Slrnpull

Slrnpull

[Harry Putnam]

Anyone running slrnpull here, that can coach me a bit?

>> (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "localhost"))

Harry Writes:
 
> > But getting back to slrnpull.  The line above does nothing for me
> > with a recently installed slrnpull setup.  I'm not particularly
> > knowledgable about slrn or slrnpull but it seems to have created all
> > the needed directories etc under /var/spool/slrnpull.
> 

Kai Writes:

> Maybe slrn doesn't come with an NNTP server?  Maybe you are expected
> to read these articles directly off the directory?
[...]
> (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""
>                  (nnspool-spool-directory "/var/spool/slrnpull")
>                  (nnspool-nov-directory "???")))


The slrnpull docs say it doesn't but it also says leafnode doesn't.
slrn itself works with this setup, and with code like this in ~/.slrnrc.
It refers to `inn' but I don't have it installed:

	~/.slrnrc stuff:
	set spool_inn_root		"/var/spool/slrnpull"
	set spool_root			"/var/spool/slrnpull/news"
	set spool_nov_root		"/var/spool/slrnpull/news"
	set use_slrnpull 1
	set read_active	1
	set server_object		"spool"
	set hostname			"reader.local.lan"
	set username			"reader"

========= END .slrnrc CODE ===========

(setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""
              (nnspool-spool-directory "/var/spool/slrnpull")
              (nnspool-nov-directory "/var/spool/slrnpull/news")
              (nnspool-active-file "/var/spool/slrnpull/data/active")))

The information above is correct (I think), and gnus is finding the
active file.

The actual NOV files are buried in the unix style directories under news
In the same way that gnus-agent stores them.
Like:
/var/spool/slrnpull/news/gnu/emacs/gnus/.overiew and something called
`.minmax' that looks like it contains the count of read and new
articles?
It says 37726 38855


My proceedure for a test:
(in an expimental user account)
delete .newsrc* Mail News

With the above server code in .gnus

I get two groups once gnus starts (since it isn't really a nntp
server):
       0: nndraft:queue
       0: nndraft:drafts

Pressing `^', I then press <RET> on the nnspool server and am shown the
groups under /var/spool/news/
       
       ==> Looks promising so far.

Then subscribe them all with `u' and attempt to enter
alt.test.yer.posts:

   Invalid group name (no such directory): alt.test.yer.posts Couldn't
   request group alt.test.yer.posts: Invalid group name (no such
   directory): alt.test.yer.posts

The group is there in this format /var/spool/slrnpull/news/alt/test/yer/posts

So I thought it might be the `(gnus-use-long-file-name)' variable.  I
forgot what the default is but tried both ways:  setq  `t' and `nil'

I get the same error either way (same as above error)

Below is the output from one of the tests in ****Messages** buffer.  It
looks as if things are happening as they should but gnus doesn't like
the file structure:

Loading gnus...
Loading easymenu...
Loading easymenu...done
Loading gnus...done
Loading gnus-start...
Loading gnus-start...done
hello world -- ~/.gnus
Loading gnus-agent...
Loading gnus-agent...done
Looking up local news spool...
Reading /home/korn/.newsrc.eld...
Reading active file via nnspool...done
Reading active file via nnml...
Opening nnml server...

nnml: Reading incoming mail from directory...
nnml: Reading incoming mail from file...
nnml: Reading incoming mail (no new mail)...done
Reading active file via nnml...
Reading active file via nnml...done
Reading active file from archive via nnfolder...
Opening nnfolder server on archive...

Reading active file from archive via nnfolder...
Reading active file from archive via nnfolder...done
First time user; subscribing you to default groups
No new newsgroups
Checking new news...
Checking new news...done
Loading gnus-srvr...
Loading gnus-srvr...done
Connecting to ...
Reading active file...
Reading active file...done
Connecting to ...done
Retrieving newsgroup: alt.test.yer.posts...
Loading gnus-ml...
Loading gnus-ml...done

[-ed hp (wrapped for mail)]
Invalid group name (no such directory): alt.test.yer.posts Couldn't
request group alt.test.yer.posts: Invalid group name (no such
directory): alt.test.yer.posts

Re: Slrnpull

[Daniel Pittman]

On 01 Apr 2001, Harry Putnam wrote:
> Anyone running slrnpull here, that can coach me a bit?

No, but I can correct one factual mistake in your comments...

[...]

> Kai Writes:
> 
>> Maybe slrn doesn't come with an NNTP server?  Maybe you are expected
>> to read these articles directly off the directory?
> [...]
>> (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""
>>                  (nnspool-spool-directory "/var/spool/slrnpull")
>>                  (nnspool-nov-directory "???")))
> 
> The slrnpull docs say it doesn't but it also says leafnode doesn't. 

It's wrong. Leafnode /is/ an NNTP server. I use it daily to do news on
my disconnected laptop and my small 23/7 home site.

Works great. I would not hesitate to recommend it and can offer help
setting it up, should you require some.

        Daniel

-- 
A silly remark can be made in Latin as well as in Spanish.
        -- Cervantes, _The Dialogue of the Dogs_, 1613

Re: Slrnpull

[Anssi Saari]

On Sun, Apr 01, 2001 at 08:11:10PM -0700, Harry Putnam wrote:
> 
> Anyone running slrnpull here, that can coach me a bit?
 
Not since abandoning the tyranny of metered dial-up connections, but
maybe I can help.

> (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""
>               (nnspool-spool-directory "/var/spool/slrnpull")
>               (nnspool-nov-directory "/var/spool/slrnpull/news")
>               (nnspool-active-file "/var/spool/slrnpull/data/active")))
 
I used these settings for nnspool and slrnpull (in OS/2):

(setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
(setq nnspool-spool-directory "i:/usr/spool/slrnpull/news/")
(setq nnspool-nov-directory "i:/usr/spool/slrnpull/news/")
(setq nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed t)
(setq nnspool-active-file "i:/usr/spool/slrnpull/data/active")
(setq nnspool-inews-program "my_inews.cmd")

It looks like my nnspool-spool-directory points to the same place as
nnspool-nov-directory, maybe that's your problem.

Re: Slrnpull

[Kai Großjohann]

On Mon, 2 Apr 2001, Anssi Saari wrote:

> I used these settings for nnspool and slrnpull (in OS/2):
> 
> (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
> (setq nnspool-spool-directory "i:/usr/spool/slrnpull/news/")
> (setq nnspool-nov-directory "i:/usr/spool/slrnpull/news/")
> (setq nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed t)
> (setq nnspool-active-file "i:/usr/spool/slrnpull/data/active")
> (setq nnspool-inews-program "my_inews.cmd")

It seems cleaner to have the nnspool-* variables as server
parameters.  Then you can have two nnspool servers.  Like this:

(setq gnus-select-method
      '(nnspool ""
        (nnspool-spool-directory "i:/usr/spool/slrnpull/news/")
        ...))

kai
-- 
Be indiscrete.  Do it continuously.

Re: Slrnpull

[Harry Putnam]

Anssi Saari <as@sci.fi> writes:

> On Sun, Apr 01, 2001 at 08:11:10PM -0700, Harry Putnam wrote:
> > 
> > Anyone running slrnpull here, that can coach me a bit?
>  
> Not since abandoning the tyranny of metered dial-up connections, but
> maybe I can help.
> 
> > (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""
> >               (nnspool-spool-directory "/var/spool/slrnpull")
> >               (nnspool-nov-directory "/var/spool/slrnpull/news")
> >               (nnspool-active-file "/var/spool/slrnpull/data/active")))
>  
> I used these settings for nnspool and slrnpull (in OS/2):
> 
> (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
> (setq nnspool-spool-directory "i:/usr/spool/slrnpull/news/")
> (setq nnspool-nov-directory "i:/usr/spool/slrnpull/news/")
> (setq nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed t)
> (setq nnspool-active-file "i:/usr/spool/slrnpull/data/active")
> (setq nnspool-inews-program "my_inews.cmd")
> 
> It looks like my nnspool-spool-directory points to the same place as
> nnspool-nov-directory, maybe that's your problem.

Yeah that stupid mistake followed me from a discussion on
gnu.emacs.gnu to here. Sorry about the unnecessary noise.  I've since
corrected it due to Kai's gentle nudges.  And it works in this version:

(setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""
   (nnspool-spool-directory "/var/spool/slrnpull/news/")  <== corrected
   (nnspool-nov-directory "/var/spool/slrnpull/news/")
   (nnspool-active-file "/var/spool/slrnpull/data/active")))

I haven't tried posting yet though.  Still have this in an
experimental (fake) directory.

I don't understand the role of `i' in your scheme and the 

 (setq nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed t)

>From manual:
  `nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed'
     If non-`nil', which is the default, use `sed' to get the relevant
     portion from the overview file.  If nil, `nnspool' will load the
     entire file into a buffer and process it there.

Since this is  all taking place on local disk, is this sed thing really
usefull?  And what defines the `relevant portion'. Also since this is
a default, wouldn't it be in force anyway without explicit entry in
server code?

Any tips on getting posting from slrnpull /var/spool/slrnpull/out.going?
Is it just as simple as `C-c C-c'

Re: Slrnpull

[Kevin Falcone]

>>>>> "HP" == Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com> writes:

  HP> Any tips on getting posting from slrnpull
  HP> /var/spool/slrnpull/out.going?  Is it just as simple as `C-c
  HP> C-c'

I use the following to get it to work
------------------
$ cat /opt/bin/inews 
#!/bin/sh

  s_ts=X`date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S`-$USER
  (
  cat 
  echo ""
  ) > /var/spool/neu/out.going/$s_ts
------------------

replace /var/spool/neu/out.going with the proper path and make sure
that inews is in your path so that gnus can call it

-kevin

-- 
"I sense much NT in you. NT leads to Blue Screen, Blue Screen leads to
downtime, downtime leads to suffering. NT is the path to the Dark Side."

Re: Slrnpull

[Kai Großjohann]

On 02 Apr 2001, Harry Putnam wrote:

> I don't understand the role of `i' in your scheme 

I guess it's a Windows drive letter.

kai
-- 
Be indiscrete.  Do it continuously.

Re: Slrnpull

[Harry Putnam]

Kevin Falcone <kevin@jibsheet.com> writes:

> >>>>> "HP" == Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com> writes:
> 
>   HP> Any tips on getting posting from slrnpull
>   HP> /var/spool/slrnpull/out.going?  Is it just as simple as `C-c
>   HP> C-c'
> 
> I use the following to get it to work
> ------------------
> $ cat /opt/bin/inews 
> #!/bin/sh
> 
>   s_ts=X`date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S`-$USER
>   (
>   cat 
>   echo ""
>   ) > /var/spool/neu/out.going/$s_ts
> ------------------
> 
> replace /var/spool/neu/out.going with the proper path and make sure
> that inews is in your path so that gnus can call it

Okay, thanks for the tip... Sorry to be so dense but what is the
mechanism for gnus to use this?  Is it a default of some kind or do I
need code in .gnus to call this inews script?

Re: Slrnpull

[Kevin Falcone]

>>>>> "HP" == Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com> writes:

  HP> Okay, thanks for the tip... Sorry to be so dense but what is the
  HP> mechanism for gnus to use this?  Is it a default of some kind or
  HP> do I need code in .gnus to call this inews script?

I believe by default that gnus will just search your path for inews,
but I have the following set:

(setq nnspool-inews-program "/opt/bin/inews")

As Kai suggested, you may be able to make this part of the server
declaration.  I only use one server, so I haven't bothered to play
with that.

-kevin

-- 
"Things can happen to browsers in magical libraries that can make having
your face pulled off by tentacled monstrosities from the Dungeon
Dimensions seem a mere light massage by comparison." --Terry Pratchett

Re: Slrnpull

[Harry Putnam]

Daniel Pittman <daniel@rimspace.net> writes:

[...]

> > The slrnpull docs say it doesn't but it also says leafnode doesn't. 
> 
> It's wrong. Leafnode /is/ an NNTP server. I use it daily to do news on
> my disconnected laptop and my small 23/7 home site.

Turns out it was an over ambitious interpretation from memory on my
part:
>From slrnpull README
[...]
   There are several other ``sucking'' programs available that perform a
   similar function as slrnpull.  The best known are `leafnode' and
   `suck'.  All of them, with the exception of `leafnode' require the
   user to run a newsserver program such as INN or CNEWS.  Like
   `leafnode', slrnpull does not require a newsserver.
[..]

> Works great. I would not hesitate to recommend it and can offer help
> setting it up, should you require some.

Thanks for the offer.  The reason I've steered clear of leafnode, is
I've noticed many comments about it using some kind of heuristics to
determine what groups to get etc.

I don't really want heuristics.  I want to tell an app exactly what to
get and have it get all messages from my list, always.

Is that easily done with leafnode?  I had hoped it would be with
slrnpull, and maybe it is.  I have the downloading working well now.
Very simple and straightforward.  I just had a dumb typo in my code.

I still haven't gotten into trying out posting. I've had some tips
on that though.

Re: Slrnpull

[Harry Putnam]

Kevin Falcone <kevin@jibsheet.com> writes:

> >>>>> "HP" == Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com> writes:
> 
>   HP> Okay, thanks for the tip... Sorry to be so dense but what is the
>   HP> mechanism for gnus to use this?  Is it a default of some kind or
>   HP> do I need code in .gnus to call this inews script?
> 
> I believe by default that gnus will just search your path for inews,
> but I have the following set:
> 
> (setq nnspool-inews-program "/opt/bin/inews")
> 
> As Kai suggested, you may be able to make this part of the server
> declaration.  I only use one server, so I haven't bothered to play
> with that.

It does work, and without any special code too.  Thanks, that was down
right painless.

I haven't moved this setup into my main account and real use, but it
worked immediately on my test setup.

Re: Slrnpull

[Kai Großjohann]

On 02 Apr 2001, Harry Putnam wrote:

> Thanks for the offer.  The reason I've steered clear of leafnode, is
> I've noticed many comments about it using some kind of heuristics to
> determine what groups to get etc.

When you enter a group, it shows you a dummy article and next time it
fetches it.  If you haven't entered a group in N days, it stops
fetching that group.

You can't turn off this behavior, but you can circumvent it, like so:

* Never enter a group you don't want, and
* `touch /var/spool/news/interesting.groups/*' every day, then
  Leafnode thinks you have read the groups in question.

You could also manually remove files from this directory for groups
you are not interested in.

kai
-- 
Be indiscrete.  Do it continuously.

Re: Slrnpull

[Laura Conrad]

>>>>> "Kai" == Kai Großjohann <Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE> writes:

    Kai> You can't turn off this behavior, but you can circumvent it, like so:

When I was using leafnode, I had a script that caused the list of
"interesting groups" to be exactly the same as the list of groups *I*
was subscribed to in gnus. 

-- 
Laura (mailto:lconrad@laymusic.org)
http://www.laymusic.org : Putting live music back in the living room.

Re: Slrnpull

[Colin Walters]

Daniel Pittman <daniel@rimspace.net> writes:

> It's wrong. Leafnode /is/ an NNTP server. I use it daily to do news
> on my disconnected laptop and my small 23/7 home site.
> 
> Works great. I would not hesitate to recommend it and can offer help
> setting it up, should you require some.

Ok, I'll bite: what's the best way to use Leafnode for disconnected
operation?  My setup is currently to have Leafnode running on my home
firewall, and run Gnus on my main computer to read news from the
firewall.  

I installed Leafnode on the laptop, and pointed it at the Leafnode on
the firewall, copied over the interesting.groups directory, and ran
"fetchnews".  However, Gnus on the laptop doesn't seem to work
correctly when I rsync over my News/, .newsrc*, etc. files from my
main computer.  The groups seem to don't have any new articles.
Perhaps this is because the article numbers changed?

Re: Slrnpull

[Stainless Steel Rat]

* Colin Walters <walters@cis.ohio-state.edu>  on Tue, 03 Apr 2001
| Ok, I'll bite: what's the best way to use Leafnode for disconnected
| operation?  My setup is currently to have Leafnode running on my home
| firewall, and run Gnus on my main computer to read news from the
| firewall.

Way I set things up at home, two old notebooks, one gateway box and one
leafnode box.  From inside I simply read from the leafnode box.  From
outside I make an ssh tunnel to my gateway and use nc to talk to the news
server:

  (setq gnus-select-method
	'(nntp "mumble-leafnode-server-mumble"
	       (nntp-address "mumble-gateway-mumble")
	       (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
	       (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
	       (nntp-rlogin-program "ssh")
	       (nntp-rlogin-parameters
		("bin/nc" "mumble-leafnode-server-mumble" "nntp")
		)))
  (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods nil)

You can then use the Agent as you like.
-- 
Rat <ratinox@peorth.gweep.net>    \ If Happy Fun Ball begins to smoke, get
Minion of Nathan - Nathan says Hi! \ away immediately. Seek shelter and cover
PGP Key: at a key server near you!  \ head.

Re: Slrnpull

[Daniel Pittman]

On 02 Apr 2001, Harry Putnam wrote:
> Daniel Pittman <daniel@rimspace.net> writes:

[...]

>> Works great. I would not hesitate to recommend it and can offer help
>> setting it up, should you require some.
> 
> Thanks for the offer.  The reason I've steered clear of leafnode, is
> I've noticed many comments about it using some kind of heuristics to
> determine what groups to get etc.

It fetches groups that have been read recently, yes. 

> I don't really want heuristics.  I want to tell an app exactly what to
> get and have it get all messages from my list, always.

Right. Well, leafnode doesn't do that by default. The Debian package for
it comes with a Perl hack that lets you list some newsgroups and then
"reads" each of them every night from a cron job...

> Is that easily done with leafnode?  I had hoped it would be with
> slrnpull, and maybe it is.  I have the downloading working well now.
> Very simple and straightforward.  I just had a dumb typo in my code.

If what you have works, go for it. I like leafnode /because/ it does
some management automatically and because it's not hard to add some
"permanent" groups.

It works for me, maybe not for you. I don't think it's /better/ than
slrnpull, though, just different.

        Daniel

-- 
Did you ever hear anyone say `That work had better be banned because
I might read it and it might be very dangerous to me?'
        -- Joseph Henry Jackson

Re: Slrnpull

[Colin Walters]

Stainless Steel Rat <ratinox@peorth.gweep.net> writes:

> * Colin Walters <walters@cis.ohio-state.edu>  on Tue, 03 Apr 2001
> > Ok, I'll bite: what's the best way to use Leafnode for disconnected
> > operation?  My setup is currently to have Leafnode running on my home
> > firewall, and run Gnus on my main computer to read news from the
> > firewall.
> 
> Way I set things up at home, two old notebooks, one gateway box and one
> leafnode box.  From inside I simply read from the leafnode box.  From
> outside I make an ssh tunnel to my gateway and use nc to talk to the news
> server:

Ah, nifty.  I didn't know one could tell Gnus to read news over ssh
like that.  But that wouldn't work if I want to read news while
entirely disconnected, right?

Re: Slrnpull

[Stainless Steel Rat]

* Colin Walters <walters@cis.ohio-state.edu>  on Tue, 03 Apr 2001
| Ah, nifty.  I didn't know one could tell Gnus to read news over ssh
| like that.  But that wouldn't work if I want to read news while
| entirely disconnected, right?

No, you would use the Agent to snarf news from your leafnode server using
an appropriate connection mechanism.

The reason I did it it my way is because my primary news server is one of
the MediaOne servers, and it can only be accessed from a neighborhood local
to it.  If you are using one of the commercial servers like newsguy (highly
recomended) or supernews (not highly recomended at all) then running
leafnode on your notebook might be a better choice.  Note that leafnode has
no problems sucking news off newsguy; I use them as my "secondary" server
because while the MediaOne server is fast, it is incomplete.
-- 
Rat <ratinox@peorth.gweep.net>    \ If Happy Fun Ball begins to smoke, get
Minion of Nathan - Nathan says Hi! \ away immediately. Seek shelter and cover
PGP Key: at a key server near you!  \ head.

Re: Slrnpull

[Daniel Pittman]

On 03 Apr 2001, Colin Walters wrote:
> Daniel Pittman <daniel@rimspace.net> writes:
> 
>> It's wrong. Leafnode /is/ an NNTP server. I use it daily to do news
>> on my disconnected laptop and my small 23/7 home site.
>> 
>> Works great. I would not hesitate to recommend it and can offer help
>> setting it up, should you require some.
> 
> Ok, I'll bite: what's the best way to use Leafnode for disconnected
> operation?  My setup is currently to have Leafnode running on my home
> firewall, and run Gnus on my main computer to read news from the
> firewall.

Personally, I installed leafnode on my server at home and on my laptop.
I then sync news onto the laptop with a script that only does it when I
am connected.

Posting and reading have a local news server, while the server on the
24/7 system at home thinks I am just another news reader. :)

> I installed Leafnode on the laptop, and pointed it at the Leafnode on
> the firewall, copied over the interesting.groups directory, and ran
> "fetchnews".  However, Gnus on the laptop doesn't seem to work
> correctly when I rsync over my News/, .newsrc*, etc. files from my
> main computer.  The groups seem to don't have any new articles.
> Perhaps this is because the article numbers changed?

I would say so, yes. Transferring between news servers is never trivial.

You might do it by coping the leafnode data wholesale from the server to
the laptop, then unsubscribing the groups you didn't want on the laptop.

That should preserve the state... but would probably break when updating
from the fixed server. *sigh*

I don't know how to do /that/.

I just caught up with news, created the new server on the laptop, then
started reading from there.

        Daniel

-- 
The Believer had better face himself and ask squarely: Do I literally
believe "God" has a penis? If the answer is no, then it seems only
logical to drop the ridiculous practice of referring to "God" as "he."
        -- Robert Anton Wilson

Re: Slrnpull

[Harry Putnam]

Daniel Pittman <daniel@rimspace.net> writes:


> If what you have works, go for it. I like leafnode /because/ it does
> some management automatically and because it's not hard to add some
> "permanent" groups.

I'm not really sure how well it works yet, just today turned a real
account over to slrnpull as main feed.  I guess I'll know in a few days.

> 
> It works for me, maybe not for you. I don't think it's /better/ than
> slrnpull, though, just different.

Seems like leafnode is a more complete piece of equipment.  But
slrnpull may be a little simpler.  I don't think it would be much fun
to do lots of experimenting in group selection and so forth with.  My
usage has narrowed down to some 30 groups that I always want to have
on hand.   So their isn't much tinkering with different groups and
such.

It has a config file where you list the groups you want by hand and it
gets them.  Treats it like a newsrc list but not really interactive.

I may try leafnode once I see what all slrnpull can do.

Re: Slrnpull

[Harry Putnam]

Stainless Steel Rat <ratinox@peorth.gweep.net> writes:

> leafnode on your notebook might be a better choice.  Note that leafnode has
> no problems sucking news off newsguy; I use them as my "secondary" server
> because while the MediaOne server is fast, it is incomplete.

Hey Rat,

I'm a fairly longtime newsguy customer myself.  Some 4 years now.
I'm seeing a major slowdown in connections all this week.  Slow
enough to time out fairly often.  I'm in southern california and see
good traceroute output to enews.newsguy.com, but still a major stall
when gnus connects.

Thats why I'm trying slrnpull out.  Letting slrnpull take the timeouts
or stalls etc, and since its on a 5 minute cron job, I still get the
news and gnus only has to connect to the slrnpull directory vie nnspool.

Are you seeing any problems with newsguy?

Re: Slrnpull

[Daniel Pittman]

On 03 Apr 2001, Harry Putnam wrote:
> Daniel Pittman <daniel@rimspace.net> writes:

[...]

>> It works for me, maybe not for you. I don't think it's /better/ than
>> slrnpull, though, just different.
> 
> Seems like leafnode is a more complete piece of equipment.  

It's intention is to be a (non-scalable) news server for small sites
that requires /no/ maintenance. It lives up to that.

> But slrnpull may be a little simpler. 

Possibly. If it does expiry, posting and provides a simple interface to
group selection, it's doing what leafnode does without the NNTP protocol
between 'em. :)

> I don't think it would be much fun to do lots of experimenting in
> group selection and so forth with. 

There isn't any needed, really. Not in my experience, anyway.

[...]

> It has a config file where you list the groups you want by hand and it
> gets them.  Treats it like a newsrc list but not really interactive.
> 
> I may try leafnode once I see what all slrnpull can do.

If what you have works, stick with it. Change for the sake of change is
not that helpful.

        Daniel

-- 
My hands, unfaithful, did not protect me
My voice, transparent, when I need it to scream
What really happened during those nights?
I could not move so I just turned off inside
        -- Switchblade Symphony, _Fear_ (Calamities)

Re: Slrnpull

[Stainless Steel Rat]

* Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com>  on Tue, 03 Apr 2001
| Are you seeing any problems with newsguy?

I'm fairly new to newsguy, only a few months.  It has never been what I
would call blazingly fast, so its hard for me to make comparisons.  It is
slower than my mediaone server, but that is a mere 6 hops away from my gate
with 4ms latency bewteen hops whereas enews.newsguy.com is 14 hops away
with latency of around 65-70ms per hop across AT&T and and a big 100ms hop
from appliedtheory.net to the newsguy server.
-- 
Rat <ratinox@peorth.gweep.net>    \ If Happy Fun Ball begins to smoke, get
Minion of Nathan - Nathan says Hi! \ away immediately. Seek shelter and cover
PGP Key: at a key server near you!  \ head.

Re: Slrnpull

[Harry Putnam]

Stainless Steel Rat <ratinox@peorth.gweep.net> writes:

> * Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com>  on Tue, 03 Apr 2001
> | Are you seeing any problems with newsguy?
> 
> I'm fairly new to newsguy, only a few months.  It has never been what I
> would call blazingly fast, so its hard for me to make comparisons.  It is
> slower than my mediaone server, but that is a mere 6 hops away from my gate
> with 4ms latency bewteen hops whereas enews.newsguy.com is 14 hops away
> with latency of around 65-70ms per hop across AT&T and and a big 100ms hop
> from appliedtheory.net to the newsguy server.

No timeouts then?

Re: Slrnpull

[Kai Großjohann]

On 03 Apr 2001, Colin Walters wrote:

> I installed Leafnode on the laptop, and pointed it at the Leafnode
> on the firewall, copied over the interesting.groups directory, and
> ran "fetchnews".  However, Gnus on the laptop doesn't seem to work
> correctly when I rsync over my News/, .newsrc*, etc. files from my
> main computer.  The groups seem to don't have any new articles.
> Perhaps this is because the article numbers changed?

I think so.  Note that one leafnode fetching from another leafnode
doesn't mean that the article numbers are the same.

I think the best way to use leafnode is if you have a laptop which you
always use to read news.  Then you point Gnus to leafnode running on
that laptop, and run fetchnews whenever the laptop has a net
connection.  You don't need to do anything special in Gnus -- Gnus
always thinks it's running in online mode.

If you do this, you might want to use a program like fetchmail to get
your mail, and to tell Gnus to read from the file where fetchmail left
the mail.  For outgoing mail, you can use smtpmail.el and turn on its
queueing feature.  (Or if your smtpmail.el doesn't have a queueing
feature, use feedmail.el.  Or configure sendmail on your laptop to
send out mail on demand, via "sendmail -q".)

kai
-- 
Be indiscrete.  Do it continuously.

Re: Slrnpull

[Colin Walters]

Daniel Pittman <daniel@rimspace.net> writes:

> I would say so, yes. Transferring between news servers is never
> trivial.
> 
> You might do it by coping the leafnode data wholesale from the
> server to the laptop, then unsubscribing the groups you didn't want
> on the laptop.
> 
> That should preserve the state... but would probably break when
> updating from the fixed server. *sigh*
> 
> I don't know how to do /that/.

Well, what I ended up doing was writing a shell script which uses
rsync and ssh to sync the leafnode on my laptop with the leafnode on
my firewall.  The basic idea is to add any items in the laptop's
/var/spool/news/out.going articles to the /var/spool/news/out.going on
the laptop, and then rsync everything else from the firewall to the
laptop.  It seems to be working well so far.

I could give a copy of the script to anyone who wants it, but it's a
bit ugly right now...need to fix that.