+++ /dev/null
-.\" $Revision: 6491 $
-.TH BATCHER 8
-.SH NAME
-batcher \- article-batching backend for InterNetNews
-.SH SYNOPSIS
-.B batcher
-[
-.BI \-a " arts"
-]
-[
-.BI \-A " total_arts"
-]
-[
-.BI \-b " size"
-]
-[
-.BI \-B " total_size"
-]
-[
-.BI \-i " string"
-]
-[
-.BI \-N " num_batches"
-]
-[
-.BI \-p " process"
-]
-[
-.B \-r
-]
-[
-.BI \-s " separator"
-]
-[
-.BI \-S " alt_spool"
-]
-[
-.B \-v
-]
-.I host
-[
-.I input
-]
-.SH DESCRIPTION
-.I Batcher
-reads uses a list of files to prepare news batches for the specified
-.IR host .
-It is normally invoked by a script run out of
-.IR cron (8)
-that uses
-.IR shlock (1)
-to lock the host name, followed by a
-.IR ctlinnd (8)
-command to flush the batchfile.
-.PP
-.I Batcher
-reads the named
-.I input
-file, or standard input if no file is given.
-Relative pathnames are interpreted from the
-.I <pathoutgoing in inn.conf>
-directory.
-The input is taken as a sequence 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 either the storage token of an article or the
-name of a file holding an article; if it is not an an absolute
-pathname or storage token, it is taken relative to
-.IR <patharticles\ in\ inn.conf> .
-The second field, if present, specifies the size of the article in bytes.
-.SH OPTIONS
-.TP
-.B \-S alt_spool
-The ``\-S'' flag may be used to specify an alternate spool directory to
-use if the article is not found; this would perhaps be an NFS-mounted
-spool directory of a master server with longer expiration times.
-.TP
-.B \-r
-By default, the program reports errors to
-.IR <pathlog\ in\ inn.conf>/errlog .
-To suppress this redirection and report errors to standard error,
-use the ``\-r'' flag.
-.TP
-.B \-v
-Upon exit,
-.I batcher
-reports statistics via
-.IR syslog (3).
-If the ``\-v'' flag is used, they will also be printed on the standard
-output.
-.TP
-.B \-b size
-.I 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 ``\-b\ 0'' allows unlimited batch sizes.
-.TP
-.B \-a arts
-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.
-.TP
-.B \-B total_size
-To limit the total number of bytes written for all batches, use the ``\-B''
-flag.
-.TP
-.B \-A total_arts
-To limit the total number of articles that can be batched use the ``\-A''
-flag.
-.TP
-.B \-N num_batches
-To limit the total number of batches that should be created use the ``\-N''
-flag.
-.IP
-In all three of the above cases, the default is zero, that is, no limit.
-.TP
-.B \-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,
-.IR string ,
-followed by a newline, will be output at the start of every batch.
-The default is to have no initial string.
-.TP
-.B \-s separator
-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
-.IR 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''.
-.TP
-.B \-p process
-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
-.IR popen (3))
-whenever a new batch is started.
-The process is a
-.IR sprintf (3)
-format string which can have a single ``%s'' parameter which will be given
-the host name.
-A common value is:
-.PP
-.RS
-.nf
-( echo '#! cunbatch' ; exec compress ) | uux \- \-r \-z %s!rnews
-.fi
-.RE
-.SH EXIT STATUS
-.PP
-If the input is exhausted,
-.I batcher
-will exit with a zero status.
-If any of the limits specified with the ``\-B'', ``\-A'', or ``\-N'' flags
-is reached, or if there is an error writing the batch, then
-.I batcher
-will try to spool the remaining input, copying it to a file.
-If there was no input filename, standard input will be copied to
-.I <pathoutgoing in inn.conf>/host
-and the program will exit.
-If an input filename was given, the input will be copied to
-a temporary file named
-.IR input .bch
-(if
-.I input
-is an absolute pathname)
-or
-.I <pathoutgoing in inn.conf>/input.bch
-(if the filename does not begin with a slash).
-Once the input is copied,
-.I batcher
-will try to rename this temporary file to be the name of the input file,
-and then exit.
-.PP
-Upon receipt of an interrupt or termination signal,
-.I batcher
-will finish sending the current article, close the batch, and then
-rewrite the batchfile according as described in the previous paragraph.
-.SH HISTORY
-Written by Rich $alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net> for InterNetNews.
-.de R$
-This is revision \\$3, dated \\$4.
-..
-.R$ $Id: batcher.8 6491 2003-10-18 05:56:37Z rra $
-.SH "SEE ALSO"
-ctlinnd(8),
-inn.conf(5),
-newsfeeds(5),
-shlock(1).
~ian / innduct.git / blobdiff