# MAILPATHS 3-Nov-1988 # # VMS NEWS uses the mailpaths file to determine the address of the moderator # in the case of locally originated postings to a moderated newsgroup. # # The following is an extract of a posting describing the Usenet News 2.11 # mailpaths file. I have annotated the posting to outline the differences # between this description and VMS NEWS V6.0 #++ #NOTE: Annotations are delimited by the #++ and #-- comment lines. #-- #----------------------------------------------------------------------------- # Path: fac3!anucsd!csadfa!neumann!munnari!uunet!husc6!purdue!spaf # From: spaf@cs.purdue.EDU (Gene Spafford) # Newsgroups: news.lists,news.admin # Subject: How to Construct the Mailpaths File (Updated: 15 January 1988) # Message-ID: <2957@arthur.cs.purdue.edu> # Date: 16 Jan 88 06:34:31 GMT # Expires: 6 Feb 88 06:34:31 GMT # Organization: Dept. of Computer Sciences, Purdue Univ. # Lines: 135 # Approved: spaf@cs.purdue.EDU # Xref: fac3 news.lists:95 news.admin:409 # Supersedes: <2806@arthur.cs.purdue.edu> # # Original-from: Gene Spafford (spaf@cs.purdue.edu) # [Most recent change: 15 January 1988 by spaf@cs.purdue.edu (Gene Spafford)] # # News 2.11 has been designed to make it simpler to submit articles to # moderated newsgroups and to reply via mail to posted articles. For # these functions to work, the file "mailpaths" must exist in the news # library and contain current information. This file describes the # syntax of the contents of the file and how to construct it for your site. # #++ # NOTE: VMS NEWS does NOT use the mailpaths file for mailing articles - the # mailpaths file is only used to determine the address of a newsgroup moderator. #-- # # Syntax # ------ # All lines in the file consist of a keyword followed by whitespace, # followed by a printf-style format string which is used to encode a mail # address. The format string should be constructed so that there is a # single "%s" in the field, and other information necessary to construct # a valid address to the appropriate site (see below). # # The keyword field consists of either the word "internet", the word # "backbone", or some newsgroup pattern. # #++ # The keyword "internet" is not used by VMS NEWS #-- # # These are examined by the # software to determine which format-string to use. Note that the first # appropriate line matched is the one used -- thus, the "backbone" # keyword line should be placed last in the file if regional or local # moderated groups are supported. # # Submissions to moderated groups # ------------------------------- # When you attempt to post to a moderated newsgroup # the action of news is to mail the submission to the moderator. # This is done by searching through "mailpaths" file for a keyword # matching the newgroup being posted to, or, by default, the keyword # "backbone". Matching occurs as in the "sys" file -- thus, # for example, "news" or "news.all" will match articles posted # in the "news" category. This feature can be used to support local # moderated groups. # # Once a line has been matched, the name of the moderated group is # transformed into an address. This is done by first turning all the # imbedded periods within the newsgroup name into hyphens (e.g., # "news.lists" becomes "news-lists") because many mailers mishandle # addresses with periods in the username (periods are supposed to be # delimiters only in the host/domain part of RFC822 addresses, but some # mailers "overreact"). Next, the transformed group name is encoded into # an address using the format-string present on the line matched from # "mailpaths" and the article is mailed. Thus, a posting to "news.lists" # from a site with the line # backbone emory!gatech!%s # in the mailpaths file would have the article mailed to # "emory!gatech!news-lists". Likewise, a line like # backbone %s@gatech.edu # would result in the article being mailed to "news-lists@gatech.edu". # To make the mechanism for moderated postings simpler, a subset of the # backbone sites (plus some others) have committed to keeping a complete # up-to-date set of mail aliases for the moderated groups. Therefore, to # build this line in your "mailpaths" file, you need only construct # an address to get the mail to one of these sites. In turn, once the # submission reaches that site, it will be forwarded on to the # appropriate moderator's mailbox. # # The sites currently maintaining these lists are given in the following # list. Pick the one that is "closest" to your site and use it in your # "backbone" format string: # # ames (ames.arc.nasa.gov) # clyde (clyde.att.com) # codas (codas.att.com) # decuac (decuac.dec.com) # decwrl (decwrl.dec.com) # gatech (gatech.edu) # hao (hao.ucar.edu) # husc6 (husc6.harvard.edu) # kddlab (kddlab.kddlabs.jp) # killer # linus # mcnc (mcnc.org) # mit-eddie (eddie.mit.edu) # rutgers (rutgers.edu) # sdcsvax (sdcsvax.ucsd.edu) # tektronix (tektronix.tek.com) # ucbvax (ucbvax.berkeley.edu) # uunet (uunet.uu.net) # uw-beaver (beaver.cs.washington.edu) # watmath (math.waterloo.edu) # # #Gene Spafford #Dept. of Computer Sciences, Purdue University, W. Lafayette IN 47907-2004 #Internet: spaf@cs.purdue.edu uucp: ...!{decwrl,gatech,ucbvax}!purdue!spaf #------------------------------------------------------------------------------ # # This is the contents of the mailpaths file for node csc3.anu.oz, (commented # out for distribution). This should be edited to include the name of # your closest backbone site. Note that creating LOCAL (non-network) # newsgroups with a local moderator will automatically update this file. # #alt.gourmand reid@decwrl.dec.com #anu.network gih900@csc3.anu.oz #backbone %s@munnari.oz