TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.2 PL2) TIN(1) Note: the use of the TIN newsreader in any one BBS login session negates any changes to your preferred groups list made by the BBS's own internal newsreader. In other words, if you are going to use TIN, do not use the essages (Usenet) Section. Whatever you do in TIN overrides essages. NAME tin, rtin, cdtin, tind - A Netnews reader SYNOPSIS tin/rtin/cdtin/tind [ options ] [ newsgroups ] DESCRIPTION Tin is a full-screen easy to use Netnews reader. It can read news locally (i.e. /usr/spool/news) or remotely (rtin or tin -r option) via a NNTP (Network News Transport Protocol) server. Cdtin can read news locally and news archived on CD-ROM. It will automatically utilize nov (news overview) style index files if available locally or via the nntp xover command. Tin has five separate levels of operation: Group selection level, Spooldir 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 -c create/update index files for every group in $HOME/.newsrc or file specified by -f option and mark all articles as read. -f file use the specified file of subscribed to newsgroups in place of $HOME/.newsrc. -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/.index. -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. Page 1 March 9, 1994 TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.2 PL2) TIN(1) -n Only load groups from the active file that are also subscribed to in the users .newsrc. This allows a noticeable speedup when connecting via a slow line. -p program print program with options. -q quick start without checking for new newsgroups. -P purge group index files of articles that no longer exist. Care should be taken when using this command as it stats each and every article in each group that is accessed. On a low speed connection this can have an undisirable effect and it also knocks the hell out of your filesystem. -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 -S option (not yet implemented). -s dir save articles to directory. Default is $HOME/News. -S save unread articles for later reading by -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 -f option. This option is disabled if tin retreives its index files via a NNTP server. -U start tin in the background to update index files while reading news in the foreground. This option is disabled if tin retreives 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 Page 2 March 9, 1994 TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.2 PL2) TIN(1) specified the number of unread articles in each group is printed. An exit code 0 indicates no news, 1 that an error occurred and 2 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, only supports the -f, -h, -I and -v options. INDEX FILES In order to keep track of threads, tin maintains 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 there own index files that are stored in $HOME/.tin/.index. 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. /usr/spool/news/.index). 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. /usr/spool/news/.index). 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. /usr/spool/news/.index). This has the advantage that there will only be one copy of the index files on the NNTP server Page 3 March 9, 1994 TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.2 PL2) TIN(1) for the whole of your network, but the disadvantage is that you will have to install my NNTP server patches to allow tin to retreive 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 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 locally updating index files operation will be somewhat slower because the articles must be retreived 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 there departments. To releive news admins (and especially me) of this features have been added to make life easier for news adminstrators. 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. At our site the subscriptions file has 125 groups (our active file contains over 400 groups with many only being marginally interesting to most people). The subscriptions file should be created in your news lib directory (i.e. /usr/lib/news/subscriptions) and should have file permissions set to 0644. If reading news via NNTP my LIST SUBSCRIPTIONS patch will have to have been applied to your NNTP server. Page 4 March 9, 1994 TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.2 PL2) TIN(1) If my NNTP XUSER patch has been applied to your NNTP server you will be able to log the username and machine to your NNTP logfile for usage statistics. SCREEN FORMAT Tin has five separate levels of operation: Group selection level, Spooldir selection level, Group level, Thread level and Article level. At the Group Selection level the title displays the number of subscribed groups. The newsgroups are displayed on the left of the screen with the number of unread articles displayed on the same line in the middle of the screen. i.e., 1 alt.sources 10 2 comp.sources.misc 3 3 news.software.readers 12 At the Group level the title contains the name of the group, the number of conversation threads and total number of articles i.e., alt.sources (7 23). If the group has been setup not to thread articles (i.e., alt.sources is in $(HOME)/.tin/unthread) the title will be alt.sources (U 23). There are two possible display formats as shown below: i.e., 1 + 3 Bnews sources? iain@anl433.uucp 2 1 This question has ether@net or i.e., 1 + 3 Bnews sources? 2 1 This question has a longer subject line At the Article level the page header has the following format:
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
COMMON MOVING KEYS This table shows the common keys/commands for moving at all five levels within tin. Page 5 March 9, 1994 TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.2 PL2) TIN(1) ansi/at386/vt100 Other Terminals Beginning 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 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, 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. places line on history list if nonblank, appends newline and returns to the caller. aborts the present editing operation. NEWSGROUP SELECTION COMMANDS 4 Select group 4. ^K Delete current group from $HOME/.newsrc file. ^L Redraw page. ^R Reset $HOME/.newsrc file. Read current group. View next group with unread news. Will wrap around to the beginning of the group selection list looking for unread groups. B Mail a bug report or comment to the author. This Page 6 March 9, 1994 TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.2 PL2) TIN(1) is the best way of getting bugs fixed and features added/changed. c Mark current group as all read with confirmation and goto next group in group selection list. C Mark current group as all read and goto next unread group in group selection list. d Toggle display to show just the groupname or the groupname and the groups description. g Choose a new group by name. The position of the group within the group list will also be asked for. By entering '1' the new group will be the first group in the displayed list, by entering '8' the group will be the eighth group in the list etc. By entering '$' 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 Toggle inverse video. l List and allow selection of the available spool directories. This feature requires a special library to be linked with tin to create cdtin which can then read news from an active news feed and also from multiple CD-ROMs. 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. Q Quit tin. 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. s Subscribe to current group. Page 7 March 9, 1994 TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.2 PL2) TIN(1) 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. y The first time this command is called it will yank in all groups from $LIBDIR/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. Z Undelete previously deleted group by ^K command from $HOME/.newsrc. / Group forward search. ? Group backward search. SPOOL DIRECTORY SELECTION COMMANDS 4 Select spool directory 4. ^L Redraw page. Read news from selected spool directory. B Mail a bug report or comment to the author. This is the best way of getting bugs fixed and features added/changed. h Help screen of spool directory selection commands. H Toggle the display of help mini menu at the bottom of the screen. I Toggle inverse video. Page 8 March 9, 1994 TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.2 PL2) TIN(1) q Return to previous level. Q Quit tin. v Print tin version information. GROUP INDEX COMMANDS 4 Select article 4. ^K Kill current article (for more information read section Kill Article Menu). ^L Redraw page. Read current article. 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. 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). Page 9 March 9, 1994 TIN(1) UNIX System V (Version 1.2 PL2) TIN(1) 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 /