Newsgroups: news.software.b,news.answers From: linimon@nominil.lonesome.com (Mark Linimon) Subject: Changes to C News Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) References: Followup-To: poster Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu Organization: Lonesome Dove Computing Services Date: Wed, 1 Jun 1994 07:10:49 GMT Supersedes: Message-ID: Summary: Answers to frequently asked questions about C News (periodic posting) Expires: Wed, 13 Jul 1994 07:09:47 GMT Reply-To: linimon@nominil.lonesome.com Lines: 223 Xref: bloom-beacon.mit.edu news.software.b:4595 news.answers:20302 Archive-name: usenet/software/b/cnews-diffs *** nsbcnews.bak Thu Sep 16 16:12:58 1993 --- nsbcnews.pp Fri Mar 4 17:39:12 1994 *************** *** 1,14 **** ! Newsgroups: news.software.b ! X-Newsgroups: news.software.b,news.answers Subject: C News Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Followup-To: poster Reply-To: linimon@nominil.lonesome.com Summary: Answers to frequently asked questions about C News (periodic posting) X-Posting-Frequency: every 4 weeks Archive-name: news/software/b/cnews ! Version: 1.03 (October 1993) ! Last-Modified: Thu Sep 16 15:49:08 EDT 1993 This posting provides answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) encountered in using, installing, maintaining, and interfacing to the C News software --- 1,14 ---- ! Newsgroups: news.software.b,news.answers Subject: C News Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Followup-To: poster Reply-To: linimon@nominil.lonesome.com Summary: Answers to frequently asked questions about C News (periodic posting) X-Posting-Frequency: every 4 weeks Archive-name: news/software/b/cnews ! Version: 1.08 (March 1994) ! Last-Modified: Fri Mar 4 17:38:12 EST 1994 This posting provides answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) encountered in using, installing, maintaining, and interfacing to the C News software *************** *** 17,23 **** A companion posting, "news.software.b Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)" , complements this one by covering general topics that frequently recur on this group. ! Yet another posting, "Introduction to news.software.b" , serves as an introduction to the group. --- 17,23 ---- A companion posting, "news.software.b Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)" , complements this one by covering general topics that frequently recur on this group. ! Yet another posting, "News.software.b: Introduction to news.software.b" , serves as an introduction to the group. *************** *** 28,34 **** Subject: Table of contents. Subject: What is C News? ! Subject: What is the release status of C News? Where can I get it? Subject: What do I do if I am having trouble with C News? Subject: Isn't installing C News troublesome? Subject: I'm trying to compile C News under SCO and I ... --- 28,35 ---- Subject: Table of contents. Subject: What is C News? ! Subject: What is the current release status of C News? Where can I get it? ! Subject: When will the next release of C News be? What will change? Subject: What do I do if I am having trouble with C News? Subject: Isn't installing C News troublesome? Subject: I'm trying to compile C News under SCO and I ... *************** *** 49,54 **** --- 50,56 ---- Subject: Why does C News drop non-conforming articles? Subject: Is there documentation to aid converting from B News to C News? Subject: Is there documentation about the theory behind C News? + Subject: When should I upgrade my current release of C News? Subject: Contributions to C News FAQ. ------------------------------ *************** *** 65,71 **** ------------------------------ ! Subject: What is the release status of C News? Where can I get it? Henry Spencer: The current C News distribution can currently always be retrieved by --- 67,73 ---- ------------------------------ ! Subject: What is the current release status of C News? Where can I get it? Henry Spencer: The current C News distribution can currently always be retrieved by *************** *** 93,103 **** *new* *release* , not just an update to earlier ones -- there are no patches to bring an earlier release up to date with it, you have to get the whole release. Major reorganizations, initiated in the Performance Release and to ! be completed in the forthcoming Cleanup Release (tentative date: autumn 1993), ! make release of patches against earlier versions impractical.] ------------------------------ Subject: What do I do if I am having trouble with C News? First, consult the manual pages and descriptions in doc/trouble. (If you --- 95,164 ---- *new* *release* , not just an update to earlier ones -- there are no patches to bring an earlier release up to date with it, you have to get the whole release. Major reorganizations, initiated in the Performance Release and to ! be completed in the forthcoming Cleanup Release (see below), make release of ! patches against earlier versions impractical.] ------------------------------ + Subject: When will the next release of C News be? What will change? + + The next release, to be known as the Cleanup Release, is still in alpha + testing. As a great deal of rewriting, speed enhancements, and new + features have been added, the alpha cycle has been quite long. Patience + is still called for, however. + + The major changes, as announced by Geoff and Henry at the Winter USENIX + News BOF, are as follows: + + -- There will be no patches from earlier releases; the source tree + changes too much. + + -- NOV will be integrated. (It seems that NOV is quickly becoming the + accepted standard in popular reader and transport implementations). + + -- Expiration has been speeded up. + + -- Most of the build process has been moved into the Makefiles. The + doit.* scripts are obsolete. + + -- The "what kind of Unix"(TM somebody) question is gone, replaced by + better questions about what routines are available. + + -- The newgroup and rmgroup auto-handlers are better; they allow + permissions to be controlled by person X group. (Note that as + my notes recall, Henry claims these are designed more to protect + against accidents, than any attempt at authentication). + + -- delgroup now removes the spool directory as well -- but only + *after* the articles expire. + + -- All trouble reporting goes through one shell file, for easier + customization. + + -- C News will install out-of-the-box on BSD/386 release 1.1. + + -- Newsrun and the locking schemes are more sophisticated. + + -- gzip support for batch compression is included. + + -- contrib/ contains a transport-only NNTP implementation (*not* the + "reference" implementation). This is designed to be useful for + transport, but not reading and posting, news. + + -- Timezone handling changes. Signed numeric timezones and military + timezones will be accepted; some *currently* accepted dates which + aren't RFC-compliant will no longer be accepted. + + -- batchparms can include parameters to compress. + + -- The middle field of the history file gets a third subfield: the size + of the article. + + -- The documentation will lag behind, as usual, unless volunteer(s) + step up to the plate. + + ------------------------------ + Subject: What do I do if I am having trouble with C News? First, consult the manual pages and descriptions in doc/trouble. (If you *************** *** 400,405 **** --- 461,486 ---- ------------------------------ + Suof C News? + + If you're running something before the Performance Release, you should + probably upgrade to it as soon as possible, as any number of bugs have + been fixed. If you're running the Performance Release, you should probably + wait until the Cleanup Release is out and has any initial rough edges + knocked off of it. + + In terms of _functionally_ being compatible with earlier versions, _all_ + new versions are; however, as Henry has stated in response to + + > Must everyone chnage to the lastest C news at the stroke of + > midnight on Oct. 30, 1994, by proclamation of Henry Spencer? + + Henry: + + > Life would be a lot simpler if I could issue such a proclamation... + + ------------------------------ + Subject: Contributions to the C News FAQ. Thanks to the following for contributions, additions, corrections, and updates: *************** *** 408,413 **** --- 489,495 ---- Mark Brader Geoff Collyer A. Bryan Curnutt + Bill Davidson Ken Kutz David C Lawrence Tom Limoncelli -- Mark Linimon / Lonesome Dove Computing Services / linimon@lonesome.com "He pulled out his fiddle and he rosined up his bow, and he played a little tune called the New Cut Road."