HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: dem@meaddata.com (David Myers)
Subject: C News or INN for a UUCP site?
Organization: Mead Data Central, Dayton OH
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 16:10:54 GMT

   I'm seriously considering converting my C News (pre-performance
release version) system into INN, even though we're just a UUCP site.
If you've made this decision yourself, I'd be interested in hearing
from you.

  The main reason I'm interested in converting is that I feel that
when a user posts an article, the article should be posted or rejected
immediately.  The current version of C News will spool the article for
later processing, forcing the user to wait to see if "everything was
OK".  The article will be silently discarded if there is no space
between the headers and the body of a message, and (at least with the
version I'm running) Distributions with trailing spaces will silently
fail to be forwarded or corrected.  

   Other motivating factors are that since all newsreading here is via
NNTP, and I support trn, hacking in XTHREADS patches to the standard
NNTP distribution is no fun (maybe it's part of the latest release - I
haven't looked).  Also, there's always talk here about getting a real
Internet connection, and it would be nice to be ready if that day ever
comes.

   I have a test INN system up and running, and it looks quite good.
I have a few questions, though.

   The standard NNTP distribution lets you have the server time out
after some period of inactivity.  This is handy because if a server
remains running for a long period of time, it will hold the history
database open.  After a few expire runs, you can end up with lots of
wasted space due to server processes holding open obsolete history
databases.  I browsed the nnrpd code, and I didn't notice such a
timeout feature, and I didn't see where the history database would
ever be closed if it should be opened.  Will I have a problem with
this?

   UUCP batching with INN is (understandably) less easy to administer
than that for C News.  The C News batchparms file is real handy.  For
INN, you have to edit the send-uucp script to alter standard batching
parameters for a given feed site.  This sort of thing becomes a pain
once a patch comes out, and you might have to reapply your changes.
It would be nicer to have something like batchparms (batch.ctl?).  Is
anyone planning on doing this?  Maybe I'll have a shot at it.  Is
anyone using the C News batching subsystem with INN?

   Other than the above stuff, I can't find much about INN that
wouldn't make it a nice replacement for C News, and it would solve
what I consider to be problems.  Any thoughts?  If I made any
incorrect statements above, I'm sure someone will correct me.  :-)

--
David Myers                                             (513) 865-1343   
Mead Data Central           No news is             Fabrication Systems
P.O. Box 933                 bad news.                dem@meaddata.com
Dayton, Ohio  45401                             ...!uunet!meaddata!dem
From: fenner@postscript.cs.psu.edu (Bill Fenner)
Newsgroups: news.software.b
Subject: Re: rrn problem (GROUP command)
Date: 7 Oct 92 03:42:27 GMT
Organization: Penn State Computer Science

In article <iu12Hbr0#9@atlantis.psu.edu> barr@pop.psu.edu (David Barr) writes:
|In article <1992Oct6.213126.4249@phri.nyu.edu> roy@nova.med.nyu.edu writes:
|>Finding new newsgroups:
|>
|>Server response to GROUP :
|>501 Usage: GROUP newsgroup.
|>$
|
|	I got this too.  Some butthead created a null newsgroup.
|(With "Control: newgroup" and no newsgroup name).  Fix your active file.

It occurs to me that news software that will create a newsgroup with no name
is probably broken.  Fix your newgroup command.

  Bill
From: geoff@world.std.com (Geoff Collyer)
Newsgroups: news.software.b
Subject: Re: cnews perf. release doesn't quite like SunOS 4.1.3... I think.
Date: 3 Oct 92 23:49:19 GMT
Article-I.D.: world.BvKKu7.Dpy
Organization: Software Tool & Die Netnews Research Center

Henry Spencer:
>Yes.  Geoff really shouldn't have been declaring umask() at all; it aids
>checking, but the only safe and portable way to declare things like that
>is to use the system include files (and hope they actually do declare
>everything you need).

Possibly so, but if umask doesn't return an integer, existing correct
programs will break.  The real problem is that POSIX gratuitously changed
the return type of umask (among others).

>>Also, various modules produced complaints about "static declaration for xxx
>>follows non-static". I didn't bother looking into this. Is there a problem?
>
>Probably not, although this is another dubious programming practice that
>we need to spend some time stamping out.

No, actually this is another between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place, can't-win
situation: some compilers can't handle forward declarations of static
functions, others demand them.  The only solution that makes them all
happy is to write Pascal-like code that puts all static functions before
their calls.
-- 
Geoff Collyer				world!geoff, world.std.com!geoff
``closed is Open'' - not George Orwell on ``Open'' Systems
open, a. admitting visitors or customers; not yet settled or decided (OPD)
``and it's Open For Business like a cheap bordello'' - Bruce Cockburn
Xref: sparky news.software.b:3077 news.software.nntp:1252
From: geoff@world.std.com (Geoff Collyer)
Newsgroups: news.software.b,news.software.nntp
Subject: Re: bfrclose couldn't find an open descriptor to close
Date: 2 Oct 92 16:04:28 GMT
Organization: Software Tool & Die Netnews Research Center

Chad Adams:
>Two of my feed sites have been getting these error messages.  The only
>thing I can think of that I have changed is I put in the performance
>releace of c-news.  Has anyone else seen these errors or know what to
>do about them?
>Sep 29 01:06:59 psuvax1 nntpxmit[28004]: uxa.ecn.bgu.edu xfer: explode: bfrclose couldn't find an open descriptor to close

I'm not sure why nntpxmit is reporting exploder errors, but perhaps the
exploder errors are caused by permission problems in out.going.  It looks
like the exploder code needs to pay attention to errno to distinguish
different errors.
-- 
Geoff Collyer				world!geoff, world.std.com!geoff
``closed is Open'' - not George Orwell on ``Open'' Systems
open, a. admitting visitors or customers; not yet settled or decided (OPD)
``and it's Open For Business like a cheap bordello'' - Bruce Cockburn
Newsgroups: news.software.anu-news
Subject: Apologies re: InterMeta course
From: gomide@FPSP.FAPESP.BR
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 16:33:00 BSC
Reply-To: gomide@BRFAPQ.BITNET
X-VMS-To: IN%"ANU-NEWS@NDSUVM1"
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
Comments: @FAPQ.FAPESP.BR - @FAPQ%FPSP.HEPNET - @BRFAPQ.BITNET - .BR gateway
Comments: Warning -- original Sender: tag was GOMIDE@BRFAPQ

PLEASE DO NOT SEND MONEY !
It is with regret that I perform this task. Dr. Gelson V. Gomes. a
professor of the University of Parana, Brazil, has exceeded this
privileges and announced a eletronic course:
 
> ____________________________________________________________
>        Mastering INTERNET Tools, Seizing METANET Power -
>                      The InterMeta Course
> ____________________________________________________________
 
I must apologize for this flagrant breach of network etiquette. Please
be aware that Dr. Gelson had no right to do so, since this is against
the rules of our ANSP network, and also against the Bitnet rules.
PLEASE DO NOT SEND MONEY!
I will not discuss what his motivations were. But his account has been
revoked, and there will be no such course through my network.
 
Please write by normal mail, to:
-> Gelson V. Gomes
-> 358, R. Alvaro Andrade - ap.1201
-> Curitiba PR BRAZIL 80610-240
to get more information on his objectives. He may want to give the
course by normal mail.  :-)
 
With regards,
--
Alberto Courrege Gomide | Fundacao de Amparo `a Pesquisa - (11)831-3357
Software Supervisor     | Rua Pio XI, 1500 - CEP 05468-901 - Sao Paulo
<gomide@fapq.fapesp.br> | FAX (11)261-4167 Telex (11)82014 - Brazil
(ACG8) - .BR Domain Technical Contact. |
--
Newsgroups: news.software.anu-news,news.answers
From: yehavi@vms.huji.ac.il
Newsgroups: news.software.anu-news
Subject: Re: ADD BATCH/DELETE question
Date: 4 Oct 92 14:51:42 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

In article <1992Oct1.155958.961@vax1.utulsa.edu>, newsmgr@vax1.utulsa.edu (Beelzebub) writes:
> I have a question about the command Add Batch/delete.  When does NEWS get
> around to deleting the files it has added?  I am watching it's progress, and it
> is moving on to the next batch file, but the old ones still exist in the
> directory.  Does it delete them all when the process exits?

I also noticed it in version 6.03; when there is some error in one batch file
then it will not be deleted and so the others following it (which are processed
at the same NEWS session). I searched for it (don't remember the flag name)
in the sources and modified it to delete the files in any case. With thousands
of batch files each day I can't let it keep files too much...

                                                     __Yehavi:
Newsgroups: news.software.anu-news
Subject: ADD FILE /DELETE deletes more than desired...
From: jfeldhouse@miavx3.mid.muohio.edu (Jim Feldhouse)
Date: 28 Sep 92 03:04:13 EST
Distribution: world
Organization: as little as possible

This is what I think is occuring on my machine
using ANU-News 6.03.

There are multiple batch files files in a directory, [.LOADNEWS],
to be add. I have a batch file issuing the command
NEWS> ADD FILE /DELETE/NOJUNK [.LOADNEWS]*.*;*

Do to some newsgroup directories having been inadvertently
deleted some of the entries being added get an error.
After about 4 files containing articles that run into this error
news stops trying to process this command. (Despite there being
more files untried.)  It also hasn't deleted the files that had
articles that got an error.

Next time the loadnews batch file runs, news starts running thru
these same file again.  This time though all the articles have
been added already so they get a duplicate entry error.  News gives
up after about 4 files of this and then deletes ALL the files.
Even the ones it hasn't tried yet.

Is this the way it should be?
I plan to work around this now, but am already saddend to have
discovered it the hard way.

jim
Newsgroups: news.software.anu-news
From: streif@vms.macc.wisc.edu (Vince Streif - MACC)
Subject: V6.1b5, %SYSTEM-F-ACCVIO opening group
Organization:  University of Wisconsin Academic Computing Center
Date:  1 OCT 92 14:54:17    

I'm running ANU-News V6.1Beta5 (as a client) on a VaxStation 3200 under 
VMS 5.4-2 with UCX (using QIO's, not sockets) and have found that ANU-News 
crashes regularly with %SYSTEM-F-ACCVIO (see dump at end of message).  This 
can be caused by opening a newsgroup with a large top message number (such 
as comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware), returning the display of newsgroups and then 
opening a second newsgroup with a large top message number (comp.os.vms 
does the trick).  Has anybody else seen this behavior?

Vince Streif
MACC Systems Group
streif@macc.wisc.edu

===========================================================================
%SYSTEM-F-ACCVIO, access violation, reason mask=04, virtual address=000000CC,
PC=00042876, PSL=0BC00004

  Improperly handled condition, image exit forced.

        Signal arguments              Stack contents

        Number = 00000005                0000B154
        Name   = 0000000C                0000798A
                 00000004                000195CC
                 000000CC                00000000
                 00042876                2FFC0000
                 0BC00004                7FF2D854
                                         7FF2D838
                                         000500AA
                                         00019528
                                         0000D4E8

        Register dump

        R0 = 07CC00CC  R1 = 00034FC4  R2 = 000000CC  R3 = 000000CC
        R4 = 00000000  R5 = 000000CA  R6 = 00000001  R7 = 00018B74
        R8 = 000195D2  R9 = 00111174  R10= 00000001  R11= 00034FC4
        AP = 7FF2D7A0  FP = 7FF2D760  SP = 7FF2D7DC  PC = 00042876
        PSL= 0BC00004
===========================================================================
From: ewilts@galaxy.gov.bc.ca (Ed Wilts)
Newsgroups: news.software.anu-news
Subject: Re: Help restricting users
Date: 5 Oct 92 07:18:14 -0700
Reply-To: EWILTS@GALAXY.GOV.BC.CA
Organization: BC Systems Corporation

In article <68.2ace4424@forthd.uucp>, johnl@forthd.uucp (John Lebert) writes:
> I am running version 5.8.  Here is what I would like to do:

Wow, that's old!

> Allow new dialup users to my GUEST account to view News, but not
> have the to post to the net. I have 300 newsgroups & I don't
> really see an easy way to do this without Set newsg/restrict,etc.
> 
> Am I missing something?  Would the new version allow me to place
> restrictions on the user, as well as the newsgroups?

I've never run 5.8 but anything at least 6.0 will let you do it (6.1 beta 5 is
available now - 6.0-3 is still the latest production version).  There is an
identifier that you can set as to whether or not users can post.  You can
enable posting by default and disallow posting from users holding a given
identifier.

-- 

Ed Wilts, BC Systems Corp., 4000 Seymour Place, Victoria, B.C., Canada, V8X 4S8
EWilts@Galaxy.Gov.BC.CA   |   Ed.Wilts@BCSystems.Gov.BC.CA   |   (604) 389-3430
Newsgroups: news.software.anu-news
From: miklos@ub40.sztaki.hu (Pasztor Miklos)
Subject: NNTP_XFER, NNTP server, and port 119
Organization: Computer and Automation Institute, Hungary
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 14:24:42 GMT

 Greetings,

  We installed ANU NEWS for our system: VMS 5.4-3, UCX 1.3.
  We are fed by a Sun station through NNTP_XFER.
  We run NNTP SERVER as well.

  The problem is, that NNTP_XFER cannot start up if NNTP SERVER is
  running. We recompiled and relinked NNTP_XFER with debug, and found out, 
  that the  TCP port (nr 119) cannot be opened.

  I do understand, that this port is occupied by the NNTP_SERVER
  process, and so another process cannot get it. But why to use this
  port ? My understanding is, that NNTP_XFER acts as a client, and so it
  should use some randomly chosen high port number. This is true even
  if NNTP_XFER may not only retrive articles from the remote system,
  but also provide some.

  Q1: am I wrong ?
  Q2: is there another solution then stop the NNTP_SERVER process
  in the NEWSSKIM procedure before NNTP_XFER runs, and restart it
  after.

  Thank you in advance for your answer
  
  Miklos

 Pa'sztor Miklo's                               pasztor@hugbox.bitnet
 MTA SZTAKI/ASZI Budapest, Victor H. u. 18-22   Phone:  (36)-(1)-149-75-32
 Institute for Computation and Automation,
 Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Newsgroups: news.software.anu-news
From: winter@vision.rs.ch (Martin Winter)
Subject: Re: NEWSRC.TEMPLATE
Reply-To: winter@vision.rs.ch
Organization: RadioSuisse Ltd, Berne, Switzerland
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 12:25:49 GMT

In article <1992Oct5.114830@ulci20.unil.ch>, dhenchoz@ulci20.unil.ch (Daniel HENCHOZ) writes:
>We are ruuning ANU_NEWS v6.03 in client mode. I would
>like to create a NEWSRC.TEMPLATE file to allow the users
>who are using NEWS for the first time to automatically
>be registered to the news.announce.newsusers newsgroup.

Just create the NEWSRC.TEMPLATE with all necessary stuff in it and
put it into the NEWS_MANAGER: - directory. That'a all.

Regards, Martin

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Radio Suisse Ltd,       Internet:  winter@vision.rs.ch
Laupenstrasse 18a                  postmaster@vision.rs.ch
3008 Bern               PSI-Mail: +22846431062::WINTER     (public X.25)
Switzerland             X.400: C=CH; A=ARCOM; P=RS; O=DM; S=WINTER, G=MARTIN
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Newsgroups: news.software.anu-news
From: winter@vision.rs.ch (Martin Winter)
Subject: BUG: endless loop in SEARCH
Reply-To: winter@vision.rs.ch
Organization: RadioSuisse Ltd, Berne, Switzerland
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 10:11:46 GMT

There is a bug in ANU-news with SEARCH. The AND-operator is "&&", but the
documentation says just a single "&". If someone specifies only a single
"&", then the search-routine (routine dsh()) gets into an endless loop...
My fix allows both ways ("&" or "&&").

Locate the following code in NEWSSEARCH.C
-------------------------------------------------------------------
      if ((cp2 = strchr(cp1,'&')) && (*(cp2 + 1) == '&')) {
        *cp2 = '\0';
        cps = cp2 - 1;
        cp2 += 2;
        while (isspace(*cp2)) ++cp2;
-------------------------------------------------------------------

and replace it with
-------------------------------------------------------------------
/*
   2-SEP-1992, Martin Winter   (winter@vision.rs.ch)
   fix for bug with endless loop, if searchstring contains single & instead
   of &&. Because & is the documented way and && is the way for C-freaks,
   we allow both ways
*/
      if (cp2 = strchr(cp1,'&')) {
        *cp2 = '\0';
        cps = cp2 - 1;
        if (*(cp2 + 1) == '&')
           cp2 += 2;
        else
           cp2++;
/* end of fixed part */
        while (isspace(*cp2)) ++cp2;
----------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Radio Suisse Ltd,       Internet:  winter@vision.rs.ch
Laupenstrasse 18a                  postmaster@vision.rs.ch
3008 Bern               PSI-Mail: +22846431062::WINTER     (public X.25)
Switzerland             X.400: C=CH; A=ARCOM; P=RS; O=DM; S=WINTER, G=MARTIN
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: ewilts@galaxy.gov.bc.ca (Ed Wilts)
Newsgroups: news.software.anu-news
Subject: Re: "0" baud rate
Date: 3 Oct 92 16:41:29 GMT
Reply-To: EWILTS@GALAXY.GOV.BC.CA
Organization: BC Systems Corporation

In article <1992Oct1.163610.113@scfb.nwc.navy.mil>, goppelt@scfb.nwc.navy.mil (dave goppelt) writes:
> Here's an interesting problem (and a workaround):
> 
> A user connects to the VAX from his Macintosh and a Pathworks link via a LAT
> service.  When the user finally gets to the VAX and does a SHOW TERMINAL, his
> input/output baud rate is "0".  When he tries to invoke ANU-NEWS, he gets the
> message "NEWS: Not a terminal - /NOSCREEN mode used".
> 
> NEWSUTILITY.C looks at a terminal's baud rate to determine whether or not
> ANU-NEWS is being executed in batch mode.  Now, you can use a SET TERM/SPEED=
> to set a value, and ANU-NEWS is happy.  (What would be a proper code fix?)

I reported this problem about a year ago and have a fix (thanks again to Bob
Sloane who helped with this one).  The fixed newsutility.c is currently
shipping as part of the 6.1 beta releases.  The baud rate is no longer being
checked - instead, the test is as follows:

  if (pb_info.SMG$B_DEVCLASS != DC$_TERM) {
    printf("\n\tNEWS: Not a terminal - /NOSCREEN mode used\n");
    pid_created = 0;
    }
  else if (pb_info.SMG$B_SMG_DEVTYPE != SMG$K_VTTERMTABLE) {
    printf("\n\tNEWS: Not an SMG supported terminal - /NOSCREEN mode used\n");
    pid_created = 0;
    }

At the top of the file, you'll also need to include:

# include <dcdef.h>

-- 

Ed Wilts, BC Systems Corp., 4000 Seymour Place, Victoria, B.C., Canada, V8X 4S8
EWilts@Galaxy.Gov.BC.CA   |   Ed.Wilts@BCSystems.Gov.BC.CA   |   (604) 389-3430
From: ken@sycraft.com (Ken Richardson)
Newsgroups: news.software.anu-news
Subject: A little bug (probably already known):
Date: 30 Sep 92 00:11:32 MDT
Organization: SyCraft Software, Colorado Springs CO

I'm running NEWS V6.0-1.  I sure do love the software, but I sure do hate it
when this happens:  :-)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEWS> set item/hold=*
<End of Display>
%SYSTEM-F-OPCDEC, opcode reserved to DIGITAL fault at PC=00008201, PSL=03C00000

  Improperly handled condition, image exit forced.

        Signal arguments              Stack contents

        Number = 00000003                00000000
        Name   = 0000043C                00000000
                 00008201                7FF39354
                 03C00000                7FF3933C
                                         80000014
                                         8012C86E
                                         00000002
                                         7FF392F8
                                         7FF392E0
                                         00000004

        Register dump

        R0 = 7FF3A219  R1 = 000081FF  R2 = 7FFEDC00  R3 = 7FF394B0
        R4 = 00000000  R5 = 00000000  R6 = 0000E888  R7 = 0000F6E8
        R8 = 00025F50  R9 = 00007E5C  R10= 00000002  R11= 00000001
        AP = 7FF39288  FP = 7FF39248  SP = 7FF392BC  PC = 00008201
        PSL= 03C00000
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'll bet I already know the answer: "That was fixed in 6.0-2."  Right?
I know, I know, I really ought to upgrade to the latest version.  But I've only
been running NEWS a short time, and I haven't even *thought* about how to get a
later version.  I mean, how much better could it have gotten, anyway?  ;-)
--------------------------------------------
Ken Richardson		SyCraft Software
ken@sycraft.com		Colorado Springs, CO
Newsgroups: news.software.anu-news
Subject: RE: Posting to many groups
From: Geoff Huston <G.Huston@AARNET.EDU.AU>
Date: 28 Sep 1992 08:21:12 +1000
Reply-To: Geoff Huston <G.Huston@AARNET.EDU.AU>
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

> 1.  I need to post to about 25 groups.  The ANU NEWS manual (12 October
>     1990) does not seem to describe how to continue the newsgroup list.
>     Do I use VMS DCL conventions, ending one line with a dash to get a
>     continuation prompt, or just enter comma-separated names with no
>     Return?  (what if the latter and the line exceeds 255 characters,
>     which is DCL's usual limit?)
 
NEWS uses the DCL callback so that hyphenation will work - but the
buffers are 255 chars long.
 
 
> 2.  At least one of the newsgroups is moderated (news.announce.newgroups).
>     The manual states "If the newsgroups for the posting are moderated
>     newsgroups, the posting is automatically re-directed as mail to
>     the moderator address, and NOT posted directly to NEWS."  What is left
>     unclear is how ANU NEWS handles a case where *some* (or just one) is
>     moderated, but others are not.  I am aware the desired behavior is to
>     not post to any group if any in the list are moderated; does ANU NEWS
>     behave "properly"?  And, how does it know if a group is moderated?
 
if there are moderated newsgroups in the newsgroup header it will post to
the first moderator for approval.
 
It pulls moderated / unmoderated status from the periodic checkgroups
posting.
 
cheers,
 
Geoff
From: bjorndahl@augustana.ab.ca
Newsgroups: news.software.anu-news
Subject: messy columns on terminal
Date: 6 Oct 92 11:17:42 MDT
Organization: Augustana University College, Camrose, aAlberta

This probably isn't a news problem, rather a terminal configuration
problem, but News is the only software we have that causes it, so I hope
you don't mind if I ask it here.

Why do the columns sometimes get screwed up when reading news in screen
mode?  I mean, the title, from, and date lines end up shifted a small
random number of columns, so they don't line up properly.

Configuration: MicroVax with VMS 5.4-2 and News 6.1 (the one released with
Decus uucp 2.0).  LanPar Vision II terminals emulating VT220s at 9600 baud
connected to the MicroVax's serial ports.  Terminal configured simply by a
SET TERMINAL/INQUIRE in sylogin.com - although I did also try SET TERM
/HOSTSYNC and that made no difference (it's not really clear to me from
the help what /hostsync does). I hope that's all the configuration
information needed.  If not, I'm sure someone will tell me what I've
missed.  :-)

Any ideas what's wrong?

If you followup, please also e-mail me a copy of your reply since our news
feed seems to be somewhat flakey at times.

-- 
Sterling G. Bjorndahl, bjorndahl@Augustana.AB.CA or bjorndahl@camrose.uucp
Augustana University College, Camrose, Alberta, Canada      (403) 679-1516