NEWSLOG (5)

NAME
     newslog - description of Usenet log files

DESCRIPTION
     Most   log   files   created   by   Usenet   programs   reside   in   the
     <config$_PATH_MOST_LOGS>  (typically /var/log/news ) directory and have a
     ``.log'' extension.  Several versions are usually kept with an additional
     extension  such  as  ``.1'',  ``.2'',  etc. -- the higher the number, the
     older the log.  The older versions are compressed.

     The  scanlogs  script  and  related  utilities   (see   newslog(8) )   are
     responsible for rotating and compressing these files.

     Some log files always have data, others only have  data  if  there  is  a
     problem,  and  others are only created if a particular program is used or
     configuration parameter is set.   The  innstat  script  (see  newslog(8) )
     monitors the size of all log files.

     The following files will only accumulate  data  under  the  direction  of
     control.ctl(5):
          control.log miscctl.log newgroup.log rmgroup.log unwanted.log
     In order to create these files, the ``message'' and ``action'' fields  of
     control.ctl should be chosen from the following table:
          Message Action  Meaning
          all     log=miscctl     Log all messages by default
          default log=miscctl     Log unknown messages
          newgroup        doit=newgroup   Create group and log message
          newgroup        log=newgroup    Log message
          rmgroup doit=rmgroup    Remove group and log message
          rmgroup log=rmgroup     Log message
          ``other''       doit=miscctl    log and process the message
          ``other''       log=miscctl     Log message
     Here, ``other'' refers to any other control message such as:
          checkgroups ihave sendme sendsys senduuname version

     The following is a list of log files.

     control.log
          This file maintains a count of the number of  newgroup  and  rmgroup
          control  messages  seen  for  each  newsgroup.   The count is of the
          number of control messages with identical arguments,  regardless  if
          they  were  actually  processed.   All  control arguments, including
          invalid ones, are counted.  This file is updated  by  tally.control,
          which  is invoked by scanlogs if either the newgroup or rmgroup logs
          exist.  This file is not rotated.

     errlog
          This file contains the standard output and  standard  error  of  any
          program  spawned  by  innd(8) .   The  most  common  programs are the
          control-message  handlers  found   in   <config$_PATH_CONTROLPROGS>.
          (typically   /usr/news/bin/control)   This  file  should  be  empty.
          Scanlogs will print the entire contents of this log file  if  it  is
          non-empty.

     expire.log
          By default, when news.daily is going to expire old news articles, it
          writes  the date to this file, followed by any output from expire(8) 
          and the ending date.  All lines but  the  first  are  indented  four
          spaces.

     miscctl.log
          When control.ctl is  configured  as  described  above,  all  control
          messages  except  newgroup  and rmgroup are appended to this file by
          writelog.  There will be a summary line describing the  message  and
          the  action  taken, followed by the article indented by four spaces,
          and a blank line.

     newgroup.log
          When control.ctl is configured  as  described  above,  all  newgroup
          messages  are  appended  to  this  file using the same format as for
          miscctl.log.

     news This file logs articles received by innd.  Scanlogs  summarizes  the
          rejected articles reported in this file.

     news.crit
          All critical error messages issued by innd are appended to this file
          via  syslog(3).  This log file should be empty.  Scanlogs will print
          the entire contents of this log file if it is non-empty.  You should
          have the following line in your syslog.conf(5) file:
                    news.crit  <config$_PATH_MOST_LOGS>/news.crit

     news.err
          All major error messages issued by innd are appended  to  this  file
          via syslog.  This log file should be empty.  Scanlogs will print the
          entire contents of this log file if it  is  non-empty.   You  should
          have the following line in your syslog.conf file:
                    news.err  <config$_PATH_MOST_LOGS>/news.err

     news.notice
          All standard error messages and status messages issued by  innd  are
          appended  to  this file via syslog.  Scanlogs uses the awk(1) script
          innlog.awk to summarize this file.  You should  have  the  following
          line in your syslog.conf file:
                    news.notice  <config$_PATH_MOST_LOGS>/news.notice

     nntpsend.log
          The nntpsend(8)  programs appends all status messages to this file.

     rmgroup.log
          When control.ctl is  configured  as  described  above,  all  rmgroup
          messages  are  appended  to  this  file using the same format as for
          miscctl.log.

     unwanted.log
          This log maintains a count of  the  number  of  articles  that  were
          rejected because they were posted to newsgroups that do not exist at
          the  local  site.   This  file  is  updated  by  tally.unwanted  and
          maintained in reverse numeric order (the most popular rejected group
          first).  This file is not rotated.

HISTORY
     Written  by  Landon   Curt   Noll   <chongo@toad.com>   and   Rich   $alz
     <rsalz@uunet.uu.net>  for  InterNetNews.   This  is  revision  1.6, dated
     1996/09/10.

SEE ALSO
     control.ctl(5) ,   ctlinnd(8) ,    expire(8) ,    innd(8) ,    news.daily(8) ,
     nntpsend(8) , newslog(8) .