NAME

     control.ctl - specify handling of Usenet control messages

DESCRIPTION

     The file /usr/local/news/etc/control.ctl is used  to  deter-
     mine  what  action  is  taken  when  a  control  message  is
     received.  It is read by the parsecontrol script,  which  is
     called  by  all the control scripts.  (For an explanation of
     how the control scripts are invoked, see innd(8).)

     The file consists of a series  of  lines;  blank  lines  and
     lines beginning with a number sign (``#'') are ignored.  All
     other lines consist of four fields separated by a colon:
          message:from:newsgroups:action

     The first field is the name of the message  for  which  this
     line  is valid.  It should be either the name of the control
     message, or the word ``all'' to mean that it  is  valid  for
     all messages.

     The second field is a shell-style pattern that  matches  the
     email  address  of  the  person  posting  the message.  (The
     poster's address is  first  converted  to  lowercase.)   The
     matching  is  done  using the shell's case statement; see sh
     (1) for details.

     If the control message is ``newgroup'' or  ``rmgroup''  then
     the  third field specifies the shell-style pattern that must
     match the group being created or removed.   If  the  control
     message is of a different type, then this field is ignored.

     The fourth field specifies what action to take if this  line
     is  selected  for  the  message.   The following actions are
     understood:

     doit The action requested by the control message  should  be
          performed.   In most cases the control script will also
          send mail to usenet.

     doifarg
          If the control message has an argument, this is treated
          as  a ``doit'' action.  If no argument was given, it is
          treated  as  a  ``mail''  entry.   This  is   used   in
          ``sendsys''  entries  script so that a site can request
          its own  newsfeeds(5)  entry  by  posting  a  ``sendsys
          mysite'' article.  On the other hand, sendsys ``bombs''
          ask that the entire newsfeeds file be sent to a  forged
          reply-to  address;  by  using ``doifarg'' such messages
          will not be processed automatically.

     doit=file
          The action is performed, but a log entry is written  to
          the  specified  log  file,  file.   If file is the word
          ``mail'' then the record is mailed.  A null  string  is
          equivalent to /dev/null.  A pathname that starts with a
          slash is taken as the absolute filename to use  as  the
          log.     All    other    pathnames   are   written   to
          /news/log/file.log.  The log  is  written  by  writelog
          (see newslog(8)).

     drop No action is taken; the message is ignored.

     log  A one-line log notice is sent to standard error.   Innd
          normally directs this to the file /news/log/errlog.

     log=file
          A log entry is written to the specified log file, file,
          which is interpreted as described above.

     mail A mail message is sent to the news administrator.

     Lines are matched in order; the last match found in the file
     is  the  one  that is used.  For example, with the following
     three lines:
          newgroup:*:*:drop
          newgroup:tale@*.uu.net:comp.*|misc.*|news.*|rec.*|sci.*|soc.*|talk.*:doit
          newgroup:kre@munnari.oz.au:aus.*:mail
     A newgroup coming from ``tale'' at a UUNET machine  will  be
     honored  if  it  is  in the mainstream Usenet hierarchy.  If
     ``kre'' posts a newgroup message creating ``aus.foo'',  then
     mail will be sent.  All other newgroup messages are ignored.

HISTORY

     Written by Rich $alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net> for  InterNetNews.
     This is revision 1.8, dated 1996/09/06.

SEE ALSO

     innd(8), newsfeeds(5), scanlogs(8).