NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #19/NN_1992_19.iso/spool/comp/archives/3165

Internet Message Format | 1992-08-30 | 6.6 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!stanford.edu!agate!agate!usenet
From: [e-mail] (Rich Salz)
Newsgroups: comp.archives
Subject: [news.software.b] Announcing the release of InterNetNews
Followup-To: news.software.b,news.software.nntp
Date: 30 Aug 1992 17:01:43 GMT
Organization: UUNET Communications
Lines: 144
Approved: [e-mail]
Distribution: world
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
References: <[e-mail]>
NNTP-Posting-Host: soda.berkeley.edu
X-Original-Newsgroups: news.software.b,news.software.nntp
X-Original-Date: 20 Aug 1992 10:50:54 -0400

Archive-name: auto/news.software.b/Announcing-the-release-of-InterNetNews

I am pleased to announce the official release of InterNetNews.

InterNetNews, or INN, is a news transport system.  The core part of the
package is a single long-running daemon that handles all incoming NNTP
connections.  It files the articles and arranges for them to be forwarded
to downstream sites.  Because it is long-running, it can be directed to
spawn other long-running processes, telling them exactly when an article
should be sent to a feed.

INN is a complete Usenet system.  It provides article expiration and
archiving, NNTP transport, and UUCP support.  Nntplink works fine.

INN does not include a newsreader.  It does provide a version of the NNTP
reference implementation "clientlib" routines so that rrn and other
newsreaders compile with little trouble.  The next release of xrn will
include INN support.

The spool directory is unchanged while the history database is
upwardly-compatible with that of C News and the log file is very similar.
All system configuration files are different.

INN assumes that memory is cheap and fast while disks are slow.  No
temporary files are used while incoming articles are being received, and
once processed the entire article is written out using a single system
call (this includes updating the Path and Xref headers).  The active file
is kept in memory, and the newsfeeds file is parsed at start-up to build a
complete matrix of which sites receive which newsgroups.  A paper
describing the implementation was presented at the June 1992 Usenix
conference.

INN uses many features of standard BSD sockets including non-blocking
I/O.  It is highly doubtful that the official version will ever provide
support for TLI, DECNET, or other facilities.  Among others, INN beta
sites include ATT Unix System V Release 4, Apple A/UX, BSDI BSD/386 0.3.3,
DEC Ultrix 3.x and 4.x, HP-UX s800 8.0, IBM AIX 3.1 and 3.2, Next NeXT-OS
2.1, Pyramid OSx 5.1, SCO Xenix 2.3.4, SGI Irix 4.0, Sequent Dynix 3.0.4
and 3.0.12, and Sun SunOS 3.5 and 4.x.

Almost all of the beta-testers have reported faster performance and less
load once they installed INN.  Many people find it easy to maintain.

A number of sites have graciously agreed to provide FTP access to this
release.  The machine names and directories are listed below.  Within
those directories you will find one or more of the following files:
    README            Intro and unpacking instructions;
     -or-            a copy appears at the end of this
    README.INN        article.
    inn1.0.tar.Z        The full distribution
    inn.usenix.ps.Z        The Usenix paper on INN

The sites providing access are:
    cs.utexas.edu        /pub/inn
    ftp.cs.widener.edu    /pub/inn
    ftp.germany.eu.net    /pub/news/inn
    ftp.ira.uka.de        pub/network/news
    ftp.msen.com        /pub/packages/inn
    ftp.uu.net        /pub/news/nntp/inn
    gatekeeper.dec.com    /pub/news/inn
    grasp1.univ-lyon1.fr    /pub/unix/news/inn
    munnari.oz.au        /pub/news/inn
    sparky.Sterling.COM    /news/inn
    src.doc.ic.ac.uk    /computing/usenet/software/transport
    stasys.sta.sub.org    /pub/src/inn
        (Stasys also has anonymous UUCP; contact <[e-mail]>.
    ucsd.edu        /INN
    usc.edu            /pub/inn

Discussion about INN should be posted to news.software.b and
news.software.nntp.  Email should be sent to <[e-mail]>.  Please
do NOT send it to <[e-mail]> -- it will only just delay your response
since I will have to forward it to UUNET.

The README follows after the formfeed.
    /r$

InterNetNews -- the Internet meets Netnews
------------------------------------------
"Remember to tell your kids about the days when USENET was store and
 forward."  -- Jim Thompson, as part of a message that said he was getting
 under 200ms propagation, disk to disk.

InterNetNews is a complete Usenet system.  The cornerstone of the package
is innd, an NNTP server that multiplexes all I/O.  Think of it as an nntpd
merged with the B News inews, or as a C News relaynews that reads multiple
NNTP streams.  Newsreading is handled by a separate server, nnrpd, that is
spawned for each client.  Both innd and nnrpd have some slight variances
from the NNTP protocol; see the manpages.

The distribution is a compressed tar file.  Create a directory, cd into it,
and unpack the tar file in that directory.  For example:
    ; mkdir inn
    ; cd inn
    ; ftp ftp.uu.net
    ftp> user anonymous <[e-mail]>
    ftp> type image
    ftp> get pub/news/nntp/inn/inn.tar.Z inn.tar.Z
    ftp> quit
    ; uncompress <inn.tar.Z | tar vxf -
    ; rm inn.tar.Z

The installation instructions are in Install.ms.  This is an nroff/troff
document that uses the -ms macro package, and is about 30 typeset pages.
The distribution has this file split into two pieces; you can join them
by typing either of the following commmands:
    ; make Install.ms
    ; cat Install.ms.? >Install.ms
You should probably print out a copy of config/config.dist when you print
out the installation manual.

Please read the COPYRIGHT.  This package has NO WARRANTY; use at your
own risk.

When updating from a previous release, you will usually want to do "make
update" from the top-level directory.  If/when you do "make install" in
the site directory, watch what it does carefully!

If you have a previous release you will probably also want to update the
pathnames, etc., in the new config file from your old config.  Here is one
way to do that:
    % cd config
    % make subst
    % cp config.dist config.data
    % ./subst -f {OLDFILE} config.data
where "{OLDFILE}" names your old config.data file.

Configuration is done using subst.   Subst is in config/subst.sh and
doc/subst.1.  The history file is written using DBZ.  The DBZ sources and
manual page are in the dbz directory.  Unlike subst, DBZ is kept
separately, to make it easier to track the C News release.  The subst
script and DBZ data utilities are currently at the "Performance Release"
patch date.  Thanks to Henry Spencer and Geoff Collyer for permission to
use and redistribute subst, and to Jon Zeef for permission to use DBZ as
modified by Henry.

I hope you find INN useful.  If you like it, send me a postcard.
    Rich $alz
    Open Software Foundation
    11 Cambridge Center
    Cambridge, MA  02142
    INN mail:    <[e-mail]>
    Other mail:    <[e-mail]>