Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!ginosko!uunet!sci34hub!gary
From: gary@sci34hub.UUCP (Gary Heston)
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Re: Who's Messing With The Usenet ?
Summary: history loss
Keywords: article, duplication, monkey business
Message-ID: <325@sci34hub.UUCP>
Date: 19 Sep 89 02:22:56 GMT
References: <2056@avsd.UUCP> <1989Sep16.061700.4572@brutus.cs.uiuc.edu> <1989Sep18.041601.15352@brutus.cs.uiuc.edu>
Lines: 32

In article <1989Sep18.041601.15352@brutus.cs.uiuc.edu>, coolidge@brutus.cs.uiuc.edu (John Coolidge) writes:
> hoyt@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Sir Hoyt) writes:
> >In article <1989Sep16.061700.4572@brutus.cs.uiuc.edu> I write:
> >>the history file can't be appended to (disk full, maybe?). In that case,
> >	It's happend here at polyslo before.  Expire on B news makes a copy of
> >	the history file before processing.  Our history file is
> But does it drop the message id from history while keeping/spooling the
> article? That was the behavior that I thought was unlikely... just running

> John L. Coolidge     Internet:coolidge@cs.uiuc.edu   UUCP:uiucdcs!coolidge
> Of course I don't speak for the U of I (or anyone else except myself)
> Copyright 1989 John L. Coolidge. Copying allowed if (and only if) attributed.
> You may redistribute this article if and only if your recipients may as well.

I think it's highly likely--if the partition containing history runs out of 
space or inodes, then history data is lost. However, the news partition 
itself may be different from the history partition, and would have room 
(and inodes) for the article. My history files are in /usr/lib/news/history*
(the default, I think), which is part of my root partition (/dev/dsk/0s1).
My news files, however, are in /news/spool/news (/news is /dev/dsk/1s0, 
has 65K inodes, and 140M of space...). I have had problems with various 
partitions filling up, and the lost history/kept article sounds quite 
plausable on a configuration like mine. When the article comes in the 
second (or third, etc., assuming you haven't seen the disc full errors--
over a weekend, perhaps) time, r/inews scans the history file, doesn't 
find a match, posts the article and tries to append history again.
Article has space, history doesn't. 

-- 
    Gary Heston     { uunet!gary@sci34hub  }    System Mismanager
   SCI Technology, Inc.  OEM Products Department  (i.e., computers)
      Hestons' First Law: I qualify virtually everything I say.