Provided by: nn_6.7.3-10build2_amd64 
NAME
nnacct - news accounting and access authorization (nn)
SYNOPSIS
nnacct -r [ -f file ] [ -a ] [ user ]...
nnacct [ -ppolicy ] [ -qquota ] user...
nnacct -ZERO
DESCRIPTION
The nnacct command provides an optional accounting and access authorization for news reading via the nn
news reader.
The first form (-r) is used to print accounting reports. If a file is specified data from a saved
accounting file; otherwise the data is read from the current accounting file.
If -a is specified, the report will contain accounting data for all users. Otherwise, if one or more
users are specified, the data for these users will be printed. If neiter is specified, only the
accounting data for the current user is printed.
Only the super-user can generate reports for other users than the caller.
The second form (-p and/or -q) assigns the specified access policy and/or quota to the specified users.
If a given user is not already known in the accounting file, a new entry with the specified policy and
quota is created (default values are used if both are not specified).
The third form (-ZERO) will clear the usage counts for all users. Individual usage counts cannot be
cleared. The original accounting file is saved with a .old suffix.
The following policies are currently implemented:
0 No access. The user is not allowed to read news at all.
1 Privileged user. The user can read news at all times and no accounting information is saved.
This is obviously the policy for system administrators :-)
2 Full time access. The user can access news at all times.
3 Off-hours access. The user can only access news at off hours, i.e. in the morning, in the
evening, on week-ends, and on holidays (not complete - check the source :-)
The quota specifies a number of hours which the user is allowed to read news. When this quota is used
up, access will be blocked. A quota of zero gives unlimited access.
New users will get the default policy and quota defined in account.c. If this allows new users to read
news at only specific times, this form can be used to permit individual users to read news at all times,
or it can be used to prevent them from reading news at all. If the default policy does not allow new
users to read news, this form must be used to authorize them to read news.
HOW IT WORKS
If authorization is enabled, the nn news reader will call nnacct on start-up to check whether the policy
and quota defined for the current user allows him to read news at this time (or at all).
If accounting is enabled, the nn news reader will call nnacct on exit to register the time spent on news
reading. If account logging is also defined (see account.c), an line is also added to the accounting log
file.
When accounting is defined, the user can use the :cost command to get the current accounting data, and if
the variable report-cost is set, nn will print accounting information on exit.
CONTIGURATION AND NEW POLICIES
The use of nnacct is enabled via the ACCOUNTING and AUTHORIZE symbols in nn's configuration file.
Further configuration of cost calculations, logging, default policy, default quotas, etc. is done
directly in the source file account.c. New access policies can also be defined in this file. This
allows you to change the policies or prices without having to recompile the whole package since only
nnacct is modified.
PRIVILEGED USERS
Normally, only root is allowed to change user policy or quota, list all user's accounting data etc. This
privilege can be shared with other users by listing their login name in the file $CLIENT/admins. There
should be exactly one login name per line, and no blanks are allowed.
FILES
$db/acct accounting data (accumulated per user)
$db/acctlog accounting log (grows indefinitely)
$lib/admins login names of privileged nnacct users.
SEE ALSO
nn(1), nnusage(1)
BUGS
There should be some tools to mess around with the accounting files, e.g. to make summaries, clear usage
counters, etc.
AUTHOR
Kim F. Storm, Texas Instruments A/S, Denmark
E-mail: storm@texas.dk