NAME

       filechan - file-writing backend for InterNetNews

SYNOPSIS

       filechan [ -d directory ] [ -f fields ] [ -m mapfile ] [ -p pidfile ]

DESCRIPTION

       Filechan reads lines from standard input and copies certain fields in each line into files
       named by other fields within the line.  Filechan is intended to be called by innd(8) as  a
       channel  feed.   (It is not a full exploder and does not accept commands; see newsfeeds(5)
       for a description of the difference and buffchan(8) for an exploder program.)

       Filechan input is interpreted as a set of lines.  Each line contains  a  fixed  number  of
       initial  fields,  followed  by a variable number of filename fields.  All fields in a line
       are separated by whitespace.  The default number of initial fields is one.

       For each line of input, filechan writes the initial fields, separated  by  whitespace  and
       followed by a newline, to each of the files named in the filename fields.  When writing to
       a file, filechan opens it in append mode and tries to lock it and change the ownership  to
       the user and group who owns the directory where the file is being written.

OPTIONS

       -f     The ``-f'' flag may be used to specify a different number of fields.

       -d     By    default,    filechan    writes    its    arguments    into    the   directory
              /var/spool/news/out.going.  The ``-d'' flag may be used to specify a directory  the
              program should change to before starting.

       -p     If the ``-p'' flag is used, the program will write a line containing its process ID
              (in text) to the specified file.

       If filechan is invoked with ``-f 2'' and given the following input:
              news/software/b/132 <1643@munnari.oz.au> foo uunet
              news/software/b/133 <102060@litchi.foo.com> uunet munnari
              comp/sources/unix/2002 <999@news.foo.com> foo uunet munnari

       Then the file foo will have these lines:
              news/software/b/132 <1643@munnari.oz.au>
              comp/sources/unix/2002 <999@news.foo.com>

       the file munnari will have these lines:
              news/software/b/133 <102060@litchi.foo.com>
              comp/sources/unix/2002 <999@news.foo.com>

       and the file uunet will have these lines:
              news/software/b/132 <1643@munnari.oz.au>
              news/software/b/133 <102060@litchi.foo.com>
              comp/sources/unix/2002 <999@news.foo.com>

       Because the time window in which a file is open is very small,  complicated  flushing  and
       locking  protocols  are not needed; a mv(1) followed by a sleep(1) for a couple of seconds
       is sufficient.

       -m     A map file may be specified by using  the  ``-m''  flag.   Blank  lines  and  lines
              starting  with  a number sign (``#'') are ignored.  All other lines should have two
              host names separated by a colon.  The first field is the name that  may  appear  in
              the  input  stream; the second field names the file to be used when the name in the
              first field appears.  For example, the following map file may be used  to  map  the
              short names above to the full domain names:
              # This is a comment
              uunet:news.uu.net
              foo:foo.com
              munnari:munnari.oz.au

HISTORY

       Written  by Robert Elz <kre@munnari.oz.au>, flags added by Rich $alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net>.
       This is revision 1.19, dated 1996/10/29.

SEE ALSO

       buffchan(8), innd(8), newsfeeds(5).

                                                                                      FILECHAN(8)