From: stemple@lambda.msfc.nasa.gov (Cindy Stemple)
Subject: Installing nn
Summary: No active file
Organization: NASA/MSFC
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 13:54:36 GMT


I'm trying to configure my SUN Sparc2 running 4.1.1 as a news client
using another machine as my NNTP server.

I've configured and compiled nn.

When initializing the database through "inst INIT", I'm having problems
because I have no active file.  The installation notes say that I might
have a problem initializing the database if there are problems with
the active file.

Evidently I've missed something.  Where do I get an active file?

The following is a the error produced from "inst INIT".
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Initial article limit (none) 100
Running nnmaster -I 100 to initialize database....

Confirm initialization by typing 'OK': OK
awk: can't open /home/news/lib/active
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following is my config.h file
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

/**************************** NN CONFIGURATION ***************************
 *
 *	Configuration file for nn.
 *
 *	You must edit this file to reflect your local configuration
 *	and environment.
 *
 *	Before editing this file, read the licence terms in the README
 *	file and the installation guidelines in the INSTALLATION file.
 *
 *	(c) Copyright 1990, Kim F. Storm.  All rights reserved.
 */

#define	RELEASE 	"6.4"

#include <stdio.h>
#include <ctype.h>


/*********************** NETWORK DEPENDENT DEFINITIONS **********************
 *
 *	Define NETWORK_DATABASE if you share the database through NFS on
 *	a network with different, non-compatible machines, e.g. SUNs and
 *	VAXen, or SUN-3 and SUN-4, or if you are using different compilers
 *	on the same architecture.
 *
 *	In a homogenous network, you can leave it undefined for higher
 *	performance (no data conversion is needed).
 */

/* #define NETWORK_DATABASE	/* */


/********************************** NNTP *********************************
 *
 * 	Define NNTP to enable nntp support.  If you are not using NNTP,
 *	just leave the following NNTP_* definitions as they are - they
 *	will be ignored anyway.
 *
 *	With NNTP, the nnmaster still maintains a local database of
 *	all article headers for fast access (and because NNTP does not
 *	support nn - yet), while the articles are fetched from the
 *	nntp server when they are read or saved.
 *
 *	You may still share this database through NFS locally (see the
 *	description of NETWORK_DATABASE above) if you don't want to
 *	have separate nn databases on all your local systems.
 *
 *	Consult the file NNTP for further information on the use of NNTP.
 */

/*#define NNTP*/

/*
 *	Define NNTP_SERVER to the name of a file containing the name of the
 *	nntp server.
 *
 *	It is vital that both the nnmaster and all nn users on a machine
 *	uses the same nntp server, because the nn database is synchronized
 *	with a specific news active file.
 *
 *	If the file name does not start with a slash, it is relative to
 *	LIB_DIRECTORY defined below.
 *	NOTE: If you plan to use the included inews, it MUST be a full pathname
 */

#define NNTP_SERVER	"/home/news/lib/nntp_server"

/*
 *	Define NNTP_POST if you want nn to reject attempts to post via
 *	NNTP to a server, that disallows postings.
 *
 *	You should define this, if you use the NNTP based mini-inews for
 *	postings from NNTP clients.  If you use another mechanism, that
 *	does not involve NNTP, you should leave it undefined.
 */

#define NNTP_POST             /* */

/*
 *	NNTP's mini-inews seems to require that messages contain a complete
 *	header with Message-ID, Path, and Date fields which the normal inews
 *	generates itself.  If your mini-inews requires these headers to
 *	be present, define NNTP_MINI_INEWS_HEADER below.
 */

#define NNTP_MINI_INEWS_HEADER	/* uses "broken" mini-inews */

/*
 *	Define NNTP_PATH_HOSTNAME to force a specific hostname into the
 *	Path: header generated when NNTP_MINI_INEWS_HEADER is defined.
 *	This is useful for multi-machine sites with one mail/news gateway.
 */

/* #define NNTP_PATH_HOSTNAME	"puthostnamehere"	/* */


/***************** OPERATING SYSTEM DEPENDENT DEFINITIONS *******************
 *
 *  	Include the appropriate s- file for your system below.
 *
 *	If a file does not exist for your system, you can use
 *	conf/s-template.h as a starting point for writing you own.
 */

#include "s-sunos4-0.h"

/*
 *	Define DEFAULT_PAGER as the initial value of the 'pager' variable.
 *	nnadmin pipes shell command output though this command.
 */

/*#define DEFAULT_PAGER		"pg -n -s"	/* system V */
#define DEFAULT_PAGER	"more"			/* bsd */

/*
 *	DEFAULT_PRINTER is the initial value of the 'printer' variable.
 *	nn's :print command pipes text into this command.
 */

#define DEFAULT_PRINTER		"lp -s"		/* System V */
/* #define DEFAULT_PRINTER	"lpr -p -JNEWS"	/* bsd */

/*
 * 	Define RESIZING to make nn understand dynamic window-resizing.
 * 	(It uses the TIOCGWINSZ ioctl found on most 4.3BSD systems)
 */

/* #define RESIZING		/* */


/********************** MACHINE DEPENDENT DEFINITIONS **********************
 *
 *	Include the appropriate m- file for your system below.
 *
 *	If a file does not exist for your system, you can use
 *	conf/m-template.h as a starting point for writing you own.
 */

#include "m-sparc.h"


/***************************** OWNERSHIP ***************************
 *
 *	Specify owner and group for installed files and programs.
 *
 *	The nnmaster will run suid/sgid to this owner and group.
 *
 *	The only requirements are that the ownership allows the
 *	nnmaster to READ the news related files and directories, and
 *	the ordinary users to read the database and execute the nn*
 *	programs.
 *
 *	Common choices are:  (news, news)  and   (your uid, your gid)
 */

#define OWNER	"news"
#define	GROUP	"news"


/**************************** LOCALIZATION ****************************
 *
 *	Specify where programs and files are installed.
 *
 *	BIN_DIRECTORY    - the location of the user programs (mandatory)
 *
 *	LIB_DIRECTORY	 - the location of auxiliary programs and files.
 *			   (mandatory UNLESS ALL of the following are defined).
 *
 *	MASTER_DIRECTORY - the location of the master program (on server)
 *			   (= LIB_DIRECTORY if undefined)
 *
 *	CLIENT_DIRECTORY - the location of auxiliary programs (on clients)
 *			   (= LIB_DIRECTORY if undefined)
 *
 *	HELP_DIRECTORY   - the location of help files, online manual, etc.
 *			   (= CLIENT_DIRECTORY/help if undefined)
 *
 *	CACHE_DIRECTORY	 - if NNTP is used, nn uses this central directory
 *			   to store working copies of articles on the local
 *			   system.  If not defined, it stores the articles
 *			   in each user's ~/.nn directory.
 *
 *	TMP_DIRECTORY    - temporary file storage.  Overriden by $TMPDIR.
 *			   (= /usr/tmp if undefined).
 *
 *	LOG_FILE         - the location of nn's log file.
 *			   (= LIB_DIRECTORY/Log if undefined).
 */

#define BIN_DIRECTORY	"/home/news/bin"
#define LIB_DIRECTORY	"/home/news/lib"


/**************************** DATABASE LOCATION **************************
 *
 *	Specify where the nn database should be installed.
 *
 *	If none of the following symbols are defined, the database will
 *	be contained in the NEWS_DIRECTORY in a separate .nn directory for
 *	master files and in files named .nnx and .nnd in each group's
 *	spool directory.  To use this scheme, the OWNER specified above
 *	must have write permission on the news spool directories.
 *
 *	If you access news via NNTP, you will probably always have to
 *	give the database directory explicitly through DB_DIRECTORY
 *	(and DB_DATA_DIRECTORY), since the normal news spool directories 
 *	are probably not available on the local system.
 *	The exception may be if nnmaster runs directly on the nntp server.
 *
 *	To change the default behaviour, you can define the following
 *	symbols:
 *
 *	DB_DIRECTORY	   - the directory containing the master files.
 *
 *	DB_DATA_DIRECTORY  - the directory containing the per-group files
 *			     (default is DB_DIRECTORY/DATA if undefined).
 *
 *	DB_LONG_NAMES	   - use group's name rather than number when
 *			     building file names in DB_DATA_DIRECTORY.
 *	     (The file system must support long file names!!)
 */

#define DB_DIRECTORY "/home/news/dbase"


/*************************** NEWS TRANSPORT **************************
 *
 *	Specify the location of your news programs and files
 *	You only need to specify these if you are not
 *	satisfied with the default settings.
 *
 *	NEWS_DIRECTORY	 	- The news spool directory.
 *				  Default: /usr/spool/news
 *
 *	NEWS_LIB_DIRECTORY	- The news lib directory.
 *				  Default: /usr/lib/news
 *
 *	INEWS_PATH		- The location of the inews program.
 *				  Default: NEWS_LIB_DIR/inews
 *
 *	RMGROUP_PATH		- The location of the rmgroup program.
 *				  Default: NEWS_LIB_DIR/{rm,del}group
 */

#define NEWS_DIRECTORY		"/home/news/spool"	/* */
#define NEWS_LIB_DIRECTORY	"/home/news/lib"		/* */



/*************************** MAIL INTERFACE *************************
 *
 *	Specify a mailer that accepts a letter WITH a header IN THE TEXT.
 *
 * 	A program named 'recmail' program is normally delivered with
 *	the Bnews system, or you can use sendmail -t if you have it.
 *
 *	The contrib/ directory contains two programs which you might
 *	be able to use with a little tweaking.
 */

/*#define REC_MAIL	"/usr/lib/news/recmail"	/* non-sendmail */
#define REC_MAIL	"/usr/lib/sendmail -t"	/* sendmail */


/*
 *	Define HAVE_ROUTING if your mailer understands domain based
 *	adresses (...@...) and performs the necessary rerouting (e.g.
 *	Sendmail or Smail).
 *
 *	Otherwise, nn will provide a simple routing facility using
 *      routing information specified in the file LIB_DIRECTORY/routes.
 */

#define HAVE_ROUTING			/* */

/*
 *	If HAVE_ROUTING is NOT defined, nn needs to know the name of
 * 	your host.  To obtain the host name it will use either of the
 *	'uname' or 'gethostname' system calls as specified in the s-
 *	file included above.
 *
 *	If neither 'uname' nor 'gethostname' is available, you must
 *	define HOSTNAME to be the name of your host.  Otherwise, leave
 *	it undefined (it will not be used anyway).
 */

/* #define HOSTNAME	"myhost"	/* Not used if HAVE_ROUTING */

/*
 *	Define APPEND_SIGNATURE if you want nn to ask users to append
 *	~/.signature to mail messages (reply/forward/mail).
 *
 *	If the mailer defined in REC_MAIL automatically includes .signature
 *	you should not define this (it will fool people to include it twice).
 *
 *	I think 'recmail' includes .signature, but 'sendmail -t' doesn't.
 */

#define APPEND_SIGNATURE		/* */

/*
 *	BUG_REPORT_ADDRESS is the initial value of the bug-report-address
 *	variable which is used by the :bug command to report bugs in
 *	the nn software.
 */

#define BUG_REPORT_ADDRESS	"nn-bugs@dkuug.dk"


/*************************** DOCUMENTATION ***************************
 *
 * 	Specify directories for the user and system manuals
 *
 * 	Adapt this to your local standards; the manuals will be named
 * 		$(MAN_DIR)/program.$(MAN_SECTION)
 *
 *	USER_MAN	- nn, nntidy, nngrep, etc.
 *	SYS_MAN		- nnadmin
 *	DAEMON_MAN	- nnmaster
 */

#define USER_MAN_DIR 	"/home/man/man1"
#define USER_MAN_SECTION 	"1"

#define SYS_MAN_DIR 	"/home/man/man1"
#define SYS_MAN_SECTION 	"1m"

#define DAEMON_MAN_DIR 	"/home/man/man8"
#define DAEMON_MAN_SECTION 	"8"


/************************** LOCAL POLICY *****************************
 *
 *	Define STATISTICS if you want to keep a record of how much
 *	time the users spend on news reading.
 *
 *	Sessions shorter than the specified number of minutes are not
 *	recorded (don't clutter up the log file).
 *
 *	Usage statistics is entered into the $LOG_FILE with code U
 */

#define STATISTICS	5 /* minutes */

/*
 *	Define ACCOUNTING if you want to keep accumulated accounting
 *	based on the statistics in a separate 'acct' file.  In this
 *	case, the accounting figures will be secret, and not be
 *	written to the Log file.  And the users will not be able to
 *	"decrease" their own account.
 *
 *	See account.c for optional cost calculation parameters.
 */

#define ACCOUNTING		/* */

/*
 *	Define AUTHORIZE if you want to restrict the use of nn to
 *	certain users or certain periods of the day.  Define both
 *	this and ACCOUNTING if you want to impose a usage quota
 *
 *	See account.c for implementing various access policies.
 */

/* #define AUTHORIZE	/* */

/*
 *	Default folder directory
 */

#define FOLDER_DIRECTORY	"~/News"

/*
 *	Max length of authors name (in "edited" format).
 *	Also size of "Name" field on the article menus.
 *	You may want to increase this if your terminals are wider than
 *	80 columns.
 */

#define NAME_LENGTH 		16


/************************ CONFIGURATION COMPLETED ************************/

#include "global.h"

Newsgroups: news.software.nn