alden@shape.mps.ohio-state.edu (Dave Alden) (05/21/91)
Archive-name: news/nntp/nntplink/1991-05-20
Archive: shape.mps.ohio-state.edu:/pub/nntplink/nntplink3*.tar.Z [128.146.7.200]
Original-posting-by: alden@shape.mps.ohio-state.edu (Dave Alden)
Original-subject: 3.0 is now ready!
Reposted-by: emv@msen.com (Edward Vielmetti, MSEN)
Howdy everyone,
(trumpets blaring, news admins with joy) 3.0 IS RELEASED!!!! :-) :-) :-)
I've put 3.0 up for anonymous ftp:
shape.mps.ohio-state.edu[128.146.7.200]:/pub/nntplink/nntplink3.0.tar.Z
Here's the README:
NNTPlink Version 3.0
--------------------
Please read this note thoroughly and then proceed to the INSTALL file
for installation instructions.
PLEASE NOTE: If you have used previous versions of nntplink then forget
what you've learned. :-) All of the arguments have changed.
Also, if you have previously installed the relaynews patches
then you MUST install the new ones included in the "sup"
subdirectory. Please see the file "sup/README.PATCHES".
I've written a program called "links" which takes care of
starting/restarting/stopping the nntplink processes. Please
see the file "sup/README.LINKS" for more information.
NNTPlink is a news transmission client designed to replace nntpxmit.
Instead of invoking nntpxmit every <n> minutes you can start up nntplink
once and it will run until killed. It keeps the connection to the remote
NNTP server open, only closing it after a specified amount of idle time
or after a specified number of articles have been offered to the remote
server. It has 3 methods of retrieving the article information:
o logfile - It will retrieve the necessary information from the
logfile. This is the most efficient since news updates
the logfile with the information on which systems got
which articles automatically. (Please see the note on
supported logfile formats later on in this message).
o batchfile - It will retrieve the necessary information from the
batchfile. This isn't quite as efficient as the logfile
or stdin modes. This is the method used by nntpxmit.
o stdin - It will retrieve the necessary information from <stdin>.
This requires an agent to start it up as a child and
send articles to it. This method is still considered
experimental since it hasn't been tested thoroughly.
This version is now compatible with both B and C news batching. The
problem that used to plague nntplink (and other transmission clients)
is the lack of locking on batchfile. If the news system was attempting
to update the batchfile at the same time nntplink was trying to work
with the batchfile it was possible (make that probable) that batchfiles
would lose articles. The way I've gotten around the problem (without any
using any high-overhead locking schemes) is to only open the batchfile
for reading. Then I "tail" the batchfile watching for newly queued
articles. After <n> articles I rename the batchfile to batchfile.nntp
and start "tailing" batchfile.nntp. If I reach EOF and there is a new
batchfile then I remove batchfile.nntp and go back to "tailing" the
batchfile, othewise I continue "tailing" batchfile.nntp.
This version is also capable of reading "virgin" logfiles - you do not
need to install the supplied news patches (see the LOOKUP_ARTICLE option
in conf.h). For optimal use I would advise you to install the patches
since not installing them forces nntplink to do a history lookup to find
out the article pathname for each article it wishes to send to the remote
server. However, I have found that either way, with or without the
patches, you will be better off using the logfile input mode as opposed
to the batchfile input mode.
Please note that there are only 4 formats of logfiles which are supported.
They are the "basic" C news format with/without the nntplink patches and
the "basic" B news format with/without the nntplink patches. For example,
a "basic" C news format (with the patch) is:
May 15 01:55:37.970 usc + <1991May15.055006.24652@ucselx.sdsu.edu> (alt/folklor
e/computers/12390) n8emr caen pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu
While the "basic" B news format (with the patch) is:
May 15 16:26 zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu <1991May15.055006.24652@ucselx.
sdsu.edu> (alt/folklore/computers/12390) sent to linac, phyvsf
Many, many, many thanks go out to Mark Moraes for his fb_readline() (and
related) code. Also for his pushing me to do away with static buffers
and his many comments on how to improve the code.
Also, thanks go out to the Alpha testers who tried my code and sent me
bug reports and suggestions:
Steve Goodman (manager@spool.mu.edu)
Brendan Kehoe (brendan@cs.widener.edu)
Jaye Mathisen (osyjm@caesar.cs.montana.edu)
Jason Molenda (molenda.s1.msi.umn.edu)
Mark Moraes (moraes@cs.toronto.edu)
Petri Ojala (ojala@sauna.hut.fi)
Luis Ortiz (ortiz@think.com)
Andrew Partan (asp@uunet.uu.net)
Andy Poling (andy@gollum.hcf.jhu.edu)
Jim Thompson (jthomp@central.sun.com)
David Alden
May 20th, 1991
---
Please send bug fixes/enhancements/suggestions to:
alden@shape.mps.ohio-state.edu
There is a mailing list for people who use nntplink. Patches and discussion
are sent to this list. If you wish to be added to the list, just drop a
note to:
linkers-request@shape.mps.ohio-state.edu
This is an unmoderated mailing list. Submissions should be addressed to:
linkers@shape.mps.ohio-state.edu
Archives of the list are available:
shape.mps.ohio-state.edu[128.146.7.200]:/pub/nntplink/Linkers.archive
-- comp.archives file verification
shape.mps.ohio-state.edu
-rw-r--r-- 1 root staff 79483 May 20 14:57 /pub/nntplink/nntplink3.0.tar.Z
found nntplink ok
shape.mps.ohio-state.edu:/pub/nntplink/nntplink3*.tar.Z