Ubuntu Manpage: snntpd - small news server

NAME

       snntpd - small news server

SYNOPSIS

       snntpd [-t timeout] [-P] [-S] [logger...]

DESCRIPTION

       snntpd is a small news server.  It needs to be run under inetd or tcpserver, as root or as
       the owner of /var/spool/sn.  snntpd does not fork into the background.  It expects to read
       and write from and to the network on descriptors 0 and 1.

ARGUMENTS

       logger...   (usually /usr/bin/logger) is taken to be a logging program, and all log output
       is piped to it.  If logger...  is not specified, log messages are directed  to  descriptor
       2.

OPTIONS

       -t timeout
              specifies  how  long  snntpd  should  wait  for input before it gives up and exits.
              timeout is in seconds and defaults to 600.

       -P     snntpd includes it's pid in log output.

       -S     Suppress NNTP greeting  on  startup.   This  is  useful  if  you  want  to  perform
              authentication  before running snntpd, or want to provide your own greeting, from a
              wrapper.

POSTING AND POSTING PERMISSIONS

       Posts are usually handled externally by the /usr/sbin/SNPOST script, which is  responsible
       for   fine-grain   posting  control;  handling  of  control  messages;  and  the  ultimate
       distribution of the posted article.

       snntpd permits or denies posting in a very simple manner:

       If /var/spool/sn/.nopost exists, posting is not allowed.

       Otherwise, if the environment variable POSTING_OK is not set, posting is not allowed.

       Otherwise if POSTING_OK is set (to the empty string), posting is  generally  allowed,  and
       all POSTed articles are piped to the SNPOST script, which has the final say in the matter.
       The value of $POSTING_OK is not currently used, but is reserved.

FILES

/var/spool/sn/.fifo
If this file exists, and is a fifo, snntpd will write the name of a newsgroup into
it as that newsgroup becomes the current one. If the fifo does not exist snntpd
will not create it.

/var/spool/sn/.noservice
If this file exists, snntpd will display its first line and exit. If the file
can't be read or is empty, a default message is displayed. This is useful for
temporarily disabling the news server while you perform any maintenance.

/var/spool/sn/.nopost
See POSTING PERMISSIONS above.

/var/spool/sn/.SNPOST
If this script or program exists, it is invoked instead of SNPOST to accept a
posted article.

/var/spool/sn/news.group.name/.nopost
These files really belong to SNPOST, and it is unfortunate that snntpd has to check
for their existence to determine the posting flag for the LIST command. See
/usr/sbin/SNPOST.

/var/spool/sn/news.group.name/.info
If this file exists, its first line is taken as the description of that group for
use with the LIST NEWSGROUPS command.

/var/spool/sn/news.group.name/.times
is a binary file containing entry times, to support the NEWNEWS command.

/var/spool/sn/news.group.name/.created
is an empty file retained for it's timestamp, to support the NEWGROUPS command.

SIGNALS

       If snntpd catches SIGHUP, the files /var/spool/sn/{.fifo,.noservice,.nopost}  (see  below)
       are checked again, as they are during startup.  Other signals have default behaviour.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       See also /usr/sbin/SNPOST for a list of environment variables exported by snntpd.

       PATH   The  PATH must be set such that snntpd can find SNPOST in order to accept postings.
              If PATH does not include /usr/sbin, /usr/sbin will be appended to it.

       POSTING_OK
              This  variable  helps  determine  the  site-wide  posting  policy.    See   POSTING
              PERMISSIONS above.

       TCPREMOTEIP
              If  this  value  is  set,  it  is  taken  to  be  the dotted-quad IP address of the
              connecting client.  If it is not set, snntpd attempts to derive it for itself,  and
              then set its value.

       TCPLOCALIP
              as above, but for the server's dotted-quad IP.

       SNROOT If  this  is  set  and  is  not  empty,  the  value  is used everywhere in place of
              /var/spool/sn, the default news spool directory.