Newsgroups: bit.admin,news.answers
Subject: NetNews/Listserv Gateway Policy
Supersedes: <92245.125850JIM@auvm.american.edu>
Organization: The American University - University Computing Center
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 09:11:01 EDT
Expires: 11 Nov 1992 00:00:00 GMT
Followup-To: bit.admin
From: Jim McIntosh <jim@american.edu>

Archive-name: bit/policy
Last-modified: 17 September 1992

        ********************************************************
        *** General Information on Listserv/Netnews gateways ***
        ********************************************************

This document gives general  information on bi-directional (or optionally
uni-directional) gateways between Listserv  and Netnews as implemented in
Netnews  version 2.4  by Linda  Littleton  at Penn  State University.  It
includes guidelines on how to establish a new Listserv/Netnews gateway.

*** What is Listserv?

Listserv, which stands  for List Server, is a mail  list server that runs
on VM/CMS. It provides "mail-exploding"  capabilities so that people with
a common  interest can communicate with  each other by sending  mail to a
particular  address   (one  address   per  Listserv  list),   which  then
redistributes  the mail  to each  person "subscribed"  to the  list. Each
person subscribed to a particular list gets  a copy of each piece of mail
in their mailbox.

*** What is Netnews?

Netnews is  a bulletin  board system  in which articles  on a  variety of
topics are arranged in "newsgroups" and  stored in a shared location from
which  individual users  can read  them.  These newsgroups  can be  local
newsgroups, available only at a user's  site, or may be shared with other
sites to form a world-wide bulletin board system called Usenet.

*** What does the gateway do?

The gateway  software (which  is a  built-in part  of the  VM/CMS Netnews
server from Penn State) puts each piece of Listserv mail for a particular
list  into  a  corresponding  Netnews   newsgroup  and  also  sends  each
Netnews-originating posting to  the newsgroup back to  the Listserv list.
On a per-group basis, the gateway  can be either bi-directional or can be
uni-directional in either direction. Generally Listserv groups on Netnews
are given  the name bit.listserv.<listname>. When  appropriate, the items
in a  Listserv list might also  be cross-posted to a  "mainstream" Usenet
group.

*** Why have a gateway?

The major  reason sites decide  to carry  gatewayed Listserv lists  is so
their users can read these lists  via shared disks, rather than requiring
each user to receive each item to their mailbox. In addition, the gateway
gives greater  exposure and wider readership  to the list since  the list
can be now be read by users at hundreds of Usenet sites.

*** The gateway can be LOCAL or GLOBAL

On a per-group basis, the gateway can  be either LOCAL (only users on the
machine where Netnews  is running will see the Listserv  items) or GLOBAL
(the Listserv items will propagate to other Usenet sites).

To avoid  problems that can  be caused  by multiple sites  gatewaying the
same  group, we  request  that only  a  handful of  sites  set up  global
gateways and that  other sites receive these groups  through their normal
news feeds. If  you feel it would  be appropriate for your site  to be an
additional  global gateway  site, then  write to  NEWS-ADM@AUVM.BITNET or
news-admin@auvm.american.edu to explain the situation.

                    *******************************
                    *** AN IMPORTANT PRECAUTION ***
                    *******************************

It is  important that  no more  than one site  per list  set up  a GLOBAL
gateway. If  more than one  site does a  GLOBAL gateway for  a particular
list,  the list  may get  duplicates  of some  articles. It  is the  list
owner's  responsibility  to  make  sure there  are  not  multiple  global
gateways for  the list and to  "signoff" any suspect gateway  site should
problems start  to occur.  No GLOBAL gateway  should ever  be established
without the express permission of the list owner.

In the  event that two  sites did  set up a  global gateway for  the same
list, here is what might happen. If  a user anywhere on the net posted an
article to the group via Netnews and the article found its way to both of
the global gateway  sites, both of these sites would  forward the article
back to  the mailing list. The  mailing list would therefore  receive two
copies and although  Listserv will usually detect  the duplicate posting,
it will return one of the copies to the author with a message saying that
the post  was a duplicate. Since  the author only posted  once, this will
cause them some confusion. Also, it  is possible that both posts would be
distributed to  the list if  software other than Listserv  is controlling
the mailing list.  Netnews would not have a problem  handling this (since
it checks message-id's for duplicates), but  it is the people who get the
items in their mailboxes who would see two copies of the article.

*** Gateway registration

In  order to  avoid  problems  caused by  multiple  gateways, a  "gateway
registration  service"  is  maintained  by  news-admin@auvm.american.edu,
which keeps track of which site  is doing global gateways for which which
groups. A  list of  these global  gateways, their  corresponding Listserv
lists and  Usenet newsgroups, and  the sites  which are acting  as global
gateways is  available from listserv@auvm.american.edu. Send  the command
GET NETGATE GATELIST to get a  copy of all registered gateways. This file
is also available via anonymous ftp from auvm.american.edu.

*** Setting up the gateway.

The gateway is set up by  having the Netnews service machine subscribe to
the Listserv list in  the same way that a subscriber  would, but with the
addition of setting Listserv options FULLHDR (so that message-ids are put
on messages) and NOFILES (so that non-mail files are not sent).

*** Guidelines for establishing a Listserv/Netnews gateway.

It is the  responsibility of the person requesting the  gateway to do the
following:

1.  Get the approval  of the Listserv list owner(s)  and the Listserv
    administrator at the host node. (Send a "REVIEW listname" command
    to the Listserv  at the host node for the  names and addresses of
    the list  owner(s), and a  "RELEASE" command to the  same address
    for the Listserv administor's name and address.) Send them each a
    copy  of  this document.  If  the  list  owner or  Listserv  host
    administrator objects, the gateway is not done.

2.  Get the approval of the Listserv list readers. This could be done
    somewhat informally  by posting to  the list and asking  if there
    are objections.  If the  issue was  controversial, a  formal vote
    should be held according to the same guidelines as for creating a
    new Usenet group. If there was no major dissenting opinion a vote
    will not be needed.

3.  If there is  a Usenet group where crossposting  would be logical,
    get the approval  of the people who read that  group (in the same
    way as approval of the Listserv readers was gotten).

4.  Post to bit.admin to see if there are any objections. The subject
    of  the   posting  should   be  "Gateway  for   <listname>  under
    discussion". Explain  briefly what  the list is  for. If  you are
    proposing   that  the   list  be   gated  to   something  besides
    "bit.listserv.<listname>", this should be stated. Again, if there
    was no major  dissenting opinion within seven days,  a vote would
    not be needed; otherwise a vote would be held.

    Steps 2, 3, and 4 can all be done at the same time.

5.  Write to news-admin@auvm.american.edu  or NEWS-ADM@AUVM.BITNET to
    say that all of the criteria  have been met. Indicate the gateway
    site (if you  wish some site besides auvm.american.edu  to be the
    gateway), Listserv list name,  Listserv host node, list owner(s),
    and  a short  (45  character maximum)  description  of the  list.
    News-admin will  establish and/or register the  gateway, and then
    post to  bit.admin to  say that the  gateway is  operational. The
    subject  of   the  posting   will  be  "Gateway   for  <listname>
    operational".

If  for some  reason  you  cannot follow  the  steps  outlined here  (for
example, if you do not get the  bit groups, so cannot post to bit.admin),
write to news-admin@auvm.american.edu to explain the situation.

*** Where to address questions

Questions about Listserv/Netnews  gateways can be posted  to bit.admin or
sent to news-admin@auvm.american.edu or NEWS-ADM@AUVM.BITNET.