brand new documentation, whee

2002-05-05 20:05:11 +00:00 · 2002-05-05 20:05:11 +00:00 · 3b1f9f304f
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+# $Id$
+# $Source$
+
+Ripnews is a bulk downloader for usenet. It's quite flexible in terms of
+configuration. Some of it's features are:
+
+- basic support for multiple servers per group
+- cacheing of article headers to speed up reading of newsgroups
+- newsrc file support (one newsrc file per server)
+- flexible but simple configuration
+
+Configuration:
+==============
+
+I'll just give a commented example config, it should be pretty clear,
+after that I'll list the possible options.
+
+<== cut here ==>
+# Set the default NNTPSERVER to localhost
+NNTPSERVER=localhost
+
+# Set the cachedir, this is where the subject caches are stored
+# without this ripnews will be much slower (but should still work)
+CACHEDIR=/mnt/newspace/News/.ripnews_caches
+
+# Set the datadir, this where a subdir for each group will be made to
+# store the ripped articles
+DATADIR=/mnt/newspace/News
+
+# Set the tempdir, used to store the undecoed data. Without this ripnews
+# uses a lot more memory
+TEMPDIR=/mnt/newspace/News/ripnews_temp
+
+# Set include pattern to a case insensitive "bad religion"
+OPT_I=(?i)bad religion
+
+# Set the base newsrc name. The server name will be appended.
+NEWSRCNAME=/ward/src/ruby/ripnews/.newsrc
+
+# Set the permission to create subdirs with
+PERMISSION=0700
+
+# For alt.binaries.e-book.technical change from defaults...
+alt.binaries.e-book.technical {
+	# Set another include pattern
+	OPT_I=(?i)reilly
+}
+
+alt.binaries.e-book.flood {
+	# Add to default pattern, this will not be case insensitive
+	# anymore, cause that's how ruby patterns work
+	OPT_I+=|douglas adams
+}
+
+# For both alt.binaries.e-book.technical and alt.binaries.e-book.flood
+# change some value
+alt.binaries.e-book.technical| \
+alt.binaries.e-book.flood {
+	# Sets long filenames. If this is set the subject will be used
+	# as a filename instead of the name specified in the encoding.
+	OPT_L = true
+}
+
+# Change default server to news.tilbu1.nb.nl.home.com, since the config
+# is parse in order this will be used from her on down
+NNTPSERVER=news.tilbu1.nb.nl.home.com
+
+alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.heavy-metal| \
+alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.1980s {
+	# Add news4.euro.net as a second server for
+	# alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.heavy-metal and
+	# alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.1980s
+	NNTPSERVER+=|news4.euro.net
+}
+
+alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.gothic-industrial
+alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.heavy-metal| \
+alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.1980s {
+	OPT_L=true
+	OPT_I=(?i)( \
+		bauhaus| \
+		big black \
+	)
+}
+<== cut here ==>
+
+Supported commandline options:
+------------------------------
+
+"-I", "--include"	Set include pattern.
+"-c", "--configfile"	Specify a different config file. Default
+			.ripnewsrc
+"-L", "--longname"	Sets long filenames.
+"-X", "--exclude"	Set exclude pattern.
+"-T", "--test"		Set test mode. Newsrc files will not be writen
+			to.
+
+Supported config options:
+-------------------------
+
+OPT_I=<pattern>			Set include pattern.
+OPT_L=<bool>			Set long filenames.
+OPT_X=<pattern>			Set include pattern
+OPT_T=<bool>			Set test mode. Newsrc files will not be written
+				to.
+TEMPDIR=<dir>			Set tempdir location.
+NNTPSERVER=<server>[|server]	Set NNTPSERVER names
+CACHEDIR=<dir>			Set cachedir location.
+DATADIR=<dir>			Set output dir location.
+NEWSRCNAME=<newsrcbase>		Specify newsrc basename. Server names
+				will be appended.
+PERMISSION=<perm>		Set permission bits for directory
+				creation. Standard unix style, eg. 0755.
+
+Ruby patterns:
+--------------
+
+Ruby patterns are a lot like perl patterns, but there are some
+differences. (?i) is the modifier to turn on case insensitivity, unlike
+perl this modifier only works on the following block. Luckily you can
+group multiple blocks into one by enclosing them with ()'s. So while
+'OPT_I=(?i)foo|bar' would match 'foo' case insensitve and 'bar' case
+sensitive 'OPT_I=(?i)(foo|bar)' will match both 'foo' and 'bar' case
+insensitivly.
+
+Known bugs:
+===========
+
+There are a lot of known bugs at this time. Basically the error handling
+is still almost non existant and server reconnects are not yet possible.
+This can be annoying (ok, it _is_ annoying) when server1 timesout while
+you're still processing server2. Well, if it breaks you get to keep
+_both_ pieces. That's what you get with pre-alpha software ;)
+
+Contact info:
+=============
+
+New problems can be reported directly to me at <ward@wouts.nl>. Patches
+welcome ;)
+
+Ward Wouts