MKGRDATES(8C)         MAINTENANCE COMMANDS          MKGRDATES(8C)



NAME
     mkgrdates - Make the newsgroup creation date  file  for  the
     NNTP server

SYNOPSIS
     /usr/lib/news/mkgrdates

NOTICE
     Mkgrdates is no longer used, and does not  need  to  be  run
     from  crontab.   It  is  included  only for completeness and
     backward  compatibility.   For  more  information,  see  the
     manual page for nntpd.

DESCRIPTION
     Mkgrdates maintains the newsgroup creation date file for the
     Network News Transfer Protocol server, which uses it for the
     NEWGROUPS command.  When executed,  mkgrdates  goes  through
     the  active file, /usr/lib/news/active, and creates the file
     /usr/lib/news/groupdates containing the creation  dates  and
     times  of the newsgroups in the active file.  The groupdates
     file has one line for each newsgroup,  in  the  form  ``date
     newsgroup'' where ``date'' is the newsgroup's creation time,
     in seconds since midnight, Jan. 1, 1970,  GMT,  and  ``news-
     group'' is the name of the newsgroup in question.

     Since generating the  groupdates  file  is  expensive,  when
     mkgrdates is run it creates the file /usr/lib/news/mkgdstats
     containing the length, in bytes, of the  active  file.   The
     next  time mkgrdates is invoked, it compares the contents of
     the mkgdstats file against the length of  the  active  file,
     and exits if these lengths are the same.  If the lengths are
     not the same, it rebuilds the groupdates file, and sets  the
     mkgdstats file to the appropriate value.  This scheme avoids
     a fair amount of what would be wasted computing.

     Mkgrdates should be run once or twice a day by an  entry  in
     /usr/lib/crontab

BUGS
     It's a crock; mkgrdates' function needs to be  done  by  the
     news  system.  NNTP version 1.4 does not use this program at
     all, and decides whether a group is  ``new''  or  not  by  a
     (rather poor) heuristic.

AUTHOR
     Phil Lapsley

SEE ALSO
     cron(1), nntpd(8C)






Amiga Unix        Last change: 26 October 1985                  1