1slrn(1) User Manuals slrn(1)
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6 slrn - An easy to use NNTP / spool based newsreader.
7
9 slrn [-aCdknmw] [-C-] [-Dname] [-f newsrc-file] [-i config-file] [-k0]
10 [--create] [--debug file] [--help] [--inews] [--kill-log file] [--nntp
11 [-h server] [-p port]] [--show-config] [--spool] [--version]
12
14 slrn is an easy to use but powerful NNTP / spool based newsreader.
15 It is highly customizable, supports scoring, free key bindings and can
17 be extended using the embedded S-Lang interpreter.
18 To use slrn, you either need to set the NNTPSERVER environment variable
20 to the server you want to read news from or specify a server on the
21 command line. A newsrc file is needed, too. In case you do not yet
22 have one, you can create it using ``slrn -f ~/.jnewsrc --create''.
23 Inside slrn, online help is available via the '?' key.
25
27 The following options can be used when calling slrn from the command
28 line. They override both environment variables and settings in private
29 and global configuration files.
30 -a Read active file when checking for new news.
32 -C Use colors without checking if the terminal supports it.
34 -C- Don't use colors, even if the terminal supports it.
36 -d Get group descriptions (taglines) from the news server. Please
38 note that this may cause a download of several hundred kilobytes
39 and thus can take a long time. The output is saved to a local
40 file, so you only need to do this once. May not be specified in
41 combination with --create.
42 -Dname Add name to the list of predefined preprocessing tokens, which
44 can be used in your slrnrc file to have conditionally inter‐
45 preted lines. See the slrn reference manual for details.
46 -f newsrc-file
48 Use file as the newsrc file for this session. This is perma‐
49 nently set via the server configuration command.
50 -h host[:port]
52 Connect to the NNTP server on host, overriding the $NNTPSERVER
53 environment variable. If no port is given, the default NNTP
54 port (119) will be used. This option is only accepted after
55 --nntp or when NNTP is the default mode.
56 -i config-file
58 Read file as the initialization (slrnrc) file. The default is
59 to use .slrnrc (or slrn.rc on VMS, OS/2 and Windows) in your
60 home directory.
61 -k Don't read the score file.
63 -k0 Read the score file, but inhibit expensive scoring. A scoring
65 rule is expensive if it contains header lines that are not
66 included in the server's overview files. This makes applying
67 them slow.
68 -m Force mouse support (without checking if it works on the current
70 terminal).
71 -n Do not check for new groups (usually resulting in a faster
73 startup).
74 -p N Use port N to connect to the NNTP server.
76 -w Wait for a key before switching to full screen mode, allowing
78 the user to read startup messages.
79 --create
81 Read the active file (the list of all groups) from the news
82 server to create an initial newsrc file.
83 --debug file
85 Write debugging output to file.
86 --help Show help for command line switches.
88 --inews
90 Use an external inews program to post articles.
91 --kill-log file
93 Keep a log of all articles that were killed by the scorefile in
94 file.
95 --nntp Use builtin NNTP support for reading and posting (an external
97 program is used to post if slrn was compiled with
98 --enable-force-inews).
99 --pull Spool outgoing articles locally for slrnpull to send.
101 --show-config
103 Print detailed information about slrn configuration.
104 --spool
106 Read directly from spool.
107 --version
109 Print version and some compile time settings.
110
112 slrn uses the following list of environment variables. Note: environ‐
113 ment variables can be overridden by configuration files or command line
114 switches.
115 COLORTERM
117 If this variable is set, slrn will assume that your terminal
118 supports ANSI color sequences. It also enables a workaround for
119 a problem with the mouse reporting when running slrn inside of
120 an rxvt.
121 DISPLAY
123 If set, slrn assumes that X11 is running.
124 EDITOR See $SLRN_EDITOR.
126 HOME See $SLRNHOME.
128 HOSTNAME
130 If no hostname is given, the value of this environment variable
131 is used.
132 LOGNAME
134 See $USER.
135 NAME Set it to your realname, if slrn can't determine it otherwise.
137 NNTPSERVER
139 You can use this variable to tell slrn which NNTP server to con‐
140 nect to. It can be overridden by the command line option -h.
141 ORGANIZATION
143 The name of your organization.
144 PRINTER
146 On unix systems, slrn pipes the current article to ``lpr -P
147 $PRINTER'' to print it.
148 PWD This variable is only used on unix systems that don't support
150 getcwd(3). In these cases, it should be set to the current
151 directory at the time slrn is invoked. This is usually done by
152 the shell and nothing the user has to worry about.
153 REPLYTO
155 The value of this variable is used as the default if you do not
156 set replyto in your slrnrc file.
157 SLANG_EDITOR
159 See $SLRN_EDITOR.
160 SLRNHELP
162 You can set this variable to a file slrn should read its online
163 help from. This is only needed when the default key bindings
164 have been changed and you want the help function to reflect
165 this. If unset, slrn looks for help.txt in the configuration
166 directory.
167 SLRNHOME
169 When interpreting filenames as relative to your home directory,
170 slrn uses this variable to find out what your home directory is.
171 If $SLRNHOME is unset, $HOME is used instead.
172 SLRN_EDITOR
174 The editor to start for editing articles. If this variable is
175 unset, slrn subsequently looks at $SLANG_EDITOR, $EDITOR and
176 $VISUAL.
177 SLRN_SLANG_DIR
179 If set, slrn will search for slang macros here. If not set slrn
180 will search in the default path, which is defined at compile
181 time (usually share_dir/slang).
182 TMP Indicates the directory in which slrn should save temporary
184 files.
185 TMPDIR See $TMP.
187 USER Your username, if slrn can't get it from the system by other
189 means.
190 VISUAL See $SLRN_EDITOR.
192
194 $HOME/.slrnrc
195 User-specific configuration file.
196 config_dir/slrn.rc
198 System-wide configuration file. config_dir is set at compile
199 time (/usr/local/etc by default).
200 $HOME/.jnewsrc
202 default newsrc file for slrn.
203 $HOME/.jnewsrc.dsc
205 Per user newsgroups descriptions.
206 share_dir/newsgroups.dsc
208 Global newsgroup descriptions. share_dir is set at compile time
209 (/usr/local/share/slrn by default).
210
212 The documentation that comes with slrn, especially FIRST_STEPS, man‐
213 ual.txt, FAQ and score.txt. If you consider writing S-Lang macros,
214 also look at README.macros and slrnfuns.txt.
215 Recent versions of the slrn manual and the FAQ as well as additional
217 information can also be found on slrn's official home page:
218 http://slrn.sourceforge.net/
219 Questions about slrn that are not covered by existing documentation may
221 be posted to the newsgroup news.software.readers where they will be
222 answered by knowledgeable users or the author of the program. In addi‐
223 tion, announcements of new versions of slrn are posted there.
224 Links to the latest version of slrn may be found at http://www.jed‐
226 soft.org/slrn/
227
229 John E. Davis <jed@jedsoft.org>
230Unix February 2008 slrn(1)