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INND(8)								       INND(8)

NAME
       innd, inndstart - InterNetNews daemon

SYNOPSIS
       innd  [	-a  ] [ -c days ] [ -d ] [ -f ] [ -i count ] [ -o count ] [ -l
       size ] [ -m mode ] [ -n flag ] [ -p port ] [ -r ] [ -s ] [ -S host ]  [
       -t timeout ] [ -u ] [ -x ]

       inndstart [ flags ]

DESCRIPTION
       Innd,  the  InterNetNews	 daemon,  handles all incoming NNTP feeds.  It
       reads the active(5), newsfeeds(5), and hosts.nntp(5) files into memory.
       It  then	 opens	the NNTP port to receive articles from remote sites, a
       Unix-domain stream socket to receive articles from local processes such
       as  nnrpd(8) and rnews(1), and a Unix-domain datagram socket for use by
       ctlinnd(8) to direct the server to perform certain  actions.   It  also
       opens the history(5) database and two log files to replace its standard
       output and standard error.  If the ``-p'' flag is used, then  the  NNTP
       port  is assumed to be open on the specified descriptor.	 (If this flag
       is used, then innd assumes it is running with  the  proper  permissions
       and it will not call chown(2) on any files or directories it creates.)

       Once the files and sockets have been opened, innd waits for connections
       and data to be ready on its ports by using select(2)  and  non-blocking
       I/O.   If  no  data  is	available, then it will flush its in-core data
       structures.  The default number of seconds to timeout  before  flushing
       is 300 seconds.	This timeout may be changed by using the ``-t'' flag.

       To  limit the number of incoming NNTP connections, use the ``-i'' flag.
       A value of zero will suppress this check.  The default is 50.

       To limit the number of files that will be kept open for	outgoing  file
       feeds,  use  the	 ``-o''	 flag.	The default is the number of available
       descriptors minus some reserved for internal use.

       To limit the size of an article, use the ``-l'' flag.  If this flag  is
       used,  then  any	 article bigger than size bytes will be rejected.  The
       default is no checking, which can also be obtained by using a value  of
       zero.

       Innd  rejects  articles	that  are too old.  While this behavior can be
       controlled by the history database, occasionally a site dumps  a	 batch
       of very old news back onto the network.	Use the ``-c'' flag to specify
       a cutoff.  For example ``-c21'' will  reject  any  articles  that  were
       posted  more  than  21  days  ago.   A value of zero will suppress this
       check.  The default is 14 days.

       Innd normally puts itself into the background, sets its standard output
       and  error  to  log  files, and disassociates itself from the terminal.
       Using the ``-d'' flag instructs the server to not do this, while	 using
       the  ``-f''  flag  just	leaves the server running the foreground.  The
       logs  are  normally  buffered;  use  the	 ``-u''	 flag  to  have	  them
       unbuffered.

       To start the server in a paused or throttled state (see ctlinnd(8)) use
       the ``-m'' flag to set the initial running mode.	 The  argument	should
       start  with  a  single  letter  g,  p,  or  t,  to  emulate the ``go,''
       ``pause,'' or ``throttle'' commands, respectively.

       If the ``-r'' flag is used, the server will renumber the active file as
       if a ``renumber'' command were sent.

       If  the	``-s''	flag  is used, then innd will not do any work but will
       instead just check the syntax of the newsfeeds file.  It will exit with
       an  error  status  if  there  are any errors; the actual errors will be
       reported in syslog(3).

       If innd gets an NOSPC error (see intro(2)) while trying	to  write  the
       active  file,  an  article  file, or the history database, it will send
       itself a ``throttle'' command.  This will also happen if	 it  gets  too
       many I/O errors while writing to any files.

       The  ``-n''  flag  specifies  whether  or not pausing or throttling the
       server should also disable future newsreading processes.	  A  value  of
       ``y''  will  make  newreaders  act as the server, a value of ``n'' will
       allow newsreading even when the server is not running.  The default  is
       to allow reading.

       If the ``-S'' flag is used, then innd will run in ``slave'' mode.  When
       running as a slave, the server will only accept articles from the spec‐
       ified host, which must use the ``xreplic'' protocol extension described
       below.  Note that the host must either appear in the  hosts.nntp	 file,
       or the server must be started with the ``-a'' flag.

       By default, if a host if not mentioned in the hosts.nntp file, then the
       connection is handed off to nnrpd.  If the ``-a'' flag  is  used,  then
       any host can connect and transfer articles.

       If  the	``-x''	flag is used, then an Xref header will be added to all
       articles even if they are not cross-posted.

       Inndstart is a small front-end program that opens the NNTP  port,  sets
       its userid and groupid to the news maintainer, and then execs innd with
       the ``-p'' flag and a minimal secure, environment.  This	 is  a	small,
       easily-understood front-end program that can be used if a site does not
       want to run innd with root privileges.

CONTROL MESSAGES
       Arriving articles that have a Control header or have a  Subject	header
       that  starts with the five characters ``cmsg '' are called control mes‐
       sages.  Except for the cancel message, these messages  are  implemented
       by  external  programs  in  the	/var/spool/news/data/ctlbin directory.
       (Cancel messages update the history database, so they must  be  handled
       internally;  the	 cost of syncing, locking, then unlocking would be too
       high given the number of cancel messages that are received.)

       When a control message arrives, the first word of the text is converted
       to  lowercase  and  used	 as the name of the program to execute; if the
       named program does not exist, then a program named default is executed.

       All control programs are invoked with four parameters.	The  first  is
       the  address  of	 the person who posted the message; this is taken from
       the Sender header.  If that header is empty, then it is taken from  the
       From  header.   The second parameter is the address to send replies to;
       this is taken from the Reply-To header.	If that header is  empty  then
       the poster's address is used.  The third parameter will be a name under
       which the article is filed, relative to the news spool directory.   The
       fourth parameter is the host that sent the article, as specified on the
       Path line.

       The distribution of control message is also  different  from  those  of
       standard articles.

       Control	messages  are  normally	 filed in the newsgroup named control.
       They can be filed in subgroups, however, based on the  control  message
       command.	 For example, a newgroup message will be filed in control.new‐
       group if that group exists, otherwise it will be filed in control.

       Sites may explicitly have the ``control'' newsgroup in their  subscrip‐
       tion  list,  although  it  is usually best to exclude it.  If a control
       message is posted to a group whose name ends with the  four  characters
       ``.ctl''	 then  the  suffix is stripped off and what is left is used as
       the  group  name.   For	 example,   a	cancel	 message   posted   to
       ``news.admin.ctl''  will	 be sent to all sites that subscribe to ``con‐
       trol'' or ``news.admin.''  Newgroup and rmgroup messages receive	 addi‐
       tional special treatment.  If the message is approved and posted to the
       name of the group being created or removed, then the  message  will  be
       sent  to	 all  sites  whose  subscription  patterns would cause them to
       receive articles posted in that group.

PROTOCOL DIFFERENCES
       Innd implements the NNTP commands defined in RFC 977, with the  follow‐
       ing differences:

       1.     The   ``list''   maybe   followed	 by  an	 optional  ``active'',
	      ``active.times'',	 or  ``newsgroups''  argument.	 This	common
	      extension is not fully supported; see nnrpd(8).

       2.     The  ``authinfo user'' and ``authinfo pass'' commands are imple‐
	      mented.  These are based on the reference	 Unix  implementation;
	      no other documentation is available.

       3.     A	 new command, ``mode reader'', is provided.  This command will
	      cause the server to pass the connection on to nnrpd.   The  com‐
	      mand ``mode query'' is intended for future use, and is currently
	      treated the same way.

       4.     A new command, ``xreplic	news.group:art[,news.group:art]'',  is
	      provided.	  This	is  similar to the ``ihave'' command (the same
	      reply codes are used) except for the data that follows the  com‐
	      mand  word.   The data consists of entries separated by a single
	      comma.  Each entry consists of a newsgroup name, a colon, and an
	      article  number.	 Once  processed, the article will be filed in
	      the newsgroup and article numbers specified in the command.

       5.     A new command, ``xpath messageid'',  is  provided.   The	server
	      responds with a 223 response and a space-separated list of file‐
	      names where the article was filed.

       6.     The only other  commands	implemented  are  ``head'',  ``help'',
	      ``ihave'', ``quit'', and ``stat''.

HEADER MODIFICATIONS
       Innd modifiers as few article headers as possible, although it could be
       better in this area.

       The following headers, if present, are removed:
	      Date-Received
	      Posted
	      Posting-Version
	      Received
	      Relay-Version
       Empty headers and headers that consist of nothing  but  whitespace  are
       also dropped.

       The  local  site's  name	 and an exclamation point are prepended to the
       Path header.

       The Xref header is removed.  If	the  article  is  cross-posted	a  new
       header is generated.

       The Lines header will be added if it is missing.

       Innd  does  not	rewrite	 incorrect  headers.  For example, it will not
       replace an incorrect Lines header, but will reject the article.

LOGGING
       Innd reports all incoming articles in its log file.   This  is  a  text
       file  with  a  variable	number of space-separated fields in one of the
       following formats:
	      mon dd hh:mm:ss.mmm + feed <Message-ID> site...
	      mon dd hh:mm:ss.mmm j feed <Message-ID> site...
	      mon dd hh:mm:ss.mmm c feed <Message-ID> site...
	      mon dd hh:mm:ss.mmm - feed <Message-ID> reason...
       The first three fields are the date and time to millisecond resolution.
       The  fifth  field  is the site that sent the article (based on the Path
       header) and the sixth field is the article's Message-ID; they will be a
       question mark if the information is not available.

       The fourth field indicates whether the article was accepted or not.  If
       it is a plus sign, then the article was accepted.  If it is the	letter
       ``j''  then  the	 article  was  accepted, but all of newsgroups have an
       ``j'' in their active field, so the article was filed into the ``junk''
       newsgroup.  If the fourth field is the letter ``c'', then a cancel mes‐
       sage was accepted before the original article arrived.	In  all	 three
       cases,  the article has been accepted and the ``site..'' field contains
       the space-separated list of sites to which the article is being sent.

       If the fourth field is a minus sign, then  the  article	was  rejected.
       The reasons for rejection include:
	      "%s" header too long
	      "%s" wants to cancel <%s> by "%s"
	      Article exceeds local limit of %s bytes
	      Article posted in the future -- "%s"
	      Bad "%s" header
	      Can't write history
	      Duplicate
	      Duplicate "%s" header
	      EOF in headers
	      Linecount %s != %s +- %s
	      Missing %s header
	      No body
	      No colon-space in "%s" header
	      No space
	      Space before colon in "%s" header
	      Too old -- "%s"
	      Unapproved for "%s"
	      Unwanted newsgroup "%s"
	      Unwanted distribution "%s"
	      Whitespace in "Newsgroups" header -- "%s"
       Where ``%s'', above, is replaced by more specific information.

       Innd  also  makes  extensive reports through syslog.  The first word of
       the log message will be the name of the site if the entry is  site-spe‐
       cific (such as a ``connected'' message).	 The first word will be ``ME''
       if the message relates to the server itself, such as when a read	 error
       occurs.

       If  the second word is the four letters ``cant'' then an error is being
       reported.  In this case, the next two words generally name  the	system
       call  or	 library  routine  that	 failed, and the object upon which the
       action was being performed.  The rest of the  line  may	contain	 other
       information.

       In  other  cases, the second word attempts to summarize what change has
       been made, while the rest of the line gives more specific  information.
       The word ``internal'' generally indicates an internal logic error.

HISTORY
       Written	by  Rich  $alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net> for InterNetNews.  This is
       revision 1.28, dated 1993/03/18.

SEE ALSO
       active(5), ctlinnd(8), dbz(3z), history(5), hosts.nntp(5), inn.conf(5),
       newsfeeds(5), nnrpd(8), rnews(1), syslog(8).

								       INND(8)
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