Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)

FreeBSD Manual Pages

  
 
  

home | help
noffle(1)		     General Commands Manual		       noffle(1)

NAME
     noffle - Usenet package optimized for dialup connections.

SYNOPSIS
     noffle -a | --article <message id>|all
     noffle -c | --cancel <message id>
     noffle -C | --create <local newsgroup name>
     noffle -d | --database
     noffle -D | --delete <newsgroup name>
     noffle -e | --expire
     noffle -f | --fetch [server pattern]
     noffle -g | --groups
     noffle -h | --help
     noffle -l | --list
     noffle -m | --modify desc <newsgroup name> <group description>
     noffle -m | --modify post <local newsgroup name> (y|n)
     noffle -n | --online
     noffle -o | --offline
     noffle -O | --outgoing [server pattern]
     noffle -p | --post
     noffle -q | --query groups|desc [server pattern]
     noffle -B | --rebuild
     noffle -R | --requested
     noffle -r | --server [auth]
     noffle -s | --subscribe-over <group>
     noffle -S | --subscribe-full <group>
     noffle -t | --subscribe-thread <group>
     noffle -u | --unsubscribe <group>

DESCRIPTION
     NOFFLE is an Usenet package optimized for low speed dialup Internet connec-
     tions  and  few users.  The noffle program is used for running and steering
     of the proxy news server, for  retrieving	new  articles  from  the  remote
     server  and  for expiring old articles from the database.	NOFFLE can fetch
     newsgroups in one of the following modes:

     full   fetch full articles,

     over   fetch only article overviews by default. Opening an article marks it
	    for download next time online,

     thread
	    like over, but download articles full if  an  article  of  the  same
	    thread already has been downloaded.

     NOFFLE  also  offers limited support for local news groups. Articles posted
     to these appear in full in the database for the local group(s) immediately.
     They are expired in the usual way.

     If an article is cross-posted to a local group and a remote group,  it  ap-
     pears in the local group immediately and in the remote group after the next
     fetch from the remove server.

     Note  that  NOFFLE  cannot exchange the contents of local groups with other
     news servers.

     Many NOFFLE options are only available to news administrators. News  admin-
     istrators	are  users  who are either root, the NOFFLE news user (typically
     news), or in the NOFFLE news group (typically group news).

OPTIONS
     -a, --article <message id>|all
	    Write article <message id> to standard output. Message Id must  con-
	    tain  the  leading '<' and trailing '>' (quote the argument to avoid
	    shell interpretation of '<' and '>').
	    If "all" is given as message Id, all articles are shown.

     -c, --cancel <message id>
	    Cancel the article from the database and remove it from the queue of
	    outbound messages if it has not already been sent. Message	Id  must
	    contain  the  leading  '<'	and  trailing '>' (quote the argument to
	    avoid shell interpretation of '<' and '>').
	    This option is only available to news administrators.  It  will  not
	    cancel articles on remote news servers, use a cancel control message
	    instead if you need to do so.

     -C, --create <local newsgroup name>
	    Create  a  new  local newsgroup with the given name. The name should
	    conform to the usual newsgroup naming rules to avoid confusing news-
	    readers.
	    This option is only available to news administrators.

     -d, --database
	    Write the complete content of the article database to standard  out-
	    put.

     -D, --delete <newsgroup name>
	    Delete the newsgroup with the given name. All articles that only be-
	    long to the group are deleted as well.
	    This option is only available to news administrators.

     -e, --expire
	    Delete  all  articles  that have not been accessed recently from the
	    database.  Should be run regularily from crond(8).
	    The default expire period is 14 days. This can be changed and custom
	    expiry periods set for individual newsgroups or sets  of  newsgroups
	    in /usr/local/etc/noffle.conf.
	    This option is only available to news administrators.

     -f, --fetch [server pattern]
	    Get  new  newsfeed from the remote servers.  Updates the list of the
	    existing newsgroups, fetches new articles overviews or full articles
	    from subscribed groups (see fetchlist ), delivers all  posted  arti-
	    cles  to  the  remote  server, and retrieves all articles marked for
	    download.  noffle --fetch should be  run  in  the  ip-up  script  of
	    pppd(8).
	     If a server pattern is specified, new articles will only be fetched
	    from  matching servers from the list in noffle.conf. Please see nof-
	    fle.conf (5) for careful seeting of the settings getgroups and omit-
	    groups.
	    This option is only available to news administrators.

     -g, --groups
	    List all groups available at remote server.
	    Format (fields separated by tabs):
	    <name> <server> <first> <last> <remote next>  <post  allowed>  <cre-
	    ated> <last access> <desc>

     -h, --help
	    Print a list of all options.

     -l, --list
	    List  all  groups  that  are presently to be fetched and their fetch
	    mode.
	    Format: <groupname> <server> full|thread|over

     -m | --modify desc <newsgroup name> <group description>
	    Modify the description of the named newsgroup.
	    This option is only available to news administrators.

     -m | --modify post <local newsgroup name> <permission>
	    Modify the posting permission on  a  local	newsgroup.  <permission>
	    must  be  either 'y' (yes, posting allowed), 'm' (moderated, posting
	    allowed only if article has 'Approved:' header) or 'n' (no,  posting
	    not  allowed).   Attempts to post to a newsgroup with posting disal-
	    lowed will be rejected.
	    This option is only available to news administrators.

     -n, --online
	    Put NOFFLE to online status. Requested articles or overviews of  se-
	    lected groups are immediately fetched from the remote server. Groups
	    are not automatically subscribed to while in online mode, making on-
	    line mode ideal for tasting the content of unfamiliar groups without
	    subscribing to them.  Should be run in the ip-up script of pppd(8).
	    This option is only available to news administrators.

     -o, --offline
	    Put  NOFFLE to offline status. Requested articles not already in the
	    database are marked for download.  Should  be  run	in  the  ip-down
	    script of pppd(8).
	    This option is only available to news administrators.

     -O | --outgoing [server pattern]
	    List message IDs and destination server of articles queued for post-
	    ing.
	    This option is only available to news administrators.

     -p, --post
	    Read a news article from standard input and post it.  Posting always
	    observes the group post permission flag.  If a local group is marked
	    'm'  (moderated),  the article must have an 'Approved:' header to be
	    posted.

     -q, --query groups|desc [server pattern]
	    Query information about all groups from the remote servers and merge
	    it to the groupinfo file. This must be run after  installing  noffle
	    or	sometimes after a change of the remote news server or corruption
	    of the file. It can take some time on slow connections.  groups  re-
	    trieves  the list of the existing newsgroups (resets all local arti-
	    cle counters), desc  retrieves  all  newsgroup  descriptions.  If  a
	    server  pattern is specified, only matching servers from noffle.conf
	    will be queried.
	    This option is only available to news administrators.

     -r, --server [auth]
	    Run as NNTP server on standard input and standard  output.	This  is
	    intended  to  be  called  by  inetd(8)  and  should be registered in
	    /etc/inetd.conf.  Error and logging messages are  put  to  the  sys-
	    logd(8)  daemon  which  is	usually  configured  to  write	them  to
	    /var/log/news.  If the optional auth parameter is given, then client
	    authentication is enabled (assuming NOFFLE was built with  authenti-
	    cation  enabled)  regardless of the setting of the configuration au-
	    thenticate-client.	A list of the NNTP commands that are  understood
	    by noffle can be retrieved by running the server and typing HELP.
	    This option is only available to news administrators.

     -B, --rebuild
	    Rebuild  the article database. This build a fresh copy of the NOFFLE
	    article database. All locally held groups are scanned, and all arti-
	    cles currently active in those groups are copied from the old  arti-
	    cle  database to the new one. The new one then replaces the old one.
	    This can be useful in cases of article database corruption.
	    This option is only available to news administrators.

     -R, --requested
	    List articles that are marked for download.

	    Format: <message-id> <server>

     -s, --subscribe-over <group>
	    Add group with name <group> to list of groups that are presently  to
	    be fetched (in over mode).
	    This option is only available to news administrators.

     -S, --subscribe-full <group>
	    Add  group with name <group> to list of groups that are presently to
	    be fetched (in full mode).
	    This option is only available to news administrators.

     -t, --subscribe-thread <group>
	    Add group with name <group> to list of groups that are presently  to
	    be fetched (in thread mode).
	    This option is only available to news administrators.

     -u, --unsubscribe <group>
	    Remove  group  with  name  <group>	from  list  of	groups	that are
	    presently to be fetched.
	    This option is only available to news administrators.

     -v, --version
	    Reports the NOFFLE version number.

NOTES
     If the noffle prgram sees the name under which it is executed is inews,  it
     changes its behaviour to that described in inews(1).

FILES
     NOFFLE  takes  its  configuration	from  a  configuration	file, by default
     /usr/local/etc/noffle.conf.  For a  description  of  this	file,  see  nof-
     fle.conf(5).

     NOFFLE keeps all its data files in a spool directory.  /var/spool/noffle is
     the default location.

     <spool dir>/fetchlist
	    List of newsgroups that are presently to be fetched.

     <spool dir>/data/groupinfo.gdbm
	    Database with groups in gdbm(3) format.

     <spool dir>/data/articles.gdbm
	    Database with articles in gdbm(3) format.

     <spool dir>/lock/
	    Lock files and files indicating online/offline status.

     <spool dir>/outgoing/
	    Posted articles to be delivered to the remote server.

     <spool dir>/overview/
	    Text file per group with article overviews.

     <spool dir>/requested/
	    Message IDs of articles marked for download.

SEE ALSO
     inews(1), noffle.conf(5), crond(8), inetd(8), pppd(8)
     RFC 977, RFC 1036, RFC 2822, RFC 2980
     IETF drafts on common NNTP extensions:
     http://www.karlsruhe.org/
     NOFFLE home page:
     http://noffle.sourceforge.net

AUTHORS
     Markus Enzenberger <me@markus-enzenberger.de>
     Volker Wysk <volker.wysk@student.uni-tuebingen.de>
     Jim Hague <jim.hague@acm.org>
     Uwe Hermann <uh1763@bingo-ev.de>
     Mirko Liss <mirko.liss@web.de>

     1998-2003.

								       noffle(1)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=noffle&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+Ports+15.1.quarterly>

home | help