! vnews help version 1.4 (6-July-1991)/jms 1 VNEWS For detailed information on VNEWS, ask your system manager for a copy of the VNEWS User Documentation (VNEWS.DOC). The VNEWS program allows VMS users to read and post to discussion groups on USENET. A large number of diverse topics are discussed. To get started, simply type the command: $ VNEWS [/qualifiers] [newsgroup] 2 Command-Qualifiers /HEADER The /Header switch selects which header lines you wish to have displayed. Some articles contain 10 or more header lines which you may have no interest in. The following is one popular setting: $ VNEWS /header=(Subject,From,Sender) /MARK The /Mark switch allows you to choose the character to delineate included text in a followup article. For instance: $ VNEWS /mark="#" then typing 'f' to followup on an article would result in the following buffer: In article , user@host writes... # old text # more text after which you would enter your own text. By default, the mark character is ">". /AUTOCATCHUP The /AutoCatchup switch tells VNEWS not to ask you everytime you want to "catchup" on a group. This is the same as typing the "Y" command inside of VNEWS. The default is /NoAutoCatchup. 2 Commands Typing 'h' at any prompt within VNEWS will provide a summary of the commands available. Commands act differently depending on what prompt you are current seeing. The "Article/More" prompts affect articles, while the "Group/Done" prompts usually affect groups. Start reading articles/Continue reading current article/Go to next article a [process] attach to process b go to previous group/article c [#] catchup (mark unread articles up to # as read) C cancel an article you have submitted d [#] directory (list article numbers and subjects) d/g [pattern] group directory (list group names, and statuses) f post a followup article, this article will start with the text of current article embedded. F post a followup article, and mail a copy to the author of the original article. This makes sure he sees it. (also: F/c sends a carbon copy of the reply to you.) You may also specify a username for the mail to go to. g pattern go to group specified by pattern h help j Enable NNTP debugging (not normally useful) k [/pattern] kill articles (mark them as read). If no pattern is specified the current subject is used as a kill pattern. K [/pattern] add pattern to kill file, so subject is always killed when reading this group. key keypad help m mark current article as unread m/g mark all the active articles in the group as unread. M move group (rearrange the order of how the groups are presented to the user) n go to the next subscribed group/next article N tells VNEWS to ask you to confirm catchup commands (see Y). p post a new article p/x post a new article in rot13 mode. P Print the current article q quit Q! quit, and don't update the xx.newsrc file r refresh - go back to the top of current article R reply by mail to the poster of the article the reply message will contain the text of the current article. R/c sends a copy of the message to you. You may also specify a username for the mail to go to. s [filename] save the article into a file, the default file is [.NEWS]groupname S [EmailAddr] send a copy of this message via email to someone. You have no chance to edit it (use R for that), but you do get to create a subject line. If you don't supply an email address, one will be created for you at random. u unsubscribe from the group x refresh - use rot13 mode Y tells VNEWS NOT to ask about catchup commands anymore. z go to the next article with the same subject Z like z, but leaves you at the next unread article. # read article number (e.g. 672 would bring up article 672) ? help ^ read first unread article $ read last unread article /pattern search for first unread article with a subject containing pattern. ![command] spawn DCL command "pattern" follows normal VMS rules for pattern matching. 2 Editor The default editor in VNEWS is EDT. The following logical names will override this setting. MAIL$EDIT - Default editor for MAIL. NNTP_EDITOR or NNTP_VISUAL - Default editor for VNEWS. If you want to use TPU, set MAIL$EDIT to CALLABLE_TPU. 2 Examples $ VNEWS This command will invoke VNEWS, using the current defaults and scanning through all newsgroups. $ VNEWS comp.os.vms This command will invoke VNEWS and start reading newsgroup comp.os.vms. Current defaults will be used. $ VNEWS/mark="+"/header=(Subject,From,Sender) comp.text This command will invoke VNEWS and start reading newsgroup comp.text. The followup mark will be "+" and header information will be restricted to subject, from, and sender fields. 2 First-Time-Users First time users of VNEWS do not have to perform any special actions. Upon starting VNEWS the new user will be prompted on whether or not they wish to subscribe to each newsgroup. A XX.NEWSRC file, which contains the users subscription information will be created when the user exits VNEWS. New users should realize that there are over 500 groups that are distributed over the wide-area networks and many more local groups. Some groups have subject matter which you may find offensive. A good rule of thumb is if the name of the newsgroup sounds bad to you, you may not want to read the group. NOTE: Since this newsreader uses a "UNIX Style" command interface, all commands are case sensitive. While using VNEWS for the first few times, take care when using upper case commands (e.g. "K"). New users should also read the HELP entry on subscribing. 2 Followup To post a followup article to the one currently being read, use the 'f' command. The entire article, with your "mark" character at the beginning of each line, will be included in the buffer. Your .SIGNATURE file, if it exists, will also be included in the buffer. 2 Logicals The following logicals can be used to customize the VNEWS environment, see the VNEWS User Documentation for more details. NNTP_VISUAL - What editor program to use. NNTP_EDITOR - Synonym for NNTP_VISUAL. NNTP_NAME - Personal name used in postings. NNTP_ORGANIZATION - Organization name used in postings. NNTP_MAILPOSTER - SMTP Mailer used for R (Reply) commands. NNTP_SERVER - address of news server. NNTP_TASK - DECnet task name (if you're using DECnet to read news) NNTP_NEWS_PRINT - Print command used for P (Print) commands. NNTP_TIMEZONE - Your timezone (such as MST or -0700). NNTP_NEWSRC_LOCATION - Location of the XX.NEWSRC file. NNTP_REPLY - The Reply address for your postings NNTP_HOST_NAME - Used for DNS name of posting host 2 Killfiles VNEWS allows you to create and maintain killfiles. Killfiles are files that contain subject names for articles that are to be deleted before anything else is done with the selected group. All killfiles are contained in the user's news directory, usually [username.NEWS], and have the filetype extension .KILL (example: COMP_MISC.KILL). The killfile is created and added to when you use the 'K' command. You can pass a parameter with the 'K' command, otherwise the current article will be used. The parameter must begin with '/' or else it will be assumed that no parameter has been supplied and the current article will be used instead. Examples: K This command will add a line to your killfile instructing VNEWS to delete any future and current articles with the same subject as that of the current article. K /dead horse This command will add a line to your killfile instructing VNEWS to delete any future articles with the string "dead horse" in the subject field. 2 Mail To respond by mail to the author of the current article, use the 'R' command. Your mailer will be used to route the reply to the originator of the article. The entire article, with your "mark" character at the beginning of each line, will be included in the buffer. Your .SIGNATURE file, it is exists, will also be included in the buffer. 2 Newsgroup VNEWS will accept the name of a newsgroup as a parameter. The user will be placed in that newsgroup (if it exists) at the start of the VNEWS session. If newsgroup is not specified, the first newsgroup that contains unread news will be selected. 2 Posting To post a new article, specify the 'p' command. You will be prompted for a valid newsgroup and distribution (local, world, usa, etc.). Your .SIGNATURE file, if it exists, will be included in the buffer. 2 Saving-articles To save an article, or series of articles, use the 's' command. All files will be saved in the [.NEWS] directory by default. If you do not specify a filename as a parameter, a default filename will be constructed using the name of the current newsgroup. Any future saves will be appended to the same file unless a unique filename is specified. Examples: s This command will save the current article to a default filename. If the newsgroup is comp.os.misc, then the filename will be called COMP.OS_MISC. Any subsequent saves using the above command will cause the current article to be appended to COMP.OS_MISC until you choose a new newsgroup. s program.tips This command will save the current article to the file [.NEWS]PROGRAM.TIPS. Repeating the above command for other articles will cause them to be appended to the end of the file. s usr0:[archive.notes]good.stuff This command will save the current article to the file USR0:[ARCHIVE.NOTES]GOOD.STUFF, providing you have write access to the directory specified. 2 Signature When you Post, Followup or Reply in VNEWS the editor will load a signature file if it exists. The signature file for VNEWS is SYS$LOGIN:.SIGNATURE 2 Subscribing At the "Group", "Article" and "End of Groups" prompt you can subscribe to a new newsgroup by entering: g (newsgroup name) You can get a list of groups by using the directory/group command: d/g While reading any group, you can unsubscribe to it by entering the command 'u'. When a user enters VNEWS and there are new groups available, he/she is notified and prompted. At this prompt, the following commands are available: y Subscribe to the group n Do not subscribe to the group (carriage return also works) ? Help h Help q/s Stop asking me about new groups, and subscribe me to the rest of them. q/u Stop asking me about new groups, and DON'T subscribe me to the rest of them. Since new users will receive notification about all the groups (over 1000!), it is a good idea for a new user to enter q/s or q/u when first invoking VNEWS.