retract (1) --- retract a news article 08/17/82 _U_s_a_g_e retract [ -q ] {
} _D_e_s_c_r_i_p_t_i_o_n 'Retract' is the recommended means of retracting an article from the Software Tools Subsystem news service. The articles mentioned by number as arguments are removed from the news index, news archive, and news delivery files. If the article has been read by a subscriber, a notice of retraction is placed in his newsbox; otherwise, no notice of the retraction is published. Under normal circumstances, one never need retract a news story. 'Retract' exists to remedy the all-too-frequent cir- cumstance of an erroneous news article. By retracting an incorrect article and re-publishing a correct version, the news archive is less cluttered and those users who have not read their news never know of the retraction. When called with the "-q" option, 'retract' does not tell subscribers who have read an article that it has been retracted. This "quiet" option is often useful for removing all traces of an outdated article without bothering users who have read it. WARNING: When news has a large circulation, 'retract' will take a significant amount of time to do its job. DO NOT interrupt it, or you may leave an article in a half- retracted state. In the event 'retract' is interrupted, just retract the article again -- the only problem (in almost all cases) will be that some users are given two retraction notices. _E_x_a_m_p_l_e_s retract -q 12 retract 299 233 _F_i_l_e_s =news=/articles/art for archived articles =news=/index for article index =news=/delivery/ for delivery to subscribers =news=/subscribers for the subscription list _M_e_s_s_a_g_e_s "
: not an article number" for a non-numeric article number. "
: can't retract" for an unwritable delivery file. retract (1) - 1 - retract (1) retract (1) --- retract a news article 08/17/82 "
: not found" for trying to retract a non-existant article. "
: not your article" for trying to retract someone else's article. "can't open index file" for not being able to open index file. "can't open subscribers list" for not being able to open subscriber file. "Usage: retract ..." for incorrect arguments. _S_e_e _A_l_s_o news (1), subscribe (1), publish (1) retract (1) - 2 - retract (1)