UQWK

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: uqwk version 1.8
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NAME

uqwk - Collect news and mail into packet for offline reading  

SYNOPSIS

uqwk [options]  

DESCRIPTION

uqwk is a program which collects all a user's unread mail or news and formats it into a packet for offline reading, saving telephone and connect charges. QWK, Simple Offline Usenet Packet (SOUP), and ZipNews formats are supported.

uqwk also accepts reply packets, so replies can be mailed or posted, depending whether the message is marked private (email) or public (news).

uqwk also supports a small offline command language, so the contents of the user's .newsrc file can be viewed and manipulated offline.  

OPTIONS

+m
Do mail. uqwk will process all mail in the user's mail spool file and convert it into an offline packet. This is the default.
-m
Don't do mail.
+n
Do news. Using the user's .newsrc file and the news system's active file, uqwk will collect all unread news articles in all subscribed newsgroups into the packet. This can generate a large number of messages and large packet files.
-n
Don't do news. This is the default.
+h
Include headers. Since the QWK specification places limits on the sizes of certain header fields such as To:, From:, and Subject:, uqwk can include all message and article headers in the body of the message so all fields are visible. This is the default. (This switch only applies to the QWK packet format.)
-h
Do not include headers in messages. (QWK only.)
+e
Include an entry for every subscribed newsgroup in the CONTROL.DAT file. (QWK only).
-e
Do not include an entry in CONTROL.DAT for empty newsgroups. This is the default. (QWK only.)
-p
Print options. uqwk will examine all appropriate environment variables and command line options, print the values of all run-time options, then exit. This is useful to see what uqwk thinks it is going to do before you actually run it.
+r
Read only. Normally, uqwk will empty the user's mail spool file and update the user's .newsrc file to reflect the fact that mail and news have been read. If this switch is specified, uqwk will not touch these files. This is useful for testing.
-r
Do not execute in read-only mode. This is the default.
+L
Operate in SOUP (also known as HDPF or SLNP) mode. The files comprising a Simple Offline Usenet Packet (SOUP), specifically, AREAS and *.MSG, will be created instead of a QWK packet. The reply file, if any, will be interpreted as an SOUP "replies" file instead of a QWK reply packet.
-L
Do not operate in SOUP mode. This is the default.
+z
Operate in ZipNews mode. The files comprising a ZipNews news packet, specifically, "user.JN", "user.NWS", and "user.IDX", will be created instead of a QWK packet.
-z
Do not operate in ZipNews mode. This is the default.
+x
Honor Xref header lines in news articles. When this switch is in effect, uqwk will only pack a crossposted article in the first newsgroup in which it is encountered. This can reduce the size of the packet but may introduce unexpected behavior on the part of the offline reader.
-x
Do not honor Xref lines. This is the default.
+W
Activate the Blue Wave kludge. The Blue Wave QWK reader does not like the personal.ndx file that uqwk creates by default. If this switch is specified uqwk will create a regular ???.ndx file that Blue Wave likes. (QWK only.)
-W
Do not activate the Blue Wave kludge. This is the default.
+X
Operate in expert QWK mode. The QWK header is ignored and all header lines are taken from the body of the message. In the hands of an expert, this permits the creation of RFC822 compliant mail messages and RFC1036 compliant news articles using QWK readers, which is difficult or impossible otherwise in many cases. This is intended for people who really know what they're doing. (QWK only.)
-X
Do not operate in expert QWK mode. This is the default.
-Mmaildir
Look in the directory maildir for the mail spool file. The default is /usr/spool/mail.
-fmailfile
Look for mail in the file mailfile. The default is a file with the same name as the user's login name in maildir. This switch overrides the -M switch.
-uusername
By default uqwk uses the getpwuid() system call to determine the proper user name to use. This switch overrides the results of that call.
-Hhomedir
By default, uqwk uses the getpwuid() system call to determine the user's home directory. The home directory is where the files comprising the offline packet will be created. It is also where uqwk looks for the .newsrc file. This switch may be used to override the results of the getpwuid() call.
-bbbsname
Specify the BBS Name to be entered into the QWK packet. The default is "unknown BBS". (QWK only.)
-ccity
Specify the BBS City to be entered into the QWK packet. The default is "Anytown, USA". (QWK only.)
-Pphone
Specify the BBS Phone Number to be entered into the QWK packet. The default is "555-1212". (QWK only.)
-ssysop
Specify the BBS Sysop Name to be entered into the QWK packet. The default is "Joe Sysop". (QWK only.)
-ibbsid
Specify the BBS ID to be entered into the QWK packet. The BBS ID is important since it will be checked against the BBS ID string in any incoming reply packets. If the two do not match, the reply packet will not be processed. The BBS ID consists of an integer, a comma, and a string of less than nine characters, with no spaces. The default is "0,SOMEBBS". (QWK only.)
-aactivefile
Use activefile for the list of all available newsgroups and article numbers. The default is /usr/lib/news/active. This option is ignored if articles are being obtained from a news server using NNTP.
-Nnewsrcfile
Use newsrcfile for the list of all newsgroups to which the user is subscribed and the list of article numbers which have been read. The default is a file called ".newsrc" in the user's home directory.
+w
Interpret the newsrcfile as a Waffle "join" file instead of a regular Unix .newsrc.
-w
Do not interpret the newsrcfile as a Waffle "join" file. This is the default.
-Dngfile
Process newsgroups in the order specified in ngfile. ngfile is expected to contain one newsgroup name per line.
-Snewsdir
Look for news articles in the directory newsdir. The default is /usr/spool/news. This option is ignored if articles are being obtained from a news server using NNTP.
-Bmaxblocks
Stop processing news articles if the size of the offline packet exceeds maxblocks 128-byte blocks. This is useful since large amounts of unread news can create large packets. Use a maxblocks value of zero to suppress this check. The default is 4000 blocks (half a megabyte).
-ttablefile
Translate newsgroup names as specified in tablefile. Each line in tablefile is expected to have two fields separated by white space: The old name of the newsgroup and the name to which it will be translated. (QWK only.)
-llen
Truncate the names of newsgroups to len characters. Some offline readers cannot handle long newsgroup names. Newsgroup names are truncated after having been translated. The default is 15 characters. Specify a value of zero for unlimited newsgroup name lengths. (QWK only.)
-Rreplyfile
Process replyfile as a reply packet. Messages and articles created by the offline reader must be uploaded as a reply packet and then processed by this switch to be mailed or posted. If operating in SOUP mode, this file should be the REPLIES file. uqwk will remove replyfile when it has been processed unless it is running in read-only mode. If operating in ZipNews mode, this switch should specify the directory in which the ZipNews reply files reside.
-dhostname
Use the specified hostname when processing ZipNews reply packets. This should be the fully-qualified domain name of the Unix host. The default is "nowhere".
-Usumfile
Operate in "summary" mode. Instead of packing articles, uqwk creates a summary file, sumfile, which consists of the newsgroup name, article number, and subject line of each unread article. All summarized articles are marked as read.
-Eselfile
Operate in "selection" mode. Instead of using the .newsrc file to determine which articles to pack, uqwk reads selfile, a file in the same format as the summary file. (The actual subjects are optional in selfile.) The idea is that a summary may be created by using -U, downloaded, edited or processed by additional software to select desired articles, uploaded, and fed to the -E switch for offline article selection.
 

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

Most of the run-time options can also be controlled by environment variables. If an option is specified by both an environment variable and a command-line option, the command-line option is honored.
UQ_DO_MAIL
Determines whether or not to process mail. Should be set to "1" (do mail) or "0" (don't do mail).
UQ_DO_NEWS
Determines whether or not to process news. Should be set to "1" (do news) or "0" (don't do news).
UQ_INC_HDRS
Determines whether or not to include headers in messages. Should be set to "1" (include headers) or "0" (don't include headers).
UQ_EVERY_MODE
Determines whether or not to include an entry in CONTROL.DAT for empty newsgroups. Should be set to "1" (include empty groups) or "0" (don't include empty groups).
UQ_PRT_OPTS
Determines whether or not to just print the values of run-time options and stop. Should be set to "1" (print options) or "0" (don't print options).
UQ_READ_ONLY
Determines whether or not to run in read-only mode. Should be set to "1" (read-only) or "0" (not read-only).
UQ_WAF_MODE
Determines whether the .newsrc file should be interpreted as a Waffle "join" file. Should be set to "0" (normal) or "1" (Waffle mode).
UQ_SOUP_MODE
Determines whether or not to run in SOUP mode. Should be set to "0" (don't run in SOUP mode) or "1" (run in SOUP mode).
UQ_ZIP_MODE
Determines whether or not to run in ZipNews mode. Should be set to "0" (don't run in ZipNews mode) or "1" (run in ZipNews mode).
UQ_XRF_MODE
Determines whether or not to honor Xref lines. Should be set to "0" (do not honor Xref lines) or "1" (honor Xref lines).
UQ_BW_KLUDGE
Determines whether or not to activate the Blue Wave kludge. Should be set to "0" (do not activate the Blue Wave kludge) or "1" (activate the Blue Wave kludge).
UQ_XPRT_MODE
Determines whether or not to operate in QWK expert mode. Should be set to "0" (do not run in expert mode) or "1" (run in expert mode).
UQ_MAIL_DIR
Specifies the directory where the mail spool file resides.
UQ_MAIL_FILE
Specifies the mail spool file.
UQ_USER_NAME
Specifies the username of the person running uqwk.
UQ_HOME_DIR
Specifies the home directory, where the packet files will be created, and where uqwk expects to find the .newsrc file.
UQ_BBS_NAME
Specifies the BBS name to be entered into the QWK packet.
UQ_BBS_CITY
Specifies the BBS city to be entered into the QWK packet.
UQ_BBS_PHONE
Specifies the BBS phone number to be entered into the QWK packet.
UQ_BBS_SYSOP
Specifies the BBS sysop name to be entered into the QWK packet.
UQ_BBS_ID
Specifies the BBS ID to be entered into the QWK packet.
UQ_ACT_FILE
Specifies the name of the news system's active file.
UQ_NRC_FILE
Specifies the name of the user's .newsrc file.
UQ_NG_FILE
Specifies the name of the desired newsgroups file.
UQ_MAX_BLKS
Specifies the maximum size of the offline packet in 128-byte blocks.
UQ_TRN_FILE
Specifies the name of the newsgroup name translation table.
UQ_GRP_LEN
Specifies the maximum length of newsgroup names.
UQ_REP_FILE
Specifies the name of the reply packet, if any.
UQ_HOST_NAME
Specifies the host name for ZipNews replies.
UQ_SUM_FILE
Specifies the name of the summary file, if any. Also causes uqwk to execute in summary mode.
UQ_SEL_FILE
Specifies the name of the selection file, if any. Also causes uqwk to execute in selection mode.
 

COMMAND LANGUAGE

If, while processing a reply packet, uqwk encounters a message to the username "UQWK", the body of the message will be interpreted as a small command language, used to display newsgroup names and subscribe or unsubscribe to newsgroups. The results of the execution of the commands will be mailed back to the originating user.

This is what the command language looks like:

HELP
List all the available commands.
SUBSCRIBE newsgroup
Subscribe to the named newsgroup.
UNSUBSCRIBE newsgroup
Unsubscribe from the named newsgroup. UNSUBSCRIBE ALL may be used to unsubscribe from all newsgroups. UNSUBSCRIBE ALL is also the only way to create a new .newsrc if it does not already exist.
CATCHUP newsgroup
Mark all articles in the named newsgroup as read.
GROUPS
List all newsgroups to which the user is currently subscribed.
ALLGROUPS
List all the available newsgroups and the number of articles in each one.
SHELL command
Execute the specified shell command. Anything written to standard output will be mailed back to the originating user.
 

NOTES

In QWK mode, it is possible to send mail to long email addresses by including, as the first thing in the body of the message, a line of the form:

To: user@site.com

(The space after the colon is important.)  

BUGS

The handling of MMDF mail files is kludgy and should be fixed.

In QWK mode, if the .newsrc file is modified significantly between the time a packet is created and the time replies to that packet are processed, it is possible that articles may be posted to the wrong newsgroup. If you use uqwk along with a conventional online newsreader, it may be wise to maintain a separate .newsrc file strictly for uqwk.

uqwk does not do mail locking. If new mail arrives while uqwk is packing mail, the new message may be lost. If you're worried about this, either make a copy of your mail spool before running uqwk, or run uqwk in read-only mode and erase your mail spool manually when you think it is safe.

uqwk does not support the ZipNews offline commands. To perform offline configuration using uqwk, send mail to the username "UQWK" in the format described in the COMMAND LANGUAGE section above.  

SEE ALSO

mail(1), inews(8)  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

uqwk was inspired by a conversation with Harry Lockwood (lockwood@world.std.com).

QWK format was designed by Mark "Sparky" Herring (mark.herring@nashville.com). The creator of SOUP is Rhys Weatherley (rhys@cs.uq.oz.au). The creator of ZipNews is Jack Kilday (jkilday@nlbbs.com).

Thanks to Patrick Y. Lee (patlee@panix.com) for the QWK documentation. Many thanks also to the beta-testers: Karl J. Vesterling (kjv@exucom.com) and Brian J. Coan (brian@igc.apc.org).

Many thanks to Ken Whedbee (kcw@grumpy.ksc.nasa.gov) for the NNTP modifications.

Many other people, too numerous to list here, contributed bug fixes and suggestions for improvement.  

AUTHOR

steve belczyk, steve1@genesis.nred.ma.us, seb3@gte.com.

Copyright (C) 1993-1994 by steve belczyk. Permission to use, copy, modify and distribute this software and its documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation. This software is provided "as is" without expressed or implied warranty.

 

Index

NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
OPTIONS
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
COMMAND LANGUAGE
NOTES
BUGS
SEE ALSO
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
AUTHOR
This document was created by man2html, using the manual pages.
Time: 21:32:04 GMT, December 30, 2022