snget(8) [debian man page]
snget,v0.3.8(8) System Manager's Manual snget,v0.3.8(8) NAME
snget,sngetd - fetch news from upstream sites and store them locally. SYNOPSIS
snget [options] [news.group...] sngetd [options] options: [-d] [-h Bps] [-p nparallel] [-c depth] [-m max] DESCRIPTION
snget fetches articles for the news.groups on the command line (or all non-local newsgroups if none are specified) from their respective upstream feeds, and stores them in the news spool /var/spool/sn. If a newsgroup could not be fetched for, it may be attempted again. sngetd does the same, except it reads newsgroup names from /var/spool/sn/.fifo and does not exit. sngetd does not fork into the back- ground. snget does not guarantee to fetch the groups in the order specified on the command line. snget and sngetd will write errors and status messages to descriptor 2. snget and sngetd are both scheduling wrappers that call /usr/sbin/SNHELLO, snfetch, and snstore. You must own /var/spool/sn or be root in order to run snget and sngetd. OPTIONS
-d Enable verbosity, may be specified multiple times. This option is also propagated to snfetch and snstore. -p nparallel Attempt to fetch for nparallel newsgroups at once. Default is 4, maximum is 8. -h Bps Throttle the sum of bandwidth used by all snfetches to Bps bytes per second. This option is used to prevent snget or sngetd from hogging the network. By default there is no throttling. -c depth depth is passed to snfetch as the depth of the command pipeline. -m max The very first time contacting the news server, retrieve no more than max articles per newsgroup, default is 200. This option is useful only if there are unprimed newsgroups and has no effect otherwise. The .max file in each newsgroup directory still applies (see snfetch(8)). -t timeout This option is not documented because it is ignored and will disappear in a future release. See .timeout in FILES next. FILES
Server Directories These are the directories /var/spool/sn/.outgoing/server.name:port, which are symlinked from /var/spool/sn/news.group/.outgoing. If the latter isn't a (symlink to a) directory, snget won't fetch for news.group. /var/spool/sn/.outgoing/server.name:port/.timeout If this file exists and contains a number, this is taken to be the timeout in seconds in all dealings with server.name:port. Default is 120 seconds. /var/spool/sn/.outgoing/server.name:port/.SNHELLO If this program file exists, it is invoked instead of the default (usually /usr/sbin/SNHELLO) when an NNTP connection is first made to server.name:port in order to read the greeting and upload posted articles. If server.name:port requires a username and password, you would copy the default here and edit that information in. /var/spool/sn/news.group/{.serial,.max} snget and sngetd read these files on behalf of snfetch. SIGNALS
Other signals have default behaviour. SIGUSR1 If -h Bps was specified, Bps is halved, else is ignored. SIGUSR2 If -h Bps was specified, Bps is doubled, else is ignored. ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See also /usr/sbin/SNHELLO for the list of environment variables exported by snget/sngetd. SNROOT If this is set and is not empty, the value is used in place of /var/spool/sn, the default news spool directory. PATH To find SNHELLO (if this server does not have a .SNHELLO), snfetch, and snstore. If PATH does not contain /usr/sbin as one of it's components, /usr/sbin is appended to it. SEE ALSO
snfetch(8), snstore(8), /usr/sbin/SNHELLO N.B. Harold Tay snget,v0.3.8(8)
Check Out this Related Man Page
snntpd,v0.3.8(8) System Manager's Manual snntpd,v0.3.8(8) NAME
snntpd - small news server SYNOPSIS
snntpd [-t timeout] [-P] [-S] [logger...] DESCRIPTION
snntpd is a small news server. It needs to be run under inetd or tcpserver, as root or as the owner of /var/spool/sn. snntpd does not fork into the background. It expects to read and write from and to the network on descriptors 0 and 1. ARGUMENTS
logger... (usually /usr/bin/logger) is taken to be a logging program, and all log output is piped to it. If logger... is not specified, log messages are directed to descriptor 2. OPTIONS
-t timeout specifies how long snntpd should wait for input before it gives up and exits. timeout is in seconds and defaults to 600. -P snntpd includes it's pid in log output. -S Suppress NNTP greeting on startup. This is useful if you want to perform authentication before running snntpd, or want to provide your own greeting, from a wrapper. POSTING AND POSTING PERMISSIONS
Posts are usually handled externally by the /usr/sbin/SNPOST script, which is responsible for fine-grain posting control; handling of con- trol messages; and the ultimate distribution of the posted article. snntpd permits or denies posting in a very simple manner: If /var/spool/sn/.nopost exists, posting is not allowed. Otherwise, if the environment variable POSTING_OK is not set, posting is not allowed. Otherwise if POSTING_OK is set (to the empty string), posting is generally allowed, and all POSTed articles are piped to the SNPOST script, which has the final say in the matter. The value of $POSTING_OK is not currently used, but is reserved. FILES
/var/spool/sn/.fifo If this file exists, and is a fifo, snntpd will write the name of a newsgroup into it as that newsgroup becomes the current one. If the fifo does not exist snntpd will not create it. /var/spool/sn/.noservice If this file exists, snntpd will display its first line and exit. If the file can't be read or is empty, a default message is dis- played. This is useful for temporarily disabling the news server while you perform any maintenance. /var/spool/sn/.nopost See POSTING PERMISSIONS above. /var/spool/sn/.SNPOST If this script or program exists, it is invoked instead of SNPOST to accept a posted article. /var/spool/sn/news.group.name/.nopost These files really belong to SNPOST, and it is unfortunate that snntpd has to check for their existence to determine the posting flag for the LIST command. See /usr/sbin/SNPOST. /var/spool/sn/news.group.name/.info If this file exists, its first line is taken as the description of that group for use with the LIST NEWSGROUPS command. /var/spool/sn/news.group.name/.times is a binary file containing entry times, to support the NEWNEWS command. /var/spool/sn/news.group.name/.created is an empty file retained for it's timestamp, to support the NEWGROUPS command. SIGNALS
If snntpd catches SIGHUP, the files /var/spool/sn/{.fifo,.noservice,.nopost} (see below) are checked again, as they are during startup. Other signals have default behaviour. ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See also /usr/sbin/SNPOST for a list of environment variables exported by snntpd. PATH The PATH must be set such that snntpd can find SNPOST in order to accept postings. If PATH does not include /usr/sbin, /usr/sbin will be appended to it. POSTING_OK This variable helps determine the site-wide posting policy. See POSTING PERMISSIONS above. TCPREMOTEIP If this value is set, it is taken to be the dotted-quad IP address of the connecting client. If it is not set, snntpd attempts to derive it for itself, and then set its value. TCPLOCALIP as above, but for the server's dotted-quad IP. SNROOT If this is set and is not empty, the value is used everywhere in place of /var/spool/sn, the default news spool directory. SEE ALSO
snsend(8), /usr/sbin/SNPOST N.B. Harold Tay snntpd,v0.3.8(8)