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TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
NAME
tin, rtin, cdtin, tind - A threaded Netnews reader
SYNOPSIS
tin/rtin/cdtin/tind [ options ] [ newsgroups ]
DESCRIPTION
Tin is a full-screen easy to use threaded Netnews reader. It
can read news locally (i.e. /usr/spool/news) or remotely
(rtin or tin -r option) via a NNTP (Network News Transport
Protocol) server. Cdtin can read news locally and news
archived on CD-ROM. It will automatically utilize nov (news
overview) style index files if available locally or via the
nntp xover command.
Tin has five separate levels of operation: Group selection
level, Spooldir selection level, Group level, Thread level
and Article level. Use the 'h' (help) command to view a
list of the commands available at a particular level.
On startup tin will show a list of the newsgroups found in
$HOME/.newsrc. An arrow '->' or highlighted bar will point
to the first newsgroup. Move to a group by using the
terminal arrow keys (terminal dependent) or 'j' and 'k'.
Use PgUp/PgDn (terminal dependent) or Ctrl-U and Ctrl-D to
page up/down. Enter a newsgroup by pressing RETURN.
The TAB key advances to the next newsgroup with unread
articles and enters it.
OPTIONS
-c create/update index files for every group in
$HOME/.newsrc or file specified by -f option and
mark all articles as read.
-f file use the specified file of subscribed to
newsgroups in place of $HOME/.newsrc.
-h help listing all command line options.
-H brief introduction to tin that is also shown the
first time it is started.
-I dir directory in which to store newsgroup index
files. Default is $HOME/.tin/.index.
-m dir mailbox directory to use. Default is
$HOME/Mail.
-M user mail unread articles to specified user for later
reading. For more information read section
Automatic Mailing and Saving New News.
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TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
-p program print program with options.
-q quick start without checking for new newsgroups.
-P purge group index files of articles that no
longer exist. Care should be taken when using
this command as it stats each and every article
in each group that is accessed. On a low speed
connection this can have an undisirable effect
and it also knocks the hell out of your
filesystem.
-r read news remotely from the default NNTP server
specified in the environment variable NNTPSERVER
or contained in the file /etc/nntpserver.
-R read news saved by -S option (not yet
implemented).
-s dir save articles to directory. Default is
$HOME/News.
-S save unread articles for later reading by -R
option. For more information read section
Automatic Mailing and Saving New News.
-u create/update index files for every group in
$HOME/.newsrc or file specified by -f option.
This option is disabled if tin retreives its
index files via a NNTP server.
-U start tin in the background to update index
files while reading news in the foreground.
This option is disabled if tin retreives its
index files via a NNTP server.
-v verbose mode for -c -M -S -u and -Z options.
-w quick mode to post an article and then exit.
-z only start tin if there is any new/unread news.
If there is news tin will position cursor at
first group with unread news. Useful for putting
in login file.
-Z check if there is any new/unread news and exit
with appropriate status. If -v option is
specified the number of unread articles in each
group is printed. An exit code 0 indicates no
news, 1 that an error occurred and 2 that
new/unread news exists. Useful for writing
scripts.
August 20, 1993 Last change: Version 1.2 PL1 2
TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
Tin can also dynamically change its options by the 'M' menu
command. Any changes are written to $HOME/.tin/tinrc.
The index daemon version, tind, only supports the -f, -h, -I
and -v options.
INDEX FILES
In order to keep track of threads, tin maintains an index
for each newsgroup. There are a number of methods in which
index files can be created and updated.
The simplest method is that each user creates/updates there
own index files that are stored in $HOME/.tin/.index. This
has the advantage that any user can compile and install tin,
but the disadvantage is that each user is going to be
creating duplicate files and using precious disk space. A
good way to keep index files updated is by doing a tin -U
that will update index files in the background while you are
reading news in the foreground. You can also update index
files via the system batcher cron with the -u option:
30 6 * * * /usr/local/bin/tin -u
A slightly better method is to set tin setuid news and have
all index files created and updated in the news spool
directory (i.e. /usr/spool/news/.index). This has the
advantage that there will only be one copy of the index
files on each machine on your network, but the disadvantage
is that you will have tin running setuid news.
A better method is to install the tind index file updating
daemon and have it create and update index files for all
groups in your active file at regular intervals in the news
spool directory (i.e. /usr/spool/news/.index). This has the
advantage that there will only be one copy of the index
files on each machine on your network and tin must not be
setuid news, but the disadvantage is that you will have to
have news permissions to install tind and root permissions
to install an entry in the cron batcher system to have tind
regularly update index files.
The best method is to install the tind index file updating
daemon on your NNTP server and have it create and update
index files for all groups in your active file at regular
intervals in the news spool directory (i.e.
/usr/spool/news/.index). This has the advantage that there
will only be one copy of the index files on the NNTP server
for the whole of your network, but the disadvantage is that
you will have to install my NNTP server patches to allow tin
to retreive index file from your NNTP server and and you
must install an entry in the cron batcher system to have
tind regularly update index files (note that this is the
method we use on our network of 40-50 machines and have not
August 20, 1993 Last change: Version 1.2 PL1 3
TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
had any problems).
Entering a group the first time tends to be slow because the
index file must be built from scratch unless the tind update
daemon is being used. To alleviate the slowness start tin to
create all index files for the groups you subscribe to with
tin -u -v and go for a coffee. Subsequent readings of a
group will cause incremental updating of the index file.
If reading news remotely and locally updating index files
operation will be somewhat slower because the articles must
be retreived from the NNTP server.
NEWS ADMINISTRATION
Maintaining Netnews on large networks of machines can be a
pretty time consuming job as I discovered when I was given
the job of maintaining our news system and news users.
Tin is a News User Agent and so most of the users were
always asking questions or doing things that could be
frowned upon by there departments. To releive news admins
(and especially me) of this features have been added to make
life easier for news adminstrators.
When a user starts tin it is possible to inform them of any
important changes/information concerning the news system by
displaying a message of the day (motd) file. The motd file
should be created in your news lib directory (i.e.
/usr/lib/news/motd) and should have file permissions set to
0644. The motd file will only be displayed if its contents
is newer than the last time the user started tin. If reading
news via NNTP my XMOTD patch will have to have been applied
to your NNTP server.
A user starting tin for the first time can be automatically
subscribed to a list of newsgroups that are deemed
appropriate by the news administrator. At our site the
subscriptions file has 125 groups (our active file contains
over 400 groups with many only being marginally interesting
to most people). The subscriptions file should be created
in your news lib directory (i.e.
/usr/lib/news/subscriptions) and should have file
permissions set to 0644. If reading news via NNTP my LIST
SUBSCRIPTIONS patch will have to have been applied to your
NNTP server.
If my NNTP XUSER patch has been applied to your NNTP server
you will be able to log the username and machine to your
NNTP logfile for usage statistics.
SCREEN FORMAT
Tin has five separate levels of operation: Group selection
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TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
level, Spooldir selection level, Group level, Thread level
and Article level.
At the Group Selection level the title displays the number
of subscribed groups. The newsgroups are displayed on the
left of the screen with the number of unread articles
displayed on the same line in the middle of the screen.
<Selection Num> <Newsgroup> <Num of unread articles>
i.e.,
1 alt.sources 10
2 comp.sources.misc 3
3 news.software.readers 12
At the Group level the title contains the name of the group,
the number of conversation threads and total number of
articles i.e., alt.sources (7 23). If the group has been
setup not to thread articles (i.e., alt.sources is in
$(HOME)/.tin/unthread) the title will be alt.sources (U 23).
There are two possible display formats as shown below:
<Selection Num> <Unread> <Responses> <Subject> <Author>
i.e.,
1 + 3 Bnews sources? iain@anl433.uucp
2 1 This question has ether@net
or
<Selection Num> <Unread> <Responses> <Subject (longer)>
i.e.,
1 + 3 Bnews sources?
2 1 This question has a longer subject line
At the Article level the page header has the following
format:
<Date posted> <Newsgroup> <Thread 1 of n>
<Article Num> <Subject> <Num of responses in thread>
<Author> <Organization>
<Article body>
i.e.,
24 Jul 15:20:03 GMT alt.sources Thread 1 of 2
Article 452 Bnews sources? 3 responses
iain@anl433.uucp Organization name
<Article boby>
COMMON MOVING KEYS
This table shows the common keys/commands for moving at all
five levels within tin.
ansi/at386/vt100 Other Terminals
Beginning of list/article Home 1 (^R or g at article level)
End of list/article End $ (also G at article level)
Page Up PgUp ^U or ^B or b
Page Down PgDn ^D or ^F or <SPACE>
Line Up Up arrow k (not at article level)
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TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
Line Down Down arrow j (not at article level)
COMMON EDITING COMMANDS
An emacs style editing package allows the easy editing of
input strings. An history list allows the easy reuse of
previously entered strings. The following commands are
available when editing a string:
^A,^E move to beginning or end of line, respectively.
^F,^B nondestructive move forward or back one location,
respectively.
^D delete the character currently under the cursor,
or send EOF if no characters in the buffer.
^H,<DEL> delete character left of the cursor.
^K delete from cursor to end of line.
^P,^N move through history, previous and next,
respectively.
^L,^R redraw the current line.
<CR> places line on history list if nonblank, appends
newline and returns to the caller.
<ESC> aborts the present editing operation.
NEWSGROUP SELECTION COMMANDS
4 Select group 4.
^K Delete current group from $HOME/.newsrc file.
^L Redraw page.
^R Reset $HOME/.newsrc file.
<CR> Read current group.
<TAB> View next group with unread news. Will wrap around
to the beginning of the group selection list
looking for unread groups.
c Mark current group as all read with confirmation
and goto next group in group selection list.
C Mark current group as all read and goto next
unread group in group selection list.
d Toggle display to show just the groupname or the
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TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
groupname and the groups description.
g Choose a new group by name. The position of the
group within the group list will also be asked
for. By entering '1' the new group will be the
first group in the displayed list, by entering '8'
the group will be the eighth group in the list
etc. By entering '$' the group will be the last
group displayed.
h Help screen of newsgroup selection commands.
H Toggle the display of help mini menu at the bottom
of the screen.
I Toggle inverse video.
l List and allow selection of the available spool
directories. This feature requires a special
library to be linked with tin to create cdtin
which can then read news from an active news feed
and also from multiple CD-ROMs.
m Move the current group within the group selection
list. By entering '1' the group will become the
first displayed group in the list, by entering '8'
the eighth group in the list etc. By entering '$'
the group will be the last group displayed.
M User configurable options menu (for more
information see section Options Menu).
q Quit tin.
Q Quit tin.
r Toggle display of all subscribed to groups and
just the subscribed to groups containing unread
articles. Command has no effect if groups were
read from the command line when tin was started.
R Mail a bug report or comment to the author. This
is the best way of getting bugs fixed and features
added/changed.
s Subscribe to current group.
S Subscribe to groups matching user specified
pattern.
u Unsubscribe to current group.
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TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
U Unsubscribe to groups matching user specified
pattern.
v Print tin version information.
w Post an article to current group.
W List articles posted by user. The date posted,
the newsgroup and the subject are listed.
y The first time this command is called it will yank
in all groups from $LIBDIR/active that are not in
$HOME/.newsrc. After any groups have been
subscribed/unsubscribed to, this command if
pressed again will reread $HOME/.newsrc and
display only the subscribed groups.
Y Reread the active file to see if any new news has
arrived since starting tin.
z Mark all articles in the current group as unread.
Z Undelete previously deleted group by ^K command
from $HOME/.newsrc.
/ Group forward search.
? Group backward search.
SPOOL DIRECTORY SELECTION COMMANDS
4 Select spool directory 4.
^L Redraw page.
<CR> Read news from selected spool directory.
h Help screen of spool directory selection commands.
H Toggle the display of help mini menu at the bottom
of the screen.
I Toggle inverse video.
q Return to previous level.
Q Quit tin.
R Mail a bug report or comment to the author. This
is the best way of getting bugs fixed and features
added/changed.
v Print tin version information.
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TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
GROUP INDEX COMMANDS
4 Select article 4.
^K Kill current article (for more information read
section Kill Article Menu).
^L Redraw page.
<CR> Read current article.
<TAB> View next unread article or group.
a Author forward search.
A Author backward search.
c Mark all articles as read with confirmation.
C Mark all articles as read and goto next group with
unread news.
d Toggle display to show just the subject or the
subject and author.
g Choose a new group by name.
h Help screen of group index commands.
H Toggle the display of help mini menu at the bottom
of the screen.
I Toggle inverse video.
K Mark article/thread as read and advance to next
unread article/thread.
l List the author of each response in current thread
and enter thread selection level.
m Mail current article / thread / auto selected
(hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
tagged articles to someone.
M User configurable options menu (for more
information see section Options Menu).
n Go to next group.
N Go to next unread article.
o Output current article / thread / auto selected
(hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
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TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
tagged articles to printer.
p Go to previous group.
P Go to previous unread article.
q Return to previous level.
Q Quit tin.
R Mail a bug report or comment to the author. This
is the best way of getting bugs fixed and features
added/changed.
s Save current article / thread / auto selected
(hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
tagged articles to file / files / mailbox. To
save to a mailbox enter '=' or '=mailbox' when
asked for filename to save to. To save in
<newsgroup name>/<filename> format enter
'+filename'. Environment variables are allowed
within a filename (i.e. $SOURCES/dir/filename).
t Tag current article / thread for mailing ('m') /
piping ('|') / printing ('o') / saving ('s') /
crossposting ('x').
u Toggle display to show all articles as unthreaded
or threaded.
U Untag all articles that were tagged.
v Print tin version information.
w Post an article to current group.
W List articles posted by user. The date posted,
the newsgroup and the subject are listed.
x Crosspost already posted current article / thread
/ auto selected (hot) articles / articles matching
pattern / tagged articles to another newsgroup(s).
Useful for reposting from global to local
newsgroups.
X Mark all unread articles that have not been
selected as read, redo screen to reflect changes
and put index at the first thread to begin
reading. Pressing 'X' again will toggle back to
the way it was before. See '~' command for
clearing the toggle effect.
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TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
z Mark current article as unread.
Z Mark current thread as unread.
/ Search forward for specified subject.
? Search backward for specified subject.
- Show last message.
| Pipe current article / thread / auto selected
(hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
tagged articles into command.
* Select current thread for later processing.
Toggle selection of current thread. If at least one unread art,
but not all unread arts, in thread is selected,
then all unread arts become selected.
@ Reverse all selections on all articles.
~ Undo all selections on all articles. It clears the
toggle effect of 'X' command. Thus after first
doing a 'X', one can then do '~' to reset
articles. Thus, one can iteratively whittle down
uninteresting threads.
+ Perform auto-selection on current group.
; For each thread in current group, if it at least
one unread art is selected, all unread arts become
selected. This is useful for auto-selection on
author where reader wants to see entire thread.
= Prompts for a pattern with which to match on. All
threads whose subjects match the pattern will be
selected. A pattern of "*" will match all
subjects. Entering just <CR> will cause the
previous pattern to be used.
THREAD LISTING COMMANDS
4 Select article 4 within thread.
^L Redraw page.
<CR> Read current article within thread.
<TAB> View next unread article within thread.
c Mark thread as read after confirmation and return
to previous level.
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TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
d Toggle display to show just the subject or the
subject and author.
h Help screen of thread listing commands.
H Toggle the display of help mini menu at the bottom
of the screen.
I Toggle inverse video.
K Mark thread as read and return to previous level.
q Return to previous level.
Q Quit tin.
r Toggle display to show all articles or only unread
articles.
R Mail a bug report or comment to the author. This
is the best way of getting bugs fixed and features
added/changed.
t Tag current article for mailing ('m') / piping
('|') / printing ('o') / saving ('s') /
crossposting ('x').
T Return to group index level.
v Print tin version information.
z Mark current article in thread as unread.
Z Mark all articles in thread as unread.
ARTICLE VIEWER COMMANDS
0 Read the base article in this thread.
4 Read response 4 in this thread.
^H Show all of the articles mail header.
^K Kill current article (for more information read
section Kill Article Menu).
^L Redraw page.
<CR> Goto next base article.
<TAB> Goto next unread article.
a Author forward search.
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TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
A Author backward search.
c Mark all articles as read with confirmation and
return to group selection level.
C Mark current group as all read and goto next
unread group in group selection list.
d Toggle rot-13 decoding for this article.
D Delete current article. It must have been posted
by the same user. The cancel message can be seen
in the newsgroup 'control'.
f Post a followup to the current article with a copy
of the article included.
F Post a followup to the current article.
h Help screen of article page commands.
H Toggle the display of help mini menu at the bottom
of the screen.
I Toggle inverse video.
k Mark article as read and advance to next unread
article.
K Mark thread as read and advance to next unread
thread.
m Mail current article / thread / auto selected
(hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
tagged articles to someone.
M User configurable options menu (for more
information see section Options Menu).
n Go to the next article.
N Go to the next unread article.
o Output current article / thread / auto selected
(hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
tagged articles to printer.
o Output article/thread/tagged articles to printer.
p Go to the previous article.
P Go to the previous unread article.
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TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
q Return to previous level.
Q Quit tin.
r Reply through mail to the author of the current
article with a copy of the article included.
R Reply through mail to the author of the current
article.
s Save current article / thread / auto selected
(hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
tagged articles to file / files / mailbox. To
save to a mailbox enter '=' or '=mailbox' when
asked for filename to save to. To save in
<newsgroup name>/<filename> format enter
'+filename'. Environment variables are allowed
within a filename (i.e. $SOURCES/dir/filename).
t Return to group selection level.
T Tag current article for mailing ('m') / piping
('|') / printing ('o') / saving ('s') /
crossposting ('x').
v Print tin version information.
w Post an article to current group.
W List articles posted by user. The date posted,
the newsgroup and the subject are listed.
x Crosspost already posted current article / thread
/ auto selected (hot) articles / articles matching
pattern / tagged articles to another newsgroup(s).
Useful for reposting from global to local
newsgroups.
z Mark article as unread.
/ Article forward search.
? Article backward search
| Pipe current article / thread / auto selected
(hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
tagged articles into command.
< Goto the first article in the current thread.
> Goto the last article in the current thread.
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TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
* Select current thread for later processing.
Toggle selection of current article.
@ Reverse article selections.
~ Undo all selections on current thread.
GLOBAL OPTIONS MENU
This menu is accessed by pressing 'M' at all levels. It
allows the user to customize the behaviour of tin. The
options are saved to the file $HOME/.tin/tinrc. Use <SPACE>
to toggle the required option and <CR> to set.
Auto save
Automatically save articles/threads by ``Archive-name:''
line in article header and post process them if process
type is not set to None.
Editor offset
Set ON if the editor used for posting, follow-ups and
bug reports has the capability of starting and
positioning the cursor at a specified line within a
file.
Mark saved read
Allows saved articles/threads to be automatically marked
as read.
Confirm Command
Allows certain commands (i.e. 'c' catchup) that require
user confirmation to be executed immediately if set OFF.
Draw arrow
Allows groups/articles to be selected by an arrow '->'
if set ON or by an highlighted bar if set OFF.
Print header
This allows the complete mail header or only the
``Subject:'' and ``From:'' fields to be output when
printing articles.
Goto 1st unread
This allows the cursor to be placed at the first / last
unread article upon entering a newsgroup with unread
news.
Scroll full page
If set ON scrolling of groups/articles will be a full
page at a time, otherwise half a page at a time.
Catchup on quit
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TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
If set ON the user is asked when quitting if all groups
read during the current session should be marked read.
Thread articles
If set ON articles will be threaded in all groups
(default), otherwise articles will be shown unthreaded.
Threading/unthreading is possible on a per group basis
by setting the group attribute variable 'thread_arts' to
ON/OFF in the file $HOME/.tin/attributes.
Show only unread
If set ON show only new/unread articles, otherwise show
all articles.
Show description
If set ON show a short descriptive text for each
displayed newsgroup. The text used is taken from the
$LIBDIR/newsgroups file.
Show Author
If set 'None' only the ``Subject:'' line will be
displayed. If set 'Addr' ``Subject:'' line & the
address part of the ``From:'' line are displayed. If
set 'Name' ``Subject:'' line & the authors full name
part of the ``From:'' line are displayed. If set
'Both' ``Subject:'' line & all of the ``From:'' line are
displayed.
Process type
This specifies the default type of post processing to
perform on saved articles. The following types of
processing are allowed:
-none.
-unpacking of multi-part shell archives.
-unpacking of multi-part uuencoded files.
-unpacking of multi-part uuencoded files, which
produce a *.zoo archive whose contents is listed.
-unpacking of multi-part uuencoded files, which
produce a *.zoo archive whose contents is
extracted.
-unpacking of multi-part uuencoded files, which
produce a *.zip archive whose contents is listed.
-unpacking of multi-part uuencoded files, which
produce a *.zip archive whose contents is
extracted.
-unpacking of multi-part uuencoded files, which
produce a *.lha archive whose contents is listed
(AmigaDOS version only).
-unpacking of multi-part uuencoded files, which
produce a *.lha archive whose contents is extracted
(AmigaDOS version only).
August 20, 1993 Last change: Version 1.2 PL1 16
TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
Sort articles by
This specifies how articles should be sorted. The
following sort types are allowed:
-don't sort articles (default).
-sort articles by ``Subject:'' field (ascending &
descending).
-sort articles by ``From:'' field (ascending &
descending).
-sort articles by ``Date:'' field (ascending &
descending).
Save directory
The directory where articles/threads are to be saved.
Default is $HOME/News.
Mail directory
The directory where articles/threads are to be saved in
mailbox format. This feature is mainly for use with the
Elm mail program. It allows the user to save
articles/threads/groups simply by giving '=' as the
filename to save to.
Printer
The printer program with options that is to be used to
print articles. Default is lpr for BSD machines and lp
for SysV machines.
TINRC CONFIGURABLE VARIABLES
The following variables are user configurable by editing
$HOME/.tin/tinrc directly. It is hoped to eventually provide
a menu to allow the setting of the most common variables.
batch_save
If set ON articles/threads will be saved in batch mode
when save -S or mail -M is specified on the command
line. Default is OFF.
beginner_level
If set ON a mini menu of the most useful commands will
be displayed at the bottom of the screen for each level.
Default is ON.
display_reading_prompt
The prompt ``Reading...'' will be displayed when reading
an article from a NNTP server to provide feedback to the
user. Default is ON.
force_screen_redraw
Specifies whether a screen redraw should always be done
after certain external commands. Default is OFF.
groupname_max_length
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TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
Maximum length of the names of newsgroups to be
displayed so that more of the newgroup description can
be displayed. Default is 132.
default_sigfile
The path that specifies the signature file to use when
posting, following upto or replying to an article. If
the path is a directory then the signature will be
randomly generated from files that are in the specified
directory. Default is $HOME/.Sig.
editor_format
The format string used to create the editor start
command with parameters. Default is '%E +%N %F' (i.e.,
/bin/vi +7 .article).
hot_art_mark
The character used to show that an article/thread is
auto-selected (hot). Default is '*'.
quote_chars
The character used in quoting included text to article
followups and mail replys. The '_' character represents
a blank character and is replaced with ' ' when read.
Default is ':_'.
reread_active_file_secs
The news active file is reread at regular intervals to
show if any new news has arrived. Default is 300
seconds.
return_art_mark
The character used to show that an article will return.
Default is '-'.
save_to_mmdf_mailbox
Allows articles to be saved to a MMDF style mailbox
instead of mbox format. Default is OFF unless reading
news on SCO Unix which uses MMDF by default.
show_last_line_prev_page
The last line of the previous page will be displayed as
the first line of next page. Default is OFF.
slow_speed_terminal
Strips the blanks from the end of each line therefore
speeding up the display when reading on a slow terminal
or via modem. Default is OFF.
tab_after_X_selection
If enabled will automatically goto the first unread
article after having selected all hot articles and
August 20, 1993 Last change: Version 1.2 PL1 18
TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
threads with the 'X' command at group index level.
Default is OFF.
tab_goto_next_unread
If enabled pressing TAB at the article viewer level will
goto the next unread article immediately instead of
first paging through the current one. Default is ON.
unread_art_mark
The character used to show that an article has not been
read. Default is '+'.
use_builtin_inews
Allows the builtin NNTP inews to be enabled/disabled.
Default is ON (enabled).
use_keypad
Allows the scroll keys on the keypad to be
enabled/disabled on supported terminals. Default is OFF.
GROUP ATTRIBUTES
Tin allows certain attributes to be set on a per group
basis. These group attributes are read from the file
$HOME/.tin/attributes. A later version will provide a menu
interface to set all the attributes. At present you will
have to edit the file with your editor :-(. The following
group attributes are available:
newsgroup=alt.sources
maildir=/usr/iain/Mail/sources
savedir=/usr/iain/News/alt.sources
sigfile=/usr/iain/.funny_sig
organization=Wacky Bits Inc.
followup_to=alt.sources.d
printer=/usr/local/bin/a2ps -nn | /bin/lpr
auto_save=ON
batch_save=OFF
delete_tmp_files=ON
show_only_unread=OFF
thread_arts=ON
show_author=1
sort_art_type=5
post_proc_type=1
Note that the ''newsgroup=<groupname>'' line has to be
specified before the attributes are specified for that
group.
All attributes are set to a reasonable default so you only
have to specify the attribute that you want to change (i.e.,
savedir).
August 20, 1993 Last change: Version 1.2 PL1 19
TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
All toggle attributes are set by specifying ON/OFF.
The show_author attribute is specified by a number from the
following range: 0=none, 1=username, 2=network address,
3=both.
The sort_art_type attribute is specified by a number from
the following range: 0=none, 1=subject descending, 2=subject
ascending, 3=from descending, 4=from ascending, 5=date
descending, 6=date ascending.
The post_proc_type attribute is specified by a number from
the following range: 0=none, 1=unshar, 2=uudecode,
3=uudecode & list zoo archive, 4=uudecode & extract zoo
archive, 5=uudecode & list zip archive, 6=uudecode & extract
zip archive. (note: if running on AmigaDOS the zoo options
are replaced by there corresponding lha archiver options).
AUTOMATIC KILL AND SELECTION
When there is a subject or an author which you are either
very interested in, or find completely uninteresting, you
can easily instruct tin to auto-select or auto-kill articles
with specific subjects or from specific authors. These
instructions are stored in a kill file.
This menu is accessed by pressing '^K' at the group and page
levels. It allows the user to kill or select an article
that matches the current ``Subject:'' line, ``From:'' line
or a string entered by the user. The user entered string can
be applied to the ``Subject:'' or ``From:'' lines of an
article. The kill description can be limited to the current
newsgroup or it can apply to all newsgroups. Once entered
the user can abort the command and not save the kill
description, edit the kill file or save the kill
description.
On starting tin the users killfile $HOME/.tin/kill is read
and on entering a newsgroup any kill or select descriptions
are applied.
Articles that match a kill description are marked killed and
are not displayed. Articles that match an auto-select
description are marked with a ''*'' when displayed.
POSTING ARTICLES
Tin allows posting of articles, follow-up to already posted
articles and replying direct through mail to the author of
an article.
Use the 'w' command to post an article to a newsgroup.
After entering the post subject the default editor (i.e. vi)
or the editor specified by the $VISUAL environment variable
August 20, 1993 Last change: Version 1.2 PL1 20
TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
will be started and the article can be entered. To
crosspost articles simply add a comma and the name of the
newsgroup(s) to the end of the ``Newsgroups:'' line at the
beginning of the article. After saving and exiting the
editor you are asked if you wish to a)bort posting the
article, e)dit the article again or p)ost the article to the
specified newsgroup(s).
Use the 'W' command to display a history of the articles you
have posted. The date the article was posted, which
newsgroups the article was posted to and the articles
subject line are displayed.
Use the 'f' / 'F' command to post a follow-up article to an
already posted article. The 'f' command will copy the text
of the original article into the editor. The editing
procedure is the same as when posting an article with the
'w' command.
Use the 'r' / 'R' command to reply direct through mail to
the author of an already posted article. The 'r' command
will copy the text of the original article into the editor.
The editing procedure is the same as when posting an article
with the 'w' command. After saving and exiting the editor
you are asked if you wish to a)bort sending the article,
e)dit the article again or s)end the article to the author.
CUSTOMIZING THE ARTICLE QUOTE STRING
When posting a followup to an article or replying direct to
the author of an article via email the text of the article
can be quoted. The beginning of the quoted text can contain
information about the quoted article (i.e., Name and the
Message Id of the article). To allow for different
situations certain information from the article can be used
in the quoted string. The following variables are expanded
if found in the tinrc variables 'mail_quote_format=' or
'news_quote_format=':
%A Address (Email)
%D Date
%F Full address (%N (%A))
%G Groupname
%M Message Id
%N Name of user
i.e.,
mail_quote_format=On %D in %G you wrote:
news_quote_format=In %M, %F wrote:
would expand when used to:
On 21 Jul 1992 09:45:51 -0400 in alt.sources you wrote:
In <abcINN123@anl433.uucp>, Iain Lea (iain@erlm.siemens.de) wrote:
MAILING PIPING PRINTING REPOSTING AND SAVING ARTICLES
The command interface to mail ('m'), pipe ('|'), print
August 20, 1993 Last change: Version 1.2 PL1 21
TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
('o'), crosspost ('x') and save ('s') articles is the same
for ease of use.
The initial command will ask you to select which a)rticle,
t)hread, h)ot (auto selected) r)egex pattern, t)agged
articles you wish to mail, pipe etc.
Tagged articles must have already been tagged with the 'T'
command. All tagged articles can be untagged by the 'U'
untag command.
If regex pattern matching is selected you are asked to enter
a regular expression (i.e. to match all articles subject
lines containing 'net News' you must enter '*net News*').
Any articles that match the entered expression will be
mailed, piped etc.
To save articles to a mailbox with the name of the current
newsgroup (i.e. Alt.sources) enter '=' or '=<mailbox name>'
when asked for the save filename.
To save articles in <newsgroup name>/<filename> format enter
'+<filename>'.
When saving articles you can specify whether the saved files
should be post processed (i.e. unshar shell archive,
uudecode multiple parts etc). A default process type can be
set by the 'Process type:' in the 'M' options menu.
AUTOMATIC MAILING AND SAVING NEW NEWS
Tin allows new/unread news articles to be mailed (-M
option)/saved (-S option) in batch mode for later reading.
Useful when going on holiday and you don't want to return
and find that expire has removed a whole load of unread
articles. Best to run from crontab everyday while away,
after which you will be mailed a report of which articles
were mailed/saved from which newsgroups and the total number
of articles mailed/saved. Articles are saved in a private
news structure under your <savedir> directory (default is
$HOME/News). Be careful of using this option if you read a
lot of groups because you could overflow your filesystem.
If you only want to save a few groups it would be best to
backup your full $HOME/.newsrc and create a new one that
only contains the newsgroups you want to mail/save. Saved
news can be read later by tin -R.
tin -M iain -c -f newsrc.mail
(mail any unread articles in newgroups
specified in file newsrc.mail)
tin -S -c -f newsrc.save
(save any unread articles in newgroups
August 20, 1993 Last change: Version 1.2 PL1 22
TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
specified in file newsrc.save)
tin -R (read any articles saved by tin -S)
SIGNATURES
Tin will recognize a signature in either $HOME/.signature or
$HOME/.Sig. If $HOME/.signature exists, then the signature
will be pulled into the editor for mail commands. A
signature in $HOME/.signature will not be pulled into the
editor for posting commands since inews will append the
signature itself.
A signature in $HOME/.Sig will be pulled into the editor for
both posting and mailing commands.
The following is an example of a $HOME/.Sig file:
NAMES Iain Lea iain.lea@erlm.siemens.de
SNAIL Bruecken Strasse 12, 8500 Nuernberg 90, Germany
PHONE +49-911-331963 (home) +49-911-3089-407 (work)
Tin also has the capability to generate random signatures on
a per newsgroup basis if so desired. The way to accomplish
this is to specify the default signature or the group
attribute sigfile as a directory. If for example the
sigfile path is /usr/iain/.sigs and .sigs is a directory
then tin will select a random signature from any file that
is in the directory .sigs (note: one signature per numbered
file). A random signature can also consist of a fixed part
signature that can contain your name, address etc. followed
by the random sig. The fixed part of the random sig is read
from the file $HOME/.sigfixed.
ENVIROMENT VARIABLES
TINRC
Define this variable if you want to specify command
line options that tin should be started with to save
typing them each time it is started. The contents of
the environment variable are added to the front of the
command line options before it is parsed therefore
allowing an option specified on the command line to
override the same option specified in the environment.
TINDIR
Define this variable if you do not want the .tin
directory in $HOME/.tin. (i.e. if you want all tin's
private files in /tmp/.tin you would set TINDIR to
/tmp.
TIN_INDEX
Define this variable if you do not want the .index
directory in $HOME/.tin/.index. (i.e. if you want all
tin's index files in /tmp/.index you would set
TIN_INDEX to /tmp.
August 20, 1993 Last change: Version 1.2 PL1 23
TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
NNTPSERVER
The default NNTP server to remotely read news from.
This variable only needs to be set if the -r command
line option is specified and the file /etc/nntpserver
does not exist.
DISTRIBUTION
Set the article header field ``Distribution:'' to the
contents of the variable instead of the system default.
ORGANIZATION
Set the article header field ``Organization:'' to the
contents of the variable instead of the system default.
This variable has precedence over the file
$HOME/.tin/organization that may also contain an
organization string. If reading news on an Apollo
DomainOS machine the environment variable NEWSORG has
to be used instead of ORGANIZATION.
REPLYTO
Set the article header field ``Reply-To:'' to the
return address specified by the variable. This is
useful if the machine is not registered in the UUCP
mail maps or if you wish to receive replies at a
different machine. This variable has precedence over
the file $HOME/.tin/replyto that may also contain a
return address.
ADD_ADDRESS
This can contain an address to append to the return
address when replying directly through mail to somebody
whose mail address is not directly recognized by the
local host. For example say the return address is
user@bigvax, but bigvax is not recognized by your host,
so therefore the mail will not reach user. But the
host littevax is known to recognize your host and
bigvax, so if ADD_ADDRESS is set (i.e. 'setenv
ADD_ADDRESS @littevax' for csh or 'set ADD_ADDRESS
@littevax' and 'export ADD_ADDRESS' for sh) the address
user@bigvax@littlevax will be used and the mail will
reach user@bigvax. This variable has precedence over
the file $HOME/.tin/add_address that may also contain
an address.
BUG_ADDRESS
If the 'B' command bug report mail address is not
correct this variable should be set to the correct mail
address. This variable has precedence over the file
$HOME/.tin/bug_address that may also contain a mail
address.
MAILER
August 20, 1993 Last change: Version 1.2 PL1 24
TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
This variable has precedence over the default mailer
that is used in all mailing operations within tin (i.e.
replying 'rR', and bug reports 'B').
VISUAL
This variable has precedence over the default editor
(i.e. vi) that is used in all editing operations within
tin (i.e. posting 'w', replying 'rR', follow-ups 'fF'
and bug reports 'B').
TIPS AND TRICKS
Tin can be pretty much be navigated by using the four cursor
keys. The left arrow key goes up a level, the right arrow
key goes down a level, the up arrow key goes up a line (page
at article viewer level) and the down arrow key goes down a
line (page at article viewer level).
The following newsgroups provide useful information
concerning news software:
-news.software.readers (info. about news user agents
tin,rn,nn,vn etc.)
-news.software.nntp (info. about NNTP)
-news.software.b (info. about news transport agents
Bnews,Cnews and INN)
-news.answers (Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about
many different themes)
Many prompts (i.e. 'Mark everything as read? (y/n): y')
within tin offer a default choice that the cursor is
positioned on. By pressing <CR> the default value is taken.
Many prompts (i.e. 'Post subject []>') within tin can be
aborted by pressing ESC.
When tin is run in an xterm window it will resize itself
each time the xterm is resized.
Tin will reread the active file at set intervals to show any
new news.
FILES
$HOME/.newsrc subscribed to newgroups.
$HOME/.newsauth ``nntpserver password'' pairs for NNTP
servers that require authorization.
$HOME/.tin/tinrc options.
$HOME/.tin/attributes
contains user specified group
attributes.
August 20, 1993 Last change: Version 1.2 PL1 25
TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
$HOME/.tin/.index newsgroups index files directory.
$HOME/.tin/.mailidx mailgroups index files directory.
$HOME/.tin/.saveidx saved newsgroups index files directory.
$HOME/.tin/active.mail
active file of users mailgroups.
$HOME/.tin/active.save
active file of users saved newsgroups.
$HOME/.tin/add_address
address to add to when replying through
mail.
$HOME/.tin/bug_address
address to send bug reports to.
$HOME/.tin/kill article kill and auto-selection file.
$HOME/.tin/organization
string to replace default organization.
$HOME/.tin/posted history of articles posted by user.
$HOME/.tin/replyto host address to use in ``Reply-To:''
mail header.
$HOME/.signature signature.
$HOME/.Sig signature.
$HOME/.sigfixed fixed part of a randomly generated
signature.
/usr/lib/news/motd News message of the day file.
/usr/lib/news/newsgroups
Short description of all newsgroups.
/usr/lib/news/subscriptions
List of newsgroups to subscribe first
time user to.
BUGS
There are bugs somewhere among the creeping featurism. Any
bugs found should be reported by the 'B' (bug report)
command.
Coredumps when setting certain toggle options from the
options menu at article viewer level.
August 20, 1993 Last change: Version 1.2 PL1 26
TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
Coredumps when killing last article in a thread at article
viewer level.
HISTORY
Based on the tass newsreader that was developed by Rich
Skrenta and posted to alt.sources in March 1991. Tass was
itself heavily influenced by NOTES which was developed at
the University of Illinois by Ray Essick and Rob Kolstad in
1982.
v1.0 PL0 (full) was posted in 8 parts to alt.sources on 23
Aug 1991.
v1.0 PL1 (full) was posted in 8 parts to alt.sources on 03
Sep 1991.
v1.0 PL2 (full) was posted in 9 parts to alt.sources on 24
Sep 1991.
v1.0 PL3 (patch) was posted in 4 parts to alt.sources on 30
Sep 1991.
v1.0 PL4 (patch) was posted in 2 parts to alt.sources on 02
Oct 1991.
v1.0 PL5 (patch) was posted in 4 parts to alt.sources on 17
Oct 1991.
v1.0 PL6 (patch) was posted in 5 parts to alt.sources on 27
Nov 1991.
v1.0 PL7 (patch) was posted in 2 parts to alt.sources on 27
Nov 1991.
v1.1 PL0 (full) was posted in 11 parts to alt.sources on 13
Feb 1992.
v1.1 PL1 (full) was posted in 12 parts to alt.sources on 24
Mar 1992.
v1.1 PL2 (patch) was posted in 4 parts to alt.sources on 30
Mar 1992.
v1.1 PL3 (full) was posted in 15 parts to alt.sources on 13
May 1992.
v1.1 PL4 (full) was posted in 15 parts to alt.sources on 22
Jun 1992.
v1.1 PL5 (patch) was posted in 7 parts to alt.sources on 11
Aug 1992.
v1.1 PL6 (full) was posted in 15 parts to alt.sources on 14
Sep 1992.
v1.1 PL7 (patch) was posted in 10 parts to alt.sources on 15
Nov 1992.
v1.1 PL8 (patch) was posted in 6 parts to alt.sources on 06
Dec 1992.
v1.1 PL9 (patch) was posted in 3 parts to alt.sources on 20
Mar 1993.
v1.2 PL0 (full) was posted in 14 parts to alt.sources on 25
May 1993.
v1.2 PL1 (patch) was posted in 8 parts to alt.sources on 14
Jul 1993.
August 20, 1993 Last change: Version 1.2 PL1 27
TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
CREDITS
Rich Skrenta author of tass v3.2 which this newsreader
used as its base.
Bill Davidsen author of envarg.c environment variable
reading routine.
Mike Gleason author of sigfile.c random signature
generation routines. Arnold Robbins author
of strftime.c date formatting routine.
Jim Robinson co-author of kill.c article kill and auto-
selection routines.
Rich Salz author of wildmat.c pattern matching and
parsedate.y date parsing routines.
Dave Taylor author of curses.c from the elm mailreader.
Chris Thewalt author of getline.c emacs style editing
routine.
Mark Tomlinson for porting tin to the AmigaDOS operating
system.
Andreas Wrede for porting tin to the OS/2 operating system.
Dieter Becker for generously posting certain releases for
me when my net connection was removed by a
group of very short sighted people.
I wish to thank the following people for supplying patches:
David Abbott, Earle Ake, Joachim Astel, Anton Aylward,
George Baltz, Paul Bauwens, Dieter Becker, Dan Berry, David
Binderman, Fokke de Boer, Mark Boucher, Herman ten Brugge,
Leila Burrell-Davis, Peter Castro, Robert Claeson, Steven
Cogswell, Don Costello, Bryan Curnutt, Ned Danieley, Chris
Davies, John Davis, Tom Dickey, Craig Durland, Kirk Edson,
Stefan Elf, Rob Engle, Brent Ermlick, Olle Eriksson, Michael
Faurot, Werner Fleck, Callum Gibson, Mike Glendinning,
Philippe Goujard, Carl Hage, Paul Halsema, Ed Hanway, Scott
Hauck, Per Headland, Daniel Hermans, Jose Herrero, Tom Hite,
Torsten Homeyer, Tommy Hsieh, Steve Hunt, Robbin Johnson,
Nelson Kading, Fritz Kleeman, Dwarven Knight, Karl-Koenig
Koenigsson, Martin Kraemer, Kris Kugel, Alex Lange, Alain
Lasserre, Hakan Lennestal, Geoff Lane, Marty Leisner,
Clifford Luke, David MacKenzie, Hugh Mahon, Owen Medd, Soren
Moller, Sergio Morales, Michael Morrell, Klaus Mueller, Udo
Munk, James Nugen, Jeb Palmer, Neil Parker, Tom Parry, Jim
Patterson, Walter Pelissero, Eric Peterson, Tim Pierce, Bill
Poitras, Wolfgang Prediger, Ted Richards, Jim Robinson,
August 20, 1993 Last change: Version 1.2 PL1 28
TIN(1) LOCAL TIN(1)
Stephen Roseman, Clifton Royston, Nickolay Saukh, Rich Salz,
Gary Sanders, John Sauter, Christopher Sawtell, John
Schmitz, Bart Sears, Karl-Olav Serrander, Doug Sewell,
Philip Shearer, Mark Smith, Steve Spearman, Cliff Stanford,
Steve Starck, Jason Steiner, Ed Sznyter, Derek Terveer,
Andry Timonin, Mark Tomlin, Michael Traub, Adri Verhoef,
Paul Vickers, Cary Whitney, Greg Woods, Lloyd Wright
I wish to thank the following people for bug
reports/comments:
Jack Applin, Klaus Arzig, Scott Babb, Reiner Balling,
Preston Bannister, Bill de Beabien, Volker Beyer, Etienne
Bido, Roger Binns, Georg Biehler, Jean-Marc Bonnaudet, Eric
Bowles, Sean Brady, Ian Brown, Andreas Brosig, Craig Bruce,
Tom Czarnik, Dave Datta, Mat Davis, Karl Denninger, Klaus
Dimmler, David Donovan, Peter Dressler, Gerhard Ermer, Hugh
Fader, Miguel Farah, Joachim Feld, Paul Fox, Jay Geertsen,
Herschel Gelman, Bernhard Gmelch, Jason Haar, Viet Hoang,
Andy Jackson, Joe Johnson, Ralph Jud, Cyrill Jung, Kuo-Chein
Kai, Tonis Kelder, Hans-Juergen Knopp, Sridhar Komandur, Tom
Kovar, Bernhard Kroenung, Murray Laing, Per Lindqvist, Eric
Litman, Bob Lukas, Michael Marshall, Kazushi Marukawa,
Phillip Molloy, Toni Metz, Greg Miller, Deeptendu Majumder,
Klaus Neuberger, Otto Niesser, Reiner Oelhaf, Alex Pakter,
John Palkovic, Dave Pascoe, Wolf Paul, Andrew Phillips,
Stefan Rathmann, Jon Robinson, David Ross, Jonas Rwgmyr,
Daemon Schaefer, Dean Schrimpf, Klamer Schutte, Fredy
Schwatz, Dave Schweisguth, Bernd Schwerin, Don Sheythe,
Chris Smith, Daniel Smith, Ralf Stephan, Hironobu Takahashi,
Ken Taylor, Tony Travis, Paul Verket, Sven Werner, Dick
Wexelblat, Paul Wood, Gregory Woodbury, Norm Yamane, Blair
Zajac, Orest Zboroski, Thomas Ziegler
AUTHOR
Iain Lea (iain.lea@erlm.siemens.de)
August 20, 1993 Last change: Version 1.2 PL1 29