BATCHER(8)
NAME
batcher - article batching backend for InterNetNews
SYNOPSIS
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 direc-
tory 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 redirec-
tion, use the ``-r'' flag.
-v Upon exit, batcher reports statistics via sys-
log(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 out-
put at the start of every batch. The default is to
have no initial string.
-s Each article starts with a separator line to indi-
cate the size of the article. To specify the sepa-
rator 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 arti-
cle. 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
EXIT STATUS
If the input is exhausted, 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 batcher will try to spool
the input, copying it to a file. If there was no input
filename, the standard input will be copied to
/var/spool/news/out.going/host and the program will exit.
If an input filename was given, a temporary file named
input.bch (if input is an absolute pathname) or
/var/spool/news/out.going/input.bch (if the filename does
not begin with a slash) is created. Once the input is
copied, batcher will try to rename this temporary file to
be the name of the input file, and then exit.
Upon receipt of an interrupt or termination signal,
batcher will finish sending the current article, close the
batch, and then rewrite the batchfile according as
described in the previous paragraph.
HISTORY
Written by Rich $alz lt;rsalz@uunet.uu.net for InterNet-
News. This is revision 1.18, dated 1996/10/29.
SEE ALSO
ctlinnd(8) newsfeeds(5) shlock(1).