Re: problem: .overview~[0-9]*~ files not being deleted

[Kevin Greiner]

wayne <wayne@schlitt.net> writes:

> In <uy83x5j53.fsf@vignette.com> Kevin Greiner <kevin.greiner@vignette.com> 
> writes:
>
>> wayne <wayne@schlitt.net> writes:
>>
>>> A while back, I suddenly started to accumulate old .overview~[0-9]*~
>>> files in my ~/News/agent/ subdirectories.  They stick around for ever,
>>> so it isn't just keeping the last 4 files.  They seem to accumulate in
>>> most groups, but maybe not all of them.
>>>
>>> [...]
>>
>> The cron job is a good idea.  The agent is generating these files
>> because it corrected an error in the overview file.
>
> I saw some discussions about the backup overview files being created
> when errors were detected, so I went and deleted *all* the overview
> files.  The backup files were immediately being created.  So, this
> isn't a case of a rare corruption of the .overview that sticks around.
> Whatever it is, the problem happens very quickly.

Now, that's interesting.  There's quite a few agent users in the world
so this isn't a common issue.  There must be something about the nntp
headers that your server is providing.  There are messages written as
the same time as the backup is created.  Something like 'Duplicate
overview line for ...' or 'Overview buffer not sorted'.  Can you tell
me which message you are seeing?  You might need to look in the
*Messages* buffer to find it.

TIA,
Kevin