.TH MKGRDATES 8C "26 October 1985"
mkgrdates \- Make the newsgroup creation date file
.B /usr/spool/news/lib/mkgrdates
maintains the newsgroup creation date file for the
Network News Transfer Protocol server (which uses
the newsgroup creation date file for the NEWGROUPS
goes through the active file
.IR /usr/spool/news/lib/active )
.IR /usr/spool/news/lib/groupdates )
containing the creation dates and times of the
newsgroups in the active file. The
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,
and ``newsgroup'' is the name of the newsgroup in question.
is run it creates a file (usuaully
.IR /usr/spool/news/lib/mkgdstats )
containing the length, in bytes, of the active file.
is invoked, it compares the contents of the
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
file to the appropriate value.
This scheme avoids a fair amount of what would
essentially be wasted computing.
should be run once or twice a day by an entry in
It would be good to get rid of this and have the
news server do it, but nobody seems to be able
to come up with an easy, inexpensive way.
I'm certainly open to suggestions.