Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!kralc!ade
From: ade@kralc.UUCP (Adrian Miranda)
Newsgroups: news.software.b
Subject: I cant make expire work
Keywords: expire, frustration
Message-ID: <321@kralc.UUCP>
Date: 1 Jul 89 22:21:52 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Clark College, Vancouver, Wa
Lines: 25


Help.
   I have been quite unable to make expire work correctly.  Originally it
seemed to work occasionally, seemingly when it was started manually.  Then
about a month ago, it ceased working at all.  Upon close examination I 
noticed that there was no /usr/lib/news/history file.  So I ran expire -r.
It appeared to create the history file briefly, than wipe it out.  I
eventually was able to get reasonable results by linking /usr/lib/news/nhistory
to /usr/tmp/history while expire was running.  When expire quit (leaving no
history), I would link /usr/tmp/history to /usr/lib/news/history and start
expire up again (without the -r option) and it would actually expire news.
But it would promptly wipe out the history file again, so I'd have to start
all over again.  Thinking it might help, I got a whole new copy of the news
source.  Now expire doesn't even create a usable history or nhistory!  It 
does create empty files in /usr/lib/news, but never seems to write anything
to them, and eventually wipes them out.  HELP!
   I assume I have done something extremely stupid, a bad permission or 
something, but I just can't find it.  
   Our system here is a 286 sort-of-clone running Microport V/AT, if
it matters.  HDB uucp, and the new version of the news source has 14 patches
applied.  
   Please email responses, we don't get this newsgroup.

Adrian Miranda
uunet!kralc!ade