Manual page for 2.10.2 vnews(1)

[sources-request at genrad.UUCP]

From: bossert at dataio (John Bossert)

Apparently this didn't make it to some sites.  Hope it helps.

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#!/bin/sh
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#	vnews.1
# This archive created: Mon Feb 11 08:18:59 1985
# By:	John Bossert (Data I/O Corporation, Redmond WA)
sed 's/^X//' << \SHAR_EOF > vnews.1
X.TH VNEWS 1 "14 January 1985"
X.UC 4
X.SH NAME
X\fBvnews\fR \- read news articles
X.SH SYNOPSIS
X\fBvnews\fR
X[\fB\-a\fR \fR[\fIdate\fR]]
X[\fB\-n\fR \fInewsgroups\fR]
X[\fB\-t\fR \fItitles\fR]
X[\fB\-rxu\fR]
X.br
X
X\fBvnews\fR
X\fB\-s\fR
X.SH DESCRIPTION
X.BI Vnews 
Xis a program for reading USENET news. 
XIt is based on \fIreadnews\fR(1) but has a CRT oriented interface.
XThe list of available commands is quite similar, 
Xalthough since vnews is a "visual" interface, 
Xmost vnews commands do not have to be terminated by a newline.
X.PP
X.B Vnews 
Xuses the first 22 lines of the screen to display the current article. 
XLine 23 is the secondary prompt line,
Xand is used to input string arguments to commands.  
XLine 24 contains several fields.  
XThe first field is the prompt field. 
XIf vnews is at the end of an article, 
Xthe prompt is "next?"; 
Xotherwise the prompt is "more?". 
XThe second field is the newsgroup field, 
Xwhich displays the current newsgroup,
Xthe number of the current article, 
Xand the number of the last article in the newsgroup. 
XThe third field contains the current time, 
Xand the last field contains the word "mail" if you have mail. 
XWhen you receive new mail, 
Xthe bell on the terminal is rung 
Xand the word mail appears in capital letters for 30 seconds.
X.PP
X.B Vnews 
Xwithout any arguments prints unread articles in the default subscription list.
X.PP
XThe following flags determine the selection of articles.
X.TP 10
X\fB\-a\fR \fR[\fIdate\fR]\fP
XSelect articles posted after the given \fIdate\fR.
XThe strict format for \fIdate\fR is of the form:
X.nf
X.ta 15m 20m
X
XDay Month Day-of-Month HH:MM:SS Year
XSun Sep 16 12:00:00 1984
X
X.fi
XHowever, some coloquialisms are buried in the source.
XThe default value is sometime in 1970.
X.RE
X.TP 10
X\fB\-n\fR \fInewsgroups\fR
XSelect articles belonging to \fInewsgroups\fR.
X.TP 10
X\fB\-r\fR
XPrint the articles in reverse order.
X.TP 10
X\fB\-s\fR 
XPrint the newsgroup subscription list.
X.TP 10
X\fB\-t\fR \fItitles\fR
XSelect articles whose titles contain one of the strings specified by 
X\fItitles\fR.
X.TP 10
X\fB\-u\fR
XUpdate the 
X.B .newsrc
Xfile every 5 minutes,
Xas in the case of an unreliable system.
X(Note that if the .newsrc file is updated, the
X.B x
Xcommand will not restore it to its original contents.)
X.TP 10
X\fB\-x\fR
XIgnore \fI.newsrc\fR file.
XThat is, select articles that have already been read as well as new ones.
X.B Vnews
Xmaintains a \fI.newsrc\fR file in the your home directory that 
Xspecifies all news articles already read.  
XIt is updated at the end of each reading session unless the \fB\-x\fR
Xoption was specified.
XIf the environment variable NEWSRC is present,
Xit should be the path name of a file to be used in place of .newsrc.
X.PP
XIf you wish, an options line may be placed in your \fI.newsrc\fR file.
XThis line starts with the word
X.B options
X(left justified) followed by the list of standard options just as
Xthey would be typed on the command line.
XSuch a list may include:
Xthe
X\fB\-n\fR 
Xflag along with a newsgroup list and/or
Xthe
X\fB\-r\fR
Xor
X\fB\-t\fR
Xflag.  
XContinuation lines begin with a space or tab character.
X.SH ENVIRONMENT
XOptions can be specified in the
X.B NEWSOPTS
Xenvironment parameter.  
XWhere conflicts exist, options on the command line take precedence, 
Xfollowed by the \fI.newsrc\fR,
X.B options
Xline, and lastly the
X.B NEWSOPTS
Xparameter.
X.PP
XIf
X.B EDITOR
Xis set, it will be used in place of the default editor on your system to
Xedit replies and follow-ups.
X.PP
XWhen the user uses the reply command,
Xthe environment parameter
X.B MAILER
Xwill be used to determine which mailer to use. 
XThe default is usually /bin/mail.
X.PP
XIf
X.B NAME
Xis set, it will be used as your full name when posting news or
Xsubmitting a follow-up. 
XIf it is not set, the name will be taken from the file
X.B .name
Xin your home directory. 
XIf this file is not present, the name will be taken from /etc/passwd.
X.PP
XIf
X.B NEWSARCHIVE
Xis set, a copy of any articles you post or follow-up to, 
Xwill be saved in the specified file. 
XIf it is the null string, they will be copied in 
X.I author_copy
Xin your home directory.
X.PP
XIf
X.B NEWSBOX
Xis present and equal to "directory", a request to save an article as
X"filename" will cause the article to be saved as "directory/filename".
XIf 
X.B NEWSBOX
Xis set to "directory/%s", a request to save an article in newsgroup
X"newsgroup" as "filename" will save it in the pathname
X"directory/newsgroup/filename".
XThe portion of the pathname defined as $NEWSBOX must already exist.
XThe subdirectories corresponding to news groups will be created as necessary.
X.PP
XIf
X.B NEWSRC
Xis set, it will be used in place of the .newsrc file in your home directory.
X.PP
XIf
X.B ORGANIZATION
Xis set, it will be used as the name of your organization whenever you
Xpost an article. 
XThe default is compiled in and is usually correct.
XTypically, you would only use this if you were reading news at a
Xsite other than normal. 
X(Or if you are trying to be cute.)
X.PP
XIf the user so desires, he may specify a specific paging program for articles.
XThe environment parameter
X.B PAGER
Xshould be set to the paging program.  
XThe name of the article is referenced with a `%', as in the
X\fB\-c\fR
Xoption.  
XIf no `%' is present, the article will be piped to the program.
XPaging may be disabled by setting
X.B PAGER
Xto a null value.
X.SH COMMANDS
X.PP
XEach vnews command may be preceded by a count.
XSome commands use the count; others ignore it. 
XIf count is omitted, it defaults to one. 
XSome commands prompt for an argument on the second line 
Xfrom the bottom of the screen.  
XStandard UNIX erase and kill processing is done on this argument.  
XThe argument is terminated by a return. 
XAn interrupt (delete or break) gets you out of any partially entered command. 
X.sp
XIn the following table, ^B is used as a shorthand for Control-B.
X.sp
X.ta 2.5i
XCommand		Meaning
X.IP CR
XA carriage return prints more of the current article,
Xor goes on to the next article if you are at the end of the current article. 
XA SPACE is equivalent to CR.
X.IP ^B
XGo backwards count pages.
X.IP ^F
XGo forward count pages.
X.IP ^D
XGo forwards half a page.
X.IP ^U
XGo backwards half a page.
X.IP ^Z
XGo forwards count lines.
X.IP ^E
XGo backwards count lines.
X.IP ^L
XRedraw the screen. 
X^L may be typed at any time.
X.IP b
XBack up one article in the current group.
X.IP c
XCancel the article.  
XOnly the author of the article or the super user can do this.
X.IP d
XRead a digest.  
XBreaks up a digest into separate articles and permits 
Xyou to read and reply to each piece.
X.IP e
XErase.  
XForget that this article was read.
X.IP f
XSubmit a follow-up article.
XYou will be placed in your EDITOR to compose the text of the follow-up.
X.IP h
XGo back to the top of the article and display only the header.
X.IP l
XRedisplay the article after you have sent a follow-up or reply.
X.IP n
XNo.  
XGo on to the next article without printing current one. 
X``.'' is equivalent to ``n''. 
XThis is convenient if your terminal has a keypad.
X.IP p
XShow the parent article (the article that the
Xcurrent article is a follow-up to). 
XThis doesn't work if the current article was posted by A-news or notesfiles.  
XTo switch between the current and parent articles, 
Xuse the - command. 
XUnfortunately, if you use several p commands
Xto trace the discussion back further, 
Xthere is no command to return to the original level.
X.IP q
XQuit.  The .newsrc
Xfile will be updated unless \fB\-x\fR was on the command line.
X.IP r
XReply.  
XReply to article's author via mail.
XYou are placed in your EDITOR with a header specifying
XTo, Subject, and References lines taken from the message.
XYou may change or add headers, as appropriate.
XAdd the text of the reply after the blank line, and then exit the editor.  
XThe resulting message is mailed to the author of the article.
X.IP s [\fIfile\fP]
XSave.  
XThe article is appended to the named file.
XThe default is ``Articles''.
XIf the first character of the file name is `|',
Xthe rest of the file name is taken as the name of a program,
Xwhich is executed with the text of the article as standard input.
XIf the first character of the file name is `/', 
Xit is taken as the full pathname of a file.
XIf $NEWSBOX (in the environment) is set and the file name 
Xis not an absolute pathname,
Xthe file is saved relative to $NEWSBOX.
XIf $NEWSBOX is not set, the file is saved relative to $HOME.
X.IP ug
XUnsubscribe to the current group. 
XThis is a two character command to ensure that it is not typed 
Xaccidentally and to leave room for other types of unsubscribes (e.g. 
Xunsubscribe to discussion).
X.IP v
XPrint the current version of the news software.
X.IP w
XWrite. 
XLike save ``s'', except that the headers are not written out.
X.IP x
XExit.  
XLike quit except that .newsrc is not updated.
X.IP y
XYes.  
XPrint the current article and go to the next.
X.IP [\fIn\fP]A
XGo to article number \fIn\fP in the current newsgroup.
X.IP D
XDecrypt a joke. 
XIt only handles rot 13 jokes.
XThe D command is a toggle; 
Xtyping another D re- encrypts the joke.
X.IP H
XPrint a very verbose header, 
Xcontaining all known information about the article.
X.IP K
XKill (mark as read) the rest of the articles in the current group. 
XThis is useful if you can't keep up with the volume in the newsgroup,
Xbut don't want to unsubscribe.
X.IP N [\fInewsgroup\fP]
XGo to the next newsgroup or named newsgroup.
X.IP [\fIn\fP]+
XSkip n articles.
XThe articles skipped are recorded as ``unread'' and will be
Xoffered to you again the next time you read news.
X.IP \-
XGo back to last article.
XThis is a toggle, typing it twice returns you to the original article.
X.IP <
XPrompt for an article ID or the rest of a message ID.
XIt will display the article if it exists.
X.IP #
XReport the name and size of the newsgroup.
X.IP ?
XPrint an short help message.
X.IP !
XPasses the rest of the command line to the shell.  
XThe environment variable $A is set to the name of the file
Xcontaining the current article.  
XIf the last character of the command is a "&", 
Xthen the "&" is deleted and the command is run in the background with stdin, 
Xstdout and stderr redirected to /dev/null. 
XIf the command is missing, the shell is invoked. 
XUse the l command (or essentially any other command) to turn on the 
Xdisplay after the program terminates.
X.SH EXAMPLES
X.TP 10
X.B vnews
XRead all unread articles using the \fIvisual\fR interface.  
XThe \fI.newsrc\fR file is updated at the end of the session.
X.TP 10
X.B vnews \-n all !fa.all \-r
XRead all unread articles except articles whose newsgroups begin with
X"fa." in reverse order.  
XThe \fI.newsrc\fR file is updated at the end of the session.
X.TP 10
X.B "vnews \-n all \-a last thursday"
XPrint every unread article since last Thursday.  
XThe \fI.newsrc\fR file is updated at the end of the session.
X.SH FILES
X.PD 0
X.TP 40
X.RI /usr/spool/news/ newsgroup / number
XNews articles
X.TP 40
X/usr/lib/news/active
XActive newsgroups
X.TP 40
X/usr/lib/news/vnews.help
XHelp file for
X.IR visual
Xinterface
X.TP 40
X~/.newsrc
XOptions and list of previously read articles
X.PD
X.SH SEE ALSO
X.BR checknews (1),
X.BR inews (1),
X.BR mail (1),
X.BR news (5),
X.BR newsrc (5),
X.BR postnews (1),
X.BR recnews (8),
X.BR sendnews (8),
X.BR uurec (8)
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