M BULLETIN now has the capability to read and post messages to USENET NEWS in a M client mode.  I realize that there are many NEWS readers, some with much more L elegant interfaces.  However, I elected to modify BULLETIN for the followingM reason:  We have many decnet nodes, but only several are internet nodes.  Our B only access to a news server was via internet.  In order for thoseO non-internet nodes to read USENET, the only method that seemed available was to K run a NEWS server program on one of our own internet nodes so that it could N be accessible via decnet.  I did not want to do that, as that requires storingO the news groups on disk, and I do not have the room for that.  I thus added the M ability in BULLETIN (actually BULLCP) so that it acts as as a gateway between N decnet and tcp for NEWS.  This method does not require spawning any processes,J since the detached process BULLCP is always present, so the access is veryL fast.  Also, since BULLETIN uses a shared database to store info on the NEWSO groups and periodically updates it, there is no need for that to be done when a O user accesses the NEWS groups.  Several other NEWS readers do this when you run M them, which is why they take a long time to start up.  It is also possible to N feed NEWS groups into a "real" BULLETIN folder, so that the messages are saved on disk.  H Presently, BULLETIN can be used with either UCX, MULTINET, or CMU TCP/IPM packages (and of course DECNET) for reading NEWS.  Support for other packages L can be added if I can find sites willing to beta test the interface for me. H The source for the TCP interface is in C rather than FORTRAN because theN MULTINET include files are in C. However, if you do not have C, I will be gladM to send the object for it (or to even possibly rewrite the code in FORTRAN).    J The instructions for installation are as follows.  Define BULL_NEWS_SERVERK to be a system logical name pointing to either your internet or decnet NEWS A node.  If it is decnet, simply specify the decnet node name, i.e.   ' 	$ DEFINE/SYSTEM BULL_NEWS_SERVER NERUS   M BULLETIN decides to use DECNET rather than TCP access based on the node name. K If it does not have any periods in it, then it assumes it is a DECNET node.   K In our cluster, we usually have one node which is an internet node, and the I rest non-internet nodes.  If you have a similar situation, you'll have to K create a startup procedure that defines BULL_NEWS_SERVER to be the internet H news server address only on the node (or nodes) on the cluster that haveM actually internet access.  The other nodes will have BULL_NEWS_SERVER defined N as the decnet node name that BULLCP is running on in the cluster.  (Of course,? BULLCP will have to be running on a node with internet access.)   N NOTE: If you want to disable the gateway feature, then before starting BULLCP, define the logical name:  , 	$ DEFINE/SYSTEM BULL_NO_NEWS_GATEWAY "TRUE"  M Defining this will only shut off the gateway.  BULLETIN will still be allowed H to read NEWS from the local node as long as BULL_NEWS_SERVER is defined.  N You can also specify that BULLCP is only to act as a NEWS gateway.  This is toM allow adding the news gateway to an INTERNET site that you have DECNET access N to, but which does not want to make use of any of the other BULLETIN features.? You would specify the following command before starting BULLCP:   . 	$ DEFINE/SYSTEM BULL_NEWS_GATEWAY_ONLY "TRUE"  J In order to post messages, BULLETIN needs to know the internet nodename ofL the local host.  This is done automatically for nodes running MULTINET.  ForO other nodes, BULLETIN attempts to translate the logical name ARPANET_HOST_NAME, N INTERNET_HOST_NAME, and MX_NODE_NAME.  If you are on a DECNET node that is notM on INTERNET (and is not part of a cluster which has an INTERNET address), but K you are accessing NEWS via DECNET, you can specify the hostname as follows:   E      $ DEFINE/SYSTEM INTERNET_HOST_NAME "%localhost@internet-address"   N Where "localhost" is your local decnet hostname, and "internet-address" is the% internet address of the gateway node.   J The local time zone is detected by looking at the following logical names:H LISP$TIME_ZONE, MULTINET_TIMEZONE, or PMDF_TIMEZONE.  (LISP$TIME_ZONE is$ defined if you have LISP installed.)  K The name of the organization is included in the header of the NEWS message. J This can be anything, but usually is the company or university name.  ThisK can be hardcoded into the source by putting in BULLNEWS.INC, or by defining / the system logical name BULL_NEWS_ORGANIZATION.   L The name of the mail protocol to use for responding by mail to NEWS messagesK can also be either hardcoded by putting in BULLNEWS.INC, or by defining the % system logical name BULL_NEWS_MAILER.   M After installing the new BULLETIN, execute the command NEWS, which asks for a O list of all the news groups.  Because this is the first time it is executed, it F will cause a load of all the remote news groups into a local data baseN (BULL_DIR:BULLNEWS.DAT). This will take several minutes to do.  It is the onlyH time that this load will be done interactively.  Afterwards, BULLCP willL periodically update the data base.  For this reason, it is highly recommededM that BULLCP be installed. BULLCP will update NEWS every hour.  If you want to M change this frequency, define the logical name BULL_NEWS_UPDATE to the number N of minutes in between updates, i.e. DEFINE/SYSTEM BULL_NEWS_UPDATE "30" for 30J minutes.  NOTE: BULLCP will create a subprocess BULLCP NEWS which does theN update.  You can watch how long it takes for this to run in order to determine) if you want to change the update period).   L Due to long news group names recently created, you must do the following, orK else those news groups will not be seen.  After BULLNEWS.DAT is created, do  the following:  0 $ ANAL/RMS/FDL/OUT=FIX.FDL BULL_DIR:BULLNEWS.DAT  / Edit FIX.FDL and find the first line which says  	DUPLICATES no and change it to 	DUPLICATES yes   
 Then type:  A $ CONVERT BULL_DIR:BULLNEWS.DAT BULL_DIR:BULLNEWS.DAT/FDL=FIX.FDL   O Also, it is suggested that you run OPTIMIZE_RMS.COM on it, as it will cause the O file to be compressed and will allow updates to run much faster (factor of 5 or  more).    O Never delete BULLNEWS.DAT.  There is no reason to ever do so, and it will cause ; subscribed users to be subscribed to the wrong news groups.   K WARNING: One user discovered that his server (using bnews?) had a bug which M caused the updates to cause bogus "new messages" notifications for subscribed G NEWS group when entering BULLETIN.  If you experience this problem, try K defining the system logical name BULL_SPECIAL_NEWS_UPDATE.  This will cause K the update to use a different algorithm which should eliminate the problem, / although it requires much more time to execute.   H It is possible to automatically have news messages to be fed into a realO folder. Place the name of the news group into the folder description surrounded N by <>, i.e. <misc.test>.  It must be in lower case.  (Other text is allowed inN the description, i.e. "THIS IS A TEST FOLDER <misc.test>".)  When the POST andO ADD commands are used with this folder, the messages will be posted to the news 6 group, rather than actually being added to the folder.  : If you have any problems or questions, please let me know. 									MRL P.s.H 	If you do not know what USENET NEWS, it's basically news messages whichN are passed between nodes.  Originally it was limited to USENET, but that is noJ longer the case.  Unlike internet mailing lists which use MAIL to send theN messages to individuals, NEWS messages are not sent via MAIL.  They are passedK between nodes using a special protocol, NNTP.  Users must use a NEWS reader K package to read them.  However, it is possible to read NEWS remotely over a F network, and therefore avoiding having to actually store the messages.I BULLETIN is setup to be used mainly in this client mode, i.e. it can read M messages on another node via TCP or DECNET.  This is useful, since the number K of NEWS groups total over 1000, the disk space required for storage is very M high.  If you are interested in finding a server node that would allow you to M read NEWS, and do not know of one (i.e. a USENET node), I know of no official N way of doing so.  However, one suggestion was to try connecting to BBN.COM viaK ANONYMOUS FTP and look through the directory uumap/comp.mail.maps to find a ! USENET node near you to contact.  