# NEWS V5.6 3-Nov-1988 # # NEWS.SYS Control file. This file describes which newsgroups are distributed # to adjacent NEWS sites, and how this feed is set up. # # The following is an extract from the Unix (tm) rn documentation: #++ ## This has been annotated for VMS NEWS V5.6 #-- #------------------------------------------------------------------------------- # The sys file line has four fields, each separated by colons: # # system-name:subscriptions:flags:transmission command # # Of these fields, only the system-name and subscriptions need to be present. # # - The system name is the name of the system being sent to. # - The subscriptions is the list of newsgroups to be transmitted to the # system. #++ ## VMS NEWS also allows entries of the form "!subscription" indicating that ## this is NOT accepted - e.g ## "...,anu,!anu.students,.." ## will accept all newsgroups starting with "anu.", as well as the ## newsgroup "anu", but will reject the newsgroup "anu.student" and any ## other newsgroups starting with "anu.student." #-- # # - The flags are a set of letters describing how the article should be # transmitted. The default is B. Valid flags include A (send in A format), # B (send in B format), N (use ihave/sendme protocol), U (use uux -c and # the name of the stored article in a %s string). #++ ## VMS NEWS uses B and N flags only - A and U flags are not implemented #-- # # # - The transmission command is executed by the shell with the article to be # transmitted as the standard input. The transmission command defaults to # uux - -z -r sysname!rnews. #++ ## VMS NEWS does NOT use the transmission command in this fashion. The ## transmission command is used to determine: ## ## - The name of the file to use when preparing articles to send ## (The ':' character that would normally appear in a VMS file ## specification is replaced by a '/' character in this field, ## as the ':' is already used as a field separator) ## _THIS FIELD IS REQUIRED_ ## ## - The format used for the articles ## Format strings are: ## B - batch files are created. A batch file contains a number ## of articles, separated by the delimiter: ## #! rnews ## BN - same as B, with a 'N' in column 1 of each line are created. ## this is normally used when posting news as mail back ## to a Unix site. ## M - a new version of the file is created for each article ## to be transferred to the remote host ## MN - same as 'M', but the article is stored with a 'N' ## in column 1 of every line ## ## This format field and the FLAG field are related: This format ## is ignored if the 'N' flag is used in this entry. The format field ## is noted if the 'B' flag is used in this entry. ## _THIS FIELD IS OPTIONAL_ ## ## These sub-fields of the transmission field are separated by the '^' ## character. e.g: ## sys$user/[news.post_rnode]news.xmit^B #-- # # Some examples: # # xyz:net # oldsys:net,mod,to.oldsys:A # berksys:net,ucb::/usr/lib/news/sendnews -b berksysrnews # arpasys:net,arpa::/usr/lib/news/sendnews -a rnews@arpasys # old2:net,mod:A:/usr/lib/sendnews -o old2rnews # user:net.sf-lovers::mail user # # Somewhere in the sys file, there must be a line for the host system. This # line has no flags or commands. A '#' as the first character in a line # denotes a comment. A logical line may be continued to the next physical # line by putting a '\' at the end of the line. # ##------------------------------------------------------------------------ ## Here is a sample VMS NEWS.SYS file (from node FAC3) ##------------------------------------------------------------------------ ## first entry is for THIS SITE ## and is a list of groups which will be accepted ## fac3:world,inet,to.fac3,anu,comp,sci,rec,news,misc,soc,talk,aus,\ canb,alt,local,junk,control,general:: # csc:world,inet,to.csc1,anu,comp,sci,rec,news,\ misc,soc,talk,aus,canb,alt,!anu.students:B:\ NEWS_MANAGER_DEV/[POST_CSC]NEWS.BATCH^B # fac:world,inet,to.fac0,anu,comp,sci,rec,news,\ misc,soc,talk,aus,canb,alt:B:NEWS_MANAGER_DEV/[POST_FAC]NEWS.BATCH^B # oddjob:world,inet,to.oddjob,anu,comp,sci,rec,news,\ misc,soc,talk,aus,canb,alt:B:NEWS_MANAGER_DEV/[POST_ODDJOB]NEWS.BATCH^B # rsbs0:world,inet,to.rsbs0,anu,comp,sci,rec,news,\ misc,soc,talk,aus,canb,alt:B:NEWS_MANAGER_DEV/[POST_RSBS0]NEWS.BATCH^B # phys0:world,inet,to.phys0,anu,comp,sci,rec,news,\ misc,soc,talk,aus,canb,alt:B:NEWS_MANAGER_DEV/[POST_PHYS0]NEWS.BATCH^B # # The following entry is a feed to a Unix site - this site requires leading # N characters in column 1 # anucsd:world,inet,dcs,to.ra,to.anucsd,anu,canb,teach,\ comp,sci,rec,news,misc,soc,talk,aus,alt:B:\ NEWS_MANAGER_DEV/[POST_ANUCSD]NEWS.BATCH^BN # # The following entry is a feed into a mailing list. The actual mailing of the # files is performed by a separate dcl command file, but the requirement is # that each posted item is a separate file. # postmasters:world,inet,anu.network,aus.netstatus:B:\ NEWS_MANAGER_DEV/[MAIL_POSTMASTERS]NEWS.POST^M # # The following entry is a feed to node arp using the ihave/send protocol. # Note that the first entry is for the collection of message id's and the # second entry is for the transfer of these ids to node arp # # The corresponding DCL command to send the ids is: # $ SET DEF NEWS_MANAGER_DEV:[IHAVE_ARP] # $ NEWS/NOSCREEN POST/NEWS=to.arp/SUBJ="ihave FAC3"/NOEDIT/CONTROL COLLECT.IDS # $ DELETE COLLECT.IDS; # # The alternative method is to perform the feed using NNTP. In this case # the DCL command is: # $ NNTPFEED :== $ dev:[dir]NNTP # $ NNTPFEED arp decnet news_manager_dev:[IHAVE_ARP]COLLECT.IDS # -or- (using a TCP-based NNTP link) # $ NNTPFEED arp tcp news_manager_dev:[IHAVE_ARP]COLLECT.IDS # arp:world,inet,arp,anu,canb,comp,sci,rec,news,misc,soc,talk,aus,alt:N:\ NEWS_MANAGER_DEV/[IHAVE_ARP]COLLECT.IDS arp:to.arp:B:NEWS_MANAGER_DEV/[POST_ARP]NEWS.BATCH^M