\U SYNOPSIS
-\c nntpid [ -v ] message-id
-\e bbbbbb bb iiiiiiiiii
-\c nntpid [ -v ] newsgroup-name article-number
-\e bbbbbb bb iiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiii
+\c nntpid [ -v ] [ -d ] message-id
+\e bbbbbb bb bb iiiiiiiiii
+\c nntpid [ -v ] [ -d ] newsgroup-name article-number
+\e bbbbbb bb bb iiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiii
+\c nntpid [ -v ] -a newsgroup-name
+\e bbbbbb bb bb iiiiiiiiiiiiii
\U DESCRIPTION
-\cw{nntpid} makes a connection to a news server, retrieves a single
-article, and displays it.
+\cw{nntpid} makes a connection to a news server, retrieves one or
+more articles, and displays it.
You can specify the article you want by either:
news server, so they will be different on other servers carrying the
same group.
+By default, \cw{nntpid} will try to display the article using a
+pager (\cw{more}(1), unless you have specified an alternative in the
+environment variable \cw{PAGER}). This is partly for convenience,
+and partly a mild security measure: it gives you some protection
+against the news article potentially containing control sequences
+that cause unexpected behaviour in your terminal. If \cw{nntpid}
+detects that its standard output is not a terminal, however, it will
+bypass the pager and just write out the article directly.
+
+There is a third mode of operation, enabled by the \cw{-a} option,
+in which \cw{nntpid} retrieves \e{all} available articles in the
+group and writes them to standard output in \cw{mbox} format.
+
+The location of the news server is obtained by reading the
+environment variable \cw{NNTPSERVER}, or failing that the file
+\cw{/etc/nntpserver}.
+
\U ARGUMENTS
If you specify one argument, \cw{nntpid} assumes it is a Message-ID.
\dd Verbose mode. In this mode, \cw{nntpid} will log its entire
conversation with the news server on standard error.
+\dt \cw{-d}
+
+\dd Direct output. In this mode, \cw{nntpid} will write the article
+straight to standard output without bothering to try using a pager.
+
+\dt \cw{-a}
+
+\dd Retrieve all articles from the given newsgroup. In this mode,
+\cw{nntpid} will always write straight to standard output (so the
+\cw{-d} option is unnecessary).
+
+\U AUTHENTICATION
+
+Currently, the only form of authentication supported by \cw{nntpid}
+is \cw{AUTHINFO GENERIC}, using the environment variable
+\cw{NNTPAUTH}. It will only attempt this if it receives a 480
+response from the news server; if your news server never sends 480
+then \cw{nntpid} will never even look at \cw{NNTPAUTH}.
+
\U LICENCE
\cw{nntpid} is free software, distributed under the MIT licence.