gnatsd(8) GNATS Admininstration Utilities gnatsd(8)NAMEgnatsd - GNATS network server
SYNOPSISgnatsd [--database database | -d database] [--not-inetd | -n] [--max-
access-level level | -m level] [--version | -V] [--help | -h]
DESCRIPTIONgnatsd is used to service remote GNATS requests such as querying PRs,
PR creation, deletion, and editing, and miscellaneous database queries.
It uses a simple ASCII-based command protocol (similar to SMTP or POP3)
for communicating with remote clients.
It also provides a security model based either on IP-based authentica‐
tion (generally a terrible idea) or username/passwords. Passwords may
be encrypted using UNIX crypt() or MD5 (for operating systems that sup‐
port it). Plaintext passwords are also supported but strongly discour‐
aged.
All of the GNATS clients are capable of communicating via the GNATS re‐
mote protocol to perform their functions.
gnatsd should be run by the GNATS user (by default gnats), and it is
usually started from inetd(8).
OPTIONS-V, --version
Prints the program version to stdout and exits.
-h, --help
Prints a short help text to stdout and exits.
-d, --database
Specifies the default database which is to be serviced by this in‐
vocation of gnatsd. (The selected database may be changed via the
CHDB command; this is simply the default if no CHDB command is is‐
sued.) If no database is specified, the database named default is
assumed. This option overrides the database specified in the
GNATSDB environment variable.
--not-inetd, -n
As its name suggests, indicates that gnatsd is not being invoked
from inetd. This can be used when testing gnatsd, or if it being
run via ssh or some other mechanism.
This has the effect of using the local hostname where gnatsd is
being invoked for authentication purposes, rather than the remote
address of the connecting client.
--max-access-level, -m
Specifies the maximum access level that the connecting client can
authenticate to. Authentication is as normal but if the user or
host authenticates at a higher level, access level is set to this
level.
COMMAND PROTOCOL
Commands are issued to gnatsd as one or more words followed by a car‐
riage-return/linefeed pair. For example, the CHDB (change databases)
command is sent as
CHDB database<CR><LF>
[the CRLF will not be explicitly written for future examples]
Replies from gnatsd are returned as one or more response lines contain‐
ing a 3-digit numeric code followed by a human-readable string; the
line is terminated with a <CR><LF> pair. For example, one possible re‐
sponse to the CHDB command above would be:
210 Now accessing GNATS database 'database'.
The three-digit code is normally followed by a single ASCII space
(character 0x20). However, if additional response lines are to be re‐
turned from the server, there will be a single dash (`-') instead of
the space character after the three-digit code.
Response code values are divided into ranges. The first digit reflects
the general type of response (such as "successful" or "error"), and the
subsequent digits identify the specific type of response.
Codes 200-299
Positive response indicating that the command was successful.
No subsequent data will be transmitted with the response. [In
particular, code 210 (CODE_OK) is used as the positive result
code for most simple commands.]
Commands that expect additional data from the client (such as
SUBM or VFLD) use a two-step mechanism for sending the data.
The server will respond to the initial command with either a 211
(CODE_SEND_PR) or 212 (CODE_SEND_TEXT) response line, or an er‐
ror code if an error occurred with the initial command. The
client is then expected to send the remaining data using the
same quoting mechanism as described for server responses in the
300-349 range. The server will then send a final response line
to the command.
Codes 300-399
Positive response indicating that the query request was success‐
ful, and that a PR or other data will follow. Codes 300-349 are
used when transmitting PRs, and 350-399 are used for other re‐
sponses.
Codes in the 300-349 range are followed by a series of CRLF-ter‐
minated lines containing the command response, usually a PR.
The final line of the result is a single period (`.'). Result
lines that begin with a period have an extra period prepended to
them.
Codes in the 350-399 range use a different scheme for sending
their responses. The three-digit numeric code will be followed
by either a dash (`-') or a single space. If the code is fol‐
lowed by a dash, that indicates that another response line will
follow. The final line of the response has a single space after
the three-digit code.
In previous versions of the protocol the first line of a
CODE_INFORMATION (310) response was to be ignored. This is no
longer the case. Instead, any lines marked with code CODE_IN‐
FORMATION_FILLER (351) are to be ignored. This allows the serv‐
er to transmit additional headers or other human-readable text
that can be safely ignored by the clients.
Codes 400-599
An error occurred, usually because of invalid command parameters
or invalid input from the client, missing arguments to the coma‐
mand, or a command was issued out of sequence. The human-read‐
able message associated with the response line describes the
general problem encountered with the command.
Multiple error messages may be returned from a command; in this
case the `-' continuation character is used on all but the last
response line.
Codes 600-799
An internal error occurred on the server, a timeout occurred
reading data from the client, or a network failure occurred.
These errors are of the "this should not occur" nature, and
retrying the operation may resolve the problem. Fortunately,
most GNATS transactions are idempotent; unfortunately, locking
the database or a PR are not repeatable actions (we cannot de‐
termine if an existing lock is the one we originally requested,
or someone else's).
COMMANDS
Note that the set of GNATS commands and their responses is somewhat in‐
consistent and is very much in flux. At present the GNATS clients are
rather simple-minded and not very strict about processing responses.
For example, if the server were to issue a code 300 (CODE_PR_READY) re‐
sponse to a CHDB command, the client would happily expect to see a PR
appear (and would print it out if one was sent).
It is thus suggested that any clients that use the GNATS protocol be
equally flexible about the way received responses are handled; in par‐
ticular, only the first digit of the response code should be assumed to
be meaningful, although subsequent digits are needed in some cases
(codes 300-399). No attempt should be made to parse the message strings
on error response lines; they are only intended to be read by humans,
and will be changed on a regular basis.
Almost every command may result in the response 440 (CODE_CMD_ERROR).
This indicates that there was a problem with the command arguments,
usually because of insufficient or too many arguments being specified.
USER [<userid> [<password>]]
Specifies the userid and password for database access. Both a
username and a password may be given, only a username may be giv‐
en, or both may be omitted; if both are omitted, the current ac‐
cess level is returned.
The possible server responses are:
350 (CODE_INFORMATION)
The current access level is specified.
422 (CODE_NO_ACCESS)
A matching username and password could not be found.
200 (CODE_OK)
A matching username and password was found, and the login
was successful.
QUIT Requests that the connection be closed. Possible responses:
201 (CODE_CLOSING)
Normal exit.
The quit command has the dubious distinction of being the only
command that cannot fail.
LIST <list type>
Describes various aspects of the database. The lists are returned
as a list of records, one per line. Each line may contain a num‐
ber of colon-separated fields.
Possible values for list type include
Categories
Describes the legal categories for the database.
Submitters
Describes the set of submitters for the database.
Responsible
Lists the names in the responsible administrative file,
including their full names and email addresses.
States Lists the states listed in the state administrative file,
including the state type (usually blank for most states;
the closed state has a special type).
FieldNames
Lists the entire set of PR fields.
InitialInputFields
Lists the fields that should be present when a PR is ini‐
tially entered.
InitialRequiredFields
Lists fields that have to be present and nonempty when a
PR is initially entered (fields containing only blank
characters such as spaces or newlines are considered emp‐
ty.)
Databases
Lists the set of databases.
The possible responses are:
301 (CODE_TEXT_READY)
Normal response, followed by the records making up the list
as described above.
416 (CODE_INVALID_LIST)
The requested list does not exist.
FTYP <field> [<field> ...]
Describes the type of data held in the field(s) specified with the
command. The currently-defined data types are:
Text A plain text field, containing exactly one line.
MultiText
A text field possibly containing multiple lines of text.
Enum An enumerated data field; the value is restricted to one
entry out of a list of values associated with the field.
MultiEnum
The field contains one or more enumerated values. Values
are separated with spaces or colons (:).
Integer
The field contains an integer value, possibly signed.
Date The field contains a date.
TextWithRegex
The value in the field must match one or more regular ex‐
pressions associated with the field.
The possible responses are:
350 (CODE_INFORMATION)
The normal response; the supplied text is the data type.
410 (CODE_INVALID_FIELD_NAME)
The specified field does not exist.
If multiple field names were given, multiple response lines will
be sent, one for each field, using the standard continuation pro‐
tocol; each response except the last will have a dash (`-') imme‐
dately after the response code.
FTYPINFO <field> <property>
Provides field-type-related information. Currently, only the
property `separators' for MultiEnum fields is supported. When
`separators' is specified, the possible return codes are:
350 (CODE_INFORMATION)
A proper MultiEnum field was specified and the returned
text is the string of separators specified for the field in
the dbconfig file, quoted within ''.
435 (CODE_INVALID_FTYPE_PROPERTY)
The `separators' property is not defined for this field,
i.e. the specified field is not of type MultiEnum.
Currently, specifying a different property than `separators' re‐
sults in return code 435 as above.
FDSC <field> [<field> ... ]
Returns a human-readable description of the listed field(s). The
possible responses are:
350 (CODE_INFORMATION)
The normal response; the supplied text is the field de‐
scription.
410 (CODE_INVALID_FIELD_NAME)
The specified field does not exist.
Like the FVLD command, the standard continuation protocol will be
used if multiple fields were specified with the command.
FIELDFLAGS <field> [<field> ... ]
Returns a set of flags describing the specified field(s). The
possible responses are either 410 (CODE_INVALID_FIELD_NAME), mean‐
ing that the specified field is invalid or nonexistent, or
350 (CODE_INFORMATION) which contains the set of flags for the
field. The flags may be blank, which indicate that no special
flags have been set for this field.
Like the FDSC and FTYP commands, multiple field names may be list‐
ed with the command, and a response line will be returned for each
one in the order that the fields appear on the command line.
The flags include:
textsearch
The field will be searched when a text field search is re‐
quested.
allowAnyValue
For fields that contain enumerated values, any legal value
may be used in the field, not just ones that appear in the
enumerated list.
requireChangeReason
If the field is edited, a reason for the change must be
supplied in the new PR text describing the reason for the
change. The reason must be supplied as a multitext PR
field in the new PR whose name is field-Changed-Why (where
field is the name of the field being edited).
readonly
The field is read-only, and cannot be edited.
FVLD <field>
Returns one or more regular expressions or strings that describe
the valid types of data that can be placed in field. Exactly what
is returned is dependent on the type of data that can be stored in
the field. For most fields a regular expression is returned; for
enumerated fields, the returned values are the list of legal
strings that can be held in the field.
The possible responses are:
301 (CODE_TEXT_READY)
The normal response, which is followed by the list of reg‐
exps or strings.
410 (CODE_INVALID_FIELD_NAME)
The specified field does not exist.
VFLD <field>
VFLD can be used to validate a given value for a field in the
database. The client issues the VFLD command with the name of the
field to validate as an argument. The server will either respond
with 212 (CODE_SEND_TEXT), or 410 (CODE_INVALID_FIELD_NAME) if the
specified field does not exist.
Once the 212 response is received from the server, the client
should then send the line(s) of text to be validated, using the
normal quoting mechanism described for PRs. The final line of
text is followed by a line containing a single period, again as
when sending PR text.
The server will then either respond with 210 (CODE_OK), indicating
that the text is acceptable, or one or more error codes describing
the problems with the field contents.
INPUTDEFAULT <field> [<field> ... ]
Returns the suggested default value for a field when a PR is ini‐
tially created. The possible responses are either 410(CODE_IN‐
VALID_FIELD_NAME), meaning that the specified field is invalid or
nonexistent, or 350 (CODE_INFORMATION) which contains the default
value for the field.
Like the FDSC and FTYP commands, multiple field names may be list‐
ed with the command, and a response line will be returned for each
one in the order that the fields appear on the command line.
RSET Used to reset the internal server state. The current query ex‐
pression is cleared, and the index of PRs may be reread if it has
been updated since the start of the session.
The possible responses are:
200 (CODE_OK)
The state has been reset.
440 (CODE_CMD_ERROR)
One or more arguments were supplied to the command.
6xx (internal error)
There were problems resetting the state (usually because
the index could not be reread). The session will be imme‐
diately terminated.
LKDB Locks the main GNATS database. No subsequent database locks will
succeed until the lock is removed. Sessions that attempt to write
to the database will fail.
The possible responses are:
200 (CODE_OK)
The lock has been established.
440 (CODE_CMD_ERROR)
One or more arguments were supplied to the command.
431 (CODE_GNATS_LOCKED)
The database is already locked, and the lock could not be
obtained after 10 seconds.
6xx (internal error)
An internal error occurred, usually because of permission
or other filesystem-related problems. The lock may or may
not have been established.
UNDB Unlocks the database. Any session may steal a database lock; no
checking of any sort is done.
The possible responses are:
200 (CODE_OK)
The lock has been removed.
432 (CODE_GNATS_NOT_LOCKED)
The database was not locked.
440 (CODE_CMD_ERROR)
One or more arguments were supplied to the command.
6xx (internal error)
The database lock could not be removed, usually because of
permissions or other filesystem-related issues.
LOCK <PR> <user> [<pid>]
Locks the specified PR, marking the lock with the name user and
the optional pid. (No checking is done that the user or pid argu‐
ments are valid or meaningful; they are simply treated as
strings.)
The EDIT command requires that the PR be locked before it may be
successfully executed. However, it does not require that the lock
is owned by the editing session, so the usefulness of the lock is
simply as an advisory measure.
The APPN and REPL commands lock the PR as part of the editing
process, and they do not require that the PR be locked before they
are invoked.
The possible responses are:
440 (CODE_CMD_ERROR)
Insufficient or too many arguments were specified to the
command.
300 (CODE_PR_READY)
The lock was successfully obtained; the text of the PR (us‐
ing the standard quoting mechanism for PRs) follows.
400 (CODE_NONEXISTENT_PR)
The PR specified does not exist.
430 (CODE_LOCKED_PR)
The PR is already locked by another session.
6xx (internal error)
The PR lock could not be created, usually because of per‐
missions or other filesystem-related issues.
UNLK <PR>
Unlocks PR. Any user may unlock a PR, as no checking is done to
determine if the requesting session owns the lock.
The possible responses are:
440 (CODE_CMD_ERROR)
Insufficient or too many arguments were specified to the
command.
200 (CODE_OK)
The PR was successfully unlocked.
433 (CODE_PR_NOT_LOCKED)
The PR was not locked.
6xx (internal error)
The PR could not be unlocked, usually because of permission
or other filesystem-related problems.
DELETE <PR>
Deletes the specified PR. The user making the request must have
admin privileges. If successful, the PR is removed from the
filesystem and the index file; a gap will be left in the numbering
sequence for PRs. No checks are made that the PR is closed.
The possible responses are:
200 (CODE_OK)
The PR was successfully deleted.
422 (CODE_NO_ACCESS)
The user requesting the delete does not have admin privi‐
leges.
430 (CODE_LOCKED_PR)
The PR is locked by another session.
431 (CODE_GNATS_LOCKED)
The database has been locked, and no PRs may be updated un‐
til the lock is cleared.
6xx (internal error)
The PR could not be successfully deleted, usually because
of permission or other filesystem-related problems.
CHEK [initial]
Used to check the text of an entire PR for errors. Unlike the
VFLD command, it accepts an entire PR at once instead of the con‐
tents of an individual field.
The initial argument indicates that the PR text to be checked is
for a PR that will be newly created, rather than an edit or re‐
placement of an existing PR.
After the CHEK command is issued, the server will respond with ei‐
ther a 440 (CODE_CMD_ERROR) response indicating that the command
arguments were incorrect, or a 211 (CODE_SEND_PR) response code
will be sent.
Once the 211 response is received from the server, the client
should send the PR using the normal PR quoting mechanism; the fi‐
nal line of the PR is then followed by a line containing a single
period, as usual.
The server will then respond with either a 200 (CODE_OK) response,
indicating there were no problems with the supplied text, or one
or more error codes listing the problems with the PR.
EDIT <PR>
Verifies the replacement text for PR. If the command is success‐
ful, the contents of PR are completely replaced with the supplied
text. PR must previously have been locked with the LOCK command.
The possible responses are:
431 (CODE_GNATS_LOCKED)
The database has been locked, and no PRs may be updated un‐
til the lock is cleared.
433 (CODE_PR_NOT_LOCKED)
The PR was not previously locked with the LOCK command.
400 (CODE_NONEXISTENT_PR)
The specified PR does not currently exist. The SUBM com‐
mand should be used to create new PRs.
211 (CODE_SEND_PR)
The client should now transmit the replacement PR text us‐
ing the normal PR quoting mechanism. After the PR has been
sent, the server will respond with either a 200 (CODE_OK)
response indicating the edit was successful, or one or more
error codes listing problems with either with the replace‐
ment PR text, or errors encountered while updating the PR
file or index.
APPN <PR> <field>
REPL <PR> <field>
Appends to or replaces the contents of field in PR with the sup‐
plied text. The command returns a 201 (CODE_SEND_TEXT) response;
the client should then transmit the new field contents using the
standard PR quoting mechanism. After the server has read the new
contents, it then attempts to make the requested change to the PR.
The possible responses are:
200 (CODE_OK)
The PR field was successfully changed.
400 (CODE_NONEXISTENT_PR)
The PR specified does not exist.
410 (CODE_INVALID_FIELD_NAME)
The specified field does not exist.
402 (CODE_UNREADABLE_PR)
The PR could not be read.
431 (CODE_GNATS_LOCKED)
The database has been locked, and no PRs may be updated un‐
til the lock is cleared.
430 (CODE_LOCKED_PR)
The PR is locked, and may not be altered until the lock is
cleared.
413 (CODE_INVALID_FIELD_CONTENTS)
The supplied (or resulting) field contents are not valid
for the field.
6xx (internal error)
An internal error occurred, usually because of permission
or other filesystem-related problems. The PR may or may
not have been altered.
SUBM Submits a new PR into the database. The supplied text is verified
for correctness, and if no problems are found a new PR is created.
The possible responses are:
431 (CODE_GNATS_LOCKED)
The database has been locked, and no PRs may be submitted
until the lock is cleared.
211 (CODE_SEND_PR)
The client should now transmit the new PR text using the
normal quoting mechanism. After the PR has been sent, the
server will respond with either a 200 (CODE_OK) response
indicating that the new PR has been created (and mail sent
to the appropriate persons), or one or more error codes
listing problems with the new PR text.
CHDB <database> [<userid> [<password>]]
Switches the current database to the name specified in the com‐
mand. An optional username or an optional username and password
may be given.
The possible responses are:
422 (CODE_NO_ACCESS)
The user does not have permission to access the requested
database.
417 (CODE_INVALID_DATABASE)
The database specified does not exist, or one or more con‐
figuration errors in the database were encountered.
210 (CODE_OK)
The current database is now database. Any operations per‐
formed will now be applied to that database. The user ac‐
cess level for the new database is also returned.
DBLS Lists the known set of databases.
The possible responses are:
6xx (internal error)
An internal error was encountered while trying to obtain
the list of available databases, usually due to lack of
permissions or other filesystem-related problems, or the
list of databases is empty.
301 (CODE_TEXT_READY)
The list of databases follows, one per line, using the
standard quoting mechanism. Only the database names are
sent.
DBDESC <databasename>
Returns a human-readable description of the specified database.
Responses include:
6xx (internal error)
An internal error was encountered while trying to read the
list of available databases, usually due to lack of permis‐
sions or other filesystem-related problems, or the list of
databases is empty.
350 (CODE_INFORMATION)
The normal response; the supplied text is the database de‐
scription.
417 (CODE_INVALID_DATABASE)
The specified database name does not have an entry.
EXPR <query expression>
Specifies a query expression used to limit which PRs are re‐
turned from the QUER command. The expression uses the normal
query expression syntax, as described in the manual entry for
query-pr(1).
Multiple EXPR commands may be issued; the expressions are boolean
ANDed together.
Expressions are cleared by the RSET command.
Possible responses include:
415 (CODE_INVALID_EXPR)
The specified expression is invalid, and could not be
parsed.
200 (CODE_OK)
The expression has been accepted, and will be used to limit
the results returned from QUER.
QFMT <query format>
Use the specified query format to format the output of the QUER
command. The query format may be either the name of a query for‐
mat known to the server, or an actual query format.
The possible responses are:
200 (CODE_OK)
The normal response, which indicates that the query format
is acceptable.
440 (CODE_CMD_ERROR)
No query format was supplied.
418 (CODE_INVALID_QUERY_FORMAT)
The specified query format does not exist, or could not be
parsed.
QUER [PR] [PR] [...]
Searches the contents of the database for PRs that match the (op‐
tional) specified expressions with the EXPR command. If no ex‐
pressions were specified with EXPR, the entire set of PRs is re‐
turned.
If one or more PRs are specified on the commandline, only those
PRs will be searched and/or output.
The format of the output from the command is determined by the
query format selected with the QFMT command.
The possible responses are:
418 (CODE_INVALID_QUERY_FORMAT)
A valid format was not specified with the QFMT command pri‐
or to invoking QUER.
300 (CODE_PR_READY)
One or more PRs will be output using the requested query
format. The PR text is quoted using the normal quoting
mechanisms for PRs.
220 (CODE_NO_PRS_MATCHED)
No PRs met the specified criteria.
ADMV <field> <key> [<subfield>]
Returns an entry from an adm file associated with field. key is
used to look up the entry in the data file. If subfield is speci‐
fied, only the value of that subfield is returned; otherwise, all
of the fields in the adm data file are returned, separated by
colons (`:').
The responses are:
410 (CODE_INVALID_FIELD_NAME)
The specified field does not exist.
221 (CODE_NO_ADM_ENTRY)
An adm entry matching the key was not found, or the field
does not have an adm file associated with it.
350 (CODE_INFORMATION)
The normal response; the supplied text is the requested
field(s).
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
The GNATSDB environment variable is used to determine which database to
use. For a local database, it contains the name of the database to ac‐
cess. gnatsd cannot service remote databases (tho it might be inter‐
esting if it could) so the database is always assumed to be local.
If GNATSDB is not set and the --database option is not supplied, it is
assumed that the database is local and that its name is default.
SEE ALSO
Keeping Track: Managing Messages With GNATS (also installed as the GNU
Info file gnats.info)
databases(5), dbconfig(5), delete-pr(8), edit-pr(1)file-pr(8), gen-in‐
dex(8), gnats(7), gnatsd(8), mkcat(8), mkdb(8), pr-edit(8), query-
pr(1), queue-pr(8), send-pr(1).
COPYING
Copyright (c) 2000, 2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
preserved on all copies.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the en‐
tire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permis‐
sion notice identical to this one.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manu‐
al into another language, under the above conditions for modified ver‐
sions, except that this permission notice may be included in transla‐
tions approved by the Free Software Foundation instead of in the origi‐
nal English.
GNATS August 2003 gnatsd(8)
