david@dhw68k.cts.com (David H. Wolfskill) (04/13/89)
In article <28784@apple.Apple.COM> chuq@Apple.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) writes: >>newgroup and rmgroup can be disallowed at each site, and reserved for >>root intervention, at compile time. >Newgroups are not generally disabled simply because that's an additive >function, not a desctructive function -- it's a lot easier to come in >and repair the damage that a "newgroup ba.wobegon" does over the >weekend than a "rmgroup comp.sys.unix.wizards" [sic] would do. Although I essentially agree with Chuq, I will also point out that "newgroup" control messages do have a rather destructive potential: that of changing the "moderation status" of a newsgroup. Granted, it (in most cases that I think of, anyway) is not as destructive as an rmgroup targeted at a newsgroup that's important to me; a bogus change in either direction can cause a lot of unpleasantness, though. The above is all the more reason news admins need to pay attention to the "Distribution:" specification for control messages that are intended for their sites. -- David H. Wolfskill uucp: ...{spsd,zardoz,felix}!dhw68k!david InterNet: david@dhw68k.cts.com
bdb@becker.UUCP (Bruce Becker) (04/17/89)
In article <22065@dhw68k.cts.com> david@dhw68k.cts.com (David H. Wolfskill) writes: > [...] >The above is all the more reason news admins need to pay attention to >the "Distribution:" specification for control messages that are intended >for their sites. >-- >David H. Wolfskill >uucp: ...{spsd,zardoz,felix}!dhw68k!david InterNet: david@dhw68k.cts.com I have written 2 simple shell scripts for the purpose of implementing the 'rmgroup" & 'newgroup' control functions. The scripts default to "local" for distribution. I have included them below for the convenience of anyone who needs such things... --------- 8< --------- 8< --------- 8< --------- 8< --------- 8< --------- # rmgroup control function DIST=local if [ "$1" = "-d" ]; then { shift; DIST=$1; shift; } fi if [ -z "$1" ]; then echo 'usage "rmgrp [-d distribution] newsgroup"' exit 1 fi /usr/lib/news/inews -n $1.ctl -c rmgroup $1 -d $DIST -a $LOGNAME@`uuname -l` --------- 8< --------- 8< --------- 8< --------- 8< --------- 8< --------- # newgroup control function DIST=local MOD= if [ "$1" = "-d" ]; then { shift; DIST=$1; shift; } fi if [ "$1" = "-m" ]; then shift; MOD='moderated' if [ "$1" = "-d" ]; then { shift; DIST=$1; shift; } fi fi if [ -z "$1" ]; then echo 'usage "newgroup [-m] [-d distribution] newsgroup"' exit 1 fi /usr/lib/news/inews -n $1.ctl -c newgroup $1 $MOD -d $DIST -a $LOGNAME@`uuname -l` -- O . Bruce Becker Toronto, Ont. o _///_ // Internet: bdb@becker.UUCP, bruce@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu <`)= _<< BitNet: BECKER@HUMBER.BITNET \\\ \\ "The Net *has* died, and we've taken its place" - Altzilla