NNRPD(8)
NAME
nnrpd - NNTP server for on-campus hosts
SYNOPSIS
nnrpd [ -r reason ] [ -s title padding ] [ -S host ] [ -t
]
DESCRIPTION
Nnrpd is an NNTP server for newsreaders. It accepts com-
mands 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.
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 20.
On exit, nnrpd will report usage statistics through sys-
log(3).
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).
OPTIONS
-r If the ``-r'' flag is used, then nnrpd will reject
the incoming connection giving reason as the text.
This flag is used by innd when it is paused or
throttled.
-s 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
argument, which will be overwritten when the pro-
gram changes its title.
-t 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).
-S 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.
PROTOCOL DIFFERENCES
Nnrpd implements the NNTP commands defined in RFC 977,
with the following differences:
1. The ``ihave'' command is not implemented. Users
should be using the ``post'' command to post arti-
cles.
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'', ``newsgroups'', 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, a list of the automatic group subscrip-
tions, 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 implementation; no other doc-
umentation 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 pat-
tern; if there are additional arguments they are
joined together separated by a single space to form
the complete pattern. This command is similar 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 article.
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 YYYYMMDDhh-
mmss.
HISTORY
Written by Rich $alz lt;rsalz@uunet.uu.net for InterNet-
News. Overview support added by Rob Robertston <rob@vio-
let.berkeley.edu> and Rich in January, 1993. This is
revision 1.14, dated 1996/10/29.
SEE ALSO
ctlinnd(8) innd(8) inn.conf(5) nnrp.access(5) sig-
nal(2) wildmat(3).