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PMAPP(1)		     General Commands Manual			PMAPP(1)

NAME
     pmapp - insert a verifiable signature into a news article.

SYNOPSIS
     pmapp [newsgroups|user] [file]

DESCRIPTION
     Pmapp  accepts  an  article  from	the named file (or standard input if not
     specified), computes a digital signature from the	important  part  of  the
     contents,	and inserts a special header into the article which enables sub-
     sequent checking of the signature. The amended article is produced on stan-
     dard output, suitable for injection into the news system.

     The signature is created using the defaults for the user name (and  option-
     ally  password)  built into the script when a newsgroup is specified.  This
     is the most common case for a newsgroup moderator who will use a customised
     version of the script. These defaults can be  overridden  with  environment
     variables PMUSER and PMPASSWORD.

     In any case, whenever the password is the empty string, a prompt is written
     to the controlling terminal and a password is read from it.

     When  a  user  is	specified (by way of an email address containing an "@")
     this is used to select the signing user, and a password will be requested.

     When the signature is being generated for a newsgroup, it is  assumed  that
     the  newsgroup  is  moderated and the invoking user is (one of) the modera-
     tor(s).  The simple case is that there is only one newsgroup specified;  an
     Approved:	line  is  added  as well as the X-Auth: line, and the article is
     ready for posting.

     Pmapp goes to some trouble to handle the case of multiple	moderated  news-
     groups  in  the  Newsgroups:  line. The first, and probably most important,
     case, is when a moderator wants to cross-post a FAQ to their own group,  as
     well  as news.answers (for example). In this case their approval counts for
     both groups, so they can insert the Approved: header and post away. Presum-
     ably the other groups are not under the contol of	the  PGP  Moose  Daemon.
     The  moderator  can just go ahead and put in the Approved: header, and save
     themself and pmapp a lot of time. It will be passed right through.

     The other case is harder to get right. This is when the article  really  is
     meant to be posted to two (or more) unrelated moderated newsgroups. The ap-
     proval  script  checks whether there are any moderated newsgroups left that
     don't have X-Auth: headers for them. If there are none left,  an  Approved:
     header  is  inserted  and	the article gets posted.  Otherwise, it issues a
     warning, and re-orders the newsgroups header with a newsgroup which is mod-
     erated but has no X-Auth:	line at the start.  When the article is  posted,
     the  news system will forward it to the moderator of the (new) first moder-
     ated group. If all moderators are sensible, and check for	moderated  news-
     groups in this fashion, the mess should sort itself out and the last moder-
     ator will go ahead and post it. A warning message to the subsequent modera-
     tor NOT to change the article is also inserted.

SEE ALSO
     pmcheck(1),  pmcanon(1)  for  a description of the fields which go into the
     signature calculation, the PGP User's Manual.

AUTHOR
     Greg Rose, RoSecure Software.

				    PGP Moose				PMAPP(1)

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