Provided by: suck_4.3.3-1build1_amd64 
NAME
suck - Pull a small newsfeed from an NNTP server, avoiding the NEWNEWS command.
SYNOPSIS
suck [ hostname ] [ @filename ] [ -V ] [ -K ] [ -L[SL] ] [ -LF filename ] [ -H ] [ -HF filename ] [
-d[tmd] dirname ] [ -s | -S filename ] [ -e | -E filename ] [ -a ] [ -m ] [ -b[irlf] batchfile ] [ -r
filesize ] [ -p extension ] [ -U userid ] [ -P password ] [ -Q ] [ -c ] [ -M ] [ -N port_number ] [ -W
pause_time pause_nr_msgs ] [ -w pause_time pause_nr_msgs ] [ -l phrase_file ] [ -D ] [ -R ] [ -q ] [ -C
count ] [ -k ] [ -A ] [ -AL activefile ] [ -hl localhost ] [ -bp ] [ -T timeout ] [ -n ] [ -u ] [ -z ] [
-x ] [ -B ] [ -O ] [ -G ] [ -X ] [ -f ] [ -y post_filter ] [ -F ] [ -g ] [ -i number_to_read ] [ -Z ] [
-rc ] [ -lr ] [ -sg ] [ -ssl ] [ -SSL ]
Options valid in all modes tname
The hostname may optionally include the port number, in the form
Host:Port.Ifthisoptionisused,anyportnumberspecified via the -N option is ignored.
@filename
This option tells suck to read other options from a file in addition to the commandline.
-a
This option forces suck to always batch up any downloaded articles, even if suck aborts for any reason.
Without this option, suck will only batch up articles if it finishes successfully or is cancelled by a
signal (see below).
-A
This option tells suck to scan the localhost (specified with the -hl option) and use its active file to
build and update the sucknewsrc. If you add a group to your local server, suck will add it to
sucknewsrc and download articles. Or, if you delete a group from your local server, it will be deleted
from sucknewsrc. If posting is not allowed to a particular group, then the line in sucknewsrc is just
commented out. With this option, you should never have to edit your sucknewsrc. In case you have
newsgroups (like control and junk) that you don't want downloaded, you can put these newsgroups in a file
"active-ignore", one per line, and suck will ignore these newsgroups when it scans the localhost. If
your system supports regex(), you may use regular expressions in the active-ignore file to skip multiple
groups, eg: fred.*. If you use the -p (postfix) option, suck will check for the existence of an active-
ignore file with the postfix. If that doesn't exist, then suck will check for the existence of the file
without the postfix.
NOTE: If the localhost is on a non-standard port, the port number may be specified as part of the
hostname, in the form Host:Port.
NOTE: If you use regular expressions, suck will silently add a "^" to the beginning of the group name,
and a "$" to the end of the group name if they aren't already present, so that if you have
"comp.os.linux", it won't match "comp.os.linux.answers" or if you have "alt.test" it doesn't match
"comp.alt.test".
-AL activefile
This option is identical to the -A option, except it reads the active file from the local file specified
instead of reading it from the localhost. All the caveats from the -A option apply to this option as
well. If both options are used on the command line, suck first tries to use the -A option, then if that
fails it uses this option.
-B
This option tells suck to attempt to batch up any articles in its directory BEFORE starting to download
messages. This can be useful if you have a problem with the previous download. This option will only
work if you specify a batch option (see below). If there are no messages to batch up, some of the batch
options may produce warning messages. They may be safely ignored. Also, if the batch files exist at the
end of the run, in inn-batch mode, it will be overwritten, since the new batch file will contain all
messages. In rnews mode, if the batch file exists, it will abort and not batch up any messages.
-c
If this option is specified, suck will clean up after itself. This includes:
1. Moving sucknewsrc to sucknewsrc.old
2. Moving suck.newrc to sucknewsrc
3. rm suck.sorted and suckothermsgs.
-C count
This option tells suck to drop the connection and reopen it every count number of articles. This is
designed to battle INN's LIKE_PULLERS=DONT option, that some folks compile in. With LIKE_PULLERS=DONT,
after 100 messages INN will pause between every message, dramatically reducing your download speed. I
don't recommend the use of this, but if you have no other choice....
-dd dirname
-dm dirname
-dt dirname
Specify the location of the various files used by suck.
-dd dirname = directory of data files used by suck (sucknewsrc suckkillfile suckothermsgs active-ignore
sucknodownload)
-dm dirname = directory for storage of articles created in Multifile mode or batch mode. DO NOT make
this the same as the directories used for the -dt or -d options, or you will lose all your configuration
files.
-dt dirname = directory of temp files created by suck (suck.newrc, suck.sort, suck.restart, suck.killlog,
suck.post).
-D
This option tells suck to log various debugging messages to "debug.suck", primarily for use by the
maintainer.
-e | -E filename
These options will send all error messages (normally displayed on stderr), to an alternate file. The
lower case version, -e, will send the error messages to the compiled-in default defined in suck_config.h.
The default is suck.errlog. The upper case version, -E, requires the filename parameter. All error
messages will then be sent to this file.
-f
This option tells suck to reconnect after deduping, and before downloading the articles. This is in case
long dedupe times cause timeouts on the remote end.
-F
This option tells suck to reconnect after reading the local active file, and before downloading the Msg-
IDs. This is in case of a large active file, which causes timeouts on the remote end.
-g
This option causes suck to only download the headers of any selected articles. As a result of this, any
batching of articles is skipped. This option does work with killfiles, however, killfile options such
as BODYSIZE> will be ignored, since the body of the article will never be downloaded.
-G
This option causes suck to display the message count and BPS status lines in a slightly different format,
more suitable for use by a filter program (such as a GUI).
-H
This option will cause suck to bypass the history check.
-HF history_file_name
This option tells suck the location of the history file. The default is at /var/lib/news/history.
-hl localhost
This option specifies the localhost name. This option is required with both the -A and the -bp option.
-i number_to_read
This option tells suck the number of articles to download if you are using the -A or -AL option, and a
new group is added. The default is defined in suck_config.h (ACTIVE_DEFAULT_LASTREAD, currently -100).
NOTE: This must be a negative number (eg -100, -50), or 0, to download all articles currently available
in the group.
-k
This option tells suck to NOT attach the postfix from the -p option to the names of the killfiles, both
the master killfile and any group files. This allows you to maintain one set of killfiles for multiple
servers.
-K
This option will cause suck to bypass checking the killfile(s).
-l phrase_file
This option tells suck to load in an alternate phrase file, instead of using the built-in messages. This
allows you to have suck print phrases in another language, or to allow you to customize the messages
without re-building suck. See below.
-lr
This option, is used in conjunction with the highest article option in the sucknewsrc, to download the
oldest articles, vice the newest articles. See that section for more details.
-L
This option tells suck to NOT log killed articles to suck.killlog.
-LF filename
This option allows you to override the built-in default of "suck.killlog" for the file which contains the
log entries for killed articles.
-LL
This option tells suck to create long log entries for each killed article. The long entry contains the
short log entry and the header for the killed message.
-LS
This option tells suck to create short log entries for each killed article. The short entry contains
which group and which pattern was matched, as well as the MsgID of the killed article.
-M
This option tells suck to send the "mode reader" command to the remote server. If you get an invalid
command message immediately after the welcome announcement, then try this option.
-n
This option tells suck to use the article number vice the MsgId to retrieve the articles. This option is
supposedly less harsh on the remote server. It can also eliminate problems if your ISP ages off articles
quickly and you frequently get "article not found" errors. Also, if your ISP uses DNEWS, you might need
this option so that it knows you're reading articles in a group.
-N port_number
This option tells suck to use an alternate NNRP port number when connecting to the host, instead of the
default, 119.
-O
This option tells suck to skip the first article upon restart. This is used whenever there is a problem
with an article on the remote server. For some reasons, some NNTP servers, when they have a problem with
a particular article, they time out. Yet, when you restart, you're back on the same article, and you
time out again. This option tells suck to skip the first article upon restart, so that you can get the
rest of the articles.
-p extension
This extension is added to all files so that you can have multiple site feeds. For example, if you
specify -p .dummy, then suck looks for sucknewsrc.dummy, suckkillfile.dummy, etc, and creates its temp
files with the same extension. This will allow you to keep multiple sucknewsrc files, one for each site.
-q
This option tells suck to not display the BPS and article count messages during download. Handy when
running suck unattended, such as from a crontab.
-R
This option tells suck to skip a rescan of the remote newserver upon a restart. The default is to rescan
the newserver for any new articles whenever suck runs, including restarts.
-rc
This option tells suck to change its behavior when the remote server resets its article counters. The
default behavior is to reset the lastread in sucknewsrc to the current high article counter. With this
option, suck resets the lastread in sucknewsrc to the current low article counter, causing it to suck all
articles in the group, and using the historydb routines to dedupe existing articles.
-s | -S filename
These options will send all status messages (normally displayed on stdout), to an alternate file. The
lower case version, -s, will send the status messages to the compiled-in default defined in
suck_config.h. The default is /dev/null, so no status messages will be displayed. The upper case
version, -S, requires the filename parameter. All status messages will then be sent to this file.
-sg
This option tells suck to add the name of the current group being downloaded, if known, to the BPS
display. Typically the only time suck doesn't know the group name is if an article is downloaded via
the suckothermsgs file.
-ssl
This option tells suck to use SSL to talk to the remote server, if suck was compiled with SSL support.
-SSL
This option tells suck to use SSL to talk to the local server, if suck was compiled with SSL support.
-T timeout
This option overrides the compiled-in TIMEOUT value. This is how long suck waits for data from the remote
host before timing out and aborting. The timeout value is in seconds.
-u
This option tells suck to send the AUTHINFO USER command immediately upon connect to the remote server,
rather than wait for a request for authorization. You must supply the -U and -P options when you use
this option.
-U userid
-P password
These two options let you specify a userid and password, if your NNTP server requires them.
-Q
This option tells suck to get the userid and password for NNTP authentication from the environment
variables "NNTP_USER" and "NNTP_PASS" vice the -U or -P password. This prevents a potential security
problem where someone doing a ps command can see your userid and password.
-V
This option will cause suck to print out the version number and then exit.
-w pause_timer pause_nr_msgs
This option allows you to slow down suck while pulling articles. If you send suck a predefined signal
(default SIGUSR1, see suck_config.h), suck will swap the default pause options (if specified by the -W
option), with the values from this option. For example, you run suck with -w 2 2, and you send suck a
SIGUSR1 (using kill), suck will then pause 2 seconds between every other message, allowing the server to
"catch its breath." If you send suck another SIGUSR1, then suck will put back the default pause options.
If no pause options were specified on the command line (you omitted -W), then suck will return to the
default full speed pull.
-W pause_time pause_nr_msgs
This option tells suck to pause between the download of articles. You need to specify how long to pause
(in seconds), and how often to pause (every X nr of articles). Ex: -W 10 100 would cause suck to pause
for 10 seconds every 100 articles. Why would you want to do this? Suck can cause heavy loads on a
remote server, and this pause allows the server to "catch its breath."
-x
This option tells suck to not check the Message-IDs for the ending > character. This option is for brain
dead NNTP servers that truncate the XHDR information at 72 characters.
-X
This option tells suck to bypass the XOVER killfiles.
-y post_filter
This option is only valid when using any of batch modes. It allows you to edit any or all of the
articles downloaded before posting to the local host. See below for more details.
-z
This option tells suck to bypass the normal deduping process. This is primarily for slow machines where
the deduping takes longer than the download of messages would. Not recommended.
-Z
This option tells suck to use the XOVER command vice the XHDR command to retrieve the information needed
to download articles. Use this if your remote news server doesn't support the XHDR command.
LONG OPTION EQUIVALENTS
-a --always_batch
-bi --batch-inn
-br --batch_rnews
-bl --batch_lmove
-bf --batch_innfeed
-bp --batch_post
-c --cleanup
-dt --dir_temp
-dd --dir_data
-dm --dir_msgs
-e --def_error_log
-f --reconnect_dedupe
-g --header_only
-h --host
-hl --localhost
-k --kill_no_postfix
-l --language_file
-lr --low_read
-m --multifile
-n --number_mode
-p --postfix
-q --quiet
-r --rnews_size
-rc --resetcounter
-s --def_status_log
-sg --show_group
-ssl --use_ssl
-w --wait_signal
-x --no_chk_msgid
-y --post_filter
-z --no_dedupe
-A --active
-AL --read_active
-B --pre-batch
-C --reconnect
-D --debug
-E --error_log
-G --use_gui
-H --no_history
-HF --history_file
-K --killfile
-L --kill_log_none
-LS --kill_log_short
-LL --kill_log_long
-M --mode_reader
-N --portnr
-O --skip_on_restart
-P --password
-Q --password_env
-R --no_rescan
-S --status_log
-SSL --local_use_ssl
-T --timeout
-U --userid
-V --version
-W --wait
-X --no_xover
-Z --use_xover
DESCRIPTION
MODE 1 - stdout mode
%suck
%suck myhost.com
Suck grabs news from an NNTP server and sends the articles to stdout. Suck accepts as argument the name
of an NNTP server or if you don't give an argument it will take the environment variable NNTPSERVER. You
can redirect the articles to a file or compress them on the fly like "suck server.domain | gzip -9 >
output.gz". Now it's up to you what you do with the articles. Maybe you have the output already on your
local machine because you used a slip line or you still have to transfer the output to your local
machine.
MODE 2 - Multifile mode
%suck -m
%suck myhost.com -m
Suck grabs news from an NNTP server and stores each article in a separate file. They are stored in the
directory specified in suck_config.h or by the -dm command line option.
MODE 3 - Batch mode
%suck myhost.com -b[irlf] batchfile
or %suck myhost.com -bp -hl localhost
or %suck myhost.com -bP NR -hl localhost
%suck myhost.com -b[irlf] batchfile
Suck will grab news articles from an NNTP server and store them into files, one for each article
(Multifile mode). The location of the files is based on the defines in suck_config.h and the command
line -dm. Once suck is done downloading the articles, it will build a batch file which can be processed
by either innxmit or rnews, or it will call lmove to put the files directly into the news/group/number
format.
-bi - build batch file for innxmit. The articles are left intact, and a batchfile is built with a one-up
listing of the full path of each article. Then innxmit can be called:
%innxmit localhost batchfile
-bl - suck will call lmove to put the articles into news/group/number format. You must provide the name
of the configuration file on the command line. The following arguments from suck are passed to lmove:
The configuration file name (the batchfile name provided with this option)
The directory specified for articles (-dm or built-in default).
The errorlog to log errors to (-e or -E), if provided on the command line.
The phrases file (-l), if provided on the command line.
The Debug option, if provided on the command line.
-br - build batch file for rnews. The articles are concatenated together, with the #!rnews size article
separator. This can the be fed to rnews:
%rnews -S localhost batchfile
-r filesize specify maximum batch file size for rnews. This option allows you to specify the maximum
size of a batch file to be fed to rnews. When this limit is reached, a new batch file is created AFTER I
finish writing the current article to the old batch file. The second and successive batch files get a 1
up sequence number attached to the file name specified with the -br. Note that since I have to finish
writing out the current article after reaching the limit, the max file size is only approximate.
-bf - build a batch file for innfeed. This batchfile contains the MsgID and full path of each article.
The main difference between this and the innxmit option is that the innfeed file is built as the articles
are downloaded, so that innfeed can be posting the articles, even while more articles are downloaded.
-bp - This option tells suck to build a batch file, and post the articles in that batchfile to the
localhost (specified with the -hl option). This option uses the IHAVE command to post all downloaded
articles to the local host. The batch file is called suck.post, and is put in the temporary directory
(-dt). It is deleted upon completion, as are the successfully posted articles. If the article is not
wanted by the server (usually because it already exists on the server, or it is too old), the article is
also deleted. If other errors occur, the article is NOT deleted. With the following command line, you
can download and post articles without worrying if you are using INND or CNEWS.
%suck news.server.com -bp -hl localhost -A -c
-bP NR - This option works identically to -bp above, except instead of waiting until all articles are
downloaded, it will post them to the local server after downloading NR of articles.
%suck news.server.com -bP 100 -hl localhost -A -c
SUCK ARGUMENT FILE
If you specify @filename on the command line, suck will read from filename and parse it for any arguments
that you wish to pass to suck. You specify the same arguments in this file as you do on the command
line. The arguments can be on one line, or spread out among more than one line. You may also use
comments. Comments begin with '#' and go to the end of a line. All command line arguments override
arguments in the file.
# Sample Argument file
-bi batch # batch file option
-M # use mode reader option
SUCKNEWSRC
Suck looks for a file sucknewsrc to see what articles you want and which you already received. The format
of sucknewsrc is very simple. It consists of one line for each newsgroup. The line contains two or three
fields.
The first field is the name of the group.
The second field is the highest article number that was in the group when that group was last downloaded.
The third field, which is optional, limits the number of articles which can be downloaded at any given
time. If there are more articles than this number, only the newest are downloaded. If the third field
is 0, then no new messages are downloaded. If the command line option -lr is specified, instead of
downloading the newest articles, suck will download the oldest articles instead.
The fields are separated by a space.
comp.os.linux.announce 1 [ 100 ]
When suck is finished, it creates the file suck.newrc which contains the new sucknewsrc with the updated
article numbers.
To add a new newsgroup, just stick it in sucknewsrc, with a highest article number of -1 (or any number
less than 0). Suck will then get the newest X number of messages for that newsgroup. For example, a
-100 would cause suck to download the newest 100 articles for that newsgroup.
To tell suck to skip a newsgroup, put a # as the first character of a line.
SUCKKILLFILE and SUCKXOVER
There are two types of killfiles supported in suck. The first, via the file suckkillfile, kills articles
based on information in the actual article header or body. The second, via the file suckxover, kills
articles based on the information retreived via the NNTP command XOVER. They are implemented in two
fundamentally different ways. The suckkillfile killing is done as the articles are downloaded, one at a
time. The XOVER killing is done while suck is getting the list of articles to download, and before a
single article is downloaded. You may use either, none or both type of killfiles.
SUCKKILLFILE and GROUP KEEP/KILLFILES
If suckkillfile exists, the headers of all articles will be scanned and the article downloaded or not,
based on the parameters in the files. If no logging option is specified (see the -L options above), then
the long logging option is used.
Comments lines are allowed in the killfiles. A comment line has a "#" in the first position. Everything
on a comment line is ignored.
Here's how the whole keep/delete package works. All articles are checked against the master kill file
(suckkillfile). If an article is not killed by the master kill file, then its group line is parsed. If
a group file exists for one of the groups then the article is checked against that group file. If it
matches a keep file, then it is kept, otherwise it is flagged for deletion. If it matches a delete file,
then it is flagged for deletion, otherwise it is kept. This is done for every group on the group line.
NOTES: With the exception of the USE_EXTENDED_REGEX parameter, none of these parameters are passed from
the master killfile to the individual group file. Each killfile is separate and independant. Also, each
search is case-insensitive unless specifically specified by starting the search string with the QUOTE
character (see below). However, the parameter part of the search expression (the LOWLINE=, HILINE= part)
is case sensitive.
PARAMETERS
LOWLINES=#######
HILINES=#######
NRGRPS=####
NRXREF=####
QUOTE=c
NON_REGEX=c
GROUP=keep groupname filename OR GROUP=delete groupname filename
PROGRAM=pathname
PERL=pathname
TIEBREAKER_DELETE
GROUP_OVERRIDE_MASTER
USE_EXTENDED_REGEX
XOVER_LOG_LONG
HEADER:
Any Valid Header Line:
BODY:
BODYSIZE>
BODYSIZE<
All parameters are valid in both the master kill file and the group files, with the exception of GROUP,
PROGRAM, PERL, TIEBREAKER_DELETE, and GROUP_OVERRIDE_MASTER. These are only valid in the master kill
file.
KILL/KEEP Files Parameters
HILINES= Match any article longer than the number of lines specified.
LOWLINES= Match any article shorter than the number of lines specified.
NRGRPS= This line will match any article which has more groups than the number specified on the
Newsgroups: line. Typically this is used in a killfile to prevent spammed articles. (A spammed article
is one that is posted to many many groups, such as those get-rich quick schemes, etc.)
NRXREF= This line will match any article that has more groups than than the number specified on the Xref:
line. This is another spamm stopper. WARNING: the Xref: line is not as accurate as the Newsgroups:
line, as it only contains groups known to the news server. This option is most useful in an xover
killfile, as in Xoverviews don't typically provide the Newsgroups: line, but do provide the Xref: line.
HEADER: Any Valid Header Line: Suck allows you to scan any single header line for a particular
pattern/string, or you may scan the entire article header. To scan an individual line, just specify it,
for example to scan the From line for boby@pixi.com, you would put
From:boby@pixi.com
Note that the header line EXACTLY matches what is contained in the article. To scan the Followup-To:
line, simply put To search the same header line for multiple search items, then each search item must be
on a separate line, eg:
From:boby@xxx
From:nerd@yyy
Subject:suck
Subject:help
The parameter HEADER: is a special case of the above. If you use the HEADER: parameter, then the entire
header is searched for the item. You are allowed multiple HEADER: lines in each killfile.
When suck searches for the pattern, it only searches for what follows the :, and spaces following the :
are significant. With the above example "Subject:suck", we will search the Subject header line for the
string "suck". If the example had read "Subject: suck", suck would have searched for the string " suck".
Note the extra space.
If your system has regex() routines on it, then the items searched for can be POSIX regular expressions,
instead of just strings. Note that the QUOTE= option is still applied, even to regular expressions.
BODY: This parameter allows you to search the body of an article for text. Again, if your system has
regex(), you can use regular expressions, and the QUOTE= option is also applied. You are allowed
multiple BODY: lines in each killfile. WARNING: Certain regex combinations, especially with .* at the
beginning, (eg BODY:.*jpg), in combination with large articles, can cause the regex code to eat massive
amounts of CPU, and suck will seem like it is doing nothing.
BODYSIZE> This parameter will match an article if the size of its body (not including the header) is
greater than this parameter. The size is specified in bytes.
BODYSIZE< This parameter will match an article if the size of its body, is less than this parameter. The
size is specified in bytes.
QUOTE= This item specifies the character that defines a quoted string. The default for this is a ". If
an item starts with the QUOTE character, then the item is checked as-is (case significant). If an item
does not start with the QUOTE character, then the item is checked with out regard to case.
NON_REGEX= This items specifies the character that defines a non-regex string. The default for this is a
%. If an item starts with the NON_REGEX character, then the item is never checked for regular
expressions. If the item doesn't start with the QUOTE character, then suck tries to determine if it is a
regular expression, and if it is, use regex() on it. This item is so that you can tell suck to treat
strings like "$$$$ MONEY $$$$" as non-regex items. IF YOU USE BOTH QUOTE and NON_REGEX characters on a
string, the NON_REGEX character MUST appear first.
GROUP= This line allows you to specify either keep or delete parameters on a group by group basis. There
are three parts to this line. Each part of this line must be separated by exactly one space. The first
part is either "keep" or "delete". If it is keep, then only articles in that group which match the
parameters in the group file are downloaded. If it is delete, articles in that group which match the
parameters are not downloaded. The second part, the group name is the full group name for articles to
check against the group file. The group name may contain an * as the last character, to match multiple
groups, eg: "comp.os.linux.*" would match comp.os.linux.announce, comp.os.linux.answers, etc.. The
third part specifies the group file which contains the parameters to check the articles against. Note,
that if you specified a postfix with the -p option, then this postfix is attached to the name of the file
when suck looks for it, UNLESS you use the -k option above.
GROUP_OVERRIDE_MASTER This allows you to override the default behavior of the master kill file. If this
option is in the master kill file, then even if an article is flagged for deletion by the master kill
file, it is checked against the group files. If the group files says to not delete it, then the article
is kept.
TIEBREAKER_DELETE This option allows you to override the built-in tie-breaker default. The potential
exists for a message to be flagged by one group file as kept, and another group file as killed. The
built-in default is to then keep the message. The TIEBREAKER_DELETE option will override that, and
caused the article to be deleted.
USE_EXTENDED_REGEX This option tells suck to use extended regular expressions vice standard regular
expressions. It may used in the master killfile, in which case it applies to all killfiles, or in an
individual killfile, where it only applies to the parameters that follow it in the killfile.
XOVER_LOG_LONG This option tells suck to format the killfile generated by from an Xover killfile so that
it looks like an article header. The normal output is to just print the Xover line from theserver.
PROGRAM= This line allows suck to call an external program to check each article. You may specify any
arguments in addition to the program name on this line. If this line is in your suckkillfile, all other
lines are ignored. Instead, the headers are passed to the external program, and the external program
determines whether or not to download the article. Here's how it works. Suck will fork your program,
with stdin and stdout redirected. Suck will feed the headers to your program thru stdin, and expect a
reply back thru stdout. Here's the data flow for each article:
1. suck will write a 8 byte long string, which represents the length of the header record on stdin
of the external program. Then length is in ascii, is left-aligned, and ends in a newline
(example: "1234 \n").
2. suck will then write the header on stdin of the external program.
3. suck will wait for a 2 character response code on stdout. This response code is either "0\n"
or "1\n" (NOT BINARY ZERO OR ONE, ASCII ZERO OR ONE). If the return code is zero, suck will
download the article, if it is one, suck won't.
4. When there are no more articles, the length written down (for step 1) will be zero (again in
ascii "0 \n"). Suck will then wait for the external program to exit before continuing on.
The external program can do any clean up it needs, then exit. Note: suck will not continue
processing until the external program exits.
PERL= This line allows suck to call a perl subroutine to check each article. In order to use this
option, you must edit the Makefile, specifically the PERL* options. If the PERL= line is in your
suckkillfile, all other lines are ignored. Instead, the header is sent to your perl subroutine, and your
subroutine determines if the article is downloaded or not. The parameter on the PERL= line specifies the
file name of the perl routine eg:
PERL=perl_kill.pl
See the sample/perl_kill.pl for a sample perl subroutine. There are a couple of key points in this
sample. The "package Embed::Persistant;" must be in the perl file. This is so that any variable names
you create will not conflict with variable names in suck. In addition, the subroutine you define must be
"perl_kill", unless you change the PERL_PACKAGE_SUB define in suck_config.h. Also, your subroutine must
return exactly one value, an integer, either 0 or 1. If the subroutine returns 0, then the article is
downloaded, otherwise, the article is not downloaded.
NOTES: The perl file is only compiled once, before any articles are downloaded. This is to prevent
lengthy delays between articles while the perl routine is re-compiled. Also, you must use Perl 5.003 or
newer. In addition, you are advised to run 'perl -wc filter' BEFORE using your filter, in order to check
for syntax errors and avoid problems.
SUCKXOVER
If the file suckxover exists, then suck uses the XOVER command to get information on the articles and
decide whether or not to download the article. Xover files use the same syntax as suckkillfiles, but
supports a subset of the commands.
The following killfile commands are not supported in suckxover files:
NRGROUPS:
HEADER:
BODY:
TIEBREAKER_DELETE:
Only the following header lines will be checked:
Subject:
From:
Message-ID:
References:
The behaviour of the size commands ( BODYSIZE>, BODYSIZE<, HILINES, and LOWLINES ) specify the total size
of the article (not just the body) in bytes or lines, respectively.
All other parameters are allowed. However, if you use an invalid parameter, it is silently ignored.
SUCKXOVER and PROGRAM= or PERL= parameters
These parameters are supported in a suckxover file, however they work slightly differently than described
above. The key difference is that prior to sending each individual xoverview line to your program, suck
will send you the overview.fmt listing that it retrieves from the server. This overview.fmt is a tab-
separated line, describing the fields in each overview.fmt line.
For the PROGRAM= parameter, suck will first send your program an 8 byte long string, which is the length
of the overview.fmt. This length is formatted as the lengths above (see nr1 under PROGRAM=). Suck will
then send the overview.fmt. After that, the flow is as described above. See sample/killxover_child.c
for an example.
For the PERL= parameter, Your program must have two subroutines. The first is perl_overview, which will
recieve the overview.fmt, and not return anything. The second subroutine is perl_xover, which will
recieve the xoverview line, and return 0 or 1, as described in the PERL= above. See sample/perl_xover.pl
for an example.
SUCKOTHERMSGS
If suckothermsgs exists, it must contain lines formatted in one of three ways. The first way is a line
containing a Message-ID, with the <> included, eg:
<12345@somehost.com>
This will cause the article with that Message-ID to be retrieved.
The second way is to put a group name and article number on a line starting with an !, eg:
!comp.os.linux.announce 1
This will cause that specific article to be downloaded.
You can also get a group of articles from a group by using the following syntax:
!comp.os.linux.announce 1-10
Whichever method you use, if the article specified exists, it will be downloaded, in addition to any
articles retreived via the sucknewsrc. These ways can be used to get a specific article in other groups,
or to download an article that was killed. These articles ARE NOT processed through the kill articles
routines.
SUCKNODOWNLOAD
If sucknodownload exists, it must consist of lines contaning a Message-ID, with the <> included, eg:
<12345@somehost.com>
This will cause the article with that Message-ID to NEVER be downloaded. The Message-ID must begin in
the first column of the line (no leading spaces). This file overrides suckothermsgs so if an article is
in both, it will not be downloaded.
POST FILTER
if the -y post_filter option is specified on the command line in conjunction with any of the batch modes,
then suck will call the post filter specified, after downloading the articles, and before
batching/posting the articles. The filter is passed the directory where the articles are stored (the -dm
option). The filter program is responsible for parsing the contents of the directory. See
sample/post_filter.pl for a sample post filter. This option was designed to allow you to add your own
host name to the Path: header, but if you need to do anything else to the messages, you can.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE PHRASES
If the -l phrases option is specified or the file /usr/local/lib/suck.phrases (defined in suck_config.h)
exists, then suck will load an alternate language phrase file, and use it for all status & error
messages, instead of the built-in defaults. The command line overrides the build in default, if both are
present. The phrase file contains all messages used by suck, rpost, testhost, and lmove, each on a
separate line and enclosed in quotes. To generate a sample phrase file, run make phrases from the
command line. This will create "phrases.engl", which is a list of the default phrases. Simply edit this
file, changing the english phrases to the language of your choosing, being sure to keep the phrases
within the quotes. These phrases may contain variables to print items provided by the program, such as
hostname. Variables are designated by %vN% where N is a one-up sequence per phrase. These variables may
exist in any order on the phrase line, for example,
"Hello, %v1%, welcome to %v2%" or
"Welcome to %v2%, %v1%"
are both valid phrases. Phrases may contain, \n, \r, or \t to print a newline, carriage return, or tab,
respectively. Note that the first line of the phrase file is the current version number. This is
checked against the version of suck running, to be sure that the phrases file is the correct version.
If you modify any of the source code, and add in new phrases, you will need to regenerate phrases.h, so
that everything works correctly. To recreate, just run make phrases.h from the command line.
SIGNAL HANDLING
Suck accepts two signals, defined in suck_config.h. The first signal (default SIGTERM) will cause Suck
to finish downloading the current article, batch up whatever articles were downloaded, and exit, without
an error.
The second signal (default SIGUSR1) will cause suck to use the pause values defined with the -w option
(see above).
EXIT CODES
Suck will exit with the following return codes:
0 = success
1 = no articles available for download.
2 = suck got an unexpected answer to a command it issued to the remote server.
3 = the -V option was used.
4 = suck was unable to perform NNTP authorization with the remote server.
-1 = general error.
HISTORY
Original Author - Tim Smith (unknown address)
Maintainers -
March 1995 - Sven Goldt (goldt@math.tu-berlin.de)
July 1995 - Robert A. Yetman (boby@pixi.com)
SEE ALSO
testhost(1), rpost(1), lpost(1). SUCK(1)