Annotation of 43BSD/contrib/nntp/README, revision 1.1.1.1

1.1       root        1: NNTP README            March 20, 1986          For version 1.2a NNTP package
                      2: 
                      3: [See the file CHANGES to see differences between this version and
                      4: older versions.]
                      5: 
                      6:      This package contains everything (well, most of it, I hope) that
                      7: you'll need to implement a remote news server running the NNTP
                      8: protocol.
                      9: 
                     10:      A brief tour of the directories and their programs:
                     11: 
                     12:        server          Source for the NNTP news server daemon.
                     13: 
                     14:        rrn             Version 4.3 of "rn", hacked up to support
                     15:                        remote news reading.
                     16: 
                     17:        inews           A "mini-inews" written by Steven Grady
                     18:                        <[email protected]> which allows
                     19:                        remote posting without changing much else.
                     20: 
                     21:        xmit            An active transmission client for transferring
                     22:                        news, written by Erik Fair; see note below.
                     23: 
                     24:        common          Common stuff (response codes, configuration info,
                     25:                        and some client library routines) for the
                     26:                        the news server and the clients.  The "conf.h"
                     27:                        file here which needs to be edited to reflect
                     28:                        the peculiarities of your system.
                     29: 
                     30:        support         Some support programs which make the nntpd's
                     31:                        life considerably easier.
                     32: 
                     33:        doc             Documentation on the server, including manual
                     34:                        pages.  Manual pages for rrn are in rrn/.
                     35: 
                     36:      Each directory has associated with it a README file (except
                     37: for rrn -- rrn has a bunch of 'em.  The one you want is README_RRN).
                     38: As you go through the system customizing things, you should read
                     39: the README for each directory to get an idea of what traps await
                     40: you in that area.  You may also want to print a copy of doc/rfc977.
                     41: 
                     42:      TWO IMPORTANT NOTES:
                     43: 
                     44:        1. The NNTP server assumes that the history file format
                     45:           is 2.10.3; therefore, you need 2.10.3 news.
                     46: 
                     47:        2. If you want to transfer news with NNTP, you'll be using
                     48:           the "nntpxmit" program in the "xmit" directory.
                     49:           This requires routines in 2.10.3 news source, and must
                     50:           be compiled there.  See xmit/README for more info.
                     51: 
                     52:      >>>>> Get 2.10.3 news if you don't have it.
                     53: 
                     54:      So, time for a general and cohesive Plan:
                     55: 
                     56:      1. Look at common/README.  This will explain the stuff which
                     57:        needs to be tailored for your system in common/conf.h.
                     58:        Make the necessary changes to reflect your system.
                     59: 
                     60:        Note that unfortunately "rrn" has its own configuration
                     61:        include file, and it was not feasible (pronounced "I'm too
                     62:        lazy") to combine the two.
                     63: 
                     64:      2. Look at server/README; there shouldn't be much to do here,
                     65:        as the configuration stuff should have been taken care of
                     66:        when you edited common/conf.h.
                     67: 
                     68:        Do a "make", and see if things work ok -- they should
                     69:        (comforting, right?)
                     70: 
                     71:      3. Check out support/README and learn about the support programs.
                     72:        Again, there should be no configuration changes, as that's
                     73:        what common/conf.h is for.
                     74: 
                     75:        Do a "make" here, too.
                     76: 
                     77:      4. Look at inews/README.  This is for the pseudo-inews which
                     78:        gets installed on client news machines.  If you don't want
                     79:        your clients to be able to post, don't worry about this.
                     80:        But I suggest you do.  Again, there shouldn't be any
                     81:        configuration futzing to be dealt with.
                     82: 
                     83:        Alas, do a make here, too.
                     84: 
                     85:      5. The big one: rrn.  Read rrn/README_RRN to get some idea of
                     86:        what has been changed from generic rn 4.3.  Then run
                     87:        a Configure.  Now follow the instructions as given in
                     88:        rrn/README_RRN.
                     89: 
                     90:      6. It would be nice if you could do a "make install" here,
                     91:        but you can't: if you compile this on the NNTP server machine,
                     92:        you don't want rrn objects installed.  On the other hand,
                     93:        if you compile this on a client machine, you don't want
                     94:        server objects installed.  So:
                     95: 
                     96:        Server?  Type "make install_server".  This installs "server"
                     97:                 and "support".
                     98: 
                     99:        Client?  Type "make install_client".  This installs "rrn"
                    100:                 and "inews"
                    101: 
                    102:      Problems?  You can get to me via electronic mail via the
                    103: following electronic addresses:
                    104: 
                    105:        Internet:       [email protected]
                    106:        UUCP:           ...!ucbvax!phil
                    107:        CSNET:          phil@Berkeley
                    108:        Telephone:      (415) 848-8409
                    109: 
                    110:      I'm very interested in learing what hacks need to be made to
                    111: nntpd to get it to work on various systems, and certainly, if there
                    112: are outright bugs, please let me know.
                    113: 
                    114:      Also, please send me electronic mail if you decide to use this
                    115: package, as that way I can mail out bug reports and fixes.  Be sure
                    116: to include a reply-able address if your mailer doesn't generate
                    117: one for you.
                    118: 
                    119:      One note, though -- as for "rrn", I'll support bugs caused
                    120: by my additions/mods to it (hopefully Larry Wall will be supporting
                    121: this soon...) but please don't send me reports about things which
                    122: were already in rn 4.3.  Thanks.
                    123: 
                    124:      Wait... one more note:  there is a (well, many, but I'll say "a")
                    125: known bug in my implementation of "rrn".  If there is a kill file
                    126: for a newsgroup, you *cannot* save articles to shell script savers.
                    127: I have *no* idea what causes this.  If you find out, *please* let me
                    128: know.  If you'd care to work on it, I'll send you lots of stuff
                    129: I've tracked down so far.
                    130: 
                    131:      Finally, I'd like to thank the various people who both inspired
                    132: and helped to make this project a reality:  Erik Fair, whose criticism
                    133: and suggestions helped mold NNTP (and who wrote the active transmission
                    134: client); Brian Kantor, who really got me motivated enough to go and
                    135: finish the thing, and whose work on the RFC was *tremendous*; Steven
                    136: Grady, who wrote the inews interafce (and wasted countless hours only
                    137: to have his work dashed periodically...); Mike Meyer, who beta tested
                    138: the software and pointed out numerous problems; Bob Henry, who let me
                    139: have the resources so that it got done; Peter Yee, who repeated enough
                    140: good ideas to get me to include them; all the folks who had patience
                    141: with me and didn't go off and write this themselves (jsq, you
                    142: listening?  My thanks.); Chuq von Rospach and the members of lan-news;
                    143: and probably a lot of other people I've neglected to mention.  My
                    144: thanks to all.
                    145: 
                    146:                                                Phil Lapsley,
                    147:                                                13 March 1986

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