home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Aminet 4
/
Aminet 4 - November 1994.iso
/
aminet
/
comm
/
uucp
/
wcnews_1_0_30.lha
/
man
/
news.man
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1994-01-04
|
17KB
|
397 lines
NEWS(5) NEWS(5)
1mNAME22m
news - USENET network news articles, batches, related
files
1mDESCRIPTION22m
There are two formats of news articles: 1mA22m and 1mB.22m 1mA22m format
is obsolete, but looks like this:
1mA4m22marticleID24m
4mnewsgroups24m
4mpath24m
4mdate24m
4mtitle24m
4mBody24m 4mof24m 4marticle24m
A 1mB22m format 4marticle24m consists of a series of headers and
then the body. A header line is defined (approximately)
as a line at the start of the article or immediately fol
lowing a header line with a capital letter as the first
character and a colon immediately following the first
word, of alphanumerics and dashes, on the line (a special
isation of RFC 822 format). Continued headers are as per
RFC 822. Unrecognized headers are ignored. News is
stored in the same format transmitted, see ``Standard for
the Interchange of USENET Messages'' (RFC 1036 nee 850)
for a full description. The following headers are among
those recognized:
1mFrom:22m 4muser1m24m@4m22mhost.domain[.domain24m 4m...]24m 1m(22m 4mFull24m 4mName1m24m)22m
1mNewsgroups:22m 4mnews24m 4mgroups24m
1mMessageID:22m 1m<4m22mUnique24m 4mRFC82224m 4mmessageid1m24m>22m
1mSubject:22m 4mdescriptive24m 4mtitle24m
1mDate:22m 4mdate24m 4mposted24m
1mExpires:22m 4mexpiration24m 4mdate24m
1mReplyTo:22m 4maddress24m 4mfor24m 4mmail24m 4mreplies24m
1mReferences:22m 4mMessageID24m 4mof24m 4marticle24m 4mthis24m 4mis24m 4ma24m 4mfollowup24m
4mto24m.
1mControl:22m 4mtext24m 4mof24m 4ma24m 4mcontrol24m 4mmessage24m
Here is an example of an article:
1mPath:22m 1matt!eagle!jerry22m
1mFrom:22m 1mjerry@eagle.uucp22m 1m(Jerry22m 1mSchwarz)22m
1mNewsgroups:22m 1mnews.announce22m
1mSubject:22m 1mUsenet22m 1mEtiquette22m 1m22m 1mPlease22m 1mRead22m
1mMessageID:22m 1m<642@eagle.UUCP>22m
1mDate:22m 1mFriday,22m 1m1922m 1mNov22m 1m8222m 1m16:14:5522m 1mEST22m
1mFollowupTo:22m 1mnews.misc22m
1mExpires:22m 1mSaturday,22m 1m122m 1mJan22m 1m8322m 1m00:00:0022m 1mEST22m
1mOrganization:22m 1mBell22m 1mLabs,22m 1mMurray22m 1mHill22m
1mThe22m 1mbody22m 1mof22m 1mthe22m 1marticle22m 1mcomes22m 1mhere,22m 1mafter22m 1man22m 1mempty22m 1mline.22m
A 4mnews24m 4mbatch24m consists of zero or more articles, each pre
ceded by a line of the form
12 Sept 1990 1
NEWS(5) NEWS(5)
1m#!22m 1mrnews22m 4mbytecount24m
where 4mbytecount24m is the number of bytes in the following
article, where each newline is counted as a single byte,
even if it is stored as a CRLF or some other representa
tion. Spaces are significant: one before and one after
1mrnews22m. News batches are usually transmitted 4mcompress24med.
Various peculiar optional encapsulations of news batches
exist which consist of doing something to the (probably
compressed) batch, then prepending a 1m#!22m 4mgoo24m line to the
output, where 4mgoo24m reflects the form of encapsulation;
known values of 4mgoo24m include 1mcunbatch22m (the null encapsula
tion), and 1mc7unbatch22m (encode the batch using only seven
bits per character).
The 4msys24m file line has four fields, each separated by
colons:
4msystemname1m24m/4m22mexclusion11m24m,4m22mexclusion2...1m24m:4m22msubscription24m
4mlist1m24m/4m22mdistributionlist1m24m:4m22mflags1m24m:4m22mtransmission24m 4mcommand24m
A 1m#22m as the first character in a line denotes a comment.
Empty lines are ignored. A logical line may be continued
to the next physical line by putting a 1m\22m at the end of the
current physical line. Spaces are permitted in 4msys24m only
in comments, 4mtransmission24m 4mcommand24m when it really is a com
mand and not a filename, and, for B news compatibility, at
the start of a continuation line (after a 1m\22m and a new
line).
Of the 4msys24m fields, only the 4msystemname24m need be present.
If a field and all the fields after it are omitted, the
colon immediately before that field and all the colons
after it may be omitted too. The optional subfields
(4mexclusion24ms and 4mdistributionlist24m) and their leading
slashes may be omitted.
The 4msystem24m 4mname24m is the name of the system being sent to,
and is checked against site names in 1mPath:22m headers to
avoid sending an article back to a site that has seen it.
The 4mexclusion24ms are also checked against the 1mPath:22m header
and articles are not sent to 4msystem24m 4mname24m if they have vis
ited any of the 4mexclusions24m.
The special 4msystem24m 4mname24m 1mME22m stands for the name of the
machine news is running on, as determined from
4m/usr/lib/news/whoami24m. (The 1mME22m line, or a line whose 4msys24m
4mtem24m 4mname24m is explicitly that of the machine news is running
on, has a rather different meaning from that of the other
4msys24m file lines: its 4msubscriptionlist24m subfield identifies
the newsgroups that this site subscribes to (i.e. is will
ing to receive), and its other fields and subfields are
ignored.)
12 Sept 1990 2
NEWS(5) NEWS(5)
4msubscriptions24m is a commaseparated list of 4mnewsgroup24m 4mpat24m
4mterns24m specifying the newsgroups to be transmitted to the
4msystem24m; each newsgroup from the 1mNewsgroups:22m header of each
article is matched against the pattern list, and if any
newsgroup matches the pattern list, the article is trans
mitted. The rules for matching a newsgroup against a sin
gle pattern are:
o 4mword24ms in a newsgroup or a pattern are delimited by
periods;
o words of a pattern and a newsgroup match only if they
are identical, except that the word 1mall22m in a pattern
matches any newsgroup word;
o a newsgroup is matched against a pattern word by word,
and all words must match for the newsgroup to match
that pattern;
o if the pattern has fewer words than the newsgroup, the
pattern is implicitly extended to the same number of
words by appending 1m.all22m as many times as necessary;
o if the newsgroup has fewer words than the pattern, the
newsgroup does not match the pattern;
o if 4mpattern24m matches a newsgroup, 1m!4m22mpattern24m 4mmis24mmatches
that newsgroup.
A newsgroup matches a pattern list if, and only if, it
matches at least one of the patterns and:
o the newsgroup does not mismatch any of the patterns, or
o the longest matched pattern is longer than the longest
mismatched pattern (length is measured in number of
words, with each explicit occurrence of 1mall22m counted as
slightly less than one word, and does not include the
implicit extension of patterns with 1m.all22m).
Note that order in the lists is not significant, and that
ties are broken in favor of not matching. An example:
1mcomp,comp.sys.sun,!comp.sys22m matches all the 1mcomp22m groups,
4mexcept24m the 1mcomp.sys22m groups 4mbut24m 4mincluding24m 1mcomp.sys.sun22m.
The distributions in the 1mDistribution:22m header are simi
larly matched against the 4mdistributionlist24m. If no 4mdis24m
4mtributions24m are supplied, 1mDistribution:22m will be matched
against the 4msubscriptions24m instead. (The 1mDistribution:22m
header is ignored when receiving news; it is only signifi
cant when sending.)
Note that some older news software reportedly attached
magical significance to the distributions ``world'' and
12 Sept 1990 3
NEWS(5) NEWS(5)
``local''; C News treats them as ordinary distribution
names with no special properties (except that ``world'' is
the default distribution of an article if none appears
explicitly). For example, a 4mdistributions24m list like
1mall,!local22m will 4mnot24m prevent local articles from being sent
unless they contain explicit 1mDistribution:22m 1mlocal22m lines.
The 4mflags24m are a set of letters describing how the article
should be transmitted. Valid flags include 1mf22m (interpret
4mtransmission24m 4mcommand24m as a file name and write the name and
size in bytes of each article on the end of it), 1mF22m (like 1mf22m
but omit the size), 1mI22m (like 1mF22m but write MessageID:s
instead of filenames), 1mn22m (like 1mF22m but write a MessageID:
after each filename), 1mL4m22mn24m (only send articles generated
within 4mn24m hops of here; 0 is the default value for 4mn24m), 1mm22m
(transmit only moderated groups), 1mu22m (transmit only unmod
erated groups). There are other obsolete ones.
The 4mtransmission24m 4mcommand24m is executed by the shell with the
article to be transmitted as the standard input. The
default is `1muux22m 1m-22m 1m-z22m 1m-r22m 4msysname1m24m!rnews22m' for a command; the
PATH searched includes 1m/usr/lib/newsbin/relay22m, so that the
commands described in 4mnewsmail24m(8) are available as alter
natives to 4muux24m. If one of the 4mflags24m has caused this field
to be taken as a filename, the default is
1m/usr/spool/news/out.going/4m22msysname1m24m/togo22m; if a filename is
given but it does not start with `/', it is assumed to be
relative to the 1m/usr/spool/news/out.going22m directory.
Some examples:
1m#22m 1mline22m 1mindicating22m 1mwhat22m 1mwe22m 1mare22m 1mwilling22m 1mto22m 1mreceive;22m 1mnote22m 1mlocal22m 1mgroups22m 1mon22m 1mend22m
1mME:comp,news,sci,rec,misc,soc,talk,to,can,ont,tor,ut22m
1m#22m 1msample22m 1minsignificant22m 1mfeed22m 1mnot22m 1musing22m 1mbatching22m
1mhuey:news.config,to.huey/all::uux22m 1m22m 1mr22m 1mgd22m 1mhuey!rnews22m
1m#22m 1msample22m 1mmajor22m 1mbatched22m 1mfeed,22m 1mincluding22m 1m(unnecessary)22m 1mexplicit22m 1mfile22m 1mname22m
1mdewey:comp,news,sci,rec,misc,soc,talk,to.dewey,can,ont,tor,ut/all:f:dewey/togo22m
1m#22m 1msample22m 1mlonghaul22m 1mfeed;22m 1mnote22m 1mno22m 1mlocal22m 1mgroups22m
1mdonald:comp,news,sci,rec,misc,soc,talk,to.donald/all:f:22m
1m#22m 1msample22m 1mlocalpostingsonly22m 1mfeed22m 1mdirect22m 1mto22m 1mmajor22m 1msite22m 1m(gets22m 1mthem22m 1mout22m 1mfast)22m
1mscrooge:comp,news,sci,rec,misc,soc,talk,to.scrooge/all:Lf:22m
1m#22m 1msample22m 1mihave/sendme22m 1mlink22m
1m#22m 1mSend22m 1mihave22m 1mtelling22m 1mlouie22m 1mwhat22m 1mwe22m 1mhave22m 1m22m 1mbatcher22m 1mturns22m 1mthe22m 1mbatch22m 1minto22m 1ma22m
1m#22m 1mgiant22m 1mcontrol22m 1mmessage22m 1mand22m 1mposts22m 1mit22m 1mto22m 1m"to.louie".22m 1m(#1)22m
1mlouie:rec.music.synth/all,!sendme,!ihave:I:louie.ihave/togo22m
1m#22m 1mSend22m 1msendme22m 1min22m 1mresponse22m 1mto22m 1mihave22m 1mfrom22m 1mlouie22m 1m22m 1magain,22m 1mturned22m 1mby22m 1mbatcher22m
1m#22m 1minto22m 1mgiant22m 1mcontrol22m 1mmessage22m 1mposted22m 1mto22m 1m"to.louie".22m 1m(#3)22m
1mlouiesendids:to.louie/ihave:I:louie.sendme/togo22m
1m#22m 1mTransmit22m 1msaid22m 1mgiant22m 1mcontrol22m 1mmessages22m 1mby22m 1mnormal22m 1mbatching.22m 1m(#2,#4)22m
1mlouiectl:to.louie/all,!sendme,!ihave:f:louie/togo22m
1m#22m 1mSend22m 1marticles22m 1min22m 1mresponse22m 1mto22m 1msendme22m 1mmessages22m 1mfrom22m 1mlouie.22m 1m(#5)22m
1mlouiereal:to.louie/sendme:f:louie/togo22m
1m#22m 1mActually22m 1mthe22m 1mlast22m 1mtwo22m 1mcould22m 1mbe22m 1mcombined.22m
12 Sept 1990 4
NEWS(5) NEWS(5)
(The ``to.4msysname24m'' groups are normal newsgroups used for
testing individual news feeds.)
Somewhere in the 4msys24m file, there must be a line for the
host system. This line has no 4mflags24m or 4mcommands24m.
The 4mactive24m file contains one line per locallyvalid news
group. Each line consists of four blankseparated fields:
newsgroup name, highest local article number assigned,
lowest local article number in use (approximately), and a
flag. Both articlenumber fields are at least five digits
wide. (Some older news software may expect exactly five
digits.) The current flag values are 1my22m (a normal unmoder
ated group), 1mn22m (like 1my22m but local postings disallowed), 1mm22m
(a normal moderated group), 1mx22m (a locallydisabled group,
no articles will be filed here), and 1m=22m (followed by the
real group under which to file articles in this group;
articles are treated exactly as if their 1mNewsgroups:22m
header specified the real group instead of the original
one; highest and lowest fields are ignored). An example:
1mcomp.org.usrgroup22m 1m000000000622m 1m0000422m 1my22m
1mtalk.bizarre22m 1m000029612322m 1m29213622m 1mn22m
1mcomp.sys.sun22m 1m000000017522m 1m0017322m 1mm22m
1mlist.sunspots22m 1m000000007622m 1m0007622m 1m=comp.sys.sun22m
1mcomp.os.vms22m 1m000000000022m 1m0000022m 1mx22m
The 4mhistory24m file contains one line for each article
received. Each line consists of three tabseparated
fields: a 4mMessageID:24m, the arrival time as seconds since
midnight, Jan 1, 1970 and the 1mExpires:22m value (a dash indi
cates there was none) separated by a tilde, and the list
of links to this article. If an article has been expired
or cancelled without being seen first, the list of links
and the tab before it are omitted. An example:
1m<3451@hcr.UUCP>22m 1m581905588~22m 1mcomp.text/131722m 1mcomp.sources.wanted/420022m
1m<9383@alice.UUCP>22m 1m611934511~22m
1mSEE22m 1mALSO22m
4mchecknews24m(1), 4mcompress24m(1), 4minews24m(1), 4mpostnews24m(1), 4mread24m
4mnews24m(1), 4mrn24m(1), 4mvnews24m(1), 4mgetdate24m(3), 4mexpire24m(8), 4mnews24m
4mbatch24m(8), 4mnewsmail24m(8), 4mrelaynews24m(8), 4mrecnews24m(8), 4mrnews24m(8),
4msendnews24m(8), 4muurec24m(8), 4mnewsinvaders24m(9.1)
ARPA Internet RFCs 1036 and 850
1mBUGS22m
B format articles must not start with 1mA22m, to distinguish
them from 1mA22m format, which is only a problem if moderators
put 1mApproved:22m first.
1mControl:22m and 1mNewsgroups:22m are not required to be the first
headers, if present.
People insist on making their whacko local encapsulation
12 Sept 1990 5
NEWS(5) NEWS(5)
schemes (1mcunbatch22m, etc.) 4mrnews24m's problem.
One could argue that RFC 822 is less than an ideal base
for article format.
12 Sept 1990 6
