On Tue, 20 Jun 1995 16:15:37 CDT Chris Barnes said:
>I am somewhat baffled.  I own a list and am trying to remove a file
>from the filelist.  I logged on to the postmaster account and issued
>a tell listserv cms erase listname filename filetype
>but listserv doesn't know what to do with the filetype.  Ok, so I then
>issue a tell listserv cms erase filename filetype
>and then listserv tells me it doesn't exist.  But if I look at the
>listname FILEID, it shows up big as day.  So how do I get rid of this
>file?
 
The Accepted Procedure for removing a file from a filelist is through
the use of the LSVPUT command with a DELETE option:
 
            LSVPUT filename filetype [listname] (DELETE
 
(the listname is needed only if there would otherwise be an ambiguity).
If you're working from a non-VM session, you can't use LSVPUT, of course,
so you would instead send a 1-line file  PUT filename filetype [listname]
which is what LSVPUT does, anyway.
 
The effect of this is to modify the FILELIST entry to look like
 
  filename filetype   ALL foo .       .     0 ........ ........ Blah blah blah
 
The FILEID entry,
 
filename filetype 000000nn listname H5/200
 
remains unchanged.  Remember that this is a cross-reference between the
file's public name (filename filetype) and the name with which it is
actually stored (000000nn listname).
 
The file itself, 000000nn listname, will be found to have been deleted.
 
If you want to expunge every trace of the late file's existence, you'd
have to TELL LISTSERV SF listname FILEID; edit the line out, and then
LSVPUT listname FILEID (PUTC.  Then do the same for listname FILELIST,
but don't use the PUTC option.  You have to be the LISTSERV maintainer
to get away with this.  In most cases, its not worth the trouble.
                                             /b