Current Shareware 1994 January/SHAR194.ISO/email/dove0793.zip/NEWSSCAN.DOC

Text File | 1993-07-30 | 13KB | 217 lines

Documentation of certain features of NEWSSCAN.EXE:

[NEW as of July 30, 1993:] IF you are a user of the KA9Q (NET.EXE) program,
NEWSSCAN can now export messages from your message base to KA9Q's outbound
mail queue area, for delivery to a mail-to-news server.  This, combined with
the ability of NEWSTOSS to process batched newsgroup files received from an
NNTP news server, in effect allows NEWSSCAN to support LEAF NODE OPERATION
ONLY using KA9Q.  This is NOT the primary reason that NewsScan was written,
and the added code to support KA9Q mode operation is a bit kludgey, but for
those who find themselves with direct Internet access using KA9Q, you can now
export messages directly.  See the keywords starting with KA9Q in the sample
configuration file for more information.

[Now the original documentation begins.  Please note that the personal mail
addresses given in this document are NO LONGER VALID, but were left in place
in this document to illustrate certains aspects of NewsScan operation:]

NEWSSCAN.EXE is a program to scan messages TO an UNcompressed batched
newsgroup packet FROM Fidonet *.msg files.  If you are a "leaf node", you
could possibly use this program alone (without necessarily running DoveMail)
to scan incoming newsgroup files.  This is not a complete documentation file
that describes ever feature of the program, but you should be able to figure
everything out from the sample configuration file included in the archive
(please READ the configuration file, it is very well commented).  A few things
to note when using this program:

* First, NewsScan can now read a text file listing of newsgroups to process
(similar to ConfMail's "ConfMail.Out" file), if you put the filespec on the
command line with a preceeding "-f" switch, like this:

     NewsScan -fNEWSSCAN.OUT
or
     NewsScan ALTERNTE.CFG -fNEWSSCAN.OUT

If anything is found on the command line that does not look like a switch, it
will be taken as the name of the configuration file to be used.  At present,
-f is the only switch recognized.  If you use the -f switch, please note that
whatever program creates the text file listing must output the full name of
the newsgroups you want to scan... for example, if you carry comp.dcom.modems
but your BBS or message editor thinks it's called UUCP_MODEMS (because you
used the latter as the "echomail tag"), then that area won't get scanned
because NewsScan will be looking for the full name "comp.dcom.modems".
NewsScan will NOT delete the file specified by the -F switch, in case you want
it kept around for use by your echomail processor (if you DON'T want it, just
put a DEL command in your batch file following the call to NewsScan).  If you
specify a file with the -f switch and it doesn't exist, NewsScan will exit
without doing anything.  However, if it does exist but for some reason
NewsScan can't open it, it will act as though the -f switch isn't there and
scan all of your newsgroup areas.

* NewsScan DOES make use of the conventional High Water Mark stored in 1.msg
(you can use either the regular or alternate HWM), so you may have to tell
certain software (such as renumbering programs) that newsgroup areas are
ECHOMAIL areas so that they'll properly maintain the High Water Mark (however,
if you do this in a BBS program, try if possible to do it in such a way that
tear lines and/or SEEN-BY lines are NOT added to the message.  NewsScan can
strip off such lines if you need it to, but you run the risk that occasionally
a message may be truncated prematurely if it contains something that looks
like a tear line prior to the actual end of the message).

* NewsScan marks a message as SENT (using the SENT bit in the attributes word
of the message header) after exporting it.  NewsTOSS also marks messages as
SENT when tossing them.  Thus, you CANNOT (and SHOULD NOT!) export a message
that was originally imported by NewsToss.  Please do NOT try to defeat this...
use DoveMail to send newsgroups to other nodes!

* NewsScan will simply ignore any messages over 12K in length (although it
will complain a bit if you have logging enabled).  Most Fidonet BBS programs
will not allow you to enter a message anywhere near this long, so this should
not be a problem.  If this does present a major problem for anyone, please let
me know... I may not fix it right away, but it may rise in priority on my
"still to do" list.  You can blame this limitation on the geniuses that
decreed that Fidonet messages could have control information at both the top
and bottom of the message, since it means that the entire message must fit in
memory during processing.

* Always run NewsScan IMMEDIATELY after a BBS user logs off, if the user has
left a message in a newsgroup area, or reply linking may not work properly.
If NewsScan determines that a message is a reply, and it can find what appears
to be the original message, it will try to create a proper "References:" line
from the "References" line (if any) and the Message-ID line in the message
being replied to.  Obviously, this won't work correctly if a "reply linker" or
some other software screws up the backward pointer to the message being
replied to, so always run NewsScan as soon as possible after a user logs off,
and DEFINITELY before using any software that diddles with the messages or
message headers.

* A further note on replies:  If the original message contains a
"Followup-To:" line, the reply will be sent to the newsgroups specified in
that line, as per RFC-1036.  If no "Followup-To:" line is present, the reply
will be posted to all newsgroups specified in the "Newsgroups:" line of the
original message (the "Newsgroups:" line of the original is copied to the
reply). If a reply message is posted to multiple newsgroups, the *.msg file
containing the reply will be copied to as many of those newsgroup areas as
NsesScan knows about, so that locally entered replies WILL appear in all of
the areas that they are posted to after NewsScan is run.

* NEWSSCAN now supports the use of SIGNATURE FILES.  Normally only the sysop
will have a signature file, but you can offer them to your users as well if
you like.  In the config file you can associate user names (which should of
course exactly match the way the user's name is found in your BBS's user log)
with a "signature file."  This file can contain either or both of the
following items:

1) A "From" address that will appear on the "From:" line of any outgoing
messages by that user,

2) A "signature" of one or more text lines that will be automatically appended
to the bottom of messages entered by that user.

Let's take each item individually:

The alternate "From" address is useful when a user wishes to receive mail
through another system, or using a different address other than the normal
"...fidonet.org" (or whatever) address that you use as a default.  To use this
feature, the "signature file" for that user should contain **ON THE VERY FIRST
LINE** the word "From:" (WITH the colon!) followed by the address EXACTLY AS
IT IS TO APPEAR.  Note that no validity checking of this address will be done,
so YOU must make sure that the spacing, capitalization, or whatever are
correct.

For example, at the time I am writing this I can receive mail through
myamiga.mixcom.com, so I might use the following "From:" line in the signature
file:

From: [e-mail] (Jack Decker)

Note that the above line is EXACTLY as it is to appear in the message, and
conforms to Internet addressing specifications.  If you screw this up, you're
sure to hear about it.  Please note that only the FROM line can be changed -
in particular, you cannot change the "Path:" line (nor should you).  Also note
that when a "From:" line is used in this way, NewsScan will automatically
generate a "Sender:" line that will identify where the message really came
from.  For example, if I used the above line, the "Sender:" line that would be
generated would be:

Sender: [e-mail] (DoveMail NewsScan)

The remainder of the signature file (INCLUDING the first line if it doesn't
start with the word "From:") will be appended to the end of any messages
entered by the specified user.  Note that it will put whatever's in the
signature file right up underneath the bottom of the message, so you'll
normally want to start with a blank line.  Use an editor that creates plain
text (no high-bit, graphic, or control characters, please!) and don't create
lines over 79 characters in length (it won't blow up NewsScan, but readers of
your messages will silently curse you!) and try to keep your signatures short.
Quoting Emily Postnews, the "foremost authority on proper net behaviour":

   Dear Miss Postnews: How long should my signature be? -- verbose@noisy

   A: Dear Verbose: Please try and make your signature as long as you
   can.  It's much more important than your article, of course, so try
   to have more lines of signature than actual text.

   Try to include a large graphic made of ASCII characters, plus lots of
   cute quotes and slogans.  People will never tire of reading these
   pearls of wisdom again and again, and you will soon become personally
   associated with the joy each reader feels at seeing yet another
   delightful repeat of your signature.

   Be sure as well to include a complete map of USENET with each
   signature, to show how anybody can get mail to you from any site in
   the world.  Be sure to include Internet gateways as well.  Also tell
   people on your own site how to mail to you.  Give independent
   addresses for Internet, UUCP, and BITNET, even if they're all the
   same.

   Aside from your reply address, include your full name, company and
   organization.  It's just common courtesy -- after all, in some
   newsreaders people have to type an *entire* keystroke to go back to
   the top of your article to see this information in the header.

   By all means include your phone number and street address in every
   single article.  People are always responding to usenet articles with
   phone calls and letters.  It would be silly to go to the extra trouble
   of including this information only in articles that need a response by
   conventional channels!

I suppose that for those who don't get it, I should include the disclaimer that
appears at the top of the widely-circulated "Dear Emily Postnews" article:

   **NOTE: this is intended to be satirical.  If you do not recognize
     it as such, consult a doctor or professional comedian.  The
     recommendations in this article should recognized for what
     they are -- admonitions about what NOT to do.

(Credit the above to Gene Spafford, [e-mail].  See the
news.announce.newusers or news.answers newsgroup for the complete text of this
article, which is reposted at fairly regular intervals).

Getting back to the signature file, you can see that you can either use the
"From:" line modification alone (by having only one line that starts with the
word "From:"), or just an appended signature, or both the modified "From:"
line AND the signature.  If you use both, you'll probably want a single blank
line after the "From:" line, otherwise you'll want the top line to be a single
blank line to separate the signature text from the rest of your message.

And just in case you missed it the first time:  DO NOT use control or high-bit
graphic characters in your signature file.  NewsScan assumes you know what
you're doing with a signature file (unlike message text, where it WILL strip
out illegal characters).

Read the configuration file and the SAMPLE.SIG file for more information.

One final note about signature files.  Don't use them if you are trying to use
NewsScan as part of an Echomail to Newsgroup gateway scheme.  You shouldn't be
doing this anyway, but someone's bound to try it.  The problem in using
signature files in such an application is that NewsScan assumes that all
messages not already marked as sent (that is, all messages waiting to be
scanned out) originated on your BBS, and that you don't have two users with
the same name.  If you are using NewsScan in a gateway situation, they may be
another user on another BBS that has the same name as you, or another user on
your BBS that has a signature file, and that signature file would get appended
to the other guy's message.  If you are passing newsgroups as newsgroups (the
way DoveMail was designed to operate), then you don't have to worry about
this, since NewsScan never messes with your newsgroup feeds to other systems.