ctlinnd - control the InterNetNews daemon

ctlinnd [ -h ] [ -s ] [ -t timeout ] command [ argument... ]

Ctlinnd sends a message to the control channel of innd(8), the InterNetNews server.

In the normal mode of behavior, the message is sent to the server, which then performs the requested action and sends back a reply with a text message and the exit code for ctlinnd. If the server successfully performed the command, ctlinnd will exit with a status of zero and print the reply on standard output. If the server could not perform the command (for example, it was told to remove a newsgroup that does not exist), it will direct ctlinnd to exit with a status of one. (Note that ctlinnd need not always exit immediately, see the ``-t'' flag.) The ``shutdown'', ``xabort'', and ``xexec'' commands do not generate a reply (because once innd has successfully exited, it is too late to send a reply to ctlinnd); after these commands, ctlinnd will always exit silently with a status of zero.

-s

If the ``-s'' flag is used, then no message will be printed if the command was successful.

-t timeout

The ``-t'' flag can be used to specify how long to wait for the reply from the server (for commands other than ``shutdown'', ``xabort'', and ``xexec''). The timeout value specifies the number of seconds to wait. A value of zero waits forever, and a value less than zero indicates that no reply is needed (that is, exit immediately with status zero). When waiting for a reply, ctlinnd will try every two minutes to see if the server is still running, so it is unlikely that ``-t0'' will hang. The default is set as <CTLINND_TIMEOUT in include/config.h> (typically 0).

-h

To see a command summary, use the ``-h'' flag. If a command is included when ctlinnd is invoked with the ``-h'' flag, then only the usage for that command will be given.

The complete list of commands follows. Note that all commands have a fixed number of arguments. If a parameter can be an empty string, then it is necessary to specify it as two adjacent quotes, like "".

addhist <Message-ID> arr exp post token

Add an entry to the history database. This directs the server to create a history line for Message-ID. The angle brackets are optional. Arr, exp, and post specify when the article arrived, what its expiration date is, and when it was posted. All three values are numbers indicating the number of seconds since the epoch. Exp being zero indicates the article does not have an Expires header. Token is the storage API token indicating where the article is stored. If the server is throttled manually, this command causes it to briefly open the history database. If the server is paused or throttled for any other reason, this command is rejected.

allow reason

Remote connections are allowed. The reason must be the same text given with an earlier ``reject'' command, or an empty string.

begin site

Begin feeding site. This will cause the server to rescan the newsfeeds file to find the specified site and set up a newsfeed for it. If the site already exists, a ``drop'' is done first. This command is forwarded; see NOTES below.

cancel <Message-ID>

Remove the article with the specified Message-ID from the local system. This does not generate a cancel message. The angle brackets are optional. If the server is throttled manually, this command causes it to briefly open the history database. If the server is paused or throttled for any other reason, this command is rejected.

changegroup group rest

The newsgroup group is changed so that its fourth field in the active file becomes the value specified by the rest parameter. This may be used to make an existing group moderated or unmoderated, for example. This command can only be used while the server is running (not throttled), unlike newgroup or rmgroup.

checkfile

Check the syntax of the newsfeeds file, and display a message if any errors are found. The details of the errors are reported to syslog(3).

drop site

Flush and drop site from the server's list of active feeds. This command is forwarded; see NOTES below.

feedinfo site

Print detailed information about the state of the feed to site or more brief status of all feeds if site is an empty string.

flush site

Flush the buffer for the specified site. The actions taken depend on the type of feed the site receives; see newsfeeds(5). This is useful when the site is fed by a file and batching is about to start. If site is an empty string, then all sites are flushed and the active file and history databases are also written out. This command is forwarded; see NOTES below.

flushlogs

Close the log and error log files and rename them to have a .old extension. The history database and active file are also written out.

go reason

Re-open the history database and start accepting articles after a ``pause'' or ``throttle'' command. The reason must either be an empty string or match the text that was given in the earlier ``pause'' or ``throttle'' command. If a ``reject'' command was done, this will also do an ``allow'' command if the reason matches the text that was given in the ``reject.'' If a ``reserve'' command was done, this will also clear the reservation if the reason matches the text that was given in the ``reserve.'' Note that if only the history database has changed while the server is paused or throttled, it is not necessary to send it a ``reload'' command before sending it a ``go'' command. If the server throttled itself because it accumulated too many I/O errors, this command will reset the error count. If the server was not started with the ``-ny'' flag, then this command also does a ``readers'' command with ``yes'' as the flag and reason as the text.

hangup channel

Close the socket on the specified incoming channel. This is useful when an incoming connection appears to be hung.

help [command]

Print a command summary for all commands, or just command if specified.

kill signal site

Signal signal is sent to the specified site, which must be a channel or exploder feed. Signal can be a numeric signal number or the word ``hup'', ``int'', or ``term''; case is not significant.

lowmark file

Reset the lowmarks in the active file based on the contents of the given file. Each line in the file must be of the form:

    group low-value

for example

    comp.lang.c++    243

logmode

Cause the server to log its current operating mode to syslog.

mode

Print the server's operating mode as a multi-line summary of the parameters and operating state.

name nnn

Print the name and relevant information of channel number nnn, or of all channels if it is an empty string. The response is formatted as:

f1:f2:f3:f4:f5

Where the meanings of the fields are:

f1	name of this channel
f2	channel number
f3	channel type
f4	idle time for this channel (nntp type)
	or process id (process type)
f5	channel status (nntp type)

The channel type (f3) is one of following:

control		control channel which is used
			for ctlinnd
file			file channel which is used for
			file feed
localconn		local channel which is used for
			nnrpd or rnews
nntp			nntp channel which is used for
			current remote connection
proc			process channel which is used
			for process feed
remconn		remote channel which will be
			used for nntp

Channel status indicates whether the channel is paused or not. Nothing is shown unless the channel is paused, in which case ``paused'' is shown. A channel is paused if the number of remote connection for that label in incoming.conf is beyond ``max-connections'' within ``hold-time'' seconds of connection.

newgroup group rest creator

Create the specified newsgroup. The rest parameter should be the fourth field as described in active(5); if it is not an equal sign, only the first letter is used. The creator should be the identity of the person creating the group as described in active(5). If the newsgroup already exists, this is equivalent to the ``changegroup'' command. This is the only command that has defaults. The creator can be omitted and will default to the newsmaster (as specified at configure time, ``usenet'' by default), and the rest parameter can be omitted and will default to ``y''. This command can only be done while the server is throttled manually or running; it will update its internal state when a ``go'' command is sent. This command updates the active.times file (see active.times(5)). This command is forwarded; see NOTES below.

param letter value

Change the command-line parameters of the server. The combination of defaults make it possible to use the text of the Control header directly. Letter is the innd command-line option to set, and value is the new value. For example, ``i 5'' directs the server to allow only five incoming connections. To enable or disable the action of the ``-n'' flag, use the letter ``y'' or ``n'', respectively, for the value.

pause reason

Pause the server so that no incoming articles are accepted. No existing connections are closed, but the history database is closed. This command should be used for short-term locks, such as when replacing the history files. If the server was not started with the ``-ny'' flag, then this command also does a ``readers'' command with ``no'' as the flag and reason as the text.

perl flag

Enable or disable perl news filtering, if <--with-perl is specified at configure>. If flag starts with the letter ``y'' then filtering is enabled. If it starts with ``n'', then filtering is disabled.

python flag

Enable or disable Python news filtering, if <--with-python is specified at configure>. If flag starts with the letter ``y'' then filtering is enabled. If it starts with ``n'', then filtering is disabled.

readers flag text

Allow or disallow newsreaders. If flag starts with the letter ``n'' then newsreading is disallowed, by causing the server to pass the text as the value of the nnrpd(8) ``-r'' flag. If flag starts with the letter ``y'' and text is either an empty string, or the same string that was used when newsreading was disallowed, then newsreading will be allowed.

reject reason

Remote connections (those that would not be handed off to nnrpd) are rejected, with reason given as the explanation.

reload what reason

The server updates its in-memory copies of various configuration files. What identifies what should be reloaded. The reason is reported to syslog. There is no way to reload the inn.conf file; use ctlinnd xexec innd instead. If what is an empty string or the word ``all'' then everything is reloaded; if it is the word ``history'' then the history database is closed and opened, if it is the word ``incoming.conf'' then the incoming.conf file is reloaded; if it is the word ``active'' or ``newsfeeds'' then both the active and newsfeeds files are reloaded; if it is the word ``overview.fmt'' then the overview.fmt file is reloaded. If <--with-perl is specified at configure> and it is the word ``filter.perl'' then the filter_innd.pl file is reloaded. If a Perl procedure named ``filter_before_reload'' exists, it will be called prior to rereading filter_innd.pl. If a Perl procedure named ``filter_after_reload'' exists, it will be called after filter_innd.pl. has been reloaded. Reloading the Perl filter does not enable filtering if it is disabled; use perl y to do this. The startup_innd.pl file cannot be reloaded. If <--with-python is specified at configure> and it is the word ``filter.python'' then the filter_innd.py file is reloaded. If a Python method named ``filter_before_reload'' exists, it will be called prior to rereading filter_innd.py. If a Python method named ``__init__'' exists, it will be called after filter_innd.py. has been reloaded. Reloading the Python filter does not enable filtering if it is disabled; use python y to do this. If <--with-tcl is specified at configure> and it is the word ``filter.tcl'' then the filter.tcl file is reloaded. If a TCL procedure named ``filter_before_reload'' exists, it will be called prior to rereading filter.tcl. If a TCL procedure named ``filter_after_reload'' exists, it will be called after filter.tcl has been reloaded. Reloading the Tcl filter does not enable filtering if it is disabled; use filter to do this. The startup.tcl file cannot be reloaded.

renumber group

Scan overview database for the specified newsgroup and update the low-water mark and hi-water mark in the active file. Regardless of the content of the overview database, the hi-water mark will not be decreased (decreasing it may cause duplicate article numbers to be assigned after a crash, which can cause serious problems with the tradspool storage method). If group is an empty string then all newsgroups are scanned. Renumber only works if overview data has been created. (See the description of ``enableoverview'' in inn.conf(5) for details about overview creation.)

renumberlow file

This command does same as ``lowmark'' command.

reserve reason

The next ``pause'' or ``throttle'' command must use reason as its reason. This ``reservation'' is cleared by giving an empty string for the reason. This command is used by programs like expire(8) that want to avoid running into other instances of each other.

rmgroup group

Remove the specified newsgroup. This is done by editing the active file. The spool directory is not touched, and any articles in the group will still be expired using the default expiration parameters. Unlike the ``newgroup'' command, this command does not update the active.times file. This command can be done while the server is only throttled manually or running. This command is forwarded; see NOTES below.

send feed text...

The specified text is sent as a control line to the exploder feed.

shutdown reason

The server is shut down, with the specified reason recorded in the log and sent to all open connections. It is a good idea to send a ``throttle'' command first. If Perl, Python, or TCL filtering is compiled in and enabled, certain functions are called at ``throttle'' or ``shutdown'' (for example, to save filter state to disk), consult the embedded filter documentation for details.

stathist off|filename

Enable or disable generation of history performance statistics. If the parameter is ``off'', no statistics are gathered. Otherwise statistics are written to the specified file. The file can be parsed by contrib/stathist.pl.

status off|interval

Adjust frequency in seconds at which innd reports status informatoin to syslog. Status reporting is turned off if ``off'' or ``0'' is specified. See ``status'' in inn.conf(5) for information on how to set the startup default.

tcl flag

Enable or disable Tcl news filtering, if <--with-tcl is specified at configure>. If flag starts with the letter ``y'' then filtering is enabled. If it starts with ``n'', then filtering is disabled.

throttle reason

Input is throttled so that all existing connections are closed and new connections are rejected. The history database is closed. This should be used for long-term locks, such as when expire is being run. If the server was not started with the ``-ny'' flag, then this command also does a ``readers'' command with ``no'' as the flag and reason as the text.

timer off|interval

Performance monitoring is turned off if ``off'' or ``0'' is specified, otherwise, statistics will be reported every interval seconds to syslog. See ``timer'' in inn.conf(5) for information on how to set the startup default.

trace item flag

Tracing is turned on or off for the specified item. Flag should start with the letter ``y'' or ``n'' to turn tracing on or off. If item starts with a number, then tracing is set for the specified innd channel, which must be for an incoming NNTP feed. If it starts with the letter ``i'' then general innd tracing is turned on or off. If it starts with the letter ``n'' then future nnrpd's will or will not have the ``-t'' flag enabled, as appropriate. The ``n'' flag does not affect nnrpd's already running or using ``-D'' (running as a daemon).

xabort reason

The server logs the specified reason and then invokes the abort(3) routine.

xexec path

The server gets ready to shut itself down, but instead of exiting it exec's <pathbin in inn.conf>/inndstart with all of its original arguments except for ``-r''. Path can be any of ``innd'', ``inndstart'', or an empty string, although all three valid parameters have exactly the same effect. Any other value is an error.

In addition to being acted upon within the server, certain commands can be forwarded to the appropriate child process. If the site receiving the command is an exploder (such as buffchan(8)), or it is a funnel that feeds into an exploder, then the command can be forwarded. In this case, the server will send a command line to the exploder that consists of the ctlinnd command name. If the site funnels into an exploder that has an asterisk (``*'') in its ``W'' flag (see newsfeeds(5)), then the site name will be appended to the command; otherwise no argument is appended.

Ctlinnd uses the inndcomm(3) library, and is therefore limited to server replies no larger than 4k.

Written by Rich $alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net> for InterNetNews.

active(5), active.times(5), expire(8), innd(8), inndcomm(3), inn.conf(5), newsfeeds(5), overview.fmt(5).