[news.software.nntp] posting spawns off multiple nntpd's

jude@nas.nasa.gov (Jude A. George) (08/30/90)

I have just set up an NNTP server.  Occasionally when I attempt to post
(using rn) from a machine other than the server machine, dozens of
additional nntpd and inews processes are forked on the server.  This only
happens when I actually try to post an article; when rn is first started up,
there is only the usual 1 nntpd process.

Perhaps the problem is with my inetd.conf?  The entry looks like this:

nntp    stream  tcp     nowait  root    /etc/nntpd              nntpd

A netstat seems to indicate that all of the extra nntpd's are connecting
to *themselves*:

tcp        0      0  nameserver.nntp        nameserver.2256        ESTABLISHED
tcp        0      0  nameserver.2256        nameserver.nntp        ESTABLISHED
tcp        0      0  nameserver.nntp        nameserver.2255        ESTABLISHED
tcp        0      0  nameserver.2255        nameserver.nntp        ESTABLISHED
etc.

I don't think the problem is with rn, since the other machines are using
the same version of rn as the server.

The server is running on a Sun 4 with SunOS 4.0.3.  It was not compiled
with the ALONE flag.  Has anyone had problems similar to this?

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::::::::Jude:Anand:George:::::%\/:::::jude@nas.nasa.gov::::%\/::::::::::::::
::::::::grenade:anode:jug:::::\/\::::::/\:/\::::::/\:::::::\/\::::::::::::::
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winans@sirius.mcs.anl.gov (John Winans) (09/04/90)

In article <1990Aug29.180822.10876@nas.nasa.gov> jude@nas.nasa.gov (Jude A. George) writes:
>I have just set up an NNTP server.  Occasionally when I attempt to post
>(using rn) from a machine other than the server machine, dozens of
>additional nntpd and inews processes are forked on the server.  This only
>happens when I actually try to post an article; when rn is first started up,
>there is only the usual 1 nntpd process.
>
>I don't think the problem is with rn, since the other machines are using
>the same version of rn as the server.
>
>The server is running on a Sun 4 with SunOS 4.0.3.  It was not compiled
>with the ALONE flag.  Has anyone had problems similar to this?

Not that I'd ever want to admit ;-)

NNTP is running the remote version of inews on your server (as in mini-inews)
instead of the "honest-to-god real inews".  It is either in your common/conf.h
file in the nntp source, that you specified the wrong path name to the 
real inews (see the README file under common), or you simply put
the wrong version of inews where you were *planning* on putting the full
version.

If this makes no sense to you, look at the version of inews that comes with rn
and the version that comes with nntp.
--
! John Winans                     Advanced Computing Research Facility  !
! winans@mcs.anl.gov              Argonne National Laboratory, Illinois !
!                                                                       !
! The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away -- Tom Waite  !