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I'm running Leafnode as an easy-to-use NNTP server and am considering switching from pan as news reader to trn4. To configure trn4 I set it to, effectively, localhost. Specifically, the FQDN which leafnode uses, which is also the hostname for the system. Presumably trn4 doesn't use DNS to try and resolve the FQDN but realizes that this is localhost in this case. That's working fine.

How can I add additional news servers? Specifically, news.gmane.org so that I have the most recent postings, which Leafnode might not have. Is the trn4 news host configuration file even /etc/news/server? The man page was too long.

Community
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Thufir
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2 Answers2

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I believe that /etc/news/server can only hold a single server name, which is used by trn4 to configure a default source.

You can enable multiple news sources by creating a ~/.trn/access file. The documentation is, er, not what it might be, but there are some examples that come with the source distribution and may be packaged with your binary distribution. I think HelpFiles/sample/access is probably the most useful one to start from.

Colin Watson
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Multiple news servers should be specified in ~/.trn/access

trn doesn't support ssl natively so be aware any usernames and passwords are sent in cleartext. You may wish to consider using stunnel or similar provide a SSL connection to your news servers.

# trn4 ~/.trn/access
# access file for multiple news servers.
# trn4 does not support SSL natively so stunnel
# running on localhost is used to provide ssl.
# CHMOD this to 0600 as it contains your
# CLEARTEXT usernames and passwords.
#
# You must ensure 
# Use Newsrc selector option is set to yes
#
[eternal-september]
# news eternal-september.org
# connect via local stunnel
# client to port 563
NNTP Server = 127.0.0.3;10563
Group Desc Refresh = 7 days
Auth User = esuser 
Auth Password = espassword
# E-S needs Force Auth
# to get full groups list.
Force Auth = yes
[gmane]
# gmane using default
# connection port 119
NNTP Server = news.gmane.org
Group Desc Refresh = 7 days
[newsindividual]
# news.individual.net
# connect via local
# stunnel client to port 563
NNTP Server = 127.0.0.4;10564
Auth User = ninuser
Auth Password = ninpassword
Group Desc Refresh = 7 days
[mixmin]
# news.mixmin.net
# doesn't require authentication.
# Another ssl connection via stunnel.
NNTP Server = 127.0.0.5;10565
Group Desc Refresh = 7 days
#
[Group 1]
ID = eternal-september
Newsrc = ~/.trn/newsrc.es
#
[Group 2]
ID = gmane
Newsrc = ~/.trn/newsrc.gmane
#
[Group 3]
ID = newsindividual
Newsrc = ~/.trn/newsrc.nin
#
[Group 4]
ID = mixmin
Newsrc = ~/.trn/newsrc.mixmin
#

I've included Gmane and some common news services in the file.

Nick B.
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