Debugging Transmissions

If you cannot contact a particular machine, you can check out communications to that machine with Uutry and uucp.

1. To try to make contact, type /usr/lib/uucp/Uutry -r machine and press Return.

   Replace machine with the host name of the machine you are having problems contacting. This command:

   1. Starts the transfer daemon (uucico) with debugging. You can get more debugging information if you are root.

   2. Directs the debugging output to /tmp/machine.

   3. Prints the debugging output to your terminal (tail -f).

      Press Control-c to end output. You can copy the output from /tmp/machine if you want to save it.

2. If Uutry doesn't isolate the problem, try to queue a job by typing uucp --r file machine\!/dir/file and press Return.

   Replace file by the file you want to transfer, machine by the machine you want to copy to, and /dir/file where the file will be placed on the other machine. The r option queues a job but does not start the transfer.

3. Now use Uutry again.

   If you still cannot solve the problem, you might need to call your local support representative. Save the debugging output; it will help diagnose the problem.

You might also want to decrease or increase the level of debugging provided by Uutry through the -x n option, where n indicates the debug level. The default debug level for Uutry is 5.

Debug level 3 provides basic information as to when and how the connection is established, but not much information about the transmission itself. Debug level 9, on the other hand, provides exhaustive information about the transmission process. Be aware that debugging occurs at both ends of the transmission. If you intend to use a level higher than 5 on a moderately large text, get in touch with the administrator of the other site and agree on a time for doing so.