Introduction

# 1 Introduction

Contents of this section

The intent of this document is to answer some of the questions and comments that appear to meet the definition of "frequently asked questions" about USENET News software under Linux in general, and the version in the Linux SLS distribution in particular.

This document and the corresponding Mail and UUCP "HOWTO" documents collectively supersede the UUCP-NEWS-MAIL-FAQ that has previously been posted to comp.os.linux.announce.

## 1.1 New versions of this document

New versions of this document will be periodically posted to comp.os.linux.announce, comp.answers, and news.answers. They will also be added to the various anonymous ftp sites who archive such information including `sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO`.

In addition, you should be generally able to find this document on the Linux WorldWideWeb home page at `http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw/linux.html` and on my home page at `http://www.halcyon.com/vince/welcome.html`.

## 1.2 Feedback

I am interested in any feedback, positive or negative, regarding the content of this document via e-mail. Definitely contact me if you find errors or obvious omissions.

I read, but do not necessarily respond to, all e-mail I receive. Requests for enhancements will be considered and acted upon based on that day's combination of available time, merit of the request, and daily blood pressure :-)

Flames will quietly go to /dev/null so don't bother.

Feedback concerning the actual format of the document should go to the HOWTO coordinator - Matt Welsh (`mdw@sunsite.unc.edu`).

## 1.3 Copyright Information

The News-HOWTO is copyrighted (c)1994 Vince Skahan.

A verbatim copy may be reproduced or distributed in any medium physical or electronic without permission of the author. Translations are similarly permitted without express permission if it includes a notice on who translated it.

Short quotes may be used without prior consent by the author. Derivative work and partial distributions of the News-HOWTO must be accompanied with either a verbatim copy of this file or a pointer to the verbatim copy.

Commercial redistribution is allowed and encouraged; however, the author would like to be notified of any such distributions.

In short, we wish to promote dissemination of this information through as many channels as possible. However, we do wish to retain copyright on the HOWTO documents, and would like to be notified of any plans to redistribute the HOWTOs.

We further want that ALL information provided in the HOWTOS is disseminated. If you have questions, please contact Matt Welsh, the Linux HOWTO coordinator, at `mdw@sunsite.unc.edu`.

## 1.4 Standard Disclaimer

Of course, I disavow any potential liability for the contents of this document. Use of the concepts, examples, and/or other content of this document is entirely at your own risk.

## 1.5 Other sources of information

### USENET

       news.admin.misc         General topics of network news administration.
       news.admin.policy       Policy issues of USENET.
       news.admin.technical    Maintaining network news. (Moderated)
       news.software.b         Discussion about B-news-compatible software.
       news.software.nn        Discussion about the "nn" news reader package.
       news.software.nntp      The Network News Transfer Protocol.
       news.software.readers   Software used to read network news.
       news.sysadmin           Comments directed to system administrators.
       news.announce.newusers  Explanatory postings for new users. (Moderated)
       news.newusers.questions Q & A for users new to the Usenet.

### Books

The following is a non-inclusive set of books that will help

- "`Managing UUCP and USENET`" published by O'Reilly+Associates is in my opinion the best book out there for figuring out the programs and protocols involved in being a USENET site.
- "`Unix Communications`" published by The Waite Group contains a nice description of all the pieces (and more) and how they fit together.
- "`Practical Unix Security`" published by O'Reilly+Associates has a nice discussion of how to secure UUCP in general.
- "`The Internet Complete Reference`" from Osborne is a fine reference book that explains the various services available on Internet and is a great source for information on news, mail, and various other Internet resources.
- "`The Linux Networking Administrators' Guide`" from Olaf Kirch of the Linux DOC Project is available on the net and is also published by (at least) O'Reilly and SSC. It makes a fine one-stop shopping to learn about everything you ever imagined you'd need to know about Unix networking.

## 1.6 Where NOT to look for help

There is nothing "special" about configuring and running USENET news under Linux (any more). Accordingly, you almost certainly do *NOT* want to be posting generic news-related questions to the comp.os.linux.* newsgroups.

Unless your posting is truly Linux-specific (ie, "please tell me what patches are needed to run INN with the bash1.12 in SLS v1.03") you should be asking your questions in the newsgroups mentioned above.

Let me repeat that.

There is virtually no reason to post anything news-related in the comp.os.linux hierarchy any more. There are existing newsgroups in the news.* hierarchy to handle *ALL* your questions.

IF YOU POST TO COMP.OS.LINUX.* FOR NON-LINUX-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS, YOU ARE LOOKING IN THE WRONG PLACE FOR HELP. THE USENET NEWS EXPERTS HANG OUT IN THE PLACES INDICATED ABOVE AND GENERALLY DO NOT RUN LINUX.

POSTING TO THE LINUX HIERARCHY FOR NON-LINUX-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS WASTES YOUR TIME AND EVERYONE ELSE'S AND IT FREQUENTLY DELAYS YOU FROM GETTING THE ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION.

Next Chapter, Previous Chapter

Table of contents of this chapter, General table of contents

Top of the document, Beginning of this Chapter