NNTPCACHE 3.0.2(8) NNTPCACHE 3.0.2(8)NAME
nntpcache - nntp multi-server caching daemon
SYNOPSISnntpcached [-ienrs] [-c config_file] [-b address:port]
DESCRIPTION
nntpcache caches and intelligently merges NNTP traffic. It is designed
to run as a stand-alone daemon that listens to requests on port 119
(nntp).
OPTIONS-c config_file
Specify an alternative configuration file (normally
/usr/local/etc/nntpcache/config). You must specify the FULL
PATH.
-e Perform an expire then exit.
-i Interface directly to stdin/stdout (interactive). Once specified
for inetd compatible operation, this option is now primarily
used for debugging and may not behave as expected.
-b address:port
Listen for connection on address:port rather than the one in the
config file (usually DEFAULT:119, the IANA NNTP port).
-n Do not automatically detach from tty on startup.
-r Remove history and cache.mmap database files before running (use
with care!).
-s Swap parent with child. Only useful for debugging.
OPERATION
nntpcache holds a number of files in the cache hierarachy (usually
/var/spool/nntpcache). A directory hierarchy containing articles, iden‐
tical to a standard news-spool under per-server directories, with sev‐
eral additions; ".listgoup", "nnnnn_xover" and "nnnnn_head" files in
each group directory a list of valid article numbers (the output of the
"listgroup" command), parts of the groups xover cache (at 1-512 entries
per file) and cached article headers respectively; a large hash data‐
base (cache.history*) which contains Message-Id's to group.sub‐
group/article translations; a large memory mapped cache structure which
contains collated lists, including active, active.times and newsgroup
lists, and other peices of information about each group; a raw statis‐
tics variables file (nntpcache.stats) (saved when nntpcached is shut‐
down, and subsequently reloaded when nntpcache starts up again).
STATISTICS
If statistics collation is activated nntpcache gathers a wide-variety
of traffic statistics. These may be accessed using nntpcache's built in
HTTP server e.g http://localhost:9119/ SH SIGNALS nntpcache responds to
various signals, which can be sent with the kill command.
For example:
kill -SIGUSR1 `cat /var/spool/nntpcache/nntpcache.119.pid`.
As used above, such signals to nntpcache are easily incorporated into
crontabs.
SIGHUP Reread the nntpcache.access & nntpcache.server configuration
files This doesn't affect existing connections, only future con‐
nections. If nntpcache is configured to drop its privilages
after invokation (default) then then the reconfiguration will
probably fail.
SIGUSR1
Force the master server to do a currency check of the active,
active.times & newsgroups lists for all configured servers.
Normally the list cache is only checked for currency immediately
after startup or after each incoming client connection. This can
cause the first client to connecting after a period of inactiv‐
ity greater than the list cache life to receive expired (that is
older than it would otherwise be configured to be) data. This
behavior is considered optimal, as it is inefficient to have the
list cache refresh itself when usage is very low (e.g over the
weekend at some sites). It is usually advisable to hand a client
slightly out of date data immediately rather than forcing it to
wait for a rebuild.
SIGUSR2
Force the master server to perform an expire.
SIGTERM
Safely shutdown the master server. It is important to shut the
server down safely or the various databases managed by nntp‐
cached maybe corrupted (all processes normally receive this sig‐
nal when a unix box is instructed to shutdown/reboot/halt).
SIGINT Toggle full debugging. All nntpcache.config log* variables are
set to TRUE.
EXAMPLEnntpcached-c nntcache.myconfig -b localhost:119
AUTHORS
Julian Assange (proff@nntpcache.com).
Luke Bowker (puke@nntpcache.com).
FILES
/usr/local/etc/nntpcache{config,servers,access,*.filter}.
ARCHIVE
The latest version of this program can be obtained from the ftp.nntp‐
cache.com archives via ftp as /pub/nntpcache/nntpcache.tar.gz.
BUGS AND SUGGESTIONS
You can contact the development team via nntpcache@nntpcache.com. When
reporting bugs, include as much detail as possible, including program
version, OS version, library version, syslog output and step by step
details how to reproduce the bug under consideration.
Please send bug reports, suggestions, words of encouragement or super‐
cilious wit to the development team.
MAILINGLIST
There is a nntpcache mailing list nntpcache-users@nntpcache.com. To
subscribe send email with the subject subscribe to nntpcache-users-
request@nntpcache.com. Archives are available at http://www.nntp‐
cache.com/.
LICENSING
Please refer to the LICENSING file in the source distribution for
details, or send email to nntpcache-license@nntpcache.com.
COPYRIGHT AND WARRANTY INFO
Copyright (c) Julian Assange & Luke Bowker 1996, All rights reserved.
This software is a copyrighted product and may not be used by commer‐
cial organisations, or by individuals acting in a commercial or profit
making manner, or by government departments, institutions or bodies
(with the exception of those primarily involved in non-military scien‐
tific research, medical treatment or education) including for-profit
educational institutions, without an appropriate site license from the
copyright holders. Violation of the aforementioned copyright notice is
subject to civil and criminal penalties.
This software maybe distributed only freely, in full and without modi‐
fication. It may not be bundled with any sort of hardware or software
if a fee is charged, directly or indirectly, for that hardware or soft‐
ware. If you would like to include this software in such an otherwise
prohibited distribution then please contact the copyright holders to
negotiate reasonable (possibly free) terms.
The copyright holders shall not under any circumstances accept any lia‐
bility for this software, for its use, misuse, or any failings it may
or may not have. You're on your own.
The copyright holders reserve the right to alter the aforementioned
conditions from time to time as they see appropriate. The copyright
holders' most recent copyright notice and conditions for this software
shall always supersede any issued previously.
Use and or distribution of this software implies acceptance of the
above.
SEE ALSOnewshound(8), dbz(3), innd(8), nnrpd(8), tin(1), nn(1), trn(1).
NNTPCACHE 3.0.2(8)
