/xlv1/freeware/1998.May/tin/1.4/tin-971106.diffbuild/doc
TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
NAME
tin, rtin, tind - A Netnews reader
SYNOPSIS
tin/rtin/tind [ options ] [ newsgroups ]
DESCRIPTION
Tin is a full-screen easy to use Netnews reader. It can read
news locally (i.e., /var/spool/news) or remotely (rtin or
tin-r option) via a NNTP (Network News Transport Protocol)
server. It will automatically utilize NOV (News OVerview)
style index files if available locally or via the NNTP XOVER
command.
Tin has four separate levels of operation: Group selection
level, Group level, Thread level and Article level. Use the
'h' (help) command to view a list of the commands available
at a particular level.
On startup tin will show a list of the newsgroups found in
$HOME/.newsrc. An arrow '->' or highlighted bar will point
to the first newsgroup. Move to a group by using the
terminal arrow keys (terminal dependent) or 'j' and 'k'.
Use PgUp/PgDn (terminal dependent) or Ctrl-U and Ctrl-D to
page up/down. Enter a newsgroup by pressing RETURN.
The TAB key advances to the next newsgroup with unread
articles and enters it.
OPTIONS
-a use ansi color.
-c create/update index files for every group in
$HOME/.newsrc or file specified by the -f option
and mark all articles as read.
-C count articles for each subscribed group at
startup. With a large number of groups this will
be slow. However the number of unread articles
in each group will be accurate.
-d don't load newsgroup descriptions (interactive
mode).
delete index files for each group before
indexing article (tind index daemon only).
-f file use the specified file of subscribed to
newsgroups in place of $HOME/.newsrc.
-g server use the in $HOME/.tin/newsrctable specified
server and newsrc.
Page 1 (printed 5/3/98)
TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)-h help listing all command line options.
-H brief introduction to tin that is also shown the
first time it is started.
-I dir directory in which to store newsgroup index
files. Default is $HOME/.tin/.news.
-m dir mailbox directory to use. Default is
$HOME/Mail.
-M user mail unread articles to specified user for later
reading. For more information read section
Automatic Mailing and Saving New News.
-n Only load groups from the active file that are
subscribed to in the user's .newsrc. This
allows a noticeable speedup when connecting via
a slow line, but tin cannot tell which groups
are moderated.
-P purge group index files of articles that no
longer exist. Care should be taken when using
this command as it checks each and every article
in each group that is accessed. On a low speed
connection this can have an undesirable effect
and it also knocks the hell out of your
filesystem.
-q Don't check for new newsgroups.
-Q Quick start. Start tin as quickly as possible.
Currently this is equivalent to -nqd
-r read news remotely from the default NNTP server
specified in the environment variable NNTPSERVER
or contained in the file /etc/nntpserver.
-R read news saved by the -S option.
-s dir save articles to directory. Default is
$HOME/News.
-S save unread articles for later reading by the -R
option. For more information read section
Automatic Mailing and Saving New News.
-u create/update index files for every group in
$HOME/.newsrc or file specified by the -f
option. This option is disabled if tin
retrieves its index files via a NNTP server.
Page 2 (printed 5/3/98)
TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)-U start tin in the background to update index
files while reading news in the foreground.
This option is disabled if tin retrieves its
index files via a NNTP server.
-v verbose mode for -c -M -S -u and -Z options.
-w quick mode to post an article and then exit.
-z only start tin if there is any new/unread news.
If there is news tin will position cursor at
first group with unread news. Useful for putting
in login file.
-Z check if there is any new/unread news and exit
with appropriate status. If -v option is
specified the number of unread articles in each
group is printed. An exit code 0 indicates no
news, 1 that an error occurred, 2 that a nntp
error occurred and 3 that new/unread news
exists. Useful for writing scripts.
Tin can also dynamically change its options by the 'M' menu
command. Any changes are written to $HOME/.tin/tinrc.
The index daemon version, tind, supports the -f, -h, -I and
-v options.
A list of groups can be specified after the other command
line options. This can be useful if you wish to yank in or
subscribe to a handpicked subset of the active newsgroups.
The list may include the usual newsgroup wildcard
characters. It can be comma or space separated, eg:
alt.config news.*,!news.test
If you specify a single groupname, or a wildcard that
matches a single group, then you will automatically enter
that group. Otherwise the normal group selection screen
will appear, but with all the matching groups present too,
as though you had yanked just those groups in.
Once you use 'y' to yank in all active groups, or 'r' to
toggle the read/unread status, then the command line groups
will be gone. You can use 'Y' to reread the active file and
get them back.
NB: With the -n flag, only unsubscribed groups in the
.newsrc file can be matched.
INDEX FILES
If your news server supports NOV index files (most modern
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TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
installations will), then this section can be ignored.
If your news server doesn't support NOV index files, tin
will maintain an index for each newsgroup. There are a
number of methods in which index files can be created and
updated.
The simplest method is that each user creates/updates
his/her own index files that are stored in $HOME/.tin/.news.
This has the advantage that any user can compile and install
tin, but the disadvantage is that each user is going to be
creating duplicate files and using precious disk space. A
good way to keep index files updated is by doing a tin-U
that will update index files in the background while you are
reading news in the foreground. You can also update index
files via the system batcher cron with the -u option:
30 6 * * * /usr/local/bin/tin -u
A slightly better method is to set tin setuid news and have
all index files created and updated in the news spool
directory (i.e., /var/spool/news/.news). This has the
advantage that there will only be one copy of the index
files on each machine on your network, but the disadvantage
is that you will have tin running setuid news.
A better method is to install the tind index file updating
daemon and have it create and update index files for all
groups in your active file at regular intervals in the news
spool directory (i.e., /var/spool/news/.news). This has the
advantage that there will only be one copy of the index
files on each machine on your network and tin must not be
setuid news, but the disadvantage is that you will have to
have news permissions to install tind and root permissions
to install an entry in the cron batcher system to have tind
regularly update index files.
The best method is to install the tind index file updating
daemon on your NNTP server and have it create and update
index files for all groups in your active file at regular
intervals in the news spool directory (i.e.,
/var/spool/news/.news). This has the advantage that there
will only be one copy of the index files on the NNTP server
for the whole of your network, but the disadvantage is that
you will have to install my NNTP server patches to allow tin
to retrieve index file from your NNTP server and and you
must install an entry in the cron batcher system to have
tind regularly update index files (note that this is the
method we use on our network of 40-50 machines and have not
had any problems).
Entering a group the first time tends to be slow because the
index file must be built from scratch unless the tind update
Page 4 (printed 5/3/98)
TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
daemon is being used. To alleviate the slowness start tin to
create all index files for the groups you subscribe to with
tin-u -v and go for a coffee. Subsequent readings of a
group will cause incremental updating of the index file.
If reading news remotely and updating index files locally,
operation will be somewhat slower because the articles must
be retrieved from the NNTP server.
NEWS ADMINISTRATION
Maintaining Netnews on large networks of machines can be a
pretty time consuming job as I discovered when I was given
the job of maintaining our news system and news users.
Tin is a News User Agent and so most of the users were
always asking questions or doing things that could be
frowned upon by their departments. To relieve news admins
(and especially me) some features have been added.
When a user starts tin it is possible to inform them of any
important changes/information concerning the news system by
displaying a message of the day (motd) file. The motd file
should be created in your news lib directory (i.e.,
/usr/lib/news/motd) and should have file permissions set to
0644. The motd file will only be displayed if its contents
is newer than the last time the user started tin. If reading
news via NNTP my XMOTD patch will have to have been applied
to your NNTP server.
A user starting tin for the first time can be automatically
subscribed to a list of newsgroups that are deemed
appropriate by the news administrator. The subscriptions
file should be created in your news lib directory (i.e.,
$NEWSLIBDIR/subscriptions) and should have file permissions
set to 0644. If you read news via NNTP, then your news
server must support the LIST SUBSCRIPTIONS command. It is
part of the Common NNTP Extensions and all modern servers
should understand it.
SCREEN FORMAT
Tin has four separate levels of operation: Group selection
level, Group level, Thread level and Article level.
At the Group Selection level the title displays (the name of
the newsserver and) the number of subscribed groups
(containing new unread articles). The newsgroups are
displayed in the middle of the screen with the number of
unread articles displayed on the same line in front.
1 2 news.admin.technical Technical aspect
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TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
2 157 news.software.readers Discussion of so
3 5 comp.sources.misc Diskussionen ueb
4 17 de.admin.news.net-abuse.misc Diskussion ueber
There may also be a character prefixing the line. An
explanation follows:
u This group is unsubscribed. To see only your
subscribed groups use the 'r' or 'y' toggle keys.
M This is a moderated group. Any posts you make will
have to be approved by the group administrator
before it will be made public. tin will ask for
confirmation before you post to a moderated group.
N This is a new newsgroup which has been created
since you last used tin. New newsgroups are not
subscribed to by default. Subscribe to it in the
normal way if you wish the group to continue to
appear in your Selection Menu. Simply ignore new
newsgroups and they will be gone the next time you
start tin. You will have to yank in all the groups
to find them in a later session.
D This group no longer exists. If you no longer wish
to see this group then unsubscribe from it in the
normal way. This flag will only appear if you have
set strip_bogus=Ask in the Options Menu.
X You may no longer make posts to this group. Often
a group will be superceded by a more appropriately
named one.
= This group has been renamed and you may no longer
post to it. If you do, then you will receive an
error from your newsserver telling you the correct
group to post to.
At the Group level the title contains the name of the group,
the number of conversation threads, the threading-method,
the total number of articles, the number of killed articles
and the number of hot articles. i.e., alt.sources (5T(B) 23A
0K 0H). If the group has been setup not to thread articles
the title will be alt.sources (23U 0K 0H). It might also
contain an R if your are in 'show_only_unread' mode and an M
if the group is moderated. (The later does not work with the
-n command-line switch!).
1 + 2 18 Bnews sources? iain@ecrc.de
2 + 17 1275 Plese Help! I Have A Problem! dau@lus.er
Page 6 (printed 5/3/98)
TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
At the Article level the page header has the following
format:
<Date posted> <Newsgroup> <Thread 1 of n>
<Article Num> <Subject> <Num of responses in thread>
<Author> <Organization>
<Article body>
i.e.,
24 Jul 15:20:03 GMT alt.sources Thread 1 of 2
Article 452 Bnews sources? 3 responses
iain@anl433.uucp Organization name
<Article body>
COMMON MOVING KEYS
This table shows the common keys/commands for moving at all
five levels within tin.
ansi/vt100 Other Terminals
Beg. of list/article Home 1 (^R or g at article level)
End of list/article End $ (also G at article level)
Page Up PgUp ^U or ^B or b
Page Down PgDn ^D or ^F or <SPACE>
Line Up Up arrow k (not at article level)
Line Down Down arrow j (not at article level)
COMMON EDITING COMMANDS
An emacs style editing package allows the easy editing of
input strings. An history list allows the easy reuse of
previously entered strings. The following commands are
available when editing a string:
^A, ^E move to beginning or end of line, respectively.
^F, ^B nondestructive move forward or back one location,
respectively.
^D delete the character currently under the cursor,
or send EOF if no characters in the buffer.
^H, <DEL> delete character left of the cursor.
^K delete from cursor to end of line.
^P, ^N move through history, previous and next,
respectively.
^L, ^R redraw the current line.
<CR> places line on history list if nonblank, appends
newline and returns to the caller.
<ESC> aborts the present editing operation.
Page 7 (printed 5/3/98)
TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
NEWSGROUP SELECTION COMMANDS
4 Select group 4.
^L Redraw page.
^R Reset $HOME/.newsrc file.
<CR> Read current group.
<TAB> View next group with unread news. Will wrap around
to the beginning of the group selection list
looking for unread groups.
& Toggle use of ansi color.
c Mark current group as all read with confirmation
and goto next group in group selection list.
C Mark current group as all read and goto next
unread group in group selection list.
d Toggle display to show just the group name or the
group name and the groups description.
g Choose a new group by name. The position of the
group within the group list will also be asked
for. By entering '1' the new group will be the
first group in the displayed list, by entering '8'
the group will be the eighth group in the list
etc. By entering '$' the group will be the last
group displayed.
h Help screen of newsgroup selection commands.
H Toggle the display of help mini menu at the bottom
of the screen.
i Show description of the current newsgroup at the
last line.
I Toggle inverse video.
m Move the current group within the group selection
list. By entering '1' the group will become the
first displayed group in the list, by entering '8'
the eighth group in the list etc. By entering '$'
the group will be the last group displayed.
M User configurable options menu (for more
information see section Options Menu).
q Quit tin - ask the user to confirm if
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TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
confirm_to_quit=ON.
Q Quit tin - don't ask the user to confirm.
r Toggle display of all subscribed to groups and
just the subscribed to groups containing unread
articles. Command has no effect if groups were
read from the command line when tin was started.
R Mail a bug report or comment to the author. This
is the best way of getting bugs fixed and features
added/changed.
s Subscribe to current group.
S Subscribe to groups matching user specified
pattern.
u Unsubscribe to current group.
U Unsubscribe to groups matching user specified
pattern.
v Print tin version information.
w Post an article to current group.
W List articles posted by user. The date posted,
the newsgroup and the subject are listed.
X Quit tin without saving (changed) configuration.
y The first time this command is called it will yank
in all groups from $NEWSLIBDIR/active that are not
in $HOME/.newsrc. After any groups have been
subscribed/unsubscribed to, this command if
pressed again will reread $HOME/.newsrc and
display only the subscribed groups.
Y Reread the active file to see if any new news has
arrived since starting tin.
z Mark all articles in the current group as unread.
/ Group forward search.
? Group backward search.
GROUP INDEX COMMANDS
4 Select article 4.
^A Auto select article(s) via a menu. Read the
Page 9 (printed 5/3/98)
TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
section Filtering Articles for more information.
[ Auto select article(s) with a single key. The
defaults used for selection are set via the
following three tinrc config variables:
default_filter_select_header (0=Subject:, 1=From:,
2=MessageiId:), default_filter_select_global
(ON=apply to all groups, OFF=apply to current
group) and default_filter_select_expire (ON=expire
after specified time, OFF=always apply the
filter). Read the section Filtering Articles for
more information.
^K Kill article(s) via a menu. Read the section
Filtering Articles for more information.
] Kill article(s) with a single key. The defaults
used for killing are set via the following three
tinrc config variables: default_filter_kill_header
(0=Subject:, 1=From:, 2=MessageiId:),
default_filter_kill_global (ON=apply to all
groups, OFF=apply to current group) and
default_filter_kill_expire (ON=expire after
specified time, OFF=always apply the filter).
Read the section Filtering Articles for more
information.
^L Redraw page.
<CR> Read current article.
<TAB> View next unread article or group.
a Author forward search.
A Author backward search.
c Mark all articles as read with confirmation.
C Mark all articles as read and goto next group with
unread news.
d Toggle display to show just the subject or the
subject and author.
g Choose a new group by name.
h Help screen of group index commands.
H Toggle the display of help mini menu at the bottom
of the screen.
Page 10 (printed 5/3/98)
TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
i Display the subject of the first article in the
current thread in the last line.
I Toggle inverse video.
K Mark article/thread as read and advance to next
unread article/thread.
l List the author of each response in current thread
and enter thread selection level.
m Mail current article / thread / auto selected
(hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
tagged articles to someone.
M User configurable options menu (for more
information see section Options Menu).
n Go to next group.
N Go to next unread article.
o Output current article / thread / auto selected
(hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
tagged articles to printer.
p Go to previous group.
P Go to previous unread article.
q Return to previous level.
Q Quit tin.
s Save current article / thread / auto selected
(hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
tagged articles to file / files / mailbox. To
save to a mailbox enter '=' or '=mailbox' when
asked for filename to save to. To save in
<newsgroup name>/<filename> format enter
'+filename'. Environment variables are allowed
within a filename (i.e., $SOURCES/dir/filename).
t Tag current article / thread for mailing ('m') /
piping ('|') / printing ('o') / saving ('s') /
reposting ('x').
u Cycle the threading mode through no threading,
threading by subject, threading by references,
threading on both subject and references.
U Untag all articles that were tagged.
Page 11 (printed 5/3/98)
TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
v Print tin version information.
w Post an article to current group.
W List articles posted by user. The date posted,
the newsgroup and the subject are listed.
x Repost an already posted article / thread / auto
selected (hot) articles / articles matching
pattern / tagged articles to another newsgroup(s).
Useful for reposting from global to local
newsgroups. Do not use this to cross-post your own
articles.
X Mark all unread articles that have not been
selected as read, redo screen to reflect changes
and put index at the first thread to begin
reading. Pressing 'X' again will toggle back to
the way it was before. See '~' command for
clearing the toggle effect.
z Mark current article as unread.
Z Mark current thread as unread.
/ Search forward for specified subject.
? Search backward for specified subject.
- Show last message.
| Pipe current article / thread / auto selected
(hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
tagged articles into command.
* Select current thread for later processing.
. Toggle selection of current thread. If at least
one unread art, but not all unread arts, in thread
is selected, then all unread arts become selected.
@ Reverse all selections on all articles.
~ Undo all selections on all articles. It clears the
toggle effect of 'X' command. Thus after first
doing a 'X', one can then do '~' to reset
articles. Thus, one can iteratively whittle down
uninteresting threads.
+ Perform auto-selection on current group.
= Prompts for a pattern with which to match on. All
Page 12 (printed 5/3/98)
TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
threads
whose subjects match the pattern will be selected.
A pattern of "*" will match all subjects. Entering
just <CR> will cause the previous entered pattern
to be used.
; For each thread in current group, if it at least
one unread art is selected, all unread arts become
selected. This is useful for auto-selection on
author where reader wants to see entire thread.
THREAD LISTING COMMANDS
4 Select article 4 within thread.
^L Redraw page.
<CR> Read current article within thread.
<TAB> View next unread article within thread.
c Mark thread as read after confirmation and return
to previous level.
d Toggle display to show just the subject or the
subject and author.
h Help screen of thread listing commands.
H Toggle the display of help mini menu at the bottom
of the screen.
I Toggle inverse video.
K Mark thread as read and return to previous level.
q Return to previous level.
Q Quit tin.
r Toggle display to show all articles or only unread
articles.
R Mail a bug report or comment to the author. This
is the best way of getting bugs fixed and features
added/changed.
t Tag current article for mailing ('m') / piping
('|') / printing ('o') / saving ('s') / reposting
('x').
T Return to group index level.
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TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
v Print tin version information.
z Mark current article in thread as unread.
Z Mark all articles in thread as unread.
ARTICLE VIEWER COMMANDS
0 Read the base article in this thread.
4 Read response 4 in this thread.
^A Auto select article(s) via a menu. Read the
section Filtering Articles for more information.
[ Auto select article(s) with a single key. The
defaults used for selection are set via the
following three tinrc config variables:
default_filter_select_header (0=Subject:, 1=From:,
2=MessageiId:), default_filter_select_global
(ON=apply to all groups, OFF=apply to current
group) and default_filter_select_expire (ON=expire
after specified time, OFF=always apply the
filter). Read the section Filtering Articles for
more information.
^H Toggle display of all the articles mail header.
^K Kill article(s) via a menu. Read the section
Filtering Articles for more information.
] Kill article(s) with a single key. The defaults
used for killing are set via the following three
tinrc config variables: default_filter_kill_header
(0=Subject:, 1=From:, 2=MessageiId:),
default_filter_kill_global (ON=apply to all
groups, OFF=apply to current group) and
default_filter_kill_expire (ON=expire after
specified time, OFF=always apply the filter).
Read the section Filtering Articles for more
information.
^L Redraw page.
<CR> Goto next base article.
<TAB> Goto next unread article.
a Author forward search.
A Author backward search.
c Mark all articles as read with confirmation and
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TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
return to group selection level.
C Mark current group as all read and goto next
unread group in group selection list.
d Toggle rot-13 decoding for this article.
D Delete current article. It must have been posted
by the same user. The cancel message can be seen
in the newsgroup 'control'.
f Post a followup to the current article with a copy
of the article included.
e Edit the current article. Only available when in a
mailgroup.
F Post a followup to the current article.
h Help screen of article page commands.
H Toggle the display of help mini menu at the bottom
of the screen.
i Display the subject of the current article in the
last line.
I Toggle inverse video.
k Mark article as read and advance to next unread
article.
K Mark thread as read and advance to next unread
thread.
m Mail current article / thread / auto selected
(hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
tagged articles to someone.
M User configurable options menu (for more
information see section Options Menu).
n Go to the next article.
N Go to the next unread article.
o Output current article / thread / auto selected
(hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
tagged articles to printer.
p Go to the previous article.
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TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
P Go to the previous unread article.
q Return to previous level.
Q Quit tin.
r Reply through mail to the author of the current
article with a copy of the article included.
R Reply through mail to the author of the current
article.
s Save current article / thread / auto selected
(hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
tagged articles to file / files / mailbox. To
save to a mailbox enter '=' or '=mailbox' when
asked for filename to save to. To save in
<newsgroup name>/<filename> format enter
'+filename'. Environment variables are allowed
within a filename (i.e., $SOURCES/dir/filename).
t Tag current article for mailing ('m') / piping
('|') / printing ('o') / saving ('s') / reposting
('x').
T Return to group selection level.
v Print tin version information.
w Post an article to current group.
W List articles posted by user. The date posted,
the newsgroup and the subject are listed.
x Repost an already posted article / thread / auto
selected (hot) articles / articles matching
pattern / tagged articles to another newsgroup(s).
Useful for reposting from global to local
newsgroups. Do not use this to crosspost your own
articles.
z Mark article as unread.
/ Article forward search.
? Article backward search
| Pipe current article / thread / auto selected
(hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
tagged articles into command.
< Goto the first article in the current thread.
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TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
> Goto the last article in the current thread.
* Select current thread for later processing.
. Toggle selection of current article.
@ Reverse article selections.
~ Undo all selections on current thread.
: Skip quoted text.
GLOBAL OPTIONS MENU
This menu is accessed by pressing 'M' at all levels. It
allows the user to customize the behavior of tin. The
options are saved to the file $HOME/.tin/tinrc. Use <SPACE>
to toggle the required option and <CR> to set.
Auto save
Automatically save articles/threads by ``Archive-name:''
line in article header and post process them if process
type is not set to None.
Editor offset
Set ON if the editor used for posting, follow-ups and
bug reports has the capability of starting and
positioning the cursor at a specified line within a
file.
Mark saved read
Allows saved articles/threads to be automatically marked
as read.
Confirm Command
Allows certain commands (i.e., 'c' catchup) that require
user confirmation to be executed immediately if set OFF.
Draw arrow
Allows groups/articles to be selected by an arrow '->'
if set ON or by an highlighted bar if set OFF.
Print header
This allows the complete mail header or only the
``Subject:'' and ``From:'' fields to be output when
printing articles.
Goto 1st unread
This allows the cursor to be placed at the first / last
unread article upon entering a newsgroup with unread
news.
Scroll full page
Page 17 (printed 5/3/98)
TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
If set ON scrolling of groups/articles will be a full
page at a time, otherwise half a page at a time.
Catchup on quit
If set ON the user is asked when quitting if all groups
read during the current session should be marked read.
Thread articles
Threading type is possible on a per group basis by
setting the group attribute variable 'thread_arts' to 0
- 3 in the file $HOME/.tin/attributes.
Show only unread
If set ON show only new/unread articles, otherwise show
all articles.
Show description
If set ON show a short descriptive text for each
displayed newsgroup. The text used is taken from the
$NEWSLIBDIR/newsgroups file.
Show Author
If set 'None' only the ``Subject:'' line will be
displayed. If set 'Addr' ``Subject:'' line & the
address part of the ``From:'' line are displayed. If
set 'Name' ``Subject:'' line & the authors full name
part of the ``From:'' line are displayed. If set
'Both' ``Subject:'' line & all of the ``From:'' line are
displayed.
Process type
This specifies the default type of post processing to
perform on saved articles. The following types of
processing are allowed:
-none.
-unpacking of multi-part shell archives.
-unpacking of multi-part uuencoded files.
-unpacking of multi-part uuencoded files, which
produce a *.zoo archive whose contents is listed.
-unpacking of multi-part uuencoded files, which
produce a *.zoo archive whose contents is
extracted.
-unpacking of multi-part uuencoded files, which
produce a *.zip archive whose contents is listed.
-unpacking of multi-part uuencoded files, which
produce a *.zip archive whose contents is
extracted.
-unpacking of multi-part uuencoded files, which
produce a *.lha archive whose contents is listed
(AmigaDOS version only).
-unpacking of multi-part uuencoded files, which
produce a *.lha archive whose contents is extracted
Page 18 (printed 5/3/98)
TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
(AmigaDOS version only).
Sort articles by
This specifies how articles should be sorted. The
following sort types are allowed:
-don't sort articles (default).
-sort articles by ``Subject:'' field (ascending &
descending).
-sort articles by ``From:'' field (ascending &
descending).
-sort articles by ``Date:'' field (ascending &
descending).
Save directory
The directory where articles/threads are to be saved.
Default is $HOME/News.
Mail directory
The directory where articles/threads are to be saved in
mailbox format. This feature is mainly for use with the
Elm mail program. It allows the user to save
articles/threads/groups simply by giving '=' as the
filename to save to.
Printer
The printer program with options that is to be used to
print articles. Default is lpr for BSD machines and lp
for SysV machines.
TINRC CONFIGURABLE VARIABLES
The following variables are user configurable by editing
$HOME/.tin/tinrc directly. Most of them could be set in the
GLOBAL OPTIONS MENU (the listing above is very incomplete).
art_marked_deleted
The character used to show that an article was deleted.
Default is D.
art_marked_inrange
The character used to show that an article is in a
range. Default is #.
art_marked_return
The character used to show that an article will return.
Default is '-'.
art_marked_selected
The character used to show that an article/thread is
autoselected (hot). Default is *.
art_marked_unread
The character used to show that an article has not been
Page 19 (printed 5/3/98)
TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
read. Default is '+'.
ask_for_metamail
If ON tin will ask before using metamail to display MIME
messages. This only occurs, if use_metamail is also
switched ON. Default is ON.
auto_cc
If ON automatically put your name in the Cc: field when
mailing an article. Default is OFF
auto_list_thread
If ON automatically list thread when entering it using
right arrow key. Default is ON.
auto_save
If ON articles/threads with Archive-name: in mail header
will be automatically saved with the Archive-name &
part/patch no. Default is OFF
batch_save
If set ON articles/threads will be saved in batch mode
when save -S or mail -M is specified on the command
line. Default is OFF.
beginner_level
If set ON a mini menu of the most useful commands will
be displayed at the bottom of the screen for each level.
Default is ON.
catchup_read_groups
If ON ask user on exit if read groups should all be
marked read. Default is OFF.
confirm_action
If ON confirm certain commands with y/n before
executing. Default is ON.
confirm_quit
If ON confirm with y/n before quitting. Default is ON.
default_editor_format
The format string used to create the editor start
command with parameters. Default is '%E +%N %F' (i.e.,
/bin/vi +7 .article).
default_filter_days
Default is 28.
default_filter_kill_case
Defaults for quick (1 key) kill filter case. ON=filter
case sensitive OFF=ignore case. Default is OFF.
Page 20 (printed 5/3/98)
TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
default_filter_kill_expire
Defaults for quick (1 key) kill filter expire. ON=limit
to default_filter_days OFF=don't ever expire. Default is
OFF.
default_filter_kill_global
Defaults for quick (1 key) kill filter global. ON=apply
to all groups OFF=apply to current group. Default is ON.
default_filter_kill_header
Defaults for quick (1 key) kill filter header.
0=Subject: 1=From: 2=Message-Id:. Default is 0.
default_filter_select_case
Defaults for quick (1 key) auto-selection filter case.
ON=filter case sensitive OFF=ignore case. Default is
OFF.
default_filter_select_expire
Defaults for quick (1 key) auto-selection filter expire.
ON=limit to default_filter_days OFF=don't ever expire.
Default is OFF.
default_filter_select_global
Defaults for quick (1 key) auto-selection filter global.
ON=apply to all groups OFF=apply to current group.
Default is ON.
default_filter_select_header
Defaults for quick (1 key) auto-selection filter header.
0=Subject: 1=From: 2=Message-Id:. Default is 0.
default_maildir
Directory where articles/threads are saved in mailbox
format. Default is $HOME/Mail.
default_mailer_format
The format string used to create the mailer command with
parameters that is used for mailing articles to other
people. Default is '%M "%T" < %F' (i.e., /bin/mail
"iain" < .article). The flexible format allows other
mailers with different command line parameters to be
used such as 'elm -s "%S" "%T" < "%F"' (i.e., elm -s
"subject" "iain" < .article).
default_printer
Print program with parameters used to print
articles/threads. Default is /usr/bin/lpr.
default_savedir
Directory where articles/threads are saved. Default is
$HOME/News.
Page 21 (printed 5/3/98)
TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
default_sigfile
The path that specifies the signature file to use when
posting, following up to or replying to an article. If
the path is a directory then the signature will be
randomly generated from files that are in the specified
directory. Default is $HOME/.Sig.
draw_arrow
If ON use -> otherwise highlighted bar for selection.
Default is OFF.
force_screen_redraw
Specifies whether a screen redraw should always be done
after certain external commands. Default is OFF.
full_page_scroll
If ON scroll full page of groups/articles otherwise half
a page. Default is ON.
group_catchup_on_exit
if ON catchup group when leaving with the left arrow
key. Default is ON
groupname_max_length
Maximum length of the names of newsgroups to be
displayed so that more of the newgroup description can
be displayed. Default is 32.
inverse_okay
If ON use inverse video for page headers at different
levels. Default is ON.
keep_dead_articles
If ON keep all failed postings in $HOME/dead.articles
besides keeping the last failed posting in
$HOME/dead.article. Default is ON.
mail_8bit_header
Allows 8bit characters unencoded in the header of mail
message. Default is OFF. Turning it ON is effective
only if mail_mime_encoding is also set to 8bit. Leaving
it OFF is safe for most users except for Korean users
with localized sendmail.
mail_mime_encoding
MIME encoding of the body in mail message, if necessary
(8bit, base64, quoted-printable, 7bit) Default is 8bit.
If set to 7bit, CJK text is encoded into ISO-2022-
KR/JP/CN. Currently, only ISO-2022-KR is implemented.
No encoding (or charset conversion) is done (i.e., local
charset is used as it is) if set to 8bit.
Page 22 (printed 5/3/98)
TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
mm_charset
charset supported locally, which is also used for MIME
header (charset parameter and charset name in header
encoding) in mail and news posting unless local charset
needs to be encoded into other charset as in case of
ISO-2022-KR encoding of EUC-KR in mail message.
Possible values include ISO-8859-X (where X is 1 to 10),
EUC-JP, EUC-CN, EUC-KR, and perhaps names for various
Chinese and Japanese charsets (GB, Big5, SJIS, Shift
JIS, and so forth). If MIME_STRICT_CHARSET is defined
at the compile time, text in charset other than the
value of this parameter is considered not displayable
and represented as '?'. Otherwise, all character sets
are regarded as compatible with the display. If it's not
set, the value of the environment variable MM_CHARSET is
used. US-ASCII or compile-time default is used in case
neither of them is defined.
keep_posted_articles
If ON keep all postings in $HOME/Mail/posted. Default is
ON.
mail_quote_format
Default is "In article %M you wrote:"
mark_saved_read
If ON mark articles that are saved as read. Default is
ON.
news_quote_format
Format of quote line when posting/following up an
article (%A=Address, %D=Date, %F=Addr+Name,
%G=Groupname, %M=MessageId, %N=Name). Default is "%F
wrote:"
no_advertising
Turn off advertising in header (X-Newsreader/X-Mailer).
Default is OFF.
pos_first_unread
If ON put cursor at first unread article in group
otherwise at last article. Default is ON.
post_8bit_header
Allows 8bit characters unencoded in the header of news
article. Default is OFF. Only enacted if
post_mime_encoding is also set to 8bit.
post_mime_encoding
MIME encoding of the body in news message, if necessary.
(8bit, base64, quoted-printable, 7bit) Default is 8bit,
which leads to no encoding (or charset conversion, i.e.,
Page 23 (printed 5/3/98)
TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
local charset is posted as it is). If set to 7bit,
Chinese and Japanese text is encoded into ISO-2022-CN/JP
(not yet implemented). 7bit is equivalent to 8bit for
Korean news messages.
post_process_type
Type of post processing to perform after saving
articles. 0=(none) 1=(unshar) 2=(uudecode) 3=(uudecode
& list zoo) 4=(uud & extract zoo) 5=(uud & list zip)
6=(uud & extract zip). Default is 0.
post_process_command
Full pathname of a command to be run after successfully
uudecoding an article / thread. This option should be
used in conjunction with post processing type
2=(uudecode) (see above)
A sample script (for Linux) demonstrates a possible use
for this :
#!/bin/bash
# Sample Tin newsreader postprocessor.
# $1 is the filename that has been uudecoded.
#
[ ! -f "$1" ] && exit 1
case ${1##*.} in
# View pictures in console mode or X
#
gif|jpg|GIF|JPG)
[ -z "$DISPLAY" ] && zgv $1 || xv $1
;;
# List zip archives
#
zip)
unzip -l $1
;;
*)
echo "Unsupported or missing suffix: ${1##*.}"
file $1
;;
esac
echo ""
echo "Press <RETURN> to exit."
read ans
# end of sample script
Page 24 (printed 5/3/98)
TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
print_header
If ON print all of mail header otherwise Subject: &
From: lines. Default is OFF.
process_only_unread
If ON only save/print/pipe/mail unread articles (tagged
articles excepted). Default is ON.
quote_chars
The character used in quoting included text to article
followups and mail replies. The '_' character represents
a blank character and is replaced with ' ' when read.
Default is ':_'.
reread_active_file_secs
The news active file is reread at regular intervals to
show if any new news has arrived. Default is 1200.
save_to_mmdf_mailbox
Allows articles to be saved to a MMDF style mailbox
instead of mbox format. Default is OFF unless reading
news on SCO Unix which uses MMDF by default.
show_author
Part of from field to display 0) none 1) address 2) full
name 3) both. Default is 2.
show_description
If ON show group description text after newsgroup name
at group selection level. Default is ON.
show_last_line_prev_page
The last line of the previous page will be displayed as
the first line of next page. Default is OFF.
show_only_unread
If ON show only new/unread articles otherwise show all.
Default is ON.
show_only_unread_groups
If ON show only subscribed to groups that contain unread
articles. Default is OFF.
show_xcommentto
If ON, the real name in the X-Comment-To header is
displayed in the upper-right corner. Default is OFF.
sigdashes
If ON prepend the signature with dashes '0 0. Default is
ON.
sort_article_type
Page 25 (printed 5/3/98)
TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
Sort articles by 0=(nothing) 1=(Subject descend)
2=(Subject ascend) 3=(From descend) 4=(From ascend)
5=(Date descend) 6=(Date ascend). Default is 6.
start_editor_offset
If ON editor will be started with cursor offset into the
file otherwise the cursor will be positioned at the
first line. Default is ON.
strip_blanks
Strips the blanks from the end of each line therefore
speeding up the display when reading on a slow terminal
or via modem. Default is ON.
strip_bogus
Bogus groups are groups that are present in your .newsrc
file that no longer exist on the news server. There are
3 options. 0 means do nothing & always keep bogus
groups. 1 means bogus groups will be permanently
removed. 2 means that bogus groups will appear on the
Group Selection Menu, prefixed with a 'D'. This allows
you to unsubscribe from them as and when you wish.
Default is 0 (Always Keep).
strip_newsrc
If ON, then unsubscribed groups will be permanently
removed from your .newsrc file. Default is OFF.
tab_after_X_selection
If enabled will automatically goto the first unread
article after having selected all hot articles and
threads with the 'X' command at group index level.
Default is OFF.
tab_goto_next_unread
If enabled pressing TAB at the article viewer level will
goto the next unread article immediately instead of
first paging through the current one. Default is ON.
thread_articles
Thread articles by 0=(nothing) 1=(Subject)
2=(References) 3=(Both) Default is 3, thread by
references and subject.
thread_catchup_on_exit
If ON catchup group/thread when leaving with the left
arrow key. Default is ON.
unlink_article
If ON remove ~/.article after posting. Default is ON.
use_builtin_inews
Page 26 (printed 5/3/98)
TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
Allows the builtin NNTP inews to be enabled/disabled.
This has no effect when reading/posting direct to local
spool where external inews will alsways be used. Default
is ON (enabled).
use_metamail
If ON metamail can/will be used to display MIME
articles. Default is ON.
use_mouse
Allows the mouse key support in a xterm to be
enabled/disabled. Default is OFF.
use_color
If enabled tin uses ansi-colors. Default is OFF.
wildcard
Allows you to select how tin matches strings. The
default is 0 and uses the wildmat notation, which is how
this has traditionally been handled. Setting this to 1
allows you to use full POSIX regular expressions. You
will probably want to update your filter file if you use
this regularly. NB: Newsgroup names will always be
matched using the wildmat notation.
GROUP ATTRIBUTES
Tin allows certain attributes to be set on a per group
basis. These group attributes are read from the file
$HOME/.tin/attributes. A later version will provide a menu
interface to set all the attributes. At present you will
have to edit the file with your editor :-(. The following
group attributes are available:
scope=alt.sources
maildir=/usr/iain/Mail/sources
savedir=/usr/iain/News/alt.sources
savefile==sources
organization=Wacky Bits Inc.
sigfile=/usr/iain/.funny_sig
followup_to=alt.sources.d
printer=/usr/local/bin/a2ps -nn | /bin/lpr
auto_select=ON
auto_save=ON
auto_save_msg=OFF
batch_save=OFF
delete_tmp_files=ON
show_only_unread=OFF
thread_arts=1
show_author=1
sort_art_type=5
post_proc_type=1
news_quote_format=IM %M %F wrote:
Page 27 (printed 5/3/98)
TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
scope=fido.*
x_comment_to=ON
Note that the ''scope=<groupname>'' line has to be specified
before the attributes are specified for that group.
All attributes are set to a reasonable default so you only
have to specify the attribute that you want to change (i.e.,
savedir).
All toggle attributes are set by specifying ON/OFF.
The thread_arts attribute is specified by a number from the
following range: 0=none, 1=subject, 2=references.
The show_author attribute is specified by a number from the
following range: 0=none, 1=username, 2=network address,
3=both.
The sort_art_type attribute is specified by a number from
the following range: 0=none, 1=subject descending, 2=subject
ascending, 3=from descending, 4=from ascending, 5=date
descending, 6=date ascending.
The post_proc_type attribute is specified by a number from
the following range: 0=none, 1=unshar, 2=uudecode,
3=uudecode & list zoo archive, 4=uudecode & extract zoo
archive, 5=uudecode & list zip archive, 6=uudecode & extract
zip archive. (note: if running on AmigaDOS the zoo options
are replaced by there corresponding lha archiver options).
FILTERING ARTICLES
When there is a subject or an author which you are either
very interested in, or find completely uninteresting, you
can easily instruct tin to auto-select or auto-kill articles
with specific subjects or from specific authors. These
instructions are stored in a kill file.
This menu is accessed by pressing '^K' at the group and page
levels. It allows the user to kill or select an article
that matches the current ``Subject:'' line, ``From:'' line
or a string entered by the user. The user entered string can
be applied to the ``Subject:'' or ``From:'' lines of an
article. The kill description can be limited to the current
newsgroup or it can apply to all newsgroups. Once entered
the user can abort the command and not save the kill
description, edit the kill file or save the kill
description. WARNING: the online killfile-menu is somewhat
buggy and might trash your killfile, it is highly recomended
not to use it! The killfile synatx is esay to understand so
you could edit it with your desired editor outside of tin.
Page 28 (printed 5/3/98)
TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
On starting tin the user's killfile $HOME/.tin/filter is
read and on entering a newsgroup any kill or select
descriptions are applied.
Articles that match a kill description are marked killed and
are not displayed. Articles that match an auto-select
description are marked with a ''*'' when displayed.
POSTING ARTICLES
Tin allows posting of articles, follow-up to already posted
articles and replying direct through mail to the author of
an article.
Use the 'w' command to post an article to a newsgroup.
After entering the post subject the default editor (i.e.,
vi) or the editor specified by the $EDITOR environment
variable will be started and the article can be entered. To
crosspost articles simply add a comma and the name of the
newsgroup(s) to the end of the ``Newsgroups:'' line at the
beginning of the article. After saving and exiting the
editor you are asked if you wish to a)bort posting the
article, e)dit the article again or p)ost the article to the
specified newsgroup(s).
Use the 'W' command to display a history of the articles you
have posted. The date the article was posted, which
newsgroups the article was posted to and the articles
subject line are displayed.
Use the 'f' / 'F' command to post a follow-up article to an
already posted article. The 'f' command will copy the text
of the original article into the editor. The editing
procedure is the same as when posting an article with the
'w' command.
Use the 'r' / 'R' command to reply direct through mail to
the author of an already posted article. The 'r' command
will copy the text of the original article into the editor.
The editing procedure is the same as when posting an article
with the 'w' command. After saving and exiting the editor
you are asked if you wish to a)bort sending the article,
e)dit the article again or s)end the article to the author.
CUSTOMIZING THE ARTICLE QUOTE STRING
When posting a followup to an article or replying direct to
the author of an article via email the text of the article
can be quoted. The beginning of the quoted text can contain
information about the quoted article (i.e., Name and the
Message Id of the article). To allow for different
situations certain information from the article can be used
in the quoted string. The following variables are expanded
if found in the tinrc variables 'mail_quote_format=' or
Page 29 (printed 5/3/98)
TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
'news_quote_format=':
%A Address (Email)
%D Date
%F Full address (%N (%A))
%G Groupname
%M Message Id
%N Name of user
i.e.,
mail_quote_format=On %D in %G you wrote:
news_quote_format=In %M, %F wrote:
would expand when used to:
On 21 Jul 1992 09:45:51 -0400 in alt.sources you wrote:
In <abcINN123@ecrc.de>, Iain Lea (iain@ecrc.de) wrote:
The quoted text section of an article is marked by a
preceding quote string at the beginning of each quoted line.
The default quote string is set to the tinrc variable
'quote_chars=' to ones own preference. A number of other
newsreaders use the '> ' quoting string. To set this one
would have to write 'quote_chars=>_' (note that '_'
underline is used to represent a space).
MAILING PIPING PRINTING REPOSTING AND SAVING ARTICLES
The command interface to mail ('m'), pipe ('|'), print
('o'), repost ('x') and save ('s') articles is the same for
ease of use.
The initial command will ask you to select which a)rticle,
t)hread, h)ot (auto selected) r)egex pattern, t)agged
articles you wish to mail, pipe etc.
Tagged articles must have already been tagged with the 't'
command. All tagged articles can be untagged by the 'U'
untag command.
If regex pattern is selected you are asked to enter a
pattern (i.e., to match all articles subject lines
containing 'net News' you enter *net News*). Any articles
that match the entered expression will be mailed, piped etc.
See also the wildcard= tinrc variable for advanced pattern
matching options.
To save articles to a mailbox with the name of the current
newsgroup (i.e., Alt.sources) enter '=' or '=<mailbox name>'
when asked for the save filename.
To save articles in <newsgroup name>/<filename> format enter
'+<filename>'.
When saving articles you can specify whether the saved files
should be post processed (i.e., unshar shell archive,
uudecode multiple parts etc). A default process type can be
set by the 'Process type:' in the 'M' options menu.
Page 30 (printed 5/3/98)
TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
AUTOMATIC MAILING AND SAVING NEW NEWS
Tin allows new/unread news articles to be mailed (-M
option)/saved (-S option) in batch mode for later reading.
Useful when going on holiday and you don't want to return
and find that expire has removed a whole load of unread
articles. Best to run from crontab everyday while away,
after which you will be mailed a report of which articles
were mailed/saved from which newsgroups and the total number
of articles mailed/saved. Articles are saved in a private
news structure under your <savedir> directory (default is
$HOME/News). Be careful of using this option if you read a
lot of groups because you could overflow your file system.
If you only want to save a few groups it would be best to
backup your full $HOME/.newsrc and create a new one that
only contains the newsgroups you want to mail/save. Saved
news can be read later by tin-R.
tin-M iain -c -f newsrc.mail
(mail any unread articles in newgroups
specified in file newsrc.mail)
tin-S -c -f newsrc.save
(save any unread articles in newgroups
specified in file newsrc.save)
tin-R (read any articles saved by tin -S)
SIGNATURES
Tin will recognize a signature in either $HOME/.signature or
$HOME/.Sig. If $HOME/.signature exists, then the signature
will be pulled into the editor for mail commands. A
signature in $HOME/.signature will not be pulled into the
editor for posting commands since inews will append the
signature itself.
A signature in $HOME/.Sig will be pulled into the editor for
both posting and mailing commands.
The following is an example of a $HOME/.Sig file:
NAMES Iain Lea iain.lea@scn.de
SNAIL Bruecken Str 12, 90419 Nuernberg 90, Germany
PHONE +49-911-978-3120 (work)
Tin also has the capability to generate random signatures on
a per newsgroup basis if so desired. The way to accomplish
this is to specify the default signature or the group
attribute sigfile as a directory. If for example the
sigfile path is /usr/iain/.sigs and .sigs is a directory
then tin will select a random signature from any file that
is in the directory .sigs (note: one signature per numbered
file). A random signature can also consist of a fixed part
signature that can contain your name, address etc. followed
Page 31 (printed 5/3/98)
TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
by the random sig. The fixed part of the random sig is read
from the file $HOME/.sigfixed.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
TINRC
Define this variable if you want to specify command
line options that tin should be started with to save
typing them each time it is started. The contents of
the environment variable are added to the front of the
command line options before it is parsed therefore
allowing an option specified on the command line to
override the same option specified in the environment.
Note that environment variables that are used to set
message header lines can also be set by adding the
header name and value to the $HOME/.tin/headers file.
TIN_HOMEDIR
Define this variable if you do not want the .tin
directory in $HOME/.tin. (i.e., if you want all tin's
private files in /tmp/.tin you would set TIN_HOMEDIR to
/tmp.
TIN_INDEX_NEWSDIR
Define this variable if you do not want the .news
directory in $HOME/.tin/.news. (i.e., if you want all
tin's news index files in /tmp/.news you would set
TIN_INDEX_NEWSDIR to /tmp.
TIN_INDEX_MAILDIR
Define this variable if you do not want the .mail
directory in $HOME/.tin/.mail. (i.e., if you want all
tin's mail index files in /tmp/.mail you would set
TIN_INDEX_MAILDIR to /tmp.
TIN_INDEX_SAVEDIR
Define this variable if you do not want the .save
directory in $HOME/.tin/.save. (i.e., if you want all
tin's save index files in /tmp/.save you would set
TIN_INDEX_SAVEDIR to /tmp.
TIN_LIBDIR
Define this variable if you want to override the
NEWSLIBDIR path that was compiled into the tin binary
via the Makefile.
TIN_SPOOLDIR
Define this variable if you want to override the
SPOOLDIR path that was compiled into the tin binary via
the Makefile.
TIN_NOVROOTDIR
Define this variable if you want to override the
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TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
NOVROOTDIR path that was compiled into the tin binary
via the Makefile.
TIN_ACTIVEFILE
Define this variable if you want to override the
NEWSLIBDIR/active path that was compiled into the tin
binary via the Makefile.
NNTPSERVER
The default NNTP server to remotely read news from.
This variable only needs to be set if the -r command
line option is specified and the file /etc/nntpserver
does not exist.
NNTPPORT
The NNTP tcp port to read news from. This variable
only needs to be set if the the tcp port is not the
default 119.
DISTRIBUTION
Set the article header field ``Distribution:'' to the
contents of the variable instead of the system default.
TEX2ISO
Set the article viewer to decode German style umlaut
codes to ISO latin1. Value 0 has the same effect as
not defining the variable. Use in combination with
ISO2ASC.
ISO2ASC
Set the ISO to ASCII charset decoding table character
to use in decoding an articles text. Values can range
from 0 to 6.
ORGANIZATION
Set the article header field ``Organization:'' to the
contents of the variable instead of the system default.
If reading news on an Apollo DomainOS machine the
environment variable NEWSORG has to be used instead of
ORGANIZATION.
REPLYTO
Set the article header field ``Reply-To:'' to the
return address specified by the variable. This is
useful if the machine is not registered in the UUCP
mail maps or if you wish to receive replies at a
different machine.
ADD_ADDRESS
This can contain an address to append to the return
address when replying directly through mail to somebody
whose mail address is not directly recognized by the
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TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
local host. For example say the return address is
user@bigvax, but bigvax is not recognized by your host,
so therefore the mail will not reach user. But the
host littevax is known to recognize your host and
bigvax, so if ADD_ADDRESS is set (i.e., 'setenv
ADD_ADDRESS @littevax' for csh or 'set ADD_ADDRESS
@littevax' and 'export ADD_ADDRESS' for sh) the address
user@bigvax@littlevax will be used and the mail will
reach user@bigvax. This variable has precedence over
the file $HOME/.tin/add_address that may also contain
an address.
BUG_ADDRESS
If the 'R' command bug report mail address is not
correct this variable should be set to the correct mail
address. This variable has precedence over the file
$HOME/.tin/bug_address that may also contain a mail
address.
MAILER
This variable has precedence over the default mailer
that is used in all mailing operations within tin
(i.e., replying 'rR', and bug reports 'R').
EDITOR
This variable has precedence over the default editor
(i.e., vi) that is used in all editing operations
within tin (i.e., posting 'w', replying 'rR', follow-
ups 'fF' and bug reports 'R').
AUTOSUBSCRIBE
tin interprets this variable similarly to rn. It
contains a list of patterns, separated by commas and
possibly prefixed with exclamation points. A new group
is checked against the list of patterns; if it matches,
tin subscribes the user to the group without further
query. An exclamation point negates the meaning of a
match on this pattern, and can be used to cancel
certain matches. For example, setting
AUTOSUBSCRIBE=comp.os.unix.*,talk.*,!talk.politics.*
will automatically subscribe the user to all new groups
in the comp.os.unix hierarchy, and all talk groups
other than talk.politics groups (which will be queried
for as usual.)
AUTOUNSUBSCRIBE
tin interprets this variable similarly to rn. It is
handled like the AUTOSUBSCRIBE variable, but groups
matching the list are unsubscribed from without further
query. For example, setting
AUTOUNSUBSCRIBE=alt.flame.*,u*,!uk.* will
automatically unsubscribe the user from all new
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TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
alt.flame groups and all groups starting with u
(university groups) other than UK groups (which will be
queried for as usual.)
SPAMTRAP
Set this variable to a list of commaseparated strings
to be warned if you are replying to an article by mail
where the e-mail address contains one of these strings.
The matching is caseinsensitive. Example:
SPAMTRAP=spam,delete,remove
TIPS AND TRICKS
Tin can be pretty much be navigated by using the four cursor
keys. The left arrow key goes up a level, the right arrow
key goes down a level, the up arrow key goes up a line (page
at article viewer level) and the down arrow key goes down a
line (page at article viewer level).
The following newsgroups provide useful information
concerning news software:
-news.software.readers (info. about news user agents
tin, rn, nn, vn etc.)
-news.software.nntp (info. about NNTP)
-news.software.b (info. about news transport agents
Bnews, Cnews and INN)
-news.answers (Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about
many different themes)
Many prompts (i.e., 'Mark everything as read? (y/n): y')
within tin offer a default choice that the cursor is
positioned on. By pressing <CR> the default value is taken.
Many prompts (i.e., 'Post subject []>') within tin can be
aborted by pressing ESC.
When tin is run in an xterm window it will resize itself
each time the xterm is resized.
Tin will reread the active file at set intervals to show any
newly arrived news.
XTERM BUTTONS
If the environment variable TERM is set to xterm, then
button pressing can be used to select groups and articles.
In this discussion, the buttons are assumed to be assigned
conventionally (i.e., Button1 is the left button).
In general (i.e., for the group, thread, article and spool
menus),
Button1 (left)
enters next (lower) level if you click on a
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TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
article, otherwise pages down.
Button2 (centre)
returns to the previous (upper) level if you click
on a article, otherwise pages up.
Button3 (right)
positions on the article line under mouse cursor,
or pages down if you've clicked outside the list
of articles.
In the group selection menu, if the mouse is pointing at a
group then:
left button
moves to and selects the group pointed at, just
like <CR>.
centre button
quits the program, just like `q'.
right button
moves to the group pointed at.
In the article menu, if the mouse is pointing at an article
(or thread) then:
left button
reads the article pointed at, just like <CR>, or
the thread, just like `l'.
centre button
exits the menu, catching up on the group if you
have `group_catchup_on_exit` set in your
configuration, just like `q'.
right button
moves to the article (or thread) pointed at.
In the thread menu, if the mouse is pointing at an article
then:
left button
reads article pointed at, just like <CR>.
centre button
exits the menu, catching up on the thread if you
have `thread_catchup_on_exit` set in your
configuration, just like `q'.
right button
moves to the article pointed at.
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TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
In the spool selection menu, if the mouse is pointing at a
spool selection then:
left button
moves to the spool pointed at.
other buttons
moves to and selects the spool pointed at. Just
like <CR>.
In other menus and areas button pressing reverts back to
usual cut and paste of xterm, but after one click of any
button.
FILES
$HOME/.newsrc subscribed to newsgroups.
$HOME/.newsauth ``nntpserver password [user]'' pairs for
NNTP servers that require authorization.
$HOME/.tin/tinrc options.
$HOME/.tin/attributes
contains user specified group
attributes.
$HOME/.tin/.news newsgroups index files directory.
$HOME/.tin/.mail mailgroups index files directory.
$HOME/.tin/.save saved newsgroups index files directory.
$HOME/.tin/active.mail
active file of user's mailgroups.
$HOME/.tin/active.save
active file of user's saved newsgroups.
$HOME/.tin/add_address
address to add to when replying through
mail.
$HOME/.tin/bug_address
address to send bug reports to.
$HOME/.tin/filter filtering file for article killing and
auto-selection.
$HOME/.tin/group.times
list of last time all groups were
updated (used only by tind index
daemon).
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TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
$HOME/.tin/headers extra header lines to be added to each
article to be posted.
$HOME/.tin/posted history of articles posted by user.
$HOME/.tin/newsrctable
``nntpserver newsrc shortname'' pairs to
use with -g command-line switch.
$HOME/.signature signature.
$HOME/.Sig signature.
$HOME/.sigfixed fixed part of a randomly generated
signature.
/usr/lib/news/active.times
Contains list of new newsgroups as they
are added to the news history file.
/usr/lib/news/motd News message of the day file.
/usr/lib/news/newsgroups
Short description of all newsgroups.
/usr/lib/news/subscriptions
List of newsgroups to subscribe first
time user to.
BUGS
Yes
HISTORY
Based on the tass newsreader that was developed by Rich
Skrenta and posted to alt.sources in March 1991. Tass was
itself heavily influenced by NOTES which was developed at
the University of Illinois by Ray Essick and Rob Kolstad in
1982.
v1.0 PL0 (full) was posted in 8 parts to alt.sources on 23
Aug 1991.
v1.1 PL0 (full) was posted in 11 parts to alt.sources on 13
Feb 1992.
v1.2 PL0 (full) was posted in 14 parts to alt.sources on 25
May 1993.
v1.2 PL1 (patch) was posted in 8 parts to alt.sources on 14
Jul 1993.
v1.2 PL2 (patch) was posted in 5 parts to alt.sources on 25
Sep 1993.
v1.3 PL0 beta has been available from
ftp.scn.de:/pub/news/tin/ since April 1995.
v1.3-unoff-beta has been available from ftp.akk.uni-
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TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
karlsruhe.de:/pub/news/clients/tin-unoff/ since March 1996.
CREDITS
Rich Skrenta author of tass v3.2 which this newsreader
used as its base.
Bill Davidsen author of envarg.c environment variable
reading routine.
Mike Gleason author of sigfile.c random signature
generation routines.
Paul Kramer author of intro.txt and cmdref.txt beginners
documentation.
Markus Kuhn author of charset.c and iso2asc.txt ISO-
8859-1 documentation.
Arnold Robbins author of strftime.c date formatting routine.
Jim Robinson co-author of original kill.c article kill and
auto-selection routines.
Rich Salz author of wildmat.c pattern matching and
parsdate.y date parsing routines.
Rich Stephan for translating the manual page to german.
Dave Taylor author of curses.c from the elm mailreader.
Chris Thewalt author of getline.c emacs style editing
routine.
Mark Tomlinson for porting tin to the AmigaDOS operating
system.
Andreas Wrede for porting tin to the OS/2 operating system.
Nigel Ellis & Piers Haken
for porting tin to the Windows/NT operating
system.
Andrew Greer for porting tin to the VAX/VMS operating
system.
Steven Madsen for adding PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) support.
Dieter Becker for generously posting certain releases for
me when my net connection was removed by a
group of very short sighted people.
Page 39 (printed 5/3/98)
TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
I wish to thank the following people for supplying patches:
David Abbott, Earle Ake, Joachim Astel, Anton Aylward,
George Baltz, Paul Bauwens, Dieter Becker, Greg Berigan,
Enrik Berkhan, Dan Berry, David Binderman, Chris Blum, Fokke
de Boer, Mark Boucher, Andreas Borchert, Bill Brolik, Herman
ten Brugge, Martin Buck, Leila Burrell-Davis, Sean Casey,
Peter Castro, Troy Cauble, Boleslaw Ciesielski, Robert
Claeson, Steven Cogswell, Don Costello, Bryan Curnutt, Ned
Danieley, Chris Davies, John Davis, Tom Dickey, Bryan
Dongray, Craig Durland, Kirk Edson, Stefan Elf, Rob Engle,
Brent Ermlick, Olle Eriksson, Michael Faurot, Werner Fleck,
Callum Gibson, Mike Glendinning, Philippe Goujard, Dan
Greenspan, Carl Hage, Paul Halsema, Ed Hanway, Scott Hauck,
Per Headland, Daniel Hermans, Jeff Hurwitt, Jose Herrero,
Dave Hill, Tom Hite, Torsten Homeyer, Ulli Horlacher, Keith
Howell, Tommy Hsieh, Shih-Kun Huang, Steve Hunt, Pieter
Immelman, Urs Janssen, Hal Jespersen, Robbin Johnson, Nelson
Kading, Geoffrey Keating, Fritz Kleeman, Dwarven Knight,
Karl-Koenig Koenigsson, Martin Kraemer, Kris Kugel, Olivier
Lacroix, Geoff Lane, Alex Lange, Alain Lasserre, Marty
Leisner, Hakan Lennestal, Chris Lewis, Otto Lind, Richard
Lloyd, Reinhard Luebke, Clifford Luke, David MacKenzie, Hugh
Mahon, Kazushi Marukawa, Owen Medd, Soren Moller, Sergio
Morales, Michael Morrell, Klaus Mueller, Udo Munk, James
Nugen, Oleg Ohotnikov, David O'Brien, Michael O'Reilly,
Ronald Orr, Jeb Palmer, Neil Parker, Tom Parry, Jim
Patterson, Sven Paulus, Walter Pelissero, Colin Perkins,
Eric Peterson, Tim Pierce, Bill Poitras, Wolfgang Prediger,
Ted Richards, Steve Robbins, Ollivier Robert, Jim Robinson,
Stephen Roseman, Roland Rosenfeld, Clifton Royston, Nickolay
Saukh, Rich Salz, Gary Sanders, John Sauter, Christopher
Sawtell, John Schmitz, Larry Schwimmer, Juergen Schroeder,
Bart Sears, Karl-Olav Serrander, Doug Sewell, Philip
Shearer, Andreas Siegert, Mark Smith, Steve Spearman, Cliff
Stanford, Steve Starck, Ralf Stephan, Jason Steiner, Ed
Sznyter, Derek Terveer, Julian Thompson, David Tiller, Andry
Timonin, Mark Tomlin, Michael Traub, Peter Van Rossem, Adri
Verhoef, Paul Vickers, Jason Wessel, Cary Whitney, Greg
Woods, Lloyd Wright
I wish to thank the following people for bug
reports/comments:
Jack Applin, Klaus Arzig, Scott Babb, Reiner Balling,
Preston Bannister, Bill de Beabien, Volker Beyer, Etienne
Bido, Roger Binns, Georg Biehler, Jean-Marc Bonnaudet, Eric
Bowles, Sean Brady, Jack Bryans, Ian Brown, Andreas Brosig,
Craig Bruce, Brett Carver, Tom Czarnik, Dave Datta, Mat
Davis, Karl Denninger, Klaus Dimmler, David Donovan, Peter
Dressler, Phil Edwards, Gerhard Ermer, Hugh Fader, Miguel
Farah, Joachim Feld, Paul Fox, Jay Geertsen, Herschel
Page 40 (printed 5/3/98)
TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.4) TIN(1)
Gelman, Bernhard Gmelch, Jason Haar, Viet Hoang, Mike
Holmes, Andy Jackson, Urs Janssen, Joe Johnson, Ralph Jud,
Cyrill Jung, Kuo-Chein Kai, Tonis Kelder, Hans-Juergen
Knopp, Sridhar Komandur, Tom Kovar, Bernhard Kroenung,
Murray Laing, Per Lindqvist, Eric Litman, Bob Lukas, Michael
Marshall, Deeptendu Majumder, Kazushi Marukawa, Olaf
Mittelstaedt, Phillip Molloy, Phil Molyneux, Toni Metz, Greg
Miller, Harald Milz, Jim Morris, Klaus Neuberger, Otto
Niesser, Reiner Oelhaf, Alex Pakter, John Palkovic, Dave
Pascoe, Wolf Paul, Richard Perlman, Andrew Phillips, Gerry
Pratt, Prentiss Riddle, Jon Robinson, David Ross, Jonas
Rwgmyr, Malkani Sanjay, Daemon Schaefer, Dean Schrimpf,
Klamer Schutte, Fredy Schwatz, Dave Schweisguth, Bernd
Schwerin, Don Sheythe, Chris Smith, Daniel Smith, Richard
Stanton, Ralf Stephan, Hironobu Takahashi, Ken Taylor,
Toomas Tamm, Tony Travis, Paul Verket, Mark Walker, Sven
Werner, Dick Wexelblat, Paul Wood, Gregory Woodbury, Norm
Yamane, Blair Zajac, Orest Zboroski, Thomas Ziegler
AUTHOR
Iain Lea (iain@ecrc.de)
Page 41 (printed 5/3/98)
