.\" $Revision: 3.10.0 $
.TH TESTHOST 1
.SH NAME
testhost - test the status of an NNTP news server
.SH SYNOPSIS
.I testhost
.BI hostname
[
.BI -a | -n
date time
.BI | -o
]
[
.BI -M
]
[
.BI -s | -S
filename
]
[
.BI -e | -E
filename
]
[
.BI -N
port_number
]
[
.BI -U
userid
]
[
.BI -P
password
]
[
.BI -Q
]
[
.BI -l
phrase_file
]
[
.BI -T
timeout
]
[
.BI -d
]
[
.BI -q
]
[
.BI -z
]

.SH OPTIONS
-a     Get the active list from hostname

\-d

This option tells testhost get the descriptions of the newsgroups on the
remote server by sending the 'list newsgroups' command.  The remote server
may or may not support this command.

-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.

\-l phrase_file

This option tells testhost to load in an alternate phrase file, instead of using
the built-in messages.  This allows you to have testhost print phrases in another
language, or to allow you to customize the messages without re-building.
See the "FOREIGN LANGUAGE PHRASES" in suck.1 for more details.

-n date time     

Get the newgroups created on the host since the date and
time specified. The date must be in YYMMDD format and the time must be in
HHMMSS format.

-N port_number

This option will tell testhost to use an alternate NNRP port number when connecting
to the host, instead of the default, 119.

\-q 

This option tells testhost to not display the connection and announcement messages,
rather only display the results of the actual command run.

-s | -S filename

These options will send all status messages (normally displayed on stdout), 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.

\-T

This option overrides the compiled-in TIMEOUT value. This is how long testhost
waits for data from the remote host before timing out and aborting.

\-U userid

\-P password

These two options let you specify a userid and password, if your NNTP server
requires them.

\-Q

This option tells testhost to use the environment variable NNTP_USER & NNTP_PASS
to specify a userid and password, if your NNTP server requires them.  This option
is provided so that the userid & password can't be seen with the ps command, a
potential security problem.

\-z

This options tells testhost to use SSL to talk to the remote server, if testhost
was compiled with SSL.

.SH DESCRIPTION
.I Testhost
will query a NNTP news server, specified by
.I hostname.

The hostname may optionally include the port number in the form
.BI Host:Port.  If the port number is included, the port number specified
by the -N option will be ignored.

The default action is to issue the 
.I help
command to the server, to see what software it is running
and what commands it accepts.
.PP
If the
.I -a
option is used, testhost will display the server's
active history list.  If the 
.I -n date time
option is used, testhost will display all new groups created on the server
since the date and time specified.  If the
.I -o
option is used, then testhost will display the overview format, which is
what the XOVER command returns.
.PP
If the
.I -M
option is used, the command will be preceded with the "mode reader" command,
which might be needed by some servers.

.SH EXIT VALUES
0 on success, -1 on failure.
.de R$
This is revision \\$3, \\$4.
..
.SH "SEE ALSO"
suck(1), rpost(1), lpost(1).