INNXBATCH (8)

NAME
     innxbatch - send xbatched Usenet articles to a remote NNTP server

SYNOPSIS
     innxbatch [ -D ] [ -t timeout ] [ -T timeout ] [ -v ] host file ...

DESCRIPTION
     Innxbatch connects to the NNTP server at the specified host and sends  it
     the  specified  xbatch  files,  using  the  XBATCH  extension to the NNTP
     protocol. 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.

     Innxbatch normally blocks until the connection is  made.   To  specify  a
     timeout on how long to try to make the connection, use the ``-t'' flag.
     To specify the total amount of time that should be  allowed  for  article
     transfers, use the ``-T'' flag.
     The default is to wait until an I/O error occurs,  or  all  the  articles
     have  been  transferred.  If the ``-T'' flag is used, the time is checked
     just before an article is started; it will not abort a transfer  that  is
     in progress. Both values are measured in seconds.

     Each fileis removed after it has been successfully transferred.

     If a communication error such as a write(2)  failure,  or  an  unexpected
     reply  from  the  remote  server  occurs, innxbatch will stop sending and
     leave all remaining files untouched for later retry.

     Upon exit, innxbatch  reports  transfer  and  CPU  usage  statistics  via
     syslog(3).   If the ``-v'' flag is used, they will also be printed on the
     standard output.

     Use the ``-D'' flag to print debugging  information  on  standard  error.
     This  will  show the protocol transactions between innxbatch and the NNTP
     server on the remote host.

     A sample newsfeeds(5) entry to produce appropriate xbatch  files  (thanks
     to Karsten Leipold <poldi@dfn.de>):

       nase\
         :*\
         :Tc,Wnb\
         :<config$_PATH_NEWSBIN>/batcher \
            -p "(<config$_PATH_COMPRESS> > <config$_PATH_BATCHDIR>/nase.\$\$)"
     \
            nase.do.main

     A sample script to invoke innxbatch(8) is:

       #!/bin/sh
       ##  SH script to send xbatches for a site, wrapped around innxbatch
       ##  Invocation:
       ##     sendxbatches.sh <sitename> <hostname> <xbatch file name> ...

       if [ $# -le 3 ]
       then
          echo "usage: $0 <sitename> <hostname> <xbatch file name>"
          exit 1
       fi

       ##  The next line should be <config$PATH_SHELLVARS>
       /var/news/etc/innshellvars

       site="$1"; host="$2"; shift; shift

       ctlinnd flush "$site" \
       && sleep 5 \
       && exec $NEWSBIN/innxbatch -v -D "$host" $*


HISTORY
     Written  by  Stefan   Petri   <petri@ibr.cs.tu-bs.de>,   modelled   after
     innxmit(8) and the XBATCH patch for the nntp reference implementation.

SEE ALSO
     innxmit(8) , nntpsend(8) , ctlinnd(8) , innd(8) , newsfeeds(5) , shlock(1) .