QER(8) QER(8)
NAME
qer, runq - queues management for spooled files
SYNOPSIS
qer root tag reply args
runq [ -ad ] root cmd
DESCRIPTION
Qer creates a control and a data file in a queue directory.
The control file contents consist of the tag, reply, and
args separated by spaces. The data file contains the stan-
dard input to qer. The files are created in the directory
root/user, where user is the contents of /dev/user.
Mktemp(2) is used to create the actual names of the control
and data file.
Runq processes the files queued by qer. Without the -a
option, runq processes all requests in the directory
root/user, where user is the contents of /dev/user. With
the -a it processes all requests. Each request is processed
by executing the command cmd with the contents of the con-
trol file as its arguments, the contents of the data file as
its standard input, and standard error appended to the error
file E.XXXXXX.
The action taken by runq depends on the return status of
cmd. If cmd returns a null status, the processing is assumed
successful and the control, data, and error files are
removed. If cmd returns an error status containing the word
`Retry', the files are left to be reprocessed at a later
time. For any other status, an error message is mailed to
the requester and the files are removed. Runq uses the
reply field in the control file as a mail address to which
to send an error notification. The notification contains
the contents of the control file to identify the failed
request.
To avoid reprocessing files too often, the following algo-
rithm is used: a data file younger than one hour will not be
processed if its error file exists and was last modified
within the preceding 10 minutes. A data file older than one
hour will not be processed if its error file exists and was
last modified within the preceding hour.
The -d option causes debugging output on standard error
describing the progress through the queues.
Runq is often called from cron(8) by an entry such as
0,10,20,30,40,50 * * * * kremvax
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QER(8) QER(8)
runq -a /mail/queue /mail/lib/remotemail
The entry must be a single line; it is folded here only so
it fits on the page.
FILES
root/user queue directory for user
root/user/D.XXXXXX data file
root/user/C.XXXXXX control file
root/user/E.XXXXXX error file
SOURCE
/sys/src/cmd/upas/q
SEE ALSO
mail(1)
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