---

Standards
---------

News programs communicate with each other according to standard
protocols, some of which are described by RFCs.  An RFC is a Request For
Comment, a de facto standard in the Internet Community.  It is a form of
software standard, published by the Internet Network Information Center
(InterNIC).  Copies of RFCs are often posted to the net and obtainable
from archive sites.  Current news-related RFCs include the following:

    RFC 822 specifies the format of messages; RFC 1036 uses this.
    RFC 977 specifies NNTP, the Network News Transfer Protocol.
    RFC 1036 specifies the format of Usenet articles.
    RFC 1123 amends RFC 822.
    RFC 1153 specifies the digest format some moderated groups use.

See the accompanying posting "How to Get Information about Networks"
for instructions on getting copies of the RFCs.

Henry Spencer has a draft of a successor to RFC1036 that attempts to
document and explain all subsequent enhancements and existing practice as
implemented in the newer news systems.  This draft (often called
son-of-1036) can be obtained by anonymous ftp from ftp.zoo.toronto.edu as
/pub/news.txt.Z (the text version) or /pub/news.ps.Z (a PostScript
version).  Son-of-1036 is intended to be stand-alone reading and does not
require that one also read RFCs 822 or 1123.

Newsgroups
----------

The following newsgroups cover issues discussed in this article, and can
be consulted for recent developments.
bit.listserv.netnws-l   Discussion about NetNews on VM systems.
gnu.emacs.gnews         News reading under GNU Emacs using Weemba's Gnews.
gnu.emacs.gnus          News reading under GNU Emacs using GNUS (in English).
news.software.anu-news  VMS B-news software from Australian National Univ.
news.software.b         Discussion about B-news-compatible software.
news.software.nn        Discussion about the "nn" news reader package.
news.software.readers   General discussion about news reading software.
news.software.nntp      The Network News Transfer Protocol.
comp.os.msdos.mail-news Administering mail & network news systems under MS-DOS.
comp.protocols.tcp-ip   TCP and IP network protocols.
comp.protocols.tcp-ip.ibmpc     TCP/IP for IBM(-like) personal computers.
alt.usenet.offline-reader       Packages for reading mail/news off-line.


The following periodic postings in the news.software.b and news.answers
newsgroups are useful for people interested in news transport software.

Mark Linimon    "News.software.b: Introduction to news.software.b"
Mark Linimon    "News.software.b Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)"
Mark Linimon    "C News Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)"
Rob Robertson   "FAQ: Overview database / NOV General Information"
Heiko W.Rupp    "INN FAQ Part 1/5: General Information"
Heiko W.Rupp    "INN FAQ Part 2/5: Debugging & Configuring Information"
Heiko W.Rupp    "INN FAQ Part 3/5: Operating Guide & Tutorial"
Heiko W.Rupp    "INN FAQ Part 4/5: Appendix A: Norman's install guide"
Heiko W.Rupp    "INN FAQ Part 5/5: Appendix B: Configurations for certain systems"


The following FAQ is posted periodically to news.software.anu-news
and news.answers.

Bob Sloane      "FAQ: news.software.anu-news"


Users on MS-DOS machines should take a look at the FAQ posted periodically
to comp.os.msdos.mail-news.

Russell Schulz  "comp.os.msdos.mail-news FAQ (01/02) intro"
Russell Schulz  "comp.os.msdos.mail-news FAQ (02/02) software"


The following FAQs posted to alt.usenet.offline-reader and news.answers
are useful for people interested in off-line news readers.

Russell Schulz  "alt.usenet.offline-reader FAQ (01/02) intro"
Russell Schulz  "alt.usenet.offline-reader FAQ (02/02) software"
Mike Northam    "alt.usenet.offline-reader: YAFAQ (Yet Another FAQ)"