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Cleaning The Bit Bucket
>However the concern about whether news is biodegradable is something
>to think about. What does expire do with the toxic waste?
Um, I take it you haven't emptied out your bit bucket lately?
OK, this is best done in single-user mode, but you can do it
multiuser if you turn off uucico first. You will need to take your
computer to an authorised displosal site, or establish a high speed
connection to one. You can do this at 2400 baud, but you have to
watch the flow rate carefully to avoid contaminating valid data.
Also, be sure to clean off the used bits from your modem, or you
can get bit-rot and opportunistic computer virus infections.
There are places that rent modems for this purpose, but make sure
they have properly cleaned the unit before you take it home.
OK, carefully unscrew /dev/null and put it aside. If you have a
/dev/zero, use it to wash off the exposed sections of the kernel
before and afterwards, otherwise you can use "dd" to generate a
large empty file. Locate the entry point for the bit bucket, and
attach a streams tap to it (it's useful to gen this into your
kernel if you're going to be doing this yourself). Connect the
other and of the stream to a convenient named pipe, and set it
aside.
Dial the disposal company and attach the pipe to the modem. Open
the tap. If bits don't start flowing immediately, you may have a
vapor lock: delete a few files (I use /usr/spool/news/junk/*) to
force the bubble out.
After the bit bucket has emptied, reverse these steps. Make sure
that both ends of the stream are closed. You shouldn't reuse this
stream for valid data, but you can keep it in a handy core file for
next time. Make sure you chmod it to 0 so some user doesn't try to
use it. Or you can simply toss it in /dev/null.
Remove and clean the modem, even if it's a rental: it doesn't take
long and it's just common courtesy. Delete a few files to make sure
all the links are secure... be especially careful of symbolic
links, if you use them. You can now return to multi-user mode or
turn on uucico confident that your bit bucket will not overflow for
at least another 6 months... though I would recommend cleaning it
at least twice that frequently to avoid disk errors and increase
gas (and gcc) mileage.
-- Peter da Silva.
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