ABEND

ABEND is the term used by Novell to indicate for a server crash. When an ABEND occurs on a NetWare 4.11 (or later) server, a file called ABEND.LOG is created or appended in the SYS:\SYSTEM directory. All of the known details of the ABEND are added to the log for troubleshooting.

ABEND /a'bend/, /*-bend'/ n.

[ABnormal END] 1. Abnormal termination (of software); crash; lossage. Derives from an error message on the IBM 360; used jokingly by hackers but seriously mainly by code grinders. Usually capitalized, but may appear as `abend'. Hackers will try to persuade you that ABEND is called `abend' because it is what system operators do to the machine late on Friday when they want to call it a day, and hence is from the German `Abend' = `Evening'. 2. [alt.callahans] Absent By Enforced Net Deprivation - used in the subject lines of postings warning friends of an imminent loss of Internet access. (This can be because of computer downtime, loss of provider, moving or illness.) Variants of this also appear: ABVND = `Absent By Voluntary Net Deprivation' and ABSEND = `Absent By Self-Enforced Net Deprivation' have been sighted.

--The Jargon File version 4.3.1, ed. ESR, autonoded by rescdsk.