awolf@ADS.COM (Andy Wolf) (01/25/91)
I am having problems posting news, but not receiving news. We used to have Bnews, but it got trashed, so I built the latest C-news, NNTP, rn, and trn. I post news and it only gets as far as the local machine, no matter what the distribution. I must be missing something simple, but I'm not sure what it is. Some info: Sun 3, SunOS 4.0.3 rn, patch level 48 trn, V 1.0, based on rn, patch level 47 C news, patched to Sept. 7, 1990, I believe NNTP V. 1.5.10 I have the sys file correct, and the nntp_access correct. Posting works, but doesn't get to my 'feeder' site. Receiving news works fine, so a posted reply is fine, but mail me at awolf@potomac.ads.com if you like. Thanks. I REALLY need to get this up. -Andy
gary@sci34hub.sci.com (Gary Heston) (01/26/91)
In article <*|8^+!&@ads.com> awolf@ADS.COM (Andy Wolf) writes: >I am having problems posting news, but not receiving news. >We used to have Bnews, but it got trashed, so I built the >latest C-news, NNTP, rn, and trn. I post news and it only >gets as far as the local machine, no matter what the distribution. >I must be missing something simple, but I'm not sure what it is. > [ ... ] >I have the sys file correct, and the nntp_access correct. >Posting works, but doesn't get to my 'feeder' site. >Receiving news works fine, so a posted reply is fine, but >mail me at awolf@potomac.ads.com if you like. >Thanks. I REALLY need to get this up. Check your /tmp and look for a bunch of little files of the form "nbxxxxx" where the xxxx is a variable number of digits. If you see those, there's a glitch in the $NEWSBIN/batch/sendbatches script, which creates the files (they contain the output from compress) and then errors if they're present! (At least, that's what I found when I set up Cnews here, under ISC 1.0.6... ) The offending line is: if test $? -eq 0 -a ! -s /tmp/nb$$ and the fix I found was to delete the additional test: if test $? -eq 0 Also, check in $NEWSSPOOL/out.going/* and make sure your togo files are being generated. You can create one manually (with find or whatever) and run sendbatches with sh -x to see what's happening. (Try that with a compiled C program... :-) Oh--you need to remove the /tmp/nb* files, too. My test system filled up the root partition, which was what signaled me something was wrong. I'm not sure if the above glitch is a bug in the script, something strange in ISC 1.0.6, or something about my version of compress, so I haven't filed a bug report. I just patch the script each time I install it, with no problems. Otherwise, C news has been running incredibly well. Where a batch of news (with B 2.11) took 6 minutes to unpack and post, C news takes less than a minute. So fast, it's difficult for me to time it accurately! Count me among the converts... Many thanks to Henry and Geoff for all the work. Fine job, guys. -- Gary Heston System Mismanager and technoflunky uunet!sci34hub!gary or My opinions, not theirs. SCI Systems, Inc. gary@sci34hub.sci.com * In Memory of White Sox, the family dog, 1975-1/1/1991. * * Loyal, faithful, and stubborn to the end. We miss him. *
clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca (Chris Lewis) (01/26/91)
In article <*|8^+!&@ads.com> awolf@ADS.COM (Andy Wolf) writes: >I am having problems posting news, but not receiving news. >We used to have Bnews, but it got trashed, so I built the >latest C-news, NNTP, rn, and trn. I post news and it only >gets as far as the local machine, no matter what the distribution. >I must be missing something simple, but I'm not sure what it is. You went on to say that the sys file is "correct", but to reiterate, the C news sys file is subtley different from Bnews, and it's always worth triple checking the sys file versus the manual page for it. Especially w.r.t. distribution. ECI's main machine has been bitten more than once by incredibly tiny and seemingly unrelated sys file problems. For example, a misplaced comma in a sys line buggered up a sys entry several systems later. (Don't ask me for details, I didn't see it. Just the result) Another question, does the log file indicate that the article was sent or not? -- Chris Lewis, Phone: (613) 832-0541, Internet: clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca UUCP: uunet!mitel!cunews!latour!ecicrl!clewis Moderator of the Ferret Mailing List (ferret-request@eci386) Psroff enquiries: psroff-request@eci386, current patchlevel is *7*.
henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) (01/27/91)
In article <1991Jan25.173547.13231@sci34hub.sci.com> gary@sci34hub.sci.com (Gary Heston) writes: >If you see those, there's a glitch in the $NEWSBIN/batch/sendbatches >script, which creates the files (they contain the output from >compress) and then errors if they're present! (At least, that's >what I found when I set up Cnews here, under ISC 1.0.6... ) > >The offending line is: > > if test $? -eq 0 -a ! -s /tmp/nb$$ > >and the fix I found was to delete the additional test: > > if test $? -eq 0 Compress is not supposed to generate "output" (I assume this is on stderr, since output on stdout goes into the next stage of the pipeline) for a normal compression run. That's a bug. Possibly you have a very old version of compress. I think it used to run off at the mouth, but that was fixed over five years ago. >Oh--you need to remove the /tmp/nb* files, too... Now *that's* a real bug, albeit in a bizarre case of persistent failures not fixed by human intervention. Sendbatches isn't removing the file after reporting the problem. Oops. Fixed in next patch. -- If the Space Shuttle was the answer, | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology what was the question? | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry