martya@hp-sdd.hp.com (Marty Albini) (09/06/89)
In the software I use (rn) there is a provision for limitting
distribution so a bicycle for sale in Oakland doesn't get advertised
in Nepal. This is a great idea, and I'd love to use it, but I can't
find a list of abreviations for various localities or the format for
using them (if I want it to go to the bay area AND Oregon, do I
include both? Use a comma between them? Can I even do this?)
I have also seen macros mentioned, and these also look useful,
but they are undocumented at my site. Is there some publication which
has all this info?
I know, I know, "Ask your sysadmin." He says "I'm busy, ask
somebody else." (I'm not getting the accent right, but that's the gist
of it).
I appreciate the help, and the bandwidth.
--
________________________________________________Marty Albini________
"To enjoy life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks."
phone : (619) 592-4177
UUCP : {hplabs|nosc|hpfcla|ucsd}!hp-sdd!martya
Internet : martya%hp-sdd@hp-sde.sde.hp.com (or @nosc.mil, @ucsd.edu)
CSNET : martya%hp-sdd@hplabs.csnet
US mail : Hewlett-Packard Co., 16399 W. Bernardo Drive, San Diego CA 92127-1899 USAbill@twwells.com (T. William Wells) (09/08/89)
In article <2529@hp-sdd.hp.com> martya@hpsdl39.UUCP (Marty Albini) writes:
: In the software I use (rn) there is a provision for limitting
: distribution so a bicycle for sale in Oakland doesn't get advertised
: in Nepal. This is a great idea, and I'd love to use it, but I can't
: find a list of abreviations for various localities or the format for
: using them (if I want it to go to the bay area AND Oregon, do I
: include both? Use a comma between them? Can I even do this?)
Well, let's first deal with a misconception I think you have. First,
you can't post to just any distribution. You can only post to a
distribution that your site is contained in.
To get a list of those distributions, just run Pnews. It will give
you a list of distributions to choose from. You can select just one
of them.
: I have also seen macros mentioned, and these also look useful,
: but they are undocumented at my site. Is there some publication which
: has all this info?
In the source code for rn there are manual pages. These are the files
with the .1 extension. You may have to ask your system administrator
where those files are. Or you can get the source code from some
archive site on the net.
: "To enjoy life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks."
Moderation in all things, including moderation! :-)
---
Bill { uunet | novavax | ankh | sunvice } !twwells!bill
bill@twwells.comepsilon@wet.UUCP (Eric P. Scott) (09/10/89)
In article <1989Sep8.072603.4601@twwells.com> bill@twwells.com (T. William Wells) writes: >In article <2529@hp-sdd.hp.com> martya@hpsdl39.UUCP (Marty Albini) writes: >: In the software I use (rn) there is a provision for limitting >: distribution so a bicycle for sale in Oakland doesn't get advertised >: in Nepal. This is a great idea, and I'd love to use it, but I can't >: find a list of abreviations for various localities > >To get a list of those distributions, just run Pnews. It will give >you a list of distributions to choose from. You can select just one >of them. If your netnews software was properly installed ("ask your news administrator") there will be a file called distributions, usually in the /usr/lib/news directory. This is what ours looks like: local Local to this site ba Everywhere in the San Francisco Bay Area ca Everywhere in California usa Everywhere in the USA na Everywhere in North America world Everywhere on Usenet in the world However, this is neither a complete list, nor the "official" list. Which distributions are valid for your site are governed by the "sys" files on your machine, and those you exchange news with. Since the first machine that receives a posting is yours, you can only post to a distribution your machine will accept. Here's what the first line of our sys file looks like (folded): ME:world,comp,sci,news,rec,soc,talk,misc,na,usa,!junk,alt,ba, bionet,biz,ca,gnu,pubnet,to:: You should see a list similar to the above--what you should not see is the word "all"; that's a big no-no. The rest of the file directs outgoing news. Note that it is possible (although inadvisable) to accept distributions that are not redistributed. If you were to post to one of those, your machine would accept the posting, and you would see it posted. But no one else would, since it would never leave your site. (This is one reason why "all" is bad; it's not the only one, and certainly not the most serious.) Your site also shouldn't propagate distributions to machines that don't accept them. Neighboring news admins MUST cooperate for usenet to work effectively. [Above description for B2.11.14/B2.11.17 w/o NNTP. Users with other news transports should check with someone knowledgeable, or RTFM.] One more thing--regional/geographic distributions exist by agreement. A site could choose not to participate in its "appropriate regions," or to pick up "foreign" distributions; one of our users recently asked whether the distribution mechanism was broken because he was getting replies to "ba" articles from MIT. I reassured him that all was well. -=EPS=-