NAME

     inews - send a Usenet article to the local news  server  for
     distribution

SYNOPSIS

     inews [ -h ] [ -D ] [ -O ] [ -R ] [ -S ] [ header_flags ]  [
     input ]

DESCRIPTION

     Inews reads a Usenet news  article  (perhaps  with  headers)
     from  the  named file or standard input if no file is given.
     It adds some headers and performs some  consistency  checks.
     If  the article does not meet these checks (for example, too
     much quoting of old articles,  or  posting  to  non-existent
     newsgroups)  then the article is rejected.  If it passes the
     checks, inews sends the article to the local news server  as
     specified in the inn.conf(5) file for distribution.

OPTIONS

     -h   In the standard mode of operation, the  input  consists
          of  the  article headers, a blank line, and the message
          body.   For  compatibility  with  older  software,  the
          ``-h''  flag  must be used.  If there are no headers in
          the message, then this flag may be omitted.

     -O   The default Organization header  will  be  provided  if
          none is present in the article or if the ``-o'' flag is
          not used.  To  prevent  adding  the  default,  use  the
          ``-O'' flag.

     -D   As a debugging aide, if the ``-D'' flag  is  used,  the
          consistency  checks  will be performed, and the article
          will be sent to the standard output, rather  then  sent
          to the server.

     -A -V -W
          For compatibility  with  C  News,  inews  accepts,  but
          ignores, the ``-A'', ``-V'' and ``-W'' flags.

     -N   The C News ``-N'' flag is treated as the ``-D'' flag.

     -S   If a file named .signature exists in  the  user's  home
          directory,  inews  will  try to append it to the end of
          the article.  If the file cannot be read, or if  it  is
          too  long  (for  example,  more  than four lines or one
          standard I/O buffer), or if some other problem  occurs,
          then  the article will not be posted.  To suppress this
          action use the ``-S'' flag.

     -R   If the ``-R'' flag is used then inews will  reject  any
          attempts to post control messages.

     header_flags
          Several headers may be specified on the  command  line,
          shown  in  the synopsis above as header_flags.  Each of
          these flags takes a single parameter; if the  value  is
          more  than  one  word  (for example, almost all Subject
          lines) then quotes must be used to  prevent  the  shell
          from  splitting  it  into multiple words.  The options,
          and their equivalent header, are as follows:

              a       Approved
              c       Control
              d       Distribution
              e       Expires
              f       From
              w       Followup-To
              n       Newsgroups
              r       Reply-To
              t       Subject
              F       References
              o       Organization
              x       Path prefix

          The Path header is built  according  to  the  following
          rules.  If the ``-x'' flag is used, then its value will
          be the start of the header.  Any other  host  will  see
          the  site  in  the  header, and therefore not offer the
          article to that site.  If the  ``pathhost''  configura-
          tion  parameter  is  specified in the inn.conf(5) file,
          then it will be added to the Path.  Otherwise,  if  the
          ``server''  configuration  parameter is specified, then
          the full domain name of the local host will be added to
          the Path. The Path will always end not-for-mail.

NOTES

     If an unapproved posting is made to a  moderated  newsgroup,
     inews  will  try  to  mail  the article to the moderator for
     posting.  It uses the moderators(5) file  to  determine  the
     mailing  address.   If  no address is found, it will use the
     inn.conf file to determine a ``last-chance'' host to try.

     If the NNTP server needs to authenticate the  client,  inews
     will  use  the  NNTPsendpassword(3)  routine to authenticate
     itself.  In order to do this, the  program  will  need  read
     access  to  the passwd.nntp(5) file.  This is typically done
     by having the file group-readable and making inews run  set-
     gid to that group.

     Inews exits with a zero status if the  article  was  succes-
     fully  posted  or  mailed,  or with a non-zero status if the
     article could not be delivered.


     Since inews will spool its input if the server  is  unavail-
     able,  it  is  usually  necessary  to  run rnews(1) with the
     ``-U'' flag on a regular basis, usually out of cron(8).

HISTORY

     Written by Rich $alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net> for  InterNetNews.
     This is revision 1.27, dated 1996/10/29.

SEE ALSO

     moderators(5), inn.conf(5).  rnews(1).