1374 lines
42 KiB
Plaintext
1374 lines
42 KiB
Plaintext
.\" Copyright (c) 1986 The Regents of the University of California.
|
|
.\" All rights reserved.
|
|
.\"
|
|
.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
|
|
.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
|
|
.\" are met:
|
|
.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
|
|
.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
|
|
.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
|
|
.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
|
|
.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
|
|
.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
|
|
.\" must display the following acknowledgement:
|
|
.\" This product includes software developed by the University of
|
|
.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors.
|
|
.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
|
|
.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
|
|
.\" without specific prior written permission.
|
|
.\"
|
|
.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
|
|
.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
|
|
.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
|
|
.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
|
|
.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
|
|
.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
|
|
.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
|
|
.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
|
|
.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
|
|
.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
|
|
.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
|
|
.\"
|
|
.\" @(#)howto.mn 6.2 (Berkeley) 4/17/91
|
|
.\"
|
|
.\" Modified 9/29/85 by Matt Bishop (mab@riacs.arpa)
|
|
.\" to work with the TROFF news document macros.
|
|
.ds h0 "How to Read the Network News
|
|
.ds h1
|
|
.ds h2 USD:9-%
|
|
.ds f0 "\*(vr
|
|
.ds f1
|
|
.ds f2 "February 26, 1986
|
|
.de Qp \" quoted command as hanging char
|
|
.lp "\\f3\\$1\\f1" \\$2
|
|
..
|
|
.de Qc \" quoted command as hanging string
|
|
.lp "\\f3<\\s-2\\$1\\s0>\\f1" \\$2
|
|
..
|
|
.de Op \" option as hanging string
|
|
.lp "\\f3\\$1\\f1" \\$2
|
|
..
|
|
.mt
|
|
How to Read the Network News
|
|
.au
|
|
Mark R. Horton
|
|
.ai
|
|
AT&T Bell Laboratories
|
|
Columbus, OH 43213
|
|
.au
|
|
Revised by Rick Adams for 2.10.3
|
|
.bt
|
|
.hu
|
|
What is the Network News?
|
|
.pg
|
|
USENET (Users' Network)
|
|
is a bulletin board shared among many
|
|
computer systems around the world.
|
|
USENET is a logical network,
|
|
sitting on top of several physical networks,
|
|
among them
|
|
.i UUCP ,
|
|
.i BLICN ,
|
|
.i BERKNET ,
|
|
.i X.25 ,
|
|
and the
|
|
.i ARPANET .
|
|
Sites on USENET include many universities,
|
|
private companies and research organizations.
|
|
Most of the members of USENET are either
|
|
university computer science departments
|
|
or part of AT&T.
|
|
Currently, there are over 2000 USENET sites in the USA, Canada, Europe, Japan
|
|
and Korea with more joining every day. Most are running the
|
|
.ux
|
|
operating system.
|
|
.pg
|
|
The network news,
|
|
or simply
|
|
.i netnews ,
|
|
is the set of programs that provide access to the news
|
|
and transfer it from one machine to the next.
|
|
Netnews was originally written at Duke University
|
|
and has been modified extensively by the University
|
|
of California at Berkeley and others.
|
|
Netnews allows articles to be posted for limited or very wide distribution.
|
|
This document contains a list of newsgroups
|
|
that were active at the time the document was written.
|
|
It exists
|
|
to assist you in determining which newsgroups you may
|
|
want to subscribe to.
|
|
When creating a new article,
|
|
the level of distribution can be controlled
|
|
by use of the
|
|
.cf Distribution
|
|
field.
|
|
This will prevent notices of apartments for rent in New Jersey
|
|
being broadcast to California
|
|
(or even Europe).
|
|
.pg
|
|
Any user can post an article,
|
|
which will be sent out to the network
|
|
to be read by persons interested in that topic.
|
|
You can specify which topics are of interest to you by putting them in a
|
|
.i "subscription list" .
|
|
Then,
|
|
whenever you ask to read news,
|
|
the news reading program will present all unread articles of interest.
|
|
There are also facilities for browsing through old news,
|
|
posting follow-up articles,
|
|
and sending direct electronic mail replies to the author of an article.
|
|
.pg
|
|
This paper is a tutorial,
|
|
aimed at the user who wants to read and possibly post news.
|
|
The system administrator who must install the software
|
|
should see the companion document
|
|
.i "USENET Version B Installation" .
|
|
.hu
|
|
Why USENET?
|
|
.pg
|
|
USENET is useful in a number of ways.
|
|
Someone wishing to announce a new program or product can reach a wide audience.
|
|
A user can ask \*(lqDoes anyone have an
|
|
.i x ?\*(rq
|
|
and will usually get several responses within a day or two.
|
|
Bug reports and their fixes can be made quickly available
|
|
without the usual overhead of sending out mass mailings.
|
|
Discussions involving many people at different locations
|
|
can take place without having to get everyone together.
|
|
.pg
|
|
Another facility with similar capabilities to
|
|
.i netnews
|
|
is the
|
|
.i "electronic mailing list" .
|
|
A mailing list is a collection of electronic mailing addresses of users
|
|
who are interested in a particular topic.
|
|
By sending electronic mail to the list,
|
|
all users on the list receive a copy of the article.
|
|
While the mailing list facility is quite useful,
|
|
USENET offers a number of advantages not present in mailing lists.
|
|
Getting yourself on a mailing list is not always easy.
|
|
You have to figure out who maintains the list and ask them to put you on it.
|
|
Often these people are out of town or busy,
|
|
and don't put you on the list for several days.
|
|
Sometimes you have to send mail to the entire mailing list,
|
|
hoping that one of the readers will tell you who maintains the list.
|
|
Once you are on the list,
|
|
you often find yourself in the middle of a discussion.
|
|
Netnews keeps old articles around until they expire (usually about two weeks)
|
|
so you can browse through old news to catch up on what you missed.
|
|
Similarly,
|
|
referring to an old article is easy,
|
|
without having to keep a personal file of all old mail to the list.
|
|
.pg
|
|
Another advantage is appreciated by the other users of the system.
|
|
There is less overhead in having only one copy of each message
|
|
sent to each machine,
|
|
rather than having separate copies sent
|
|
to each of several users on the same machine.
|
|
This cuts down on computer time to process the messages,
|
|
and on-line costs for telephone calls to transfer messages
|
|
from one machine to another (when phone lines are used).
|
|
Another advantage is in the disk space consumed.
|
|
When only one message is sent to each system,
|
|
only one copy of the message is kept on disk.
|
|
In a mailing list environment,
|
|
each user has a copy in a mailbox.
|
|
.hu
|
|
How do I Read News?
|
|
.pg
|
|
In the USENET jargon,
|
|
interest topics are called
|
|
.i newsgroups .
|
|
A newsgroup list appears in a later section,
|
|
current as this paper was written.
|
|
You have your own
|
|
.i "subscription list"
|
|
of newsgroups to which you are said to
|
|
.i subscribe .
|
|
.pg
|
|
The simplest way to read news is to type the command:
|
|
.sd c
|
|
readnews
|
|
.ed
|
|
Other possibilities include: a full-screen-oriented news reading program,
|
|
.i vnews (1),
|
|
(described in the Appendix) and the
|
|
.i notesfile
|
|
system, which can also be used for news (described in a separate paper.)
|
|
Each newsgroup to which you subscribe will be presented,
|
|
one article at a time.
|
|
As each article is presented,
|
|
you will be shown the
|
|
.i header
|
|
(containing the name of the author,
|
|
the subject,
|
|
and the length of the article)
|
|
and you will be asked if you want more.
|
|
There are a number of possible choices you can make at this point.
|
|
The three most common
|
|
.qp y , (
|
|
.qp n ,
|
|
and
|
|
.qp q )
|
|
are suggested by the program.
|
|
(To see a complete list of possible responses,
|
|
type
|
|
.qp ?
|
|
for help.)
|
|
You can type
|
|
.qp y
|
|
for \*(lqyes\*(rq
|
|
(or simply hit
|
|
.qc RETURN )
|
|
and the rest of the message will be displayed.
|
|
(If the message is long,
|
|
it may stop before it runs off the top of the screen.
|
|
Type
|
|
.qc SPACE
|
|
or
|
|
.qc RETURN
|
|
to see more of the message.
|
|
Another choice you can make is
|
|
.qp n
|
|
for \*(lqno\*(rq.
|
|
This means you are not interested in the message \-
|
|
it will not be offered to you again.
|
|
A third option is
|
|
.qp q
|
|
for \*(lqquit\*(rq.
|
|
This causes a record to be made of which articles you read
|
|
(or refused)
|
|
and you will exit netnews.
|
|
When you have read all the news,
|
|
this happens automatically.
|
|
The
|
|
.qp q
|
|
command is mainly useful if you are in a hurry
|
|
and don't have time to read all the news right now.
|
|
(Many users put a
|
|
.i readnews (1)
|
|
or
|
|
.i checknews (1)
|
|
command in their
|
|
.i .profile
|
|
or
|
|
.i .login
|
|
files so that they will see new news each time they log in.)
|
|
.pg
|
|
If you are reading news for the first time,
|
|
you may find yourself swamped by the volume of unread news,
|
|
especially if the default subscription is
|
|
.ng all .
|
|
Don't let this bother you.
|
|
If you are getting newsgroups in which you have no interest,
|
|
you can change your subscription list
|
|
(see below).
|
|
Also,
|
|
bear in mind that what you see
|
|
is probably at least two weeks' accumulation of news.
|
|
If you want to just get rid of all old news and start anew,
|
|
type
|
|
.sd c
|
|
readnews \-p \-n all > /dev/null &
|
|
.ed
|
|
which will throw away all old news,
|
|
recording that you have seen it all.
|
|
(The
|
|
.qp &
|
|
puts it in the background;
|
|
chances are that there is so much old news on your machine
|
|
that you won't want to wait for it all.)
|
|
Or,
|
|
you can use the
|
|
.qp K
|
|
command to mark all articles in the current newsgroup as read.
|
|
.pg
|
|
Once you catch up with (or ignore) all the old news,
|
|
the news will come in daily at a more manageable rate.
|
|
(If the daily rate is still too much
|
|
you may wish to unsubscribe to some of the higher volume, less useful newsgroups.)
|
|
Finally,
|
|
note that while an article is printing,
|
|
you can hit
|
|
your interrupt character
|
|
(usually
|
|
.qc CONTROL-C
|
|
or
|
|
.qc DELETE ),
|
|
which will throw away the rest of the article.
|
|
.pg
|
|
Among the other commands you can type after seeing the header
|
|
of an article are:
|
|
.Qp x 13
|
|
Exit
|
|
.i readnews .
|
|
This is different from
|
|
.qp q
|
|
in that the
|
|
.qp q
|
|
command
|
|
will update the record of which articles you have read,
|
|
but
|
|
.qp x
|
|
will pretend you never started
|
|
.i readnews .
|
|
.Qp N 13
|
|
Go on to the next newsgroup.
|
|
The remaining articles in the current newsgroup are considered
|
|
.i unread ,
|
|
and will be offered to you again the next time you read news.
|
|
.Qp "s \f2file\fP" 13
|
|
The article is saved in a disk file with the given name.
|
|
In practice,
|
|
what usually happens is that an article is printed,
|
|
and then
|
|
.i readnews
|
|
goes on to print the header of the next article
|
|
before you get a chance to type anything.
|
|
So you usually want to write out the
|
|
.i previous
|
|
message
|
|
(the last one you have read in full);
|
|
in this case,
|
|
use the form
|
|
.qp s\-
|
|
.i filename .
|
|
.Qp e 13
|
|
Erase the memory of having seen this article.
|
|
It will be offered to you again next time,
|
|
as though you had never seen it.
|
|
The
|
|
.qp e\-
|
|
case variation (erase memory of the previously read article instead of
|
|
the current article)
|
|
is useful for checking follow-ups to see
|
|
if anyone has already said what you wanted to say.
|
|
.Qp r 13
|
|
Reply to the author of the message.
|
|
You will be placed in the editor,
|
|
with a set of headers derived from the message you are replying to.
|
|
Type in your message after the blank line.
|
|
If you wish to edit the header list
|
|
to add more recipients or send carbon copies,
|
|
for instance,
|
|
you can edit the header lines.
|
|
Anyone listed on a line beginning with
|
|
.hf To
|
|
or
|
|
.hf Cc
|
|
will receive a copy of your reply.
|
|
Note that the path used to receive a piece of news may not be the fastest
|
|
way to reply by mail. If speed is important and you know a faster way,
|
|
edit it in place of what the reply command supplied.
|
|
A mail command will then be started up,
|
|
addressed to the persons listed in the header.
|
|
You are then returned to
|
|
.i readnews .
|
|
The case
|
|
.qp r\-
|
|
is also useful to reply to the previous message.
|
|
Another variation on this is
|
|
.qp rd\-
|
|
which puts you in
|
|
.b $MAILER
|
|
(or
|
|
.i mail (1)
|
|
by default)
|
|
to type in your reply directly.
|
|
.Qp f 13
|
|
Post a follow-up message to the same newsgroup.
|
|
This posts an article on this newsgroup
|
|
with the same title as the original article.
|
|
Use common sense when posting follow-ups. (Read Matt Bishop's paper
|
|
\*(lqHow to use USENET Effectively\*(rq for extended discussion of when
|
|
and when not to post -- many follow-up articles should have just been replies.)
|
|
You will be placed in the editor. Enter your message and exit.
|
|
The case
|
|
.qp f\-
|
|
is also useful to follow up the previous message.
|
|
In each case,
|
|
the editor you are placed in will be
|
|
.i vi (1)
|
|
unless you set
|
|
.b EDITOR
|
|
(in your environment) to some other editor.
|
|
You should enter the text of the follow-up after the blank line.
|
|
.Qp + 13
|
|
The article is skipped for now.
|
|
The next time you read news,
|
|
you will be offered this article again.
|
|
.Qp \- 13
|
|
Go back to the previous article.
|
|
This toggles,
|
|
so that two
|
|
.qp \- 's
|
|
get you the current article.
|
|
.Qp b 13
|
|
Back up one article in the current group.
|
|
This is not necessarily the previous article.
|
|
.Qp U 13
|
|
Unsubscribe from this newsgroup.
|
|
Your
|
|
.i \&.newsrc (5)
|
|
file will be edited to change the
|
|
.qp :
|
|
for that newsgroup to an
|
|
.qp !
|
|
preventing you from being shown that newsgroup again.
|
|
.Qp ? 13
|
|
If you type any unrecognized command,
|
|
a summary of valid commands will be printed.
|
|
.hu
|
|
Changing your Subscription List
|
|
.pg
|
|
If you take no special action you will subscribe to a default subscription list.
|
|
This default varies locally.
|
|
To find out your local default,
|
|
type
|
|
.sd c
|
|
readnews \-s
|
|
.ed
|
|
Typically this list will include all newsgroups ending in \*(lqgeneral\*(rq,
|
|
such as
|
|
.ng general ,
|
|
and
|
|
.ng net.general .
|
|
(As distributed,
|
|
the default is
|
|
.ng general\f1,\fPall.general .
|
|
Another popular default is
|
|
.ng all .)
|
|
You can change this by creating a file in your home directory named
|
|
.i .newsrc
|
|
which contains as its first line a line of the form:
|
|
.sd c
|
|
options \-n newsgroup,newsgroup,newsgroup ...
|
|
.ed
|
|
If your lines get too long,
|
|
you can continue them on subsequent lines
|
|
by beginning those lines with a space.
|
|
(The netnews system will put extra lines in this file
|
|
to record which articles you have read.
|
|
You should ignore these lines unless you want to edit them.)
|
|
For example,
|
|
if you are creating a subscription list for the first time,
|
|
and have already read news,
|
|
you will find some text already in your
|
|
.i .newsrc
|
|
file,
|
|
recording which articles you have read.
|
|
You should put your
|
|
.b options
|
|
line before the first line of the file.)
|
|
Thus,
|
|
.sd c
|
|
options \-n general,net.general,mod.human-nets
|
|
.ed
|
|
will subscribe to those three newsgroups.
|
|
.pg
|
|
An
|
|
.qp !
|
|
can be used to exclude certain newsgroups and the word
|
|
.ng all
|
|
can be used as a wild card,
|
|
representing any newsgroup.
|
|
You can also use
|
|
.ng all
|
|
as a prefix or suffix to match a class of newsgroups.
|
|
For example,
|
|
.sd c
|
|
options \-n all,!mod.all,!net.jokes,!all.unix-all
|
|
.ed
|
|
will result in a subscription to all newsgroups except for ARPANET news,
|
|
jokes,
|
|
and any
|
|
.ux
|
|
information.
|
|
The metacharacter
|
|
.qp .
|
|
is like
|
|
.qp /
|
|
to the shell,
|
|
and
|
|
.ng all
|
|
is like
|
|
.qp * .
|
|
.pg
|
|
A simpler way to subscribe to news is to subscribe to
|
|
.ng all ,
|
|
and then use the
|
|
.qp U
|
|
.i readnews
|
|
command to unsubscribe to newsgroups you don't want to read.
|
|
This way you will see new newsgroups that are created,
|
|
get a chance to evaluate them,
|
|
and then unsubscribe to those that don't interest you.
|
|
.pg
|
|
The order of the newsgroups in your
|
|
.i .newsrc
|
|
(after the options line)
|
|
is the order in which newsgroups will be shown.
|
|
If you want something other than the default,
|
|
move the lines around until you are satisfied with the order.
|
|
Be careful to keep the options line as the first line in the file.
|
|
.hu
|
|
Submitting Articles
|
|
.pg
|
|
To submit a new news article type
|
|
.sd c
|
|
postnews
|
|
.ed
|
|
First,
|
|
it will ask you if this is a follow-up to an article.
|
|
Answer
|
|
.b yes
|
|
or
|
|
.b no .
|
|
If
|
|
.b yes ,
|
|
you really should have done an
|
|
.qp f
|
|
from
|
|
.i readnews ,
|
|
but it will try and figure out which article you are following up to.
|
|
It will ask for the newsgroup in which you read the article
|
|
and the article number.
|
|
If you can't remember,
|
|
go back to
|
|
.i readnews
|
|
and find out.
|
|
It is important that discussions are kept together.
|
|
It is very frustrating for someone to read a follow-up that says:
|
|
\&\*(lqI agree.
|
|
It's very dangerous to leave that program as distributed.\*(rq
|
|
and not have any idea what the poster was referring to.
|
|
.pg
|
|
If you answer
|
|
.b no ,
|
|
.i postnews (1)
|
|
will ask you for the subject of the new article.
|
|
This should be as informative as possible.
|
|
For example,
|
|
.cf "'67 Porsche for sale in New Jersey"
|
|
is much better than
|
|
.cf "Car for sale"
|
|
or even
|
|
.cf "For sale" .
|
|
It will then ask which newsgroups you want the article posted in.
|
|
If you are unsure,
|
|
type
|
|
.qp ?
|
|
instead of a specific newsgroup
|
|
and it will show you the list of currently available groups.
|
|
Then,
|
|
you will be asked how far your article should be distributed.
|
|
It is important to keep this as small as possible
|
|
to accomplish the purpose of your article.
|
|
Remember that many newsgroups are read in Europe,
|
|
Australia,
|
|
and Asia in addition to the United States and Canada.
|
|
It does no good
|
|
(to use the previous example)
|
|
to post a
|
|
.cf "Car for sale in New Jersey"
|
|
article with a distribution of
|
|
.ng world .
|
|
There is almost no chance that a person in Sweden or Korea
|
|
would be interested in buying your car (even if it is a Porsche).
|
|
It is a waste of money and computer resources
|
|
to transmit the article that far.
|
|
For this specific case,
|
|
the appropriate distribution would be
|
|
.ng nj
|
|
or only in New Jersey.
|
|
If there were no local distribution available,
|
|
at least it should be confined to
|
|
.ng usa .
|
|
If you are unsure of the distributions available at your site,
|
|
type
|
|
.qp ?
|
|
instead of a distribution
|
|
and you will receive a list of distributions valid for your site.
|
|
If the distribution is
|
|
.ng world ,
|
|
your article will be read (perhaps with disgust)
|
|
by thousands of people around the world.
|
|
.pg
|
|
Then you will be placed in the editor.
|
|
Enter the text of your article,
|
|
after the blank line,
|
|
and exit the editor.
|
|
The article will be posted to the newsgroups specified.
|
|
If you change your mind about the headers while you are still in the editor,
|
|
you can edit them as well.
|
|
Extra headers can also be added before the blank line.
|
|
.hu
|
|
Browsing through Old News
|
|
.pg
|
|
There are a number of command line options to the
|
|
.i readnews
|
|
command to help you find an old article you want to see again.
|
|
The
|
|
.op \-n
|
|
.i newsgroups
|
|
option restricts your search to certain newsgroups.
|
|
The
|
|
.op \-x
|
|
option arranges to ignore the record of articles read,
|
|
which is kept in your
|
|
.i \&.newsrc
|
|
file.
|
|
This will cause all articles in all newsgroups to which you
|
|
subscribe to be displayed,
|
|
even those which you have already seen.
|
|
It also causes
|
|
.i readnews
|
|
to not update the
|
|
.i \&.newsrc
|
|
file.
|
|
The
|
|
.op \-a
|
|
.i date
|
|
option asks for news received after the given
|
|
.i date .
|
|
Note that even with the
|
|
.op \-a
|
|
option, only articles you have not already seen will be printed,
|
|
unless you combine it with the
|
|
.op \-x
|
|
option.
|
|
(Articles are kept on file until they expire,
|
|
typically after two weeks.)
|
|
The
|
|
.op \-t
|
|
.i keywords
|
|
option restricts the query to articles mentioning one of the
|
|
.i keywords
|
|
in the title of the article.
|
|
Thus,
|
|
the command
|
|
.sd c
|
|
readnews \-n net.unix \-x \-a last thursday \-t setuid
|
|
.ed
|
|
asks for all articles in newsgroup
|
|
.ng net.unix
|
|
since last Thursday about the setuid feature.
|
|
(Be careful with the
|
|
.op \-t
|
|
option.
|
|
The above example will not find articles about
|
|
.cf suid ,
|
|
nor will it find articles with no title or
|
|
whose author did not use the word
|
|
.cf setuid
|
|
in the title.)
|
|
.pg
|
|
Other useful options include the
|
|
.op \-l
|
|
option (which lists only the headers of articles \-
|
|
a useful form for browsing through lots of messages.)
|
|
The
|
|
.op \-p
|
|
option prints the messages without asking for any input;
|
|
this is similar to some older news programs on many
|
|
.ux
|
|
systems and is useful for directing output to a printer.
|
|
The
|
|
.op \-r
|
|
option produces articles in reverse order,
|
|
from newest to oldest.
|
|
.hu
|
|
User Interfaces
|
|
.pg
|
|
The
|
|
.i "user interface"
|
|
of a program is the view it presents to the user,
|
|
that is,
|
|
what it prints and what it allows you to type.
|
|
.i Readnews
|
|
has options allowing you to use different user interfaces.
|
|
The interface described above is called the \*(lqmsgs\*(rq interface
|
|
because it mimics the style of the Berkeley
|
|
.i msgs (1)
|
|
program.
|
|
(This program,
|
|
in turn,
|
|
mimics a program at MIT of the same name.)
|
|
The key element of the msgs interface is that after printing the header,
|
|
you are asked if you want the rest of the message.
|
|
.pg
|
|
Another interface is available with the
|
|
.op \-c
|
|
option.
|
|
In this case,
|
|
the entire message is printed,
|
|
header and body,
|
|
and you are prompted at the end of the message.
|
|
The command options are the same as the msgs interface,
|
|
but it is usually not necessary to use the
|
|
.qp \-
|
|
suffix on the
|
|
.qp r ,
|
|
.qp s ,
|
|
or
|
|
.qp f
|
|
commands.
|
|
This interface is called the \*(lq/bin/mail\*(rq
|
|
(pronounced \*(lqbin mail\*(lq)
|
|
interface,
|
|
because it mimics the
|
|
.ux
|
|
program of that name.
|
|
.pg
|
|
A third interface is the
|
|
.i Mail (1)
|
|
(pronounced \*(lqcap mail\*(rq) interface,
|
|
available with the
|
|
.op \-M
|
|
option.
|
|
This invokes the
|
|
.i Mail
|
|
program directly,
|
|
and allows you to read news with the same commands as you read mail.
|
|
(This interface may not work on your system \-
|
|
it requires a special version of
|
|
.i Mail
|
|
with a
|
|
.qp \-T
|
|
option.)
|
|
.pg
|
|
A fourth interface, is the MH news/mail program from Rand.
|
|
That program can be used directly to read network news.
|
|
.pg
|
|
A fifth interface,
|
|
.i vnews ,
|
|
which works well on display terminals, is described in the Appendix.
|
|
.pg
|
|
A sixth possibility is the
|
|
.i notesfile
|
|
system, described in a separate paper. It is also display-oriented.
|
|
.pg
|
|
A seventh possibility is to use your favorite mail system as an interface.
|
|
There are a number of different mail reading programs, including
|
|
.i /bin/mail (1),
|
|
.i Mail ,
|
|
.i msg (1),
|
|
and MH.
|
|
Any mail system with an option to specify an alternative mailbox
|
|
can be used to read news.
|
|
For example,
|
|
to use
|
|
.i Mail
|
|
without the
|
|
.qp \-M
|
|
option,
|
|
type
|
|
.sd c
|
|
readnews \-c "Mail \-f %"
|
|
.ed
|
|
The shell command in quotes is invoked as a child of
|
|
.i readnews.
|
|
The
|
|
.qp \-f
|
|
option to
|
|
.i Mail
|
|
names the alternative mailbox.
|
|
.i Readnews
|
|
will put the news in a temporary file,
|
|
and give the name of this file to the mailer in place of the
|
|
.qp % .
|
|
There is an important difference when using this kind of interface.
|
|
The mailers do not give any indication of which articles you read
|
|
and which ones you skipped.
|
|
.i Readnews
|
|
will assume you read
|
|
.i all
|
|
the articles,
|
|
even if you didn't,
|
|
and mark them all read.
|
|
By contrast,
|
|
the
|
|
.op \-M
|
|
option uses the
|
|
.op \-T
|
|
option to
|
|
.i Mail ,
|
|
asking
|
|
.i Mail
|
|
to tell
|
|
.i readnews
|
|
which articles you read.
|
|
.hu
|
|
Getting News when you Log In
|
|
.pg
|
|
Most users like to be told when they first log in if there is any news.
|
|
This way they are reminded of news,
|
|
but are not interrupted by it during the day.
|
|
If you log in once in the morning,
|
|
you can think of getting the news as reading the morning newspaper.
|
|
It is common to put a
|
|
.i checknews
|
|
or
|
|
.i readnews
|
|
command in your
|
|
.i .profile
|
|
or
|
|
.i .login
|
|
file of commands that are executed when you log in.
|
|
.pg
|
|
Since there might not be any news,
|
|
and since the
|
|
.i readnews
|
|
command goes to a considerable amount of work to find all unread news
|
|
(assuming you are going to read it),
|
|
there is another command,
|
|
called
|
|
.i checknews ,
|
|
which tells you if there is any news.
|
|
The
|
|
.i checknews
|
|
command is smaller and faster than
|
|
.i readnews ,
|
|
and was designed especially for a login file.
|
|
There are also options to be silent if there is (or is not) news,
|
|
and to start up
|
|
.i readnews
|
|
automatically if there is news.
|
|
.pg
|
|
The options to
|
|
.i checknews
|
|
are:
|
|
.Op \-y 10
|
|
Print \*(lqThere is news\*(rq if there is any unread news.
|
|
.Op \-v 10
|
|
If
|
|
.op \-y
|
|
is also given,
|
|
instead of printing \*(lqThere is news\*(rq,
|
|
prints \*(lqNews: \fInewsgroup\fP ...\*(rq
|
|
giving the name of the first newsgroup containing unread news.
|
|
If
|
|
.ng general
|
|
is the first newsgroup presented,
|
|
this can be used to tell users whether the unread news is important.
|
|
.Op \-n 10
|
|
Print \*(lqNo news\*(rq if there is no unread news.
|
|
.Op \-e 10
|
|
If there is any unread news,
|
|
start up
|
|
.i readnews.
|
|
Any additional arguments after the
|
|
.op \-e
|
|
will be passed to readnews.
|
|
.pg
|
|
Thus,
|
|
.sd c
|
|
checknews \-yn
|
|
.ed
|
|
tells you whether there is any unread news.
|
|
.sd c
|
|
checknews \-e \-M
|
|
.ed
|
|
starts up
|
|
.i readnews
|
|
with the
|
|
.i Mail
|
|
interface if there is news,
|
|
and otherwise does nothing.
|
|
.sd c
|
|
checknews \-y
|
|
.ed
|
|
tells you if there is news,
|
|
and is silent if there is no news.
|
|
.hu
|
|
Creating New Newsgroups
|
|
.pg
|
|
New newsgroups are proposed by the users and created by site administrators.
|
|
To create a newsgroup,
|
|
first make sure this is the right thing to do.
|
|
Normally a suggestion is first posted to
|
|
.ng net.news.group\f1,\fPnet.relatedgroup
|
|
for a net newsgroup
|
|
.ng net.relatedgroup "" (
|
|
should be the group which you are proposing to subdivide.)
|
|
For example,
|
|
to propose creating
|
|
.ng net.tv.soaps ,
|
|
post
|
|
the original article to
|
|
.ng net.tv\f1,\fPnet.news.group ).
|
|
Followups are made to
|
|
.ng net.news.group
|
|
.i only .
|
|
(You can force this by putting the line:
|
|
.sd c
|
|
Followup-To: net.news.group
|
|
.ed
|
|
in the headers of your original posting).
|
|
If it is established that there is general interest in such a group,
|
|
and a name is agreed on,
|
|
then ask your local netnews administrator to create the newsgroup.
|
|
(It can actually be created by any netnews administrator anywhere on the net,
|
|
within the scope of the newsgroup.)
|
|
Once the newsgroup is created and the first article has been posted,
|
|
the newsgroup is available for all interested persons to post to.
|
|
.hu
|
|
List of Newsgroups
|
|
.pg
|
|
This section lists the newsgroups that are currently active.
|
|
It is intended to help you decide what you want to subscribe to.
|
|
Note that the list is constantly changing.
|
|
Note also that this list only describes those groups available
|
|
on a network-wide basis. Since not all installations choose to receive all
|
|
newsgroups, it is recommended that each installation edit the list of local
|
|
newsgroups to be correct before distributing this document to their users.
|
|
If this is not possible,
|
|
a local appendix can be created.
|
|
.hu 2
|
|
Local
|
|
.pg
|
|
Local groups are kept on the current machine only.
|
|
Local names can be identified by the lack of a prefix,
|
|
that is, there are no periods in local newsgroup names.
|
|
.lp general 10
|
|
News to be read by everyone on the local machine.
|
|
For example:
|
|
\&\*(lqThe system will be down Monday morning for PM.\*(rq
|
|
Or,
|
|
\&\*(lqA new version of program
|
|
.i x
|
|
has been installed.\*(rq
|
|
This newsgroup is usually mandatory \-
|
|
you are required to subscribe to this newsgroup.
|
|
(The list of mandatory newsgroups varies locally.)
|
|
This requirement assures that important announcements reach all users.
|
|
(Formerly
|
|
.i msgs .)
|
|
.hu 2
|
|
Network Wide
|
|
.pg
|
|
These are the groups as of the last editing of this manual.
|
|
The list is undoubtably already out of date.
|
|
A current list can be obtained by typing
|
|
.qp ?
|
|
to the \*(lqNewsgroups? \*(rq prompt in postnews.
|
|
.nf
|
|
.ta 2.5i
|
|
net.abortion All sorts of discussions on abortion.
|
|
net.ai Artificial intelligence discussions.
|
|
net.analog Analog design developments, ideas, and components.
|
|
net.announce Moderated, general announcements of interest to all.
|
|
net.announce.newusers Moderated, explanatory postings for new users.
|
|
net.announce.arpa-internet Announcements from the Arpa world.
|
|
net.arch Computer architecture.
|
|
net.astro Astronomy discussions and information.
|
|
net.astro.expert Discussion by experts in astronomy.
|
|
net.audio High fidelity audio.
|
|
net.auto Automobiles, automotive products and laws.
|
|
net.auto.tech Technical aspects of automobiles, et. al.
|
|
net.aviation Aviation rules, means, and methods.
|
|
net.bicycle Bicycles, related products and laws.
|
|
net.bio Biology and related sciences.
|
|
net.books Books of all \fIgenres\fP, shapes, and sizes.
|
|
net.bugs General bug reports and fixes.
|
|
net.bugs.2bsd Reports of UNIX* version 2BSD related bugs.
|
|
net.bugs.4bsd Reports of UNIX version 4BSD related bugs.
|
|
net.bugs.usg Reports of USG (System III, V, etc.) bugs.
|
|
net.bugs.uucp Reports of UUCP related bugs.
|
|
net.bugs.v7 Reports of UNIX V7 related bugs.
|
|
net.cog-eng Cognitive engineering.
|
|
net.college College, college activities, campus life, etc.
|
|
net.columbia The space shuttle and the STS program.
|
|
net.comics The funnies, old and new.
|
|
net.consumers Consumer interests, product reviews, etc.
|
|
net.cooks Food, cooking, cookbooks, and recipes.
|
|
net.crypt Different methods of data en/decryption.
|
|
net.cse Computer science education.
|
|
net.cycle Motorcycles and related products and laws.
|
|
net.database Database and data management issues and theory.
|
|
net.dcom Data communications hardware and software.
|
|
net.decus DEC* Users' Society newsgroup.
|
|
net.emacs EMACS editors of different flavors.
|
|
net.eunice The SRI Eunice system.
|
|
net.followup Followups to articles in net.general.
|
|
net.games Games and computer games.
|
|
net.games.board Discussion and hints on board games.
|
|
net.games.chess Chess & computer chess.
|
|
net.games.emp Discussion and hints about Empire.
|
|
net.games.frp Discussion about Fantasy Role Playing games.
|
|
net.games.go Discussion about Go.
|
|
net.games.hack Discussion, hints, etc. about the Hack game.
|
|
net.games.pbm Discussion about Play by Mail games.
|
|
net.games.rogue Discussion and hints about Rogue.
|
|
net.games.trivia Discussion about trivia.
|
|
net.games.video Discussion about video games.
|
|
net.garden Gardening, methods and results.
|
|
net.general *Important* and timely announcements of interest to all.
|
|
net.graphics Computer graphics, art, animation, image processing.
|
|
net.ham-radio Amateur Radio practices, contests, events, rules, etc.
|
|
net.ham-radio.packet Discussion about packet radio setups.
|
|
net.info-terms All sorts of terminals.
|
|
net.internat Discussion about international standards
|
|
net.invest Investments and the handling of money.
|
|
net.jobs Job announcements, requests, etc.
|
|
net.jokes Jokes and the like. May be somewhat offensive.
|
|
net.jokes.d Discussions on the content of net.jokes articles
|
|
net.kids Children, their behavior and activities.
|
|
net.lan Local area network hardware and software.
|
|
net.lang Different computer languages.
|
|
net.lang.ada Discussion about Ada*.
|
|
net.lang.apl Discussion about APL.
|
|
net.lang.c Discussion about C.
|
|
net.lang.f77 Discussion about FORTRAN.
|
|
net.lang.forth Discussion about Forth.
|
|
net.lang.lisp Discussion about LISP.
|
|
net.lang.mod2 Discussion about Modula-2.
|
|
net.lang.pascal Discussion about Pascal.
|
|
net.lang.prolog Discussion about PROLOG.
|
|
net.lang.st80 Discussion about Smalltalk 80.
|
|
net.legal Legalities and the ethics of law.
|
|
net.lsi Large scale integrated circuits.
|
|
net.mag Magazine summaries, tables of contents, etc.
|
|
net.mail Proposed new mail/network standards.
|
|
net.mail.headers Gatewayed from the ARPA header-people list.
|
|
net.math Mathematical discussions and puzzles.
|
|
net.math.stat Statistics discussion.
|
|
net.math.symbolic Symbolic algebra discussion.
|
|
net.med Medicine and its related products and regulations.
|
|
net.micro Micro computers of all kinds.
|
|
net.micro.16k National Semiconductor 32000 series chips
|
|
net.micro.6809 Discussion about 6809's.
|
|
net.micro.68k Discussion about 68k's.
|
|
net.micro.apple Discussion about Apple micros.
|
|
net.micro.amiga Talk about the new Amiga micro.
|
|
net.micro.atari Discussion about Atari micros.
|
|
net.micro.att Discussions about AT&T microcomputers .
|
|
net.micro.cbm Discussion about Commodore micros.
|
|
net.micro.cpm Discussion about the CP/M operating system.
|
|
net.micro.hp Discussion about Hewlett/Packard's.
|
|
net.micro.mac Material about the Apple Macintosh & Lisa.
|
|
net.micro.pc Discussion about IBM personal computers.
|
|
net.micro.ti Discussion about Texas Instruments.
|
|
net.micro.trs-80 Discussion about TRS-80's.
|
|
net.misc Various discussions too short-lived for other groups.
|
|
net.motss Issues pertaining to homosexuality.
|
|
net.movies Reviews and discussions of movies.
|
|
net.music Music lovers' group.
|
|
net.music.classical Discussion about classical music.
|
|
net.music.folk Folks discussing folk music of various sorts.
|
|
net.music.gdead A group for (Grateful) Dead-heads.
|
|
net.music.synth Synthesizers and computer music.
|
|
net.net-people Announcements, requests, etc. about people on the net.
|
|
net.news Discussions of USENET itself.
|
|
net.news.adm Comments directed to news administrators.
|
|
net.news.b Discussion about B news software.
|
|
net.news.config Postings of system down times and interruptions.
|
|
net.news.group Discussions and lists of newsgroups
|
|
net.news.newsite Postings of new site announcements.
|
|
net.news.notes Notesfile software from the Univ. of Illinois.
|
|
net.news.sa Comments directed to system administrators.
|
|
net.news.stargate Discussion about satellite transmission of news.
|
|
net.nlang Natural languages, cultures, heritages, etc.
|
|
net.nlang.africa Discussions about Africa & things African.
|
|
net.nlang.celts Group about Celtics.
|
|
net.nlang.greek Group about Greeks.
|
|
net.nlang.india Group for discussion about India & things Indian
|
|
net.origins Evolution versus creationism (sometimes hot!).
|
|
net.periphs Peripheral devices.
|
|
net.pets Pets, pet care, and household animals in general.
|
|
net.philosophy Philosophical discussions.
|
|
net.physics Physical laws, properties, etc.
|
|
net.poems For the posting of poems.
|
|
net.politics Political discussions. Could get hot.
|
|
net.politics.theory Theory of politics and political systems.
|
|
net.puzzle Puzzles, problems, and quizzes.
|
|
net.railroad Real and model train fans' newsgroup.
|
|
net.rec Recreational/participant sports.
|
|
net.rec.birds Hobbyists interested in bird watching.
|
|
net.rec.boat Hobbyists interested in boating.
|
|
net.rec.bridge Hobbyists interested in bridge.
|
|
net.rec.nude Hobbyists interested in naturist/nudist activities.
|
|
net.rec.photo Hobbyists interested in photography.
|
|
net.rec.scuba Hobbyists interested in SCUBA diving.
|
|
net.rec.ski Hobbyists interested in skiing.
|
|
net.rec.skydive Hobbyists interested in skydiving.
|
|
net.rec.wood Hobbyists interested in woodworking.
|
|
net.religion Religious, ethical, and moral implications of actions.
|
|
net.religion.christian Discussion about form and nature of Christianity
|
|
net.religion.jewish Information and discussion about Judaism.
|
|
net.research Research and computer research.
|
|
net.roots Genealogical matters.
|
|
net.rumor For the posting of rumors.
|
|
net.sci General purpose scientific discussions.
|
|
net.sf-lovers Science fiction lovers' newsgroup.
|
|
net.singles Newsgroup for single people, their activities, etc.
|
|
net.social Like net.singles, but for everyone.
|
|
net.sources For the posting of software packages & documentation.
|
|
net.sources.bugs For bug fixes and features discussion.
|
|
net.sources.games Postings of recreational software.
|
|
net.sources.mac Software for the Apple Macintosh.
|
|
net.space Space, space programs, space related research, etc.
|
|
net.sport Spectator sports.
|
|
net.sport.baseball Discussion about baseball.
|
|
net.sport.football Discussion about football.
|
|
net.sport.hockey Discussion about hockey.
|
|
net.sport.hoops Discussion about basketball.
|
|
net.startrek Star Trek, the TV show and the movies.
|
|
net.suicide Suicide, laws, ethics, and its causes and effects (!).
|
|
net.taxes Tax laws and advice.
|
|
net.test For testing of network software. Very boring.
|
|
net.text Text processing.
|
|
net.travel Traveling all over the world.
|
|
net.tv The boob tube, its history, and past and current shows.
|
|
net.tv.drwho Discussion about Dr. Who.
|
|
net.tv.soaps Postings about soap operas.
|
|
net.unix UNIX neophytes group.
|
|
net.unix-wizards Discussions, bug reports, and fixes on and for UNIX.
|
|
net.usenix USENIX Association events and announcements.
|
|
net.veg Vegetarians.
|
|
net.video Video and video components.
|
|
net.wanted Requests for things that are needed.
|
|
net.wanted.sources Requests for software, termcap entries, etc.
|
|
net.wines Wines and spirits.
|
|
net.wobegon "A Prairie Home Companion" radio show discussion.
|
|
net.women Women's rights, discrimination, etc.
|
|
net.works Assorted workstations.
|
|
mod.ai Discussions about Artificial Intelligence
|
|
mod.compilers Discussion about compiler construction, theory, etc.
|
|
mod.computers Discussion about various computers and related.
|
|
mod.computers.apollo Apollo computer systems.
|
|
mod.computers.ibm-pc The IBM PC, PC-XT, and PC-AT.
|
|
mod.computers.laser-printers Laser printers, hardware and software.
|
|
mod.computers.macintosh Apple Macintosh micros.
|
|
mod.computers.pyramid Pyramid 90x computers.
|
|
mod.computers.ridge Ridge 32 computers and ROS.
|
|
mod.computers.sequent Sequent systems, (esp. Balance 8000).
|
|
mod.computers.sun Sun "workstation" computers
|
|
mod.computers.vax DEC's VAX* line of computers & VMS.
|
|
mod.computers.workstations Various workstation-type computers.
|
|
mod.graphics Graphics software, hardware, theory, etc.
|
|
mod.human-nets Computer aided communications digest.
|
|
mod.legal Discussions of computers and the law.
|
|
mod.map Various maps, including UUCP maps.
|
|
mod.motss Moderated newsgroup on gay issues and topics.
|
|
mod.movies Moderated reviews and discussion of movies.
|
|
mod.music Moderated reviews and discussion of things musical.
|
|
mod.newprod Announcements of new products of interest to readers.
|
|
mod.newslists Postings of news-related statistics and lists.
|
|
mod.os Disussions about operating systems and related areas.
|
|
mod.os.os9 Discussions about the os9 operating system.
|
|
mod.os.unix Moderated discussion of Unix* features and bugs.
|
|
mod.politics Discussions on political problems, systems, solutions.
|
|
mod.politics.arms-d Arms discussion digest.
|
|
mod.protocols Various forms and types of FTP protocol discussions.
|
|
mod.protocols.appletalk Applebus hardware & software discussion.
|
|
mod.protocols.kermit Information about the Kermit package.
|
|
mod.protocols.tcp-ip TCP and IP network protocols.
|
|
mod.rec Discussions on pastimes (not currently active).
|
|
mod.rec.guns Discussions about firearms.
|
|
mod.recipes A "distributed cookbook" of screened recipes.
|
|
mod.risks Risks to the public from computers & users.
|
|
mod.sources Moderated postings of public-domain sources.
|
|
mod.sources.doc Archived public-domain documentation.
|
|
mod.std Moderated discussion about various standards.
|
|
mod.std.c Discussion about C language standards.
|
|
mod.std.mumps Discussion for the X11.1 committee on Mumps.
|
|
mod.std.unix Discussion for the P1003 committee on Unix.
|
|
mod.techreports Announcements and lists of technical reports.
|
|
mod.telecom Telecommunications digest.
|
|
mod.test Testing of moderated newsgroups -- no moderator.
|
|
mod.vlsi Very large scale integrated circuits.
|
|
.fi
|
|
.bp
|
|
.hu
|
|
Appendix \- How to use vnews
|
|
.hu 2
|
|
Overview
|
|
.pg
|
|
.i Vnews
|
|
is a program for reading USENET news.
|
|
It is based on
|
|
.i readnews
|
|
but has a CRT-oriented (full screen) user interface.
|
|
The command line options are identical.
|
|
The list of available commands is quite similar,
|
|
although since
|
|
.i vnews
|
|
is a
|
|
.i visual
|
|
interface,
|
|
most
|
|
.i vnews
|
|
commands do not have to be terminated by a newline.
|
|
.pg
|
|
.i Vnews
|
|
uses all but the last two lines of the screen to display the current article.
|
|
The next to the last line is the secondary prompt line,
|
|
and is used to input string arguments to commands.
|
|
The last line contains several fields.
|
|
The first field is the prompt field.
|
|
If
|
|
.i vnews
|
|
is at the end of an article,
|
|
the prompt is
|
|
.cf next? ;
|
|
otherwise the prompt is
|
|
.cf more? .
|
|
The second field is the newsgroup field,
|
|
which displays the current newsgroup,
|
|
the number of the current article,
|
|
and the number of the last article in the newsgroup.
|
|
The third field contains the current time,
|
|
and the last field contains the word
|
|
.cf mail
|
|
if you have mail.
|
|
When you receive new mail,
|
|
the bell on the terminal is rung and the word
|
|
.cf MAIL
|
|
appears in capital letters for 30 seconds.
|
|
.hu 2
|
|
Commands
|
|
.pg
|
|
Most of the
|
|
.i readnews
|
|
commands have
|
|
.i vnews
|
|
counterparts and vice versa.
|
|
Some differences are:
|
|
.si
|
|
.lp \(bu 5
|
|
It lacks a \*(lqdigest\*(rq command (to deal specially with collections
|
|
of articles bundled together).
|
|
This would be nice to have,
|
|
but it does not seem to be a major deficiency
|
|
since you can move around in the digest with
|
|
.i vnews
|
|
commands.
|
|
.lp \(bu 5
|
|
To get to the previous group,
|
|
use the
|
|
.qp N
|
|
command with a
|
|
.qp \-
|
|
argument.
|
|
.lp \(bu 5
|
|
.i Vnews
|
|
has commands for moving around in the article which
|
|
.i readnews
|
|
does not have since they aren't applicable.
|
|
.lp \(bu 5
|
|
It has a \*(lqparent\*(rq command which will go to the article
|
|
that the current article is a follow-up to,
|
|
and a \*(lqwrite\*(rq
|
|
command that writes out the body of an article without the header.
|
|
.lp \(bu 5
|
|
You can refer to the current article from the shell or
|
|
while writing a follow-up as
|
|
.b $A .
|
|
.lp \(bu 5
|
|
The \*(lqdecrypt\*(rq command (for decoding possibly offensive
|
|
material) always does
|
|
.i rot13
|
|
which seems to be the default standard but the
|
|
.i readnews
|
|
version of it occasionally gets confused.
|
|
.ei
|
|
.hu 2
|
|
Commands that differ from
|
|
.bi readnews
|
|
.pg
|
|
Each
|
|
.i vnews
|
|
command may be preceded by a
|
|
.i count .
|
|
Some commands use the count; others ignore it.
|
|
If
|
|
.i count
|
|
is omitted,
|
|
it defaults to one.
|
|
Some commands prompt for an argument
|
|
on the second line from the bottom of the screen.
|
|
Standard
|
|
.ux
|
|
erase and kill processing is done on this argument.
|
|
The argument is terminated by a return.
|
|
An interrupt
|
|
.qc DELETE "" (
|
|
or
|
|
.qc BREAK )
|
|
gets you out of any partially entered command.
|
|
.Qc CR
|
|
A carriage return prints more of the current article,
|
|
or goes on to the next article if you are at the end of the current article.
|
|
A
|
|
.qc SPACE
|
|
is equivalent to
|
|
.qc CR .
|
|
.Qc CONTROL-B
|
|
Go backwards
|
|
.i count
|
|
pages.
|
|
.Qc CONTROL-F
|
|
Go forward
|
|
.i count
|
|
pages.
|
|
.Qc CONTROL-D
|
|
Go forwards half a page.
|
|
.Qc CONTROL-U
|
|
Go backwards half a page.
|
|
.Qc CONTROL-N
|
|
Go forwards
|
|
.i count
|
|
lines.
|
|
.Qc CONTROL-Z
|
|
Go backwards
|
|
.i count
|
|
lines.
|
|
.Qc CONTROL-L
|
|
Redraw the screen.
|
|
.qc CONTROL-L
|
|
may be typed at any time.
|
|
.Qp b
|
|
Back up one article in the current group.
|
|
.Qp l
|
|
Redisplay the article after you have sent a follow-up or reply.
|
|
.Qp n
|
|
Move on to the next item in a digest.
|
|
.qp \*(lq\&.\*(rq
|
|
is equivalent to
|
|
.qp n .
|
|
This is convenient if your terminal has a keypad.
|
|
.Qp p
|
|
Show the parent article
|
|
(the article that the current article is a follow-up to).
|
|
This doesn't work if the current article was posted by A-news or notesfiles.
|
|
To switch between the current and parent articles,
|
|
use the
|
|
.qp \-
|
|
command.
|
|
Unfortunately,
|
|
if you use several
|
|
.qp p
|
|
commands
|
|
to trace the discussion back further,
|
|
there is no command to return to the original level.
|
|
.Qp ug
|
|
Unsubscribe to the current group.
|
|
This is a two character command to ensure that it is not typed accidentally
|
|
and to leave room for other types of unsubscribes
|
|
.i e\f1.\fPg ., (
|
|
unsubscribe to discussion).
|
|
.Qp v
|
|
Print the current version of the news software.
|
|
.Qp D
|
|
Decrypts a joke.
|
|
It only handles
|
|
.pa rot13
|
|
jokes.
|
|
The
|
|
.qp D
|
|
command is a toggle;
|
|
typing another
|
|
.qp D
|
|
re-encrypts the joke.
|