NAME

spool.be — Spool

DEFINITION

spool — a cylinder on which thread, wire, film, or tape is wound. In computing: a queue held on disk where jobs, mail, print, tasks, wait their turn to be sent, printed, or run. Backronymed from simultaneous peripheral operations on-line.

DESCRIPTION

A small place where things pass through. Mail, notes, and jobs queue here on their way somewhere else, held in plain files, moved by plain tools, kept no longer than they need to be. The opposite of an archive: everything here is in transit.

SEE ALSO

smtpd(8), lpr(1),