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Annotation of 43BSD/contrib/nntp/doc/nntpd.8c, revision 1.1

1.1     ! root        1: .TH NNTPD 8C "5 March 1986"
        !             2: .UC 4
        !             3: .SH NAME
        !             4: nntpd \- Network News Transfer Protocol server
        !             5: .SH SYNOPSIS
        !             6: .B /etc/nntpd
        !             7: .br
        !             8: .I (with /etc/inetd, see below)
        !             9: .SH DESCRIPTION
        !            10: .I Nntpd
        !            11: is a TCP based server which supports the proposed standard
        !            12: for the stream based transmission of network
        !            13: news articles.
        !            14: It can be used both by ``end user'' clients, and by
        !            15: ``system'' clients which transport news between machines.
        !            16: .I Nntpd
        !            17: operates at the port indicated in the ``nntp'' service
        !            18: entry in
        !            19: .I /etc/services.
        !            20: The port number assigned by the Network Information Center
        !            21: for this service is 119.
        !            22: .PP
        !            23: .I Nntpd
        !            24: can operate either as a stand-alone server, or as a
        !            25: server under
        !            26: .IR inetd (1).
        !            27: For stand-alone use,
        !            28: .I nntpd
        !            29: must be compiled with the -DALONE option, and is
        !            30: invoked as mentioned in the synopsis above.
        !            31: Under
        !            32: .IR inetd (1),
        !            33: the appropriate entry must be made in
        !            34: .I /etc/inetd.conf,
        !            35: and the server must be compiled without the
        !            36: -ALONE flag.
        !            37: .PP
        !            38: The server handles clients on a one to one basis,
        !            39: forking to take care of clients as they request
        !            40: connections.  Each server changes its current
        !            41: directory to the news spool directory (usually
        !            42: .I /usr/spool/news)
        !            43: and then executes commands from its client.
        !            44: These commands are described in ARPA Internet
        !            45: RFC 977, ``Network News Transfer Protocol;
        !            46: A Proposed Standard for the Stream Based Transmission
        !            47: of News Articles.''
        !            48: .PP
        !            49: Since the server forks once for
        !            50: every client connection, sites may choose to limit
        !            51: the hosts which can query the server for news.
        !            52: Further, some sites may not wish to allow
        !            53: certain hosts to post news.
        !            54: Such limiting can be accomplished through an
        !            55: access file, usually
        !            56: .I /usr/spool/news/lib/nntp_access.
        !            57: This file consists of three fields in the following form:
        !            58: .sp
        !            59: .nf
        !            60: host/net       read/xfer/no    post/no
        !            61: .fi
        !            62: .sp
        !            63: where
        !            64: .f
        !            65: .I host
        !            66: is a valid host name as found in
        !            67: .I /etc/services,
        !            68: .I net
        !            69: is a valid network name as found in
        !            70: .I /etc/networks,
        !            71: .I ``read'',
        !            72: .I ``xfer'',
        !            73: .I ``post'',
        !            74: and
        !            75: .I ``no''
        !            76: are the corresponding string constants.
        !            77: Anything to the right of a `#' character
        !            78: is taken to be a comment and is ignored.
        !            79: .PP
        !            80: The presence of an entry in this file
        !            81: implies that specific host, or
        !            82: hosts on the named network, are
        !            83: allowed to read news, but not to post news.
        !            84: The absence of a entry corresponding
        !            85: to a client's host or network implies that the client
        !            86: is not allowed to read or post news.
        !            87: However, default permissions can be set by having the
        !            88: first entry in the file be a host/net name of
        !            89: ``default''.
        !            90: If this is used, ``default'' must be the
        !            91: first entry.
        !            92: .PP
        !            93: The field to the right of the host/net entry
        !            94: specifies the read access of the host/net in
        !            95: question.
        !            96: If the entry is ``read,'' matching
        !            97: hosts can both read and transfer news.
        !            98: If the entry is ``xfer,'' however,
        !            99: matching hosts can only execute transfer
        !           100: commands (such as NEWNEWS, NEWGROUPS, IHAVE,
        !           101: and ARTICLE with message-id parameters).
        !           102: The string ``no'' denies read permission
        !           103: of any kind to a matching host.
        !           104: .PP
        !           105: The next field to the right defines
        !           106: whether a matching host has post
        !           107: permission: if the field is ``post''
        !           108: then the POST command is permitted; if
        !           109: the field is ``no,'' then matching clients
        !           110: are not allowed to post news.
        !           111: .PP
        !           112: .I Nntpd
        !           113: is selective and searches for a ``best match''
        !           114: when searching this file to check its client's
        !           115: permissions.  That is, a specific host name
        !           116: match is used over a
        !           117: client being a member of a specified net.
        !           118: .I Nntpd
        !           119: does not know about subnets.
        !           120: .SH EXAMPLE ACCESS FILE
        !           121: .PP
        !           122: .sp
        !           123: .nf
        !           124: #
        !           125: # Example access file
        !           126: #
        !           127: default                xfer    no
        !           128: ucb-ether      read    post
        !           129: shadow         no      no
        !           130: .fi
        !           131: .sp
        !           132: .PP
        !           133: The above file would set a default condition allowing
        !           134: transfer of news, but no reading or posting.
        !           135: Hosts on the network ``ucb-ether'' would be able to
        !           136: read and post news.
        !           137: Finally, the host ``shadow'' would not be allowed
        !           138: to read or post news.
        !           139: .SH
        !           140: NEWGROUPS
        !           141: .PP
        !           142: In order to efficiently implement the NEWGROUPS command, the
        !           143: server expects to find a file, typically
        !           144: .I /usr/spool/news/lib/groupdates,
        !           145: which has a list of active newsgroups and when they
        !           146: were created.
        !           147: .PP
        !           148: This file is created and updated a certain number of times a day
        !           149: by the program
        !           150: .IR mkgrdates (8C),
        !           151: which scans the active file and decides whether or not
        !           152: to update the ``groupdates'' file.  This program
        !           153: is not spawned by
        !           154: .I nntpd,
        !           155: and must be run by
        !           156: .IR cron (1).
        !           157: .SH AUTHOR
        !           158: Phil Lapsley (ARPA: [email protected]; UUCP: ...!ucbvax!phil)
        !           159: .SH SEE ALSO
        !           160: cron(1),
        !           161: inetd(8C),
        !           162: mkgrdates(8C),
        !           163: mkhistdates(8C)
        !           164: .PP
        !           165: RFC 977, ``Network News Transfer Protocol:
        !           166: A Proposed Standard for the Stream Based Transmission
        !           167: of News Articles.''
        !           168: .SH BUGS
        !           169: Should understand subnetworks in the access file.

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