 happens to come out 1, you would get rather annoyed at losing most of your news. Also, on any machine, the "cutoff time" shouldn't end up before Jan 1, 1970, or you might end up expiring everything that arrived before 2038 (that is, all your news). > to rebuild the history file. Last night it happened again. If anyone > has any ideas please e-mail them to me since I have no idea whether I ... > I think the expire I am running is to blame. The following are the > entries in the crontabs file for expire: > > 00 17 * * * /usr/lib/news/expire -e 31 -E 31 -I -n comp.mail.maps > 00 17 * * * /usr/lib/news/expire -e 3 -E 31 -I -n all,!comp.mail.maps Don't run two expires at once. Without checking the code, I'm not sure whether the locking is supposed to handle this case or not, but it wouldn't surprise me if it didn't, or it tried and it didn't work. For that matter, don't run one expire an hour after the other on the assumption that the first will be finished. Put both commands in a shell script and run that shell script from cron, so one will not run until the other has finished. Be sure you have a VERY comfortable margin that both expires will finish in 24 hours before another one starts. (The fact that the two expires don't touch the same groups is not relevant. Both of them touch the active file and the history file.) Gordon L. Burditt ...!killer!ninja!sneaky!gordon