RNEWS(1) General Commands Manual RNEWS(1)
NAME
rnews - receive news from a UUCP connection
SYNOPSIS
rnews [ -h host ] [ -N ] [ -P port ] [ -r remote ] [ -S remote ] [ -U ] [ -v ] [ input ]
DESCRIPTION
Rnews reads messages typically queued by a UUCP newsfeed and sends them to the InterNetNews server (either ``localhost'', or the value
defined by the variable <nnrpdposthost in inn.conf>.
The message is read from the specified input file, or standard input if no input is named.
When sent over UUCP, Usenet articles are typically joined in a single batch to reduce the UUCP overhead. Batches can also be compressed,
to reduce the communication time. If a message does not start with a number sign (``#'') and an exclamation point, then the entire input
is taken as a single news article. If it does start with with those two characters, then the first line is read and interpreted as a batch
command.
If the command is ``#! rnews nnn'' where nnn is a number, then the next nnn bytes (starting with the next line) are read as a news article.
If the command is ``#! cunbatch'' then the rest of input is fed to the compress(1) program with the ``-d'' flag to uncompress it, and the
output of this pipe is read as rnews's input. This is for historical compatibility -- there is no program named cunbatch. A compressed
batch will start with a ``#! cunbatch'' line, then contain a series of articles separated by ``#! rnews nnn'' lines. If <DO_RNEWSPROGS in
include/config.h> is defined and the command is any other word, then rnews will try to execute a program with that name in the directory
<pathbin in inn.conf>/bin/rnews.libexec.
The batch will be fed into the program's standard input, and the standard output will be read back as input into rnews. If
<DO_RNEWS_SAVE_BAD in include/config.h> is defined and rnews detects any problems with an article such as a missing header, or an unintel-
ligible reply from the server, it will save a copy of the article in the <pathincoming in inn.conf>/bad directory.
OPTIONS
-h If the ``-h'' flag is given, or failing that, the environment variable <_ENV_UUCPHOST in include/paths.h> (typically UU_MACHINE) is
set, then rnews will log the Message-ID and host via syslog(3) for each article offered to the server. Logging will only be done if
the value is not an empty string.
-N Normally, if unpacking the input fails it is re-spooled to <pathincoming in inn.conf> for another attempt later. If the ``-N'' flag
is used then no such re-spooling is done and rnews exits with status value ``9'' to indicate this.
-P If the ``-P'' flag is used, then the articles will be sent to the specified port on the remote host.
-r If the ``-r'' flag is used, then the articles will be sent to the named remote host instead of the default host.
-S ``-S'' flag is equivalent to ``-r'' flag.
-U If the server is not available, the message is spooled into a new file created in the <pathincoming in inn.conf> directory. The
``-U'' flag may be used to send all spooled messages to the server once it becomes available again, and can be invoked regularly by
cron(8).
-v If the ``-v'' flag is used, it will print a notice of all errors on the standard error, naming the input file (if known) and print-
ing the first few characters of the input. Errors are always logged through syslog(3).
BUGS
Rnews cannot process articles that have embedded 's in them.
HISTORY
Written by Rich $alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net> for InterNetNews. This is revision 1.10.2.1, dated 2000/08/17.
SEE ALSO
inn.conf(5), innd(8).
RNEWS(1)