1NEWSLOG(5) InterNetNews Documentation NEWSLOG(5)
2
6 newslog - Description of INN log files
7
9 Most log files created by Usenet programs reside in the pathlog
10 directory set in inn.conf and have a ".log" extension. Several
11 versions are usually kept with an additional extension such as .1, .2,
12 etc. -- the higher the number, the older the log. These old versions
13 are stored in pathlog/OLD; they may be compressed and thus may have a
14 ".1.gz", ".2.gz", etc. extension, up to ".nn.gz" where "nn" is the
15 number of old logs kept by scanlogs which is set by logcycles in
16 inn.conf.
17 The scanlogs script and related utilities are responsible for rotating
19 and compressing these files. Some log files always have data (like
20 news.notice), others only have data if there is a problem (like
21 news.err), and others are only created if a particular program is used
22 (like send-uucp.log used by send-uucp) or if a configuration parameter
23 is set (like innfeed.log used by innfeed when debug-level is set in
24 innfeed.conf).
25 Besides, the innstat script monitors the size of all log files.
27 Here are the log files used by INN:
29 control.log
31 This file maintains a count of the number of newgroup and rmgroup
32 control messages seen for each newsgroup. The count is of the
33 number of control messages with the indicated arguments, regardless
34 if they were actually processed. All control arguments, including
35 invalid ones, are counted. An example of lines which can be found
36 in that log file is:
37 3 Control: newgroup foo.bar moderated
39 3 Control: rmgroup misc.removed
40 1 Control: newgroup misc.created
41 This file is updated by tally.control, which is invoked by scanlogs
43 if either one of these two log files exists in pathlog:
44 newgroup.log
46 rmgroup.log
47 These two log files contain a summary line describing the control
49 message and the action taken by controlchan, followed by the
50 article indented by four spaces, and a blank line. Whereas these
51 files are rotated, control.log is not rotated so as to keep the
52 count of seen control messages.
53 Note that other control log files are also rotated by scanlogs, if
55 they exist, but their contents are not summarized. Here are their
56 names:
57 checkgroups.log
59 default.log
60 ihave.log
61 miscctl.log
62 sendme.log
63 sendsys.log
64 senduuname.log
65 version.log
66 In order to create these files, the <type> and <action> fields of
68 relevant control.ctl entries should be correctly set. For
69 instance:
70 Type Action Meaning
72 ---- ------ -------
73 all log=miscctl Log all messages by default.
74 newgroup doit=newgroup Create group and log message.
75 newgroup log=newgroup Log message.
76 rmgroup verify-*=rmgroup PGP verify, remove group and log message.
77 checkgroups doit=checkgroups Process and log message.
78 controlbatch.log
80 The controlbatch program appends all status messages to this file.
81 It is rotated by scanlogs.
82 errlog
84 This file contains the standard output and standard error of any
85 program spawned by innd, such as channel feeds configured in
86 newsfeeds. This file should normally be empty. scanlogs will
87 print the 50 first lines of this log file if it is non-empty so
88 that they appear in daily Usenet reports generated by news.daily.
89 Then, scanlogs rotates this log file.
90 expire.log
92 By default, when news.daily is going to expire old news articles,
93 it writes the name of the program it invokes, followed by "start"
94 and the time it has started. Any output from that program is then
95 written, indented by four spaces. Then, the name of the program is
96 written, followed by "end" and the time it has ended.
97 Programs called, if needed, are in order: expireover, ctlinnd
99 (with the "lowmark" option), expirerm and expire. Removed articles
100 are listed in expire.list and low marks for each newsgroup (that is
101 to say the number of the oldest article available in the newsgroup)
102 in expire.lastlowmark.
103 After the expiry process, scanlogs rotates expire.log.
105 innfeed.log
107 When debug-level is set in innfeed.conf, innfeed appends debugging
108 messages to this file. Note that the name of this file can be
109 changed with the log-file parameter in innfeed.conf. Be that as it
110 may, the right log file is rotated by scanlogs.
111 innfeed also logs its status in innfeed.status (or the name set in
113 status-file) if gen-html is set to false but this log file is not
114 processed by scanlogs.
115 news
117 This file logs articles received by innd. Typical lines are:
118 Aug 25 13:37:41.839 + news.server.fr <cancel.4066@foo.com> 1658 a.peer other.server.org inpaths!
120 Aug 25 13:37:41.839 c news.server.fr <cancel.4066@foo.com> Cancelling <m070725@foo.com>
121 Aug 25 13:37:54.638 - a.peer <23k82@bar.net> 437 Poison newsgroup
122 The first one indicates that an article from "news.server.fr" has
124 been accepted ("+"). Its Message-ID is "<cancel.4066@foo.com>" and
125 we will send the article to two peers ("a.peer" and
126 "other.server.org", as specified in newsfeeds) and "inpaths!" (see
127 ninpaths for more details about it). The second line mentions that
128 this previous article is a cancel message ("c") for
129 "<m070725@foo.com>" and that it has been processed (inndeed,
130 controlchan processes all control articles except for cancels which
131 are handled by innd). The third line indicates that the article
132 whose Message-ID is "<23k82@bar.net>" has been rejected ("-")
133 because it is posted to a poison newsgroup (a Perl or a Python
134 filter located in pathfilter must have brought that reject along).
135 See the "LOGGING" section of the innd(8) man page for more
137 information about the format of this log file.
138 innreport summarizes the rejected articles reported in this file
140 and scanlogs rotates it.
141 news.crit
143 All critical error messages issued by innd are appended to this
144 file via syslog. This log file should normally be empty. scanlogs
145 will print the first 50 lines of this log file if it is non-empty
146 so that they appear in daily Usenet reports generated by
147 news.daily. Then, scanlogs rotates this log file.
148 You should have the following line in your system syslog.conf file,
150 using a tab character for the delimiter:
151 news.crit <pathlog>/news.crit
153 (A typical entry is shown; it should agree with pathlog in inn.conf
155 and be tab-delimited.)
156 news.err
158 All major error messages issued by innd are appended to this file
159 via syslog. This log file should normally be empty. scanlogs will
160 print the first 50 lines of this log file if it is non-empty so
161 that they appear in daily Usenet reports generated by news.daily.
162 Then, scanlogs rotates this log file.
163 You should have the following line in your system syslog.conf file,
165 using a tab character for the delimiter:
166 news.err <pathlog>/news.err
168 (A typical entry is shown; it should agree with pathlog in inn.conf
170 and be tab-delimited.)
171 news.notice
173 All standard error messages and status messages issued by innd,
174 innfeed, nnrpd and some other programs are appended to this file
175 via syslog. scanlogs uses the Perl script innreport to summarize
176 this file. innreport will also print the first max_unknown unknown
177 lines of this log file if such unrecognized lines are found in
178 news.notice so that they appear in daily Usenet reports generated
179 by news.daily. This parameter can be set in innreport.conf. Then,
180 scanlogs rotates this log file.
181 You should have the following line in your system syslog.conf file,
183 using a tab character for the delimiter:
184 news.notice <pathlog>/news.notice
186 (A typical entry is shown; it should agree with pathlog in inn.conf
188 and be tab-delimited.)
189 nntpsend.log
191 The nntpsend program appends all status messages to this file. It
192 is rotated by scanlogs.
193 perl-nocem.log
195 The perl-nocem program appends all status messages to this file if
196 "Sys::Syslog" is not used (otherwise, such messages are appended to
197 news.notice). It is rotated by scanlogs.
198 send-ihave.log
200 The send-ihave program appends all status messages to this file.
201 It is rotated by scanlogs.
202 send-nntp.log
204 The send-nntp program appends all status messages to this file. It
205 is rotated by scanlogs.
206 send-uucp.log
208 The send-uucp program appends all status messages to this file. It
209 is rotated by scanlogs.
210 unwanted.log
212 This log maintains a count of the number of articles that were
213 rejected because they were posted to newsgroups that do not exist
214 at the local site. This file is updated by innreport while
215 processing the news.notice log file and it is maintained in reverse
216 numeric order (the most popular rejected group first). This file
217 is not rotated so as to keep the count of the articles posted to
218 newsgroups which are absent from the active file of the news
219 server.
220 Note that logtrash has to be set to true in inn.conf for this file
222 to be generated.
223 Finally, these files are also rotated by scanlogs, if they exist, but
225 their contents are not summarized. Here are their names:
226 badcontrol.log
228 badpgp.log
229 failedpgp.log
230 They can be used by programs which PGP verify articles.
232
234 Written by Landon Curt Noll <chongo@toad.com> and Rich $alz
235 <rsalz@uunet.uu.net> for InterNetNews. Rewritten and converted to POD
236 by Julien Elie.
237
239 control.ctl(5), ctlinnd(8), expire(8), expireover(8), expirerm(8),
240 inn.conf(5), innd(8), innfeed.conf(5), innreport(8), innreport.conf(5),
241 news.daily(8), nnrpd(8), nntpsend(8), scanlogs(8), send-ihave(8),
242 send-nntp(8), send-uucp(8), syslog.conf(5), tally.control(8).
243INN 2.6.5 2022-01-23 NEWSLOG(5)