🚀 go-pugleaf

Posted-By: auto-faq 3.1.1.2
Archive-name: usenet/pl-news-hierarchy


                  HOW TO ADD PL.* HIERARCHY TO A NEWS SERVER
                                       
   This document contains the most important things related to adding the
   pl.* news hierarchy to a news server or just configuring the server to
   carry it properly if pl.* groups are already there. It is intended
   mainly for news system administrators (and Polish users abroad trying
   to convince their news administrators to get "pl.*" groups). To make
   things easier, this is a detailed step-by-step instruction, but if it
   seems too elementary for you - look at the end for a quick checklist
   (Use your favourite key sequence to find '=====').
   
   If you are a _news administrator_ at some site and somebody has asked
   you to participate in distribution of pl.* groups, then read on.
   
   If you are a _news user_, who wants to read the pl.* groups on his
   default news server - you should find the news administrator, kindly
   ask him if he could arrange receiving the pl.* newsgroups, and send
   him this article (or the pointer to the HTML version at
   http://www.ict.pwr.wroc.pl/doc/news-pl-new-site-faq.html), to make his
   job easier.
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   There are few things to do, if you are going to receive the pl.* news
   hierarchy, but the most important ones are:
   
     * getting the pl.* groups sent to you,
     * sending pl.* groups back (so that your users can POST),
     * configuring the hierarchy for the automatic creation of new
       groups.
     * appropriate handling of postings to moderated groups.
       
   You may also find answers to some general questions about pl.* groups
   at the end of this document:
   
     * What are the pl.* groups anyway?
     * Is there any 'checkgroups' message for pl.* groups?
     * What about PGP-signed control messages?
       
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
                           1. GETTING THE ARTICLES.
                                       
   Contact the news administrator of the news server already carrying
   pl.* groups. Try to find the nearest one (try 'ping -s' and
   'traceroute'). The best of course is when pl.* groups are carried over
   your 'normal' feed - ie. together with other news hierarchies. But as
   the pl.* news are quite young (first groups were created about June
   1994), there are not many news servers outside of Poland having them,
   so you may have to create a special new feed for them. Below is the
   list of some servers outside Poland (and some in Poland) carrying
   pl.*, that I know of. It is not very long (nor complete) as you see.
   If the contact address is not explicitly listed, try 'usenet' at the
   news server's address, as 'use...@news.ict.pwr.wroc.pl'.
   

USA/Cleveland   news.wariat.org       zb...@wariat.org (Zbigniew J. Tyrlik)
USA/Connecticut news.miracle.net      ja...@miracle.net (Jacek A. Ponarski)
USA             uunet.uu.net           new!  (X 1995)
USA             gail.ripco.com
USA/MCI         news.mcs.com
USA             ratty.wolfe.net
USA/Sprintlink  news.sprintlink.net
USA             news.hookup.net
USA             news.uoregon.edu      news...@news.uoregon.edu
Canada/Toronto  news.ki.net           Marc G. Fournier <ne...@ki.net>  new!  (5.08.1996)
    and many more

Sweden          sunet.se              (existing feeds only!, see below)
Norway          news.uio.no           Odd Einar Aurbakken  new!  (XI 1996)
Netherlands     news.easy.nl          Peter Janssens <p...@easy.nl>  new!  (V 1996)
Germany         news.uni-stuttgart.de Kurt Jaeger <ne...@news.uni-stuttgart.de>
Germany         news.desy.de          Kars Ohrenberg <ohre...@zedy00.desy.de>
Australia       news.ozemail.com.au
Australia       news.mel.aone.net.au

Poland          news.ict.pwr.wroc.pl  Tomasz Surmacz <tsur...@ict.pwr.wroc.pl>
Poland          news.fuw.edu.pl       Michal Jankowski <mic...@fuw.edu.pl>
Poland          news.icm.edu.pl       Jan Rychter <j...@news.icm.edu.pl>
Poland          news.nask.pl          Lukasz Ploszajski <luk...@nask.pl>

    and all existing news servers in Poland (check
    http://www.ict.pwr.wroc.pl/pzs/pzs_nntp.html for the complete list)

   Send e-mail to any of the above news administrators, asking him if he
   could feed you the pl.* hierarchy. Include your news server addresses:
   the internet address of the server and its 'news name' ie. the string
   which is put in the 'Path:' header. Unfortunately, sunet.se seems to
   be overloaded with its newsfeeds, so its administrators will not give
   you a 'new feed', but if you already have one - just ask for the pl.*
   hierarchy to be added to your existing feed. Otherwise, contact other
   people from this list.
   
   In reply you should get appropriate host name/news name for the host
   you will be receiving pl.* articles from. (The first will be exactly
   as in the list above (let it be "sample.site.pl", but the 'Path:'
   address is usually a bit different - say "news.pl".) You should also
   get the current list of all pl.* groups that you ought to create
   manually. This list is also posted regularly to pl.answers and
   pl.news.admin groups (you may connect to news.ict.pwr.wroc.pl to get
   access to these groups before you establish the proper feed for pl.*
   for yourself). You can get the part of newsgroups and active file also
   via ftp, as stated below.
   
   Add the internet address (sample.site.pl) to your hosts.nntp file and
   restart the server or do a "ctlinnd reload hosts.nntp '' ", if you are
   running INND. This way you start recognizing the other host as the
   news server and not a client. The 'PathHost' ("news.pl" in our
   example) will be needed for the second step - sending news back.
   
   Now - create all the groups. You should get the list in the format of
   the _active_ file, so this little script should do the job:
   

--------------------------- add_pl.sh ------------------------------
#!/bin/sh
# Usage: add_pl file_containing_pl_groups_in_active_format
# such as ftp://ftp.ict.pwr.wroc.pl/pub/faq-pl/pl.active

# change this to reflect your configuration
ACTIVE=/usr/lib/news/active
PATH=$PATH:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/lib/news/bin

# Pause the server  (assuming innd)
ctlinnd pause 'updating active'

cp ${ACTIVE} ${ACTIVE}.bak
awk '{ printf ("%s 0000000000 0000000001 %s\n", $1, $4); }' < $1 >> $(ACTIVE)

ctlinnd reload active 'updating active'
ctlinnd go 'updating active'
----------------------------------------------------------------------

   or if there are not too many groups, then (for INND only):

--------------------------- add_pl_small.sh --------------------------
#!/bin/sh
# Usage: add_pl_small file_containing_pl_groups_in_active_format
# such as ftp://ftp.ict.pwr.wroc.pl/pub/faq-pl/pl.active

# change this to reflect your configuration
PATH=$PATH:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/news/bin

while read group last first type ; do
        ctlinnd newgroup ${group} ${type}
done < $1
----------------------------------------------------------------------

   You should also get the descriptions of all the pl.* groups so just
   'cat >>' them to the end of your 'newsgroups' file. The current list
   of all pl.* groups (updated daily) can be downloaded via ftp from the
   following address:

    ftp://ftp.ict.pwr.wroc.pl/pub/faq-pl/pl.newsgroups

   The portion of current 'active' file containing only pl.* groups can
   be found at:

    ftp://ftp.ict.pwr.wroc.pl/pub/faq-pl/pl.active

   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
moderators file:

   All the postings to the moderated groups under pl.* should be sent to
   news-gr...@usenet.pl (with dots in the group name replaced by
   hyphens) - so to your 'moderators' file add the following somewhere
   near the beginning (before the default "*:%s...@uunet.uu.net"): new!

    pl.*:%s...@usenet.pl

   Up until July 1995 the following address was the only official address
   for moderated postings in the pl.* hierarchy:

    pl.*:%s...@moderators.fuw.edu.pl

   In August 1995 it has been obsoleted by the domain "usenet.pl" but it
   will still be supported (although not recommended) until the end of
   June 1996, so that all the news administrators of servers carrying
   pl.* groups have enough time to switch to the new address. If you have
   put this address to your moderators file some time ago, _change it
   now_, please.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
control.ctl file:

   To get all the new pl.* groups created and removed automatically when
   needed, add the following to the control.ctl file:

newgroup...@usenet.pl|michalj@*fuw.edu.pl:pl.*:doit=newgroup
rmgroup:...@usenet.pl|michalj@*fuw.edu.pl:pl.*:doit=rmgroup

   Please note, there is *NO* dot between the first star and 'fuw' in the
   second address. As far as now, only the second of the above two
   addresses is used, but it may change in future.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
expire.ctl file:

   This is completely your (or your users) policy, how long to keep the
   postings in each group, but let me suggest you just one thing. There
   is a special group _pl.answers_ which is much like all *.answers
   groups - it is moderated and all articles there are sent periodically
   with the appropriate 'Expires:' and 'Supersedes:' headers, so it would
   be best, if these were respected. If your 'standard' entry is like:
   '*:A:1:10:never' - ie. 'never' remove articles with 'Expires:' header
   before they expire - don't worry about pl.answers. But if you force
   all articles to be expired after say 10 days - please make an
   exception and add to the expire.ctl:

       pl.answers:A:1:10:never

   or:

       pl.answers:A:1:10:60

   which means keep articles there for at least 1 day, usually 10 days if
   there is no 'Expires:' header, otherwise respect the header (but in
   the latter case - not longer than 60 days even if Expires: header says
   it should be kept longer). All the articles have maximum 30-40 days
   expiration period, so any of the above will be ok. (It is a good idea
   to respect these headers in other groups too, anyway).
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
                               2. SENDING NEWS:
                                       
   Unless you are receiving pl.* groups through your mainstream feed, you
   need to reconfigure a bit your server to send pl.* groups back. And
   even if you _are_ receiving them through your normal feeds, please
   make sure they are included in the list of groups sent out.
   
   When you asked for a pl.* feed, you also got permission to send all
   pl.* groups back, so to your 'newsfeeds' file (that's in innd; in
   cnews it is called 'sys') add appropriate entry for sending the pl.*
   groups back. Use the 'pathhost' name (in our example - "news.pl") that
   you have got, to build the entry. For example, in innd (assuming
   getting news from sample.site.pl and sending them back there) it might
   look like:

    plnews/news.pl\
        :!*,pl.*\
        :Tf,Wnm:

   (replace "news.pl" with what appears in the Path: field put there by
   the site feeding you) and then you also need to tell your cron job
   sending news, to send them also to "sample.site.pl". If you are using
   nntpsend/innxmit, add to the nntpsend.ctl file:

    plnews:sample.site.pl:::-T1720 -t300
    ^      ^                ^
    |      |                + Other useful parameters
    |      Internet addres of your pl.* provider
    +-- Name used in newsfeeds file.

   That should be all... You may now post a test message to pl.test and
   expect a reply in e-mail within a day or so, as there is an automatic
   pl.test responder attached to one of the servers in Poland. If your
   test posting reaches it - get yourself a beer, as you have done a good
   work. :-) If you do not want to get the reply message - just include
   the word 'ignore' in the message subject or body.
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
  ======================================================================= 
   
                     ONCE AGAIN, STEP BY STEP, IN SHORT:
                                       
   You probably know your own news system better than me, so these
   detailed descriptions may be unnecessary. If you know how to do most
   of things, use this short 'checklist' instead:
     * Contact the news administrator at the other end and get the feed
       for pl.* groups
     * Add all existing groups to the 'active' file
     * Add groups' descriptions to your 'newsgroups' file
     * Add these 2 lines to the control.ctl file:

    newgroup...@usenet.pl|michalj@*fuw.edu.pl:pl.*:doit=newgroup
    rmgroup:...@usenet.pl|michalj@*fuw.edu.pl:pl.*:doit=rmgroup
   And please note, that there is no dot before 'fuw' in the second
       address!
       
       new!
     * Add this line to the 'moderators' file:

    pl.*:%s...@usenet.pl
     * Check the expiration policy for all 'normal' groups, and if
       possible - try respecting the 'Expires:' headers in pl.answers
       group by putting 'never' or '60' in the last field of entry in
       expire.ctl file.
     * Modify your 'newsfeeds' file to feed all the pl.* groups back, so
       the articles posted by your users will be transferred to other
       servers.
     * Send a test posting to pl.test and check whether you receive a
       reply by e-mail from an autoresponder.
     * Send a short message to tsur...@adm.usenet.pl saying you have
       added pl.* to your news server, so I can keep the list of servers
       up to date (as long as it does not grow beyond a resonable size)
       and keep track of how far pl.* groups are propagated.
     * If your usenet neighbours want to get pl.* groups, send them this
       'starter kit' or point them to the newest version. There should be
       a copy in news.answers, news.admin.hierarchies, pl.answers and
       pl.news.admin at *your* server, but if not, you may always get
       one from:

  ftp://ftp.ict.pwr.wroc.pl/pub/faq-pl/news-pl-new-site-faq.1
  http://www.ict.pwr.wroc.pl/doc/news-pl-new-site-faq.html

   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   That's all.
   
   Now is the time for... 
   
                                 QUESTIONS...
                                       
   
   
What are the pl.* groups anyway?

   The pl.* news hierarchy holds Polish national groups. They sometimes
   mirror similar groups in the big-eight hierarchy (with the exception,
   that in pl.* groups the most used language is Polish), but some are
   very specific. 
   
Is there any 'checkgroups' message for pl.* groups?

   Yes, there is. It gets posted automatically once every two months
   (starting on January 1st), so you should not see it very frequently.
   In addition you may get the list of pl.* groups in the '_newsgroups_'
   file format from the locations described above and feed it to the
   'docheckgroups' program. 
   
What about PGP-signed control messages?

   Yep, the control messages requesting creation or removal of groups in
   the pl.* hierarchy are going to be PGP-signed. The whole thing is
   still experimental, so most of the messages are still sent 'the
   traditional way', but if you see a PGP-signed message - don't be
   surprised. The public PGP key for these messages (ie. the key for
   pl.announce.newgroups) can be found here:
   
   

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: 2.6.2i

mQCNAzGvEY4AAAEEAL8clpC5yydhkMN1ppivfj3E6EIyZtntScjuCyI+RwpvLf9o
So+FLbiMmjjCV7BNjds7c1yaDMPDFetZlqEYKof5Q0QK2bDaaou3wtnDesAXqrde
K24GURn0N2BYWR9sEFJ4bwn8fudHelFcAXPt24lI29bu6dX+LddKTteDivjtAAUR
tBVwbC5hbm5vdW5jZS5uZXdncm91cHOJAJUDBRAyc5r/10pO14OK+O0BAWq9A/0e
So5/56x6hkT0to92FUiIbcoHF6J20sa4edDXbzTHZTvNJh3K4iSBwkspMcx8AWyS
36ckftXsZP2xRTj2Dk4xgLLCcFBjPHt7q5ysa8dChkgEu8770OE5atbQZorzz757
xpOgKmjRXLVbzt680Z807jH/zOo+BRby3ZMJFtGPyrQXPGNvbnRyb2xAYWRtLnVz
ZW5ldC5wbD4=
=n+Qy
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

   You may also send email to pgp-pub...@pgp.ai.mit.edu with "GET
   0x838AF8ED" in the Subject: field and empty message body.
   
   The corrected control.ctl lines should be as follows:

newgroup...@usenet.pl|michalj@*fuw.edu.pl:pl.*:verify-pl.announce.newgroups
rmgroup:...@usenet.pl|michalj@*fuw.edu.pl:pl.*:verify-pl.announce.newgroups

   For more information on checking PGP-signed control messages, see
   ftp://ftp.uu.net/networking/news/misc/pgpcontrol/README.html or
   ftp://ftp.uu.net/networking/news/misc/pgpcontrol/README.
   Whether or not you do a PGP validation of control messages, the
   addresses they are sent from are the same as mentioned above (in the
   control.ctl section).
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   If you have any comments on the above procedure or my description,
   please do tell me, so I can improve it.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
    Tomasz R. Surmacz (tsur...@adm.usenet.pl, tsur...@ict.pwr.wroc.pl),
    10.11.1996
-- 
 _________
(_   _' __) Tomasz R. Surmacz *--* Work:(071)320-2636 tsur...@ict.pwr.wroc.pl
  |  (__  \ http://www.ict.pwr.wroc.pl/~tsurmacz/ *----* Home: t...@wroc.apk.net
  |__(____/ For PGP key finger tsur...@asic.ict.pwr.wroc.pl *---* irc: TomekS