OS/2 Shareware BBS: 35 Internet/35-Internet.zip/tass34x5.zip/Tass.man

Text File | 1993-12-06 | 4KB | 112 lines

..TH TASS 1A
..SH NAME
tass, rtass \- Visual threaded Usenet news reader
..SH SYNOPSIS
..nf
tass [-b] [-u] [-f newsrc-file] [newsgroups]
rtass [-b] [-u] [-f newsrc-file] [newsgroups]
..fi
..SH DESCRIPTION
Tass is a full screen threaded Usenet newsreader.
Tass has three newsreading levels:
the newsgroup selection page, the group index page and the article viewer.
Use the 'h' (help) command to view a list of the commands available at a
particular level.
..PP
On startup Tass will show a list of the newsgroups found in $HOME/.newsrc.
An arrow will point to the first newsgroup.  Move the arrow by either using
the terminal arrow keys or 'j' and 'k'.  Control-D will page down, control-U
will page up.  Enter a newsgroup by pressing RETURN.
..PP
The TAB key may be used to advance to the next newsgroup with unread articles
and enter it.  TAB from the newsgroup index page will progress through unread
articles.  After having read all of the new articles in a group, TAB will
then advance to the next newsgroup with unread articles.
..PP
rtass will attempt to connect to the NNTP port on the machine named in the
environment variable NNTPSERVER or contained in the file /etc/nntpserver.
rtass will index somewhat slower because the articles must be retrieved
via the NNTP protocol.
..PP
Refer to the Tass help screens for further commands.
..SH TASS INDEX FILES
In order to keep track of threads, Tass maintains an index for each group.
If Tass is made setuid to news, the indexes will be stored in the news spool
directory (typically /usr/spool/news).  If
Tass is not setuid, it will store
index files in the user's home directory, in a subdirectory called .tindx.
..PP
Entering a group the first time tends to be slow because the index file must
be built from scratch.  Subsequent readings of a group will cause
Tass to incrementally update the index file, adding or removing entries as new
articles come in or as news expires.
..PP
Tass may be run in update mode (the -u option) to update a series of groups
at one time.  tass -u is usually run from cron.
..PP
Do not make rtass setuid news since news will be obtained via NNTP and not
from /usr/spool/news.
..SH SIGNATURES
Tass will recognize a signature in either $HOME/.signature or $HOME/.Sig.
If .signature exists, then the signature will be pulled into the editor
for Tass mail commands.  A signature in .signature will not be pulled
into the editor for posting commands since the inews program
will append the signature itself.
..PP
A signature in .Sig will be pulled into the editor for both posting
and mailing commands.
..SH "ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES"
..TP
EDITOR
Which editor to use.  Defaults to /usr/bin/vi unless your administrator has
changed it.
..TP
SHELL
Which shell to use for sub-shells.  Usually set as your login shell
automatically; otherwise defaults to /bin/sh.
..TP
TASS_BACKWARDS
Users uncomfortable with newsreaders other than rn may set the environment
variable TASS_BACKWARDS, which will switch the following pairs of keys:

..nf
        space and tab
        n and N
        p and P
..fi

Invoking tass with -b has the same effect as setting TASS_BACKWARDS.
..SH OPTIONS
..I Tass
recognizes the following options:
..TP
-b
Turns on the TASS_BACKWARDS option (see above).
..TP
-f file
Use the indicated file in place of $HOME/.newsrc.
..TP
-u
Run Tass in update mode.  Tass will make indexes current for every group
in its .newsrc.

A good way to keep Tass index files current is to run tass -u from cron:

..nf
20 6 * * *    /usr/local/bin/tass -u -f /usr/lib/news/tass_groups
..fi

This would update the index files for those groups appearing in
/usr/lib/news/tass_groups.  To index all of the groups on the system,
run tass -u with -f indicating the active file:

..nf
20 6 * * *    /usr/local/bin/tass -u -f /usr/lib/news/active
..fi

..SH AUTHOR
..nf
Rich Skrenta
[e-mail] or [e-mail].
..fi