AFD, Automatic File Distribution, is a mechanism for the automatic distribution
of file archives or individual files via listproc. Users subscribe to an
archive just as they would a message-based list. When the archive manager
updates the files in the archive, the files are automatically sent out
to the archive subscribers, or, if subscribers prefer, they may simply
receive a notification of a file update, leaving it up to the subscriber
to GET the file. The same AFD and FUI
commands can be sent by users and by archive managers but the commands
have different meanings depending on who gives the command.
User Commands:
afd <action>
{<archive> [/password] [files]} &
[{<archive> [/password] [files]}]
fui <action>
{<archive> [/password] [files]} &
[{<archive> [/password] [files]}]
Where action can be one of add, delete,
or query. This allows a user to subscribe
to, drop from, or query an archive . Please see the CREN ListProc User
Manual for more information on the user commands.
Owner Commands:
[quiet] afd <action> {<archive> [/password] [files]} &
user-address user-address user-address user-address
This will allow you to subscribe a user to an archive such that whenever
the archive is updated the user will receive the new files automatically.
You may optionally specify filenames in the archive so that the user will
receive only those files when they are updated. The name of the archive
and optional file names must be in brackets {}. If the command is preceded
by the word "quiet" then the user will not be notified of being
added to or subtracted from the archive list.
[quiet] fui <action> {<archive> [/password] [files]} &
user-address user-address user-address user-address
This will allow you to subscribe a user to an archive such that whenever
the archive is updated the user will automatically receive notification
of the new files but will not receive the new files themselves as in the
afd command. You may optionally specify
filenames in the archive so that the user will receive notification of
only those files when they are updated. The name of the archive and optional
file names must be in brackets {}. If the command is preceded by the word
"quiet" then the user will not be notified of being added to
or subtracted from the archive list.
Options for action are: add, delete, query, deliver, deliver_files, or deliver-debug. Both commands take identical arguments and the examples below can be applied to both AFD and FUI.
ADD will add a user to an archive.
DELETE will delete a user from an archive.
QUERY will tell a user to which archives he/she is subscribed.
REVIEW will send a list of subscribers to an archive.
DELIVER will force delivery of a file whether it has been updated or not. If the deliver command is given and "archive" is missing, it will scan all archives for afd/fui files. Syntax of the DELIVER command is:
afd deliver <password> [archive]
fui deliver <password> [archive]
DELIVER-DEBUG will produce a report of activity without touching system files or sending mail. It will list all newly updated files and who will be notified. This command does not list old files; it only reports on what will happen the next time a delivery is scheduled. Syntax of the DELIVER_DEBUG command is:
afd deliver-debug <password> [archive]
fui deliver-debug <password> [archive]
DELIVER_FILES frequency [when] allows an archive owner to determine when files will be delivered after new updates are posted. Valid options are:
deliver_files hourly <min> <password> [archive]
deliver_files daily <hh:mm> <password> [archive]
deliver_files weekly <day> <password> [archive]
deliver_files monthly <password> [archive]
Examples:
For file archives called "master" having a password of "shazam" and an archive called "doc" having no password, both being owned by the same person:
quiet fui add {master /shazam } peter@system.com & mary@machine.org
This will add these two users to the "master" archive. Since this is an fui command it means the two users will be notified when the Master archive's or any subarchive's files are updated (if, of course, that subarchive if marked for afd/fui functions).
If the owner sends the command:
afd add { master /shazam file1 file2 } { doc } peter@system.com
This will add the user to an archive named "master", but not to the entire archive; the user is only added to files "file1" and "file2" notify list and will receive these files when either of these two files are updated, and be added to archive "doc" list (anything updated in "doc" will be sent to sender also).
afd deliver shazam master
fui deliver shazam master
This will force delivery of all files in the "master" archive and notifications of the files whether they are new or not.
afd deliver-debug shazam master
fui deliver-debug shazam master
This will cause a report to be delivered to the archive owner in the following form:
FST: File Subscribers Table: list of files and subscribers.
SFT: Subscribers Files Table: list of subscribers and files subscribed to.
FMT: File Modification times Table: list of files and modification times.