MBUTIL PACK

     Usage:

      MBUTIL Pack [-Backup] [-Force] [-Overwrite] [-Renumber]
                  [-Delete] [-Recover]

     The Pack command can be used to pack the message base files by
     removing deleted messages.

     Pack will by default rewrite the  message base file and delete
     the old files  if the message  base was packed successfully.  If you
     use '-Backup', it will  keep MSGHDR.BAK and MSGTXT.BAK. Note  that I
     don't keep a backup of  the index files. If you should  ever need to
     use your backup message base, just  run 'MBUTIL Index' to create new
     index files. By using  '-Overwrite' you can choose to  overwrite the
     existing files if there's not enough disk space to create new files.
     I personally  always use and  recommend using '-Force'  to overwrite
     the existing message base files,  which has the following advantages
     and disadvantages:

       + It  requires no free  disk space at all,  which is actually the
         reason why I always HAVE to use overwrite mode. :-)

       + It is much faster (especially  since MBUTIL won't rewrite  text
         blocks that don't need to be moved)

       + It causes less  disk fragmentation,  and thus prevents  message
         base access from slowing down.

       - It  is  a  little bit  more  dangerous,  because  if MBUTIL  is
         interrupted  while  overwriting, it  will probably  damage your
         message base beyond repair. 'MBUTIL Index -Delete -Renumber' is
         the  best  you can  do  when  this should  happen.  MBUTIL will
         temporary ignore the Ctrl-Break  and Ctrl-C keys when it  is in
         overwrite-mode so you can't accidentally interrupt it.

    When MBUTIL has  renumbered the messages,  it will update  the
    LASTREAD pointers in LASTREAD.BBS. If USERS.BBS exists it  will also
    update the 'highest read' pointers in  the user records and reformat
    LASTREAD.BBS if necessary. I recommend using  '-Renumber' regularly.
    MBUTIL will automagically renumber if  the highest message number is
    higher than what you defined using the 'AutoRenumber' keyword in the
    control file.

    See 'MBUTIL Index' on  the next page for details  on using '-Delete'
    and '-Recover'.

    Switches:

         -Backup        Keep the original MSGHDR.BBS and MSGTXT.BBS as .BAK
         -Force         Force overwriting of the existing message base files
         -Overwrite     Overwrite existing files only if short of disk space
         -Renumber      Renumber messages and update LASTREAD pointers
         -Delete        Delete messages crosslinked in MSGTXT.BBS
         -Recover       Move messages in invalid boards to the RecoveryBoard