NAME

       testhost - test the status of an NNTP news server

SYNOPSIS

       testhost  hostname  [ -a|-n date time |-o ] [ -M ] [ -s|-S filename ] [ -e|-E filename ] [
       -N port_number ] [ -U userid ] [ -P password ] [ -Q ] [ -l phrase_file ] [ -T timeout ]  [
       -d ] [ -q ] [ -z ]

OPTIONS

       -a     Get the active list from hostname

       -d

       This  option tells testhost get the descriptions of the newsgroups on the remote server by
       sending the 'list newsgroups' command.  The remote server may  or  may  not  support  this
       command.

       -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.

       -l phrase_file

       This option tells testhost to load in an alternate  phrase  file,  instead  of  using  the
       built-in messages.  This allows you to have testhost print phrases in another language, or
       to allow you to customize the messages without re-building.   See  the  "FOREIGN  LANGUAGE
       PHRASES" in suck.1 for more details.

       -n date time

       Get  the newgroups created on the host since the date and time specified. The date must be
       in YYMMDD format and the time must be in HHMMSS format.

       -N port_number

       This option will tell testhost to use an alternate NNRP port number when connecting to the
       host, instead of the default, 119.

       -q

       This option tells testhost to not display the connection and announcement messages, rather
       only display the results of the actual command run.

       -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.

       -T

       This option overrides the compiled-in TIMEOUT value. This is how long testhost  waits  for
       data from the remote host before timing out and aborting.

       -U userid

       -P password

       These  two  options  let  you  specify a userid and password, if your NNTP server requires
       them.

       -Q

       This option tells testhost to use  the  environment  variable  NNTP_USER  &  NNTP_PASS  to
       specify a userid and password, if your NNTP server requires them.  This option is provided
       so that the userid & password can't be seen with the  ps  command,  a  potential  security
       problem.

       -z

       This  options  tells  testhost  to  use  SSL to talk to the remote server, if testhost was
       compiled with SSL.

DESCRIPTION

       Testhost will query a NNTP news server, specified by hostname.

       The   hostname   may   optionally    include    the    port    number    in    the    form
       Host:Port.Iftheportnumberisincluded,theportnumberspecified   by  the  -N  option  will  be
       ignored.

       The default action is to issue the help command to the server, to see what software it  is
       running and what commands it accepts.

       If  the -a option is used, testhost will display the server's active history list.  If the
       -n date time option is used, testhost will display all new groups created  on  the  server
       since  the  date and time specified.  If the -o option is used, then testhost will display
       the overview format, which is what the XOVER command returns.

       If the -M option is used, the command will be preceded with  the  "mode  reader"  command,
       which might be needed by some servers.

EXIT VALUES

       0 on success, -1 on failure.

SEE ALSO

       suck(1), rpost(1), lpost(1).

                                                                                      TESTHOST(1)