1SUCK(1) General Commands Manual SUCK(1)
2
6 suck - Pull a small newsfeed from an NNTP server, avoiding the NEWNEWS
7 command.
8
10 suck [ hostname ] [ @filename ] [ -V ] [ -K ] [ -L[SL] ] [ filename ] [
11 -H ] [ -HF filename ] [ -d[tmd] dirname ] [ -s | -S filename ] [
12 -e | -E filename ] [ -a ] [ -m ] [ -b[irlf] batchfile ] [ -r filesize ]
13 [ -p extension ] [ -U userid ] [ -P password ] [ -Q ] [ -c ] [ -M ] [
14 -N port_number ] [ -W pause_time pause_nr_msgs ] [ -w pause_time
15 pause_nr_msgs ] [ -l phrase_file ] [ -D ] [ -R ] [ -q ] [ -C count ] [
16 -k ] [ -A ] [ -AL activefile ] [ -hl localhost ] [ -bp ] [ -T timeout ]
17 [ -n ] [ -u ] [ -z ] [ -x ] [ -B ] [ -O ] [ -G ] [ -X ] [ -f ] [ -y
18 post_filter ] [ -F ] [ -g ] [ -i number_to_read ] [ -Z ] [ -rc ] [ -lr
19 ] [ -sg ] [ -ssl ] [ -SSL ]
20 Options valid in all modes tname
22 The hostname may optionally include the port number, in the form
24 Host:Port.Ifthisoptionisused,anyportnumberspecified via the -N option
25 is ignored.
26 @filename
28 This option tells suck to read other options from a file in addition to
30 the commandline.
31 -a
33 This option forces suck to always batch up any downloaded articles,
35 even if suck aborts for any reason. Without this option, suck will
36 only batch up articles if it finishes successfully or is cancelled by a
37 signal (see below).
38 -A
40 This option tells suck to scan the localhost (specified with the -hl
42 option) and use its active file to build and update the sucknewsrc.
43 If you add a group to your local server, suck will add it to sucknewsrc
44 and download articles. Or, if you delete a group from your local
45 server, it will be deleted from sucknewsrc. If posting is not allowed
46 to a particular group, then the line in sucknewsrc is just commented
47 out. With this option, you should never have to edit your sucknewsrc.
48 In case you have newsgroups (like control and junk) that you don't want
49 downloaded, you can put these newsgroups in a file "active-ignore", one
50 per line, and suck will ignore these newsgroups when it scans the
51 localhost. If your system supports regex(), you may use regular
52 expressions in the active-ignore file to skip multiple groups, eg:
53 fred.*. If you use the -p (postfix) option, suck will check for the
54 existence of an active-ignore file with the postfix. If that doesn't
55 exist, then suck will check for the existence of the file without the
56 postfix.
57 NOTE: If the localhost is on a non-standard port, the port number may
59 be specified as part of the hostname, in the form Host:Port.
60 NOTE: If you use regular expressions, suck will silently add a "^" to
62 the beginning of the group name, and a "$" to the end of the group name
63 if they aren't already present, so that if you have "comp.os.linux", it
64 won't match "comp.os.linux.answers" or if you have "alt.test" it
65 doesn't match "comp.alt.test".
66 -AL activefile
68 This option is identical to the -A option, except it reads the active
70 file from the local file specified instead of reading it from the
71 localhost. All the caveats from the -A option apply to this option as
72 well. If both options are used on the command line, suck first tries
73 to use the -A option, then if that fails it uses this option.
74 -B
76 This option tells suck to attempt to batch up any articles in its
78 directory BEFORE starting to download messages. This can be useful if
79 you have a problem with the previous download. This option will only
80 work if you specify a batch option (see below). If there are no mes‐
81 sages to batch up, some of the batch options may produce warning mes‐
82 sages. They may be safely ignored. Also, if the batch files exist at
83 the end of the run, in inn-batch mode, it will be overwritten, since
84 the new batch file will contain all messages. In rnews mode, if the
85 batch file exists, it will abort and not batch up any messages.
86 -c
88 If this option is specified, suck will clean up after itself. This
90 includes:
91 1. Moving sucknewsrc to sucknewsrc.old
92 2. Moving suck.newrc to sucknewsrc
93 3. rm suck.sorted and suckothermsgs.
94 -C count
96 This option tells suck to drop the connection and reopen it every count
98 number of articles. This is designed to battle INN's LIKE_PULLERS=DONT
99 option, that some folks compile in. With LIKE_PULLERS=DONT, after 100
100 messages INN will pause between every message, dramatically reducing
101 your download speed. I don't recommend the use of this, but if you have
102 no other choice....
103 -dd dirname
105 -dm dirname
107 -dt dirname
109 Specify the location of the various files used by suck.
111 -dd dirname = directory of data files used by suck (sucknewsrc suck‐
113 killfile suckothermsgs active-ignore sucknodownload)
114 -dm dirname = directory for storage of articles created in Multifile
116 mode or batch mode. DO NOT make this the same as the directories used
117 for the -dt or -d options, or you will lose all your configuration
118 files.
119 -dt dirname = directory of temp files created by suck (suck.newrc,
121 suck.sort, suck.restart, suck.killlog, suck.post).
122 -D
124 This option tells suck to log various debugging messages to
126 "debug.suck", primarily for use by the maintainer.
127 -e | -E filename
129 These options will send all error messages (normally displayed on
131 stderr), to an alternate file. The lower case version, -e, will send
132 the error messages to the compiled-in default defined in suck_config.h.
133 The default is suck.errlog. The upper case version, -E, requires the
134 filename parameter. All error messages will then be sent to this file.
135 -f
137 This option tells suck to reconnect after deduping, and before down‐
139 loading the articles. This is in case long dedupe times cause timeouts
140 on the remote end.
141 -F
143 This option tells suck to reconnect after reading the local active
145 file, and before downloading the Msg-IDs. This is in case of a large
146 active file, which causes timeouts on the remote end.
147 -g
149 This option causes suck to only download the headers of any selected
151 articles. As a result of this, any batching of articles is skipped.
152 This option does work with killfiles, however, killfile options such as
153 BODYSIZE> will be ignored, since the body of the article will never be
154 downloaded.
155 -G
157 This option causes suck to display the message count and BPS status
159 lines in a slightly different format, more suitable for use by a filter
160 program (such as a GUI).
161 -H
163 This option will cause suck to bypass the history check.
165 -HF history_file_name
167 This option tells suck the location of the history file. The default
169 is at /usr/news/db/history.
170 -hl localhost
172 This option specifies the localhost name. This option is required with
174 both the -A and the -bp option.
175 -i number_to_read
177 This option tells suck the number of articles to download if you are
179 using the -A or -AL option, and a new group is added. The default is
180 defined in suck_config.h (ACTIVE_DEFAULT_LASTREAD, currently -100).
181 NOTE: This must be a negative number (eg -100, -50), or 0, to download
182 all articles currently available in the group.
183 -k
185 This option tells suck to NOT attach the postfix from the -p option to
187 the names of the killfiles, both the master killfile and any group
188 files. This allows you to maintain one set of killfiles for multiple
189 servers.
190 -K
192 This option will cause suck to bypass checking the killfile(s).
194 -l phrase_file
196 This option tells suck to load in an alternate phrase file, instead of
198 using the built-in messages. This allows you to have suck print
199 phrases in another language, or to allow you to customize the messages
200 without re-building suck. See below.
201 -lr
203 This option, is used in conjunction with the highest article option in
205 the sucknewsrc, to download the oldest articles, vice the newest arti‐
206 cles. See that section for more details.
207 -L
209 This option tells suck to NOT log killed articles to suck.killlog.
211 -LF filename
213 This option allows you to override the built-in default of "suck.kill‐
215 log" for the file which contains the log entries for killed articles.
216 -LL
218 This option tells suck to create long log entries for each killed arti‐
220 cle. The long entry contains the short log entry and the header for
221 the killed message.
222 -LS
224 This option tells suck to create short log entries for each killed
226 article. The short entry contains which group and which pattern was
227 matched, as well as the MsgID of the killed article.
228 -M
230 This option tells suck to send the "mode reader" command to the remote
232 server. If you get an invalid command message immediately after the
233 welcome announcement, then try this option.
234 -n
236 This option tells suck to use the article number vice the MsgId to
238 retrieve the articles. This option is supposedly less harsh on the
239 remote server. It can also eliminate problems if your ISP ages off
240 articles quickly and you frequently get "article not found" errors.
241 Also, if your ISP uses DNEWS, you might need this option so that it
242 knows you're reading articles in a group.
243 -N port_number
245 This option tells suck to use an alternate NNRP port number when con‐
247 necting to the host, instead of the default, 119.
248 -O
250 This option tells suck to skip the first article upon restart. This is
252 used whenever there is a problem with an article on the remote server.
253 For some reasons, some NNTP servers, when they have a problem with a
254 particular article, they time out. Yet, when you restart, you're back
255 on the same article, and you time out again. This option tells suck to
256 skip the first article upon restart, so that you can get the rest of
257 the articles.
258 -p extension
260 This extension is added to all files so that you can have multiple site
262 feeds. For example, if you specify -p .dummy, then suck looks for
263 sucknewsrc.dummy, suckkillfile.dummy, etc, and creates its temp files
264 with the same extension. This will allow you to keep multiple suck‐
265 newsrc files, one for each site.
266 -q
268 This option tells suck to not display the BPS and article count mes‐
270 sages during download. Handy when running suck unattended, such as
271 from a crontab.
272 -R
274 This option tells suck to skip a rescan of the remote newserver upon a
276 restart. The default is to rescan the newserver for any new articles
277 whenever suck runs, including restarts.
278 -rc
280 This option tells suck to change its behavior when the remote server
282 resets its article counters. The default behavior is to reset the
283 lastread in sucknewsrc to the current high article counter. With this
284 option, suck resets the lastread in sucknewsrc to the current low arti‐
285 cle counter, causing it to suck all articles in the group, and using
286 the historydb routines to dedupe existing articles.
287 -s | -S filename
289 These options will send all status messages (normally displayed on std‐
291 out), to an alternate file. The lower case version, -s, will send the
292 status messages to the compiled-in default defined in suck_config.h.
293 The default is /dev/null, so no status messages will be displayed. The
294 upper case version, -S, requires the filename parameter. All status
295 messages will then be sent to this file.
296 -sg
298 This option tells suck to add the name of the current group being down‐
300 loaded, if known, to the BPS display. Typically the only time suck
301 doesn't know the group name is if an article is downloaded via the
302 suckothermsgs file.
303 -ssl
305 This option tells suck to use SSL to talk to the remote server, if suck
307 was compiled with SSL support.
308 -SSL
310 This option tells suck to use SSL to talk to the local server, if suck
312 was compiled with SSL support.
313 -T timeout
315 This option overrides the compiled-in TIMEOUT value. This is how long
317 suck waits for data from the remote host before timing out and abort‐
318 ing. The timeout value is in seconds.
319 -u
321 This option tells suck to send the AUTHINFO USER command immediately
323 upon connect to the remote server, rather than wait for a request for
324 authorization. You must supply the -U and -P options when you use this
325 option.
326 -U userid
328 -P password
330 These two options let you specify a userid and password, if your NNTP
332 server requires them.
333 -Q
335 This option tells suck to get the userid and password for NNTP authen‐
337 tication from the environment variables "NNTP_USER" and "NNTP_PASS"
338 vice the -U or -P password. This prevents a potential security problem
339 where someone doing a ps command can see your userid and password.
340 -V
342 This option will cause suck to print out the version number and then
344 exit.
345 -w pause_timer pause_nr_msgs
347 This option allows you to slow down suck while pulling articles. If
349 you send suck a predefined signal (default SIGUSR1, see suck_config.h),
350 suck will swap the default pause options (if specified by the -W
351 option), with the values from this option. For example, you run suck
352 with -w 2 2, and you send suck a SIGUSR1 (using kill), suck will then
353 pause 2 seconds between every other message, allowing the server to
354 "catch its breath." If you send suck another SIGUSR1, then suck will
355 put back the default pause options. If no pause options were specified
356 on the command line (you omitted -W), then suck will return to the
357 default full speed pull.
358 -W pause_time pause_nr_msgs
360 This option tells suck to pause between the download of articles. You
362 need to specify how long to pause (in seconds), and how often to pause
363 (every X nr of articles). Ex: -W 10 100 would cause suck to pause for
364 10 seconds every 100 articles. Why would you want to do this? Suck
365 can cause heavy loads on a remote server, and this pause allows the
366 server to "catch its breath."
367 -x
369 This option tells suck to not check the Message-IDs for the ending >
371 character. This option is for brain dead NNTP servers that truncate
372 the XHDR information at 72 characters.
373 -X
375 This option tells suck to bypass the XOVER killfiles.
377 -y post_filter
379 This option is only valid when using any of batch modes. It allows you
381 to edit any or all of the articles downloaded before posting to the
382 local host. See below for more details.
383 -z
385 This option tells suck to bypass the normal deduping process. This is
387 primarily for slow machines where the deduping takes longer than the
388 download of messages would. Not recommended.
389 -Z
391 This option tells suck to use the XOVER command vice the XHDR command
393 to retrieve the information needed to download articles. Use this if
394 your remote news server doesn't support the XHDR command.
395
398 -a --always_batch
399 -bi --batch-inn
400 -br --batch_rnews
401 -bl --batch_lmove
402 -bf --batch_innfeed
403 -bp --batch_post
404 -c --cleanup
405 -dt --dir_temp
406 -dd --dir_data
407 -dm --dir_msgs
408 -e --def_error_log
409 -f --reconnect_dedupe
410 -g --header_only
411 -h --host
412 -hl --localhost
413 -k --kill_no_postfix
414 -l --language_file
415 -lr --low_read
416 -m --multifile
417 -n --number_mode
418 -p --postfix
419 -q --quiet
420 -r --rnews_size
421 -rc --resetcounter
422 -s --def_status_log
423 -sg --show_group
424 -ssl --use_ssl
425 -w --wait_signal
426 -x --no_chk_msgid
427 -y --post_filter
428 -z --no_dedupe
429 -A --active
430 -AL --read_active
431 -B --pre-batch
432 -C --reconnect
433 -D --debug
434 -E --error_log
435 -G --use_gui
436 -H --no_history
437 -HF --history_file
438 -K --killfile
439 -L --kill_log_none
440 -LS --kill_log_short
441 -LL --kill_log_long
442 -M --mode_reader
443 -N --portnr
444 -O --skip_on_restart
445 -P --password
446 -Q --password_env
447 -R --no_rescan
448 -S --status_log
449 -SSL --local_use_ssl
450 -T --timeout
451 -U --userid
452 -V --version
453 -W --wait
454 -X --no_xover
455 -Z --use_xover
456
460 %suck
461 %suck myhost.com
462 Suck grabs news from an NNTP server and sends the articles to stdout.
464 Suck accepts as argument the name of an NNTP server or if you don't
465 give an argument it will take the environment variable NNTPSERVER. You
466 can redirect the articles to a file or compress them on the fly like
467 "suck server.domain | gzip -9 > output.gz". Now it's up to you what
468 you do with the articles. Maybe you have the output already on your
469 local machine because you used a slip line or you still have to trans‐
470 fer the output to your local machine.
471
473 %suck -m
474 %suck myhost.com -m
475 Suck grabs news from an NNTP server and stores each article in a sepa‐
477 rate file. They are stored in the directory specified in suck_config.h
478 or by the -dm command line option.
479
481 %suck myhost.com -b[irlf] batchfile
482 or %suck myhost.com -bp -hl localhost
483 or %suck myhost.com -bP NR -hl localhost
484 %suck myhost.com -b[irlf] batchfile
485 Suck will grab news articles from an NNTP server and store them into
487 files, one for each article (Multifile mode). The location of the
488 files is based on the defines in suck_config.h and the command line
489 -dm. Once suck is done downloading the articles, it will build a batch
490 file which can be processed by either innxmit or rnews, or it will call
491 lmove to put the files directly into the news/group/number format.
492 -bi - build batch file for innxmit. The articles are left intact, and
494 a batchfile is built with a one-up listing of the full path of each
495 article. Then innxmit can be called:
496 %innxmit localhost batchfile
498 -bl - suck will call lmove to put the articles into news/group/number
500 format. You must provide the name of the configuration file on the
501 command line. The following arguments from suck are passed to lmove:
502 The configuration file name (the batchfile name provided with
504 this option)
505 The directory specified for articles (-dm or built-in default).
506 The errorlog to log errors to (-e or -E), if provided on the
507 command line.
508 The phrases file (-l), if provided on the command line.
509 The Debug option, if provided on the command line.
510 -br - build batch file for rnews. The articles are concatenated
512 together, with the #!rnews size article separator. This can the be fed
513 to rnews:
514 %rnews -S localhost batchfile
516 -r filesize specify maximum batch file size for rnews. This option
518 allows you to specify the maximum size of a batch file to be fed to
519 rnews. When this limit is reached, a new batch file is created AFTER I
520 finish writing the current article to the old batch file. The second
521 and successive batch files get a 1 up sequence number attached to the
522 file name specified with the -br. Note that since I have to finish
523 writing out the current article after reaching the limit, the max file
524 size is only approximate.
525 -bf - build a batch file for innfeed. This batchfile contains the
527 MsgID and full path of each article. The main difference between this
528 and the innxmit option is that the innfeed file is built as the arti‐
529 cles are downloaded, so that innfeed can be posting the articles, even
530 while more articles are downloaded.
531 -bp - This option tells suck to build a batch file, and post the arti‐
533 cles in that batchfile to the localhost (specified with the -hl
534 option). This option uses the IHAVE command to post all downloaded
535 articles to the local host. The batch file is called suck.post, and is
536 put in the temporary directory (-dt). It is deleted upon completion,
537 as are the successfully posted articles. If the article is not wanted
538 by the server (usually because it already exists on the server, or it
539 is too old), the article is also deleted. If other errors occur, the
540 article is NOT deleted. With the following command line, you can down‐
541 load and post articles without worrying if you are using INND or CNEWS.
542 %suck news.server.com -bp -hl localhost -A -c
544 -bP NR - This option works identically to -bp above, except instead of
546 waiting until all articles are downloaded, it will post them to the
547 local server after downloading NR of articles.
548 %suck news.server.com -bP 100 -hl localhost -A -c
550
553 If you specify @filename on the command line, suck will read from file‐
554 name and parse it for any arguments that you wish to pass to suck. You
555 specify the same arguments in this file as you do on the command line.
556 The arguments can be on one line, or spread out among more than one
557 line. You may also use comments. Comments begin with '#' and go to
558 the end of a line. All command line arguments override arguments in
559 the file.
560 # Sample Argument file
562 -bi batch # batch file option
563 -M # use mode reader option
564
567 Suck looks for a file sucknewsrc to see what articles you want and
568 which you already received. The format of sucknewsrc is very simple. It
569 consists of one line for each newsgroup. The line contains two or
570 three fields.
571 The first field is the name of the group.
573 The second field is the highest article number that was in the group
575 when that group was last downloaded.
576 The third field, which is optional, limits the number of articles which
578 can be downloaded at any given time. If there are more articles than
579 this number, only the newest are downloaded. If the third field is 0,
580 then no new messages are downloaded. If the command line option -lr is
581 specified, instead of downloading the newest articles, suck will down‐
582 load the oldest articles instead.
583 The fields are separated by a space.
585 comp.os.linux.announce 1 [ 100 ]
587 When suck is finished, it creates the file suck.newrc which contains
589 the new sucknewsrc with the updated article numbers.
590 To add a new newsgroup, just stick it in sucknewsrc, with a highest
592 article number of -1 (or any number less than 0). Suck will then get
593 the newest X number of messages for that newsgroup. For example, a
594 -100 would cause suck to download the newest 100 articles for that
595 newsgroup.
596 To tell suck to skip a newsgroup, put a # as the first character of a
598 line.
599
602 There are two types of killfiles supported in suck. The first, via the
603 file suckkillfile, kills articles based on information in the actual
604 article header or body. The second, via the file suckxover, kills
605 articles based on the information retreived via the NNTP command XOVER.
606 They are implemented in two fundamentally different ways. The suck‐
607 killfile killing is done as the articles are downloaded, one at a time.
608 The XOVER killing is done while suck is getting the list of articles to
609 download, and before a single article is downloaded. You may use
610 either, none or both type of killfiles.
611
614 If suckkillfile exists, the headers of all articles will be scanned
615 and the article downloaded or not, based on the parameters in the
616 files. If no logging option is specified (see the -L options above),
617 then the long logging option is used.
618 Comments lines are allowed in the killfiles. A comment line has a "#"
620 in the first position. Everything on a comment line is ignored.
621 Here's how the whole keep/delete package works. All articles are
623 checked against the master kill file (suckkillfile). If an article is
624 not killed by the master kill file, then its group line is parsed. If
625 a group file exists for one of the groups then the article is checked
626 against that group file. If it matches a keep file, then it is kept,
627 otherwise it is flagged for deletion. If it matches a delete file,
628 then it is flagged for deletion, otherwise it is kept. This is done
629 for every group on the group line.
630 NOTES: With the exception of the USE_EXTENDED_REGEX parameter, none of
632 these parameters are passed from the master killfile to the individual
633 group file. Each killfile is separate and independant. Also, each
634 search is case-insensitive unless specifically specified by starting
635 the search string with the QUOTE character (see below). However, the
636 parameter part of the search expression (the LOWLINE=, HILINE= part) is
637 case sensitive.
638
640 LOWLINES=#######
641 HILINES=#######
642 NRGRPS=####
643 NRXREF=####
644 QUOTE=c
645 NON_REGEX=c
646 GROUP=keep groupname filename OR GROUP=delete groupname file‐
647 name
648 PROGRAM=pathname
649 PERL=pathname
650 TIEBREAKER_DELETE
651 GROUP_OVERRIDE_MASTER
652 USE_EXTENDED_REGEX
653 XOVER_LOG_LONG
654 HEADER:
655 Any Valid Header Line:
656 BODY:
657 BODYSIZE>
658 BODYSIZE<
659 All parameters are valid in both the master kill file and the group
662 files, with the exception of GROUP, PROGRAM, PERL, TIEBREAKER_DELETE,
663 and GROUP_OVERRIDE_MASTER. These are only valid in the master kill
664 file.
665
668 HILINES= Match any article longer than the number of lines specified.
669 LOWLINES= Match any article shorter than the number of lines specified.
671 NRGRPS= This line will match any article which has more groups than the
673 number specified on the Newsgroups: line. Typically this is used in a
674 killfile to prevent spammed articles. (A spammed article is one that
675 is posted to many many groups, such as those get-rich quick schemes,
676 etc.)
677 NRXREF= This line will match any article that has more groups than than
679 the number specified on the Xref: line. This is another spamm stopper.
680 WARNING: the Xref: line is not as accurate as the Newsgroups: line, as
681 it only contains groups known to the news server. This option is most
682 useful in an xover killfile, as in Xoverviews don't typically provide
683 the Newsgroups: line, but do provide the Xref: line.
684 HEADER: Any Valid Header Line: Suck allows you to scan any single
686 header line for a particular pattern/string, or you may scan the entire
687 article header. To scan an individual line, just specify it, for exam‐
688 ple to scan the From line for boby@pixi.com, you would put
689 From:boby@pixi.com
691 Note that the header line EXACTLY matches what is contained in the
693 article. To scan the Followup-To: line, simply put To search the same
694 header line for multiple search items, then each search item must be on
695 a separate line, eg:
696 From:boby@xxx
697 From:nerd@yyy
698 Subject:suck
699 Subject:help
700 The parameter HEADER: is a special case of the above. If you use the
701 HEADER: parameter, then the entire header is searched for the item.
702 You are allowed multiple HEADER: lines in each killfile.
703 When suck searches for the pattern, it only searches for what follows
705 the :, and spaces following the : are significant. With the above
706 example "Subject:suck", we will search the Subject header line for the
707 string "suck". If the example had read "Subject: suck", suck would
708 have searched for the string " suck". Note the extra space.
709 If your system has regex() routines on it, then the items searched for
711 can be POSIX regular expressions, instead of just strings. Note that
712 the QUOTE= option is still applied, even to regular expressions.
713 BODY: This parameter allows you to search the body of an article for
715 text. Again, if your system has regex(), you can use regular expres‐
716 sions, and the QUOTE= option is also applied. You are allowed multiple
717 BODY: lines in each killfile. WARNING: Certain regex combinations,
718 especially with .* at the beginning, (eg BODY:.*jpg), in combination
719 with large articles, can cause the regex code to eat massive amounts of
720 CPU, and suck will seem like it is doing nothing.
721 BODYSIZE> This parameter will match an article if the size of its body
723 (not including the header) is greater than this parameter. The size is
724 specified in bytes.
725 BODYSIZE< This parameter will match an article if the size of its body,
727 is less than this parameter. The size is specified in bytes.
728 QUOTE= This item specifies the character that defines a quoted string.
730 The default for this is a ". If an item starts with the QUOTE charac‐
731 ter, then the item is checked as-is (case significant). If an item
732 does not start with the QUOTE character, then the item is checked with
733 out regard to case.
734 NON_REGEX= This items specifies the character that defines a non-regex
736 string. The default for this is a %. If an item starts with the
737 NON_REGEX character, then the item is never checked for regular expres‐
738 sions. If the item doesn't start with the QUOTE character, then suck
739 tries to determine if it is a regular expression, and if it is, use
740 regex() on it. This item is so that you can tell suck to treat strings
741 like "$$$$ MONEY $$$$" as non-regex items. IF YOU USE BOTH QUOTE and
742 NON_REGEX characters on a string, the NON_REGEX character MUST appear
743 first.
744 GROUP= This line allows you to specify either keep or delete parameters
746 on a group by group basis. There are three parts to this line. Each
747 part of this line must be separated by exactly one space. The first
748 part is either "keep" or "delete". If it is keep, then only articles
749 in that group which match the parameters in the group file are down‐
750 loaded. If it is delete, articles in that group which match the param‐
751 eters are not downloaded. The second part, the group name is the full
752 group name for articles to check against the group file. The group
753 name may contain an * as the last character, to match multiple groups,
754 eg: "comp.os.linux.*" would match comp.os.linux.announce,
755 comp.os.linux.answers, etc.. The third part specifies the group file
756 which contains the parameters to check the articles against. Note,
757 that if you specified a postfix with the -p option, then this postfix
758 is attached to the name of the file when suck looks for it, UNLESS you
759 use the -k option above.
760 GROUP_OVERRIDE_MASTER This allows you to override the default behavior
762 of the master kill file. If this option is in the master kill file,
763 then even if an article is flagged for deletion by the master kill
764 file, it is checked against the group files. If the group files says
765 to not delete it, then the article is kept.
766 TIEBREAKER_DELETE This option allows you to override the built-in tie-
768 breaker default. The potential exists for a message to be flagged by
769 one group file as kept, and another group file as killed. The built-in
770 default is to then keep the message. The TIEBREAKER_DELETE option will
771 override that, and caused the article to be deleted.
772 USE_EXTENDED_REGEX This option tells suck to use extended regular
774 expressions vice standard regular expressions. It may used in the mas‐
775 ter killfile, in which case it applies to all killfiles, or in an indi‐
776 vidual killfile, where it only applies to the parameters that follow it
777 in the killfile.
778 XOVER_LOG_LONG This option tells suck to format the killfile generated
780 by from an Xover killfile so that it looks like an article header. The
781 normal output is to just print the Xover line from theserver.
782 PROGRAM= This line allows suck to call an external program to check
784 each article. You may specify any arguments in addition to the program
785 name on this line. If this line is in your suckkillfile, all other
786 lines are ignored. Instead, the headers are passed to the external
787 program, and the external program determines whether or not to download
788 the article. Here's how it works. Suck will fork your program, with
789 stdin and stdout redirected. Suck will feed the headers to your pro‐
790 gram thru stdin, and expect a reply back thru stdout. Here's the data
791 flow for each article:
792 1. suck will write a 8 byte long string, which represents the
794 length of the header record on stdin of the external program.
795 Then length is in ascii, is left-aligned, and ends in a newline
796 (example: "1234 \n").
797 2. suck will then write the header on stdin of the external pro‐
798 gram.
799 3. suck will wait for a 2 character response code on stdout.
800 This response code is either "0\n" or "1\n" (NOT BINARY ZERO OR
801 ONE, ASCII ZERO OR ONE). If the return code is zero, suck will
802 download the article, if it is one, suck won't.
803 4. When there are no more articles, the length written down (for
804 step 1) will be zero (again in ascii "0 \n"). Suck will
805 then wait for the external program to exit before continuing on.
806 The external program can do any clean up it needs, then exit.
807 Note: suck will not continue processing until the external pro‐
808 gram exits.
809 PERL= This line allows suck to call a perl subroutine to check each
812 article. In order to use this option, you must edit the Makefile,
813 specifically the PERL* options. If the PERL= line is in your suckkill‐
814 file, all other lines are ignored. Instead, the header is sent to your
815 perl subroutine, and your subroutine determines if the article is down‐
816 loaded or not. The parameter on the PERL= line specifies the file name
817 of the perl routine eg:
818 PERL=perl_kill.pl
820 See the sample/perl_kill.pl for a sample perl subroutine. There are a
823 couple of key points in this sample. The "package Embed::Persistant;"
824 must be in the perl file. This is so that any variable names you cre‐
825 ate will not conflict with variable names in suck. In addition, the
826 subroutine you define must be "perl_kill", unless you change the
827 PERL_PACKAGE_SUB define in suck_config.h. Also, your subroutine must
828 return exactly one value, an integer, either 0 or 1. If the subroutine
829 returns 0, then the article is downloaded, otherwise, the article is
830 not downloaded.
831 NOTES: The perl file is only compiled once, before any articles are
834 downloaded. This is to prevent lengthy delays between articles while
835 the perl routine is re-compiled. Also, you must use Perl 5.003 or
836 newer. In addition, you are advised to run 'perl -wc filter' BEFORE
837 using your filter, in order to check for syntax errors and avoid prob‐
838 lems.
839
842 If the file suckxover exists, then suck uses the XOVER command to get
843 information on the articles and decide whether or not to download the
844 article. Xover files use the same syntax as suckkillfiles, but sup‐
845 ports a subset of the commands.
846 The following killfile commands are not supported in suckxover files:
848 NRGROUPS:
849 HEADER:
850 BODY:
851 TIEBREAKER_DELETE:
852 Only the following header lines will be checked:
854 Subject:
855 From:
856 Message-ID:
857 References:
858 The behaviour of the size commands ( BODYSIZE>, BODYSIZE<, HILINES, and
860 LOWLINES ) specify the total size of the article (not just the body) in
861 bytes or lines, respectively.
862 All other parameters are allowed. However, if you use an invalid
864 parameter, it is silently ignored.
865
867 These parameters are supported in a suckxover file, however they work
868 slightly differently than described above. The key difference is that
869 prior to sending each individual xoverview line to your program, suck
870 will send you the overview.fmt listing that it retrieves from the
871 server. This overview.fmt is a tab-separated line, describing the
872 fields in each overview.fmt line.
873 For the PROGRAM= parameter, suck will first send your program an 8 byte
875 long string, which is the length of the overview.fmt. This length is
876 formatted as the lengths above (see nr1 under PROGRAM=). Suck will
877 then send the overview.fmt. After that, the flow is as described
878 above. See sample/killxover_child.c for an example.
879 For the PERL= parameter, Your program must have two subroutines. The
881 first is perl_overview, which will recieve the overview.fmt, and not
882 return anything. The second subroutine is perl_xover, which will
883 recieve the xoverview line, and return 0 or 1, as described in the
884 PERL= above. See sample/perl_xover.pl for an example.
885
888 If suckothermsgs exists, it must contain lines formatted in one of
889 three ways. The first way is a line containing a Message-ID, with the
890 <> included, eg:
891 <12345@somehost.com>
893 This will cause the article with that Message-ID to be retrieved.
895 The second way is to put a group name and article number on a line
897 starting with an !, eg:
898 !comp.os.linux.announce 1
899 This will cause that specific article to be downloaded.
901 You can also get a group of articles from a group by using the follow‐
903 ing syntax:
904 !comp.os.linux.announce 1-10
905 Whichever method you use, if the article specified exists, it will be
907 downloaded, in addition to any articles retreived via the sucknewsrc.
908 These ways can be used to get a specific article in other groups, or to
909 download an article that was killed. These articles ARE NOT processed
910 through the kill articles routines.
911
914 If sucknodownload exists, it must consist of lines contaning a Message-
915 ID, with the <> included, eg:
916 <12345@somehost.com>
918 This will cause the article with that Message-ID to NEVER be down‐
920 loaded. The Message-ID must begin in the first column of the line (no
921 leading spaces). This file overrides suckothermsgs so if an article is
922 in both, it will not be downloaded.
923
926 if the -y post_filter option is specified on the command line in con‐
927 junction with any of the batch modes, then suck will call the post fil‐
928 ter specified, after downloading the articles, and before batch‐
929 ing/posting the articles. The filter is passed the directory where the
930 articles are stored (the -dm option). The filter program is responsi‐
931 ble for parsing the contents of the directory. See sample/post_fil‐
932 ter.pl for a sample post filter. This option was designed to allow you
933 to add your own host name to the Path: header, but if you need to do
934 anything else to the messages, you can.
935
938 If the -l phrases option is specified or the file
939 /usr/local/lib/suck.phrases (defined in suck_config.h) exists, then
940 suck will load an alternate language phrase file, and use it for all
941 status & error messages, instead of the built-in defaults. The command
942 line overrides the build in default, if both are present. The phrase
943 file contains all messages used by suck, rpost, testhost, and lmove,
944 each on a separate line and enclosed in quotes. To generate a sample
945 phrase file, run make phrases from the command line. This will create
946 "phrases.engl", which is a list of the default phrases. Simply edit
947 this file, changing the english phrases to the language of your choos‐
948 ing, being sure to keep the phrases within the quotes. These phrases
949 may contain variables to print items provided by the program, such as
950 hostname. Variables are designated by %vN% where N is a one-up
951 sequence per phrase. These variables may exist in any order on the
952 phrase line, for example,
953 "Hello, %v1%, welcome to %v2%" or
954 "Welcome to %v2%, %v1%"
955 are both valid phrases. Phrases may contain, \n, \r, or \t to print a
956 newline, carriage return, or tab, respectively. Note that the first
957 line of the phrase file is the current version number. This is checked
958 against the version of suck running, to be sure that the phrases file
959 is the correct version.
960 If you modify any of the source code, and add in new phrases, you will
962 need to regenerate phrases.h, so that everything works correctly. To
963 recreate, just run make phrases.h from the command line.
964
966 Suck accepts two signals, defined in suck_config.h. The first signal
967 (default SIGTERM) will cause Suck to finish downloading the current
968 article, batch up whatever articles were downloaded, and exit, without
969 an error.
970 The second signal (default SIGUSR1) will cause suck to use the pause
972 values defined with the -w option (see above).
973
976 Suck will exit with the following return codes:
977 0 = success
978 1 = no articles available for download.
979 2 = suck got an unexpected answer to a command it issued to the
980 remote server.
981 3 = the -V option was used.
982 4 = suck was unable to perform NNTP authorization with the
983 remote server.
984 -1 = general error.
985
987 Original Author - Tim Smith (unknown address)
988 Maintainers -
989 March 1995 - Sven Goldt (goldt@math.tu-berlin.de)
990 July 1995 - Robert A. Yetman (boby@pixi.com)
991
993 testhost(1), rpost(1), lpost(1).
994 SUCK(1)