VMS NEWS                  Release 5.6                11-Nov-1988


Author  : Geoff Huston
Address : Computer Services Centre
          Australian National University
          G.P.O. Box 4, Canberra City, A.C.T.  2601
          AUSTRALIA

          (062)493385

    ACSnet,CSNET:	gih900@csc.anu.oz
    INTERNET: gih900%csc.anu.oz@uunet.uu.net
    UUCP: {uunet,ubc-cs,nttlab,mcvax,ukc}!munnari!csc.anu.oz!gih900
    VAX_PSI: PSI%50526244003211::gih900

==========================================================================


As usual I have not had enough time to fully set up this release...

I have added a number of new commands, and changed some existing commands in
various ways. The time constraints have implied that I have not been able to
bring the documentation fully up to match the code -- although the information
in the documentation is accurate, the problems are that of omission, and there
are a number of commands and facilities supported in the code which are not
adequately documented.

The changes that will impact existing users of NEWS:

USER CHANGES:

    The default keypad has changed.... (sorry bout this) 

        The keypad functions on the second row (KP7 KP8 KP9 and KP-)
        are now invoked by the sequence PF1, KP7  PF1, KP8 and so on

        The keypad functions on the third row (KP4 KP5 KP6 KP,)
        have been moved up to the second row.

        KP5 is now "UP"
        KP2 is now "DOWN"

    The arrow keys are user settable between the VMS line edit function
    and UP/DOWN commands. The default on startup is UP/DOWN for SCREEN
    mode, and can be set to VMS line edit mode by the command:
    "SET LINE". "SET NOLINE" sets UP/DOWN functions to the arrow keys.

    Broadcast trapping is now user selectable by the commands:
    "SET BROADCAST_TRAPPING" and "SET NOBROADCAST_TRAPPING". The startup
    value is trapping enabled.

MODERATOR CHANGES:

    NEWS allows a newsgroup moderator to use the command:
        ADD FILE/MOD filespec
    to add items into the NEWS system. The items are checked to ensure
    that the items will be posted into the newsgroup which is moderated
    by this user.

MANAGER CHANGES:


    The most visible change is that of two name changes:

        "ADD" is changed to "ADD FILE"

        "CREATE" is changed to "CREATE NEWSGROUP"
        
==========================================================================

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  NEWS, Copyright (c) Geoff Huston, 1987,1988                                |
|                                                                             |
| License is granted to run this software on one condition:                   |
|                                                                             |
|  The Licensee registers with the copyright holder the details of the        |
|  systems which are running NEWS. In doing so I will also endeavour to notify|
|  you of new versions and bug fixes. It is a condition of the license that   |
|  the following letter is mailed to:                                         |
|                                                                             |
|       Geoff Huston                                                          |
|       Computer Services Centre                                              |
|       Australian National University                                        |
|       GPO Box 4, Canberra, ACT   2601                                       |
|       AUSTRALIA                                                             |
|                                                                             |
|  or the letter may be e-mailed to:                                          |
|                                                                             |
|   ACSnet,CSNET:       gih900@csc.anu.oz                                     |
|   INTERNET: gih900%csc.anu.oz@uunet.uu.net                                  |
|   UUCP: {uunet,ubc-cs,nttlab,mcvax,ukc}!munnari!csc.anu.oz!gih900           |
|                                                                             |
|  NO CHARGE is made for this license.                                        |
|                                                                             |
| +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+|
| |======== VMS News - Release V5.6 =========================================||
| |                                                                          ||
| |                                                                          ||
| |   Please license the following system for the NEWS Software:             ||
| |                                                                          ||
| |     ORGANISATION: _______________________________________________        ||
| |                                                                          ||
| |     ADDRESS: ____________________________________________________        ||
| |                                                                          ||
| |              ____________________________________________________        ||
| |                                                                          ||
| |              ____________________________________________________        ||
| |                                                                          ||
| |              ____________________________________________________        ||
| |                                                                          ||
| |     CONTACT: ____________________________________________________        ||
| |                                                                          ||
| |     E-MAIL:  ____________________________________________________        ||
| |                                                                          ||
| |              ____________________________________________________        ||
| |                                                                          ||
| +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+|
|                                                                             |
| Permission is given to make and distribute copies of this software provided |
| 1: the author headers in all the source files are preserved                 |
| 2: that any further distribution of this software is free (except for a     |
|    nominal shipping change which may be applied).                           |
| 3: This file is included in all distributed copies of NEWS.                 |
|                                                                             |
| Permission is given to modify the sources in any way, provided:             |
| 1: the author headers are preserved on the source files                     |
| 2: the source files contain a header stating who changed the source         |
|    and the date of the change                                               |
|                                                                             |
| NOTE : This software is distributed free of any license charges on the      |
|    understanding that no warranty is implied with this software, nor is any |
|    liability incurred by the owner of the original copyright nor by any     |
|    person who has modified the file(s), nor any by person who permits a copy|
|    of the software to be made                                               |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

NEWS

The files in this save set build the complete news system on VMS. This is NOT
set up as a VMS INSTALLable product.

The software is distributed in the source, object and executable formats.
It will require the installation of a number of logical names and site
specific configuration files, and a number of DCL procedures to be defined
at each site.

For a list of files in the distribution, and the installation procedure
please read the installation instructions contained in the file NEWS.DOC.

SECURITY ISSUES

It is intended that NEWS be run as an INSTALLed image with SYSPRV enabled, so
as to control write access to the NEWS database files. (all news text files are
readable without privs). All care has been taken to prevent users being able to
get to DCL level with SYSPRV, or to read or write arbitrary files using SYSPRV.
The way in which this is achieved is that NEWS executes with SYSPRV not enabled
- you will see in the code calls to nosysprv() and sysprv() around code areas
which require SYSPRV to access files. 

If you do not wish all users on your system to read all items in the NEWS
database, then the directories of the relevant newsgroups can be protected via
ACLs (As SYSPRV is NOT used to read text files within NEWS, the ACLS will be
effective in barring read accedd to the item text). The "SET ACCESS" command
is provided in NEWS to allow access ACLs to be placed on newsgroups.

BUGS:

A list of current known bugs is found in the file BUGS.TXT.

I'm sure that many remain  :-(   - single-handed debugging cannot locate all
possible errors in the short time I've been running this version.

If you encounter problems, your options are to:

- mail me a description of the problem - I'll attempt an answer if I can
  reproduce the problem here. My e-mail addresses are given above.

- better still, run a debug version of the program, and mail me a more
  precise description of where the code is falling over.
                                                 
- better still, fix the bug, and mail me the details of the code change, so
  that it can be included in the distribution set.
                                   
Also, if you make any useful modifications to the sources which you consider
would be generally useful, please send me the changes and I will include them
on the distribution set

VERSION HISTORY:

    A list of the changes to NEWS is located in the file CHANGES.TXT.

DISTRIBUTION:

- NEWS V5.6 will be available via DECUS on the FALL 88 US VAX SIG tape

- NEWS V5.6 is available on a collection basis via AUSTPAC (using PSI_COPY from
  dte 505262440032).

- Sites who have a copy of NEWS are free to further distribute the software.
