Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!swlabs!jack
From: jack@swlabs.UUCP (Jack Bonn)
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Re: Map expiration dates
Message-ID: <2056@swlabs.UUCP>
Date: 2 Feb 88 14:57:10 GMT
References: <2323@cxsea.UUCP> <7815@rutgers.rutgers.edu> <13226@comp.vuw.ac.nz>
Organization: Software Labs, Ltd. Easton CT USA
Lines: 64

In article <13226@comp.vuw.ac.nz>, duncan@comp.vuw.ac.nz (Duncan McEwan) writes:
> In article <7815@rutgers.rutgers.edu> pleasant@rutgers.rutgers.edu 
> (Mel Pleasant) writes:
> >We are now posting on the 1st of each month those map files that
> >have not been updated in 30 days.
> 
> This is the part that doesn't make sense to me (if people really want the
> map posting volume reduced).  While the new posting scheme is great for
> ensuring quick update propagation, it will obviously result in a volume
> increase as long as this 30 day reposting is carried out.
> 
> So why is it required?
> 
> It might reduce the problem of people missing map postings.  But
> they may still miss parts of the periodic repost so it doesn't
> eliminate it altogether.
> 
> It also allows sites new to usenet to get a full copy of the map.  But
> it is quite likely that their usenet neighbour has a copy of the map
> that they can pass on.  And for those sites for which this is not the
> case, a monthly posting listing sites that have the map available for
> anonymous uucp should suffice.

It also allows a site to miss a map posting and eventually get an up
to date map (even if they miss an occasional repost).  Why not increase
the 30 day reposting to a larger number (say 90 days), until the
number of maps reposted is reduced to almost none.  This would be
because, in the normal order of things, almost all (all?) the maps have 
a "refresh time" of less than 90 days.

> >As you point out, the maps are read by a program and after that they
> >aren't needed, right?  Well, wrongo!!  The number of people [...]
> >complaining of loss of access to map files was astounding.  There are
> >many [...] that actually use the map files to generate paths by hand.
> >When the map files expire they're at a loss.

I was under the impression that map entries would have an expiration
date such that a map for a given region would ALWAYS be in the news SPOOL 
directory.  Assuming this is the case, I wrote the following script:

	for I in /usr/spool/news/comp/mail/maps/*
	do
	    sed '1,/cat.*SHAR_EOF/d
		/^SHAR_EOF/,$d' <$I
	done | pathalias -f | pathproc >/usr/tmp/path$$
	mv /usr/tmp/path$$ $HOME/paths
	exit 0

By running a script like this (from cron) I don't have to keep two copies 
of the map data around, one in the news SPOOL directory and another in the 
uucp map directory.  And as a side effect, all map data is available
for a SENDME, assuming that the needy site has access to a cross
reference between message-id's and geographic areas.  Certainly, a
script to generate a cross reference like this could easily be generated.

Of course, the script will have to be modified if the here document 
terminator is quoted.  Or if any of the shars have more than one file 
in them.  But, if these things could be standardized, a convenient script 
like this could be ensured to work (most of the time:-)).

Anyone else doing something similar?  Or is everyone?
-- 
Jack Bonn, <> Software Labs, Ltd, Box 451, Easton CT  06612
uunet!swlabs!jack