RNEWS (1)

NAME
     rnews - receive news from a UUCP connection

SYNOPSIS
     rnews [ -h host ] [ -v ] [ -U ] [ -N ] [ -S master ] [ input ]

DESCRIPTION
     Rnews reads messages typically queued by a UUCP newsfeed and  sends  them
     to the local InterNetNews server.  The message is read from the specified
     input file, or standard input if no input is named.

     When sent over UUCP, Usenet articles are typically  joined  in  a  single
     batch  to  reduce  the UUCP overhead.  Batches can also be compressed, to
     reduce the communication time.  If a message does not start with a number
     sign  (``#'') and an exclamation point, then the entire input is taken as
     a single news article.  If it does start with with those two  characters,
     then the first line is read and interpreted as a batch command.

     If the command is ``#! rnews nnn'' where nnn is a number, then  the  next
     nnn bytes (starting with the next line) are read as a news article.

     If the command is ``#! cunbatch'' then the rest of input is  fed  to  the
     compress(1) program with the ``-d'' flag to uncompress it, and the output
     of  this  pipe  is  read  as  rnews's  input.   This  is  for  historical
     compatibility  -- there is no program named cunbatch.  A compressed batch
     will start with a ``#! cunbatch'' line, then contain a series of articles
     separated  by  ``#!  rnews nnn'' lines.  If <config$RNEWSPROGS> == DO and
     the command is any other word, then rnews will try to execute  a  program
     with  that  name  in  the  directory <config$_PATH_RNEWSPROGS> (typically
     /usr/news/bin/rnews.libexec.)

     The batch will be fed into the program's standard input, and the standard
     output will be read back as input into rnews.} If <config$RNEWS_SAVE_BAD>
     == DO and rnews detects any problems with an article such  as  a  missing
     header,  or  an unintelligible reply from the server, it will save a copy
     of  the  article  in  the  <config$_PATH_BADNEWS>  directory   (typically
     /var/news/spool/in.coming/bad.)

OPTIONS

     -S   If the ``-S'' flag is used, then rnews will connect to the specified
          host.   If  the  flag is not used, and <config$RNEWSLOCALCONNECT> ==
          DO, it will try to connect to the server by  opening  a  Unix-domain
          stream    connection.     If    the   UDP   connection   fails,   or
          <config$RNEWSLOCALCONNECT> is not DO it  will  try  to  open  a  TCP
          connection to the default remote server.

     -U   If the server is not available, the message is spooled  into  a  new
          file  created  in  the <config$_PATH_SPOOLNEWS> directory (typically
          /var/news/spool/in.coming.)  The ``-U'' flag may be used to send all
          spooled  messages to the server once it becomes available again, and
          can be invoked regularly by cron(8).

     -N   Normally,  if  unpacking  the  input  fails  it  is  re-spooled   to
          <config$_PATH_SPOOLNEWS>  (typically /var/news/spool/in.coming ) for
          another attempt later.  If the ``-N'' flag is used then no such  re-
          spooling is done and rnews exits with status value ``9'' to indicate
          this.
     -v   If the ``-v'' flag is used, it will print a notice of all errors  on
          the  standard  error,  naming the input file (if known) and printing
          the first few characters of the input.   Errors  are  always  logged
          through syslog(3).

     -h   If the ``-h''  flag  is  given,  or  failing  that,  the  enviroment
          variable  <config$_ENV_UUCPHOST> (typically UU_MACHINE) is set, then
          rnews will log the Message-ID, and host, for each article offered to
          the server via syslog(3).  Logging will only be done if the value is
          not an empty string.

BUGS
     Rnews cannot process articles that have embedded \0's in them.

HISTORY
     Written by Rich $alz  <rsalz@uunet.uu.net>  for  InterNetNews.   This  is
     revision 1.23, dated 1996/11/08.

SEE ALSO
     innd(8) .