Re: Newsreader

[jwt@example.com (Jim Tittsler)]

In article <Pine.LNX.3.91.961029184744.206A-100000@example.com>,
Dennis McMurchy <denismcm@example.com> wrote:
>[...] I'd like to hear a little more detail about uqwk, SOUP files and so on.

SOUP, the Simple Offline Unix Packet standard, is a rather broad
specification describing methods of collecting mail and news articles.  At
its simplest level, it collects mail into something that looks like a BSD
mailbox file, news into a series of Cnews batch files, and adds a index file
showing the relationship between filename and newsgroup.  These are
typically archived together for downloading (most often by zip, but tar or
whatever can be used) into a single (often compressed) file.  A SOUP reader
(which now includes Gnus) can unarchive the files, allow you to read them,
and collect your replies.  The replies are bundled into a similar "packet"
for uploading to your host for mailing/posting.  Both the collection and
posting processes are trivially scripted.  Very convenient for minimizing
host and telecommunication time.  More info is available from
http://www.nic.com/~cannon/handson.html

The most common SOUP packing utility is uqwk (ftp.gte.com:/pub/uqwk).  It
handles both collecting mail/news and processing your reply packets.  By
default it will use your standard .newsrc file allowing easy online/offline
reading, but it is easy to specify alternate .newsrc files for groups you
only will be reading offline.  The original author of uqwk has moved on to
other things, but one of TLUGs members has made available a couple minor
patches and one significant enhancement (scoring/killing of articles before
download).  See http://shrine.cyber.ad.jp/~jwt/uqwk/ if you are considering
installing uqwk on your host.

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