Help with UUCP

[Jim Webb]

> 	My system admin's documentation on installing UUCP gives the following 
> hint for debugging connections by first using the -r option on the UUCP 
> command to force the request to be queued, instead of trying to execute 
> immediately, then invoking Uucico as: 
>   /usr/lib/uucp/uucico -r1 -x4 -ssystem
> This works very nicely the first time I try it, and it has helped 
> immeasureably in troubleshooting my send/expect pairs in the L.sys file.  
> Unfortunately, this command only works once; the second time I get the error 
> message: 
>   RETRY TIME (3300) NOT REACHED
> which I can only get rid of by rebooting the system (or so it seems).

The retry time for uucp is stored in the status file for the machine.  In,
how should I put this, ok, pre-HoneyDanBer uucp, the status file is "usually"

		/usr/spool/uucp/STST.<system>

while HDB puts it in

		/usr/spool/uucp/.Status/<system>

where <system> is (obviously) the name of the machine.  To rid yourself
of the RETRY TIME NOT REACHED problem, just remove the above file and
redo the uucico.

> 	I was under the impression that using the notation 'Any' (minus the 
> quotes, of course) for the time in the L.sys entry would allow me to retry a 
> UUCP command any time I like.  I also tried 'Any,1' to force the minimum 
> retry time to be one minute, with the same results.  

The Any means that you can call the machine at any time.  It is used so
that if you want to call a machine only during certain hours, you can easily
do so.  For example, suppose you just want to call Hawaii only after hours
to save money on phone bills, you would set this field appropriately.

> 	I think a lot of my confusion could be solved if I had a man page
> entry on Uucico. I work on three different Unix systems, and none of them
> has one. I understand that the -x4 flag above sets the debugging level,
> but does anyone know what the -r1 does?

-r1 means put you in the master role, meaning to control the call.  If you
do not use this flag, uucico assumes that it is receiving the call, not
originating it, akin to it being called from login.

>                                         And is there another flag that
> will take care of my retry time error?

Nope.

> 
> 	Finally, since 'Any,1' sets the minimum retry time for UUCP, is
> there any way to set a MAXIMUM retry time? That is, how can I force UUCP
> to try again every five minutes (say) until the queue is empty? My 
> transfers have been occurring, but they have been taking horribly long
> to occur and often do not seem to be retried until I reboot.

The only way uucp is going to look for work is if it is asked by either
running a uucico to that machine, or in HDB, by running uusched.  If you
are having problems with a specific machine, how about putting an entry
in cron to try to call the machine if there is work queued for it.  I
suppose that it would be something like:

	if [ `uustat -s <system>` ]
	then
		rm "the status file"
		/usr/lib/uucp/uucico -r1 -s<system>
	fi

Granted, if you are currently talking with <system> when you run this, you
waste some time, but the lock files will (should) prevent ill happenings.
You could get robust and look into the actual lock files and not call if
you are talking.  I suppose you could look in the status files as well,
but their info is not as reliable.

You should put entries in cron to call uucico or uusched every so often
anyway.  I __THINK__ that in pre-HDB uucp if you call uucico without a
system (eg uucico -r1) it will do the searching for work, but it has been
a while since I used the older uucp.

Have fun!!!
-- 
Jim Webb             "Out of phase--get help"          ...!ihnp4!hropus!jrw
    "Make sure comments and code agree.  If not, write a man page..."