Introduction to the INN config file

The purpose of config.dist is described in INN installation guide section 4.2 Editing config.data Basically, it is the starting file for config.data (your local version) which determines all configurable behavior of INN. You will have to adapt this file for your needs. The INN installation guide walks you through the sections and the process. The INN FAQ part 9 lists changes typical for specific systems, and there are sample configs shipped with INN1.5.1

Although there are over 250 parameters, almost all of them can be left to be default. (One exception is LIKE_PULLERS, which most admins change to DO. See various discussions and references in news.software.nntp archives, and
the note at INN 1.5.1-README A Note about LIKE_PULLERS)

Mib Software provides INN configuration and setup services, as well as other support for INN users See Getting Support for INN

Format
config.dist is formatted for compatibility to subst(1) (both as a substitutions file AND a victim file.) Instead of editting the file directly, subst(1) can be used to change only those items which need to be changed.

Example and Explanation of a config file entry
Here is an example entry:

##  Do you want to make life easy for peers to pull feeds from you (it's
##  harder on your machine). Pick DO or DONT. With DONT, you get a small
##  sleep inserted before each ARTICLE command is processed. (With
##  apologies to the Australians in the audience).
#### =()<LIKE_PULLERS		@<LIKE_PULLERS>@>()=
LIKE_PULLERS		DONT

Entries generally begin with a comment summarizing the purpose and possible selection and purpose. Any line beginning with '#' is ignored by subst as a comment.
Each line is preceded by a comment "template" line, used by subst(1) to generate the line.
The subst template appears in a comment line, and must be bracketed by =()< >()=
The purpose of these lines is to allow subst to maintain the config.data file as a victim file.
subst REQUIRES a tab between variable name and value. (This is needed in the template line also.) Spaces alone are not acceptable. Even if you leave a field blank, you STILL must have the traling tab.
Running subst(1) on configdata.h turns many of the entries into #defines of the form:
```
      VALUE_VARIABLE_NAME
```
such as:
```
      DONT_LIKE_PULLERS
```
which then controls conditional directives in C source code, with the form:
```
      #if defined(DONT_LIKE_PULLERS)
      ....
      #else
      ....
      #endif
```
IMPORTANT: C is quite picky about case sensitivity and exact variable names, punctuation, etc. For example, if the following lines appeared in config.data, they are probably errors (preceded by the reason why.)
```
     #NO is not in the set {DO,DONT}
     LIKE_PULLERS		NO

     #Trailing character is bad.
     LIKE_PULLERS		DONT.

     #config.data will #define DON'T_LIKE_PULLERS, which will fail.
     LIKE_PULLERS		DON'T
```

A final reminder (in case you missed the others) use subst(1) to maintain config.data! Don't edit it directly.

-B-r-o-a-d-e-n- your knowledge

Up to: INN 1.5.1 config.dist

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