NAME

     innxbatch - send xbatched Usenet articles to a  remote  NNTP
     server

SYNOPSIS

     innxbatch [ -D ] [ -t timeout ] [ -T timeout ] [ -v  ]  host
     file ...

DESCRIPTION

     Innxbatch connects to the NNTP server at the specified  host
     and  sends  it  the specified xbatch files, using the XBATCH
     extension to the NNTP protocol. It is normally invoked by  a
     script  run  out  of cron(8) that uses shlock(1) to lock the
     host name, followed by a ctlinnd(8)  command  to  flush  the
     batchfile.

     Innxbatch normally blocks until the connection is made.   To
     specify a timeout on how long to try to make the connection,
     use the ``-t'' flag.
     To specify the total amount of time that should  be  allowed
     for article transfers, use the ``-T'' flag.
     The default is to wait until an I/O error occurs, or all the
     articles  have been transferred. If the ``-T'' flag is used,
     the time is checked just before an article  is  started;  it
     will  not  abort a transfer that is in progress. Both values
     are measured in seconds.

     Each  fileis  removed  after  it   has   been   successfully
     transferred.

     If a communication error such as a write(2) failure,  or  an
     unexpected  reply  from  the remote server occurs, innxbatch
     will stop sending and leave all  remaining  files  untouched
     for later retry.

     Upon exit, innxbatch reports transfer and CPU usage  statis-
     tics  via  syslog(3).  If the ``-v'' flag is used, they will
     also be printed on the standard output.

     Use the ``-D'' flag to print debugging information on  stan-
     dard  error.   This  will  show  the  protocol  transactions
     between innxbatch and the NNTP server on the remote host.

     A sample newsfeeds(5) entry to  produce  appropriate  xbatch
     files (thanks to Karsten Leipold <poldi@dfn.de>):

       nase\
         :*\
         :Tc,Wnb\
         :/usr/local/news/bin/batcher \
            -p "(/usr/bin/compress > /news/out.going/nase.\$\$)" \
            nase.do.main

     A sample script to invoke innxbatch(8) is:

       #!/bin/sh
       ##  SH script to send xbatches for a site, wrapped around innxbatch
       ##  Invocation:
       ##     sendxbatches.sh <sitename> <hostname> <xbatch file name> ...

       if [ $# -le 3 ]
       then
          echo "usage: $0 <sitename> <hostname> <xbatch file name>"
          exit 1
       fi

       ##  =()<. @<_PATH_SHELLVARS>@>()=

       site="$1"; host="$2"; shift; shift

       ctlinnd flush "$site" \
       && sleep 5 \
       && exec $NEWSBIN/innxbatch -v -D "$host" $*

HISTORY

     Written by Stefan  Petri  <petri@ibr.cs.tu-bs.de>,  modelled
     after innxmit(8) and the XBATCH patch for the nntp reference
     implementation.

SEE ALSO

     innxmit(8), nntpsend(8), ctlinnd(8), innd(8),  newsfeeds(5),
     shlock(1).