leafnode-1.9.33

Introduction to leafnode-1.9.33

Download location (HTTP):       http://unc.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/leafnode/leafnode-1.9.33.rel.tar.bz2
Download location (FTP):        ftp://unc.dl.sourceforge.net/pub/sourceforge/leafnode/leafnode-1.9.33.rel.tar.bz2
Version used:                   1.9.33
Package size:                   602 KB
Estimated Disk space required:  4.5 MB

leafnode is an NNTP server designed for small sites to provide a local USENET spool.

leafnode depends on:
pcre-4.1

Installation of leafnode

Install leafnode by running the following commands:

groupadd news
useradd -g news news
./configure --localstatedir=/var --prefix=/usr \
    --sysconfdir=/etc/news --with-lockfile=/var/lock/fetchnews.lck &&
make &&
make install &&
ldconfig &&
make update

Installation command explanations

groupadd news useradd -g news news :

Create the group and user news, if not present. Errors resulting from an already existing user or group news may be ignored.

--prefix=/usr : Change the default installation directory of /usr/local.

--localstatedir=/var : Change the default spool directory of /usr/var.

--sysconfdir=/etc/news : leafnode reads its configuration data from an file called config, this with be created in /etc/news to avoid any potential conflict with other packages.

make update : Create an initial /etc/news/config.example file, which must be renamed to /etc/news/config.

Configuring leafnode

Config files

/etc/leafnode/config, /etc/inetd.conf and /etc/xinetd.conf

leafnode may be configured to use inetd or xinetd as follows:

inetd configuration

Add a leafnode entry to the /etc/inetd.conf file with the following command:
echo "nntp stream tcp nowait news /usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/sbin/leafnode" \
>> /etc/inetd.conf

xinetd configuration

Add a leafnode entry to the /etc/xinetd.conf file with the following command:
cat >> /etc/xinetd.conf << "EOF"
        service nntp
        {
           flags           = NAMEINARGS NOLIBWRAP
           socket_type     = stream
           protocol        = tcp
           wait            = no
           user            = news
           server          = /usr/sbin/tcpd
           server_args     = /usr/sbin/leafnode
           instances       = 7
           per_source      = 3
        }
EOF

The /etc/news/config file must be edited to reflect the name of the upstream NNTP provider. Copy the example configuration file to /etc/news/config and save the original for reference :

cp /etc/news/config.example /etc/news/config

Change the

server = 

entry to reflect your news provider.

The NNTPSERVER environment variable must be set to 127.0.0.1 to prevent news clients from reading news from the upstream feed, add the following to /etc/profile or $HOME/.bash_profile :

export NNTPSERVER=127.0.0.1

Contents

The leafnode package contains leafnode, applyfilter, texpire, checkgroups, fetchnews and newsq.

Description

leafnode

leafnode is the NNTP server daemon.

applyfilter

applyfilter filters newsgroup articles according to regular expressions.

texpire

texpire expires old articles and unread groups.

checkgroups

checkgroups inserts newsgroup titles into the newsgroup database.

fetchnews

fetchnews sends posted articles to and retrieves new articles from an upstream news server.

newsq

newsq shows articles waiting to be sent upstream.