Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!olivea!uunet!world!geoff
From: geoff@world.std.com (Geoff Collyer)
Newsgroups: news.software.b
Subject: Re: Max article number reached?
Keywords: cnews
Message-ID: <1991Apr25.215042.25734@world.std.com>
Date: 25 Apr 91 21:50:42 GMT
References: <1991Apr25.122242.1179@ioe.lon.ac.uk>
Organization: Software Tool & Die Netnews Research Center
Lines: 24

Lindsay Wakeman:
> Anyway, it wouldn't go beyond 99999. All the articles have now been expired
> but /usr/lib/news/sys still has 99999 as the last article number.
> How do we reset this - isn't it normally done automatically?

Assuming that you mean /usr/lib/news/active, no, the fields are not
widened automatically.  The active file is (and always has been, I
believe) updated in place, so the fields must be made wide enough in
advance (that's why there are all those leading zeros).  To quote news(5):

	Both article-number fields are at least five digits wide.

To fix this problem forever (or until we need article numbers larger
than 32 bits anyway), lock the news system with locknews (see
newsmaint(8)), add 5 zeroes onto the left of the second field of each
line of the active file, and unlock the news system.

> PS we run Cnews 6.4 but not very up to date with patches. Could this be the 
> problem?

Where did you get your C News distribution from?  We don't number our
releases.
-- 
Geoff Collyer		world.std.com!geoff, uunet.uu.net!geoff