NAME¶
innd, inndstart - InterNetNews daemon
SYNOPSIS¶
innd [
-a ] [
-c days ] [
-d ] [
-f ]
[
-i count ] [
-o count ] [
-l size
] [
-m mode ] [
-n flag ] [
-p port
] [
-r ] [
-s ] [
-S host ] [
-t
timeout ] [
-u ] [
-x ] [
-L ] [
-N ] [
-H count ] [
-T count ] [
-X seconds
]
inndstart [
flags ]
DESCRIPTION¶
Innd, the InterNetNews daemon, handles all incoming NNTP feeds. It reads
the
active(5),
newsfeeds(5), and
hosts.nntp(5) files into
memory. It then opens the NNTP port to receive articles from remote sites (see
the ``
-p'' option), a Unix-domain stream socket to receive articles
from local processes such as
nnrpd(8) and
rnews(1), and a
Unix-domain datagram socket for use by
ctlinnd(8) to direct the server
to perform certain actions. It also opens the
history(5) database and
two log files to replace its standard output and standard error.
Once the files and sockets have been opened,
innd waits for connections
and data to be ready on its ports by using
select(2) and non-blocking
I/O. If no data is available, then it will flush its in-core data structures.
The default number of seconds to timeout before flushing is 300 seconds.
If
innd gets an NOSPC error (see
intro(2)) while trying to write
the
active file, an article file, or the history database, it will send
itself a ``throttle'' command. This will also happen if it gets too many I/O
errors while writing to any files.
Any sub-processes spawned by the server will get a
nice(2) value of 10.
OPTIONS¶
- -p
- If the ``-p'' flag is used, then the NNTP port is assumed to be
open on the specified descriptor. (If this flag is used, then innd
assumes it is running with the proper permissions and it will not call
chown(2) on any files or directories it creates.)
- -t
- Change the timeout period before flushing to timeoutseconds.
- -i
- To limit the number of incoming NNTP connections, use the ``-i''
flag. A value of zero will suppress this check. The default is 50.
- -o
- To limit the number of files that will be kept open for outgoing file
feeds, use the `` -o'' flag. The default is the number of available
descriptors minus some reserved for internal use.
- -l
- To limit the size of an article, use the ``-l'' flag. If this flag
is used, then any article bigger than size bytes will be rejected.
The default is no checking, which can also be obtained by using a value of
zero.
- -c
- Innd rejects articles that are too old. While this behavior can be
controlled by the history database, occasionally a site dumps a batch of
very old news back onto the network. Use the `` -c'' flag to
specify a cutoff. For example `` -c21'' will reject any articles
that were posted more than 21 days ago. A value of zero will suppress this
check. The default is 14 days.
- -d -f
- Innd normally puts itself into the background, sets its standard
output and error to log files, and disassociates itself from the terminal.
Using the `` -d'' flag instructs the server to not do this, while
using the `` -f'' flag just leaves the server running the
foreground.
- -u
- The logs are normally buffered; use the ``-u'' flag to have them
unbuffered.
- -m
- To start the server in a paused or throttled state (see ctlinnd(8))
use the `` -m'' flag to set the initial running mode. The argument
should start with a single letter g, p, or t, to
emulate the ``go,'' ``pause,'' or ``throttle'' commands,
respectively.
- -r
- If the ``-r'' flag is used, the server will renumber the
active file as if a ``renumber'' command were sent.
- -s
- If the ``-s'' flag is used, then innd will not do any work
but will instead just check the syntax of the newsfeeds file. It
will exit with an error status if there are any errors; the actual errors
will be reported in syslog(3).
- -n
- The ``-n'' flag specifies whether or not pausing or throttling the server
should also disable future newsreading processes. A value of `` y''
will make newreaders act as the server, a value of `` n'' will
allow newsreading even when the server is not running. The default is to
allow reading.
- -S
- If the ``-S'' flag is used, then innd will run in ``slave'' mode.
When running as a slave, the server will only accept articles from the
specified host, which must use the ``xreplic'' protocol
extension described below. Note that the host must either appear in the
hosts.nntp file, or the server must be started with the ``
-a'' flag.
- -a
- By default, if a host if not mentioned in the hosts.nntp file, then
the connection is handed off to nnrpd. If the `` -a'' flag
is used, then any host can connect and transfer articles.
- -L
- If the ``-L'' flag is used, then innd will not create the
links for cross posted articles. A feed only type of site could use this
option to improve performance. Or it can be combined with a channel feed
to the crosspost(8) program to move the delay associated with
creating the links out of the innd processing loop.
- -C
- If the ``-C'' flag is used, then innd will accept and
propagate but not actually process cancel or supercedes messages. This is
intended for sites concerned about abuse of cancels and wish to use
another cancel mechanism with greater authentication.
- -H -T -X
- The ``-H'', ``-T'', and ``-X'' flags control the
number of connects per minute allowed. This code is meant to protect your
server from newsreader clients that make too many connects per minute to
your server. You should probably not use it unless you are having a
problem. The table used for these checks is fixed at 128 entries and is
used as a ring. The size was chosen to make calculating the index easy and
to be pretty sure you won't run out of space. In practice, it is doubtful
that you will use even half the table at any given moment.
- The ``-H'' flag limits the number of times a host is allowed to
connect to the server per `` -X'' seconds. The default is 2.
- The ``-T'' flag limits the total number of incoming connects to
innd per `` -X'' seconds. The maximum value is 128. The default is
60.
- The ``-X'' sets the number of seconds used by the ``-H'' and
`` -T'' flags. A value of zero turns off checking. The default is
0.
Inndstart is a small front-end program that opens the NNTP port, sets its
userid and groupid to the news maintainer, and then execs
innd with the
``
-p'' flag and a minimal secure, environment. This is a small,
easily-understood front-end program that can be used if a site does not want
to run
innd with root privileges.
CONTROL MESSAGES¶
Arriving articles that have a Control header or have a Subject header that
starts with the five characters ``cmsg '' are called
control
messages. Except for the cancel message, these messages are implemented by
external programs in the
/usr/lib/news/control directory. (Cancel
messages update the history database, so they must be handled internally; the
cost of syncing, locking, then unlocking would be too high given the number of
cancel messages that are received.)
When a control message arrives, the first word of the text is converted to
lowercase and used as the name of the program to execute; if the named program
does not exist, then a program named
default is executed.
All control programs are invoked with four parameters. The first is the address
of the person who posted the message; this is taken from the Sender header. If
that header is empty, then it is taken from the From header. The second
parameter is the address to send replies to; this is taken from the Reply-To
header. If that header is empty then the poster's address is used. The third
parameter will be a name under which the article is filed, relative to the
news spool directory. The fourth parameter is the host that sent the article,
as specified on the Path line.
The distribution of control message is also different from those of standard
articles.
Control messages are normally filed in the newsgroup named
control. They
can be filed in subgroups, however, based on the control message command. For
example, a newgroup message will be filed in
control.newgroup if that
group exists, otherwise it will be filed in
control.
Sites may explicitly have the ``control'' newsgroup in their subscription list,
although it is usually best to exclude it. If a control message is posted to a
group whose name ends with the four characters ``.ctl'' then the suffix is
stripped off and what is left is used as the group name. For example, a cancel
message posted to ``news.admin.ctl'' will be sent to all sites that subscribe
to ``control'' or ``news.admin.'' Newgroup and rmgroup messages receive
additional special treatment. If the message is approved and posted to the
name of the group being created or removed, then the message will be sent to
all sites whose subscription patterns would cause them to receive articles
posted in that group.
PROTOCOL DIFFERENCES¶
Innd implements the NNTP commands defined in RFC 977, with the following
differences:
- 1.
- The ``list'' maybe followed by an optional ``active'',
``active.times'', or ``newsgroups'' argument. This common
extension is not fully supported; see nnrpd(8).
- 2.
- The ``authinfo user'' and ``authinfo pass'' commands are
implemented. These are based on the reference Unix implementation; no
other documentation is available.
- 3.
- A new command, ``mode reader'', is provided. This command will
cause the server to pass the connection on to nnrpd. The command
``mode query'' is intended for future use, and is currently treated
the same way.
- 4.
- A new command, ``xreplic news.group/art[,news.group/art]'', is
provided. This is similar to the ``ihave'' command (the same reply
codes are used) except for the data that follows the command word. The
data consists of entries separated by a single comma. Each entry consists
of a newsgroup name, a slash, and an article number. Once processed, the
article will be filed in the newsgroup and article numbers specified in
the command.
- 5.
- A new command, ``xpath messageid'', is provided. The server
responds with a 223 response and a space-separated list of filenames where
the article was filed.
- 6.
- The only other commands implemented are ``head'', ``help'',
``ihave'', ``quit'', and ``stat''.
Innd modifies as few article headers as possible, although it could be
better in this area.
The following headers, if present, are removed:
Date-Received
Posted
Posting-Version
Received
Relay-Version
Empty headers and headers that consist of nothing but whitespace are also
dropped.
The local site's name (as determined by the ``pathhost'' value in
inn.conf(5)) and an exclamation point are prepended to the Path header.
The Xref header is removed. If the article is cross-posted a new header is
generated.
The Lines header will be added if it is missing.
Innd does not rewrite incorrect headers. For example, it will not replace
an incorrect Lines header, but will reject the article.
LOGGING¶
Innd reports all incoming articles in its log file. This is a text file
with a variable number of space-separated fields in one of the following
formats:
mon dd hh:mm:ss.mmm + feed <Message-ID> site...
mon dd hh:mm:ss.mmm j feed <Message-ID> site...
mon dd hh:mm:ss.mmm c feed <Message-ID> site...
mon dd hh:mm:ss.mmm - feed <Message-ID> reason...
The first three fields are the date and time to millisecond resolution. The
fifth field is the site that sent the article (based on the Path header) and
the sixth field is the article's Message-ID; they will be a question mark if
the information is not available.
The fourth field indicates whether the article was accepted or not. If it is a
plus sign, then the article was accepted. If it is the letter ``j'' then the
article was accepted, but all of newsgroups have an ``j'' in their
active field, so the article was filed into the ``junk'' newsgroup. If
the fourth field is the letter ``c'', then a cancel message was accepted
before the original article arrived. In all three cases, the article has been
accepted and the ``site..'' field contains the space-separated list of sites
to which the article is being sent.
If the fourth field is a minus sign, then the article was rejected. The reasons
for rejection include:
"%s" header too long
"%s" wants to cancel <%s> by "%s"
Article exceeds local limit of %s bytes
Article posted in the future -- "%s"
Bad "%s" header
Can't write history
Duplicate
Duplicate "%s" header
EOF in headers
Linecount %s != %s +- %s
Missing %s header
No body
No colon-space in "%s" header
No space
Space before colon in "%s" header
Too old -- "%s"
Unapproved for "%s"
Unwanted newsgroup "%s"
Unwanted distribution "%s"
Whitespace in "Newsgroups" header -- "%s"
Where ``%s'', above, is replaced by more specific information.
Note that if an article is accepted and none of the newsgroups are valid, it
will be logged with two lines, a ``j'' line and a minus sign line.
Innd also makes extensive reports through
syslog. The first word
of the log message will be the name of the site if the entry is site-specific
(such as a ``connected'' message). The first word will be ``ME'' if the
message relates to the server itself, such as when a read error occurs.
If the second word is the four letters ``cant'' then an error is being reported.
In this case, the next two words generally name the system call or library
routine that failed, and the object upon which the action was being performed.
The rest of the line may contain other information.
In other cases, the second word attempts to summarize what change has been made,
while the rest of the line gives more specific information. The word
``internal'' generally indicates an internal logic error.
HISTORY¶
Written by Rich $alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net> for InterNetNews. This is
revision 1.37, dated 1996/12/06.
SEE ALSO¶
active(5),
ctlinnd(8),
crosspost(8), dbz(3z),
history(5),
hosts.nntp(5),
inn.conf(5),
newsfeeds(5),
nnrpd(8),
rnews(1), syslog(8).