mdw@git.distorted.org.uk Git - sgt/utils/blob - nntpid/nntpid.but

   1 \cfg{man-identity}{nntpid}{1}{2004-11-21}{Simon Tatham}{Simon Tatham}
   2
   3 \title Man page for \cw{nntpid}
   4
   5 \U NAME
   6
   7 \cw{nntpid} - retrieve a single article from a news server
   8
   9 \U SYNOPSIS
  10
  11 \c nntpid [ -v ] [ -d ] message-id
  12 \e bbbbbb   bb     bb   iiiiiiiiii
  13 \c nntpid [ -v ] [ -d ] newsgroup-name article-number
  14 \e bbbbbb   bb     bb   iiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiii
  15
  16 \U DESCRIPTION
  17
  18 \cw{nntpid} makes a connection to a news server, retrieves a single
  19 article, and displays it.
  20
  21 You can specify the article you want by either:
  22
  23 \b giving its Message-ID. Message-IDs are globally unique, so you
  24 don't need to know which newsgroup the article was in. Also, they do
  25 not vary between news servers.
  26
  27 \b giving a newsgroup name and an article number within that
  28 newsgroup. Article numbers are assigned internally by a particular
  29 news server, so they will be different on other servers carrying the
  30 same group.
  31
  32 By default, \cw{nntpid} will try to display the article using a
  33 pager (\cw{more}(1), unless you have specified an alternative in the
  34 environment variable \cw{PAGER}). This is partly for convenience,
  35 and partly a mild security measure: it gives you some protection
  36 against the news article potentially containing control sequences
  37 that cause unexpected behaviour in your terminal. If \cw{nntpid}
  38 detects that its standard output is not a terminal, however, it will
  39 bypass the pager and just write out the article directly.
  40
  41 \U ARGUMENTS
  42
  43 If you specify one argument, \cw{nntpid} assumes it is a Message-ID.
  44 The angle brackets that usually delimit Message-IDs are optional;
  45 \cw{nntpid} will strip them off if it sees them, and will not
  46 complain if it does not.
  47
  48 If you specify two arguments, \cw{nntpid} will interpret the first
  49 as a newsgroup name, and the second as an article number.
  50
  51 \U OPTIONS
  52
  53 \dt \cw{-v}
  54
  55 \dd Verbose mode. In this mode, \cw{nntpid} will log its entire
  56 conversation with the news server on standard error.
  57
  58 \dt \cw{-d}
  59
  60 \dd Direct output. In this mode, \cw{nntpid} will write the article
  61 straight to standard output without bothering to try using a pager.
  62
  63 \U AUTHENTICATION
  64
  65 Currently, the only form of authentication supported by \cw{nntpid}
  66 is \cw{AUTHINFO GENERIC}, using the environment variable
  67 \cw{NNTPAUTH}. It will only attempt this if it receives a 480
  68 response from the news server; if your news server never sends 480
  69 then \cw{nntpid} will never even look at \cw{NNTPAUTH}.
  70
  71 \U LICENCE
  72
  73 \cw{nntpid} is free software, distributed under the MIT licence.
  74 Type \cw{nntpid --licence} to see the full licence text.
  75
  76 \versionid $Id$