[comp.sys.sgi] Newsreaders...

srp@pom.mmwb.ucsf.edu (Scott R. Presnell) (08/22/90)

karron@MCIRPS2.MED.NYU.EDU writes:

>What is rrn ??

Rn, rrn, trn, trrn, and nn are all usenet network news reading programs.

	I've been able to install rn, trn, and nn basically by just following
instructions given in any of those kits.  For rn and trn, our Iris machines
act as NNTP clients connecting to another host which acts as a news server.
For nn, there is one Iris in the cluster which runs nnmaster, updating a
subject database which is NFS mounted on the other Irises.

	If I were starting from scratch, I'd try getting either nn or trn
from uunet.uu.net (in the "news" directory in the anonymous FTP area of
that host).  The Installation/Configuration kits for those programs pretty
much automate the setup for compilation.  If you're getting your news via
NNTP from a server, you also have to get the nntp software (you'll only be
using the client side).  I haven't had much experience with rn itself, but
we use nn regularly and I've experimented with trn some recently.  My
personal favorite is nn (menu based, fast at the subject scanning level,
good for scanning dense newsgroups), but if most of the people at your site
have used rn in the past, trn (rn which follows discussion threads) is a
natural.

	I am by no means a news guru, but I'd be happy to answer IRIX
related setup questions for these programs if I can.

	- Scott 
--
Scott Presnell				        +1 (415) 476-9890
Pharm. Chem., S-926				Internet: srp@cgl.ucsf.edu
University of California			UUCP: ...ucbvax!ucsfcgl!srp
San Francisco, CA. 94143-0446			Bitnet: srp@ucsfcgl.bitnet

bryan@pi.eai.iastate.edu (Bryan Manske) (05/16/91)

In Article #9295 damc@dap.csiro.au (Don McCormick) writes:

>Reading of news articles using rn is not a problem, but if you try to
>reply to an article or save an article on some occasions you can drop
>out of rn with the error.

>        "Unexpected close of server socket"

>Does anyone have a solution to this problem?

Ditto, While I was able to make nntp work, rrn still is not completely
foolproof.  (of course not, I compiled it.)

General discussion of this would be appreciated...

Bryan.


-- 
Bryan Manske  (515) 296-9908        . Sometimes I wish I had a knob to
Engineering Animation, Inc.         . turn up the intelligence on the
bryan@pi.eai.iastate.edu            . Internet.  I have one on my monitor
#include <caveat_opinion.h>         . marked 'brightness,' but it doesn't
#include <standard_disclaimer.h>    . seem to work very well, does it?

ajp2o@crocus.medicine.rochester.edu (Anthony J. Persechini) (05/18/91)

In article <1991May16.161042.11782@news.iastate.edu>,
bryan@pi.eai.iastate.edu (Bryan Manske) writes:
|> In Article #9295 damc@dap.csiro.au (Don McCormick) writes:
|> 
|> >Reading of news articles using rn is not a problem, but if you try
to
|> >reply to an article or save an article on some occasions you can
drop
|> >out of rn with the error.
|> 
|> >        "Unexpected close of server socket"
|> 
|> >Does anyone have a solution to this problem?
|> 
|> Ditto, While I was able to make nntp work, rrn still is not
completely
|> foolproof.  (of course not, I compiled it.)
|> 
|> General discussion of this would be appreciated...
|> 
|> Bryan.
|> 
|> 
|> -- 
|> Bryan Manske  (515) 296-9908        . Sometimes I wish I had a knob
to
|> Engineering Animation, Inc.         . turn up the intelligence on
the
|> bryan@pi.eai.iastate.edu            . Internet.  I have one on my
monitor
|> #include <caveat_opinion.h>         . marked 'brightness,' but it
doesn't
|> #include <standard_disclaimer.h>    . seem to work very well, does
it?

I am using the X-based program, xrn,  (ftp off shambhala.berkeley.edu)
to read news on my 4D. I think its pretty slick and has
none of the problems you mention.

However,  I recently tried to recompile xrn and it no longer
worked  properly--I mistakenly erased the ported code I had
and now cannot remember what  changes I made.  I am a complete
novice so I am sure there is not much involved. If anyone
out there knows what the necessary changes are, I would appreciate
hearing from you. 

I will post what ever I learn to this newsgroup.


--
Anthony Persechini				Dept. of Physiology, Box 642
Assistant Professor				School of Medicine
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>				University of Rochester
ajp2o@crocus.medicine.rochester.edu 		Rochester, NY  14642

slevy@s1.msi.umn.edu (Stuart Levy) (05/19/91)

In article <1991May16.161042.11782@news.iastate.edu> bryan@pi.eai.iastate.edu (Bryan Manske) writes:
>In Article #9295 damc@dap.csiro.au (Don McCormick) writes:
>
>>Reading of news articles using rn is not a problem, but if you try to
>>reply to an article or save an article on some occasions you can drop
>>out of rn with the error.
>
>>        "Unexpected close of server socket"
>
>>Does anyone have a solution to this problem?

Besides the ``#define vfork fork'' fix already mentioned, SGI [r]rn users
might want to apply this patch to rn/term.c:

*** /tmp/,RCSt1a09955	Sat May 18 14:12:50 1991
--- term.c	Wed Apr 10 21:29:31 1991
***************
*** 607,613 ****
  	return 1;
      }
      else {
! 	size = read(0,addr,size);
  #ifdef RAWONLY
  	*addr &= 0177;
  #endif
--- 608,618 ----
  	return 1;
      }
      else {
! 	int got = read(0,addr,size);
! 	if(got < 0) {
! 		while((got = read(0,addr,size)) < 0 && errno == EINTR)
! 		    ;
! 	}
  #ifdef RAWONLY
  	*addr &= 0177;
  #endif

It ignores spurious terminal read errors, which the SGI tty driver
seems to return even on unsatisfied single-byte reads when returning
from caught signals.  If [r]rn dies when you resume after ^Z, try this.

Also it's worth changing the set of libraries from  "-lcurses -lbsd"
to "-lcurses -lsun -lbsd -lc_s".  -lsun (if you have it) supplies yellow
pages, so ~username works on YP systems.  -lc_s just shrinks the binary a bit.

	Stuart Levy, Geometry Center, University of Minnesota
	slevy@geom.umn.edu

scotts@qsp.COM (Scott Simpers) (05/21/91)

In article <1991May16.161042.11782@news.iastate.edu> bryan@pi.eai.iastate.edu (Bryan Manske) writes:
>In Article #9295 damc@dap.csiro.au (Don McCormick) writes:
>
>>Reading of news articles using rn is not a problem, but if you try to
>>reply to an article or save an article on some occasions you can drop
>>out of rn 
...
>Ditto, While I was able to make nntp work, rrn still is not completely
>foolproof.  (of course not, I compiled it.)
>
>General discussion of this would be appreciated...
>
>Bryan.
I posted an article last week on this very problem.  If you can't find it, 
send me email and I'll send you a copy.

Basically, you need to build rn/rrn/trrn without vfork().  SGI's implementation
doesn't work correctly.

Scott Simpers
Quality Software Products                    voice: (213)410-0303
5711 W Slauson Avenue  Suite 240             fax: (213)410-0124
Culver City, CA  90230                       ...uunet!qsp!scotts