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..
.TH NEWS 5 "January 17, 1986"
.ds ]W  Version B 2.10.3
.SH NAME
news \- USENET network news article, utility files
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
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:  receipt 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 first column and
a colon somewhere on the line.  Unrecognized header fields are ignored.
News is stored in the same format transmitted, see
.I "Standard for the Interchange of USENET Messages"
for a full description.
The following fields are among those recognized:
.LP
.B From:
.IB user @ "host.domain[.domain ...]" " ("
.IB "Full Name" )
.br
.B Newsgroups:
.I Newsgroups
.br
.B Message-ID:
.BI < "Unique Identifier" >
.br
.B Subject:
.I descriptive title
.br
.B Date:
.I Date Posted
.br
.B Expires:
.I Expiration Date
.br
.B Reply-To:
.I Address for mail replies
.br
.B References:
.IR "Article ID of article this is a follow-up to" .
.br
.B Control:
.I Text of a control message
.LP
Here is an example of an article:
.LP
.in +10n
.nf
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
Organization: Bell Labs, Murray Hill

The body of the article comes here, after a blank line.
.fi
.in
.LP
The
.I sys
file line has four fields, each separated by colons:
.LP
.IB system-name : subscriptions :\c
.IB flags : "transmission command"
.PP
Of these fields, only the
.IR system-name " and " subscriptions " need"
to be present.
.PP
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
.BR B \&.
Valid flags include
.B A
(send in
.B A
format),
.B B
(send in
.B B
format),
.B N
(use \*(Lqihave/sendme\*(Rq protocol),
.B U
(use \*(Lquux \-c\*(Rq and the name of the stored article in a \*(Lq%s\*(Rq
string).
.LP
The
.I transmission command
is executed by the shell with the article to be transmitted as the standard
input.
The default is
.RI "\*(Lquux \- \-z \-r " sysname !rnews\*(Rq.
Some examples:
.LP
.if n \{.in -2
.	ll +3\}
.B "xyz:net"
.br
.B "oldsys:net,mod,to.oldsys:A"
.br
.B "berksys:net,ucb::/usr/lib/news/sendnews \-b berksys\\:rnews"
.br
.B "arpasys:net,arpa::/usr/lib/news/sendnews \-a rnews@arpasys"
.br
.B "old2:net,mod:A:/usr/lib/sendnews \-o old2\\:rnews"
.br
.B "user:net.sf-lovers::mail user"
.LP
Somewhere in the
.I sys
file, there must be a line for the host system.  This line has no
.IR flags " or " commands .
A
.Ch #
as the first character in a line denotes a comment.
.LP
The
.IR history ,
.IR active ,
and
.I ngfile
files have one line per item.
.SH SEE ALSO
checknews(1),
inews(1),
postnews(1),
readnews(1),
vnews(1),
getdate(3),
expire(8),
recnews(8),
sendnews(8),
uurec(8)