brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton) (08/23/90)
I have put a copy of my dynamic feed system out for beta test. It should appear shortly in uunet!~ftp/ClariNet/dynafeed.tar.Z While it is in the ClariNet directory, this is free software (with a few minor exceptions.) People willing to beta test, and improve it are desired. Here's the 'about' file that gives an idea of what dyna-feed is all about. But briefly, if you are a leaf, intermediate leaf or you feed same, and you don't want to do full feeds, and you don't like administering 'sys' file changes, then dyna-feed is what you're looking for. ------ What is dynamic feeding and how does it work? Dynamic feeding comes in three parts. The first is a feeding system that does not use the B or C news "sys" file. Instead, each site you feed gets a newsrc file, just like any user who reads news. The feeding program finds out what news is 'unread', feeds it out, and marks it as read. This means group by group control over what is fed. The sys file had this, but only up to a certain limit, and it was quite difficult to work with. In addition, permission to change the sys file can only be given to highly trusted users, such as the superuser. (The 'feed' program requires no special permissions! If you like, you can even give remote sites user accounts on your system and have them maintain their subscription list directly.) The second part is the 'rcmerge' program. It takes the old newsrc for a site, and combines it with a new subscription request. The subscription request contains desired groups and distributions, along with patterns that match groups which should be included or deleted from the newsrc. Rcmerge builds a new newsrc file, remembering what had been read up to that point. In between the feed site and the recipient lies the setfeed program, which takes a subscription request from the recipient and stores it for input to rcmerge. You can stop here if you like, and simply use the above tools to have the recipient control what news is fed to him or her. The third part lies on the recipient's system. It's a program like the arbitron program that measures USENET readership. It figures out what your users are subscribing to, and builds a subscription request from it. The result can be a completely dynamic feed. Only groups that people are actually reading get sent. When everybody unsubscribes, the group stops being sent almost immediately. As soon as one user resubscribes, the group re-appears again. In fact, if the gap in subscription was short, all the old articles that didn't get sent (up to a limit) will now be sent, so that nothing or little is missed. The sites you feed are included in the subscription list. So if somebody downstream subscribes to a group, a requests comes to you to feed it. But if you don't have it, that generates a request from you to *your* upstream site to feed it. The first time somebody requests a group, up to 80 back articles are sent, so people can get into a group right away. Of course, you still have complete control over what you send out. You can stop downstream sites from getting groups you don't want them to get. You can also request that some groups be sent even if they don't ask for them. Likewise, as a recipient, you can requests that some groups be sent no matter what. You can also stop your users from requesting groups that you don't want to pay for. "Backbone" style sites won't go for dynamic feeding, of course. They will want to feed everything. But for leaf and intermediate-leaf sites -- particularly those concerned about long distance bills, network usage, CPU and disk space -- dynamic feeding is ideal. It turns USENET into a dynamic network, where a newsgroup can be as efficient as an optimal mailing list. -- Brad Templeton, ClariNet Communications Corp. -- Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473
fitz@wang.com (Tom Fitzgerald) (08/29/90)
brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton) writes: > I have put a copy of my dynamic feed system out for beta test. > While it is in the ClariNet directory, this is free software (with a few > minor exceptions.) I'll snag it when I see it at UUNET, but I'm curious, what are the "few minor exceptions"? We never installed newsclip here because of the cost. "Small departmental LAN, $250; site LAN, call for prices." --- Tom Fitzgerald Wang Labs fitz@wang.com 1-508-967-5278 Lowell MA, USA ...!uunet!wang!fitz
brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton) (08/29/90)
In article <as4da1.89f@wang.com> fitz@wang.com (Tom Fitzgerald) writes: >brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton) writes: >> I have put a copy of my dynamic feed system out for beta test. >> While it is in the ClariNet directory, this is free software (with a few >> minor exceptions.) > >I'll snag it when I see it at UUNET, but I'm curious, what are the >"few minor exceptions"? The exception is people who feed usenet as a business. (uunet, anterior, psi., etc.) I have a simple favour to ask them in return, which most of them are already doing anyway. For others, it is free. -- Brad Templeton, ClariNet Communications Corp. -- Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473