NNRPD(8)NNRPD(8)NAMEnnrpd - NNTP server for on-campus hosts
SYNOPSISnnrpd [ -r reason ] [ -s title padding ] [ -S host ] [ -t ]
DESCRIPTION
Nnrpd is an NNTP server for newsreaders. It accepts commands on its
standard input and responds on its standard output. It is normally
invoked by innd(8) with those descriptors attached to a remote client
connection.
If the ``-r'' flag is used, then nnrpd will reject the incoming connec‐
tion giving reason as the text. This flag is used by innd when it is
paused or throttled.
Unlike innd, nnrpd supports all NNTP commands for user-oriented reading
and posting.
Nnrpd uses the nnrp.access(5) file to control who is authorized to
access the Usenet database. It will also reject connections if the
load average is greater than 16.
As each command is received, nnrpd tries to change its ``argv'' array
so that ps(1) will print out the command being executed. To get a full
display, the ``-s'' flag may be used with a long string as its argu‐
ment, which will be overwritten when the program changes its title.
On exit, nnrpd will report usage statistics through syslog(3).
If the ``-t'' flag is used then all client commands and initial
responses will be traced by reporting them in syslog. This flag is set
by innd under the control of the ctlinnd(8) ``trace'' command, and is
toggled upon receipt of a SIGHUP; see signal(2).
If the ``-S'' flag is used, then all postings are forwarded to the
specified host, which should be the master NNTP server. This flag is
set by innd if it is started with the ``-S'' flag.
Nnrpd can accept multimedia postings that follow the MIME standard as
long as such postings are also acceptible as SMTP messages. See the
discussion of the MIME headers in inn.conf(5).
PROTOCOL DIFFERENCES
Nnrpd implements the NNTP commands defined in RFC 977, with the follow‐
ing differences:
1. The ``ihave'' command is not implemented. Users should be using
the ``post'' command to post articles.
2 The ``slave'' command is not implemented. This command has
never been fully defined.
3 The ``list'' command may be followed by the optional word
``active.times'', ``distributions'', ``distrib.pats'', ``news‐
groups'', or ``overview.fmt'' to get a list of when newsgroups
where created, a list of valid distributions, a file specifying
default distribution patterns, a one-per-line description of the
current set of newsgroups, or a listing of the overview.fmt(5)
file. The command ``list active'' is equivalent to the ``list''
command. This is a common extension.
4. The ``xhdr'', ``authinfo user'', and ``authinfo pass'' commands
are implemented. These are based on the reference Unix imple‐
mentation; no other documentation is available.
5. A new command, ``xpat header range|MessageID pat [morepat...]'',
is provided. The first argument is the case-insensitive name of
the header to be searched. The second argument is either an
article range or a single Message-ID, as specified in RFC 977.
The third argument is a wildmat(3)-style pattern; if there are
additional arguments they are joined together separated by a
single space to form the complete pattern. This command is sim‐
ilar to the ``xhdr'' command. It returns a 221 response code,
followed by the text response of all article numbers that match
the pattern.
6. The ``listgroup group'' command is provided. This is a comment
extension. It is equivalent to the ``group'' command, except
that the reply is a multi-line response containing the list of
all article numbers in the group.
7. The ``xgtitle [group]'' command is provided. This extension is
used by ANU-News. It returns a 282 reply code, followed by a
one-line description of all newsgroups that match the pattern.
The default is the current group.
8. The ``xover [range]'' command is provided. It returns a 224
reply code, followed by the overview data for the specified
range; the default is to return the data for the current arti‐
cle.
9. The ``xpath MessageID'' command is provided; see innd(8).
10. The ``date'' command is provided; this is based on the draft
NNTP protocol revision. It returns a one-line response code of
111 followed by the GMT date and time on the server in the form
YYYYMMDDhhmmss.
HISTORY
Written by Rich $alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net> for InterNetNews. Overview
support added by Rob Robertston <rob@violet.berkeley.edu> and Rich in
January, 1993. This is revision 1.12, dated 1993/03/18.
SEE ALSOctlinnd(8), innd(8), inn.conf(5), nnrp.access(5), signal(2), wild‐
mat(3).
NNRPD(8)