Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!hao!ames!amdahl!rtech!bobm
From: bobm@rtech.UUCP (Bob Mcqueer)
Newsgroups: comp.sources.d
Subject: vn update
Message-ID: <1488@rtech.UUCP>
Date: 20 Dec 87 23:54:00 GMT
Organization: Relational Technology Inc. Alameda, CA 94501
Lines: 37


Some time ago I said I would post an updated vn.  About eight weeks ago I
bounced it off to comp.sources.unix.  Since I haven't seen it appear there,
I've posted it to alt.sources.  Note that I am in no way intending to denigrate
the moderation of comp.sources.unix.  Perhaps there's an enormous backlog.
Perhaps there is some failure of e-mail between rtech and the uunet machine.
It's wonderful that somebody is willing to do the job of moderating the
group, and trying to build all the various & sundry stuff that comes across.
If vn eventually gets out there, so much the better.  But, I thought it ought
to get out, so it went out to alt.sources for the time being.

Anyhow, some notes.  The 8/87 version of vn will seem pretty much the same as
the old version, externally.  There are a few fixes and tweaks you will
notice, the most visible being the saving of your old input strings, allowing
you to edit them in contexts where it makes sense, such as search strings
and save file names.  There's also some logging features, and some more
flexibility in how you can configure mail to be handled.  I hope the logging
features are only used for system tuning, not for "big-brotherism".

The code has been reorganized to allow the interface to be used against
different news servers, as I have discussed before.  There is a "server.doc"
file describing the routines needed to provide an alternative server interface
layer.

The source files in this new posting should simply replace your old set -
there are some new files, and some old ones are obsolete.  Most of this is a
result of restructuring things to have a formal layer that can be replaced
for a different server.

NNTP.  I have made a version now which talks NNTP, and I'm soaking it here.
I will probably eventually post this as a set of diffs against what I'm
posting as 8/87 "standard" version.  I would be willing to have some of
you who have written to me regarding NNTP also be trial sites, since I think
our configuration for our NNTP server may be a trifle unorthodox.

------------
{amdahl, sun, mtxinu, hoptoad, cpsc6a}!rtech!bobm