Re: [Leafnode] & [slrn] page: Comments?

On 2008-01-25, Peter J Ross <pjr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In news.software.readers on Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:46:31 +1100, andrew
<andrew@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I am aware of the arrogance of writing up software that I have used
for less than a week but I have published an Ubuntu 'Howto' for
installing Leafnode-2 to work with slrn:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=676837

Thanks again PJR for your careful analysis which I have saved offline
to work through. I have a sense of déjà vu here, it was not so long
ago that you were giving me some comments on my first slrn page :-)

A few thoughts:

1. Why not install to /usr/local/ ? Apart from the usual
considerations, it would help newbies who go on to read the
documentation if as few defaults as possible were changed.

Oops! This is a slight residual effect from the slackbuild script I
also wrote and submitted to slackbuilds.org. For this /usr/local/ is
considered bad™. Incidentally a slackbuild script would have to be the
control freaks fantasy. My script is temporarily here if you are
interested:

http://www.andrews-corner.org/leafnode.SlackBuild

With any luck it will be accepted. But I will change the Ubuntu
version to /usr/local/ as you suggest.

2. Why specify slrn? Leafnode works with any newsreader, and can
compensate for some of their weaknesses.

I suspect I will include a note this effect but the slrn reference was
in self-protection. I have published a few guides on the forums and I
believe it means I have to /support/ the guides and I am not prepared
to troubleshoot Leafnode + other newsreaders. But a carefully worded
note to this effect would not be out of place.

3. Why use verbose options when running fetchnews and texpire from
cron?

Simply to supply more information in the logs. Runnng without verbose
simply tells you 'it ran'.

4. Why are your logs globally writable? And why not configure logging
with /etc/syslog.conf (and /etc/logrotate.conf)?

This definitely needs addressing. I almost feel that I should direct
the output to /dev/null rather than generating yet another log but
this needs a little thought. Permissions are wrong though and I will
correct this.

5. An hour is a long time to wait between fetchnews runs. I suggest at
least running fetchnews with the -P option more often.

Hmmmm.... not sure about this. I think I will make a small note about
tailoring checking time with posting / reading habits. Is the -P
option a default?

Apart from these small points, the page seems very clear and useful.

Thanks again PJR,

Andrew

--
http://www.andrews-corner.org
.

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