Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!HOBBES.MDC.COM!johnb From: johnb@HOBBES.MDC.COM (John Breen) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apollo Subject: Re: Info on setting up net news. Message-ID: <9106072205.AA12094@hobbes.mdc.com> Date: 7 Jun 91 22:05:13 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 67 >Could some kind soul point me to the latest versions of the sources [of news >software] I will need and point out any configuration problems I should be >aware of? Ditto. Actually, I've been researching this a bit lately, so I'll throw out what I've found and see if anybody has any corrections/additions. For an internet (read non-UUCP ?) site, I've been told (by a news administrator that I'm going to try to get a feed from) that I would need the following (we're connected to the news "source" via NSFNet): " - cnews - nntp - rn, nn, or trn - plenty of disk space..." It looks like the news is actually transferred between the news servers by nntp. The part cnews plays isn't apparent to me (although I've only glanced at the documentation); also, some people have been recommending bnews - I don't know if this is due to problems with cnews, or if it's just because it's the one they're currently using. rn, nn, and trn are the "user interfaces" to the news system. I've used rn (on another system that I no longer have access to) and it seemed very nice, although I've seen postings here that indicated that rn/telnet/apollos don't mix (there is a "remote" form of rn - would this get around the problems?). I've also seen postings about problems with file locking between the news server and the node that the user is reading from (similar, I assume, to the sendmail problem described in the FAQ). The above software should be available by anonymous ftp from wuarchive.wustl.edu (and undoubtedly others), although I have no idea if it's the latest versions. The only other tidbit that I've got is the mention of the following book (from the cnews README file): "Managing UUCP and Usenet", by Tim O'Reilly and Grace Todino, O'Reilly & Associates, 1989, ISBN 0-937175-48-X. This latest edition covers C News as well as B News. It's not perfect but it's lots better than nothing. Inquiries to nuts@ora.com or uunet!ora!nuts. I have not yet been able to locate a copy of this (although I haven't looked that hard). If anyone out there who has access to a newsfeed is kind enough to forward this thread to one of the news.* groups, please stress that comp.sys.apollo must receive the followups, or else most of us who really need the answers won't get them. Actually, some of the biggest problems I have are more administrative in nature, namely: - finding someone in my company who has the resources (e.g., disk space) to store the news. - getting the company to spring for the fee the news "source" charges for support (it's a very small fee, one that I would almost be willing to pay out of my own pocket, but even getting $1 out of this place can take months). - worrying whether receiving newsgroups like "rec.*" and "alt.*" violate the NSFNet "access rules" (or company rules, for that matter - I would hate to get fired for reading "rec.woodworking" on a company machine :-). ----- John A. Breen | johnb@hobbes.mdc.com McDonnell Douglas Missile Systems Co. | DISCLAIMER: They speak for them, Tel: (314)234-4341 | I speak for me.