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Path: utzoo!david
From: david@utzoo.UUCP (David Trueman)
Newsgroups: hacknews
Subject: batching facility arrives
Message-ID: <4736@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 5-Dec-84 20:50:59 EST
Article-I.D.: utzoo.4736
Posted: Wed Dec  5 20:50:59 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 5-Dec-84 20:50:59 EST
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 20

Batch(1) is a new program that allows one to specify a command to be run
in the background in a queue determined by the size of the input.  The usage
is :

	batch command [file ...]

Currently three queues are supported, with thresholds at 5000 and 40000
characters.  The first queue runs at top priority, the second at slightly
reduced priority and the third queue at low priority.

It is expected that batch(1) will see most of its use by invocation from
ms(1) and format(1).  It is hoped that use of batching for output to
printers will smooth out the load on the system a bit, and provide better
turnaround for people with small or moderate printouts.

Further documentation can be found in manual pages for batch(1) and
batcher(8).
-- 
				David Trueman @ U of Toronto Zoology
				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!david