uqwk.nntp - Online in the Cloud

PROGRAM:

NAME

uqwk - Collect news & mail messages for offline reading

SYNOPSIS

uqwk [a-plethora-of-options]

DESCRIPTION

uqwk is a program which collects all a user's unread news and/or mail, and formats it into
a packet for offline reading, saving telephone and connect charges. Simple Offline Usenet
Packet (SOUP), ZipNews, and the deprecated QWK packet formats are supported. Mail can be
read from classic Unix mbox format mail files, MMDF mail files, or maildir mailboxes.
News is either read directly from a locally available file system, or obtained using NNTP.

uqwk also accepts reply packets, so replies can be mailed or posted, depending whether the
message is marked private (email) or public (news).

uqwk also supports a small offline command language, so the contents of the user's .newsrc
file can be viewed and manipulated offline.

GENERAL OPTIONS

Note that many varieties of uqwk can be built: not all options are applicable to (and
available) in every one. Specifically, the NNTP-related options are only available in
uqwk builds using NNTP, the options related to reading news directly from disk only to
non-NNTP builds. Furthermore, the options concerning scoring and NNTP authentication are
only present if support for scoring, resp. NNTP authentication, was compiled in.

-p Print options. uqwk will show its version number and the options that were
compiled in, will examine all appropriate environment variables and command line
options, print the values of all run-time options, then exit. This is useful to
see what uqwk thinks it is going to do before you actually run it (and what setup
it is offering).

-v identical to "-p".

-? same as "-v".

+r Read only. Normally, uqwk will empty the user's mail spool file and update the
user's .newsrc file to reflect the fact that mail and news have been read. If this
switch is specified, uqwk will not touch these files. This is useful for testing.

-r Do not execute in read-only mode. This is the default.

+m Do mail. uqwk will process all mail in the user's mail spool file and convert it
into an offline packet.

-m Don't do mail. This is the default.

+n Do news. Using the user's .newsrc file and the news system's active file, uqwk
will collect all unread news articles in all subscribed newsgroups into the packet.
This can generate a large number of messages and large packet files.

-n Don't do news. This is the default.

+L Operate in SOUP (also known as HDPF or SLNP) mode. The files comprising a Simple
Offline Usenet Packet (SOUP), specifically, AREAS and *.MSG, will be created
instead of a QWK packet. The reply file, if any, will be interpreted as an SOUP
"replies" file instead of a QWK reply packet. This is the default.

-L Do not operate in SOUP mode. If (and only if) neither SOUP nor ZipNews mode is
selected, uqwk will operate in QWK mode.

+z Operate in ZipNews mode. The files comprising a ZipNews news packet, specifically,
"user.JN", "user.NWS", and "user.IDX", will be created instead of a QWK packet.

-z Do not operate in ZipNews mode. If (and only if) neither SOUP nor ZipNews mode is
selected, uqwk will operate in QWK mode. This is the default.

-Iposting_agent
Specifies the program used when posting messages (usually /usr/lib/news/inews).
uqwk adds a `-h' flag when calling it, except in plain (non-expert) QWK mode.

+Vn The value of n determines whether articles are validated before posting, whether
this checking is verbose, and whether the result is respected or ignored:

+V Equivalent to `+V3' (default)
+V0 No article validation
+V1 Verbose article validation, ignoring the outcome
+V2 Silent article validation, failing articles are
not posted
+V3 Verbose article validation, articles containing
fatal errors are not posted

Whenever checking is performed, bad articles are appended to the file
`dead.articles' in the uqwk home directory. This option is only available when uqwk
was compiled with the `GNKSA' option, in which case the default value is `3'.

-V Equivalent to `+V0', as defined above.

+x Honor Xref header lines in news articles. When this switch is in effect, uqwk will
only pack a crossposted article in the first newsgroup in which it is encountered.
This can reduce the size of the packet but may introduce unexpected behaviour on
the part of the offline reader. This is the default.

-x Do not honor Xref lines.

+F Ignore error on nonexisting news messages; proceed instead of aborting. This is
the default.

-F Signal an error and abort on missing news messages.

-Mmailspool
Look in the directory fImailspool for the mailbox file (or maildir mailbox). The
default is /var/spool/mail.

-fmailfile
Look for mail in the file mailfile. The default is a file (or maildir mailbox)
with the same name as the user's login name in fImailspool; however, the MAIL
environment variable is used when set. This switch overrides the -M switch.

-aactivefile
Use activefile for the list of all available newsgroups and article numbers. The
default is /usr/local/news/lib/active. This option is not available if uqwk
obtains articles from a news server using NNTP.

-Snewsdir
Look for news articles in the directory newsdir. The default is /var/spool/news.
This option is not available if uqwk obtains articles from a news server using
NNTP.

-Nnewsrcfile
Use newsrcfile for the list of all newsgroups to which the user is subscribed and
the list of article numbers which have been read. The default is $HOME/.newsrc.

-uusername
By default uqwk uses the getpwuid() system call to determine the proper user name
to use. This switch overrides the results of that call.

-Hhomedir
By default, uqwk uses the getpwuid() system call to determine the user's home
directory. The home directory is where the files comprising the offline packet
will be created. It is also where uqwk looks for the .newsrc file. This switch
may be used to override the results of the getpwuid() call.

-Bmaxblocks
Stop processing news articles if the size of the offline packet exceeds maxblocks
128-byte blocks. This is useful since large amounts of unread news can create
large packets. Use a maxblocks value of zero to suppress this check. The default
is 4096 blocks (half a megabyte).

-Dngfile
Process newsgroups in the order specified in ngfile. ngfile is expected to contain
one newsgroup name per line.

-Usumfile
Operate in "summary" mode. Instead of packing articles, uqwk creates a summary
file, sumfile, which consists of the newsgroup name, article number, and subject
line of each unread article. All summarized articles are marked as read.

-Eselfile
Operate in "selection" mode. Instead of using the .newsrc file to determine which
articles to pack, uqwk reads selfile, a file in the same format as the summary
file. (The actual subjects are optional in selfile.) The idea is that a summary
may be created by using -U, downloaded, edited or processed by additional software
to select desired articles, uploaded, and fed to the -E switch for offline article
selection.

-Rreplyfile
Process replyfile as a reply packet. Messages and articles created by the offline
reader must be uploaded as a reply packet and then processed by this switch to be
mailed or posted. If operating in SOUP mode, this file should be the REPLIES file.
uqwk will remove replyfile when it has been processed unless it is running in read-
only mode. If operating in ZipNews mode, this switch should specify the directory
in which the ZipNews reply files reside. No default reply file is set.

-dhostname
Use the specified hostname when processing ZipNews reply packets. This should be
the fully-qualified domain name of the Unix host. The default is "nowhere".

QWK MODE OPTIONS

+h Include headers. Since the QWK specification places limits on the sizes of certain
header fields such as To:, From:, and Subject:, uqwk can include all message and
article headers in the body of the message so all fields are visible. This is the
default. (This switch only applies to the QWK packet format.)

-h Do not include headers in messages. (QWK only.)

-llen Truncate the names of newsgroups to len characters. Some offline readers cannot
handle long newsgroup names. Newsgroup names are truncated after having been
translated. The default is 15 characters. Specify a value of zero for unlimited
newsgroup name lengths. (QWK only.)

+e Include an entry for every subscribed newsgroup in the CONTROL.DAT file. (QWK
only).

-e Do not include an entry in CONTROL.DAT for empty newsgroups. This is the default.
(QWK only.)

+W Activate the Blue Wave kludge. The Blue Wave QWK reader does not like the
personal.ndx file that uqwk creates by default. If this switch is specified uqwk
will create a regular ???.ndx file that Blue Wave likes. (QWK only.)

-W Do not activate the Blue Wave kludge. This is the default.

+X Operate in expert QWK mode. The QWK header is ignored and all header lines are
taken from the body of the message. In the hands of an expert, this permits the
creation of RFC822 compliant mail messages and RFC1036 compliant news articles
using QWK readers, which is difficult or impossible otherwise in many cases. This
is intended for people who really know what they're doing. (QWK only.)

-X Do not operate in expert QWK mode. This is the default.

-ttablefile
Translate newsgroup names as specified in tablefile. Each line in tablefile is
expected to have two fields separated by white space: The old name of the
newsgroup and the name to which it will be translated. (QWK only.)

-bbbsname
Specify the BBS Name to be entered into the QWK packet. The default is "unknown
BBS". (QWK only.)

-ccity Specify the BBS City to be entered into the QWK packet. The default is "Anytown,
USA". (QWK only.)

-Pphone
Specify the BBS Phone Number to be entered into the QWK packet. The default is
"555-1212". (QWK only.)

-ssysop
Specify the BBS Sysop Name to be entered into the QWK packet. The default is "Joe
Sysop". (QWK only.)

-ibbsid
Specify the BBS ID to be entered into the QWK packet. The BBS ID is important
since it will be checked against the BBS ID string in any incoming reply packets.
If the two do not match, the reply packet will not be processed. The BBS ID
consists of an integer, a comma, and a string of less than nine characters, with no
spaces. The default is "0,SOMEBBS". (QWK only.)

SCORING OPTIONS

+k Perform kill/score processing. The global score file will be read (if it exists),
as well as the score file for the current group, and each article will becored'.
See the "USING SCORE FILES" section below. This is the default.

-k Do not perform kill/score processing.

-Tn Set global threshold to signed integer n. The default is 0.

-Kkilldir
Look for score files in killdir. The default is $HOME/.uqwk.

NNTP AUTHENTICATION OPTIONS

+Ausername:password
Perform NNTP authentication, specifying the username and password to use for that
purpose. (NNTP only)

-A Don't do NNTP authentication. This is the default. (NNTP only)

ENVIRONMENT

Most of the run-time options can also be controlled by environment variables. If an
option is specified by both an environment variable and a command-line option, the
command-line option is honored.

Note that, as with options, not all variables are meaningful in al possible incarnations
of the program.

UQ_DO_MAIL
Determines whether or not to process mail. Should be set to `1' (do mail) or `0'
(don't do mail).

UQ_DO_NEWS
Determines whether or not to process news. Should be set to `1' (do news) or `0'
(don't do news).

UQ_INC_HDRS
Determines whether or not to include headers in messages. Should be set to `1'
(include headers) or `0' (don't include headers).

UQ_EVERY_MODE
Determines whether or not to include an entry in CONTROL.DAT for empty newsgroups.
Should be set to `1' (include empty groups) or `0' (don't include empty groups).

UQ_PRT_OPTS
Determines whether or not to just print the values of run-time options and stop.
Should be set to `1' (print options) or `0' (don't print options).

UQ_READ_ONLY
Determines whether or not to run in read-only mode. Should be set to `1' (read-
only) or `0' (not read-only).

UQ_WAF_MODE
Determines whether the .newsrc file should be interpreted as a Waffle "join" file.
Should be set to `0' (normal) or `1' (Waffle mode).

UQ_SOUP_MODE
Determines whether or not to run in SOUP mode. Should be set to `0' (don't run in
SOUP mode) or `1' (run in SOUP mode).

UQ_ZIP_MODE
Determines whether or not to run in ZipNews mode. Should be set to `0' (don't run
in ZipNews mode) or `1' (run in ZipNews mode).

UQ_INEWS_PATH
Specifies the posting agent (usually inews) to be used. uqwk calls it with a `-h'
command line switch, except in non-expert QWK mode.

UQ_VALIDATE
Determines the level of message validation. Applicable only with GNKSA support
compiled in. See the `+V' switch for details.

UQ_XRF_MODE
Determines whether or not to honor Xref lines. Should be set to `0' (do not honor
Xref lines) or `1' (honor Xref lines). UQ_IGNORE0FD Determines whether or not to
ignore nonexisting news messages; `0' to abort, `1' to ignore.

UQ_BW_KLUDGE
Determines whether or not to activate the Blue Wave kludge. Should be set to `0'
(do not activate the Blue Wave kludge) or `1' (activate the Blue Wave kludge).

UQ_XPRT_MODE
Determines whether or not to operate in QWK expert mode. Should be set to `0' (do
not run in expert mode) or `1' (run in expert mode).

UQ_MAIL_DIR
Specifies the directory where the mailbox file (or maildir type mailbox) resides.

UQ_MAIL_FILE
Specifies the mailbox file (or maildir mailbox).

UQ_ACT_FILE
Specifies the name of the news system's active file.

UQ_NEWS_DIR
Specifies the directory where the news spool resides. UQ_USER_NAME Specifies the
username of the person running uqwk.

UQ_HOME_DIR
Specifies the home directory, where the packet files will be created, and where
uqwk expects to find the .newsrc file.

UQ_BBS_NAME
Specifies the BBS name to be entered into the QWK packet.

UQ_BBS_CITY
Specifies the BBS city to be entered into the QWK packet.

UQ_BBS_PHONE
Specifies the BBS phone number to be entered into the QWK packet.

UQ_BBS_SYSOP
Specifies the BBS sysop name to be entered into the QWK packet.

UQ_BBS_ID
Specifies the BBS ID to be entered into the QWK packet.

UQ_NRC_FILE
Specifies the name of the user's .newsrc file.

UQ_NG_FILE
Specifies the name of the desired newsgroups file.

UQ_MAX_BLKS
Specifies the maximum size of the offline packet in 128-byte blocks.

UQ_TRN_FILE
Specifies the name of the newsgroup name translation table.

UQ_GRP_LEN
Specifies the maximum length of newsgroup names.

UQ_REP_FILE
Specifies the name of the reply packet, if any.

UQ_HOST_NAME
Specifies the host name for ZipNews replies.

UQ_SUM_FILE
Specifies the name of the summary file, if any. Also causes uqwk to execute in
summary mode.

UQ_SEL_FILE
Specifies the name of the selection file, if any. Also causes uqwk to execute in
selection mode.

UQ_DO_KILLS
Determines whether or not to perform kill/score processing. Should be set to `1'
(do scoring) or `0' (don't do scoring).

UQ_KILL_THRESHOLD
Specifies the global threshold. Should be set to a signed integer.

UQ_KILL_DIR
Specifies the directory where the score files are.

UQ_AUTH_USER
Specifies the username to use for NNTP authentication. If, and only if, both a
username and a password are set, NNTP authentication will be attempted.

UQ_AUTH_PASS
Specifies the password to use for NNTP authentication. If, and only if, both a
username and a password are set, NNTP authentication will be attempted.

USING SCORE FILES

If support for scoring was compiled in, uqwk can "score articles" while collecting news,
so that articles whose "score" is below a certain threshold can be excluded from the
packet. The rules according to which articles are scored are specified by the user in so-
called score files.

The format of these score files is based on the score files used by some offline readers
(notably YARN). Each newsgroup can have a score file; its name is the name of the group.
There is also a global score file, that applies to all groups, which is called "global".

Getting started

If you find some class of articles you wish to exclude from a particular newsgroup, use
any text editor to create a file named after it. Each line of such a file contains a
score, a place to look for a keyword or regular expression, and the keyword.

For example, to exclude all crossposted articles from talk.bizarre, create a file called
"talk.bizarre" in the directory $HOME/.uqwk, with the following line in it:

-10 Newsgroups: ,

The effect of this line in this file would be that all articles in talk.bizarre which'
"Newsgroups: " header contains a `,' would get -10 added to their initial score of 0.
With a threshold of 0, that means that unless other lines add enought to compensate, these
articles will not be included.

Score file format

Each score file carries the name of the group it applies to, and consists of a series of
score lines. Blank lines and lines beginning with `#' are ignored. Lines can have any of
the following formats:

killthreshold n
specifies an integer score n that articles must meet or exceed in order to be
included in the packet. This line is optional, if not present the global kill
threshold is used. (which defaults to 0 if not set).

score header pattern
constitutes an actual scoring line; score is added to an article's score if the
remainder of the line matches. To match, the specified pattern must match with the
articles's indicated header. The specified pattern is always interpreted as a
regular expression; for reasons of compatibility patterns can be preceded with the
word "pattern".

The global score file is processed first. Its patterns are applied to all articles.
Score lines are processed in sequence. An article that scores below the kill threshold
will not be included.

Example alt.usenet.offline-reader score file

# only include articles explicitly selected
killthreshold 1

# select messages about FurriNews
+2 Subject: FurriNews
# select messages about uqwk
+2 Subject: uqwk

# eliminate messages about crapware
-666 Subject: microsoft
-666 Subject: netscape

Limitations, additional notes

It should be noted that only headers are scanned for computing scores. Furthermore, all
scanning is done using POSIX regex functions -- even when a simple substring search could
have sufficed.

COMMAND LANGUAGE

If, while processing a reply packet, uqwk encounters a message to the username "UQWK", the
body of the message will be interpreted as a small command language, used to display
newsgroup names and subscribe or unsubscribe to newsgroups. The results of the execution
of the commands will be mailed back to the originating user.

This is what the command language looks like:

HELP List all the available commands.

SUBSCRIBE newsgroup
Subscribe to the named newsgroup.

UNSUBSCRIBE newsgroup
Unsubscribe from the named newsgroup. UNSUBSCRIBE ALL may be used to unsubscribe
from all newsgroups. UNSUBSCRIBE ALL is also the only way to create a new .newsrc
if it does not already exist.

CATCHUP newsgroup
Mark all articles in the named newsgroup as read.

GROUPS List all newsgroups to which the user is currently subscribed.

ALLGROUPS
List all the available newsgroups and the number of articles in each one.

SHELL command
Execute the specified shell command. Anything written to standard output will be
mailed back to the originating user.

NOTES

In QWK mode, it is possible to send mail to long email addresses by including, as the
first thing in the body of the message, a line of the form:

To: [email protected]

(The space after the colon is important.)

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