[news.software.anu-news] my NEWS.DISTRIBUTION seems to be ignored, Help me please!!!

asleeman@waikato.ac.nz (02/15/90)

Hi,

Does ANU-NEWS make use of the NEWS.DISRIBUTION file. My problem is that 
all ANU-NEWS insists on trying sending every article it sees to every 
hosts it knows about even if that host is already in the articles path.

My my NEWS.DISRIBUTION file looks like :
peace                    kaukau.comp.vuw.ac.nz
kaukau.comp.vuw.ac.nz    peace

"peace" is a machine that is currently not receiving news so it NEWS.SYS
entry has no newsgroup in its list. Thus NEWS.SYS looks like :

virtue:world,inet,anu,comp,sci,news,rec,misc,local,junk,control::

peace::N:news_manager_dev/[ihave_peace]collect.ids

comp.vuw.ac.nz:world,inet,anu,comp,sci,news,rec,misc,local,junk,control:N:\
news_manager_dev/[ihave_kaukau]collect.ids

What is going wrong? Help me please !!!

Andrew Sleeman
asleeman@wai[A

sloane@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu (Bob Sloane) (02/17/90)

In article <145.25dacc2f@waikato.ac.nz>, asleeman@waikato.ac.nz writes:
> Does ANU-NEWS make use of the NEWS.DISRIBUTION file.

Well, it seems to be working for me.

>                                                      My problem is that 
> all ANU-NEWS insists on trying sending every article it sees to every 
> hosts it knows about even if that host is already in the articles path.
> 
> My my NEWS.DISRIBUTION file looks like :
> peace                    kaukau.comp.vuw.ac.nz
> kaukau.comp.vuw.ac.nz    peace

The above says that aritlces which have Path: peace!... headers will
be sent to kaukau.com.vuw.ac.nz and articles that have kaukau... at
the beginning of the Path: header will go to peace.  NEWS doesn't
check to see if peace (or whatever) occurs ANYWHERE in the path. It
just looks at the first system in the Path: header to determine
distribution. 

> "peace" is a machine that is currently not receiving news so it NEWS.SYS
> entry has no newsgroup in its list. Thus NEWS.SYS looks like :
> 
> virtue:world,inet,anu,comp,sci,news,rec,misc,local,junk,control::
> 
> peace::N:news_manager_dev/[ihave_peace]collect.ids
> 
> comp.vuw.ac.nz:world,inet,anu,comp,sci,news,rec,misc,local,junk,control:N:\
> news_manager_dev/[ihave_kaukau]collect.ids

If the problem is that articles from virtue are getting sent to peace,
then I would put SOMETHING in the second field of the NEWS.SYS line
for peace, ie:

peace:!all:N:news_manager_dev/[ihave_peace]collect.ids

I am not positive that NEWS will be able to handle a NULL field there.
You should also check to make sure that what is in the Path: header
for the system names for these system matches EXACTLY what is in
NEWS.SYS and NEWS.DISTRIBUTION.  Your definition of NEWS_NODE must
match NEWS.SYS and NEWS.DISTRIBUTION exactly, too.

I use the NEWS.DISTRIBUTION file to route things correctly here at ku,
and it seems to be working OK for me.  If the above doesn't locate the
problem, could you provide some more detail on the problem. Actual
copies of your NEWS.SYS and NEWS.DISTRIBUTION files, and examples of
messages that were incorrectly routed would be a big help.
-- 
USmail: Bob Sloane, University of Kansas Computer Center, Lawrence, KS, 66045
E-mail: sloane@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu, sloane@ukanvax.bitnet, AT&T: (913)864-0444