Changi NNTP Server 1.0

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CHANGI.EXE
Command Line Options

In most cases Changi may run fine without specifying any option at all. To get a list of accepted options, you should call the program with option -?:

usage: changi [options]

options:
  -a<filename>      host permission file       (nntp_access)
  -A<filename>      user permission file       (user_access)
  -c<filename>      control permission file    (ctrl_access)
  -D<distribution>  distribution override
  -d<flags>         debugging flags
  -F<number>        force followup
  -l<limit>         system load limits
  -n<directory>     news home directory        (news)
  -O<organization>  organization override
  -p<protnumber>    tcp port                   (nntp)
  -Q<quotelimit>    posting quotation limit
  -r<program>       rnews call                 (rnews)
  -S<filename>      default signature file
  -T<filename>      character translation file
  -t<directory>     temporary directory
  -u<user-id>       id of user running changi
  -x<flags>         exclusion flags

debugging flags:
  a  active file processing     j  junked articles
  c  client command failures    m  heap dump
  C  configuration dump         n  accounting
  d  dupe file logging          o  log to console
  D  distribution header        P  access permissions
  f  site feeding               p  log with pid
  F  site feeding init          t  client communication
  h  history file processing    v  overview processing

system load limits:
  c<number>  max. number of connected hosts
  f<MBytes>  min. disk space
  m<MBytes>  min. core space
  s<number>  max. system load
  t<number>  max. number of connections

exclusion flags:
  l  disable link emulation
  Q  disable automatic queue processing
  q  disable queueing while flushed
  r  disable local reply group

General Command Line Options

-pport
Specifies a different TCP/IP port for the server to listen to. This option overrides the default nntp port specified in etc/services (119) as well as the value given by environment variable CHANGINEWSPORT.

-uuser-id
This option is currently not used.

-xl
Do not emulate article file linking. Use this option if third party software relies on default article storage layout.

-xq
Do not queue incoming articles if the server is operating in flushed mode. By default Changi will queue incoming articles in CHANGISPOOLDIR\incoming.

-xQ
Do not automatically process queued articles. By default Changi will regularily check CHANGISPOOLDIR\incoming and automatically process article batches found in this directory.

-xr
Switches off reply group creation.

Secifying File and Directory Names

In pathnames you must use backslashes, rather than slashes, and avoid trailing backslashes on directory names.
-afilename
Defines a different pathname for the host access permission file. By default Changi will look for nntp_access in CHANGIWORKDIR. Note that if Changi can't locate this file, any access to your server from remote hosts will be unconditionally denied.

-Afilename
Overrides the default name user_access for the user access permission file expected in CHANGIWORKDIR.

-cfilename
Overrides the default name ctrl_access for the control access permission file expected in CHANGIWORKDIR.

-ndirectory
Specifies the news home directory. All articles are stored below this point.

-tdirectory
By default Changi will use the directory specified by the CHANGITEMPDIR or TMP environment variable to intermediately store temporary files. Use this option to override the environment.

Modify Article Headers

These options are used to define fixed article headers for local posts.
-Ddistribution
Changi will add or override the distribution header of each incoming post with distribution. If neither this option nor the environment variable CHANGIDISTRIBUTION has been specified, Changi will check the group distribution file.

-Oorganization
Creates an organization header. You may, for example, call Changi with option -O"Cyberspace International, Inc.", in which case the server will add the following line to the header of each article that's posted to it:
Organization: Cyberspace International, Inc.
Articles already containing such a header line are left unchanged. Note the use of quotation marks with values containing spaces.

Modify Article Contents

These options will directly modify the body text of incoming posts.
-Sfilename
Appends the specified signature file. This option adds the contents of the given file at the end of any posted article.

-Tfilename
If Changi is called with this option, it will perform character translation on all articles before transmitting them to the client. All incoming posts will be translated too. Any name may be choosen for the character tranlation file.

Validate Posts

Changi is able to reject postings containing too much quoted text or heavy crosspostings without followup groups.
-Fnumber
Posts to more than or equal to the given number of newsgroups are rejected unless they specify a followup-to group.

-Qnumber
Articles with more than or equal to the given number of lines are checked for quoted / new lines ratio. Articles with more quoted than new lines are rejected.

Limit Consumption of System Resources

By default Changi will claim as many system resources (memory, disk space, processor time etc.) as it needs to serve all connecting clients. Use the following options to limit this resource consumption. If any of these limits is reached, Changi will reject incoming connections.
-lcnumber
Specifies the maximum number of concurrently connected hosts.

-lfMBytes
Specifies the minimum disk space which should be available on the drive containing the newsgroup articles.

-lmMBytes
Specifies a minimum number of megabytes of RAM which should be left while accepting new client connections.

-lsnumber
If the system load reaches the given value, Changi will reject new connections.

-ltnumber
Specifies the total number of concurrent connections accepted. Note that a single client may open more than one connection at the same time.

Debugging Options

-da
Logs active file processing.

-dc
Logs NNTP commands and failures. For a full log of NNTP traffic use option -dt

-dC
If this option is enabled, Changi will dump the configuration environment to a file named changi.log in the current directory. This file may be required to report problems.

-dd
Logs arrival of duplicate articles.

-df
This option is useful for debugging news distribution to remote sites.

-dF
Logs parsing of the newsfeeds files.

-dh
Logs history file processing.

-dj
Logs arrival of junked articles.

-dm
If this option is enabled, Changi will dump all remaining items allocated from heap space on exit. This option is useful for detecting memory leaks.

-dn
Logs accounting and statistical information.

-do
Use this option to redirect debugging output to the console (standard error output). By default Changi will sent these messages to a local syslog daemon. This option is also useful if large quantities of messages are created within short periods in which case syslog is too slow and some output will be skipped.

-dP
This option enables access permission debugging.

-dt
Logs all NNTP telegrams received from and sent to any remote host. This option may produce a large amount of output and will probably degrade performance. As an alternative you should use option -dc instead for a reduced output.

-dv
Log overview file processing.

Calling External Programs

If Changi receives incoming articles while flushed, it will queue them in CHANGISPOOLDIR\incoming. Later, if the server has been set back into normal operation (running) mode, all queued articles will be automatically re-processed.

Note, that this applies to transfered articles only. Local posts are generally rejected, if the server isn't running in normal operation mode.

-rprogram
This command is used to process queued articles previously received by transfer.

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URL: changi/manual/serveropt.html
Created: 25 August 1996
Revised: 21 November 1996
Author: harald@os2point.ping.de