PULLNEWS(8) System Manager's Manual PULLNEWS(8)NAME
pullnews - a perl script for pulling news from one news machine and feeding it to another.
SYNOPSIS
pullnews [ -c config ] [ -g groups ] [ -h ] [ -p port ] [ -q ] [ -r file ] [ -s downstream-server ] [ remote-server ... ]
DESCRIPTION
pullnews is run as a regular user process. It reads a config file in the users home directory (normally called .pullnews) and connects to
the upstream servers defined in there as a reader client. You may specifiy hostnames on the command line to limit the set of remote hosts
it connects to, but each host must be listed in the .pullnews file.
For each server it connects to it pulls over articles and feeds them to the downstream (local) server via the IHAVE (feeder) NNTP command.
This means the computer pullnews is run on must have feeding access to the downstream news host.
pullnews is designed for very small sites and is not meant for reverse-feeding large feeds.
You must have Graham Barr's Net::NNTP perl module installed on your system. This is part of the libnet bundle and can be found on CPAN or
from Graham's site http://www.connect.net/gbarr/
OPTIONS -c Normally the config file is stored in $HOME/.pullnews for the user running the pullnews program. The ``-c'' flag lets you change
that.
-g The ``-g'' flag specifies a collection of groups to get. The value must be a single argument with commas between group names. Each
group must be defined in the config file. Only the remote hosts that carry those groups will be contacted.
-h The ``-h'' flag just prints usage.
-p The ``-p'' flag can be used to change connecting port other than 119.
-q The ``-q'' flag can be used to make things run more quietly.
-r The ``-r'' flag tells pullnews to create an rnews-compatible file, instead of feeding article.
-s Normally pullnews will feed the articles it retrieves to the news server running on ``localhost''. The ``-s'' flag lets you change
that.
CONFIG FILE
The config file for pullnews is a series of sets of lines describing the upstream hosts to connect to and the newsgroups to get articles
from. A host line has no leading white space and just has the name of the host to connect to. Group lines com after a host line and have
leading white space followed by the group name.
pullnews will update the config file to include the time the group was last checked and the highest numbered article successfully retrieved
and transfered to the downstream server.
A sample configuration file might look like:
# Format group date high
data.pa.vix.com
rec.bicycles.racing 908086612 783
rec.humor.funny 908086613 18
comp.programming.threads
nnrp.vix.com
comp.std.lisp
The group entries for the two rec.* groups have been updated by an earlier run by pullnews.
HISTORY
pullnews was written by James Brister for INN. This is revision 1.2.2.1, dated 2000/04/13.
BUGS
pullnews is very simple and is lacking in more sophisticated features (like killing articles based on user-defined conditions) that better
pull feeder most certainly have. It also doesn't keep or log much detail on articles transferred.
Due to a limitation in the Net::NNTP perl module, one of the functions in there is redefined inside the pullnews source. A future release
of the libnet packages will fix that.
SEE ALSO ctlinnd(8), inn.conf(5), innd(8), newsfeeds(5), shlock(1).
PULLNEWS(8)
Check Out this Related Man Page
HOSTS.NNTP(5) File Formats Manual HOSTS.NNTP(5)NAME
hosts.nntp, hosts.nntp.nolimit - list of hosts that feed NNTP news
DESCRIPTION
The file /etc/news/hosts.nntp is read by innd(8) to get the list of hosts that feed the local site Usenet news using the NNTP protocol.
The server reads this file at start-up or when directed to by ctlinnd(8). When a host connects to the NNTP port of the system on which
innd is running, the server will do a check to see if their Internet address is the same as one of the hosts named in this file. If the
host is not mentioned, then innd will spawn an nnrpd(8) to process the connection, with the accepted connection on standard input and stan-
dard output.
Comments begin with a number sign (``#'') and continue through the end of the line. Blank lines and comments also ignored. All other
lines should consist of two or three fields separated by a colon.
The first field should be either an Internet address in dotted-quad format or an address that can be parsed by gethostbyname(3). If a
host's entry has multiple addresses, all of them will be added to the access list. The second field, which may be blank, is the password
the foreign host is required to use when first connecting. The third field, which may be omitted, is a list of newsgroups to which the
host may send articles. This list is parsed as a newsfeeds(5) subscription list; groups not in the list are ignored. Posts crossposted in
groups matched by a @group.* entry are dropped.
For example:
## FOO has a password, UUNET and VIX dont.
## UUNET cannot post to local groups.
## Example is not part of Usenet II.
## These are comment lines.
news.foo.com:magic
uunet.uu.net::!foo.*
data.ramona.vix.com:
newspeer.example.com::*,@net.*
The first field may be suffixed by ``/s'' to indicate that streaming commands are specifically permitted to be used by this host. By
default streaming commands are available to all hosts. If any entry in hosts.nntp has a ``/s'' suffix, then only those hosts with the
``/s'' suffix will be permitted to use streaming commands.
For example, with the following hosts.nntp file, only the host data.ramona.vix.com is allowed to use the streaming commands.
## As above, but
news.foo.com:magic
uunet.uu.net::!foo.*
data.ramona.vix.com/s:
The first field may be suffixed by ``/a'' to indicate that the IP address of the feeding hosts allowed by this entry should always be
included in the Path line of articles, or by ``/t'' to indicate that the address should not be included, or ``/a'' followed by a pathhost
value to indicate that the IP address should be included if the most recent Path entry does not match the pathhost specified after ``/a''.
The default is to log the address in articles whose most recent Path entry is not the same as the hostname in the hosts.nntp entry.
Since innd is usually started at system boot time, the local nameserver may not be fully operational when innd parses this file. As a
work-around, a ctlinnd ``reload'' command can be performed after a delay of an hour or so. It is also possible to provide both a host's
name and its dotted-quad address in the file.
If the file contains passwords, it should not be world-readable. The file /etc/news/hosts.nntp.nolimit, if it exists is read whenever the
``hosts.nntp'' file is read. It has the same format, although only the first field is used. Any host mentioned in this file is not sub-
ject to the incoming connections limit specified by innd's ``-i'' flag. This can be used to allow local hosts or time-sensitive peers, to
connect regardless of the local conditions.
HISTORY
Written by Rich $alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net> for InterNetNews. This is revision 1.22, dated 1996/11/27.
SEE ALSO ctlinnd(8), innd(8), nnrpd(8).
HOSTS.NNTP(5)