This command must be run before any other process can access the
overview database. It performs the following steps:
1.
Creates the database environment, if necessary
2.
If the database is idle (and if the "-u" option is not specified),
it performs a normal recovery. The recovery will remove stale locks,
recreate the memory pool cache, and repair any damage caused by a system
crash or improper shutdown.
3.
If the "-u" option is specified, it performs any necessary upgrades
to the database. See the UPGRADING section below.
4.
Starts the DB housekeeping processes (ovdb_monitor) if they're not
already running. (Unless the "-r" option is specified).
5.
Starts the ovdb readserver (ovdb_server) processes if readserver
in ovdb.conf is true, and if they are not already running. (Unless
the "-r" option is specified).
Returns exit status of 0 if all steps were completed successfully.
In the event of an error, messages are written to syslog and/or stderr.
If a recovery was attempted but it failed, the database may be
damaged beyond repair, requiring a rebuild with makehistory(8).
This command is normally invoked automatically by rc.news(8).
It is OK to run this command multiple times.
OPTIONS
"-r"
Perform recovery only. "ovdb_monitor" is not started.
"-u"
Perform any needed upgrades. Recovery is not attempted.
"ovdb_monitor" is started if the upgrade succeeded.
UPGRADING
There are two situations in which the database will need to be
upgraded:
•
You upgrade the Berkeley DB library to a newer version, for example
from 2.7.7 to 3.1.17. In this case, the Berkeley DB db->upgrade()
method is used.
•
You upgrade ovdb to a newer major version; i.e., ovdb-1.0 to ovdb-2.0.
In both of these cases, the database is upgraded in-place; and the
upgrade can not be undone. Do not interrupt the upgrade process once
it has started, because there is a risk of irrepairable corruption.
The upgrade may take several minutes to complete.
If an upgrade does get interrupted, try running the upgrade again.
Here's an example procedure to upgrade a database created with
Berkeley DB 2.7.7 to use Berkeley DB 3.1.17:
1.
Build and install the Berkeley DB 3.1.17;
2.
Run configure in the INN source tree and make sure it picks up the
right Berkeley DB directory (e.g., /usr/local/BerkeleyDB.3.1);
3.
Do a "make";
4.
Shut down INN (e.g., with "rc.news stop") and be sure to kill all
instances of nnrpd as well;
5.
Do a "make update" to install the new binaries;
6.
Run "ovdb_init -u" as the news user;
7.
Start INN with "rc.news".
It is OK to specify "-u" even if no upgrades are needed.