newsbin.com

Assembling incompletes and PAR repairs generally works pretty well on Newsbin v6.40B2.

Unfortunately, not every poster uses PARs.

At times I see the red color appear in one of the chunks of a file being downloaded. Then I see several attempts to retry the download of the missing "red" chunk.

Apparently, sometimes the retries succeed, and sometimes they fail. When they fail, it's no problem if there are PARs, but if there are no PARs, I then have two problems:

1. I have a corrupt file I can't use, and
2. It's now in the signature file so I the duplicate detector thinks I've downloaded it already. Then if I happen to run across a good copy of the file somewhere else it will be rejected (I think, unless the first chunk was the one that was missing?)

I've been through the options at least 5 times looking for the option to not assemble the file when the retries to download the missing chunk fail. I was hoping "disable autopar" might do the trick, but it didn't. How do I stop Newsbin from assembling corrupt files that are missing chunks when there are no PARs?

1 - Aggressive mode disables retries.

2 - Turn up the retries. Retry count gates when automatic assembly happens. Set it to 30 and Newsbin will probably never automatically assemble a file. It means repairable files will need to be manually assembled though.

3 - Set this to 50000 and parless files should never assemble.

[SETTINGS]
AutoAssembleTimer=N

I haven't tested this recently. You can tell me if it works.


I'd probably start with #3 and if that doesn't work, try #2.

Thanks for the quick reply.

Quade wrote:1 - Aggressive mode disables retries.

I like the aggressive mode when there are PARs, if the files to be repaired aren't too big. If the files are huge, I agree with you that aggressive mode off is probably preferable.

3 - Set this to 50000 and parless files should never assemble.

I'm not sure I completely understand. Option 2 is to set the retries to 30 and option 3 is to set retries to 50,000?

And adding the line in the settings section of the nbi file for "AutoAssembleTimer=N", is that in addition to the retry settings, or an alternative option 4?

I like the aggressive mode when there are PARs, if the files to be repaired aren't too big. If the files are huge, I agree with you that aggressive mode off is probably preferable.

With a server like yours, you should keep aggressive mode disabled. It's for people with nearly perfect servers who just want to depend on repair.

[SETTINGS]
AutoAssembleTimer=50000

N as in variable It represents number of hours of age of the file. The default is If the file > 48 hours old and has no pars, it should assemble after whatever retry count you have set.

50,000 > 2000 days. There is no 4. That's all part of #3.

Thanks for the clarification, I understand perfectly now. I added "AutoAssembleTimer=50000" to settings and will see how that works.

I usually have aggressive mode disabled, but when the files are small and the repair is quick it's actually faster to repair than wait on the retries. But when I download files with PARs, I'll either need to remove the "AutoAssembleTimer" setting, or enable aggressive mode to get the autoPAR to work, right?

I didn't think Giganews was such a bad server, in fact I thought it was one of the better ones. However it's been a long time since I signed up to a bunch of servers and tested several of them like I did years ago, so I don't know how many servers are better than GN today.

But when I download files with PARs, I'll either need to remove the "AutoAssembleTimer" setting, or enable aggressive mode to get the autoPAR to work, right?

No. If you have 2 retries set, have some pars and at least 90% of the file set, after the second retry, Newsbin will assemble and attempt repair. Aggressive mode is for people who don't want to wait and with servers that always deliver what they have.

AutoassembleTimer should only apply to par less files these days.

You can right click a file set and "Assemble Incompletes" too if you don't want to wait.

I'm happy to report that option 3 works! Well, sort of.

I'm sad to report it creates the same problem I described in my earlier post to another thread. Attempting to delete the incomplete file from the download list leaves an nb2 file in the download directory that cant be deleted unless Newsbin is shut down. I'm not sure if you tried to replicate this problem or not, but it apparently applies to anything deleted from the download section that's already created an nb2 file.

I can force "assemble incompletes" and then delete the corrupt file which wouldn't be so bad except for the duplicate file detector problem...I still want a good version of the file when I find it so I don't want the signature file to record it as being downloaded which I think "assemble incompletes" does, unless the first chunk is missing, right?

Quade wrote:AutoassembleTimer should only apply to par less files these days.

If true this is fantastic. I'll have to test it.