MAKEACTIVE (8)

NAME
     makeactive - tool to recover Usenet active file.

SYNOPSIS
     makeactive [ -m ] [ -o ]

DESCRIPTION
     Makeactive invokes find(1) to get a list of all directories in  the  news
     spool  tree,  <config$_PATH_SPOOL>  (typically /var/news/spool/articles.)
     It discards directories named lost+found as well as  those  that  have  a
     period in them.  It scans all other directories for all-numeric filenames
     and determines the highest and lowest number.  The program's output is  a
     set  of active(5)  file lines.  Because there is no way to know if a group
     is moderated or disabled, the fourth field of  all  entries  will  be  y.
     Also,  mid-level  directories that aren't newsgroups will also created as
     newsgroups with no entries (for example, there is a ``comp.sources.unix''
     group, but no ``comp.sources'').

OPTIONS

     -m   If the ``-m'' flag is given, then makeactive will attempt to  adjust
          the  highest  and  lowest  article  numbers  wherever  possible.  If
          articles are found in a newsgroup, the  numbers  will  reflect  what
          what  was  found.  If no articles are found in a newsgroup, the high
          number from the old file will be kept, and the low  number  will  be
          set to one more then the high number.  This flag may only be used if
          the ``-o'' flag is used.

     -o   If the ``-o'' flag is used, makeactive will read an existing  active
          file  for  the list of group names and just renumber all groups.  It
          will preserve the fourth field of the active file if one is present.
          This  is  analogous  to  the ctlinnd(8)  ``renumber'' command, except
          that innd(8)  should throttled or not running.  Do not use this  flag
          with output redirected to the standard active file!

EXIT STATUS

     Makeactive exits with non-zero status if any problems occurred.

EXAMPLES

     A typical way to use the program is with the following /bin/sh commands:
          ctlinnd throttle "Rebuilding active file"
          TEMP=${TMPDIR-<config$_PATH_TMP>}/act$$
          if [ -f /var/news/etc/active ] ; then
              if makeactive -o >${TEMP} ; then
                  mv ${TEMP} /var/news/etc/active
              fi
          else
              if makeactive >${TEMP} ; then
                  # Edit to restore moderated
                  # and aliased groups.
                  ...
                  mv ${TEMP} /var/news/etc/active
              fi
          fi
          ctlinnd reload active "New active file"
          ctlinnd go ''
HISTORY
     Written by Rich $alz  <rsalz@uunet.uu.net>  for  InterNetNews.   This  is
     revision 1.3, dated 1996/10/29.

SEE ALSO
     active(5) ,  ctlinnd(8) ,   dbz(3),   filechan(8) ,   history(5) ,   innd(8) ,
     newsfeeds(5) , makehistory(8) , newsrequeue(8) .