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NNRPD(8)		  InterNetNews Documentation		      NNRPD(8)

NAME
       nnrpd - NNTP server for reader clients

SYNOPSIS
       nnrpd [-DfnoSt] [-4 address] [-6	address] [-b address] [-c configfile]
       [-i initial] [-I	instance] [-p port] [-P	prefork] [-r reason] [-s
       padding]

DESCRIPTION
       nnrpd is	an NNTP	server for newsreaders.	 It accepts commands 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.  nnrpd also supports	running	as a standalone	daemon.

       Unlike innd(8), nnrpd supports all NNTP commands	for user-oriented
       reading and posting.  nnrpd uses	the readers.conf file to control who
       is authorized to	access the Usenet database.

       On exit,	nnrpd will report usage	statistics through syslog(3).

       nnrpd only reads	config files (both readers.conf	and inn.conf) when it
       is spawned.  You	can therefore never change the behavior	of a client
       that's already connected.  If nnrpd is run from innd (the default) or
       from inetd(8), xinetd(8), or some equivalent, a new nnrpd process is
       spawned for every connection and	therefore any changes to configuration
       files will be immediately effective for all new connections.  If	you
       are instead running nnrpd with the -D option, any configuration changes
       won't take effect until nnrpd is	restarted.

       The inn.conf setting nnrpdflags can be used to pass any of the options
       below to	instances of nnrpd that	are spawned directly from innd.	 Many
       options only make sense when -D is used,	so these options should	not be
       used with nnrpdflags.  See also the discussion of nnrpdflags in
       inn.conf(5).

       When nnrpdloadlimit in inn.conf is not 0, it will also reject
       connections if the load average is greater than that value (typically
       16).  nnrpd can also prevent high-volume	posters	from abusing your
       resources.  See the discussion of exponential backoff in	inn.conf(5).

OPTIONS
       -4 address
	   The -4 parameter instructs nnrpd to bind to the specified IPv4
	   address when	started	as a standalone	daemon using the -D flag.
	   This	has to be a valid IPv4 address belonging to an interface of
	   the local host.  It can also	be 0.0.0.0, saying to bind to all
	   addresses (this is the default).

       -6 address
	   The -6 parameter instructs nnrpd to bind to the specified IPv6
	   address when	started	as a standalone	daemon using the -D flag.
	   This	has to be a valid IPv6 address belonging to an interface of
	   the local host.  It can also	be "::0", saying to bind to all	IPv6
	   addresses.

	   By default, nnrpd in	daemon mode listens to both IPv4 and IPv6
	   addresses.  With this option, it will listen	only to	the specified
	   IPv6	addresses.  On some systems however, a value of	"::0" will
	   cause it to listen to all IPv4 addresses as well.

       -b address
	   Similar to the -4 flag.  -b is kept for backwards compatibility.

       -c configfile
	   By default, nnrpd reads the readers.conf to determine how to
	   authenticate	connections.  The -c flag specifies an alternate file
	   for this purpose.  If the file name isn't fully qualified, it is
	   taken to be relative	to pathetc in inn.conf.	 (This is useful to
	   have	several	instances of nnrpd running on different	ports or IP
	   addresses with different settings.)

       -D  If specified, this parameter	causes nnrpd to	operate	as a daemon.
	   That	is, it detaches	itself and runs	in the background, forking a
	   process for every connection.  By default, nnrpd listens on the
	   NNTP	port (119), so either innd(8) has to be	started	on another
	   port	or the -p parameter used.  Note	that with this parameter,
	   nnrpd continues running until killed.  This means that it reads
	   inn.conf once on startup and	never again until restarted.  nnrpd
	   should therefore be restarted if inn.conf is	changed.

	   When	started	in daemon mode,	nnrpd will write its PID into a	file
	   in the pathrun directory.  The file will be named nnrpd.pid if
	   nnrpd listens on port 119 (default),	or nnrpd-%d.pid, where %d is
	   replaced with the port that nnrpd is	configured to listen on	(-p
	   option is given and its argument is not 119).

       -f  If specified, nnrpd does not	detach itself and runs in the
	   foreground when started as a	standalone daemon using	the -D flag.

       -i initial
	   Specify an initial command to nnrpd.	 When used, initial is taken
	   as if it were the first command received by nnrpd.  After having
	   responded, nnrpd will close the connection.

       -I instance
	   If specified, instance is used as an	additional static portion
	   within message-IDs generated	by nnrpd; typically this option	would
	   be used where a cluster of machines exist with the same virtual
	   hostname and	must be	disambiguated during posts.

       -n  The -n flag turns off resolution of IP addresses to names.  If you
	   only	use IP-based restrictions in readers.conf and can handle IP
	   addresses in	your logs, using this flag may result in some
	   additional speed.

       -o  The -o flag causes all articles to be spooled instead of sending
	   them	to innd(8).  rnews with	the -U flag should be invoked from
	   cron	on a regular basis to take care	of these articles.  This flag
	   is useful if	innd(8)	is accepting articles and nnrpd	is started
	   standalone or using inetd(8).

       -p port
	   The -p parameter instructs nnrpd to listen on port when started as
	   a standalone	daemon using the -D flag.

       -P prefork
	   The -P parameter instructs nnrpd to prefork prefork children
	   awaiting connections	when started as	a standalone daemon using the
	   -D flag.

       -r reason
	   If the -r flag is used, then	nnrpd will reject the incoming
	   connection giving reason as the text.  This flag is used by innd(8)
	   when	it is paused or	throttled.  reason should be encoded in	UTF-8.

       -s padding
	   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	program	changes	its
	   title.

       -S  If specified, nnrpd will start a negotiation	for a TLS session as
	   soon	as connected.  To use this flag, the OpenSSL SSL and crypto
	   libraries must have been found at configure time, or	--with-openssl
	   specified at	configure time.	 For more information on running nnrpd
	   with	TLS support, see "TLS SUPPORT".

       -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(8) under	the control of the ctlinnd(8) "trace" command,
	   and is toggled upon receipt of a SIGHUP; see	signal(2).

TLS SUPPORT
       If INN is built with --with-openssl or if the OpenSSL SSL and crypto
       libraries are found at configure	time, nnrpd will support news reading
       over TLS	(also known as SSL).  For clients that use the STARTTLS
       command,	no special configuration is needed beyond creating a TLS/SSL
       certificate for the server.  You	should do this in exactly the same way
       that you	would generate a certificate for a web server.

       If you're happy with a self-signed certificate (which will generate
       warnings	with some news reader clients),	you can	create and install one
       in the default path by running "make cert" after	"make install" when
       installing INN, or by running the following commands:

	   umask 077
	   openssl req -new -x509 -nodes -out <pathetc>/cert.pem \
	       -days 366 -keyout <pathetc>/key.pem
	   chown news:news <pathetc>/cert.pem
	   chmod 640 <pathetc>/cert.pem
	   chown news:news <pathetc>/key.pem
	   chmod 600 <pathetc>/key.pem

       Replace the paths with something	appropriate to your INN	installation.
       This will create	a self-signed certificate that will expire in a	year.
       The openssl program will	ask you	a variety of questions about your
       organization.  Enter the	fully qualified	domain name of your news
       service (either the server canonical name or a dedicated	alias for the
       news service) as	the name the certificate is for.

       You then	have to	set these inn.conf parameters with the right paths:

	   tlscapath:	   <pathetc>
	   tlscertfile:	   <pathetc>/cert.pem
	   tlskeyfile:	   <pathetc>/key.pem

       In case you have	a certificate authority	root certificate, you can also
       set tlscafile to	its path.

       There are two common ways for a news client to negotiate	a TLS
       connection:  either via the use of a dedicated port (usually 563) on
       which TLS is immediately	negotiated upon	connection, or via the now
       discouraged way (per RFC	8143) to use the STARTTLS command on the usual
       NNTP port (119) to dynamically upgrade from unencrypted to TLS-
       protected traffic during	an NNTP	session.  innd does not, however, know
       how to listen for connections to	that separate port (563).  You will
       therefore need to arrange for nnrpd to listen on	that port through some
       other means.  This can be done with the -D flag along with "-p 563" and
       put into	your init scripts:

	   su news -s /bin/sh -c '<pathbin>/nnrpd -D -p	563 -S'

       but the easiest way is probably to add a	line like:

	   nntps stream	tcp nowait news	<pathbin>/nnrpd	nnrpd -S

       to /etc/inetd.conf or the equivalent on your system and let inetd run
       nnrpd.  (Change the path	to nnrpd to match your installation.)  You may
       need to replace "nntps" with 563	if "nntps" isn't defined in
       /etc/services on	your system.

       Optionally, you may set the tlsciphers, tlsciphers13, tlscompression,
       tlseccurve, tlspreferserverciphers, and tlsprotocols parameters in
       inn.conf	to fine-tune the behaviour of the TLS/SSL negotiation whenever
       a new attack on the TLS protocol	or some	supported cipher suite is
       discovered.

PROTOCOL DIFFERENCES
       nnrpd implements	the NNTP commands defined in RFC 3977 (NNTP), RFC 4642
       updated by RFC 8143 (TLS/NNTP), RFC 4643	(NNTP authentication),
       RFC 6048	(NNTP LIST additions) and RFC 8054 (NNTP compression) with the
       following differences:

       1.  The XGTITLE [wildmat] command is provided.  This extension is used
	   by ANU-News and documented in RFC 2980.  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.

	   Note	that LIST NEWSGROUPS should be used instead of XGTITLE.

       2.  The XHDR header [message-ID|range] command is implemented.  It
	   returns a 221 reply code, followed by specific headers for the
	   specified range; the	default	is to return the data for the current
	   article.  See RFC 2980.

	   Note	that HDR should	be used	instead	of XHDR.

       3.  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.  See
	   RFC 2980.

	   Note	that OVER should be used instead of XOVER.

       4.  A new command, XPAT header message-ID|range pattern [pattern	...],
	   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 2980.
	   The third argument is a uwildmat(3)-style pattern; 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.

       5.  A newsgroup name is case-sensitive for nnrpd.

       6.  If IHAVE has	been advertised, it will not necessarily be advertised
	   for the entire session (contrary to section 3.4.1 of	RFC 3977).
	   nnrpd only advertises the IHAVE capability when it is really
	   available.

       7.  nnrpd allows	a wider	syntax for wildmats and	ranges (especially "-"
	   and "-article-number").

HISTORY
       Written by Rich $alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net> for InterNetNews.  Overview
       support added by	Rob Robertston <rob@violet.berkeley.edu> and Rich in
       January,	1993.  Exponential backoff (for	posting) added by Dave Hayes
       in Febuary 1998.

       $Id: nnrpd.pod 10301 2018-11-11 14:42:17Z iulius	$

SEE ALSO
       ctlinnd(8), innd(8), inn.conf(5), readers.conf(5), signal(2),
       uwildmat(3).

INN 2.6.3			  2018-12-02			      NNRPD(8)

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | TLS SUPPORT | PROTOCOL DIFFERENCES | HISTORY | SEE ALSO

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