SUCK(1)SUCK(1)NAMEsuck - Pull a small newsfeed from an NNTP server, avoiding the NEWNEWS
command.
SYNOPSISsuck [ hostname ] [ @filename ] [ -V ] [ -K ] [ -L[SL] ] [ filename ] [
-H ] [ -HF filename ] [ -d[tmd] dirname ] [ -s | -S filename ] [
-e | -E filename ] [ -a ] [ -m ] [ -b[irlf] batchfile ] [ -r filesize ]
[ -p extension ] [ -U userid ] [ -P password ] [ -c ] [ -M ] [ -N
port_number ] [ -W pause_time pause_nr_msgs ] [ -w pause_time
pause_nr_msgs ] [ -l phrase_file ] [ -D ] [ -R ] [ -q ] [ -C count ] [
-k ] [ -A ] [ -AL activefile ] [ -hl localhost ] [ -bp ] [ -T timeout ]
[ -n ] [ -u ] [ -z ] [ -x ] [ -B ] [ -O ] [ -G ] [ -X ] [ -f ] [ -y
post_filter ] [ -F ] [ -g ] [ -i number_to_read ] [ -Z ] [ -rc ] [ -lr
] [ -sg ] [ -ssl ] [ -SSL ]
Options valid in all modes
@filename
This option tells suck to read other options from a file in addition to
the commandline.
-a
This option forces suck to always batch up any downloaded articles,
even if suck aborts for any reason. Without this option, suck will
only batch up articles if it finishes successfully or is cancelled by a
signal (see below).
-A
This option tells suck to scan the localhost (specified with the -hl
option) and use its active file to build and update the sucknewsrc.
If you add a group to your local server, suck will add it to sucknewsrc
and download articles. Or, if you delete a group from your local
server, it will be deleted from sucknewsrc. If posting is not allowed
to a particular group, then the line in sucknewsrc is just commented
out. With this option, you should never have to edit your sucknewsrc.
In case you have newsgroups (like control and junk) that you don't want
downloaded, you can put these newsgroups in a file "active-ignore", one
per line, and suck will ignore these newsgroups when it scans the
localhost. If your system supports regex(), you may use regular
expressions in the active-ignore file to skip multiple groups, eg:
fred.*. If you use the -p (postfix) option, suck will check for the
existence of an active-ignore file with the postfix. If that doesn't
exist, then suck will check for the existence of the file without the
postfix.
NOTE: If you use regular expressions, suck will silently add a "^" to
the beginning of the group name, and a "$" to the end of the group name
if they aren't already present, so that if you have "comp.os.linux", it
won't match "comp.os.linux.answers" or if you have "alt.test" it
doesn't match "comp.alt.test".
-AL activefile
This option is identical to the -A option, except it reads the active
file from the local file specified instead of reading it from the
localhost. All the caveats from the -A option apply to this option as
well. If both options are used on the command line, suck first tries
to use the -A option, then if that fails it uses this option.
-B
This option tells suck to attempt to batch up any articles in its
directory BEFORE starting to download messages. This can be useful if
you have a problem with the previous download. This option will only
work if you specify a batch option (see below). If there are no mes‐
sages to batch up, some of the batch options may produce warning mes‐
sages. They may be safely ignored. Also, if the batch files exist at
the end of the run, in inn-batch mode, it will be overwritten, since
the new batch file will contain all messages. In rnews mode, if the
batch file exists, it will abort and not batch up any messages.
-c
If this option is specified, suck will clean up after itself. This
includes:
1. Moving sucknewsrc to sucknewsrc.old
2. Moving suck.newrc to sucknewsrc
3. rm suck.sorted and suckothermsgs.
-C count
This option tells suck to drop the connection and reopen it every count
number of articles. This is designed to battle INN's LIKE_PULLERS=DONT
option, that some folks compile in. With LIKE_PULLERS=DONT, after 100
messages INN will pause between every message, dramatically reducing
your download speed. I don't recommend the use of this, but if you have
no other choice....
-dd dirname
-dm dirname
-dt dirname
Specify the location of the various files used by suck.
-dd dirname = directory of data files used by suck (sucknewsrc suck‐
killfile suckothermsgs active-ignore sucknodownload)
-dm dirname = directory for storage of articles created in Multifile
mode or batch mode. DO NOT make this the same as the directories used
for the -dt or -d options, or you will lose all your configuration
files.
-dt dirname = directory of temp files created by suck (suck.newrc,
suck.sort, suck.restart, suck.killlog, suck.post).
-D
This option tells suck to log various debugging messages to
"debug.suck", primarily for use by the maintainer.
-e | -E filename
These options will send all error messages (normally displayed on
stderr), to an alternate file. The lower case version, -e, will send
the error messages to the compiled-in default defined in suck_config.h.
The default is suck.errlog. The upper case version, -E, requires the
filename parameter. All error messages will then be sent to this file.
-f
This option tells suck to reconnect after deduping, and before down‐
loading the articles. This is in case long dedupe times cause timeouts
on the remote end.
-F
This option tells suck to reconnect after reading the local active
file, and before downloading the Msg-IDs. This is in case of a large
active file, which causes timeouts on the remote end.
-g
This option causes suck to only download the headers of any selected
articles. As a result of this, any batching of articles is skipped.
This option does work with killfiles, however, killfile options such as
BODYSIZE> will be ignored, since the body of the article will never be
downloaded.
-G
This option causes suck to display the message count and BPS status
lines in a slightly different format, more suitable for use by a filter
program (such as a GUI).
-H
This option will cause suck to bypass the history check.
-HF history_file_name
This option tells suck the location of the history file. The default
is at /var/lib/news/history.
-hl localhost
This option specifies the localhost name. This option is required with
both the -A and the -bp option.
-i number_to_read
This option tells suck the number of articles to download if you are
using the -A or -AL option, and a new group is added. The default is
defined in suck_config.h (ACTIVE_DEFAULT_LASTREAD, currently -100).
NOTE: This must be a negative number (eg -100, -50), or 0, to download
all articles currently available in the group.
-k
This option tells suck to NOT attach the postfix from the -p option to
the names of the killfiles, both the master killfile and any group
files. This allows you to maintain one set of killfiles for multiple
servers.
-K
This option will cause suck to bypass checking the killfile(s).
-l phrase_file
This option tells suck to load in an alternate phrase file, instead of
using the built-in messages. This allows you to have suck print
phrases in another language, or to allow you to customize the messages
without re-building suck. See below.
-lr
This option, is used in conjunction with the highest article option in
the sucknewsrc, to download the oldest articles, vice the newest arti‐
cles. See that section for more details.
-L
This option tells suck to NOT log killed articles to suck.killlog.
-LF filename
This option allows you to override the built-in default of "suck.kill‐
log" for the file which contains the log entries for killed articles.
-LL
This option tells suck to create long log entries for each killed arti‐
cle. The long entry contains the short log entry and the header for
the killed message.
-LS
This option tells suck to create short log entries for each killed
article. The short entry contains which group and which pattern was
matched, as well as the MsgID of the killed article.
-M
This option tells suck to send the "mode reader" command to the remote
server. If you get an invalid command message immediately after the
welcome announcement, then try this option.
-n
This option tells suck to use the article number vice the MsgId to
retrieve the articles. This option is supposedly less harsh on the
remote server. It can also eliminate problems if your ISP ages off
articles quickly and you frequently get "article not found" errors.
Also, if your ISP uses DNEWS, you might need this option so that it
knows you're reading articles in a group.
-N port_number
This option tells suck to use an alternate NNRP port number when con‐
necting to the host, instead of the default, 119.
-O
This option tells suck to skip the first article upon restart. This is
used whenever there is a problem with an article on the remote server.
For some reasons, some NNTP servers, when they have a problem with a
particular article, they time out. Yet, when you restart, you're back
on the same article, and you time out again. This option tells suck to
skip the first article upon restart, so that you can get the rest of
the articles.
-p extension
This extension is added to all files so that you can have multiple site
feeds. For example, if you specify -p .dummy, then suck looks for
sucknewsrc.dummy, suckkillfile.dummy, etc, and creates its temp files
with the same extension. This will allow you to keep multiple suck‐
newsrc files, one for each site.
-q
This option tells suck to not display the BPS and article count mes‐
sages during download. Handy when running suck unattended, such as
from a crontab.
-R
This option tells suck to skip a rescan of the remote newserver upon a
restart. The default is to rescan the newserver for any new articles
whenever suck runs, including restarts.
-rc
This option tells suck to change its behavior when the remote server
resets its article counters. The default behavior is to reset the
lastread in sucknewsrc to the current high article counter. With this
option, suck resets the lastread in sucknewsrc to the current low arti‐
cle counter, causing it to suck all articles in the group, and using
the historydb routines to dedupe existing articles.
-s | -S filename
These options will send all status messages (normally displayed on std‐
out), to an alternate file. The lower case version, -s, will send the
status messages to the compiled-in default defined in suck_config.h.
The default is /dev/null, so no status messages will be displayed. The
upper case version, -S, requires the filename parameter. All status
messages will then be sent to this file.
-sg
This option tells suck to add the name of the current group being down‐
loaded, if known, to the BPS display. Typically the only time suck
doesn't know the group name is if an article is downloaded via the
suckothermsgs file.
-ssl
This option tells suck to use SSL to talk to the remote server, if suck
was compiled with SSL support.
-SSL
This option tells suck to use SSL to talk to the local server, if suck
was compiled with SSL support.
-T timeout
This option overrides the compiled-in TIMEOUT value. This is how long
suck waits for data from the remote host before timing out and abort‐
ing. The timeout value is in seconds.
-u
This option tells suck to send the AUTHINFO USER command immediately
upon connect to the remote server, rather than wait for a request for
authorization. You must supply the -U and -P options when you use this
option.
-U userid
-P password
These two options let you specify a userid and password, if your NNTP
server requires them.
-V
This option will cause suck to print out the version number and then
exit.
-w pause_timer pause_nr_msgs
This option allows you to slow down suck while pulling articles. If
you send suck a predefined signal (default SIGUSR1, see suck_config.h),
suck will swap the default pause options (if specified by the -W
option), with the values from this option. For example, you run suck
with -w 2 2, and you send suck a SIGUSR1 (using kill), suck will then
pause 2 seconds between every other message, allowing the server to
"catch its breath." If you send suck another SIGUSR1, then suck will
put back the default pause options. If no pause options were specified
on the command line (you omitted -W), then suck will return to the
default full speed pull.
-W pause_time pause_nr_msgs
This option tells suck to pause between the download of articles. You
need to specify how long to pause (in seconds), and how often to pause
(every X nr of articles). Ex: -W 10 100 would cause suck to pause for
10 seconds every 100 articles. Why would you want to do this? Suck
can cause heavy loads on a remote server, and this pause allows the
server to "catch its breath."
-x
This option tells suck to not check the Message-IDs for the ending >
character. This option is for brain dead NNTP servers that truncate
the XHDR information at 72 characters.
-X
This option tells suck to bypass the XOVER killfiles.
-y post_filter
This option is only valid when using any of batch modes. It allows you
to edit any or all of the articles downloaded before posting to the
local host. See below for more details.
-z
This option tells suck to bypass the normal deduping process. This is
primarily for slow machines where the deduping takes longer than the
download of messages would. Not recommended.
-Z
This option tells suck to use the XOVER command vice the XHDR command
to retrieve the information needed to download articles. Use this if
your remote news server doesn't support the XHDR command.
LONG OPTION EQUIVALENTS-a--always_batch
-bi --batch-inn
-br --batch_rnews
-bl --batch_lmove
-bf --batch_innfeed
-bp --batch_post
-c--cleanup
-dt --dir_temp
-dd --dir_data
-dm --dir_msgs
-e--def_error_log
-f--reconnect_dedupe
-g--header_only
-h--host
-hl --localhost
-k--kill_no_postfix
-l--language_file
-lr --low_read
-m--multifile
-n--number_mode
-p--postfix
-q--quiet
-r--rnews_size
-rc --resetcounter
-s--def_status_log
-sg --show_group
-ssl --use_ssl
-w--wait_signal
-x--no_chk_msgid
-y--post_filter
-z--no_dedupe
-A--active
-AL --read_active
-B--pre-batch
-C--reconnect
-D--debug
-E--error_log
-G--use_gui
-H--no_history
-HF --history_file
-K--killfile
-L--kill_log_none
-LS --kill_log_short
-LL --kill_log_long
-M--mode_reader
-N--portnr
-O --skip_on_restart
-P--password
-R--no_rescan
-S--status_log
-SSL --local_use_ssl
-T--timeout
-U--userid
-V--version
-W--wait
-X--no_xover
-Z --use_xover
DESCRIPTIONMODE 1 - stdout mode
%suck
%suck myhost.com
Suck grabs news from an NNTP server and sends the articles to stdout.
Suck accepts as argument the name of an NNTP server or if you don't
give an argument it will take the environment variable NNTPSERVER. You
can redirect the articles to a file or compress them on the fly like
"suck server.domain | gzip -9 > output.gz". Now it's up to you what
you do with the articles. Maybe you have the output already on your
local machine because you used a slip line or you still have to trans‐
fer the output to your local machine.
MODE 2 - Multifile mode
%suck -m
%suck myhost.com -m
Suck grabs news from an NNTP server and stores each article in a sepa‐
rate file. They are stored in the directory specified in suck_config.h
or by the -dm command line option.
MODE 3 - Batch mode
%suck myhost.com -b[irlf] batchfile
or %suck myhost.com -bp -hl localhost
or %suck myhost.com -bP NR -hl localhost
%suck myhost.com -b[irlf] batchfile
Suck will grab news articles from an NNTP server and store them into
files, one for each article (Multifile mode). The location of the
files is based on the defines in suck_config.h and the command line
-dm. Once suck is done downloading the articles, it will build a batch
file which can be processed by either innxmit or rnews, or it will call
lmove to put the files directly into the news/group/number format.
-bi - build batch file for innxmit. The articles are left intact, and
a batchfile is built with a one-up listing of the full path of each
article. Then innxmit can be called:
%innxmit localhost batchfile
-bl - suck will call lmove to put the articles into news/group/number
format. You must provide the name of the configuration file on the
command line. The following arguments from suck are passed to lmove:
The configuration file name (the batchfile name provided with
this option)
The directory specified for articles (-dm or built-in default).
The errorlog to log errors to (-e or -E), if provided on the
command line.
The phrases file (-l), if provided on the command line.
The Debug option, if provided on the command line.
-br - build batch file for rnews. The articles are concatenated
together, with the #!rnews size article separator. This can the be fed
to rnews:
%rnews -S localhost batchfile
-r filesize specify maximum batch file size for rnews. This option
allows you to specify the maximum size of a batch file to be fed to
rnews. When this limit is reached, a new batch file is created AFTER I
finish writing the current article to the old batch file. The second
and successive batch files get a 1 up sequence number attached to the
file name specified with the -br. Note that since I have to finish
writing out the current article after reaching the limit, the max file
size is only approximate.
-bf - build a batch file for innfeed. This batchfile contains the
MsgID and full path of each article. The main difference between this
and the innxmit option is that the innfeed file is built as the arti‐
cles are downloaded, so that innfeed can be posting the articles, even
while more articles are downloaded.
-bp - This option tells suck to build a batch file, and post the arti‐
cles in that batchfile to the localhost (specified with the -hl
option). This option uses the IHAVE command to post all downloaded
articles to the local host. The batch file is called suck.post, and is
put in the temporary directory (-dt). It is deleted upon completion,
as are the successfully posted articles. If the article is not wanted
by the server (usually because it already exists on the server, or it
is too old), the article is also deleted. If other errors occur, the
article is NOT deleted. With the following command line, you can down‐
load and post articles without worrying if you are using INND or CNEWS.
%suck news.server.com -bp -hl localhost -A -c
-bP NR - This option works identically to -bp above, except instead of
waiting until all articles are downloaded, it will post them to the
local server after downloading NR of articles.
%suck news.server.com -bP 100 -hl localhost -A -c
SUCK ARGUMENT FILE
If you specify @filename on the command line, suck will read from file‐
name and parse it for any arguments that you wish to pass to suck. You
specify the same arguments in this file as you do on the command line.
The arguments can be on one line, or spread out among more than one
line. You may also use comments. Comments begin with '#' and go to
the end of a line. All command line arguments override arguments in
the file.
# Sample Argument file
-bi batch # batch file option
-M # use mode reader option
SUCKNEWSRC
Suck looks for a file sucknewsrc to see what articles you want and
which you already received. The format of sucknewsrc is very simple. It
consists of one line for each newsgroup. The line contains two or
three fields.
The first field is the name of the group.
The second field is the highest article number that was in the group
when that group was last downloaded.
The third field, which is optional, limits the number of articles which
can be downloaded at any given time. If there are more articles than
this number, only the newest are downloaded. If the third field is 0,
then no new messages are downloaded. If the command line option -lr is
specified, instead of downloading the newest articles, suck will down‐
load the oldest articles instead.
The fields are separated by a space.
comp.os.linux.announce 1 [ 100 ]
When suck is finished, it creates the file suck.newrc which contains
the new sucknewsrc with the updated article numbers.
To add a new newsgroup, just stick it in sucknewsrc, with a highest
article number of -1 (or any number less than 0). Suck will then get
the newest X number of messages for that newsgroup. For example, a
-100 would cause suck to download the newest 100 articles for that
newsgroup.
To tell suck to skip a newsgroup, put a # as the first character of a
line.
SUCKKILLFILE and SUCKXOVER
There are two types of killfiles supported in suck. The first, via the
file suckkillfile, kills articles based on information in the actual
article header or body. The second, via the file suckxover, kills
articles based on the information retreived via the NNTP command XOVER.
They are implemented in two fundamentally different ways. The suck‐
killfile killing is done as the articles are downloaded, one at a time.
The XOVER killing is done while suck is getting the list of articles to
download, and before a single article is downloaded. You may use
either, none or both type of killfiles.
SUCKKILLFILE and GROUP KEEP/KILLFILES
If suckkillfile exists, the headers of all articles will be scanned
and the article downloaded or not, based on the parameters in the
files. If no logging option is specified (see the -L options above),
then the long logging option is used.
Comments lines are allowed in the killfiles. A comment line has a "#"
in the first position. Everything on a comment line is ignored.
Here's how the whole keep/delete package works. All articles are
checked against the master kill file (suckkillfile). If an article is
not killed by the master kill file, then its group line is parsed. If
a group file exists for one of the groups then the article is checked
against that group file. If it matches a keep file, then it is kept,
otherwise it is flagged for deletion. If it matches a delete file,
then it is flagged for deletion, otherwise it is kept. This is done
for every group on the group line.
NOTES: With the exception of the USE_EXTENDED_REGEX parameter, none of
these parameters are passed from the master killfile to the individual
group file. Each killfile is separate and independant. Also, each
search is case-insensitive unless specifically specified by starting
the search string with the QUOTE character (see below). However, the
parameter part of the search expression (the LOWLINE=, HILINE= part) is
case sensitive.
PARAMETERS
LOWLINES=#######
HILINES=#######
NRGRPS=####
NRXREF=####
QUOTE=c
NON_REGEX=c
GROUP=keep groupname filename OR GROUP=delete groupname file‐
name
PROGRAM=pathname
PERL=pathname
TIEBREAKER_DELETE
GROUP_OVERRIDE_MASTER
USE_EXTENDED_REGEX
XOVER_LOG_LONG
HEADER:
Any Valid Header Line:
BODY:
BODYSIZE>
BODYSIZE<
All parameters are valid in both the master kill file and the group
files, with the exception of GROUP, PROGRAM, PERL, TIEBREAKER_DELETE,
and GROUP_OVERRIDE_MASTER. These are only valid in the master kill
file.
KILL/KEEP Files Parameters
HILINES= Match any article longer than the number of lines specified.
LOWLINES= Match any article shorter than the number of lines specified.
NRGRPS= This line will match any article which has more groups than the
number specified on the Newsgroups: line. Typically this is used in a
killfile to prevent spammed articles. (A spammed article is one that
is posted to many many groups, such as those get-rich quick schemes,
etc.)
NRXREF= This line will match any article that has more groups than than
the number specified on the Xref: line. This is another spamm stopper.
WARNING: the Xref: line is not as accurate as the Newsgroups: line, as
it only contains groups known to the news server. This option is most
useful in an xover killfile, as in Xoverviews don't typically provide
the Newsgroups: line, but do provide the Xref: line.
HEADER: Any Valid Header Line: Suck allows you to scan any single
header line for a particular pattern/string, or you may scan the entire
article header. To scan an individual line, just specify it, for exam‐
ple to scan the From line for boby@pixi.com, you would put
From:boby@pixi.com
Note that the header line EXACTLY matches what is contained in the
article. To scan the Followup-To: line, simply put To search the same
header line for multiple search items, then each search item must be on
a separate line, eg:
From:boby@xxx
From:nerd@yyy
Subject:suck
Subject:help
The parameter HEADER: is a special case of the above. If you use the
HEADER: parameter, then the entire header is searched for the item.
You are allowed multiple HEADER: lines in each killfile.
When suck searches for the pattern, it only searches for what follows
the :, and spaces following the : are significant. With the above
example "Subject:suck", we will search the Subject header line for the
string "suck". If the example had read "Subject: suck", suck would
have searched for the string " suck". Note the extra space.
If your system has regex() routines on it, then the items searched for
can be POSIX regular expressions, instead of just strings. Note that
the QUOTE= option is still applied, even to regular expressions.
BODY: This parameter allows you to search the body of an article for
text. Again, if your system has regex(), you can use regular expres‐
sions, and the QUOTE= option is also applied. You are allowed multiple
BODY: lines in each killfile. WARNING: Certain regex combinations,
especially with .* at the beginning, (eg BODY:.*jpg), in combination
with large articles, can cause the regex code to eat massive amounts of
CPU, and suck will seem like it is doing nothing.
BODYSIZE> This parameter will match an article if the size of its body
(not including the header) is greater than this parameter. The size is
specified in bytes.
BODYSIZE< This parameter will match an article if the size of its body,
is less than this parameter. The size is specified in bytes.
QUOTE= This item specifies the character that defines a quoted string.
The default for this is a ". If an item starts with the QUOTE charac‐
ter, then the item is checked as-is (case significant). If an item
does not start with the QUOTE character, then the item is checked with
out regard to case.
NON_REGEX= This items specifies the character that defines a non-regex
string. The default for this is a %. If an item starts with the
NON_REGEX character, then the item is never checked for regular expres‐
sions. If the item doesn't start with the QUOTE character, then suck
tries to determine if it is a regular expression, and if it is, use
regex() on it. This item is so that you can tell suck to treat strings
like "$$$$ MONEY $$$$" as non-regex items. IF YOU USE BOTH QUOTE and
NON_REGEX characters on a string, the NON_REGEX character MUST appear
first.
GROUP= This line allows you to specify either keep or delete parameters
on a group by group basis. There are three parts to this line. Each
part of this line must be separated by exactly one space. The first
part is either "keep" or "delete". If it is keep, then only articles
in that group which match the parameters in the group file are down‐
loaded. If it is delete, articles in that group which match the param‐
eters are not downloaded. The second part, the group name is the full
group name for articles to check against the group file. The group
name may contain an * as the last character, to match multiple groups,
eg: "comp.os.linux.*" would match comp.os.linux.announce,
comp.os.linux.answers, etc.. The third part specifies the group file
which contains the parameters to check the articles against. Note,
that if you specified a postfix with the -p option, then this postfix
is attached to the name of the file when suck looks for it, UNLESS you
use the -k option above.
GROUP_OVERRIDE_MASTER This allows you to override the default behavior
of the master kill file. If this option is in the master kill file,
then even if an article is flagged for deletion by the master kill
file, it is checked against the group files. If the group files says
to not delete it, then the article is kept.
TIEBREAKER_DELETE This option allows you to override the built-in tie-
breaker default. The potential exists for a message to be flagged by
one group file as kept, and another group file as killed. The built-in
default is to then keep the message. The TIEBREAKER_DELETE option will
override that, and caused the article to be deleted.
USE_EXTENDED_REGEX This option tells suck to use extended regular
expressions vice standard regular expressions. It may used in the mas‐
ter killfile, in which case it applies to all killfiles, or in an indi‐
vidual killfile, where it only applies to the parameters that follow it
in the killfile.
XOVER_LOG_LONG This option tells suck to format the killfile generated
by from an Xover killfile so that it looks like an article header. The
normal output is to just print the Xover line from theserver.
PROGRAM= This line allows suck to call an external program to check
each article. You may specify any arguments in addition to the program
name on this line. If this line is in your suckkillfile, all other
lines are ignored. Instead, the headers are passed to the external
program, and the external program determines whether or not to download
the article. Here's how it works. Suck will fork your program, with
stdin and stdout redirected. Suck will feed the headers to your pro‐
gram thru stdin, and expect a reply back thru stdout. Here's the data
flow for each article:
1. suck will write a 8 byte long string, which represents the
length of the header record on stdin of the external program.
Then length is in ascii, is left-aligned, and ends in a newline
(example: "1234 \n").
2. suck will then write the header on stdin of the external pro‐
gram.
3. suck will wait for a 2 character response code on stdout.
This response code is either "0\n" or "1\n" (NOT BINARY ZERO OR
ONE, ASCII ZERO OR ONE). If the return code is zero, suck will
download the article, if it is one, suck won't.
4. When there are no more articles, the length written down (for
step 1) will be zero (again in ascii "0 \n"). Suck will
then wait for the external program to exit before continuing on.
The external program can do any clean up it needs, then exit.
Note: suck will not continue processing until the external pro‐
gram exits.
PERL= This line allows suck to call a perl subroutine to check each
article. In order to use this option, you must edit the Makefile,
specifically the PERL* options. If the PERL= line is in your suckkill‐
file, all other lines are ignored. Instead, the header is sent to your
perl subroutine, and your subroutine determines if the article is down‐
loaded or not. The parameter on the PERL= line specifies the file name
of the perl routine eg:
PERL=perl_kill.pl
See the sample/perl_kill.pl for a sample perl subroutine. There are a
couple of key points in this sample. The "package Embed::Persistant;"
must be in the perl file. This is so that any variable names you cre‐
ate will not conflict with variable names in suck. In addition, the
subroutine you define must be "perl_kill", unless you change the
PERL_PACKAGE_SUB define in suck_config.h. Also, your subroutine must
return exactly one value, an integer, either 0 or 1. If the subroutine
returns 0, then the article is downloaded, otherwise, the article is
not downloaded.
NOTES: The perl file is only compiled once, before any articles are
downloaded. This is to prevent lengthy delays between articles while
the perl routine is re-compiled. Also, you must use Perl 5.003 or
newer. In addition, you are advised to run 'perl -wc filter' BEFORE
using your filter, in order to check for syntax errors and avoid prob‐
lems.
SUCKXOVER
If the file suckxover exists, then suck uses the XOVER command to get
information on the articles and decide whether or not to download the
article. Xover files use the same syntax as suckkillfiles, but sup‐
ports a subset of the commands.
The following killfile commands are not supported in suckxover files:
NRGROUPS:
HEADER:
BODY:
TIEBREAKER_DELETE:
Only the following header lines will be checked:
Subject:
From:
Message-ID:
References:
The behaviour of the size commands ( BODYSIZE>, BODYSIZE<, HILINES, and
LOWLINES ) specify the total size of the article (not just the body) in
bytes or lines, respectively.
All other parameters are allowed. However, if you use an invalid
parameter, it is silently ignored.
SUCKXOVER and PROGRAM= or PERL= parameters
These parameters are supported in a suckxover file, however they work
slightly differently than described above. The key difference is that
prior to sending each individual xoverview line to your program, suck
will send you the overview.fmt listing that it retrieves from the
server. This overview.fmt is a tab-separated line, describing the
fields in each overview.fmt line.
For the PROGRAM= parameter, suck will first send your program an 8 byte
long string, which is the length of the overview.fmt. This length is
formatted as the lengths above (see nr1 under PROGRAM=). Suck will
then send the overview.fmt. After that, the flow is as described
above. See sample/killxover_child.c for an example.
For the PERL= parameter, Your program must have two subroutines. The
first is perl_overview, which will recieve the overview.fmt, and not
return anything. The second subroutine is perl_xover, which will
recieve the xoverview line, and return 0 or 1, as described in the
PERL= above. See sample/perl_xover.pl for an example.
SUCKOTHERMSGS
If suckothermsgs exists, it must contain lines formatted in one of
three ways. The first way is a line containing a Message-ID, with the
<> included, eg:
<12345@somehost.com>
This will cause the article with that Message-ID to be retrieved.
The second way is to put a group name and article number on a line
starting with an !, eg:
!comp.os.linux.announce 1
This will cause that specific article to be downloaded.
You can also get a group of articles from a group by using the follow‐
ing syntax:
!comp.os.linux.announce 1-10
Whichever method you use, if the article specified exists, it will be
downloaded, in addition to any articles retreived via the sucknewsrc.
These ways can be used to get a specific article in other groups, or to
download an article that was killed. These articles ARE NOT processed
through the kill articles routines.
SUCKNODOWNLOAD
If sucknodownload exists, it must consist of lines contaning a Message-
ID, with the <> included, eg:
<12345@somehost.com>
This will cause the article with that Message-ID to NEVER be down‐
loaded. The Message-ID must begin in the first column of the line (no
leading spaces). This file overrides suckothermsgs so if an article is
in both, it will not be downloaded.
POST FILTER
if the -y post_filter option is specified on the command line in con‐
junction with any of the batch modes, then suck will call the post fil‐
ter specified, after downloading the articles, and before batch‐
ing/posting the articles. The filter is passed the directory where the
articles are stored (the -dm option). The filter program is responsi‐
ble for parsing the contents of the directory. See sample/post_fil‐
ter.pl for a sample post filter. This option was designed to allow you
to add your own host name to the Path: header, but if you need to do
anything else to the messages, you can.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE PHRASES
If the -l phrases option is specified or the file
/usr/local/lib/suck.phrases (defined in suck_config.h) exists, then
suck will load an alternate language phrase file, and use it for all
status & error messages, instead of the built-in defaults. The command
line overrides the build in default, if both are present. The phrase
file contains all messages used by suck, rpost, testhost, and lmove,
each on a separate line and enclosed in quotes. To generate a sample
phrase file, run make phrases from the command line. This will create
"phrases.engl", which is a list of the default phrases. Simply edit
this file, changing the english phrases to the language of your choos‐
ing, being sure to keep the phrases within the quotes. These phrases
may contain variables to print items provided by the program, such as
hostname. Variables are designated by %vN% where N is a one-up
sequence per phrase. These variables may exist in any order on the
phrase line, for example,
"Hello, %v1%, welcome to %v2%" or
"Welcome to %v2%, %v1%"
are both valid phrases. Phrases may contain, \n, \r, or \t to print a
newline, carriage return, or tab, respectively. Note that the first
line of the phrase file is the current version number. This is checked
against the version of suck running, to be sure that the phrases file
is the correct version.
If you modify any of the source code, and add in new phrases, you will
need to regenerate phrases.h, so that everything works correctly. To
recreate, just run make phrases.h from the command line.
SIGNAL HANDLING
Suck accepts two signals, defined in suck_config.h. The first signal
(default SIGTERM) will cause Suck to finish downloading the current
article, batch up whatever articles were downloaded, and exit, without
an error.
The second signal (default SIGUSR1) will cause suck to use the pause
values defined with the -w option (see above).
EXIT CODES
Suck will exit with the following return codes:
0 = success
1 = no articles available for download.
2 = suck got an unexpected answer to a command it issued to the
remote server.
3 = the -V option was used.
4 = suck was unable to perform NNTP authorization with the
remote server.
-1 = general error.
HISTORY
Original Author - Tim Smith (unknown address)
Maintainers -
March 1995 - Sven Goldt (goldt@math.tu-berlin.de)
July 1995 - Robert A. Yetman (boby@pixi.com)
SEE ALSOtesthost(1), rpost(1), lpost(1).
SUCK(1)
