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NNTP README		October 15, 1987	For version 1.4 NNTP package

[See the file CHANGES to see differences between this version and
older versions.]

     This package contains everything (well, most of it, I hope) that
you'll need to implement a remote news server running the NNTP protocol.

     A brief tour of the directories and their programs:

	server		Source for the NNTP news server daemon.

	rrn		Patches to "rn" to allow remote news reading.
			These patches courtesy of Gene Spafford.

	inews		A "mini-inews" written by Steven Grady
			<[email protected]> which allows
		 	remote posting without changing much else.

	xmit		An active transmission client for transferring
			news, written by Erik Fair; see note below.

	common		Common stuff (response codes, configuration info,
			and some client library routines) for the
			the news server and the clients.  The "conf.h"
			file here needs to be edited to reflect
			the peculiarities of your system.

	support		Some support files that make the nntpd's
			life considerably easier.

	doc		Documentation on the server, including manual
			pages.  Manual pages for rrn are in rrn/.

	xfer		A passive reception client which uses the
			NEWNEWS command to retrieve news from a remote
			server.  Written by Brian Kantor, this software
			is UNSUPPORTED.

     Each directory has associated with it a README file (except
for rrn -- rrn has a bunch of 'em.  The one you want is README_RRN).
As you go through the system customizing things, you should read
the README for each directory to get an idea of what traps await
you in that area.  You may also want to print a copy of doc/rfc977,
which describes the NNTP protocol.

     TWO IMPORTANT NOTES:

	1. The NNTP server assumes that the history file format
	   is 2.11 or 2.10.3; therefore you need 2.11 news.

	2. If you want to transfer news with NNTP, you'll be using
	   the "nntpxmit" program in the "xmit" directory.
	   This requires routines in 2.11 news source, and must
	   be compiled there.  See xmit/README for more info.

     >>>>> Get 2.11 news if you don't have it.

     So, time for a general and cohesive Plan:

     1. Look at common/README.  This will explain the stuff which
	needs to be tailored for your system in common/conf.h.
	Make the necessary changes to reflect your system.

     2. Look at server/README; there shouldn't be much to do here,
	as the configuration stuff should have been taken care of
	when you edited common/conf.h.

	Do a "make", and see if things work ok -- they should
	(comforting, right?)

     3. Check out support/README and learn about the support programs.
	Again, there should be no configuration changes, as that's
	what common/conf.h is for.  You will need to edit the Makefile
	here to reflect where you want your binaries to be installed,
	however.

	Do a "make" here, too.

     4. Look at inews/README.  This is for the pseudo-inews which
	gets installed on client news machines.  If you don't want
	your clients to be able to post, don't worry about this.
	But I suggest you do.  Again, there shouldn't be any
	configuration futzing to be dealt with.

	Alas, do a make here, too.

     5. The big one: rrn.  Read rrn/README_RRN, which explains
	Gene's patches and what to do, and do what it suggests.

     6. It would be nice if you could do a "make install" at this point,
	but you can't: if you compile this on the NNTP server machine,
	you don't want rrn objects installed.  On the other hand,
	if you compile this on a client machine, you don't want
	server objects installed.  So, from this (nntp) directory:

	Server?  Type "make install_server".  This installs "server"
		 and "support".

	Client?  Type "make install_client".  This installs "rrn"
		 and "inews"

	>>> A full client installation of NNTP requires the following
	    files (suitable for rdist, assuming standard directories):

NEWS = ( /usr/local/{Pnews,Rnmail,inews,rn,rrn,newsetup,newsgroups,lib/rn}
	/usr/man/catl/{Pnews,Rnmail,rn,newsetup,newsgroups}.1 )

	    You DO NOT need any of the normal news junk (e.g.,
	    /usr/lib/news, postnews, checknews, readnews) on CLIENT
	    systems.

	    You DO need these on SERVER systems.

     Problems?  You can get to me via electronic mail at the
following addresses:

	Internet:		[email protected]
	UUCP:			...!ucbvax!phil
	Telephone (home):	(415) 848-8409
	Telephone (work):	(415) 642-6792 or (415) 642-7447

     I'm very interested in learning what hacks need to be made to
nntpd to get it to work on various systems, and certainly, if there
are outright bugs, please let me know.

     Also, please send me electronic mail if you decide to use this
package, as that way I can mail out bug reports and fixes.  Be sure
to include a reply-able address if your mailer doesn't generate
one for you.

     One note, though -- as for "rrn", I'll support bugs caused
by my additions/mods to it (hopefully Larry Wall will be supporting
this soon...) but please don't send me reports about things which
were already in rn 4.3.  Thanks.

     [Those who had the pleasure of dealing with the kill/save bug,
it's gone now, thanks to Chris Maio.]

     Finally, I'd like to thank the various people who both inspired
and helped to make this project a reality:  Erik Fair, whose criticism
and suggestions helped mold NNTP (and who wrote the active transmission
client); Brian Kantor, who really got me motivated enough to go and
finish the thing, and whose work on the RFC was *tremendous*; Steven
Grady, who wrote the inews interface (and wasted countless hours only
to have his work dashed periodically...); Mike Meyer, who beta tested
the software and pointed out numerous problems; Bob Henry, who let me
have the resources so that it got done; Peter Yee, who repeated enough
good ideas to get me to include them; all the folks who had patience
with me and didn't go off and write this themselves (jsq, you
listening?  My thanks.); Chuq von Rospach and the members of lan-news;
Gene Spafford for eliminating having to include 1 MB of source to rn
by a set of patches; Matt Thomas for adding support for DECNET;
the kind folks who beta tested version 1.4 and put up with stupid
bugs and provided helpful feedback, notably Craig Leres, Matt Thomas,
Wengyik Yeong, and Stan Barber; all the individuals who have reported
bugs or suggested improvements (see CHANGES for a list); and probably a
lot of other people I've neglected to mention.  My thanks to all.

						Phil Lapsley
						15 October 1987

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