.\" @(#)news.5 1.1 94/10/31 SMI
.TH NEWS 5 "6 January 1984"
.SH NAME
news \- USENET network news article, utility files
.SH DESCRIPTION
.IX  "news file"  ""  "\fLnews\fP \(em USENET network news file formats"
.IX  "USENET network news file formats"  ""  "USENET network news file formats \(em \fLnews\fP"
.IX  "network news file formats"  ""  "network news file formats \(em \fLnews\fP"
.LP
There are two formats of news articles:
.BR A " and " B.
.B A
format is the only format that version 1 netnews systems can read or write.
Systems running the version 2 netnews can read either format and there
are provisions for the version 2 netnews to write in
.BR A " format.  " A " format"
looks like this:
.LP
.BI A article-ID
.br
.I newsgroups
.br
.I path
.br
.I date
.br
.I title
.br
.I Body of article
.br
.LP
Only version 2 netnews systems can read and write
.BR B " format.  " B " format"
contains two extra pieces of information:  receival date and expiration
date.  The basic structure of a
.B B
format file consists of a series of headers and then the body.  A header
field is defined as a line with a capital letter in the 1st column and
a colon somewhere on the line.  Unrecognized header fields are ignored.
News is stored in the same format transmitted, see ``Standard for the
Interchange of USENET Messages'' for a full description.
The following fields are among those recognized:
.TP 15
Header
Information
.TP 15
.B From:
.I user@host.domain[.domain ...] (Full Name)
.TP 15
.B Newsgroups:
.I Newsgroups
.TP 15
.B Message-ID:
.I <Unique Identifier>
.TP 15
.B Subject:
.I descriptive title
.TP 15
.B Date:
.I Date Posted
.TP 15
.B Date-Received:
.I Date received on local machine
.TP 15
.B Expires:
.I Expiration Date
.TP 15
.B Reply-To:
.I Address for mail replies
.TP 15
.B References:
.I Article ID of article this is a follow-up to.
.TP 15
.B Control:
.I Text of a control message
.LP
Here is an example of an article:
.LP
.nf
Relay-Version: B 2.10	2/13/83 cbosgd.UUCP
Posting-Version: B 2.10	2/13/83 eagle.UUCP
Path: cbosgd!mhuxj!mhuxt!eagle!jerry
From: jerry@eagle.uucp (Jerry Schwarz)
Newsgroups: net.general
Subject: Usenet Etiquette -- Please Read
Message-ID: <642@eagle.UUCP>
Date: Friday, 19-Nov-82 16:14:55 EST
Followup-To: net.news
Expires: Saturday, 1-Jan-83 00:00:00 EST
Date-Received: Friday, 19-Nov-82 16:59:30 EST
Organization: Bell Labs, Murray Hill

The body of the article comes here, after a blank line.
.fi
.LP
A
.I sys
file line has four fields, each seperated by colons:
.LP
.I system-name:subscriptions:flags:transmission command
.LP
Of these fields, on the
.IR system-name " and " subscriptions " need"
to be present.
.LP
The
.I system name
is the name of the system being sent to.  The
.I subscriptions
is the list of newsgroups to be transmitted to the system.  The
.I flags
are a set of letters describing how the article should be transmitted.
The default is B.
Valid flags include A (send in A format), B (send in B format),
N (use ihave/sendme protocol),
U (use uux -c and the name of the stored article in a %s string).
.LP
The
.I transmission command
is executed by the shell with the article to be transmitted as the standard
input.
The default is
.BI "uux \- \-z \-r " sysname !rnews.
Some examples:
.LP
.B "xyz:net.all"
.br
.B "oldsys:net.all,fa.all,to.oldsys:A"
.br
.B "berksys:net.all,ucb.all::/usr/lib/news/sendnews \-b berksys\\:rnews"
.br
.B "arpasys:net.all,arpa.all::/usr/lib/news/sendnews \-a rnews@arpasys"
.br
.B "old2:net.all,fa.all:A:/usr/lib/sendnews \-o old2\\:rnews"
.br
.B "user:fa.sf-lovers::mail user"
.LP
Somewhere in a
.I sys
file, there must be a line for the host system.  This line has no
.IR flags " or " commands .
A # as the first character in a line denotes a comment.
.LP
The history, active, and ngfile files have one line per item.
.SH SEE ALSO
inews(1),
postnews(1),
sendnews(8),
uurec(8),
readnews(1)
