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1.1 ! root 1: .ds h0 "Standard for Interchange of USENET Messages ! 2: .ds h1 ! 3: .ds h2 % ! 4: .ds f0 "\*(vr ! 5: .ds f1 ! 6: .ds f2 "January 17, 1986 ! 7: .mt ! 8: Standard for Interchange of USENET Messages ! 9: .au ! 10: Mark R. Horton ! 11: .ai ! 12: Bell Laboratories ! 13: Columbus, OH 43213 ! 14: .au ! 15: Revised for 2.10.3 by Rick Adams ! 16: .hn ! 17: Introduction ! 18: .pg ! 19: This document defines the standard format for the interchange ! 20: of network Nnws articles among USENET sites. ! 21: It describes the format for articles themselves, ! 22: and gives partial standards for transmission of news. ! 23: The news transmission is not entirely standardized ! 24: in order to give a good deal of flexibility ! 25: to the individual hosts to choose transmission hardware and software, ! 26: whether to batch news, ! 27: and so on. ! 28: .pg ! 29: There are five sections to this document. ! 30: Section two section defines the format. ! 31: Section three defines the valid control messages. ! 32: Section four specifies some valid transmission methods. ! 33: Section five describes the overall news propagation algorithm. ! 34: .hn ! 35: Article Format ! 36: .pg ! 37: The primary consideration in choosing an article format is ! 38: that it fit in with existing tools as well as possible. ! 39: Existing tools include both implementations of mail and news. ! 40: (The ! 41: .i notesfiles ! 42: system from the University of Illinois ! 43: is considered a news implementation.) ! 44: A standard format for mail messages has existed for many years on the ARPANET, ! 45: and this format meets most of the needs of USENET. ! 46: Since the ARPANET format is extensible, ! 47: extensions to meet the additional needs of USENET ! 48: are easily made within the ARPANET standard. ! 49: Therefore, ! 50: the rule is adopted that all USENET news articles ! 51: must be formatted as valid ARPANET mail messages, ! 52: according to the ARPANET standard RFC 822. ! 53: This standard is more restrictive than the ARPANET standard, ! 54: placing additional requirements on each article ! 55: and forbidding use of certain ARPANET features. ! 56: However, ! 57: it should always be possible to use a tool ! 58: expecting an ARPANET message to process a news article. ! 59: In any situation where this standard conflicts with the ARPANET standard, ! 60: RFC 822 should be considered correct and this standard in error. ! 61: .pg ! 62: An example message is included to illustrate the fields. ! 63: .sd ! 64: From: [email protected] (Jerry Schwarz) ! 65: Path: cbosgd!mhuxj!mhuxt!eagle!jerry ! 66: Newsgroups: net.general ! 67: Subject: Usenet Etiquette -- Please Read ! 68: Message-ID: <[email protected]> ! 69: Date: Friday, 19 Nov 82 16:14:55 EST ! 70: Followup-To: net.news ! 71: Expires: Saturday, 1 Jan 83 00:00:00 EST ! 72: Organization: Bell Labs, Murray Hill ! 73: ! 74: The body of the article comes here, after a blank line. ! 75: .ed ! 76: Here is an example of a message in the old format ! 77: (before the existence of this standard). ! 78: It is recommended that implementations also accept articles ! 79: in this format to ease upward conversion. ! 80: .sd ! 81: From: cbosgd!mhuxj!mhuxt!eagle!jerry (Jerry Schwarz) ! 82: Newsgroups: net.general ! 83: Title: Usenet Etiquette -- Please Read ! 84: Article-I.D.: eagle.642 ! 85: Posted: Fri Nov 19 16:14:55 1982 ! 86: Received: Fri Nov 19 16:59:30 1982 ! 87: Expires: Mon Jan 1 00:00:00 1990 ! 88: ! 89: The body of the article comes here, after a blank line. ! 90: .ed ! 91: Some news systems transmit news in the ! 92: .pa A ! 93: format, ! 94: which looks like this: ! 95: .sd ! 96: Aeagle.642 ! 97: net.general ! 98: cbosgd!mhuxj!mhuxt!eagle!jerry ! 99: Fri Nov 19 16:14:55 1982 ! 100: Usenet Etiquette - Please Read ! 101: The body of the article comes here, with no blank line. ! 102: .ed ! 103: .pg ! 104: An article consists of several header lines, ! 105: followed by a blank line, ! 106: followed by the body of the message. ! 107: The header lines consist of a keyword, ! 108: a colon, ! 109: a blank, ! 110: and some additional information. ! 111: This is a subset of the ARPANET standard, ! 112: simplified to allow simpler software to handle it. ! 113: The ! 114: .hf From ! 115: line may optionally include a full name, ! 116: in the format above, ! 117: or use the ARPANET angle bracket syntax. ! 118: To keep the implementations simple, ! 119: other formats ! 120: (for example, ! 121: with part of the machine address after the close parenthesis) ! 122: are not allowed. ! 123: The ARPANET convention of continuation header lines ! 124: (beginning with a blank or tab) ! 125: is allowed. ! 126: .pg ! 127: Certain headers are required, ! 128: and certain other headers are optional. ! 129: Any unrecognized headers are allowed, ! 130: and will be passed through unchanged. ! 131: The required headers are ! 132: .hf From , ! 133: .hf Date , ! 134: .hf Newsgroups , ! 135: .hf Subject , ! 136: .hf Message-ID , ! 137: and ! 138: .hf Path . ! 139: The optional headers are ! 140: .hf Followup-To , ! 141: .hf Expires , ! 142: .hf Reply-To , ! 143: .hf Sender , ! 144: .hf References , ! 145: .hf Control , ! 146: .hf Distribution , ! 147: .hf Keywords , ! 148: .hf Summary , ! 149: and ! 150: .hf Organization . ! 151: .hn 2 ! 152: Required Headers ! 153: .hn 3 ! 154: From ! 155: .pg ! 156: The ! 157: .hf From ! 158: line contains the electronic mailing address of the person who sent the message, ! 159: in the ARPA internet syntax. ! 160: It may optionally also contain the full name of the person, ! 161: in parentheses, ! 162: after the electronic address. ! 163: The electronic address is the same as the entity responsible ! 164: for originating the article, ! 165: unless the ! 166: .hf Sender ! 167: header is present, ! 168: in which case the ! 169: .hf From ! 170: header might not be verified. ! 171: Note that in all site and domain names, ! 172: upper and lower case are considered the same, ! 173: thus ! 174: .cf [email protected] , ! 175: .cf [email protected] , ! 176: and ! 177: .cf [email protected] ! 178: are all equivalent. ! 179: User names may or may not be case sensitive, for example, ! 180: .cf [email protected] ! 181: might be different from ! 182: .cf [email protected] . ! 183: Programs should avoid changing the case of electronic addresses ! 184: when forwarding news or mail. ! 185: .pg ! 186: RFC 822 specifies that all text in parentheses is to be interpreted as a comment. ! 187: It is common in ARPANET mail to place the full name of the user ! 188: in a comment at the end of the ! 189: .hf From ! 190: line. ! 191: This standard specifies a more rigid syntax. ! 192: The full name is not considered a comment, ! 193: but an optional part of the header line. ! 194: Either the full name is omitted, ! 195: or it appears in parentheses after the electronic address ! 196: of the person posting the article, ! 197: or it appears before an electronic address enclosed in angle brackets. ! 198: Thus, ! 199: the three permissible forms are: ! 200: .sd ! 201: From: [email protected] ! 202: From: [email protected] (Mark Horton) ! 203: From: Mark Horton <[email protected]> ! 204: .ed ! 205: Full names may contain any printing ASCII characters from space through tilde, ! 206: with the exceptions that they may not contain ! 207: \&\*(lq(\*(rq (left parenthesis), ! 208: \&\*(lq)\*(rq (right parenthesis), ! 209: \&\*(lq<\*(rq (left angle bracket), ! 210: or \*(lq>\*(rq (right angle bracket). ! 211: Additional restrictions may be placed on full names by the mail standard, ! 212: in particular, ! 213: the characters ! 214: \&\*(lq,\*(rq (comma), ! 215: \&\*(lq:\*(rq (colon), ! 216: and \*(lq;\*(rq (semicolon) are inadvisable in full names. ! 217: .hn 3 ! 218: Date ! 219: .pg ! 220: The ! 221: .hf Date ! 222: line (formerly ! 223: .hf Posted ) ! 224: is the date, ! 225: in a format that must be acceptable both to the ARPANET ! 226: and to the ! 227: .i getdate (3) ! 228: routine, ! 229: that the article was originally posted to the network. ! 230: This date remains unchanged as the article is propagated ! 231: throughout the network. ! 232: One format that is acceptable to both is ! 233: .sd c ! 234: \f2Wdy\fP, \f2DD\fP\ \f2Mon\fP\ \f2YY\fP \f2HH\fP:\f2MM\fP:\f2SS\fP \f2TIMEZONE\fP ! 235: .ed ! 236: Several examples of valid dates appear in the sample ! 237: article above. ! 238: Note in particular that ! 239: .i ctime (3) ! 240: format: ! 241: .sd c ! 242: \f2Wdy\fP \f2Mon\fP \f2DD\fP \f2HH\fP:\f2MM\fP:\f2SS\fP \f2YYYY\fP ! 243: .ed ! 244: is ! 245: .i not ! 246: acceptable because it is not a valid ARPANET date. ! 247: However, ! 248: since older software still generates this format, ! 249: news implementations are encouraged to accept this format ! 250: and translate it into an acceptable format. ! 251: .pg ! 252: The contents of the ! 253: .i TIMEZONE ! 254: field is currently subject to revision. ! 255: Eventually, ! 256: we hope to accept all possible worldwide time zone abbreviations, ! 257: including the usual American zones ! 258: (PST, ! 259: PDT, ! 260: MST, ! 261: MDT, ! 262: CST, ! 263: CDT, ! 264: EST, ! 265: EDT), ! 266: the other North American zones ! 267: (Bering through Newfoundland), ! 268: European zones, ! 269: Australian zones, ! 270: and so on. ! 271: Lacking a complete list at present ! 272: (and unsure if an unambiguous list exists), ! 273: authors of software are encouraged to keep this code flexible, ! 274: and in particular not to assume ! 275: that time zone names are exactly three letters long. ! 276: Implementations are free to edit this field, ! 277: keeping the time the same, ! 278: but changing the time zone ! 279: (with an appropriate adjustment to the local time shown) ! 280: to a known time zone. ! 281: It is recommended that times in message headers be transmitted in GMT ! 282: and displayed in the local time zone. ! 283: .hn 3 ! 284: Newsgroups ! 285: .pg ! 286: The ! 287: .hf Newsgroups ! 288: line specifies which newsgroup or newsgroups the article belongs in. ! 289: Multiple newsgroups may be specified, separated by a comma. ! 290: Newsgroups specified must all be the names of existing newsgroups, ! 291: as no new newsgroups will be created by simply posting to them. ! 292: .pg ! 293: Wildcards ! 294: .i e\f1.\fPg ., ( ! 295: the word ! 296: .ng all ! 297: are never allowed in a ! 298: .hf Newsgroups ! 299: line. ! 300: For example, ! 301: a newsgroup ! 302: .ng net.all ! 303: is illegal, ! 304: although a newsgroup name ! 305: .ng net.sport.football ! 306: is permitted.) ! 307: .pg ! 308: If an article is received with a ! 309: .hf Newsgroups ! 310: line listing some valid newsgroups and some invalid newsgroups, ! 311: a site should not remove invalid newsgroups from the list. ! 312: Instead, ! 313: the invalid newsgroups should be ignored. ! 314: For example, ! 315: suppose site ! 316: .cn A ! 317: subscribes to the classes ! 318: .ng btl.all ! 319: and ! 320: .ng net.all , ! 321: and exchanges news articles with site ! 322: .cn B , ! 323: which subscribes to ! 324: .ng net.all ! 325: but not ! 326: .ng btl.all . ! 327: Suppose ! 328: .cn A ! 329: receives an article with ! 330: .sd c ! 331: Newsgroups: net.micro,btl.general ! 332: .ed ! 333: This article is passed on to ! 334: .cn B ! 335: because ! 336: .cn B ! 337: receives ! 338: .ng net.micro , ! 339: but ! 340: .cn B ! 341: does not receive ! 342: .ng btl.general . ! 343: .cn A ! 344: must leave the ! 345: .hf Newsgroups ! 346: line unchanged. ! 347: If it were to remove ! 348: .ng btl.general , ! 349: the edited header could eventually reenter the ! 350: .ng btl.all ! 351: class, ! 352: resulting in an article that is not shown to users subscribing to ! 353: .ng btl.general . ! 354: Also, ! 355: followups from outside ! 356: .ng btl.all ! 357: would not be shown to such users. ! 358: .hn 3 ! 359: Subject ! 360: .pg ! 361: The ! 362: .hf Subject ! 363: line ! 364: (formerly ! 365: .hf Title ) ! 366: tells what the article is about. ! 367: It should be suggestive enough of the contents of the article ! 368: to enable a reader to make a decision whether to read the article ! 369: based on the subject alone. ! 370: If the article is submitted in response to another article ! 371: .i e\f1.\fPg ., ( ! 372: is a ! 373: .i followup ) ! 374: the default subject should begin with the four characters \*(lqRe: \*(rq ! 375: and the ! 376: .hf Reference ! 377: line is required. ! 378: (The user might wish to edit the subject of the followup, ! 379: but the default should begin with \*(lqRe: \*(rq.) ! 380: .hn 3 ! 381: Message-ID ! 382: .pg ! 383: The ! 384: .hf Message-ID ! 385: line gives the article a unique identifier. ! 386: The same message ID may not be reused during the lifetime of any article ! 387: with the same message ID. ! 388: (It is recommended that no message ID be reused for at least two years.) ! 389: Message ID's have the syntax ! 390: .sd c ! 391: <\f2string not containing blank or \*(lq>\*(rq\fP> ! 392: .ed ! 393: In order to conform to RFC 822, ! 394: the message ID must have the format ! 395: .sd c ! 396: <\f2unique\fP@\f2full_domain_name\fP> ! 397: .ed ! 398: where ! 399: .i "full_domain_name" ! 400: is the full name of the host at which the article entered the network, ! 401: including a domain that host is in, ! 402: and ! 403: .i unique ! 404: is any string of printing ASCII characters, ! 405: not including ! 406: \*(lq<\*(rq (left angle bracket), ! 407: \*(lq>\*(rq (right angle bracket), ! 408: or \*(lq@\*(rq (at sign). ! 409: For example, ! 410: the ! 411: .i unique ! 412: part could be an integer representing a sequence number ! 413: for articles submitted to the network, ! 414: or a short string derived from the date and time the article was created. ! 415: For example, ! 416: a valid message ID for an article submitted from site ! 417: .cn ucbvax ! 418: in domain ! 419: .cf Berkeley.EDU ! 420: would be ! 421: .cf <[email protected]> . ! 422: Programmers are urged not to make assumptions ! 423: about the content of message ID fields from other hosts, ! 424: but to treat them as unknown character strings. ! 425: It is not safe, ! 426: for example, ! 427: to assume that a message ID will be under 14 characters, ! 428: nor that it is unique in the first 14 characters. ! 429: .pg ! 430: The angle brackets are considered part of the message ID. ! 431: Thus, ! 432: in references to the message ID, ! 433: such as the ! 434: .pa ihave/sendme ! 435: and ! 436: .b cancel ! 437: control messages, ! 438: the angle brackets are included. ! 439: White space characters ! 440: .i e\f1.\fPg ., ( ! 441: blank and tab) ! 442: are not allowed in a message ID. ! 443: All characters between the angle brackets must be printing ASCII characters. ! 444: .hn 3 ! 445: Path ! 446: .pg ! 447: This line shows the path the article took to reach the current system. ! 448: When a system forwards the message, ! 449: it should add its own name to the list of systems in the ! 450: .hf Path ! 451: line. ! 452: The names may be separated by any punctuation character or characters, ! 453: thus ! 454: .cf cbosgd!mhuxj!mhuxt , ! 455: .cf "cbosgd, mhuxj, mhuxt" , ! 456: and ! 457: .cf "@cbosgd.uucp,@mhuxj.uucp,@mhuxt.uucp" ! 458: and even ! 459: .cf "teklabs, zehntel, sri-unix@cca!decvax" ! 460: are valid entries. ! 461: (The latter path indicates a message that passed through ! 462: .cn decvax , ! 463: .cn cca , ! 464: .cn sri-unix , ! 465: .cn zehntel , ! 466: and ! 467: .cn teklabs , ! 468: in that order.) ! 469: Additional names should be added from the left, ! 470: for example, ! 471: the most recently added name in the third example was ! 472: .cn teklabs . ! 473: Letters, ! 474: digits, ! 475: periods and hyphens are considered part of site names; ! 476: other punctuation, ! 477: including blanks, ! 478: are considered separators. ! 479: .pg ! 480: Normally, ! 481: the rightmost name will be the name of the originating system. ! 482: However, ! 483: it is also permissible to include an extra entry on the right, ! 484: which is the name of the sender. ! 485: This is for upward compatibility with older system. ! 486: .pg ! 487: The ! 488: .hf Path ! 489: line is not used for replies, ! 490: and should not be taken as a mailing address. ! 491: It is intended to show the route ! 492: the message travelled to reach the local site. ! 493: There are several uses for this information. ! 494: One is to monitor USENET routing for performance reasons. ! 495: Another is to establish a path to reach new sites. ! 496: Perhaps the most important is to cut down on redundant USENET traffic ! 497: by failing to forward a message to a site that is ! 498: known to have already received it. ! 499: In particular, ! 500: when site ! 501: .cn A ! 502: sends an article to site ! 503: .cn B , ! 504: the ! 505: .hf Path ! 506: line includes ! 507: .cn A , ! 508: so that site ! 509: .cn B ! 510: will not immediately send the article back to site ! 511: .cn A . ! 512: The site name each site uses to identify itself should be ! 513: the same as the name by which its neighbors know it, ! 514: in order to make this optimization possible. ! 515: .pg ! 516: A site adds its own name to the front of a path ! 517: when it receives a message from another site. ! 518: Thus, if a message with path ! 519: .cf A!X!Y!Z ! 520: is passed from site ! 521: .cn A ! 522: to site ! 523: .cn B , ! 524: .cn B ! 525: will add its own name to the path when it receives the message from ! 526: .cn A , ! 527: .i e\f1.\fPg ., ! 528: .cf \*(lqB!A!X!Y!Z\*(rq . ! 529: If ! 530: .cn B ! 531: then passes the message on to ! 532: .cn C , ! 533: the message sent to ! 534: .cn C ! 535: will contain the path ! 536: .cf B!A!X!Y!Z , ! 537: and when ! 538: .cn C ! 539: receives it, ! 540: .cn C ! 541: will change it to ! 542: .cf C!B!A!X!Y!Z . ! 543: .pg ! 544: Special upward compatibility note: ! 545: Since the ! 546: .hf From , ! 547: .hf Sender , ! 548: and ! 549: .hf Reply-To ! 550: lines are in internet format, ! 551: and since many USENET sites do not yet have mailers ! 552: capable of understanding internet format, ! 553: it would break the reply capability to completely sever the connection ! 554: between the ! 555: .hf Path ! 556: header and the reply function. ! 557: It is recognized that the path is not always a valid reply string ! 558: in older implementations, ! 559: and no requirement to fix this problem is placed on implementations. ! 560: However, ! 561: the existing convention of placing the site name and an ! 562: .cf ! ! 563: at the front of the path, ! 564: and of starting the path with the site name, ! 565: an ! 566: .cf ! , ! 567: and the user name, ! 568: should be maintained when possible. ! 569: .hn 2 ! 570: Optional Headers ! 571: .hn 3 ! 572: Reply-To ! 573: .pg ! 574: This line has the same format as ! 575: .hf From . ! 576: If present, ! 577: mailed replies to the author should be sent to the name given here. ! 578: Otherwise, ! 579: replies are mailed to the name on the ! 580: .hf From ! 581: line. ! 582: (This does not prevent additional copies from being sent to recipients ! 583: named by the replier, ! 584: or on ! 585: .hf To ! 586: or ! 587: .hf Cc ! 588: lines.) ! 589: The full name may be optionally given, ! 590: in parentheses, ! 591: as in the ! 592: .hf From ! 593: line. ! 594: .hn 3 ! 595: Sender ! 596: .pg ! 597: This field is present only if the submitter manually enters a ! 598: .hf From ! 599: line. ! 600: It is intended to record the entity responsible ! 601: for submitting the article to the network, ! 602: and should be verified by the software at the submitting site. ! 603: .pg ! 604: For example, ! 605: if John Smith is visiting CCA and wishes to post an article to the network, ! 606: using friend Sarah Jones account, ! 607: the message might read ! 608: .sd ! 609: From: [email protected] (John Smith) ! 610: Sender: [email protected] (Sarah Jones) ! 611: .ed ! 612: If a gateway program enters a mail message into the network at site ! 613: .cn sri-unix , ! 614: the lines might read ! 615: .sd ! 616: From: [email protected] ! 617: Sender: [email protected] ! 618: .ed ! 619: The primary purpose of this field is to be able to track down articles ! 620: to determine how they were entered into the network. ! 621: The full name may be optionally given, ! 622: in parentheses, ! 623: as in the ! 624: .hf From ! 625: line. ! 626: .hn 3 ! 627: Followup-To ! 628: .pg ! 629: This line has the same format as ! 630: .hf Newsgroups . ! 631: If present, ! 632: follow-up articles are to be posted ! 633: to the newsgroup or newsgroups listed here. ! 634: If this line is not present, ! 635: followups are posted to the newsgroup or newsgroups listed in the ! 636: .hf Newsgroups ! 637: line, ! 638: except that followups to ! 639: .ng net.general ! 640: should instead go to ! 641: .ng net.followup . ! 642: .hn 3 ! 643: Expires ! 644: .pg ! 645: This line, ! 646: if present, ! 647: is in a legal USENET date format. ! 648: It specifies a suggested expiration date for the article. ! 649: If not present, ! 650: the local default expiration date is used. ! 651: .P ! 652: This field is intended to be used to clean up ! 653: articles with a limited usefulness, ! 654: or to keep important articles around for longer than usual. ! 655: For example, ! 656: a message announcing an upcoming seminar ! 657: could have an expiration date the day after the seminar, ! 658: since the message is not useful after the seminar is over. ! 659: Since local sites have local policies for expiration of news ! 660: (depending on available disk space, ! 661: for instance), ! 662: users are discouraged from providing expiration dates for articles ! 663: unless there is a natural expiration date associated with the topic. ! 664: System software should almost never provide a default ! 665: .hf Expires ! 666: line. ! 667: Leave it out and allow local policies to be used ! 668: unless there is a good reason not to. ! 669: .hn 3 ! 670: References ! 671: .pg ! 672: This field lists the message ID's of any articles prompting ! 673: the submission of this article. ! 674: It is required for all follow-up articles, ! 675: and forbidden when a new subject is raised. ! 676: Implementations should provide a follow-up command, ! 677: which allows a user to post a follow-up article. ! 678: This command should generate a ! 679: .hf Subject ! 680: line which is the same as the original article, ! 681: except that if the original subject does not begin ! 682: with \*(lqRe: \*(rq or \*(lqre: \*(rq, ! 683: the four characters \*(lqRe: \*(rq are inserted before the subject. ! 684: If there is no ! 685: .hf References ! 686: line on the original header, ! 687: the ! 688: .hf References ! 689: line should contain the message ID of the original article ! 690: (including the angle brackets). ! 691: If the original article does have a ! 692: .hf References ! 693: line, ! 694: the followup article should have a ! 695: .hf References ! 696: line containing the text of the original ! 697: .hf References ! 698: line, ! 699: a blank, ! 700: and the message ID of the original article. ! 701: .pg ! 702: The purpose of the ! 703: .hf References ! 704: header is to allow articles to be grouped into conversations ! 705: by the user interface program. ! 706: This allows conversations within a newsgroup to be kept together, ! 707: and potentially users might shut off entire conversations ! 708: without unsubscribing to a newsgroup. ! 709: User interfaces may not make use of this header, ! 710: but all automatically generated followups should generate the ! 711: .hf References ! 712: line for the benefit of systems that do use it, ! 713: and manually generated followups ! 714: .i e\f1.\fPg ., ( ! 715: typed in well after the original article has been printed by the machine) ! 716: should be encouraged to include them as well. ! 717: .hn 3 ! 718: Control ! 719: .pg ! 720: If an article contains a ! 721: .hf Control ! 722: line, ! 723: the article is a control message. ! 724: Control messages are used for communication among USENET host machines, ! 725: not to be read by users. ! 726: Control messages are distributed by the same newsgroup mechanism ! 727: as ordinary messages. ! 728: The body of the ! 729: .hf Control ! 730: header line is the message to the host. ! 731: .pg ! 732: For upward compatibility, ! 733: messages that match the newsgroup pattern ! 734: .ng all.all.ctl ! 735: should also be interpreted as control messages. ! 736: If no ! 737: .hf Control ! 738: header is present on such messages, ! 739: the subject is used as the control message. ! 740: However, ! 741: messages on newsgroups matching this pattern do not conform to this standard. ! 742: .hn 3 ! 743: Distribution ! 744: .pg ! 745: This line is used to alter the distribution scope of the message. ! 746: It has the same format as the ! 747: .hf Newsgroups ! 748: line. ! 749: User subscriptions are still controlled by ! 750: .hf Newsgroups , ! 751: but the message is sent to all systems subscribing to the newsgroups ! 752: on the ! 753: .hf Distribution ! 754: line instead of the ! 755: .hf Newsgroups ! 756: line. ! 757: Thus, ! 758: a car for sale in New Jersey might have headers including ! 759: .sd ! 760: Newsgroups: net.auto,net.wanted ! 761: Distribution: nj.all ! 762: .ed ! 763: so that it would only go to persons subscribing to ! 764: .ng net.auto ! 765: or ! 766: .ng net.wanted ! 767: within New Jersey. ! 768: The intent of this header is to restrict ! 769: the distribution of a newsgroup further, ! 770: not to increase it. ! 771: A local newsgroup, ! 772: such as ! 773: .ng nj.crazy-eddie , ! 774: will probably not be propagated by sites outside New Jersey ! 775: that do not show such a newsgroup as valid. ! 776: Wildcards in newsgroup names in the ! 777: .hf Distribution ! 778: line are allowed. ! 779: Followup articles should default to the same ! 780: .hf Distribution ! 781: line as the original article, ! 782: but the user can change it to a more limited one, ! 783: or escalate the distribution ! 784: if it was originally restricted ! 785: and a more widely distributed reply is appropriate. ! 786: .hn 3 ! 787: Organization ! 788: .pg ! 789: The text of this line is a short phrase describing the organization ! 790: to which the sender belongs, ! 791: or to which the machine belongs. ! 792: The intent of this line is to help identify the person posting the message, ! 793: since site names are often cryptic enough to make it hard ! 794: to recognize the organization by the electronic address. ! 795: .hn 3 ! 796: Keywords ! 797: .pg ! 798: A few, well selected keywords identifying this article should be on ! 799: this line. This is used as an aid in determining if this article is ! 800: interesting to the reader. ! 801: .hn 3 ! 802: Summary ! 803: .pg ! 804: This line (lines) should contain a brief summary of the article. It is ! 805: usually used as part of a followup to another article. Again, it is ! 806: very useful to the reader in determining whether to read the article. ! 807: .hn 1 ! 808: Control Messages ! 809: .pg ! 810: This section lists the control messages currently defined. ! 811: The body of the ! 812: .hf Control ! 813: header is the control message. ! 814: Messages are a sequence of zero or more words, ! 815: separated by white space (blanks or tabs). ! 816: The first word is the name of the control message, ! 817: remaining words are parameters to the message. ! 818: The remainder of the header and the body of the message ! 819: are also potential parameters; ! 820: for example, ! 821: the ! 822: .hf From ! 823: line might suggest an address to which a response is to be mailed. ! 824: .pg ! 825: Implementors and administrators may choose to allow control messages ! 826: to be carried out automatically, ! 827: or to queue them for manual processing. ! 828: However, ! 829: manually processed messages should be dealt with promptly. ! 830: .hn 2 ! 831: Cancel ! 832: .pg l ! 833: .sd ! 834: cancel <message ID> ! 835: .ed ! 836: If an article with the given message ID is present on the local system, ! 837: the article is cancelled. ! 838: This mechanism allows a user to cancel an article ! 839: after the article has been distributed over the network. ! 840: .pg ! 841: If the system is unable to cancel the article as requested, it should not ! 842: forward the cancellation request to its neighbor systems. ! 843: .pg ! 844: Only the author of the article or the local super user ! 845: is allowed to use this message. ! 846: The verified sender of a message is the ! 847: .hf Sender ! 848: line, ! 849: or if no ! 850: .hf Sender ! 851: line is present, ! 852: the ! 853: .hf From ! 854: line. ! 855: The verified sender of the cancel message must be the same ! 856: as either the ! 857: .hf Sender ! 858: or ! 859: .hf From ! 860: field of the original message. ! 861: A verified sender in the cancel message is allowed to match an unverified ! 862: .hf From ! 863: in the original message. ! 864: .hn 2 ! 865: Ihave/Sendme ! 866: .pg l ! 867: .sd ! 868: ihave <message ID list> <remotesys> ! 869: sendme <message ID list> <remotesys> ! 870: .ed ! 871: This message is part of the ! 872: .pa ihave/sendme ! 873: protocol, ! 874: which allows one site ! 875: (say ! 876: .cn A ) ! 877: to tell another site ! 878: .cn B ) ( ! 879: that a particular message has been received on ! 880: .cn A . ! 881: Suppose that site ! 882: .cn A ! 883: receives article ! 884: .cf ucbvax.1234 , ! 885: and wishes to transmit the article to site ! 886: .cn B . ! 887: .cn A ! 888: sends the control message ! 889: .cf "ihave ucbvax.1234 A" ! 890: to site ! 891: .cn B ! 892: (by posting it to newsgroup ! 893: .bi B ). \f3to.\fP ! 894: .cn B ! 895: responds with the control message ! 896: .cf "sendme ucbvax.1234 B" ! 897: (on newsgroup ! 898: .bi A ) \f3to.\fP ! 899: if it has not already received the article. ! 900: Upon receiving the ! 901: .pa sendme ! 902: message, ! 903: .cn A ! 904: sends the article to ! 905: .cn B . ! 906: .pg ! 907: This protocol can be used to cut down on redundant traffic between sites. ! 908: It is optional and should be used ! 909: only if the particular situation makes it worthwhile. ! 910: Frequently, ! 911: the outcome is that, ! 912: since most original messages are short, ! 913: and since there is a high overhead to start sending a new message with UUCP, ! 914: it costs as much to send the ! 915: .pa ihave ! 916: as it would cost to send the article itself. ! 917: .pg ! 918: One possible solution to this overhead problem is to batch requests. ! 919: Several message ID's may be announced or requested in one message. ! 920: If no message ID's are listed in the control message, ! 921: the body of the message should be scanned for message ID's, ! 922: one per line. ! 923: .hn 2 ! 924: Newgroup ! 925: .sd ! 926: newgroup <groupname> ! 927: .ed ! 928: .pg ! 929: This control message creates a new newsgroup with the name given. ! 930: Since no articles may be posted or forwarded until a newsgroup is created, ! 931: this message is required before a newsgroup can be used. ! 932: The body of the message is expected to be a short paragraph ! 933: describing the intended use of the newsgroup. ! 934: .hn 2 ! 935: Rmgroup ! 936: .sd ! 937: rmgroup <groupname> ! 938: .ed ! 939: .pg ! 940: This message removes a newsgroup with the given name. ! 941: Since the newsgroup is removed from every site on the network, ! 942: this command should be used carefully by a responsible administrator. ! 943: .hn 2 ! 944: Sendsys ! 945: .sd ! 946: sendsys (no arguments) ! 947: .ed ! 948: .pg ! 949: The ! 950: .i sys ! 951: file, ! 952: listing all neighbors and which newsgroups are sent to each neighbor, ! 953: will be mailed to the author of the control message ! 954: .hf Reply-to , ( ! 955: if present, ! 956: otherwise ! 957: .hf From ). ! 958: This information is considered public information, ! 959: and it is a requirement of membership in USENET ! 960: that this information be provided on request, ! 961: either automatically in response to this control message, ! 962: or manually, ! 963: by mailing the requested information to the author of the message. ! 964: This information is used to keep the map of USENET up to date, ! 965: and to determine where netnews is sent. ! 966: .pg ! 967: The format of the file mailed back to the author ! 968: should be the same as that of the ! 969: .i sys ! 970: file. ! 971: This format has one line per neighboring site ! 972: (plus one line for the local site), ! 973: containing four colon separated fields. ! 974: The first field has the site name of the neighbor, ! 975: the second field has a newsgroup pattern ! 976: describing the newsgroups sent to the neighbor. ! 977: The third and fourth fields are not defined by this standard. ! 978: A sample response: ! 979: .sd ! 980: From cbosgd!mark Sun Mar 27 20:39:37 1983 ! 981: Subject: response to your sendsys request ! 982: To: [email protected] ! 983: ! 984: Responding-System: cbosgd.UUCP ! 985: cbosgd:osg,cb,btl,bell,net,to,test ! 986: ucbvax:net,to.ucbvax:L: ! 987: cbosg:net,bell,btl,cb,osg,to.cbosg:F:/usr/spool/outnews/cbosg ! 988: cbosgb:osg,to.cbosgb:F:/usr/spool/outnews/cbosgb ! 989: sescent:net,bell,btl,cb,to.sescent:F:/usr/spool/outnews/sescent ! 990: npois:net,bell,btl,ug,to.npois:F:/usr/spool/outnews/npois ! 991: mhuxi:net,bell,btl,ug,to.mhuxi:F:/usr/spool/outnews/mhuxi ! 992: .ed ! 993: .hn 2 ! 994: Senduuname ! 995: .pg l ! 996: .sd ! 997: senduuname (no arguments) ! 998: .ed ! 999: The ! 1000: .i uuname (1) ! 1001: program is run, ! 1002: and the output is mailed to the author of the control message ! 1003: .hf Reply-to , ( ! 1004: if present, ! 1005: otherwise ! 1006: .hf From ). ! 1007: This program lists all UUCP neighbors of the local site. ! 1008: This information is used to make maps of the UUCP network. ! 1009: The ! 1010: .i sys ! 1011: file is ! 1012: .b not ! 1013: the same as the UUCP ! 1014: .i L.sys ! 1015: file. ! 1016: The ! 1017: .i L.sys ! 1018: file should ! 1019: .b never ! 1020: be transmitted to another party ! 1021: without the consent of the sites whose passwords are listed therein. ! 1022: .pg ! 1023: It is optional for a site to provide this information. ! 1024: Some reply should be made to the author of the control message, ! 1025: so that a transmission error won't be blamed. ! 1026: It is also permissible for a site to run the ! 1027: .i uuname ! 1028: program ! 1029: (or in some other way determine the UUCP neighbors) ! 1030: and edit the output, ! 1031: either automatically or manually, ! 1032: before mailing the reply back to the author. ! 1033: The file should contain one site per line, ! 1034: beginning with the UUCP site name. ! 1035: Additional information may be included, ! 1036: separated from the site name by a blank or tab. ! 1037: The phone number or password for the site should ! 1038: .ng not ! 1039: be included, ! 1040: as the reply is considered to be in the public domain. ! 1041: (The ! 1042: .i uuname ! 1043: program will send only the site name and not the entire contents of the ! 1044: .i L.sys ! 1045: file, ! 1046: thus, ! 1047: phone numbers and passwords are not transmitted.) ! 1048: .pg ! 1049: The purpose of this message is to generate and maintain UUCP mail routing maps. ! 1050: Thus, connections over which mail can be sent using the ! 1051: .cf site!user ! 1052: syntax should be included, ! 1053: regardless of whether the link is actually a UUCP link at the physical level. ! 1054: If a mail router should use it, ! 1055: it should be included. ! 1056: Since all information sent in response to this message is optional, ! 1057: sites are free to edit the list, ! 1058: deleting secret or private links they do not wish to publicize. ! 1059: .hn 2 ! 1060: Version ! 1061: .pg l ! 1062: .sd ! 1063: version (no arguments) ! 1064: .ed ! 1065: The name and version of the software running on the local system ! 1066: is to be mailed back to the author of the article ! 1067: .hf Reply-to "" ( ! 1068: if present, ! 1069: otherwise ! 1070: .hf From ). ! 1071: .hn 1 ! 1072: Transmission Methods ! 1073: .pg ! 1074: USENET is not a physical network, ! 1075: but rather a logical network ! 1076: resting on top of several existing physical networks. ! 1077: These networks include, ! 1078: but are not limited to, ! 1079: UUCP, ! 1080: the ARPANET, ! 1081: an Ethernet, ! 1082: the BLICN network, ! 1083: an NSC Hyperchannel, ! 1084: and a BERKNET. ! 1085: What is important is that two neighboring systems on USENET ! 1086: have some method to get a new article, ! 1087: in the format listed here, ! 1088: from one system to the other, ! 1089: and once on the receiving system, ! 1090: processed by the netnews software on that system. ! 1091: (On ! 1092: .ux ! 1093: systems, ! 1094: this usually means the ! 1095: .i rnews ! 1096: program being run with the article on the standard input.) ! 1097: .pg ! 1098: It is not a requirement that USENET sites have mail systems ! 1099: capable of understanding the ARPA Internet mail syntax, ! 1100: but it is strongly recommended. ! 1101: Since ! 1102: .hf From , ! 1103: .hf Reply-To , ! 1104: and ! 1105: .hf Sender ! 1106: lines use the Internet syntax, ! 1107: replies will be difficult or impossible without an internet mailer. ! 1108: A site without an internet mailer can attempt to use the ! 1109: .hf Path ! 1110: header line for replies, ! 1111: but this field is not guaranteed to be a working path for replies. ! 1112: In any event, ! 1113: any site generating or forwarding news messages ! 1114: must have an internet address that allows them ! 1115: to receive mail from sites with internet mailers, ! 1116: and they must include their internet address on their From line. ! 1117: .hn 2 ! 1118: Remote Execution ! 1119: .pg ! 1120: Some networks permit direct remote command execution. ! 1121: On these networks, ! 1122: news may be forwarded by spooling the ! 1123: .i rnews ! 1124: command with the article on the standard input. ! 1125: For example, ! 1126: if the remote system is called ! 1127: .cn remote , ! 1128: news would be sent over a UUCP link with the command ! 1129: .sd c ! 1130: uux \- remote!rnews ! 1131: .ed ! 1132: and on a Berknet, ! 1133: .sd c ! 1134: net \-mremote rnews ! 1135: .ed ! 1136: It is important that the article be sent via a reliable mechanism, ! 1137: normally involving the possibility of spooling, ! 1138: rather than direct real-time remote execution. ! 1139: This is because, ! 1140: if the remote system is down, ! 1141: a direct execution command will fail, ! 1142: and the article will never be delivered. ! 1143: If the article is spooled, ! 1144: it will eventually be delivered when both systems are up. ! 1145: .hn 2 ! 1146: Transfer by Mail ! 1147: .pg ! 1148: On some systems, ! 1149: direct remote spooled execution is not possible. ! 1150: However, ! 1151: most systems support electronic mail, ! 1152: and a news article can be sent as mail. ! 1153: One approach is to send a mail message ! 1154: which is identical to the news message: ! 1155: the mail headers are the news headers, ! 1156: and the mail body is the news body. ! 1157: By convention, ! 1158: this mail is sent to the user ! 1159: .i newsmail ! 1160: on the remote machine. ! 1161: .pg ! 1162: One problem with this method is that it may not be possible to convince ! 1163: the mail system that the ! 1164: .hf From ! 1165: line of the message is valid, ! 1166: since the mail message was generated by a program ! 1167: on a system different from the source of the news article. ! 1168: Another problem is that error messages caused by the mail transmission ! 1169: would be sent to the originator of the news article, ! 1170: who has no control over news transmission between two cooperating hosts ! 1171: and does not know who to contact. ! 1172: Transmission error messages should be directed to a responsible ! 1173: contact person on the sending machine. ! 1174: .pg ! 1175: A solution to this problem is to encapsulate the news article ! 1176: into a mail message, ! 1177: such that the entire article ! 1178: (headers and body) ! 1179: are part of the body of the mail message. ! 1180: The convention here is that such mail is sent to user ! 1181: .i rnews ! 1182: on the remote system. ! 1183: A mail message body is generated by prepending the letter ! 1184: .qp N ! 1185: to each line of the news article, ! 1186: and then attaching whatever mail headers are convenient to generate. ! 1187: The ! 1188: .qp N 's ! 1189: are attached to prevent any special lines in the news article ! 1190: from interfering with mail transmission, ! 1191: and to prevent any extra lines inserted by the mailer ! 1192: (headers, ! 1193: blank lines, ! 1194: etc.) ! 1195: from becoming part of the news article. ! 1196: A program on the receiving machine receives mail to ! 1197: .i rnews , ! 1198: extracting the article itself and invoking the ! 1199: .i rnews ! 1200: program. ! 1201: An example in this format might look like this: ! 1202: .sd ! 1203: Date: Monday, 3-Jan-83 08:33:47 MST ! 1204: From: [email protected] ! 1205: Subject: network news article ! 1206: To: [email protected] ! 1207: ! 1208: NPath: cbosgd!mhuxj!harpo!utah-cs!sask!derek ! 1209: NFrom: [email protected] (Derek Andrew) ! 1210: NNewsgroups: net.test ! 1211: NSubject: necessary test ! 1212: NMessage-ID: <[email protected]> ! 1213: NDate: Monday, 3 Jan 83 00:59:15 MST ! 1214: N ! 1215: NThis really is a test. If anyone out there more than 6 ! 1216: Nhops away would kindly confirm this note I would ! 1217: Nappreciate it. We suspect that our news postings ! 1218: Nare not getting out into the world. ! 1219: N ! 1220: ! 1221: .ed ! 1222: .pg ! 1223: Using mail solves the spooling problem, ! 1224: since mail must always be spooled if the destination host is down. ! 1225: However, ! 1226: it adds more overhead to the transmission process ! 1227: (to encapsulate and extract the article) ! 1228: and makes it harder for software to give different priorities ! 1229: to news and mail. ! 1230: .hn 2 ! 1231: Batching ! 1232: .pg ! 1233: Since news articles are usually short, ! 1234: and since a large number of messages ! 1235: are often sent between two sites in a day, ! 1236: it may make sense to batch news articles. ! 1237: Several articles can be combined into one large article, ! 1238: using conventions agreed upon in advance by the two sites. ! 1239: One such batching scheme is described here; ! 1240: its use is still considered experimental. ! 1241: .pg ! 1242: News articles are combined into a script, separated by a header of the form: ! 1243: .sd ! 1244: #! rnews 1234 ! 1245: .ed ! 1246: where ! 1247: .i 1234 ! 1248: is the length, ! 1249: in bytes, ! 1250: of the article. ! 1251: Each such line is followed by an article containing the given number of bytes. ! 1252: (The newline at the end of each line of the article is counted as one byte, ! 1253: for purposes of this count, even if it is stored as ! 1254: .qc "CARRIAGE RETURN\s+2><\s-2LINE FEED" \&.) ! 1255: For example, ! 1256: a batch of articles might look like this: ! 1257: .sd ! 1258: #! rnews 207 ! 1259: From: [email protected] (Jerry Schwarz) ! 1260: Path: cbosgd!mhuxj!mhuxt!eagle!jerry ! 1261: Newsgroups: net.general ! 1262: Subject: Usenet Etiquette -- Please Read ! 1263: Message-ID: <[email protected]> ! 1264: Date: Friday, 19 Nov 82 16:14:55 EST ! 1265: ! 1266: Here is an important message about USENET Etiquette. ! 1267: #! rnews 203 ! 1268: From: [email protected] (Jerry Schwarz) ! 1269: Path: cbosgd!mhuxj!mhuxt!eagle!jerry ! 1270: Newsgroups: net.followup ! 1271: Subject: Notes on Etiquette article ! 1272: Message-ID: <[email protected]> ! 1273: Date: Friday, 19 Nov 82 17:24:12 EST ! 1274: ! 1275: There was something I forgot to mention in the last message. ! 1276: .ed ! 1277: Batched news is recognized because the first character in the message is ! 1278: .qp # . ! 1279: The message is then passed to the unbatcher for interpretation. ! 1280: .hn 1 ! 1281: The News Propagation Algorithm ! 1282: .pg ! 1283: This section describes the overall scheme of USENET and the algorithm ! 1284: followed by sites in propagating news to the entire network. ! 1285: Since all sites are affected by incorrectly formatted articles ! 1286: and by propagation errors, ! 1287: it is important for the method to be standardized. ! 1288: .pg ! 1289: USENET is a directed graph. ! 1290: Each node in the graph is a host computer, ! 1291: and each arc in the graph is a transmission path ! 1292: from one host to another host. ! 1293: Each arc is labelled with a newsgroup pattern, ! 1294: specifying which newsgroup classes are forwarded along that link. ! 1295: Most arcs are bidirectional, ! 1296: that is, ! 1297: if site ! 1298: .cn A ! 1299: sends a class of newsgroups to site ! 1300: .cn B , ! 1301: then site ! 1302: .cn B ! 1303: usually sends the same class of newsgroups to site ! 1304: .cn A . ! 1305: This bidirectionality is not, ! 1306: however, ! 1307: required. ! 1308: .pg ! 1309: USENET is made up of many subnetworks. ! 1310: Each subnet has a name, ! 1311: such as ! 1312: .ng net ! 1313: or ! 1314: .ng btl . ! 1315: The special subnet ! 1316: .ng net ! 1317: is defined to be USENET, ! 1318: although the union of all subnets may be a superset of USENET ! 1319: (because of sites that get local newsgroup classes but do not get ! 1320: .ng net.all ). ! 1321: Each subnet is a connected graph, ! 1322: that is, ! 1323: a path exists from every node to every other node in the subnet. ! 1324: In addition, ! 1325: the entire graph is ! 1326: (theoretically) ! 1327: connected. ! 1328: (In practice, ! 1329: some political considerations have caused some sites ! 1330: to be unable to post articles reaching the rest of the network.) ! 1331: .pg ! 1332: An article is posted on one machine to a list of newsgroups. ! 1333: That machine accepts it locally, ! 1334: then forwards it to all its neighbors that are interested ! 1335: in at least one of the newsgroups of the message. ! 1336: (Site ! 1337: .cn A ! 1338: deems site ! 1339: .cn B ! 1340: to be \*(lqinterested\*(rq in a newsgroup ! 1341: if the newsgroup matches the pattern on the arc from ! 1342: .cn A ! 1343: to ! 1344: .cn B . ! 1345: This pattern is stored in a file on the ! 1346: .cn A ! 1347: machine.) ! 1348: The sites receiving the incoming article examine it ! 1349: to make sure they really want the article, ! 1350: accept it locally, ! 1351: and then in turn forward the article to all ! 1352: .i their ! 1353: interested neighbors. ! 1354: This process continues until the entire network has seen the article. ! 1355: .pg ! 1356: An important part of the algorithm is the prevention of loops. ! 1357: The above process would cause a message to loop along a cycle forever. ! 1358: In particular, ! 1359: when site ! 1360: .cn A ! 1361: sends an article to site ! 1362: .cn B , ! 1363: site ! 1364: .cn B ! 1365: will send it back to site ! 1366: .cn A , ! 1367: which will send it to site ! 1368: .cn B , ! 1369: and so on. ! 1370: One solution to this is the history mechanism. ! 1371: Each site keeps track of all articles it has seen ! 1372: (by their message ID) ! 1373: and whenever an article comes in that it has already seen, ! 1374: the incoming article is discarded immediately. ! 1375: This solution is sufficient to prevent loops, ! 1376: but additional optimizations can be made to avoid sending articles to sites ! 1377: that will simply throw them away. ! 1378: .pg ! 1379: One optimization is that an article should never be sent to a machine ! 1380: listed in the ! 1381: .hf Path ! 1382: line of the header. ! 1383: When a machine name is in the ! 1384: .hf Path ! 1385: line, ! 1386: the message is known to have passed through the machine. ! 1387: Another optimization is that, ! 1388: if the article originated on site ! 1389: .cn A , ! 1390: then site ! 1391: .cn A ! 1392: has already seen the article. ! 1393: (Origination can be determined by the ! 1394: .hf Posting-Version ! 1395: line.) ! 1396: .P ! 1397: Thus, ! 1398: if an article is posted to newsgroup ! 1399: .ng net.misc , ! 1400: it will match the pattern ! 1401: .ng net.all ! 1402: (where ! 1403: .ng all ! 1404: is a metasymbol that matches any string), ! 1405: and will be forwarded to all sites that subscribe to ! 1406: .ng net.all ! 1407: (as determined by what their neighbors send them). ! 1408: These sites make up the ! 1409: .ng net ! 1410: subnetwork. ! 1411: An article posted to ! 1412: .ng btl.general ! 1413: will reach all sites receiving ! 1414: .ng btl.all , ! 1415: but will not reach sites that do not get ! 1416: .ng btl.all . ! 1417: In effect, ! 1418: the articles reaches the ! 1419: .ng btl ! 1420: subnetwork. ! 1421: An article posted to newsgroups ! 1422: .ng net.micro,btl.general ! 1423: will reach all sites subscribing to either of the two classes.
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