Archive-name: usenet-software/part1ãOriginal from: spaf@purdue (Gene Spafford)ãLast-change: 26 Mar 1993 by spaf@purdue (Gene Spafford)ãããCurrently, Usenet readers interact with the news using a number ofãsoftware packages and programs.  This article mentions the importantãones and a little of their history, gives pointers where you can lookãfor more information and ends with some special notes about "foreign"ãand "obsolete" software.  At the very end is a list of sites from whichãcurrent versions of the Usenet software may be obtained.ããNote that the number of software packages available to run news,ãespecially on PCs, is increasing.  This article lists only a few ofãthe many news packages available, and the presence or absence of anyãparticular software package should not be construed as indicatingãanything about its suitability usefulness.ããHistoryã-------ãUsenet came into being in late 1979, shortly after the release of V7ãUnix with UUCP.  Two Duke University grad students in North Carolina,ãTom Truscott and Jim Ellis, thought of hooking computers together toãexchange information with the Unix community.  Steve Bellovin, a gradãstudent at the University of North Carolina, put together the firstãversion of the news software using shell scripts and installed it onãthe first two sites: "unc" and "duke." At the beginning of 1980 theãnetwork consisted of those two sites and "phs" (another machine atãDuke), and was described at the January Usenix conference.  SteveãBellovin later rewrote the scripts into C programs, but they were neverãreleased beyond "unc" and "duke." Shortly thereafter, Steve Daniel didãanother implementation in C for public distribution.  Tom Truscott madeãfurther modifications, and this became the "A" news release.ããIn 1981 at U. C. Berkeley, grad student Mark Horton and high schoolãstudent Matt Glickman rewrote the news software to add functionalityãand to cope with the ever increasing volume of news -- "A" News wasãintended for only a few articles per group per day.  This rewrite wasãthe "B" News version.  The first public release was version 2.1 inã1982; the 1.* versions were all beta test.  As the net grew, the newsãsoftware was expanded and modified.  The last version maintained andãreleased primarily by Mark was 2.10.1.ããRick Adams, at the Center for Seismic Studies, took over coordinationãof the maintenance and enhancement of the B News software with theã2.10.2 release in 1984.  By this time, the increasing volume of newsãwas becoming a concern, and the mechanism for moderated groups wasãadded to the software at 2.10.2.  Moderated groups were inspired byãARPA mailing lists and experience with other bulletin board systems.ãIn late 1986, version 2.11 of B News was released, including a numberãof changes to support a new naming structure for newsgroups, enhancedãbatching and compression, enhanced ihave/sendme control messages, andãother features.ããThe current release of B News is 2.11, patchlevel 19.  Article formatãis specified in RFC 1036 (see below).  B News has been declared "dead"ãby a number of people, including Rick Adams, and is unlikely to beãupgraded further; most new UUCP sites are using C News (see nextãparagraph).ããA new version of news, known as C News, was developed at theãUniversity of Toronto by Geoff Collyer and Henry Spencer.  Thisãversion is a rewrite of the lowest levels of news to increase articleãprocessing speed, decrease article expiration processing and improveãthe reliability of the news system through better locking, etc.  Theãpackage was released to the net in the autumn of 1987.  For moreãinformation, see the paper "News Need Not Be Slow," published in TheãWinter 1987 Usenix Technical Conference proceedings.  The most recentãversion of C News is the 2 May 1992 "performance release."  C News canãbe obtained from its official archive site, cs.toronto.edu, using FTP.ããAnother Usenet system, known as InterNetNews, or INN, was written byãRich Salz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net>.  INN is designed to run on Unix hostsãthat have a socket interface.  It is optimized for larger hosts whereãmost traffic uses NNTP, but it does provide full UUCP support.  INN isãvery fast, and since it integrates NNTP many people find it easier toãadminister only one package.  The package was publicly released onãAugust 20, 1992.  For more information, see the paper "InterNetNews:ãUsenet Transport for Internet Sites" published in the June 1992 UsenixãTechnical Conference Proceedings.  INN can be obtained from manyãplaces; its official archive site is ftp.uu.net in the directoryãnetworking/news/nntp/inn.ããANU-NEWS is news package written by Geoff Huston of Australia for VMSãsystems.  ANU-NEWS is complete news system that allows reading,ãposting, direct replies, moderated newsgroups, etc.  in a fashionãclosely related to regular news.  The implementation includes the RFCã1036 news propagation algorithms and integrated use of the NNTPãprotocols (see below) to support remote news servers, implemented as aãVAX/VMS Decnet object.  An RFC 977 server implemented as a Decnetãobject is also included. ANU-NEWS currently includes support for theãfollowing TCP/IP protocols: MultiNet, CMU/TEK, Wollongong WIN/TCP, UCXã(TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS), EXOS, and TCPware.  The ANU-NEWSãinterface is similar to standard DEC screen oriented systems.  Theãlicense for the software is free, and there are no restrictions on theãre-distribution.  For more info, contact gih900@fac.anu.oz.au (GeoffãHuston).  ANU-NEWS is available for FTP from kuhub.cc.ukans.edu.ãContact SLOANE@KUHUB.CC.UKANS.EDU for more info.ããA screen-oriented news client for VMS that works with CMU/tek, EXOS,ãMultiNet, UCX, Wollongong and DECnet is also available via ftp fromãiraun1.ira.uka.de, info.rz.uni-ulm.de, and ftp.spc.edu (contact BerndãOnasch <onasch@ira.uka.de> for details).ããA port of C News for the Commodore Amiga under AmigaDOS (NOT Unix), isãavailable.  The port was done by Frank J. Edwards <crash@ckctpa.uucp>,ãand available from Larry Rosenman <ler@lerami.lerctr.org>.  Also,ãMatt Dillon <dillon@overload.berkely.ca.us>, has greatly improved theãUUCP clone for AmigaDOS, currently V1.16D, available for ftp fromãftp.uu.net in /systems/amiga/dillon.  The package also includes aãnewsreader very loosely like the real rn.  Dillon also has a "vn" portãprovided by Eric Lee Green.  This software is also available on Bix,ãand for ftp from wuarchive.wustl.edu (many other Amiga newsreaders areãalso available on theis ftp site).ããSeveral popular screen-oriented news reading interfaces have beenãdeveloped in the last few years to replace the traditional "readnews"ãinterface.  The first of these was "vnews" and it was written byãKenneth Almquist.  "vnews" provides a "readnews"-like commandãinterface, but displays articles using direct screen positioning.  Itãappears to have been inspired, to some extent, by the "notes" systemã(described below).  "vnews" is currently distributed with the standardã2.11 news source.ããA second, more versatile interface, "rn", was developed by Larry Wallã(the author of Perl) and released in 1984.  This interface also usesãfull-screen display with direct positioning, but it includes manyãother useful features and is very popular with many regular netãreaders.  The interface includes reading, discarding, and/orãprocessing of articles based on user-definable patterns, and theãability of the user to develop customized macros for display andãkeyboard interaction.  "rn" is currently at release 4.4.  It is beingãmaintained by Stan Barber of the Baylor College of Medicine.  "rn" isãnot provided with the standard news software release, but is veryãwidely available because of its popularity.  The software can beãobtained from its official archive site, lib.tmc.edu, using FTP, andãvia mail from archive-server@bcm.tmc.eduããA variant of "rn" is "trn" by Wayne Davison. Trn adds the ability toãfollow "threads of discussions" in newsgroups; its latest version 2.2ãis based on rn 4.4. It uses a Reference-line database to allow theãuser to take advantage of the "discussion tree" formed by an articleãand its replies.  This results in a true reply-ordered reading of theãarticles, complete with a small ascii representation of the currentãarticle's position in the discussion tree. Trn can be obtained fromãftp.coe.montana.edu in the /pub/trn directory, from uunet in theãnews subdirectory, and from many other archive servers world-wide.ããxrn is an X11-based interface to NNTP that was written by RickãSpickelmier and Ellen Sentovich (UC Berkeley).  The current version isã6.17.  xrn supports many features, including sorting by subject,ãuser-settable key bindings, graceful handling of NNTP server crashes,ãand many of the features of rn (including KILL files and key bindingsãsimilar to rn).  xrn is actively supported by the authors with bugãfixing and feature addition support from many of the users.  xrn canãbe retrieved from most of the popular FTP sites (gatekeeper.dec.com,ãftp.uu.net, export.lcs.mit.edu).ããAnother X11-based newsreader is xvnews.  This is a news readerãdesigned primarily for Sun workstations running OpenWindows.  It runsãwith NNTP and is compatible with rn style commands. It is availableãfrom export.lcs.mit.edu in the contrib directory.ããThere are two popular macro packages named "GNUS" and "Gnews" that canãbe used with the GNU Emacs text editor.  These allow reading,ãreplying, and posting interaction with the news from inside the Emacsãtext editor.  Client code exists to get the articles using NNTP ratherãthan from a local disk.  Copies can be found on most archive sitesãthat carry the GNU archives.ãã"nn" is yet another reader interface, developed by Kim F. Storm ofãTexas Instruments A/S, Denmark, and released in 1989.  nn differs fromãthe traditional readnews and vnews by presenting a menu of articleãsubject and sender-name lines, allowing you to preselect articles toãread.  nn is also a very fast newsreader, as it keeps a database ofãarticle headers on-line.  (I.e. it trades space for time.  A good ruleãof thumb is that the nn database size is 5%-10% of your news spool.ãSo up to 110% of your news spool is the amount of space news and theãnn database will take.)  The current version of nn is 6.4.16.  nn canãbe obtained via anonymous FTP from dkuug.dk, uop.uop.edu, or variousãother sites; European sites should request the sources from theirãnearest backbone site.ããYet another newsreader is the "tin" reader.  It operates with threads,ãhas different article organization methods, and is full-screenãoriented.  tin works on a local news spool or over an NNTP connection.ãIt has been posted to alt.sources, and further information isãavailable from Iain Lea (iain%anl433.uucp@Germany.EU.net). The currentãrelease of tin is 1.1 PL6.  Tin is based more on the Notes and tassãsystems than "rn".  There is an extensive list of features, includingãinterfaces to batch modes and auto unpacking mechanisms.ããIn March 1986 a package was released implementing news transmission,ãposting, and reading using the Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP)ã(as specified in RFC 977).  This protocol allows hosts to exchangeãarticles via TCP/IP connections rather than using the traditionalãuucp.  It also permits users to read and post news (using a modifiedãversion of "rn" or other user agents) from machines which cannot orãchoose not to install the USENET news software.  Reading and postingãare done using TCP/IP messages to a server host which does run theãUSENET software.  Sites which have many workstations like the Sun andãApollo products find this a convenient way to allow workstation usersãto read news without having to store articles on each system.  Many ofãthe Usenet hosts that are also on the Internet exchange news articlesãusing NNTP because the load impact of NNTP is much lower than uucpã(and NNTP ensures much faster propagation).ããNNTP grew out of independent work in 1984-1985 by Brian Kantor at U.ãC.  San Diego and Phil Lapsley at U. C. Berkeley.  It is now inãrelease 1.5.11 dated 11 february 1991, with the next planned releaseãat 1.6.  NNTP includes support for System V UNIX with Excelan Ethernetãcards and DECNET under Ultrix.  NNTP was developed at U. C. Berkeleyãby Phil Lapsley with help from Erik Fair, Steven Grady, and MikeãMeyer, among others.  The NNTP package is distributed on the 4.3BSDãrelease tape (although that is version 1.2a and out-of-date) and isãalso available from the various authors, many major hosts, and byãanonymous FTP from lib.tmc.edu, mthvax.cs.miami.edu and ftp.uu.net.ããReader NNTP clients for VMS are also available, including VMS/VNEWSã(current release 1.4) and an upcoming reader only version of ANU-NEWS.ãVMS/VNEWS is available via anonymous ftp from arizona.edu (contactãjms@arizona.edu for more information) or at any site which archivesãvmsnet.source.  Although the current release of ANU-NEWS is usable asãa reader it can be difficult when used with a UNIX server.ããAn NNTP newsreader for Macintoshs is available called HyperNews.  Itãis implemented as a HyperCard stack and depends on MacTCP.  It isãavailable from many Mac archives, including ftp.apple.com andãsumex-aim.stanford.eduããThere is also an NNTP-based netnews reader for Symbolics Lisp Machinesã(under Genera 7) available for anonymous FTP from ucbvax.berkeley.eduã[128.32.133.1] in pub/nntp-clients/lispm written by Ian Connollyã<connolly@coins.cs.umass.edu> and maintained by Richard Weltyã<welty@lewis.crd.ge.com>.  In addition, another NNTP-based newsãbrowser is available running under Genera 7 and Genera 8.  It providesãmouse driven hierarchic browsing of newsgroups and articles, withãsupport for X11 servers on remote machines.  It is available forãanonymous FTP on flash.bellcore.com [128.96.32.20] in the directoryãpub/lispm/news-reader/.  It is written and maintained by PeterãClitherow <pc@bellcore.com>ããA TOPS-20 reader was developed by Dave Edwards of SRIã<dle@kl.sri.com>, but current availability is unknown.  An NNTP readerãsuite for PC's running MS-DOS and having Excelan boards is availableãfor ftp from ames.arc.nasa.gov; get the pcrrn files.  There are twoãMS-DOS news readers that can be obtained from bcm.tmc.edu in the "nfs"ãdirectory.  They both require PC-NFS (from Sun) to work.  They willãboth work under PC/TCP from FTP Software early this year.  Source willãbe provided at that time.ãã"trumpet" is a NNTP based news reader for DOS which will also runãunder Windows (although only as a DOS application). There is LanãWorkplace version which is also available.  It works using theãClarkson Packet Drivers either over a Novell network or a PC with anã'ordinary' TCP/IP connection. It offers a very intuitive interfaceãwith most of the basic facilities required in a newsreader (butãwithout some of the 'bells and whistles found in something like rn).ãIt has facilities for using SMTP to forward/reply etc.  The latestãversion is 1.05g and is shareware available at most main ftp sites.ããDetails on several newsreadesr for systems running "Waffle" may beãfound in the FAQ posted to the comp.bbs.waffle newsgroup on a regularãbasis.  At least 3 different readers are available, and all can beãobtained via ftp and mailserver from halcyon.com (look inã/pub/waffle/news). ããAt least one IBM VM/SP (CMS) version of the Usenet software isãavailable.  It is known as PSU NetNews, and it is maintained by LindaãLittleton (lrl@psuvm.bitnet/psuvm.psu.edu).  Version 2.4 of theãsoftware is available from LISTSERV@PSUVM.  PSU NetNews supports onlyã3270 terminals, and uses XEDIT as its screen driver.  Most major VMãsites appear to use this package.  NetNews supports locally-storedãnews, not NNTP reading.ããSince january 1993 a complete NNTP server is available for VM systems.ãIt provides news reading, posting and feed processing compatible to theãUnix NNTP implementations.  The code is written in IBM's VM Rexx.ãIt assumes that you already have installed PSU VM NETNEWS.  The VM NNTPãpackage, written by Kris Van Hees (gutest6@cc1.kuleuven.ac.be) who alsoãtakes care of the maintenance.  The current version is 1.0.1 and requiresãIBM's FAL TCP/IP and Arty Ecock's RXSOCKET which is available from theãIBMTCP FIELLIST on listserv@pucc.  The VM NNTP package can be obtainedãfrom the NNTP PACKAGE on listserv@blekul11.ããThere is NNTP support for PSU NetNews for bulk news receipt: NNTPXFERãwill poll another site for news, and NNTPRCVR will receive news sentãfrom a Unix NNTPXMIT process.  Either program sends the news articlesãto NetNews for processing.  Contact Andy Hooper (hooper@qucdn.bitnetãor qucdn.queensu.ca) for more information, or obtain them fromãlistserv@qucdn in PUBLIC FILELIST.  These programs are provided withãsource, and require IBM's FAL TCP/IP and Pascal.  An NNTPXMIT senderãthat works in cooperation with PSU NETNEWS is available from HermanãVan Uytven (SYSTHVU@cc1.kuleuven.ac.be).ããThere is at least one NNTP news-reader for VM using XEDIT as itsãscreen manager: NNR.  Contact Paul Campbell (pc@mbunix.mitre.org) forãinformation.  The program requires IBM's FAL TCP/IP.  The software isãavailable for anonymous ftp from rusmv1.rus.uni-stuttgart.deã[129.69.1.12] in the directoryãsoft/kommunikation/news/beginner/software/vm-cms/*.ããAn NNTP news reader is available for TSO/ISPF, called NNMVS. NNMVS isãwritten by Stephen Bacher <seb1525@mvs.draper.com> at DraperãLaboratory.  It requires C/370 V1R2 (though V1R1 will work) and usesãTCP/IP sockets.  It is now available via anonymous ftp atãftp.uni-stuttgart.de under the directoryã/soft/kommunikation/news/beginner/software/nnmvs.  The current releaseãis Version 2 Release 3 Modification Level 1 (in pseudo-IBM parlance).ãããSpecial note on "notes" and old versions of newsã------------------------------------------------ãUsers of these systems may note problems in their interactions with theãUsenet.  In particular, postings may be made by "notes" users toãmoderated groups but they will not usually propagate throughout theãentire Usenet.  The same may happen to users of old B news software.ããThe "notes" software package uses a different internal organization ofãarticles, and a different interchange format than that of the standardãUsenet software.  It was inspired by the notesfiles available in theãPLATO system and was developed independently from the Usenet news.ãEventually, the "notes" network and Usenet were joined via gatewaysãdoing (sometimes imperfect) protocol translation.  The interface forã"notes" is similar to "rn" but implements different features, many ofãwhich are dictated by its internal organization.  "notes" was writtenãin 1980-1981 by Ray Essick and Rob Kolstad, (then) grad students atãthe University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  The first publicãrelease of "notes" was at the January 1982 Usenix conference.  Theãlast release of notes was version 1.7; it is no longer beingãactively maintained.ããUsers of "notes" or old B news software wishing to post to moderatedãgroups should either mail their submissions to the moderator, asãlisted in the monthly posting of "List of Moderators" in the groupã"news.lists", or else they should post from a system runningãup-to-date news software (i.e., C news or INN).  "notes" users mayãobtain some patches from the comp.sources.unix archives which enableãthe most recent versions of "notes" to interact with moderated groupsãproperly.ããUsers of old B news and "notes" are also not able to take advantage ofãsome other current B news features, such as the "checkgroups" message.ã"notes" continues to be a "foreign" system and B news versions areãconsidered "obsolete."  The various maintainers of the Usenet softwareãhave never expressed any commitment to maintain backwardsãcompatibility with "foreign" or obsolete news systems and are unlikelyãto do so; it is the responsibility of the users to maintainãcompatibility of such software if they wish to continue to interactãwith the Usenet.ãããSoftware versions & availabilityã--------------------------------ãYou can obtain the version number of your news software by issuingãsome form of "v" command to show the current version -- consult theãman page for details.  Current software is obtainable from almost anyãmajor Usenet site as well as the sites noted in the body of theãarticle, above.ãããThe following sites probably have sources to the current news softwareãavailable for anyone needing a copy:ãã  Site  Contactã  ----  -------ã  munnari  kre@munnari.oz.auã  osu-cis  postmaster@cis.ohio-state.eduã  philabs  usenet@philabs.philips.comã  pyramid  usenet@pyramid.comã  rutgers  usenet@rutgers.eduã  tektronix news@tektronix.tek.comã  watmath  usenet@watmath.waterloo.eduããSources for most of the news readers and software, including newsã2.11, C News, "rn", and "trn" are also available in theãcomp.sources.unix archives.  European sites should request the sourcesãfrom their nearest Eunet backbone site.ããStandardsã---------ãNews programs communicate with each other according to standard protocols,ãsome of which are described by RFCs.  An RFC is a Request For Comment, aãde facto standard in the Internet Community.  It is a form of publishedãsoftware standard, done through the Network Information Center (NIC) at SRI.ãCopies of RFCs are often posted to the net and obtainable from archive sites.ãCurrent news-related RFCs include the following:ãã    RFC 822 specifies the format of messages; RFC 1036 uses this.ã    RFC 977 specifies NNTP, the Network News Transfer Protocol.ã    RFC 1036 specifies the format of Usenet articles.ã    RFC 1123 amends RFC 822.ã    RFC 1153 specifies the digest format some moderated groups use.ããNewsgroupsã----------ããThe following newsgroups cover issues discussed in this article, and canãbe consulted for recent developments.ããbit.listserv.netnws-l Discussion about NetNews on VM systems.ãgnu.emacs.gnews  News reading under GNU Emacs using Weemba's Gnews.ãgnu.emacs.gnus  News reading under GNU Emacs using GNUS (in English).ãnews.software.anu-news VMS B-news software from Australian National Univ.ãnews.software.b  Discussion about B-news-compatible software.ãnews.software.nn Discussion about the "nn" news reader package.ãnews.software.notes Notesfile software from the Univ. of Illinois.ãnews.software.readers General discussion about news reading software.ããAcknowledgementsã----------------ãThe preparation of this article (and Usenet itself!) was greatlyãenhanced by the contributions and assistance of the following persons:ãSteve Bellovin, Ray Essick, Mark Horton, Brian Kantor, Phil Lapsley,ãBob Page, Rich Salz, Tom Truscott, and Larry Wall.  Thanks, folks.ã-- ãGene SpaffordãSoftware Engineering Research Center & Dept. of Computer SciencesãPurdue University, W. Lafayette IN 47907-1398ãInternet:  spaf@cs.purdue.edu phone:  (317) 494-7825ã