discuss: HOWTO on setting up a NewsGroup Server
Subject:
Re: HOWTO on setting up a NewsGroup Server
From:
Shuvam ####@####.####
Date:
6 Aug 2002 10:31:44 -0000
Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.4.31.0208061532310.32511-100000@sm.starcomsoftware.com>
Dear Lloyd,
> How does one get an archive (as complete as possible) of a Usenet Newsgroup?
> For particular newsgroups, I would like to get local copies of all the
> articles archived. Is it possible to get such archives from google.com or
> elsewhere?
I don't know. We've often asked ourselves the same question, whenever we
have had to "prime" a new Usenet server with an initial load. The only
way we know how to do this is by asking our friendly neighbourhood
Usenet server admin to give us a tar of his article spool area on tape.
We then convert it to a set of massive C-News batch files and feed the
hungry newborn server with the batches. :)
A lot of servers have huge searchable Usenet article databases with Web
front-ends, but they appear to guard the innards from direct downloads.
In other words, you can browse the database all you want using searches,
but can't get a full ASCII download of the article files.
> Reviewed:
> $ cksum Usenet-News-HOWTO.pdf
> 3387244777 138965 Usenet-News-HOWTO.pdf
I really liked your review. I presume you intend to continue after
Chapter 4, and we're looking forward to it.
Some of the (minor) points that you've mentioned have been cleaned
out since our publishing of v2.0 on 30 July, but we haven't been able
to check in those changes because we've yet to get login and password
access to the LDP CVS repository. (At least we haven't heard from anyone
after we've applied for an account using the online Web form.)
Is it okay if I discuss some of your review points with you, and we do a
bit of back-and-forth on some of them, so that I get a better
understanding of things? I don't know how this LDP review thing works,
so I asked.
> I was pedantic in my "editing" as it is in my nature...ignore what you will,
I like this. :) I think a minute spent choosing the right word now and
then is worth the effort. However, many parts of the Usenet HOWTO are
actually what I'd call a first draft, since we wanted to get something
out the door by Monday 29 July (an internal deadline). We'll clean up
even the little bits if you have the patience to point them out. :)
> > Table of Contents (ToC)
> The links all go back to the 1st page.
This I didn't understand at all. Since we wrote SGML and used the
standard DocBook DTD, I presume the links in the PDF file are all
whatever the standard processing does, right?
I'm not responding to the other inputs you've given till I hear from you
that you're game to a discussion. We'll just make changes wherever we've
understood your observations.
One point we need to get clear is: who is the target audience for the
Usenet HOWTO? We had assumed that the reader of this HOWTO will be
someone who knows what the Usenet is, what value it brings, but not
how it works internally and not how to set it up. He or she now wants
to go about setting up a Usenet server. Therefore, we had decided to
downplay the chapter on Usenet client software for instance, believing
that the audience has already gone beyond being just a Usenet user. You
appear to have a different perspective on the audience of this document.
In fact, if we assume that we have to teach the audience to become a
good Usenet user first, shouldn't we change a lot of our HOWTO, not just
Chapter 10? We'll have to teach them about limiting the replication of
his posts using the "Distribution:" header, cross-posting instead of
multiple postings, issues of Netiquette, and so on. Should that be a
part of this HOWTO?
In fact, should we change the title to "Usenet Server HOWTO"?
regards,
Shuvam
