.\" @(#)man/man8/checkerr.an	1.3 8/2/92 03:32:33
.TH CHECKERR X_MAN8_EXT_X "31 January 1988" "Local"
.SH NAME
checkerr \- check for serious errors encountered by smail
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B "X_UTIL_BIN_DIR_X/checkerr"
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I Checkerr
reads through the spool area used by
.IR smail (8)
and looks for serious processing errors detected by smail.  Whenever
new errors are detected, a summary is mailed to ``Postmaster,'' which
is assumed to be an address for the user who is responsible for
maintaining the smail software and configuration.  In addition to
this, a number of cleanup operations are performed.
.PP
.I Checkerr
should be run periodically from
.IR cron (8).
Once per day should be sufficient.  Make certain that checkerr is
executed under a user and group ID that can write to the directories
in the smail spool areas.
.PP
The
.I checkerr
detects message spool files under the smail
.I error
directory.  If any files have appeared since the last time
.I checkerr
was executed, a summary is mailed to the Postmaster.  A quick check is
made to determine if mail to ``Postmaster'' will actually succeed.  If
not, the error summary is left in the file
.I .checkerror
in the
.I error
directory.
.PP
The error summary mailed to the Postmaster will include any logged
information pertaining to the failed messages.  The per-message
transaction log, the smail transaction log and the panic log are all
used as sources of this information.
.SH FILES
.TP 1.5i
.I "X_LIB_DIR_X/config"
The main smail configuration file.  A second smail configuration file
can also be specified in
.IR config .
.TP 1.5i
.I "X_SMAIL_NAME_X"
The default executable used for attempting to deliver error summaries
to the postmaster.
.TP 1.5i
.I "X_LOGFILE_X"
The default name for the transaction log file.  This can be changed in
the smail config file.
.TP 1.5i
.I "X_OLD_LOGDIR_X"/logfile.0
Archived version of the transaction log file.  The directory "X_OLD_LOGDIR_X"
is changed to be under the directory where the logfile resides, and thus
can be changed in the smail config file.
.TP 1.5i
.I "X_OLD_LOGDIR_X"/logfile.1X_DOT_Z_X
Previous compressed archive version of the transaction log file.
The directory "X_OLD_LOGDIR_X" is changed to be under the directory
where the logfile resides, and thus can be changed in the smail config file.
.TP 1.5i
.I "X_PANICLOG_X"
The default name for the panic log file.  This can be changed in the
smail config file.
.TP 1.5i
.I "X_OLD_LOGDIR_X"/paniclog.0
Archive for the panic log file.  This can be changed in the
smail config file.
.TP 1.5i
.I "X_OLD_LOGDIR_X"/paniclog.1X_DOT_Z_X
Previous compressed archive for the panic log file.  This can be
changed in the smail config file.
.TP 1.5i
.I "X_SPOOL_DIRS_X"
.ie 'X_MAIN_SPOOL_DIR_X'X_SPOOL_DIRS_X'\{The
top of the default smail spool directory tree.
\}
.el\{The default, colon separated, list of smail spool directory trees.
Delivery is attempted at intervals from each of these trees.  In
addition, errors in spooling new messages to trees earlier in the list
will result in attempts to spool to trees later in the list.
.PP
The directories listed below are an example of the contents under each
of these trees:
\}
.TP 1.5i
.I "X_SPOOL_DIRS_X/input"
The directory into which incoming messages are spooled.  Each file in
this directory has a unique 14 character name derived from the message
ID used internally by the
.I smail
program.  Delivery is attempted at intervals for each of these files.
.TP 1.5i
.I "X_SPOOL_DIRS_X/lock"
A directory containing lock files.  On systems which do not have an
efficient file locking primative, files are created under this
directory to prevent simultaneous processing of messages by concurrant
invocations of the
.I smail
program.
.TP 1.5i
.I "X_SPOOL_DIRS_X/msglog"
A directory containing per-message transaction logs.
.I Smail
maintains these logfiles to keep track of which recipients have
received a particular mail message, and what errors have so far been
found while delivering.  These files are removed automatically by
smail processing of a message has completed.
.TP 1.5i
.I "X_SPOOL_DIRS_X/error"
If a mail messages fails for a reason that requires attendance by the
site administrator, it is moved into this directory to prevent smail
from continuing to attempt delivery.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.IR cron (8),
.IR smail (X_MAN5_EXT_X)
and
.IR smail (X_MAN8_EXT_X).
.SH COPYRIGHT
Copyright(C)1987, 1988 Ronald S. Karr and Landon Curt Noll
.br
Copyright(C)1992 Ronald S. Karr
.br
See a file COPYING,
distributed with the source code,
or type
.I "smail -bc"
for distribution rights and restrictions
associated with this software.
