force zone xfer with named-xfer

[Kevin Darcy]

Roger wrote:

> I used
>
> %named-xfer -z movie.edu -f /tmp/db.movie -s 0 terminator
> %echo $?

You're still using named-xfer? Why not just use "dig axfr" or the
Net::DNS module?

> 1.Question
>  For a successful transfer I get a return value of 4 and in the
> O'Reilly book there are only return values 0-3 documented.

OK, so the O'Reilly book can't keep up with the named-xfer code.
Surprised? I guess you're using Third Edition of "the book", since Fourth
Edition documents return codes up to 6. Even so, the BIND 8.3.3 version
of named-xfer defines a return code of 7, so even it is out of date.

> 2.Q
> With a return value = 3 (An error occured and named-xfer logged an
> error message)sometimes there is an entry in the /var/adm/messages log
> file.
> Why not always ?

Well, I guess named-xfer _should_ generate an error message whenever it
exits with a value of 3 (otherwise known as XFER_FAIL), but there are no
guarantees. If you can identify under exactly what circumstances
named-xfer fails to do so, then I'd suggest filing a bug report.


- Kevin