Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    (Part of the reson I started this topic is that I have some more
    questions :-) )
    
    <CB> mentioned using other domains -- how does one go about getting
    registered in a different domain than .UUCP? Does it have any fees
    attached to it?
    
    Also, I don't seem to have any resource to perform a .UUCP domain
    "search" for my "desired" node name possibilities. Is there anyone
    I can email my list to that can tell me if the names are already
    inuse? Perhaps I should send it to the postmasters of shlump, ryn,
    decwrl,...?
    
    Thanks!
    
    Keith

    It seems there's more reason to get a personal feed than ever. There
    is a USENET news blackout in effect within DIGITAL -- see the NEWS-BACKBONE
    conference for details.
    
    
    

    Re: .1
    
    To find out wether or not your nodename in the .UUCP domain has already
    been used is to verify it with some site that maintains a complete map
    (decwrl might be one) or just send a map entry to your respective map 
    maintainer (your link-up site will be able to tell you who that is),
    who will do this sanity check for you.
    
    If your link-up site is already in another Domain than .UUCP you might
    be able to participate in that domain, ask the administrator.
    To set up your own domain usually requires more than one machine and
    some (or much ;-) administrativa but should be free of charge...
    
    Cheers,
    
    <CB>

    Re: .2
    
    Let me clarify something here. There is *no* news blackout in effect
    within Digital. There was an *attempt* by someone to cause at least one
    server manager to disable his news server. He refused. News service is
    still at its full availability. There is a discussion in NEWS-BACKBONE
    about the 'problem'.
    
    If management (owners of the resources used by news servers) begin to
    request the shutdown of the USENET news offerings *then* news will get
    scarce (or at least servers will). I don't think the DECWRL admins will
    ever shut off news at their site.

    re: finding out if your name is in use, and getting registered.
    
    This may be answering questions in the "FTP" note, but it really
    belongs here.  I cannot overemphasize the help you will get from your
    feed site for such simple matters.  If the person willing to give you a
    mail or news feed is at all knowledgeable about UUCP, he can get the
    right answers rather quickly.
    
    After you pick a name for your site, and perhaps a few alternates, ask
    your contact at the feed site if he has a full map database, or knows
    someone who does.  That person can run 'pathalias' on your chosen
    nodenames.  If pathalias cannot find a path to node 'myveryownamiga,'
    chances are that 'myveryownamiga' is not in use.
    
    Your feed contact can also likely mail you a registration form _after_
    you have established a solid working connection between your node and
    his.  Information on understanding and building map entries can also be
    found in one of the monthly postings to the Usenet newsgroup
    comp.mail.maps.  It's also worth reading the beginning of the map file
    for your particular area (state, province or country), as many areas
    have local map maintainers.
    
    Make sure that you and your feed site agree on information in your
    respective map entries that refers to each other's nodes.  Again, a few
    minutes' conversation will likely get you past all the paperwork.
    
    One other note: I scheduled a troubleshooting session with my feed when
    first trying to get going.  It was worth the couple hours it took go
    get all the wrinkles ironed out.  Since AmigaUUCP is not at all obvious
    to set up, I suggest approaching any feed site, hat in hand, asking for
    a definite time when the operator can analyze any connection problems
    associated with starting up your node.
    
    Wes

    Re: -1
    
    Thanks -- I have been in contact with my "feed" and am planning
    to come online this week. Temporarily, UUCICO will actually be calling
    a couple of places because my local feed is currently only email
    and in the process of getting news up. Unfortunately, no one in
    my area has map databases to do a grep or pathalias. I "blindly"
    extracted all the accessible postings in comp.mail.maps, but this
    was very messy and is probably incomplete. I ended up sending my
    list of node names to "rudgers", and they did the pathalias for
    me. They already sent the results -- I believe my node name will 
    "aminet", (borg,catv,amiuser,video are other possibilities),
    because there is a strong possibility I might be acting as a server
    for some other Amigas in the area.
    
    Does anyone have the full maps online? Also, exactly how do I use
    MakeDB and pathalias under the amiga? The documentation I have is
    confusing and experimenting wasn't fruitful.
    
    I've been playing with UUCP all weekend and have it customized and
    running, although it doesn't allow much yet except me sending mail
    to myself. Quite a pain -- someone should write some docs!
    
    This UUCP implementation is ANEWS, right? Should I change over to
    the CNEWS kit found on a different Fish disk?
    
    Keith

    I've been trying to use UUCP-Plus (it's a LOT better -- is the
    documentation ready yet). I seem to be having problems with news
    and ARN. After creating and editing all the "." files in UULIB:
    and making sure UUNEWS points somewhere, I get a constant "Can't
    find the NEWSDIR!" error in ARN. The .arnrc file states "UUNEWS:" -- this
    error is getting in the way of doing anything, even "Enter".
    Using the "debug" flag didn't reveal anything about this.
        
    Also, because I use(d) MD's UUCP and now am attempting UUCP-PLUS,
    I have at least 4 "newsgroup" type files scattered throughout the
    directory structure. Which ones are actually needed and by what?
    I'd like to "copy" my VMS newsrc file to the amiga as a starting
    point; which files should it replace?
    
    Am I right about this being a pre-release? Is there a chance some sort of
    "NEWS INIT" program could be written that would ensure the entire
    environment is OK and initialize all the news files? Having a
    "guarenteed" empty starting point would be of help.
        
    Thanks in advance (<CB>?) :-)
    
    
    BTW -- My email seems to be working fine. But is there a way for
    dmail to "automatically" copy a message to another file after I
    read it? It's hard that everytime I read a message it's automatically
    gone -- this is exactly the opposite of VMS MAIL behavior.
    

    re: losing mail
    
    Most Unix(-flavored) mail programs have two options when leaving the
    program.  "Quit" saves all messages you haven't explicitly deleted to a
    default mail file, and "Exit" deletes all messages you have just read. 
    Or else it's the other way around.  Not remembering which, it's a real
    pain to me, and every time I run mail I have to look at the help
    screen.  The docs or help screen (type "?") should tell you which
    option does what.
    
    Wes

    Your email is automatically saved in UUMAIL:mbox.
    There are two ways that it is not saved:
    
    1.  By (w)riting it to a file.
    
    2.  By (d)eleting it.

    Oh .. to see the mail, do this:
    
    dmail -O
    
    Them, at the nul: prompt enter mbox and hit return.

    Re -*
    
    Normally, reading a message flags it as  "read". This will cause
    the message to be deleted if a proper "quit" is performed. If the
    message is "retained", then it kept in the same mailbox file and
    still "looks" like new mail even though it's been read. The best
    compromise I could come up with was writing a "save" alias that
    did a "write" to a different file. Problem is, I have to remember
    to type it, otherwise the message is deleted on exit. Can't seem
    to have my cake and eat it too -- perhaps if I redefine the quit
    command (except I don't think I can tell dmail to "write" messages
    with the "r" flag and skip messages with the "d" flag).
    
    
    Anyway, my problems with news are more serious. Also, now I seem
    to have discovered a problem with UUCICO (UUCP-Plus version, haven't
    checked to see if the original has the same behavior yet). Once
    I seemed to have mail working, I tried some addressing tests to
    myself in order to see what would work and what a returned message
    action would do. I am experiencing a problem in that UUCICO
    simply exists (no message in logfile, no message on screen) when trying
    to process one of these after the conversation starts. The modem
    connection is still active and it "appears" (Can't really verify this)
    that the remote system is still expecting conversation. I would
    have expected that no matter what's encountered on my end, that
    UUCICO would never simply exit to the CLI without messages, hanging
    up the phone, etc.  I don't seem to have any problems with
    perfectly addressed mail. When "debug" is enabled, a message concerning
    the specfic UUSPOOL: mail file does appear, but is a standard message
    and certainly shouldn't cause UUCICO to just give up.
    
    Any ideas?
    
    Keith
    
    P.S. Another question -- is news relay started by UUCICO or by some
    other task? I'd hate to think that if I went back to the old UUCICO
    I'd be giving up the relay.

    Well, after playing some more I've made progress. The NEWSDIR! error
    went away by itself just after my second newsfeed connection; so
    it must have had something to do with empty files or uncreated newgroup
    directories. ARN had some quirks; namely that it reported
    3 items in junk, but only 2 were accessible. Problem is that it
    ALWAYS reported that 1 item as unseen -- even after it reported
    it was unavailable. There might be a bug in flagging such as entry.
    Also, if you try ARN, RN, and ANEWS -- they all report different
    stories about news.
    
    The UUCICO problem is beginning to look like it's at the other end,
    since it's happening on only 1 of my connections so far.
    It happens with all versions of UUCICO and does not  matter if GETTTY
    is lurking in the background or not. The senerio is that the connection
    is made (debug reports a window size of 3), the remote system requests
    a "S" for a file (with it's nodename -- is that right?), then nothing
    seems to happen except the modem "send" LED (my transmit) blinks
    at a regular interval a few times, then UUCICO exits to the CLI
    without hangup. It LOOKS like a timeout, but no info appears in
    debug or the logfile. Is it possible to have a version of UUCICO
    that logs the reason for exit if a "conversation OK" does not occur?
    ANY HELP would be appreciated; I can't waste the "user's" time and
    I'd like to be able to tell him what to check and correct. I can't
    get email to or from him at this point. I suspect I'll be in this
    boat until the files expire on his system.
    
	Because there is no local system carrying news, I suspect I'm
    going to have to have my VMS system email it to me. Has anyone already
    written utilities to "decode" these messages back into valid Amiga
    News or UUXQT files? Can a person "subscribe" to newsgroups and
    have them mailed perhaps?
    
    I could still use info on what exactly EACH newsrc file (or files
    with news group contents) is for and how I can "transform" a VNEWS
    newsrc.newsrc file into the amiga format(s) as my starting point
    for subscriptions. Also, there is no documentation on exactly how
    to turn the u.xxx.xx.n map files into a pathalias database.
    
    Thanks, Keith (who is hoping someone will answer some of these
    questions soon).

    I have been very happy with V1.06D. No problems thus far. I do wish it
    would sort news in a fashion similar to our notes conference. Matt says
    that is high on his priority list. The new RNEWS and INFORM add a level
    of convenience for notification of new mail and new news. I did grab
    UUCP Plus, but looking it over, I don't see what advantages it has over
    V1.06D. Perhaps someone can summarize the advantages.
    
    UUCP does seem to be VERY disk intensive. Each piece of news posting
    and each reply is a separate file. The disk chugs away during
    downloading and decompressing. Too bad ...
    

    Well I went through UUCP-Plus -- no small task without all the docs
    and having no real unix UUCP experience. I'm still using UUCP 1.06D
    mail, and UUCP-PLUS NEWS (ARN) and the additional utilities. It
    took me quite a while to get reading and posting news to work, I
    can't seem to get relay to forward to other nodes, and some pieces
    are missing (preprnews for example), but the ARN news reader is much
    nicer. News expiration, while much more flexible, was also trickier
    than I expected and I'm not sure it's doing anything yet. And I
    have no idea what RN is there for.
    
    1) I could REALLY use documentation for the UUNEWS:SYS file -- I have
    no idea what the rules and options are. I'll probably never get
    news relay to work until then. The ".arnrc" file needs documentation
    for several fields not currently covered.
    
    2) I could also use the correct entries for the moderators file for us
    here in the U.S. I can post to moderated groups yet.
    
    3) There's no documentation in UUCP or UUCP-Plus for UUX, UUWHO,
    UUNAME, UUPATH, UUPOll, UUSPLIT.
    
    4) I can't get Pathalias to work, nor can I seem to correctly build
    the database it needs. I could really use this option.
    
    5) I think I've found a few bugs, but it's hard to say. For example,
    it seems that ARN and the .ARNRC file allow you to put the active file
    anywhere and by anyname, but EXPIRE demands it to be in UUNEWS:
    
    How about it <CB>, can you help me out?
    
    Thanks, Keith
    

Re: .14

Sorry for the delay, but I haven't been in the office last week.

    
>    1) I could REALLY use documentation for the UUNEWS:SYS file -- I have
>    no idea what the rules and options are. I'll probably never get
>    news relay to work until then. The ".arnrc" file needs documentation
>    for several fields not currently covered.

One thing you and any other "newcomer" should do is to go out and get the
Nutshell book "Managing UUCP and Usenet" by O'Reily Associates.
The sys file description can be found (in English of course) within the 
BRNews.lzh file, please note that the node negation is non-standard and thus
not supported by AUUCP+. Quick rundown:
The sys file consists of lines with four fields seperated by colons, however 
AUUCP+ uses semicolons (sigh). It looks like this:
systemname:newsgroups,distributions:Batch/Compression_flag:command

You need a line for your own system and for each other node you want to 
exchange news with.
    
>    2) I could also use the correct entries for the moderators file for us
>    here in the U.S. I can post to moderated groups yet.
Read news.lists and maybe some other news.* groups for assistance. 
   
>    3) There's no documentation in UUCP or UUCP-Plus for UUX, UUWHO,
>    UUNAME, UUPATH, UUPOll, UUSPLIT.
Complain to the author (Ingo Feulner) his domain address ???@???.???.sub.org
should work from the US (decwrl), or Matt, or read the aforementioned book.
    
>    4) I can't get Pathalias to work, nor can I seem to correctly build
>    the database it needs. I could really use this option.
Just feed the postings in comp.mail.maps to it and make sure you use the 
AUUCP+ sendmail. Try buging the author, since he seems to constantly 
"improve" the package.
    
>    5) I think I've found a few bugs, but it's hard to say. For example,
>    it seems that ARN and the .ARNRC file allow you to put the active file
>    anywhere and by anyname, but EXPIRE demands it to be in UUNEWS:
ARN (version 0.67 can be found on abcfd20.larc.nasa.gov somewhere in the
/incoming/amiga/ directory. 
    
>    How about it <CB>, can you help me out?
I'm trying, :-) but keep in mind that I don't use the AUUCP+ stuff, 
since I:
a) don't need pathalias now (sufficient routers nearby)
b) the AUUCP+ sendmail misses the alias functionality of MD's stuff and
   we (the Software Brewery) need that.
c) I wrote my own News routing stuff (BRNews) and am happy with it so
   far.

Cheers,

<CB>    

>Sorry for the delay, but I haven't been in the office last week.
    
    Thanks for responding -- the help is appreciated. I was beginning
    to think I was being avoided :-)

    
>One thing you and any other "newcomer" should do is to go out and get the
>Nutshell book "Managing UUCP and Usenet" by O'Reily Associates.
>The sys file description can be found (in English of course) within the 
>BRNews.lzh file, please note that the node negation is non-standard and thus
>not supported by AUUCP+. Quick rundown:
    
    I've been reading the Ultrix doc set, but I'll track that doc down
    also. Thanks for the pointer to the doc in BRNEWS. I'll look at
    it also. The quick rundown was what I was looking for.

>    Read news.lists and maybe some other news.* groups for assistance. 
     (Re: moderator list for U.S.)
    
    I'll take a look.
   
>>    3) There's no documentation in UUCP or UUCP-Plus for UUX, UUWHO,
>>    UUNAME, UUPATH, UUPOll, UUSPLIT.
>Complain to the author (Ingo Feulner) his domain address ???@???.???.sub.org

    I was able to determine most of the functionality for all these
    except UUX by looking at the source in the original UUCP package.
    UUPOLL (which came with UUCP+) is a program that I've already written
    for myself without realizing I already had it (sigh). BTW - I'm
    not complaining, just looking for help and info. It's a good product.
    
    
>>    4) I can't get Pathalias to work, nor can I seem to correctly build
>>    the database it needs. I could really use this option.
>Just feed the postings in comp.mail.maps to it and make sure you use the 
>AUUCP+ sendmail. Try buging the author, since he seems to constantly 
>"improve" the package.
    
    I've been extracting and rebuilding the maps on a regular basis,
    but I'm still at a loss as to how I can turn these text files into
    whatever pathalias needs to run. I am also unsure of what pathalias
    wants for its command line input.

>ARN (version 0.67 can be found on abcfd20.larc.nasa.gov somewhere in the
>/incoming/amiga/ directory. 
    
    Could someone upload this? Without ftp ability this is not easy
    for me to obtain.
    
>b) the AUUCP+ sendmail misses the alias functionality of MD's stuff and
>   we (the Software Brewery) need that.
    
    I understand. I'm still using MD's mail system and DMAIL, but am
    trying to use the new ARN for news.
    
    
    I have a couple of new questions to add. It seems I have no means to
    get news to my home other than to email it from work. Now the "standards"
    document pretty much explains what is required to do this, as well
    as what's needed to create the batch job file on the Amiga end.
    Posting articles will either be done by using a long-distance feed
    node (meaning I'd pay $$$ for posting, but not for reading), or
    more likely sending email to the newsgroup (as explained in the
    "decwrl" gateway documentation. I have a few questions:
    
    1) Before I begin this; has anyone already done this? I'd prefer
    not to re-invent the wheel is there's stuff already done.
    
    2) I'm a little concerned about the "path" line, especially when
    I think of systems using me as a news feed "posting" followup articles.
    The way I see it, I can either:
    
    		a) Add the statements "!meridn!decwrl!mips!portal!gdc!aminet"
    		to it after "shlump" (reflecting the true path the file
		took), but it creates a path that is non-functional as
    		"NEWS", especially in reverse. The jump from shlump to
    		meridn was via a VNEWS reader, and the jump from meridn to
    		decwrl and beyond was via email.
    
    		b) Leave it alone. Probably the worst idea.
    
    		c) Replace the path entirely with my system as the new
    		starting point for a new path, or with the name of a
    		feed I'll use for posting articles only. (In other words,
    		let the path point to my system and the news groups "email"
    		address as the end point). This creates a path that doesn't
    		truely reflect the message's journey, but does correctly
    		work when used.
    
    
    What do you think? Is it more important to have a path that reflects
    the history of the journey, or that functions? I certainly don't
    want news email showing up at my DEC system at work. It seems to
    me that I should just replace the path with
    "newsgroup-address!portal!gdc!aminet" and create a working path for
    both directions.
    
    
    Keith
    

    
    Hope this might be of some help...
    
Article        71115
Path: shlump.nac.dec.com!decuac!haven!uflorida!gatech!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!ira.uka.de!smurf!flatlin!spirits!rob
From: [email protected] (Roland Bless)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga,comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: //\\migaUUCP-Plus Documentation
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Date: 13 Nov 90 18:09:47 GMT
Reply-To: [email protected]
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga
Organization: Byteable Software Products, private, Karlsruhe (FRG)
Lines: 30
Xref: shlump.nac.dec.com comp.sys.amiga:71115 comp.sys.amiga.tech:16270
 
Hi!
 
Some people e-mailed me and wrote that they have problems with the
installation of //\\migaUUCP Plus, because there is only a German
documentation. They were right, I knew the problem but didn't have
the time to hack up a documentation. BTW: It's normally not my task
to write a documentation for AmigaUUCP Plus (I'm only responsible
for "Arn"), but nevertheless I did it, because of the necessity.
 
I've written a "short"-documentation in English (I apologize for my
terrible English...)! I hope that you'll be able to install //\\migaUUCP
Plus after reading this document.
 
I've put it today on abc20fd.larc.nasa.gov [128.155.23.64]
file: /incoming/amiga/AmigaUUCP_Plus/AUUCP_Plus.doc.zoo
 
and on minnehaha (Germany) [131.246.9.116]
file: /pub/amiga/Comm/AUUCP_Plus.doc.zoo
 
 
Thanks,
 Roland
 
P.S.: It may take a while for me to reply on E-Mails...(study...:-))
 
--
R o l a n d   B l e s s |UUCP: [email protected]                       |
Kriegsstrasse 129       |FAX: +49211623818               BTX:0211623818-0001|
7500 Karlsruhe - FRG    |---------spirits--in--the--material--world---------|
voice +49 721 857328    |"They built machines that they can't control" STING|

    
    Thanks for responding -- the help is appreciated. I was beginning
    to think I was being avoided :-)

Well, I'll be gone again for the rest of the week... ;-)
You might try to email me at home via the cbmvax route as posted in a nearby
note.
    
    I've been extracting and rebuilding the maps on a regular basis,
    but I'm still at a loss as to how I can turn these text files into
    whatever pathalias needs to run. I am also unsure of what pathalias
    wants for its command line input.

Sorry, I don't use the pathalias stuff, but as far as I remember it you just
pumped the files to pathalias. Any *IX documentation should give you the
exact instructions.

>ARN (version 0.67 can be found on abcfd20.larc.nasa.gov somewhere in the
>/incoming/amiga/ directory. 
    
    Could someone upload this? Without ftp ability this is not easy
    for me to obtain.

I've put ARN067.LZH in TAPE::USER2:[UPLOAD], but any DECie can FTP...
See former notes on FTP for details (ie. 4208.1)
    
    
    <Questions about news path>

First of the path _should_ reflect the original way it took.
However in your case the path should be meaningful, read: consist of a
working route.
As far as email is concerned, the Path: line should be completly ignored 
and the From: or Reply-To: field should be used. Very handy if you use
"real" domain (not .UUCP).
I find it very confusing that you can't find a local newsfeed in the land
of UseNet. And I doubt that your email feed(s) will ignore the email load 
that you generate by transmitting News via email (won't be compressed by 
default). Doesn't gdc receive news? Portal does for sure...

Cheers,

<CB>

    Thanks <CB> for the answers. I've grabbed ARN (I'm still learning
    how to ftp via email, so I'm not comfortable with it yet).
    Unfortunately, there are only 5 sites within a local call of my
    location, and none carry news (although gdc says they may soon).
    gdc didn't mind carrying my news as email, but voiced concern about
    adding 30 minutes to their California call to portal each day. So
    I have written VMS command procedures to do "s/g"'s of all my desired
    news each night and build a .LZH file of the result. I have written
    an Amiga program to take this file (after unpacking) and distribute
    it to the correct "news" files on my system. Now I have a news
    feed (sort of) from DEC, although I have to post by sending email to the
    newsgroup.
    
    I'm still concerned about the path; whether it's more important
    to have it correctly reflect the systems "visited" to prevent
    duplication, or to have a functional travel route. Since email sends
    to the author's address, and "postings" go to your newsfeed, am
    I correct in believing that the path is NOT used as the travel route
    for followups and that I could probably just present my system as
    the source? I'm thinking of systems that might use ME as a newsfeed
    and how to make them work.
    
    I've found that because of changes in rnews and others, you can't
    successfully mix UUCP and UUCP-PLUS (such as UUCP email and UUCP+ news)
    and produce a problem-free setup. Except for the ADDITIONAL programs
    in UUCP-PLUS (like pathalias), I've gone back to normal UUCP and
    will hold off until an official release of UUCP+. I've taken to making
    modifications to ANEWS instead. Since ARN is being presented as
    a "seperate" package, I'll probably check into it also.
    
    If anyone is interested, I'll upload my "news-text-to-news-files"
    program (ParseNews) and my new ANEWS when it's done. I've also
    obtained a news-relay program from a local (to me) author that seems
    pretty good. He also has a "news-to-email" AmigaUUCP program that allows
    your system to send newsgroups as email to other systems that don't
    have local news access -- I could get a copy of that too.

    NOW -- the only problems I have are getting pathalias to work, and
    understanding how to use the CONTROL newsgroup. If anyone already
    has a "revised" ANEWS program I'd be interested in hearing about
    it.
    
    Thanks, Keith

The Amiga UUCP plus docs are at 

	wjg::amiga:AUUCP_PLUSDOC.ZOO

john

Re: -2
    
>    I'm still concerned about the path; whether it's more important
>    to have it correctly reflect the systems "visited" to prevent
>    duplication, or to have a functional travel route. Since email sends
>    to the author's address, and "postings" go to your newsfeed, am
>    I correct in believing that the path is NOT used as the travel route
>    for followups and that I could probably just present my system as
>    the source? I'm thinking of systems that might use ME as a newsfeed
>    and how to make them work.
>
Yes, the path is not used by email, although I for one would try sending along
the path if the normal address fails...
As far as duplications are concerned you're safe as long as none of your 
leaf-sites feed news back into the mainstream (read: you're node has to remain
the only "real" newsfeed with this setup). You shouldn't simply present
your system as the originating source, just strip the DEC related nodes.
    
>    I've found that because of changes in rnews and others, you can't
>    successfully mix UUCP and UUCP-PLUS (such as UUCP email and UUCP+ news)
>    and produce a problem-free setup. Except for the ADDITIONAL programs
>    in UUCP-PLUS (like pathalias), I've gone back to normal UUCP and
>    will hold off until an official release of UUCP+. I've taken to making
>    modifications to ANEWS instead. Since ARN is being presented as
>    a "seperate" package, I'll probably check into it also.
>
As far as I checked it out, you should have no problem running just the 
News part of AUUCP+. In fact you have run this stuff or BRNews if you 
intend on feeding other system. ARN has no problems with any incarnation
of UUCP, just make sure you configure it correctly (DIRSTYLE).
    
>    NOW -- the only problems I have are getting pathalias to work, and
>    understanding how to use the CONTROL newsgroup. If anyone already
>    has a "revised" ANEWS program I'd be interested in hearing about
>    it.
>
Don't bother fiddling with ANEWS, ARN is much better. And other folks have
done the necessary changes to the rnews stuff, respectivly ported CNews.
Check out the news.* groups and the "Managing UUCP & Usenet" book about the
control stuff. Or look at the latest BRNews docs in the archive I'll upload 
next week.

<CB>

    I apologize for posting this here, but I have asked this on several
    other conferences (including DECUS and ASK_ENET) without any helpful
    reply after weeks of waiting.
    
    Does anyone have a copy of DECUS UUCP for VMS that I can get a copy
    of?
    
    Thanks, Keith

    Well, I'm up, registered, and am supporting 2 nodes. My newsfeed
    is still 2 or 3 days away, so I download my news from work via a
    VLT script and wrote a program to turn the text file into UUCP 1.06D
    news files (I'll upload it if there's interest). This, plus being
    able to post via email has been holding me. In all my playing around
    though I've encountered a few problems that I'm hoping someone has
    addressed:
    
    1) It seems that Amiga UUCICO has a VERY short timeout value. In
    cases where you may have a VERY large number of files in UUSPOOL,
    connect attempts by other nodes may fail due to the length on time
    UUCICO takes to build it's internal file lists. The timers on non-Amiga
    systems seem to be much more forgiving. The solution is probably
    to either increase the timer, or get the ability of putting each
    node in its own UUSPOOL directory. Has anyone addressed this?
    
    2) Compress has a bug which compiles non-amiga logic that enforces
    filenames to be less than 13 characters long (including the ".Z"),
    and incorrectly ignoring the ability to end a file path in a ":".
    Matt's been informed.
    
    3) Anews is very screwed up. I've had to "transform" it into something
    else. I'm looking at switching over to the new relase of ARN now.
    I wish someone would port over VMS VNEWS.    
    
    4) It's very annoying that UUCICO does not log the reason for a
    connect fail (timeout? BUSY? No Answer?), or handle recalls on
    busy, or that there's a way to tell DCRON to "randomize" a bit when
    picking a call out time.
    
    Keith

    Re: .23
    
    >1)
    I patched/recompiled uucico with a more relaxed timeout. I also
    informed Matt, he's considering an option with the next release.
    
    <CB>

    V1.07D is expected out this month according to the author.

    Re: 1.07D
    
    Great -- I'm aware of some of the changes intended for that release
    and can't wait to get it.
    
    
    Re: <CB>
    
    Could you send a copy of the modified source to
    "[email protected]", or upload the stuff to TAPE::?
    
    
    Thanks! Keith
    

    >If anyone is interested, I'll upload my "news-text-to-news-files"
    >program (ParseNews) and my new ANEWS when it's done. I've also
    >obtained a news-relay program from a local (to me) author that seems
    >pretty good. He also has a "news-to-email" AmigaUUCP program that allows
    >your system to send newsgroups as email to other systems that don't
    >have local news access -- I could get a copy of that too.
    
    
    
    		Yes Please.....
    
    	Could you also describe what is not needed to run when you use this
    	method....      ( cron is obvious )
    
    
    			-Pete-
    
    			

        I'm in the process of "packaging it up". Basically, there are 3
    components:
    
    	Snews - A simple news relay which supports sending the resulting
    	file via news or email. This is an Amiga program, meant to serve as
        your news relay to others. The email ability allows you to serve
        as a "local" news feed to someone that has no local news feed.
        The remote user could either just read email article, or if you
        address the news article as email to a "special" user name
        on that remote node, the remote user could apply ParseNews against
        it and read it as news. (I must confess though that I haven't
        actually attempted that yet).
    
    	ParseNews -- Simple program that takes a news text file (created
    	from a news reader "save" command or email), and places it as a news
    	article within UUCP 1.06D in the first group referenced in the
        "Newsgroups" line that has an already existing directory in
        UUNEWS: (I plan a future mod to automatically create this
        directory if it's missing and is subscribed to in the
        UULIB:NewsGroups file).
    
    	Knews (my personal version of Anews) -- This program contains
    	bug fixes, and a built-in menu option to post or followup a
        news article by using EMAIL instead of news.
    

        I don't have a news feed in my area, so my "method" is:
    
    1) A Batch job runs on my work VMS system each night. This job
    executes VNEWS and does "g s/g" commands for all the groups I want,
    saving them all in a single text file.
    
    2) It then runs LHARC against this file to cut its size in half for
    a faster download time.
    
    3) My home amiga later executes a CLI script (via DCRON) that calls work
    by using a VLT script file, and executes a VMS procedures that send the
    file via Zmodem to the amiga and then deletes the file when done.
    
    4) The amiga CLI script then UNlharc's the file back into text, runs
    ParseNews to distribute it as news, and kills the original files.
    (now I have news :-) )
    
    5) Later on, I use Snews to distribute the news to others that use
    my UUCP node (although, any news relay should also work).
    
    6) Posting is done my using Knews's option to send article by email.
    My article's seem to appear within 48 hrs. I have recently obtained
    the email address of an "email news server" that allows specifying
    all news header lines (distribution, etc) in the email message.
    I'll change Knews to use that one when I get some time.
    
    
    The only draw-back discovered to date is that following article threads
    (through dnews, for instance) doesn't work. Not important to me
    right now, and I believe I know why it happens and can fix it easily.

        
    Keith
    

Will you post this? Sounds like you do not need a UUCP feed at all to get
News (the next best thing to getting UUCP up again...)

john