Newsx - An NNTP client for posting and fetching news
	     ====================================================

			      Version 1.4
		       Written by Egil Kvaleberg
					
				 ------

Newsx is an NNTP client for Unix. It will connect to a remote NNTP server
and post outgoing articles batched by the news system, as well as fetch
incoming articles.

It provides the NNTP capabilities required for small local news spools on
installations with NNTP access only through limited ISP accounts. It works
well via a dialup SLIP/PPP connection.

Newsx is also well suited for large spools with normal feeds, being used for
pulling newsgroups from specific NNTP servers that are not distributed in 
the usual manner. Since newsx obeys the normal news spool configuration file
and requires little or no specific configuration, the administrative burden 
should be minimized.

- Compatible with C News and INN local news servers.

- Configuration relies on standard C News and INN mechanisms for setting
  up newsservers and newsgroups, making administration easy.

- Comprehensive error recovery for posting as well as for fetching. Failed
  postings will be retried at the next opportunity, while fetching will
  resume at the point where it stopped.

- Logging of errors that occurred, as well as article transfer statistics.
  Optional log file for actual articles posted, and collection of posted
  articles in folders.

- Has been designed to be nice, so as not to overload the remote news 
  server.

- Uses only standard RFC-977 functions, so should be compatible with the
  vast majority of news servers.

- Refers to news history database to prevent fetching of articles already 
  in the local spool. Will not fetch crossposted articles more than once. 
  Does not rely on Xref, since many sites does not provide it.

- Interfaces to spam filters like cleanfeed.

Newsx was originally written in C under Linux, but due to the magic of
Gnu automake and autoconf it should now be very portable. Unassisted 
system configuration is done by means of said Gnu autoconf.


PULLING NEWS
------------

News transfer via fetching (sucking, slurping, pulling) to local news
spools is sometimes claimed to be an inefficient way of transferring news
compared to connecting newsreaders directly to the remote NNTP server.

The fact of the matter is that if set up and used correctly, exactly the 
opposite is the case. 

A local news spool allows news transfer to occur at off-peak hours, 
thereby decreasing the host server load in the critical period. This will 
tie up less modems at peak hours, as well as decreasing the connect time 
since the actual transfer will run much quicker.

A fetch-based system is also easier to administrate then the feeding kind,
since every site decides for itself what groups it will exchange with whom. 
The major down-side is that article propagation times will be longer. For
sites that are leaf nodes in the news distribution tree, this is usually not
very important.

Much of the problems connected with news pulling is connected to the use 
of the RFC-977 NEWNEWS command. Most news servers has implemented this
command in an inefficient manner, which will put severe loads on the 
newsserver. Newsx does not use NEWNEWS.


ARCHIVE
-------

In this archive you should find the following files:

README            To you what `Drink Me' was to Alice.
INSTALL           Documentation re. configuration and installation
COPYING           The GNU General Public License
FAQ               Frequently asked questions
NEWS              Versions
configure         For making a `Makefile'
Makefile.in       Input to `configure'
README.in         README original - make changes here
configure.in      For autoconf
config.guess      For autoconf
config.h.in       For autoconf, generated by autoheader
install-sh        For autoconf
mkinstalldirs     For autoconf
missing           For autoconf
acconfig.h        For autoconf
aclocal.m4        For autoconf
newsx.spec        For building a rpm: rpm -bb newsx.spec
doc               Directory for man-pages and misc. documentation
dbz               Directory for database source code
src               Directory for newsx source code
lib               Directory for misc. source code
test              Directory for test code


COMPILE AND INSTALL
-------------------

1. Type `make', and hopefully you will get the newsx executable.
   Read the INSTALL for further enlightenment.

2. Type `su' to become root, and then `make install' to install the
   executables and the man pages.


MAILING LISTS
-------------

If you want to be informed about future newsx versions and receive
possible bug alerts, you can send an email message to:

	majordomo@kvaleberg.no

with the following line in the message body:

	subscribe newsx-announce

If you want to join the newsx discussion list, you can send an
email message to the same address with the following line in the
message body:

	subscribe newsx

The Usenet newsgroup news.software.nntp is also a suitable forum for
discussing newsx.


QUICK START WITH INN
--------------------

We assume that you already have INN installed. What you have to do is:

 1. Do all maintenance of the news system as user `news'. Ensure
    that the `.profile' of this user defines a path that includes
    `/usr/lib/newsbin'. E.g.:

	export PATH="$PATH:/usr/lib/newsbin"

 2. Ensure that an outgoing batch has been configured in 
    `/usr/lib/news/newsfeeds'. If the NNTP host is named `news.acme.net',
    a minimum configuration might be:

	ME:::
	acme/newsx:*,!junk*,!control*:Tf,Wf:

    The outgoing batch will be named `acme' - replace `acme' with what
    is appropriate for your configuration.

    All groups that you do NOT want to exchange with the host in question
    should be listed with an ! before it, the `junk' group being a
    standard fitment.

    NOTE: Depending on how you use the spool, you may want to replace
    the special `newsx' in the example above with the particular exclude
    string for the newsserver in question.

 3. If you haven't done so already, define one or more newsgroups that 
    will appear in the `/usr/lib/news/active' file:

	ctlinnd newgroup acme.test

 4. Try to fetch news articles for these groups by doing:

	newsx -ddddd acme news.acme.net

 5. The articles should now appear in the incoming batch
    `/var/spool/news/in.coming'. If you invoke:

	rnews -U

    the incoming articles should appear in the news spool. In the
    example, you may look for them in `/var/spool/news/acme/test'.

 6. Using a newsreader, post an article to a suitable test group. Try to 
    use a group with as small distribution as possible, preferably local 
    to the external newsserver you are using. If you haven't done so 
    already, the group must be in the `/usr/lib/news/active' file.

    The next time that `rnews' is invoked, the articles will be output
    to the spool file `/var/spool/news/out.going/acme' specified in the `/usr/lib/news/newsfeeds' file.

 7. Run:

	newsx -ddddd -n acme news.acme.net

    to do a `dry test' to ensure that everything is set up correctly. No
    external connection is required.

 8. Now, fire up the connection and do it for real:

	newsx -dd acme news.acme.net

    Check that everything runs smoothly. The `-dd' may be removed when you
    are sure everything works as expected. To maintain a log of posted
    articles, as well as a folder containing all articles, you can do:

	newsx -l posted.log -f posted acme news.acme.net

 9. To catch up with new newsgroups in a quicker way, you may want to
    limit the number of articles fetched by adding the option:

		--maxnew 100

10. You may want to arrange for automatic news exchange by using `crontab'.
    It is usually good to invoke `newsrun' before and after the newsx
    session.

11. For more information about how to set up news and other subjects related
    to use of ordinary ISP accounts, you might want to consult:

	http://www.kvaleberg.com/ISP-Hookup-HOWTO.html
	ftp://ftp.sn.no/user/egilk/ISP-Hookup-HOWTO.txt


QUICK START WITH C News
-----------------------

We assume that you already have C News installed. What you have to do is:

 1. Do all maintenance of the news system as user `news'. Ensure
    that the `.profile' of this user defines a path that includes
    `/usr/lib/newsbin'. E.g.:

	export PATH="$PATH:/usr/lib/newsbin"

 2. Ensure that an outgoing batch has been configured in `/usr/lib/news/sys'.
    If the NNTP host is named `news.acme.net', a minimum configuration
    might be:

	ME:all/all::
	acme/newsx:all,!junk,!control/all:FL:

    The outgoing batch will be named `acme' - replace `acme' with what
    is appropriate for your configuration.

    All groups that you do NOT want to exchange with the host in question
    should be listed with an `!' before it, the `junk' group being a
    standard fitment.

    The L-flag is a double insurance that only actual local postings will
    be sent out.

    NOTE: Depending on how you use the spool, you may want to replace
    the special `newsx' in the example above with the particular exclude
    string for the newsserver in question.

 3. If you haven't done so already, define one or more newsgroups that 
    will appear in the `/usr/lib/news/active' file:

	addgroup acme.test y

 4. Try to fetch news articles for these groups by doing:

	newsx -ddddd acme news.acme.net

 5. The articles should now appear in the incoming batch
    `/var/spool/news/in.coming'. If you invoke:

	newsrun 

    the incoming articles should appear in the news spool. In the
    example, you may look for them in `/var/spool/news/acme/test'.

 6. Using a newsreader, post an article to a suitable test group. Try to 
    use a group with as small distribution as possible, preferably local 
    to the external newsserver you are using. If you haven't done so 
    already, the group must be in the `/usr/lib/news/active' file.

    The next time that `newsrun' is invoked, the articles will be output
    to the spool file `/var/spool/news/out.going/acme/togo' specified in the
    `/usr/lib/news/sys' file.

 7. Continue with point 7 in the INN explanation above.


LEGAL MATTER
------------

Copyright 1999 Egil Kvaleberg <egil@kvaleberg.no>

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
	
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
---------------

The DBZ database manager is copyright 1988 Jon Zeeff, and has been 
modified by a number of people.

The NNTP header file is copyright 1994 David Alden and The Ohio State
University.

The getopt library is copyright 1987, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95
Free Software Foundation, Inc.

Autoconf is copyright 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997 Free Software 
Foundation, Inc.

Automake is copyright 1994, 1995, 1996 1997 Free Software Foundation,      
Inc.

The wildmat function is written by Rich $alz in 1986.

Ansi2knr is copyright 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 Aladdin Enterprises.

The hashing function used for the INN 2.0 history database is derived
from the RSA Data Security, Inc. MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm, and is 
copyright 1990 RSA Data Security, Inc.

INN 2.0 is Copyright (c) 1996 by Internet Software Consortium.

The setenv function is Copyright (c) 1987 Regents of the University of
California.

Please refer to the respective source files for a full description of the 
terms that apply.

Thanks to the following individuals for constructive comments and 
improvements:

	Greg Wooledge <wooledge@kellnet.com>
	Riku Saikkonen <rjs@isil.lloke.dna.fi>
	Simon J Mudd <sjmudd@redestb.es>
	Laurent Frigault <frigault@isicom.fr>
	Gerhard Zuber <zuber@berlin.snafu.de>
	Bruce Fisher <bruce@smtl.co.uk>
	Tim Tuck <tim_tuck@yes.optus.com.au>
	Stanislav Protassov <st@sw.org.sg>
	Brian Buhrow <buhrow@cats.ucsc.edu>
	Michael Faurot <mfaurot@phzzzt.atww.org>
	Rachel Polanskis <r.polanskis@nepean.uws.edu.au>
	Stoty <stoty@legba.tvnet.hu>
	Arne Georg Gleditsch <arnegl@ifi.uio.no>
	Randall Shutt <rshutt@extacy.ravenet.com>
	Rene Hoejbjerg Larsen <renehl@post1.tele.dk>
	J. Richard Sladkey <jrs@foliage.com>
	Filip Lingier <filip@filtronix.eunet.be>
	Joacim Persson <sp2joap1@ida.his.se>
	Andreas Jaeger <aj@arthur.pfalz.de>
	Janne Snabb <snabb@niksula.hut.fi>
	Frank Tarczynski <ftarz@mindspring.com>
	Jason Brown <jbrown@interalpha.co.uk>
	Knut Anders Hatlen <kahatlen@riksnett.no>
	Adrian Bridgett <adrian.bridgett@poboxes.com>
	Paul Tomblin <ptomblin@xcski.com>
	Helmut Heller <heller@altoetting-online.de>
	Michele Bini <mbini@dada.it>
	Per Hedeland <per@erix.ericsson.se>
	Uli Zappe <uli@zappe.de>
	Nikolay Grigoriev <shadow@aanet.ru>
	Peter Maydell <pmaydell@chiark.greenend.org.uk>
	Steinar Haug <sthaug@nethelp.no>
	Stefan Huelswitt <huels@iname.com>
	Jeffery Small <jeff@cjsa.cjsa.com>


CONTACT INFORMATION
-------------------

All comments, changes you had to make for specific systems, bug 
reports, bug fixes, etc. can be sent to:

	bug-newsx@kvaleberg.no

There is also a mailing list available, as described before.

Although not a requirement of the license terms, you are according 
to ancient news software tradition encouraged to send a postcard to 
the following address if you find the program useful:

	Egil Kvaleberg
	Husebybakken 14A
	N-0379 Oslo
	Norway         


$Id: README.in,v 1.60 1999/04/21 05:16:33 src Exp $