sndumpdb,v0.3.8(8)

📦 version 0.3.8, in debian bookworm, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

✨ sndumpdb — the sn database dump bestie 💖

okay so real talk: this is sndumpdb, section 8 of the System Manager's Manual, version v0.3.8. it's a whole little unix utility and honestly? she's simple, she's direct, she does one thing. iconic behavior fr fr. 🫶

🎀 NAME 🎀

sndumpdb — dump contents of sn database. that's it. that's the job. no cap. 💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

sndumpdb (no arguments)

she takes no arguments. zero. none. don't try to hand her anything, she will not accept it. it's giving low-maintenance queen. 👑

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so sndumpdb dumps the contents of the sn database (in no particular order — do not come for her about ordering, she did not promise you ordering) and it prints one record per line, formatted like this:

newsgroup id serial

let me break that down because it's literally three little fields and each one matters:

  • newsgroup — the newsgroup where the article can be found 🗞️
  • id — the message ID of that article
  • serial — the article's local serial number

so every single line = one article = where it lives, what it's called, and its local serial number. clean. tidy. slay. ✨

🌈 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES 🌈

  • SNROOT — if this is set and is not empty, her value gets used in place of /var/spool/sn, which is the default news spool directory. so if your spool lives somewhere else, this is your girl. set it, don't leave it blank (blank = ignored, she checks), and she'll go looking there instead. 💜

🍓 FILES 🍓

the database files are:

/var/spool/sn/{.table,.chain,.newsgroup}

that's .table, .chain and .newsgroup, all chillin' inside /var/spool/sn/. those are the ones she's dumping from. 💖

⚠️ heads up bestie: if you've set SNROOT, remember it replaces /var/spool/sn — so your database files would be living under that path instead.

💫 a cute little sign-off 💫

this page lives under N.B. in the System Manager's Manual, and the whole thing is brought to you by Harold Tay — yes, the author, we love him, thank you Harold 🙌 — and it's tagged sndumpdb,v0.3.8(8), so that's your source/version stamp right there. go dump that database, bestie. you got this. 🧚🌸💖

📦 where this page comes from