back2roots/padua/padua.7z/padua/uucp/uupoll068.lha/uupoll.man

Text File | 1992-08-03 | 34KB | 714 lines

              __
     /  //  //__)_  / /
    (__/(__//   (_)(_(_

    the UUCP polling server                        R0.68 92/08/03

    (c)Copyright 1991,92 Ralf S. Engelschall, All Rights Reserved.
    (c)Copyright 1991,92 Cyvaned Systems,     All Rights Reserved.


    0 - DISTRIBUTION

      This  material  is  neither  freeware nor shareware nor public domain.
    It's  copyrighted because it was developed for own usage only but may be
    freely destributed to help the Amiga community as long as no changes are
    made  in  the  whole material and no charge is made for the distribution
    except for magnetic media, mailing materials and postage.

      Using  this  program  implies  that  you  have  accepted  all  licence
    statements and/or conditions specified within this document.


    1 - DISCLAIMER

      THE  AUTHOR  MAKES  NO  WARRANTIES,  EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, WITH
    RESPECT  TO  THE  MATERIAL  DESCRIBED  HEREIN, ITS QUALITY, PERFORMANCE,
    MERCHANTABILITY,  OR  FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  THIS MATERIAL
    IS  PROVIDED  "AS  IS"  AND  THE  ENTIRE  RISK  AS  TO  ITS  QUALITY AND
    PERFORMANCE IS WITH THE USER.  IN NO EVENT WILL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
    ANY  GENERAL  OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL
    OR  CONSEQUENTIAL  DAMAGES  RESULTING  FROM  THE  USE  OF  THIS  PROGRAM
    (INCLUDING  BUT  NOT  LIMITED  TO  LOSS  OF  DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED
    INACCURATE  OR  LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF
    THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS).


    2 - RIGHTS RESERVED

      The  author  reserves  the right to make changes in the whole material
    identified  in  this  puplication without notice and to distribute other
    revisions under different licence statements and/or conditions.


    3 - NOTE

      Please  excuse my uneven english, because it's not my nativeálanguage.
    But  writing  this  documentation in german would decrease the number of
    people  who  can  understand  the  function  of UUPOLL and I hate german
    descriptions   of   international   spreaded  material  because  of  the
    non-technical character of the german language.  Thanks in advance!


    4 - ABOUT

    4.1 SHORT OVERVIEW

    -  controls the execution of a UUCICO child as the parent part
    -  checks for correct hostname and polling-time violation
    -  controls abortion of UUCICO due to a precalculated restriction time
    -  operates dependendly on status of last session
    -  operates dependendly on (specific) pending work
    -  controls dialup retries due to busy line or other UUCICO failures
    -  controls abortions due to user interupts
    -  can be disabled through a job control feature for crontab interventions
    -  can abort a startup due to or break an already running UUCICO process
    -  can give information about polling times and host status
    -  can setup your modem before start of a polling session
    -  can spawn UUCICO with additional options
    -  can spawn own user command after a (successful) session
    -  full UUCP logfile support similar to UUCICO
    -  can run under full runtime debugging with variable debug level


    4.2 DETAILED DESCRIPTION

      UUPOLL  is a polling server written for the UUCICO from the Amiga UUCP
    package  (V1.15  or  later).  If you don't know anything about UUCP this
    utility  won't  be  for you and you should stop reading here and discard
    it.   If  you  have already installed and configured an UUCP package (at
    least  the  transport  layer  and the main configuration from Amiga UUCP
    V1.15D  or  later  is  needed)  on your system you should be able to use
    UUPOLL  directly  without  setups.  If not, stop here and configure your
    UUCP system first, really!

      You  will  probably  ask, why we need a polling server?  UUCP's UUCICO
    command  handles  all  we  need  when polling a host, i.e.  all transfer
    operations  in  detail.  So if you are polling your NewsFeed once a week
    (which  is actually ok for a leafsite only!), calling UUCICO manually is
    simple  and  works.   But  if you have many polling operations a day the
    handling of UUCICO will actually require nerves of steel because it is a
    simple  transfer  command  for UUCP connections only and doesn't provide
    great comfort.

      Another boring thing to us was that we often need many polling retries
    before  successfully  connecting  to  heavily loaded hosts with few idle
    telco  lines.   At  this  situation we had to reenter the UUCICO command
    manually for each retry operation while waiting in front of our machines
    observing  the  polling  processes.  At first we had used a AmigaDOS(tm)
    batch  script  distributed  with  AmigaUUCP  1.13D to automate the retry
    procedure.   This  worked fine but not very elegant, because it used bad
    things  like  a  dummy transfer file to check if UUCICO's last retry was
    actually successful.

      Another  big  problem  (also not handled by UUCICO or the batch script
    mentioned) is that UUCICO doesn't stop when the polling time is over due
    to  a  given  time  restriction,  i.e.  the polling time is reserved but
    limited  by  the  remote  system.  One of our remote systems for example
    reserves  us  a  polling time of one half hour from four o'clock to half
    past  four  every  morning to do all daily transfers.  No other host had
    the  right  to  poll at this time interval.  This has the advantage that
    there  aren't  any  retries  when  connecting  because the telco line is
    explicitly  reserved  for  us.  The "disadvantage" is, that at half past
    four another reserved polling time (of another host) starts, which means
    that  we  have  actually  only the right to use the phoneline up to half
    past four and no longer.

      At  half  past  four the phoneline have to be given free, otherwise we
    will  become  a  great deal of flames from the sysop of the host polling
    after us because we had used his reserved time interval.  Usually we had
    a  connection  time  between 15 and 25 minutes on this polling sequence.
    But  sometimes  there is so many traffic inside our requested newsgroups
    that we still transferring data at half past four.  At this situation we
    had to interrupt UUCICO because our polling time is over.  To solve this
    problem  we  had  stopped  UUCICO  via  'break'  command  started by our
    'crontab'  at  half  past  four.   This worked also fine but only little
    elegant.

      The  next  big  problem  was  the fact, that after breaking UUCICO the
    remote  host will hold not already transferred data until we poll again.
    That's ok so no data will be lost.  But the really problem is that a lot
    of data is waiting for us if we break the next polling session again and
    then the next one also and the next one...  To solve this we had started
    UUCICO at a second time (some hours later) where all host can poll which
    don't  have  a  reserved polling-time.  So we had the ability to receive
    all  remaining  data from this remote host at this session but we had to
    do  this  manually  because  if  the first connection wasn't breaked the
    second  one  would be redundant and cost phone units only.  The only way
    to  solve  this correct and elegant is to know, whether the last polling
    session was successful.

      You  see,  these  are  all  problems  which can be solved by writing a
    intelligent   server   program  for  UUCICO  which  handles  _all_  this
    situations  _automatically  without us_.  So UUPOLL mushroomed out of my
    brian...


    5 - REQUIREMENTS

      As  mentioned  above you have to install a UUCP package like AmigaUUCP
    from Matt Dillon (V1.15 or later) or compatible.  For detail have a look
    at  the  manual  pages of _your_ UUCP software.  UUPOLL relies on UUCICO
    and UUXQT of V1.15D or later only, but you should have a correct package
    at all.


    6 - INSTALLATION

      If  you  have a already configured UUCP system, installing UUPOLL will
    be  quite  simple:   Just  copy  UUPOLL to the same directory where your
    UUCICO stays.  Thats important because otherwise UUPOLL wouldn't be able
    to  fork  the  UUCICO command.  Usually UUPOLL and UUCICO are staying at
    UUBIN:   or UUCP:C/ where all other UUCP command are.  Of course you can
    (but  why should you?) give UUPOLL another name by renaming it.  It acts
    in all situations with its AmigaDOS(tm) name.

      But  be  sure  that the following things are already configured before
    you try to run UUPOLL successful.  Otherwise do it now!

      You  need  a  correct  UULIB:l.sys  file,  where  UUPOLL  can  extract
    informations  about  the  host  you  want  to  poll (i.e.  if it exists,
    baudrate,  allowed  polling  times).   This  should  already  exist  and
    configured  correctly  because this is also used by SENDMAIL and UUCICO.
    For  example,  have  a  look  at  a  part of UULIB:l.sys of site CyvaNT2
    (angle.muc.sub.org):

      :
      | # CyvaNT1 (cyvaned.sub.org)
     !| cyvaned Any SER: 9600 ATS7=060DP97990 ogin: Uangle sword: XXXXXX
      |
      | # Alcolix (brumuc.muc.sub.org)
     !| brumuc 04:00-04:30,08:00-10:00,12:15-12:45,13:15-15:00,
    ... 16:15-18:30,19:00-20:30 SER: 9600 ATDP0893544971 in: Uangle rd: XX
     !| brumuc 04:15-04:50 SER: 9600 ATDP0893544023 in: Uangle rd: XX
      :

      As  you can see, `angle' has direct connections to hosts `cyvaned' and
    `brumuc'.   At  `cyvaned'  there is one phoneline only, `brumuc' has two
    phonelines.   Notice  that  UUPOLL supports such multiline entries, too.
    Both  have  many  reserved times, so `angle' have to know all these time
    intervals  where it is allowed to poll each host (these times are given,
    not  the reserved ones!).  UUPOLL checks for these time intervals, so be
    careful:   Take  them  up to date!  Notice, a bad time-field (the second
    field) will produce a bad `host status' ("-i").

      If  you want to use the `automatic hostname' feature (which is useful,
    if  you  poll only one host or one host the most of the time), i.e.  not
    specifying  one  of  the  "-s" or "-S" option, make sure that UUPOLL can
    open  a  file  called  UULIB:config  where  it  can  find  a field named
    "DefaultHost".  For example, `angle's config-file looks like this:

      :
      | NodeName       angle
      | UserName       rse
      | RealName       Ralf S. Engelschall
      | Organization   Cyvaned Systems
      | DomainName     .muc.sub.org
     !| DefaultNode    brumuc.muc.sub.org
      | TimeZone       CET
      | LockDir        uuspool:
      | MungeCase      N
      | Debug          0
      | Filter         ed -sticky
      | RFilter        ed -sticky
      | MailEditor     ed -sticky
      | NewsEditor     ed -sticky
      :

      UUPOLL  strips off domains automatically when extracting the hostname,
    setting  this  field  to "brumuc", "brumuc.uucp" or "brumuc.muc.sub.org"
    results always in a default hostname of "brumuc".

      If  you  want  to  use the modem setup function ('-m') make sure, that
    UUPOLL  can  find  a  correct  setup  file called UULIB:modemsetup.  For
    details  about the layout of this file see the paragraph below where the
    '-m' option is explained.

      The  only  thing which UUPOLL uses and which you need not configure is
    the  UUCP  logfile,  called  UUSPOOL:logfile.   Here, UUPOLL appends (as
    UUCICO,  UUXQT,  etc.   do)  his  logbook-messages.  Notice, that UUPOLL
    defaults  to  do no console output.  The only way to check what was done
    or  went  wrong  is  to  look  at this file (unless the runtime debug is
    enabled).


    7 - USAGE

    7.1 SHORT OVERVIEW

    uupoll [-s [System]] [-S [System]] [-r Num] [-d Sec] [-t Min]
           [-u Arg] [-m] [-n [UserName]] [-e [Cmnd]] [-E [Cmnd]]
           [-p [[+|-]Files]] [-P [[+|-]Bytes]] [-a] [-c [Mode]] [-j [Status]]
           [-i] [-I] [-x Num] [-v] [-?]

    s  poll the specified system             u  additional uucico arguments
    S  as 's' but ignore time restriction    m  setup modem before startup
    r  number of retries before giving up    n  notify user if session fails
    d  seconds of retry delay time           e  execute after polling session
    t  minutes of restriction time           E  as 'e' but execute always

    p  poll only if pending files            i  short host status information
    P  poll only if pending (k)bytes         I  long host status information
    a  always poll - ignore success status   x  number of debuglevel
    c  check for already spawned uucico      v  version info
    j  switch/set job control status         ?  usage info


    7.2 DETAILED DESCRIPTION

    [-s [System]]  "poll the specified system"

      This  specifies  the  system  which  UUPOLL should poll.  Use the UUCP
    name,  not the logic one, i.e.  at `angle' I have to set it to `cyvaned'
    instead  of `CyvaNT1' and `brumuc' instead of `Alcolix'.  If this option
    isn't  used,  UUPOLL extracts the hostname of the field "DefaultHost" in
    UULIB:config.


    [-S [System]]  "as 's' but ignore time restriction"

      This  specifies also the system which UUPOLL should poll, but with the
    addition  that  this  "profanes"  the holy situation of restriction time
    violation.  This is similar to UUCICO's -S option.

      The advantage of this option would be that you can use a polling trick
    introduced by T.Lotterer ([e-mail]).  Think about
    his  situation:   He wanted to poll one of his NewsFeeds and waits until
    no  reserved  time  is  active because he didn't want to steal someone's
    reserved  time.   Now  he starts to dialup his NewsFeed but the line was
    busy, busy, busy...

      The  reason  why this happens was clear:  All other hosts act similar.
    The  only  solution  to avoid this situation would be to start polling a
    few  minutes  before  all  other  would  do, i.e.  starting _before_ the
    reserved time would be over.  Oh, you think thats not ok, because now we
    use  someones  reserved  time?   That's right, but no one would disagree
    because  if  someone is still polling at his reserved time, he could not
    be  interrupted  and  if he has already finished he has no reason why he
    should disagree with us.

      So  if  T.Lotterer  wanted  to poll his NewsFeed he waits until 30% or
    more  of  the currently active reserved time is over and then started to
    dialup his NewsFeed.

      This  feature is also useful for debugging without having to alter the
    l.sys file.


    [-r Num]  "number of retries before giving up"

      This  indicates the total number of re(!)tries.  Remember that retries
    means  that  the  first  retry  is trial number 2!  A retry of zero (the
    default) forces UUPOLL to try only once and then give up.


    [-d Sec]  "seconds of retry delay time"

      This  indicates  the number of seconds which UUPOLL will wait until it
    starts  a  new  dial retry.  Default is no delay time (0 seconds).  This
    was originally introduced for special situations to avoid too many dials
    which  result  in  a  lot  of  unused telephone units due to a telephone
    number change without notice by one of our NewsFeeds.

      It  also  keeps  the  line a bit idle between retries, allowing remote
    sites to log into your local system.


    [-t Min]  "minutes of restriction time"

      If  specified  with  a  number  not equal zero this sets the number of
    minutes  after  which UUPOLL should terminate UUCICO.  This timer starts
    immediately after you have started UUPOLL.  I call this the 'restriction
    time'  for  the  polling  session.   If  this  option  is  left,  UUPOLL
    calculated  the  minutes  out  of  the  given  time  intervals  found in
    UULIB:l.sys.


    [-u Arg]  "additional UUCICO arguments"

      This  specifies  the  additional(!)  arguments  for  the  UUCICO call.
    UUPOLL   starts  UUCICO  always  with  "UUCICO  -S{hostname}"  and  will
    optionally add this string to the end of that `calling command'.  If you
    wish  no  addidtionl args you have to specify `-u' only.  The default is
    "-7" which indicates that UUCICO should use a 7-Wire-Handshake.

      But  notice,  you  have  to  specify  the  option argument string in a
    special  form  if  you use a seperation blank between UUPOLLs option and
    the option argument.  You have to write `-u " -X -Y -Z ..."' (notice the
    blank  character  after the first quotation mark!) instead of `-u "-X -Y
    -Z  ..."'.   This  is  no  bug  in  UUPOLL, its a special case in option
    parsing.


    [-m]  "setup modem before startup"

      If  specified  this  indicates UUPOLL to setup your modem according to
    the commands found in UULIB:modemsetup before it starts the first UUCICO
    process.

      This  configuration file is the only introduction of UUPOLL, all other
    configuration  files  should  already exist.  The layout of this file is
    similar   to  NEWSCTL:sys  of  CNEWS,  which  specifies  the  newsgroups
    interchanged  with each host.  Instead of explaining this, please have a
    exact look at 'angle' ones.

      :
     !| default:\
      | ATZ,ATE1,ATH0,ATK1,ATL3,ATM2,ATQ0,ATV1,ATX4,\
      | ATS0=000,ATS2=043,ATS3=013,ATS4=010,ATS5=008,ATS6=002,ATS7=060,ATS8=002,ATS9=010,\
      | ATS10=015,ATS12=050,ATS18=000,ATS25=000,ATS26=000,\
      | AT&B0,AT&C1,AT&D2,AT&H1,AT&L0,AT&M0,AT&R2,\
      | AT*A0,AT*D0,AT*E1,AT*F3,AT*P0,AT*Q0,AT*S1,AT*E1,AT*U0,\
      | AT&W
      |
     !| cyvaned:\
      | AT*E1,AT&W
      |
     !| brumuc:\
      | AT*E0,AT&W
      :

      ATTENTION!  Don't forget the "AT&W" (or your modem equivalent) command
    at  the  end  of your AT command sequence.  If you forget this, no setup
    effect  will  happen  because when UUPOLL closes the serial.device after
    its modemsetup the serial.device will drop the DTR (Data Terminal Ready)
    signal  which  has  the  result that your modem will reset itself to its
    last  configuration  which  had exist before the last AT&W command.  Use
    the  third field of UULIB:l.sys for setups which should not remain after
    the  polling  session  and  use  UUPOLL's UULIB:modemsetup for permanent
    setups only.

      Notice,   if   no   entry  for  the  current  host  can  be  found  in
    UULIB:modemsetup, the modemsetup function uses the commands given at the
    fake-hostentry named "default".

      BE CAREFUL!  Use the ModemSetup with care.  No, it has no serious bugs
    in  code,  but has a lot of problems with the other commands of the UUCP
    package, i.e.  UUCICO and GETTY.  The first problem occurs if you try to
    poll   with   modemsetup  while  GETTY  is  running.   GETTY  locks  the
    serial.device  explicitly,  so  UUPOLL  wouldn't  be  able  to  open the
    serial.device.   The  second  problem comes up, if you try to run UUPOLL
    with  the  LOCKSERIAL command.  This works fine for UUPOLL, i.e.  it now
    could setup your modem, but UUCICO will hang forever because it tries to
    lock the serial.device too and comes never back...  The only solution is
    either  to kill GETTY when using the modemsetup function of UUPOLL or to
    leave this feature unused.


    [-n [UserName]]  "notify user if session fails"

      If  you  specify  this  option  and the polling session fails due to a
    restriction  timeout or maximal number of retries the given user (or per
    default  `postmaster')  will  be  notified  about  this.   The user will
    receive a message like the following:

    | From UUPOLL-DAEMON Fri, 12 Jun 1992 22:23:40 +0200
    | Return-Path: <UUPOLL-DAEMON>
    | Received: by angle.muc.sub.org (\/<>\/ SmailAmiga 1.02j21)
    |       id <m0lwK20-00002Qc>; Fri, 12 Jun 1992 22:23:40 +0200
    | Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
    | Date: Fri, 12 Jun 1992 22:23:40 +0200
    | From: [e-mail] (UUCP Admin Subsystem)
    | To: postmaster
    | Subject: brumuc: polling failed
    | X-Status: OR
    |
    | [autogenerated message]
    |
    | Local Time  : Fri Jun 12 22:23:36 1992
    | Remote Host : brumuc
    | Status      : polling failed
    |
    | --
    | UUPOLL-DAEMON


    [-e [Cmnd]]  "execute after polling session"

      This specifies the user command which will be executed by UUPOLL after
    a  polling  session.   The  default  is  the  UUXQT command.  It will be
    executed after..
     .. a successful UUCICO session
     .. UUPOLL was aborted due to a restriction timeout
     .. UUPOLL was aborted by the user or by a UUCICO break/software error
    To disable the execution of a user command specify `-e' only.


    [-E [Cmnd]]  "as 'e' but execute always"

      This  is  the  same as 'e' but with the only difference that this will
    force UUPOLL to execute the user command _always_, even if it terminates
    due  to  a internal error or any other conditions.  To force the default
    user  command  to be executed always, specify `-E' - not `-E ""' because
    this will indicate `no user command'.


    [-p [[+|-]Files]]  "poll only if pending files"

      This  option  indicates  UUPOLL to poll only if there is pending work,
    i.e.   number  of  spooled  files, for the host.  Per default (or if the
    option  `-p0'  is  given)  UUPOLL  does  no  such  check.  If `-p{N}' is
    specified UUPOLL polls according to the following rules:

        N>0 : poll only if more or equal to N pending files
        N=0 : poll independend of any pending files (same as not specifing
              this option)
        N<0 : poll only if less or equal to N pending files

      The  default (if '-p' is specified without an argument) is one or more
    pending  files (so, '-p' is equal to '-p1').  This option was introduced
    for `DEMAND' pollings.


    [-P [[+|-]Bytes]] poll only if pending (k)bytes

      This  option  indicates  UUPOLL to poll only if there is pending work,
    i.e.   number  of  spooled kilo bytes, for the host.  Per default (or if
    the  option  `-P0'  is  given) UUPOLL does no such check.  If `-P{N}' is
    specified UUPOLL polls according to the following rules:

        N>0 : poll only if more or equal to N KBytes data
        N=0 : poll independend of any pending data (same as not specifing
              this option)
        N<0 : poll only if less or equal to N KBytes data

      The  default (if '-P' is specified without an argument) is one or more
    pending files (so, '-P' is equal to '-P10').  This option was introduced
    for `DEMAND' pollings.  Notice, this option has higher priority as '-p'!


    [-a]  "always poll - ignore last status"

      This  forces  UUPOLL to start the polling procedure independend of its
    status  of  the  last  session,  i.e.   whether  the  last  session  was
    successful or not.

      UUPOLL  sets a enviroment variable (`UUPOLL.STAT.{hostname}') for each
    host  automatically  after a polling session to `SUCCESSFUL' or `FAILED'
    according  to  the  results of the polling procedure.  At startup UUPOLL
    checks  for  this  variable  and  does  nothing if its status is already
    `SUCCESSFUL'.  But if you specify this option UUPOLL treats it always as
    `FAILED'  and  starts  the  polling  procedure  even if the last one was
    already successful.  This should be used in the following context with a
    `crontab', e.g.  here is `angle's crontab:

      :
      | 05  03  *   *   *       trimsys
      | 10  03  28  *   *       autoinpaths angle mailto
    ... [e-mail]
      | 10  03  *   *   *       uppub
      | 15  03  *   *   *       bms batch
      | 20  03  *   *   *       batchsite cyvaned
      | 25  03  *   *   *       gettyctl run on
      | 40  03  *   *   *       uupoll -p -c0 -d120 -r3 -t20 -Scyvaned
    ... -u " -7 -p3"
      | 45  03  *   *   *       gettyctl off shut
      | 50  03  *   *   *       batchsite brumuc
     !| 00  04  *   *   *       uupoll -a -c1 -d120 -r6 -t30 -Sbrumuc
    ... -u " -7 -p3" -e poll.workup
      | 55  04  *   *   *       uumsg.daily
      | 59  04  *   *   *       shutdown
      :

      :
     !| 00  08  *   *   *       uupoll -c1 -d120 -r6 -t60 -Sbrumuc
      | 59  08  *   *   *       shutdown
      :

      As you can see, the cron-daemon starts a polling session every morning
    at  four  o'clock  to  connect  to  host  `brumuc'.  As mentioned above,
    `angle'  has  a reserved polling time at host `brumuc' from four to half
    past  four.   So UUPOLL is started with a restriction time of 30 minutes
    (of  course  this could be left, then UUPOLL calculates these 30 minutes
    out of the UULIB:l.sys entry for host `brumuc).

      UUPOLL  now  connects  to  `brumuc'  with a maximum of 30 minutes.  If
    there  would  be more data than `angle' could get in this time interval,
    UUPOLL  breaks  at  half  past  four.   Then  the status of this polling
    session  is  set  to  `FAILED'  which lets the second UUPOLL (started at
    eight  o'clock)  to  go on with the transmission.  If the first sesssion
    would be successful the second UUPOLL does nothing!



    [-c [Mode]]  "check for already spawned UUCICO"

      This option was introduced for special situations.  It tells UUPOLL to
    check  for a running UUCICO process at startup.  Have a look again at my
    crontab:

      :
      | 25  03  *   *   *       gettyctl run on
      | 40  03  *   *   *       uupoll -p -c0 -d120 -r3 -t20 -Scyvaned
    ... -u " -7 -p3"
      | 45  03  *   *   *       gettyctl off shut
      :

      First,  the  background:   the  connection  `angle' <-> `cyvaned' is a
    daily  DEMAND connection, i.e.  if one of these hosts have pending work,
    it  polls  the  other.   To  implement  this  connection  we  could give
    `cyvaned'  a  time  from  03:00-03:30  to  poll  `angle' and a time from
    03:30-04:00  for `angle' to poll `cyvaned'.  Then at each host UUPOLL is
    started  with  the `-p' option (see above) to poll only if pending work.
    This  would  work  fine,  because  if  `cyvaned' had work it polls angle
    first,  then  `angle'  will  not poll back even if there _was_ work, but
    will poll if `cyvaned' hadn't polled.

      The  only  "problem"  is, that we had to reserve two(!) polling times!
    To solve this "problem", we can use the `-c0' option from UUPOLL:

      We  reserve  only  one  polling  time  from  03:30  for  both  polling
    directions.   As  you can see from 03:25-03:45 the GETTY command runs to
    observe  the  phoneline  and  to  answer  incoming  calls.  This is done
    because  `cyvaned'  tries  always  to  start  a  connection  first.   So
    `cyvaned'  has  15  (actually 20 but it start dialing `angle' at 03:30!)
    minutes  to  dial  `angle'.  If `cyvaned' didn't poll `angle' (due to no
    pending  work) and `angle' has pending work, `angle' polls `cyvaned' ten
    minutes  after  the  polling  time  interval  starts  (i.e.  03:40).  If
    `cyvaned' polls `angle', `angle' (i.e.  UUPOLL on `angle') had to now at
    03:40 if it should poll back or not.

      The `-p' option does a goof work only, if the connection would be less
    than  10  minutes  (i.e.   the connection is finished at 03:40).  If the
    connection  still  in  process, this doesn't work.  But the '-c0' option
    tells  UUPOLL  to  abort  immediately  after startup if there is still a
    connection active (i.e.  a still running UUCICO process).

      Another feature is `-c1':  This tells UUPOLL to break a UUCICO process
    which  is  still active at UUPOLL startup.  This is useful when you want
    your system to poll out even if there is still a active incoming polling
    process (i.e.  a host is still polling your system).


    [-j [Status]]  "switch/set job control status"

      UUPOLL can be disabled via this option, i.e.  you can forbid UUPOLL to
    do  anything  (except  host  status)  until  you  permit it again.  `-j'
    switches  the  status from `disabled' to `enabled' or vice versa.  `-j0'
    disables,  `-j1'  enables  UUPOLL.   UUPOLL uses the enviroment variable
    UUPOLL.JOBCTL to store the status of this flag.

    This option was introduced for crontab interventions.


    [-i [Mode]]  "current host status information"

      This  option  tells  UUPOLL  not  to poll actually but to give you the
    current host status.  This function can be used in conjunction with `-s'
    to  display  a  particular  host status.  You can specify an argument to
    this  option:  "0" for short host status (without the 72 hour chart) and
    "1" for long hoststatus.  Specifing no argument to `-i' acts like `-i0',
    i.e.  the short hoststatus is displayed.

    The short host status will look like the following:

      | UUPoll Host Status on angle          Sat Jun 06 20:24:28 1992
      |
      | remote host  : brumuc
      | last polling : failed
      |
      | ACTIVE polling time intervall [#]    NEXT polling time intervall
      | from Sat/19:00 to Sat/20:30          from Sun/04:00 to Sun/04:50
      | total time 01:30, remaining 00:06    total time 00:50, in 07:36

    The long host status will look like the following:

      | UUPoll Host Status on angle                        Sat Jun 0 ...
      |
      | remote host  : brumuc                                   [|]  ...
      | last polling : failed                                   [.]
      |                                                              ...
      | 55 ||...||.||.#............||...||.||.|............||...||.|
      | 50 ||...||.||.#............||...||.||.|............||...||.| ...
      | 45 ||...||.||.#........|...||...||.||.|........|...||...||.|
      | 40 ||..|||.||.#........|...||..|||.||.|........|...||..|||.| ...
      | 35 ||..|||.||.#........|...||..|||.||.|........|...||..|||.|
      | 30 ||..|||.||.#........|...||..|||.||.|........|...||..|||.| ...
      | 25 ||..|||.|||#X.......|...||..|||.|||||.......|...||..|||.|
      | 20 ||..|||.|||##.......|...||..|||.|||||.......|...||..|||.| ...
      | 15 ||..|||.|||##.......|...||..|||.|||||.......|...||..|||.|
      | 10 ||....|..||##.......|...||....|..||||.......|...||....|.. ...
      | 05 ||....|..||##.......|...||....|..||||.......|...||....|..
      | 00 ||....|..||##.......|...||....|..||||.......|...||....|.. ...
      |                ^
      |    890123456789012301234567890123456789012301234567890123456 ...
      |      1         2   Sun       1         2   Mon       1
      |                                                              ...
      | ACTIVE polling time intervall [#]    NEXT polling time inter
      | from Sat/19:00 to Sat/20:30          from Sun/04:00 to Sun/0 ...
      | total time 01:30, remaining 00:05    total time 00:50, in 07

      As  you  can  see  this will give you a full overview of all essential
    polling information.  You will get

        - the local time (upper right hand corner)
        - the remote host and its last polling status
        - a 72 hour polling time chart (hours on x-axis, minutes on y-axis)
        - information about the time interval which is currently active
        - information about the next permitted time interval

    Look a while at this output to understand it and you will love it!


    [-x Num]  "number of debuglevel"

      Because  UUPOLL  does no console output (except polling time violation
    message  or  host  status)  until  you set the Runtime-Debugging you can
    specify the debuglevel (0-9) with this option.  A level of zero means no
    debugging info, a level of nine means full debug output to the console.


    [-v]  "version info"
    [-?]  "usage info"

      Specify  one of these options to let UUPOLL display either the version
    page or the usage page to the console.



    8 - EXAMPLES

    $ uupoll

      This  is the simplest way to use UUPOLL.  It will extract the hostname
    of  UULIB:config, does no retries and delays, calculates its restriction
    timeout  to the current active time situation, spawns UUCICO via 'UUCICO
    -s{defaulthost} -7', does no modem setup, polls only if the last polling
    has failed and gives no console output.

    $ uupoll -i -scyvaned

      This  will  display  the  host  status  for  `cyvaned'.  No polling is
    actually done.

    $ uupoll -a -r10 -scyvaned

      This  will  poll host `cyvaned', ignore the current host status to and
    do a maximum of 10 retries if it couldn't connect.

    $ uupoll -a -p -Sbrumuc

      Now  UUPOLL  would  always  poll  host  `brumuc',  even  if there is a
    reserved  time  currently  active  (`-S')  or  if  the  last  status was
    successful (`-a'), but not if there is no pending work for this site.

    $ uupoll -a -r10 -p3 -d120 -t30 -scyvaned -e poll.workup

      Now UUPOLL would poll host `cyvaned' idependently of the last session,
    but  only  if  at least three command files are waiting for `cyvaned' in
    the  spool directory.  UUPOLL has thirty minutes to operate, should do a
    maxium  of  ten retries and waits two minutes between each retry.  After
    completing  the  polling  session  successful  UUPOLL should execute the
    script file `poll.workup' (script bit set!).


    9 - REPORTS

      If  you  have  any questions, incitements, comments, criticisms or bug
    reports, please contact me via email and let me know about it!


                                           Ralf S. Engelschall
                                           [e-mail]