README.notes

   1 NEWSFEEDS
   2
   3 Newsfeeds file entries should look like this:
   4     host.name.of.site[/exclude,exclude,...]\
   5             :pattern,pattern...[/distribution,distribution...]\
   6             :Tf,Wnm
   7             :
   8 or
   9     sitename[/exclude,exclude,...]\
  10             :pattern,pattern...[/distribution,distribution...]\
  11             :Tf,Wnm
  12             :host.name.of.site
  13
  14
  15 FILES
  16
  17 Four files full of
  18    token messageid
  19 or might be blanked out
  20    <spc><spc><spc><spc>....
  21
  22 F site.name                 main feed file
  23                                opened/created, then written, by innd
  24                                read by duct
  25                                unlinked by duct
  26                                tokens blanked out by duct when processed
  27   site.name_lock            lock preventing multiple ducts
  28                                to hold lock must open,F_SETLK[W]
  29                                  and then stat to check that locked file
  30                                  still has name site.name_lock
  31                                holder of this lock is "duct"
  32                                (only) lockholder may remove the lockfile
  33 D site.name_flushing        temporary feed file during flush (or crash)
  34                                hardlink created by duct
  35                                unlinked by duct
  36   site.name_defer           431'd articles, still being written,
  37                                created, written, used by duct
  38
  39   site.name_backlog.<date>.<inum>
  40                             431'd articles, ready for innxmit or duct
  41                                created (link/mv) by duct
  42   site.name_backlog<anything-else>  (where <anything-else> does not
  43                                      contain '#' or '~') eg
  44   site.name_backlog.manual
  45                             anything the sysadmin likes (eg, feed files
  46                             from old feeds to be merged into this one)
  47                                created (link/mv) by admin
  48                                may be symlinks (in which case links
  49                                may be written through, but only links
  50                                will be removed.
  51
  52                             It is safe to remove backlog files manually,
  53                             if it's desired to throw away the backlog.
  54
  55 Backlog files are also processed by innduct.  We find the oldest
  56 backlog file which is at least a certain amount old, and feed it
  57 back into our processing.  When every article in it has been read
  58 and processed, we unlink it and look for another backlog file.
  59
  60 If we don't have a backlog file that we're reading, we close the
  61 defer file that we're writing and make it into a backlog file at
  62 the first convenient opportunity.