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BATCHER(8) | System Manager's Manual | BATCHER(8) |
NAME¶
batcher - article batching backend for InterNetNewsSYNOPSIS¶
batcher [ -a arts ] [ -A total_arts ] [ -b size ] [ -B total_size ] [ -i string ] [ -N num_batches ] [ -p process ] [ -r ] [ -s separator ] [ -S alt_spool ] [ -v ] host [ input ]DESCRIPTION¶
Batcher reads uses a list of files to prepare news batches for the specified host. It is normally invoked by a script run out of cron(8) that uses shlock(1) to lock the host name, followed by a ctlinnd(8) command to flush the batchfile. Batcher reads the named input file, or standard input if no file is given. Relative pathnames are interpreted from the /var/spool/news/out.going directory. The input is taken as a set of lines. Blank lines and lines starting with a number sign (``#'') are ignored. All other lines should consist of one or two fields separated by a single space. The first field is the name of a file holding an article; if it is not an an absolute pathname it is taken relative to the news spool directory, /var/spool/news. The second field, if present, specifies the size of the article in bytes.OPTIONS¶
- -S
- The ``-S'' flag may be used to specify an alternate spool directory to use if the article is not found; this would normally be an NFS-mounted spool directory of a master server with longer expiration times.
- -r
- By default, the program sets its standard error to /var/log/news/errlog. To suppress this redirection, use the ``-r'' flag.
- -v
- Upon exit, batcher reports statistics via syslog(3). If the ``-v'' flag is used, they will also be printed on the standard output.
- -b
- Batcher collects the text of the named articles into batches. To limit the size of each batch, use the ``-b'' flag. The default size is 60 kilobytes. Using ``-b0'' allows unlimited batch sizes.
- -a
- To limit the number of articles in each batch, use the ``-a'' flag. The default is no limit. A new batch will be started when either the byte count or number of articles written exceeds the specified limits.
- -B
- To limit the total number of bytes written for all batches, use the ``-B'' flag.
- -A
- To limit the total number of articles that can be batched use the ``-A'' flag.
- -N
- To limit the total number of batches that should be created use the ``-N'' flag.
- In all three cases, the default is zero, which is taken to mean no limit.
- -i string
- A batch starts with an identifying line to specify the unpacking method to be used on the receiving end. When the ``-i'' flag is used, the initial string, string, followed by a newline, will be output at the start of every batch. The default is to have no initial string.
- -s
- Each article starts with a separator line to indicate the size of the article. To specify the separator use the ``-s'' flag. This is a sprintf(3) format string which can have a single ``%ld'' parameter which will be given the size of the article. If the separator is not empty, then the string and a newline will be output before every article. The default separator is ``#! rnews %ld''.
- -p
- By default, batches are written to standard output, which is not useful when more than one output batch is created. Use the ``-p'' flag to specify the shell command that should be created (via popen(3)) whenever a new batch is started. The process is a sprintf format string which can have a single ``%s'' parameter which will be given the host name. A common value is:
( echo '#! cunbatch' ; exec compress ) | uux - -r -z %s!rnews