newslog - description of Usenet log files


DESCRIPTION

       Most  log  files  created by Usenet programs reside in the
       <pathlog in inn.conf> directory and have a ``.log'' exten­
       sion.   Several  versions  are  usually kept with an addi­
       tional extension such  as  ``.1'',  ``.2'',  etc.  --  the
       higher  the number, the older the log.  The older versions
       are compressed.

       The scanlogs script and related utilities (see newslog(8))
       are  responsible for rotating and compressing these files.

       Some log files always have data, others only have data  if
       there  is a problem, and others are only created if a par­
       ticular program is used or configuration parameter is set.
       The  innstat  script (see newslog(8)) monitors the size of
       all log files.

       The following files will only accumulate  data  under  the
       direction of control.ctl(5):
              control.log  miscctl.log  newgroup.log  rmgroup.log
              unwanted.log
       In order  to  create  these  files,  the  ``message''  and
       ``action'' fields of control.ctl should be chosen from the
       following table:
              Message     Action         Meaning
              all         log=miscctl    Log all messages by default
              default     log=miscctl    Log unknown messages
              newgroup    doit=newgroup  Create group and log message
              newgroup    log=newgroup   Log message
              rmgroup     doit=rmgroup   Remove group and log message
              rmgroup     log=rmgroup    Log message
              ``other''   doit=miscctl   log and process the message
              ``other''   log=miscctl    Log message
       Here, ``other'' refers to any other control  message  such
       as:
              checkgroups ihave sendme sendsys senduuname version

       The following is a list of log files.

       control.log
              This file maintains a count of the number  of  new­
              group  and  rmgroup  control messages seen for each
              newsgroup.  The count is of the number  of  control
              messages  with  identical  arguments, regardless if
              they were actually processed.   All  control  argu­
              ments,  including  invalid ones, are counted.  This
              file is updated by tally.control, which is  invoked
              by  scanlogs if either the newgroup or rmgroup logs
              exist.  This file is not rotated.

       errlog This file contains the standard output and standard

              common programs are  the  control-message  handlers
              found   in  <pathcontrol in inn.conf>.   This  file
              should be empty.  Scanlogs will  print  the  entire
              contents of this log file if it is non-empty.

       expire.log
              By  default, when news.daily is going to expire old
              news articles, it writes the  date  to  this  file,
              followed  by any output from expire(8) and the end­
              ing date.  All lines but  the  first  are  indented
              four spaces.

       miscctl.log
              When  control.ctl is configured as described above,
              all control messages except  newgroup  and  rmgroup
              are  appended to this file by writelog.  There will
              be a summary line describing the  message  and  the
              action  taken,  followed by the article indented by
              four spaces, and a blank line.

       newgroup.log
              When control.ctl is configured as described  above,
              all  newgroup  messages  are  appended to this file
              using the same format as for miscctl.log.

       news   This file logs articles received by innd.  Scanlogs
              summarizes  the  rejected articles reported in this
              file.

       news.crit
              All critical error  messages  issued  by  innd  are
              appended to this file via syslog(3).  This log file
              should be empty.  Scanlogs will  print  the  entire
              contents  of this log file if it is non-empty.  You
              should  have  the  following  line  in  your   sys­
              log.conf(5)  file.   (A  typical entry is shown; it
              should agree with <pathlog in inn.conf>)
                     news.crit  <pathlog in inn.conf>/news.crit

       news.err
              All  major  error  messages  issued  by  innd   are
              appended to this file via syslog(3).  This log file
              should be empty.  Scanlogs will  print  the  entire
              contents  of this log file if it is non-empty.  You
              should  have  the  following  line  in  your   sys­
              log.conf(5)  file:  (A  typical  entry is shown; it
              should agree with <pathlog in inn.conf>)
                     news.err  <pathlog in inn.conf>/news.err

       news.notice
              All standard error  messages  and  status  messages
              issued  by  innd are appended to this file via sys­
              log(3).    Scanlogs   uses   the   perl(1)   script

              have the  following  line  in  your  syslog.conf(5)
              file:  (A  typical  entry is shown; it should agree
              with <pathlog in inn.conf>)
                     news.notice            <pathlog           in
                     inn.conf>/news.notice

       nntpsend.log
              The  nntpsend(8)  programs  appends all status mes­
              sages to this file.

       rmgroup.log
              When control.ctl is configured as described  above,
              all  rmgroup  messages  are  appended  to this file
              using the same format as for miscctl.log.

       unwanted.log
              This log maintains a count of the number  of  arti­
              cles that were rejected because they were posted to
              newsgroups that do not exist  at  the  local  site.
              This  file  is  updated by tally.unwanted and main­
              tained in reverse numeric order (the  most  popular
              rejected group first).  This file is not rotated.


HISTORY

       Written  by  Landon  Curt  Noll <chongo@toad.com> and Rich
       $alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net> for InterNetNews.  This is revi­
       sion 1.6.6.1, dated 2000/08/17.


SEE ALSO

       control.ctl(5),    ctlinnd(8),   expire(8),   inn.conf(5),
       innd(8), news.daily(8), nntpsend(8), newslog(8).


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