Thread View: news.software.nn
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Started by Bill Wohler
Tue, 26 Jan 1993 06:02
NN Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) with Answers
Author: Bill Wohler
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 06:02
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 06:02
1326 lines
46587 bytes
46587 bytes
Archive-name: nn-faq
Last-modified: $Date: 1993/01/23 16:06:28 $
Version: $Revision: 93.1 $
This is a living list of frequently asked questions on the Usenet
news reader NN (No News is Good News). The point of this is to
circulate existing information, and avoid rehashing old answers.
Better to build on top than start again. Please read this document
before ever posting to this newsgroup.
This article is posted monthly. If it has already expired and
you're not reading this, you can hope that you saved the last bit of
question 3 so that you can get a copy yourself.
Please do not post an answer when someone posts a frequently asked
question, as I will always e-mail a reply. This ensures that
everybody gets their question answered fully and eliminates
unnecessary traffic in this newsgroup.
Your comments, additions and fixes to this list are welcome: please
send them to Bill Wohler <wohler@sap-ag.de>.
Subject: Table of Contents
From: Preface
Legend: + new, - deleted, ! changed
Introductory
1. Why should I use nn?
!2. What is the current version/status of nn?
!3. Where can I get nn?
!4. What references exist for nn?
5. How should I report bugs?
6. How can I convert from rn to nn?
7. How can I make life simpler when starting nn for the first time?
8. Is there an X interface to nn?
Building nn
10. What machines does nn run on?
!11. Is it possible to restrict the groups that users have access to?
12. Unofficial patches for various bugs
Using nn
20. How do I save files that I can read later with MH, elm, Mail, ...?
21. How come nn doesn't show the Lines count?
22. How can I find all articles having to do with a certain topic?
23. How can I set a different Organization name?
!24. Can all non-selected subjects be automatically placed in my kill file?
25. Can I automatically kill articles based on the Newsgroups header?
26. How can I select one article in a thread with auto-select-subject set?
27. Is there a library of macros and other nn features?
28. Can one search for patterns in the entire article from the menu?
29. How can I remove old articles from folders?
30. What's the best way to save multi-part articles?
31. When saving in +a/b/c keeps you from saving in +a/b.
32. Can I use my mailer to send mail?
33. How can I see the original article with the current subject?
!34. Can I choose newsgroups as I do articles, ie. with a menu?
35. How can I post prewritten articles with nn?
36. How do I eliminate double signatures?
37. Can the signature come from a different file or program?
38. How can I make mail replies go to a different machine?
39. How come more articles get selected than I expect?
40. Any plans for trn-ish thread following?
41. Setting new-group-action to "ask before adding" doesn't work.
42. Why does nn crash when a letter one past the highest letter is selected?
43. Why do articles without a Lines header appear empty?
44. How do I save my posts and replies automatically?
45. How can I change how my real name appears?
46. How can I customize my mail headers for mail and posting?
47. Can the article viewer/pager be changed?
+48. How do I search for an author in a menu?
+49. Can nn use aliases when sending mail?
+50. How can I see which newsgroups are available?
nnmaster
60. Why does nnmaster stop collecting articles at the "junk" group?
61. How do I cope with "Incomplete MASTER file"?
62. Why isn't nnmaster working?
63. Why do I get ".../MASTER not found"?
+64. Why do I get "cannot open 'x' file"
Appendix
Glossary, Acknowledgements, Warranty
+pack_date.c
+news.c
+nn-use-mh
+nn_elm
+nnalias
Subject: ! Viewing This Article
From: Preface
To skip to a particular question numbered xx, use "/^F.*xx" with most
pagers. In GNU Emacs type "M-C-s ^F.*xx", (or C-r to search backwards),
followed by ESC to end the search. "-xx" is often sufficient.
To skip to new or changed questions, use "/^S.*[!+]" with most pagers and
"M-C-s ^S.*[!+]" in GNU Emacs.
This article is in digest format. Nn may have already broken this
message into separate articles; if not, then type "G %". In rn, use
^G to skip sections.
This article is treated as an outline when edited by GNU Emacs.
Run "M-x describe-mode" to see available outline-mode commands.
Useful commands are "C-c C-s" (show-subtree) and "M-x show-all"
Numbers in square brackets denote the month and year of the last
update.
Subject: Why should I use nn?
From: Intro-1
nn is a menu based (point and shoot) netnews reader with a complete
set of features to satisfy both the expert and the novice user. Since
its first release in Denmark in 1984 (!), in Europe in 1988, and the
global release in June 1989, it has replaced rn and other well-known
news readers at many sites.
Some of the key features of nn are:
* Menu-based article selection prior to reading the articles with the
articles sorted according to subject and posting time.
This significantly reduces the time spent on news reading. No
keystrokes are wasted on articles you don't want to read, and only
the articles selected on the menu will be read.
* Release 6.4 uses standard .newsrc, and can leave individual
articles unread.
* Digests are automatically split and presented as ordinary articles!
You can transparently save and respond to individual subarticles.
* Full folder support: read, save, and delete individual articles.
* Online help and manual.
* Built-in unshar and patch functions.
* Built-in uudecode function which will automatically unpack,
concatenate, and decode multi-part postings.
* Easy remapping of keys with advanced macro definition features.
* Automatic kill & selection of articles based on subject or author.
* User specified presentation sequence of news groups based on the
news group hierarchy.
* Whole classes of news groups can easily be unsubscribed
permanently, e.g. talk.all and all.politics
* Related groups can be merged and presented as a single group, e.g.
comp.emacs and all gnu.emacs groups.
* Blindingly fast 'search for subject'. On my Texas S1500 system, nn
uses less than 20 seconds to find all articles on a specific
subject among 64000 articles in all groups!
* News collection and presentation is extremely fast, because nn uses
its own database on top of the standard news system.
* In a distributed environment, the database can be shared among all
hosts on the network. Only one daemon is needed on the news server
for all hosts. This works in a heterogenous environment as well.
* NNTP is also supported (using a local database for speed).
Because of the database, nn starts almost equally fast (in a few
seconds), no matter whether you have 100 or 10000 unread articles!
The database takes up some disk space, but dramatically improves speed
and functionality. The amount of disk space consumed is approx. 1Mb
per 10000 articles.
Subject: ! What is the current version/status of nn?
From: Intro-2
The current version of nn is 6.4.18.
Note: the maintenance of nn is being taken over by Peter Wemm
<peter@dialix.oz.au>. During this transitional period, he asks
that bugs and suggestions be posted to news.software.nn. Soon, I'm
sure he'll have an update to this section.
Patch 19 is in beta testing. It will include many bug fixes, a
means of automatically killing threads of unread articles, and the
program nnsub to subscribe to newsgroups. [1.93]
Subject: ! Where can I get nn?
From: Intro-3
Note that tar files with the name of nn6.4.tar.Z (ie. not
nn6.4.18.tar.Z) may *not* include the patches. Don't even think of
compiling unless the PATCHLEVEL defined in patchlevel.h is 18. We
are endeavouring to remedy the situation.
In addition, this is a very old list. At the moment, only the
archives noted with the last modification date are known to carry
the latest sources. We will be soon trying to update this list.
Until then, may I suggest that you use archie to find the nn
sources. [1.93]
via anonymous ftp:
chalmers.se [129.16.1.1] [12.92]
pub/nn/nn6.4.18.tar.Z
pub/nn/patch??.Z
cs.mun.ca [12.92]
pub/news/nn6.4
ftp.msen.com [148.59.1.8] [1.93]
pub/packages/nn/nn.patch17.Z 5k
pub/packages/nn/nn.patch18.Z 6k
pub/packages/nn/nn6.4.pl16.tar.Z 732k
dkuug.dk [129.142.96.41]
pub/nn6.4/nn64.tarZa[a-f] ~90k each
pub/nn6.4/nn6.4.patch[1-16].Z ~25k each
munnari.oz.au [128.250.1.21]
pub/news/nn
sirius.ucs.adelaide.edu.au [129.127.40.3]
pub/news/nn6.4/nn6.4.tar.Z 485k
pub/news/nn6.4/nn6.4.patch[1-10].Z ~25k each
aupair.cs.athabascau.ca
pub/usenet/nn/nn6.4.patch18
mtecv2.mty.itesm.mx [131.178.1.5]
pub/nn/nn6.4.16.tar.Z
pub/nn/nn6.4/nn6.4.patch[1-16].Z
pub/nn/NN_FAQ_with_Answers
ghost.dsi.unimi.it [131.175.10.64]
pub/nn.6.4.16.tar.Z 766k
pub/nntp.1.15.11.tar.Z 284k
ftp.uu.net [137.39.1.9]
news/readers/nn/nn6.4.tar.Z 485k
news/readers/nn/nn6.4.patch[1-16].Z <30k each
uk.ac.soton.ecs (NIFTP)
login ID "guest", password of your mail ID (must include an "@"):
<PUB>/nn6.4.16.tar.Z 621637
<PUB>/nn6.4.patch[1-16].Z ~25000
<PUB>/nntp-1.5.11.tar.Z 210319
via anonymous uucp:
Anyone in the U.S. can get nn source and patches by anonymous
uucp from uunet by using their 900 number which costs 40
cents/minute (you don't have to be a uunet subscriber). The
number is 1-900-468-7727, login: uucp, no password. See
uunet!~/help (~5k) for more info or get uunet!~/index/README (~4k)
for a current full directory listing. --Gary Morris <garym@telesoft.com>
uunet!~/news/nn/nn6.4.tar.Z (~485k)
uunet!~/news/nn/nn6.4.patch1.Z (~15k)
...
uunet!~/news/nn/nn6.4.patch16.Z (~24k)
via mail:
Send a note to ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com whose body contains "help"
on a line by itself get information on getting ftp sources by
mail.
Send a note to mail-server@nluug.nl with a body containing one or
both of the following as desired:
send news/nn/nn6.4.16.tar.Z
send news/nntp/nntp.1.5.11.tar.Z
mini-inews:
As well as bringing mini-inews up to date, modifications have been
made to remove the need for MINI_INEWS_HEADERS when setting up nn.
Mini-inews will now create whatever headers are required including
if desired, a Lines header or an incremental Message-ID numbering
capability. --Jim Jagielski <jim@jagubox.gsfc.nasa.gov>
jagubox.gsfc.nasa.gov [128.183.44.1] /pub/inews16.tar.Z 76K
Subject: ! What references exist for nn?
From: Intro-4
Book:
The Whole Internet User's Guide & Catalog, Chapter 8. Ed Krol.
ISBN 1-56592-025-2. $24.95. 376 pages.
O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
Book Orders:
US and Canada: 800-998-9938. Fax: 707-829-0104.
To get a list of non-US distributors, send a note to
nuts@ora.com or call +1-707-829-0515.
Usenet:
news.software.nn
Mailing list:
NN mailing list archives:
Papers:
"Intro to nn"
ux1.cso.uiuc.edu [128.174.5.59]:doc/net/nn.<format>
where <format> is one from doc, ps, tex, jpn, and hqx.
"A Short Guide to nn"
unlinfo.unl.edu:pub/crc.docs/NN.doc/nn.manual.ascii
This document:
via anonymous ftp:
pit-manager.mit.edu [18.172.1.27] /pub/usenet/news.answers/nn-faq.Z
ftp.uu.net [137.39.1.9] /archive/usenet/news.answers/nn-faq.Z
ftp.cs.ruu.nl [131.211.80.17] /pub/NEWS.ANSWERS/nn-faq
via uucp:
uunet!/archive/usenet/news.answers/nn-faq.Z
via mail:
Each of the following addresses is following by commands which
should be included as the body of the message.
mail-server@pit-manager.mit.edu
send usenet/news.answers/nn-faq
mail-server@cs.ruu.nl
send pub/NEWS.ANSWERS/nn-faq
Subject: How should I report bugs?
From: Intro-5
Note: the maintenance of nn is being taken over by Peter Wemm
<peter@dialix.oz.au>. During this transitional period, he asks
that bugs and suggestions be posted to news.software.nn. [9.92]
Subject: How can I convert from rn to nn?
From: Intro-6
Why bother? On our system some people use nn and some people use
rn. In fact, since they both use the same .newsrc format, it is
perfectly possible to use both. --Ian Taylor <ian@airs.com>
Subject: How can I make life simpler when starting nn for the first time?
From: Intro-7
I think a nice way is to use the catch-up facility. Start nn -a0
and let nn catch up automatically. After some hours restart nn and
unsubscribe to uninteresting groups having news articles. Restart
nn the following day and continue unsubscribing.
After one week, you have a nice .newsrc. --Joerg Napp
<napp@uni-paderborn.de>
Another method is to run nn, exit immediately with 'Q', edit
~/.newsrc and replace all occurrences of ':' with '!' and then
replace the '!' with a ':' for those groups you're interested in.
[9.92]
Subject: Is there an X interface to nn?
From: Intro-8
No.
Subject: What machines does nn run on?
From: Building nn-10
Note: the maintenance of nn is being taken over by Peter Wemm
<peter@dialix.oz.au>. During this transitional period, he asks
that updates to this list be posted to news.software.nn. Soon, the
following paragraph will be updated with correct information.
Please do not send updates to me.
Operating systems:
3b1 (UNIX-pc) with GCC SunOS 3
NeXT 1.0 SunOS 4.0
AIX 2.2.1 SunOS 4.1 SysV environment
A/UX 1.1 System V
4.2 BSD and Ultrix systems Motorola System V/88 Release 3
4.3 BSD systems Texas Instruments System 1500
dnix 5.2 on DIAB DS90 NCR tower
dnix 5.3 on DIAB DS90 ULTRIX systems (4.2 based)
Dynix 3.0 on Symmetry Mips running riscos 4.0 or greater
Fortune 32:16 Riscos 4.5 and later
HPUX (series 300) Microport UNIX V.2
HPUX 2.1 (series 800) Amdahl UTS 2.0
HPUX 3.0 (series 800) SCO Xenix 2.2.1 (286) -- terminfo
HPUX 6.5 or newer (series 300) SCO Xenix 286 -- termcap
HPUX 7.0 Xenix386 [termcap version]
Interactive UNIX on 386 Xenix386 2.3.2 w/development system
Dynix/PTX on symmetry Tandy 68000/Xenix 3.2
Pyramid (and Targon 35)
SCO UNIX V on 386
IRIX 3.1/3.2
Siemens SINIX
Hardware platforms:
3b1 with GCC [no networking] MIPS processors
Amdahl 5890 (big iron) Siemens MX300
AT&T 3b2 Pyramid (and Targon 35)
Convex IBM 6150
DECstation 3100 Silicon Graphics 4D series
Gould PN6000 SPARC processors
HP9000 series 320 and 800 (at least) 80386 based SUNs [have network support]
Intel 80286 [no networking] Sequent Symmetry
Intel 80386 [no networking] VAX family
Motorola 68000 family
Motorola 88000 risc
Subject: ! Is it possible to restrict the groups that users have access to?
From: Building nn-11
Create a new group for the people who can read the special groups.
Call it "privnews", for example. (In /etc/group put the userid of
each person who's in that group on that group's line.) Then change
the group of the spool directory which contains the restricted
newsgroup to "privnews" (leaving the owner as news), and set the
mode to 750. --Alexis Rosen <alexis@panix.com>
Note that this only works if you are not using NNTP to read news.
There is currently no mechanism that will allow this to work with
NNTP. --Steve Simmons <scs@wotan.iti.org> [1.93]
Subject: Unofficial patches for various bugs
From: Building nn-12
Several bugs have been reported and fixed and the patches are
available here for those not patient enough to wait until the next
release.
Remember, these are *unofficial* patches so back them out before
patching in the next release of nn. You do not have to strip the
two leading spaces before these patches. In fact you can run "patch
-s -N < this-entire-faq", within the newsreader even!
The patch in appendix "pack_date.c" fixes NN dateline parsing.
Also, NN mishandles non-GMT time zones near short month boundaries
due to NN's, er, somewhat unusual time stamp encoding. It will be
included in nn version 6.4.19. --Paul Eggert <eggert@twinsun.com>
[1.93]
Subject: Can I set up nn securely?
From: Building nn-13
Diffs are unfortunately not included, but this is what you can do:
o Set shell-restrictions in the setup file.
o Set and lock *every* variable which is used to execute commands.
o Modify the source to avoid display/save/print files above the
home-directory if shell-restrictions is set (mainly in save.c).
o Modify the source to avoid changing directories if shell-restrictions
is set.
o Modify the source to avoid showing the contents of locked variables.
In particular, the following variables should be locked:
backup-folder-path, backup-suffix, bug-report-address, decode-header-file,
editor, folder, inews, mail, mail-record, mailer, news-record, newsrc,
pager, patch-command, printer, record, spell-checker, unshar-header-file
Subject: How do I save files that I can read later with MH, elm, Mail, ...?
From: Using nn-20
MH:
Save your files with +$F/$N. For example, if you save message 10
in news.software.nn in this way, you will create a file called
~/News/news/software/nn/10. If you have a symbolic link from
~/Mail/news to ~/News, then you can look at your saved nn
messages with "scan +news/news/software/nn".
Mail
Add "set mail-format" to your init file.
Subject: How come nn doesn't show the Lines count?
From: Using nn-21
Karl Kleinpaste writes:
C News sites can turn on Lines: header creation (we do here), but
the default has it turned off. I wish more would turn it on, as
several newsreaders put it to use, and it's the most easily
available metric of article size when showing the user a menu of
available articles.
Henry Spencer replies:
We're unenthusiastic about Lines:, which is why it's off by default
and little-documented. *The* most easily available metric of
article size is not line count -- which is often slightly wrong, by
the way -- but byte count, which is available without even parsing
the headers.
You can tell C News to add Lines: headers to articles *posted*
locally, but C News has no provision for adding headers to traffic
coming in from other sites. [Specifically, search for the string
"uncomment" in inews, and uncomment those lines. --bw]
But Paul Eggert <eggert@twinsun.com> and Luc Rooijakkers
<lwj@cs.kun.nl> provide a solution:
Remember, these are *unofficial* patches so back them out before
patching in the next release of nn. You do not have to strip the
two leading spaces before these patches. In fact you can run "patch
-s -N < this-entire-faq", within the newsreader even! This patch
will be included in nn version 6.4.19. See appendix "news.c" [1.93]
Subject: How can I find all articles having to do with a certain topic?
From: Using nn-22
nngrab invokes nn on all articles whose subject or keyword fields
contain a desired keyword. This shows one how important it is to
use descriptive subjects and keywords when posting articles. For
more information, read the manual page.
Subject: How can I set a different Organization name?
From: Using nn-23
See "How can I update my mail headers?" [9.92]
Subject: ! Can all non-selected subjects be automatically placed in my kill file?
From: Using nn-24
The two variables, ignore-re and auto-select-rw, accomplish this task.
They may be available in version 6.4.19. In the meantime, patches
may be obtained from dkuug.dk:/pub/nn6.4/nn6.4.killunread.
--Keld J|rn Simonsen <keld@dkuug.dk>. [1.93]
Subject: Can I automatically kill articles based on the Newsgroups header?
From: Using nn-25
This is how one can automatically kill crossposted articles, etc.
First, manually either add the following to your .newsrc to mark all
articles read forever:
alt.flame: 1-2147483647
or add the following to your .nn/kill file to kill all articles in
the group:
alt.flame:!s/:^
The former method may break down if you ever use nngoback to reset
numbers in your .newsrc. The latter method could cause difficulty
if you ever actually want to read articles in that group.
Near the top of your sequence in your init file put
!alt.flame.
alt.flame
This makes alt.flame, but not its subgroups, be included as the first
thing in your sequence; so all articles in it are killed before they
appear in any other groups. You might want to put NEW above this so
you can see if new groups are getting off to a bad start with lots of
alt.flame crossposting. Later in the sequence put
% alt %
This allows the rest of the alt hierarchy, including subgroups such
as alt.flame.spelling (if you subscribe to it), to get included at
that point in the sequence.
Along with using the default settings of cross-filter-seq=true and
cross-post=false, this works fine to nuke the crossposted articles.
--Richard M. Mathews <richard@locus.com> & Dave Shaver <shaver@convex.com>
Subject: How can I select one article in a thread with auto-select-subject set?
From: Using nn-26
Define the following macro to toggle auto-select-subject. --Steven
Grady <grady@fx.com>
map menu A (
:local auto-select-subject
:toggle auto-select-subject
?auto-select-subject=on echo "Auto-select on"
?auto-select-subject=off echo "Auto-select off"
)
Use the '.' command.
Subject: Is there a library of macros and other nn features?
From: Using nn-27
When complete, it will be a companion posting to this one. If you
have not mailed me <wohler@sap-ag.de> your init file, or you have
made substantial changes since the last time, please send it in. If
anyone is handy in perl or awk and would like to write some scripts
to reduce multiple init files to variable summaries (like the one I
posted a long time ago), macro definitions and presentation sequence
tricks, I would like to talk to you.
Subject: Can one search for patterns in the entire article from the menu?
From: Using nn-28
No.
Subject: How can I remove old articles from folders?
From: Using nn-29
Just open the folder in the usual way and C(ancel) the articles you
want to remove from the folder. When you leave the folder, nn will
rewrite the folder with the "cancel"ed articles removed. --Kim
Storm <storm@olicom.dk>
Subject: What's the best way to save multi-part articles?
From: Using nn-30
All you have to do is to save the articles from the menu, e.g.
W(rite) +file.* a b c d... <space>
where a b c d... are the articles on the menu you want to save. You
can also save the selected articles on the menu with * (only on
current page) or + (on all menu pages). --Kim Storm <storm@olicom.dk>
Subject: When saving in +a/b/c keeps you from saving in +a/b.
From: Using nn-31
This happens when default-save-file is $F. Try changing
default-save-file to $F/$N (my favorite) to get, for example,
+news/software/nn/1022, or $G to put everything in
+news.software.nn. Finally, if you really did want the behavior of
+$F, a compromise would be to use +$F. (Andrew's favorite) instead
(one can use anything other than '.'). --Bill Wohler & Andrew Swann
<swann@imada.ou.dk>
Alternatively, use +$F/$L, to place articles for news.software.nn in
the file +/news/software/nn/nn. This has two advantages:
1) You can later read through the folder "nn" and save some of the
articles under new folder names having to do with the topic. For
example, you might save auto-select topics under +$F/auto-sel,
that is, +/news/software/nn/auto-sel.
2) If at a later date, a new newsgroup is added below nn, articles
can still be saved under that subgroup since +/news/software/nn is
already a directory, not a folder. --Harry Herman <herman@corpane.uucp>
Subject: Can I use my mailer to send mail?
From: Using nn-32
Yes. See the variables mail-script, mailer, and mailer-pipe-input.
The following show how you can have nn use elm and MH to mail
messages. [1.93]
The original idea of using MH (namely, comp) to send mail from nn
came from Jaap Vermeulen <jaap@sequent.com>, but he wouldn't
recognize what I did to it. I also used a suggestion from John
Romine <jromine@ics.uci.edu> and Tom McCain <tom@dynamo.ecn.purdue.edu>.
Add
set mail-script nn-use-mh
to your init file. See appendix "nn-use-mh" for the script.
In addition, you can contact Ray Davis <rdavis@convex.com> for some
scripts that sort of turn nn into a MH front end by providing macros
to save, delete and refile articles in MH folders.
To use elm to send the messages, add the following to ~/.nn/init:
set mailer nn_elm
unset mailer-pipe-input
and see appendix "nn_elm" for the script. [1.93]
Subject: How can I see the original article with the current subject?
From: Using nn-33
While reading an article, use "G RET RET RET".
Subject: ! Can I choose newsgroups as I do articles, ie. with a menu?
From: Using nn-34
No, not yet. Sorry. However, progress in this direction has been
made--if you care to finish the work, please contact Peter Wemm
<peter@dialix.oz.au>. [12.92]
See also "How can see which newsgroups are available?" [1.93]
Subject: How can I post prewritten articles with nn?
From: Using nn-35
nnpost will construct the header for the posted article, so it
requires several arguments to be specified before the article is
posted, e.g. a newsgroup name and a subject. If some arguments are
missing, nnpost will prompt for the missing arguments.
If your pre-written article includes a full header, then you should
not use nnpost; instead you should feed the article to "inews -h"
directly (which is what nnpost does after building the header from
the arguments). --Kim Storm <storm@olicom.dk>
Subject: How do I eliminate double signatures?
From: Using nn-36
Double signatures occur when both nn and inews append $HOME/.signature.
If you want just inews to append your signature, use:
unset append-signature-post
This is actually the default, but you can unset this variable if
your nn administrator has mistakenly turned it on.
If you want just nn to append your signature, move your signature to
some other place than $HOME/.signature. Then see, "Can the signature
come from a different file or program?"
Subject: Can the signature come from a different file or program?
From: Using nn-37
If you want nn to append your .signature file, you can copy nn's aux
file (ie. /usr/local/lib/nn/aux) to your .nn directory and set the
mail-script and news-script variables to ~/.nn/aux. In your copy of
the aux script, you can either specify a different place for your
.signature file (like $HOME/.nn/signature) or you can get fancy: you
can use specific .signatures for certain groups (saved in variable
"G"), or use the output of a program. --Bill Wohler
Tired of the same old signature? Want different signatures for
different newsgroups? Here's a program to help you out.
The way it works is to have .signature be a named pipe, so if you
don't have named points, just say 'n'.
The sigrand program then feeds stuff down the pipe everytime someone
wants to read it. That way it works for more than just news, but
for anything that wants to read your .signature, like a mailer.
You have your choice of three kinds of signatures:
1) random (short) fortune from "fortune -s"; you get these if
you don't have a global sig file.
2) random fortune from ~/News/SIGNATURES [global sig file]
3) random fortune form ~/News/(newsgroup)/SIGNATURES [local sig files]
Ask Tom Christiansen <tchrist@convex.com> for more details.
Subject: How can I make mail replies go to a different machine?
From: Using nn-38
See "How can I update my mail headers?" [9.92]
Subject: How come more articles get selected than I expect?
From: Using nn-39
Check the setting of subject-match-parts. If this is on, then your subjects
are considered matched if they match up to the first digit. For example
if subject-match-parts is on, the subjects:
someprogram Part 1/5
someprogram Part 2/5
are considered matches. So are
v12345: someprogram Part 1/5
v12346: anotherprogram Part 1/23
as the "v" is identical up to the first digit. If you want to use
subject-match-parts in a "comp.sources" type group, set
subject-match-offset (the character position that matches are
started from) to be beyond any digits that might appear in the first
part of the subject. --Dave Hayes <dave@elxr.jpl.nasa.gov>
Subject: Any plans for trn-ish thread following?
From: Using nn-40
At the moment, no.
Subject: Setting new-group-action to "ask before adding" doesn't work.
From: Using nn-41
Take NEW out of your sequence--it's redundant.
Subject: Why does nn crash when a letter one past the highest letter is selected?
From: Using nn-42
This is fixed in patch 17. [9.92]
Your terminal modes will be screwed up after such an event, so
you'll have to type ^J (or LINE-FEED) repeatedly until a prompt is
seen, and then run
stty -sane^J
or
reset
Subject: Why do articles without a Lines header appear empty?
From: Using nn-43
This problem only shows up if you have header-lines set to a string
that includes "L". It is suspected that having the line count patch
sets something that makes nn think there is a Lines header and then
the header-string is telling it to display the Lines header but
there isn't one and things get messed up. --Gary Morris
<garym@telesoft.com>
Subject: How do I save my posts, followups and replies automatically?
From: Using nn-44
In your nn init file, use the following lines:
set news-record file
set mail-record file
to place posts and followups in one file and replies in another, or
to put everything in a single file, use:
set record file
Replace "file" with the absolute path (~ == home directory ok) of
your desired file. All files are saved in mailbox format. --Don
Mullins <mullins@convex.com> [9.92]
Subject: How can I change how my real name appears?
From: Using nn-45
On BSD UNIX systems, you can run the command chfn(1) to change
your real name. If you don't want to do this, or can't, please
see "How can I update my mail headers?" [9.92]
Subject: How can I customize my mail headers for mail and posting?
From: Using nn-46
Headers can be modified or appended to by creating the variables
mail-header (for replies) and news-header (for posts and followups)
in the init file. You can include any headers that you want;
separate multiple headers with semi-colons. For example:
set mail-header From: Joe Smith <js@cc.edu>;Reply-To: js@cc.edu;
Organization: CC University
set news-header From: Joe Smith <js@cc.edu>;Reply-To: js@cc.edu;
Organization: CC University
Note that these lines are split for readability--the value of these
variables must appear on a single line. In addition, do not insert a
space between semi-colons and the next header.
A Reply-To header is useful when your system generates either an
unwanted or blatantly wrong return address for you. If this header
is present, then mailers use it instead of the system generated From
header.
A From header is useful when you want to change how your real name
appears to nn readers, but you don't want to change it (or can't) on
your system. Warning: only do this if you're sure you can create a
RFC 822 compliant From header. [9.92]
Subject: Can the article viewer/pager be changed?
From: Using nn-47
No. And for good reason. There are too many commands in nn's pager
that less, for example, doesn't know anything about.
Subject: + How do I search for an author in a menu?
From: Using nn-48
Add the following macro to your init file (~/.nn/init) and invoke
via '_' (underscore).
# _ does search on sender (as = does a search on subject)
map menu _ (
:set select-on-sender
find input
:unset select-on-sender
message
)
[1.93]
Subject: + Can nn use aliases when sending mail?
From: Using nn-49
Yes. See the variable mail-alias-expander, and use the script in
appendix "nnalias." [1.93]
Subject: + How can I see which newsgroups are available?
From: Using nn-50
To see a list of all news groups with a short description, use the
command ":post" and type '?'. To list groups that match a regular
expression (ie. pattern), use "/pattern" instead of '?'. --<Sven
Guckes> guckes@math.fu-berlin.de
Also try using '?' when going to a group with the 'G' command. Note
that successive '?'s will display more groups when there is not
enough room to display all choices at once. Group completion is
achieved with ' ' (space).
Finally, the program "nnsub" can be used to easily view newsgroup
names and descriptions and also to subscribe to groups. This
program will appear in the "contrib" area of the sources in 6.4.19.
[1.93]
Subject: Why does nnmaster stop collecting articles at the "junk" group?
From: nnmaster-60
This can occur when you access news via NNTP. Older nntp servers
have a limitation of 4000 articles in a group, and junk may easily
exceed this which makes the nntp server crash.
To overcome the problem, edit the GROUPS file to add the X flag on
the junk group, run nnmaster -G, and then nnmaster will ignore the
junk group. --Kim Storm <storm@olicom.dk>
In nntp_dir/common/conf.h, you can either increase MAX_GROUPS
(normally 4096) or you can set #define DYNAMIC_ART_ARRAY (normally
#undefed). In either case, you obviously have to recompile nntp.
But you can also add new groups on a regular basis, rather than
letting junk build up to huge proportions. --Mark Rawling
<Mark.Rawling@mel.dit.csiro.au>
Subject: How do I cope with "Incomplete MASTER file"?
From: nnmaster-61
See "Why isn't nnmaster working?"
Subject: Why isn't nnmaster working?
From: nnmaster-62
After the make, did you remember to:
Run ./inst <options> to install the files?
Run ./inst INIT to initialize the database?
Nnmaster mails error messages to the user who owns him (typically
"news"). Check this mailbox for clues.
If nnmaster -r or -D did not work, then neither did nnmaster -I (or
./inst INIT from the install directory). Once you fix the
permissions (see Paul's answer below), you need to rerun the
initialization step. --Stew Ellis <ellis@nova.gmi.edu>
If nnmaster dies and updates the Log file with "Incomplete MASTER
file", it could be you're not running the latest version. --David
R. Hieb <David.R.Hieb@magi.rootgroup.com>
If, when you start your nnmaster, it just exits quietly, it could be
that your permissions are incorrect. Ensure that all directories in
the nn library are owned by news (or the owner that you configured
nn with). --Paul Bickerstaff <pbickers@tamaluit.phys.uidaho.edu>
Make sure that there is a 'news' entry in passwd and group since
nnmaster is run setuid/setgid to news and the files and directories
that nnmaster needs to access are owned and writable by news. --Jim
Jagielski <jim@jagubox.gsfc.nasa.gov> [9.92]
Another problem could be in the way it is started. Two related
solutions are presented.
/etc/rc exits before the child has had the chance to setpgrp().
Putting "sleep 5" at the end of /etc/rc fixed it. --David B. Thomas
<dt@yenta.alb.nm.us>
Another similar solution involved inserting a "sleep 10" at the
beginning of /etc/daemons/nnmaster.init file.
--Jeffery Small <jeff@cjsa.wa.com>
It could be you're not running the latest version. --David R. Hieb
<David.R.Hieb@magi.rootgroup.com>
Subject: Why do I get ".../MASTER not found"?
From: nnmaster-63
The problem of the NN port to the Atari ST is, that you have to
build an "active" file (NN format, not HERMES-like!!) in
/usr/lib/news before running nnadmin -I.
You can build this file by using the included "buildact.tos."
Buildact.tos creates a UNIX-like /usr/lib/news/active from
/usr/lib/hermes/active. [9.92]
Subject: + Why do I get "cannot open 'x' file"
From: nnmaster-64
If you get a message like,
Fatal system error:
alt.activism (6): cannot open 'x' file (mode=82, errno=2)
you haven't initialized your database. As root, run the following
command "./inst INIT" in the nn source directory. See the file
INSTALLATION for more information. --Sami Tikka <Sami.Tikka@hut.fi>
[1.93]
Subject: ! Glossary
From: Appendix
MIME Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extensions
NNTP Network News Transport Protocol (see RFC 977)
Subject: Acknowledgements
From: Appendix
I'd like to thank the following people for providing ideas on the
layout of this article:
Joe Wells <jbw@bigbird.bu.edu> Richard M. Stallman <rms@gnu.ai.mit.edu>
David Elliott <dce@smsc.sony.com> Tom Christiansen <tchrist@convex.com>
Eugene N. Miya <eugene@nas.nasa.gov>
We are also grateful to the individuals mentioned below and in the
text of this document who have provided answers or other information
to make this a better document. I regret that it is possible that
some names have been accidently omitted. I would also like to thank
all the readers of news.software.nn.
Kim Storm <storm@olicom.dk> Sven Guckes <guckes@math.fu-berlin.de>
Subject: Warranty
From: Appendix
[The following statement epitomizes the ridiculous state of affairs in
our country (I'm an American) and can be ignored outside the US...]
No Warranty: Because this article is provided free of charge as a
service to news.software.nn readers, we provide absolutely no
warranty, to the extent permitted by applicable state law. This
article is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either
expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied
warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.
Should the information prove defective, you assume the cost of all
necessary servicing, repair or correction.
Subject: + pack_date.c
From: Appendix
*** old/pack_date.c Wed Apr 17 01:32:40 1991
--- new/pack_date.c Thu Jun 4 20:03:02 1992
***************
*** 4,9 ****
--- 4,11 ----
* Calculate an approximate "time_stamp" value for a date
* string. The actual value is not at all critical,
* as long as the "ordering" is ok.
+ * The current algorithm mishandles non-GMT time zones near
+ * short month boundaries, but this is rare in real news.
*
* The result is NOT a time_t value, i.e. ctime() will
* not produce the original Date string.
***************
*** 256,262 ****
res *= 24 * 60;
res += (hour * 60) + min;
! return res + tzone(date);
}
--- 258,264 ----
res *= 24 * 60;
res += (hour * 60) + min;
! return res - tzone(date);
}
Subject: + news.c
From: Appendix
RCS file: news.c,v
retrieving revision 1.1
diff -c2 -r1.1 news.c
*** news.c 1990/10/23 21:37:38 1.1
--- news.c 1992/06/19 23:17:05
***************
*** 231,235 ****
char *parse_header();
struct stat statb;
! int retry;
FILE *f;
#ifdef NNTP
--- 231,235 ----
char *parse_header();
struct stat statb;
! int c, retry;
FILE *f;
#ifdef NNTP
***************
*** 300,309 ****
body = parse_header(f, art_hdr_field, modes, buffer1);
- news.ng_lines = news.ng_xlines ? atoi(news.ng_xlines) : -1;
if (news.ng_from == NULL) news.ng_from = news.ng_sender;
! if (modes & FILL_OFFSETS) {
art->fpos = news.ng_fpos = ftell(f);
fseek(f, (off_t)0, 2);
news.ng_lpos = ftell(f);
--- 300,328 ----
body = parse_header(f, art_hdr_field, modes, buffer1);
if (news.ng_from == NULL) news.ng_from = news.ng_sender;
! if (modes & FILL_OFFSETS)
art->fpos = news.ng_fpos = ftell(f);
+ if (news.ng_xlines)
+ news.ng_lines = atoi(news.ng_xlines);
+ else {
+ #ifdef NNTP
+ if (use_nntp && lazy) {
+ off_t fpos = ftell(f);
+ fclose(f);
+ f = nntp_get_article(art->a_number, 2);
+ if (f == NULL) return NULL;
+ lazy = 0;
+ fseek(f, fpos, 0);
+ }
+ #endif
+ news.ng_lines = 0;
+ while ((c = getc(f)) != EOF)
+ if (c == '\n')
+ news.ng_lines++;
+ }
+
+ if (modes & FILL_OFFSETS) {
fseek(f, (off_t)0, 2);
news.ng_lpos = ftell(f);
Subject: + nn-use-mh
From: Appendix
#!/bin/sh
# Obtain value of $WORK and $RECORD
. ${HOME}/.nn/.param
# Append Fcc: +folder to headers. The folder is specified in
# mail-record.
if [ "$RECORD" != "" ]; then
awk '
{
if ($0 == "" && !done) {
print "Fcc: +'$RECORD'";
done = 1;
}
print;
}' $WORK > /tmp/aux.$$ && mv /tmp/aux.$$ $WORK
fi
# Compose and send the mail
comp -form $WORK
Subject: + nn_elm
From: Appendix
#!/bin/sh
#
# nn_elm
#
# 07 Aug 91 V1.0
#
# Massage a mail message from nn into a form that elm can use
# (c) 1991 Phil Kernick <phil@adam.adelaide.edu.au> Wizard Software
#
eval `awk '
BEGIN {
FS = ":";
dq = sprintf("%c", 34);
headers = 0;
to = "";
subject = "";
}
/^.*: / {
headers++;
if($1 == "To")
to = dq substr($0, 5) dq;
if($1 == "Subject")
subject = dq substr($0, 10) dq;
}
/^$/ {
printf("tail +%d %s | elm -s %s %s > /dev/null\n", headers+2, mail, subject, to);
exit;
}' mail=$1 $1`
exit $?
Subject: + nnalias
From: Appendix
#!/bin/sh
#
# nnalias -- expands aliases from ~/.mailrc file for nn.
#
# To use, put the following in your ~/.nn/init file:
#
# set mail-alias-expander nnalias
# and put this file somewhere in your path, making it executable. I use
# set mail-alias-expander /usr/local/lib/nnalias
# but the choice is up to you.
#
# Written by Scott Hannahs, Bitter National Magnet Lab, MIT, August 1991
# Complaints, comments, ideas to sth@slipknot.mit.edu
# Tested on Silicon Graphics, IRIX 3.3.1
#
# Minor banging by <rreiner@nexus.yorku.ca> to handle alias value fields
# which contain doublequote characters, e.g.
#
# alias Foo "Foobar the Great <foo@bar.com>"
#
# (the doublequotes are stripped in the expansion), and to handle multiple
# spaces after the token "alias".
#
# Also added some error detection and signal traps; tested on SunOS 4.1.1.
#
# Exit codes: 0 -- normal termination
# 1 -- parm error
# 2 -- file does not exist
# 3 -- trap
#
# Thanks to bug reports from
# Andy Jacobs and others
#
if [ z$1 = z ]; then
myname=`basename $0`
echo "$myname: usage is $myname workfile"
exit 1
fi
if [ ! -f $1 ]; then
myname=`basename $0`
echo "$myname: $1 does not exist or is a directory"
exit 2
fi
TMP_DIR=/usr/tmp
trap "rm -f ${TMP_DIR}/nn.alias.$$ ; exit 3" 0 1 2 3 15
ALIAS_LIST=""
ADDRESS_LIST="`head -1 $1 | sed -e s/To://`"
until [ "$ALIAS_LIST" = "$ADDRESS_LIST" ] ; do
ALIAS_LIST="`echo "$ADDRESS_LIST"| sed -e 's/,/ /g' `"
ADDRESS_LIST=""
for ALIAS in $ALIAS_LIST ; do
ADDRESS=`grep '^[ ]*alias[ ][ ]*'"$ALIAS"'[ ]' ${HOME}/.mailrc |\
sed -e s/'^[ ]*alias[ ][ ]*'"$ALIAS"'[ ][ ]*'// |\
sed -e s/'"'//g`
if [ "$ADDRESS" ] ; then
ADDRESS_LIST="$ADDRESS_LIST $ADDRESS"
else
ADDRESS_LIST="$ADDRESS_LIST $ALIAS"
# for elm alias expansion use the following line instead of the previous.
# ADDRESS_LIST="$ADDRESS_LIST "`elm -c "$ALIAS" | cut -f3 -d\ `
fi
done
done
echo "To:${ADDRESS_LIST}" > ${TMP_DIR}/nn.alias.$$
tail +2 $1 >> ${TMP_DIR}/nn.alias.$$
mv -f ${TMP_DIR}/nn.alias.$$ $1
exit 0
Local Variables:
mode: outline
outline-regexp: "^Subject:"
fill-prefix: " "
eval: (progn (setq buffer-read-only nil) (hide-body))
End:
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