NAME

     newslog - description of Usenet log files

DESCRIPTION

     Most log files created by  Usenet  programs  reside  in  the
     /news/log  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 partic-
     ular 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 com-
          mon programs are the control-message handlers found  in
          /usr/local/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 fol-
          lowing line in your syslog.conf(5) file:
               news.crit  /news/log/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  /news/log/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  /news/log/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 news-
          groups 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).