NEWS(5)                   FILE FORMATS                    NEWS(5)



NAME
     news - USENET network news article, utility files

DESCRIPTION
     There are two formats of news articles:  A and B.  A  format
     is  the  only format that version 1 netnews systems can read
     or write.  Systems running the version 2  netnews  can  read
     either  format  and  there  are provisions for the version 2
     netnews to write in A format.  A format looks like this:

     Aarticle-ID
     newsgroups
     path
     date
     title
     Body of article

     Only version 2 netnews systems can read and write B  format.
     B  format contains two extra pieces of information:  receipt
     date and expiration date.  The basic structure of a B format
     file  consists  of a series of headers and then the body.  A
     header field is defined as a line with a capital  letter  in
     the  first  column  and  a  colon  somewhere  on  the  line.
     Unrecognized header fields are ignored.  News is  stored  in
     the  same  format  transmitted,  see Standard for the Inter-
     change of USENET Messages for a full description.  The  fol-
     lowing fields are among those recognized:

     From: user@host.domain[.domain ...] ( Full Name)
     Newsgroups: Newsgroups
     Message-ID: <Unique Identifier>
     Subject: descriptive title
     Date: Date Posted
     Expires: Expiration Date
     Reply-To: Address for mail replies
     References: Article ID of article this is a follow-up to.
     Control: Text of a control message

     Here is an example of an article:

               Path: cbosgd!mhuxj!mhuxt!eagle!jerry
               From: jerry@eagle.uucp (Jerry Schwarz)
               Newsgroups: net.general
               Subject: Usenet Etiquette -- Please Read
               Message-ID: <642@eagle.UUCP>
               Date: Friday, 19 Nov 82 16:14:55 EST
               Followup-To: net.news
               Expires: Saturday, 1 Jan 83 00:00:00 EST
               Organization: Bell Labs, Murray Hill
               Lines: 42

               The body of the article comes here, after a blank line.



Version B 2.11      Last change: July 5, 1986                   1

NEWS(5)                   FILE FORMATS                    NEWS(5)



     The sys file line has four fields, each separated by colons:

     system-name:subscriptions:flags:transmission command

     Of these fields, only the system-name and subscriptions need
     to be present.

     The system name is the name of the  system  being  sent  to.
     The  subscriptions is the list of newsgroups to be transmit-
     ted to the system.  The flags are a set of letters  describ-
     ing  how  the article should be transmitted.  The default is
     B.  Valid flags include A (send in A format), B (send  in  B
     format),  N  (use  ihave/sendme protocol), U (use uux -c and
     the name of the stored article in a %s string).

     The transmission command is executed by the shell  with  the
     article  to  be  transmitted  as  the  standard  input.  The
     default is uux - -z -r sysname!rnews.  Some examples:

   xyz:net
   oldsys:net,mod,to.oldsys:A
   berksys:net,ucb::/usr/lib/news/sendnews -b berksys:rnews
   arpasys:net,arpa::/usr/lib/news/sendnews -a rnews@arpasys
   old2:net,mod:A:/usr/lib/sendnews -o old2:rnews
   user:net.sf-lovers::mail user

     Somewhere in the sys file, there must be a line for the host
     system.   This  line  has  no flags or commands.  A # as the
     first character in a line denotes a comment.  A logical line
     may be continued to the next physical line by putting a \ at
     end of the line.

     The history, active, and ngfile  files  have  one  line  per
     item.

SEE ALSO
     checknews(1), inews(8), postnews(1), readnews(1),  vnews(1),
     getdate(3), expire(8), recnews(8), sendnews(8), uurec(8)

















Version B 2.11      Last change: July 5, 1986                   2