nntp(n)                     Tcl NNTP Client Library                    nntp(n)



______________________________________________________________________________

NAME
       nntp - Tcl client for the NNTP protocol

SYNOPSIS
       package require Tcl  8.2

       package require nntp  ?0.2.1?

       ::nntp::nntp ?host? ?port? ?nntpName?

       nntpName method ?arg arg ...?

       nntpName article ?msgid?

       nntpName authinfo ?user? ?pass?

       nntpName body ?msgid?

       nntpName configure

       nntpName configure option

       nntpName configure option value ...

       nntpName cget option

       nntpName date

       nntpName group ?group?

       nntpName head ?msgid?

       nntpName help

       nntpName last

       nntpName list

       nntpName listgroup ?group?

       nntpName mode_reader

       nntpName newgroups since

       nntpName newnews

       nntpName newnews since

       nntpName newnews group ?since?

       nntpName next

       nntpName post article

       nntpName slave

       nntpName stat ?msgid?

       nntpName quit

       nntpName xgtitle ?group_pattern?

       nntpName xhdr field ?range?

       nntpName xover ?range?

       nntpName xpat field range ?pattern_list?

_________________________________________________________________

DESCRIPTION
       The package nntp provides a simple Tcl-only client library for the NNTP
       protocol.  It works by opening the standard NNTP socket on the server,
       and then providing a Tcl API to access the NNTP protocol commands.  All
       server errors are returned as Tcl errors (thrown) which must be caught
       with the Tcl catch command.

COMMANDS
       ::nntp::nntp ?host? ?port? ?nntpName?
              The command opens a socket connection to the specified NNTP
              server and creates a new nntp object with an associated global
              Tcl command whose name is nntpName. This command may be used to
              access the various NNTP protocol commands for the new
              connection. The default port number is "119" and the default
              host is "news". These defaults can be overridden with the
              environment variables NNTPPORT and NNTPHOST respectively.

              Some of the commands supported by this package are not part of
              the nntp rfc 977 (http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc977.txt) and
              will not be available (or implemented) on all nntp servers.

              The access command nntpName has the following general form:

              nntpName method ?arg arg ...?
                     Option and the args determine the exact behavior of the
                     command.

       nntpName article ?msgid?
              Query the server for article msgid from the current group.  The
              article is returned as a valid tcl list which contains the
              headers, followed by a blank line, and then followed by the body
              of the article. Each element in the list is one line of the
              article.

       nntpName authinfo ?user? ?pass?
              Send authentication information (username and password) to the
              server.

       nntpName body ?msgid?
              Query the server for the body of the article msgid from the
              current group.  The body of the article is returned as a valid
              tcl list. Each element in the list is one line of the body of
              the article.

       nntpName configure

       nntpName configure option

       nntpName configure option value ...

       nntpName cget option
              Query and configure options of the nntp connection object.
              Currently only one option is supported, -binary. When set
              articles are retrieved as binary data instead of text. The only
              methods affected by this are article and body.

              One application of this option would be the download of articles
              containing yEnc encoded images. Although encoded the data is
              still mostly binary and retrieving it as text will corrupt the
              information.

              See package yencode for both encoder and decoder of such data.

       nntpName date
              Query the server for the servers current date.  The date is
              returned in the format YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.

       nntpName group ?group?
              Optionally set the current group, and retrieve information about
              the currently selected group.  Returns the estimated number of
              articles in the group followed by the number of the first
              article in the group, followed by the last article in the group,
              followed by the name of the group.

       nntpName head ?msgid?
              Query the server for the headers of the article msgid from the
              current group.  The headers of the article are returned as a
              valid tcl list. Each element in the list is one line of the
              headers of the article.

       nntpName help
              Retrieves a list of the commands that are supported by the news
              server that is currently attached to.

       nntpName last
              Sets the current article pointer to point to the previous
              message (if there is one) and returns the msgid of that message.

       nntpName list
              Returns a tcl list of valid newsgroups and associated
              information.  Each newsgroup is returned as an element in the
              tcl list with the following format:


                    group last first p


              where <group> is the name of the newsgroup, <last> is the number
              of the last known article currently in that newsgroup, <first>
              is the number of the first article currently in the newsgroup,
              and <p> is either 'y' or 'n' indicating whether posting to this
              newsgroup is allowed ('y') or prohibited ('n').

              The <first> and <last> fields will always be numeric.  They may
              have leading zeros.  If the <last> field evaluates to less than
              the <first> field, there are no articles currently on file in
              the newsgroup.

       nntpName listgroup ?group?
              Query the server for a list of all the messages (message
              numbers) in the group specified by the argument group or by the
              current group if the group argument was not passed.

       nntpName mode_reader
              Query the server for its nntp 'MODE READER' response string.

       nntpName newgroups since
              Query the server for a list of all the new newsgroups created
              since the time specified by the argument since.  The argument
              since can be any time string that is understood by clock scan.
              The tcl list of newsgroups is returned in a similar form to the
              list of groups returned by the nntpName list command.  Each
              element of the list has the form:


                    group last first p


              where <group> is the name of the newsgroup, <last> is the number
              of the last known article currently in that newsgroup, <first>
              is the number of the first article currently in the newsgroup,
              and <p> is either 'y' or 'n' indicating whether posting to this
              newsgroup is allowed ('y') or prohibited ('n').

       nntpName newnews
              Query the server for a list of new articles posted to the
              current group in the last day.

       nntpName newnews since
              Query the server for a list of new articles posted to the
              current group since the time specified by the argument since.
              The argument since can be any time string that is understood by
              clock scan.

       nntpName newnews group ?since?
              Query the server for a list of new articles posted to the group
              specified by the argument group since the time specified by the
              argument since (or in the past day if no since argument is
              passed.  The argument since can be any time string that is
              understood by clock scan.

       nntpName next
              Sets the current article pointer to point to the next message
              (if there is one) and returns the msgid of that message.

       nntpName post article
              Posts an article of the form specified in RFC 1036
              (http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1036.txt, successor to RFC
              850) to the current news group.

       nntpName slave
              Identifies a connection as being made from a slave nntp server.
              This might be used to indicate that the connection is serving
              multiple people and should be given priority.  Actual use is
              entirely implementation dependent and may vary from server to
              server.

       nntpName stat ?msgid?
              The stat command is similar to the article command except that
              no text is returned.  When selecting by message number within a
              group, the stat command serves to set the current article
              pointer without sending text. The returned acknowledgment
              response will contain the message-id, which may be of some
              value.  Using the stat command to select by message-id is valid
              but of questionable value, since a selection by message-id does
              NOT alter the "current article pointer"

       nntpName quit
              Gracefully close the connection after sending a NNTP QUIT
              command down the socket.

       nntpName xgtitle ?group_pattern?
              Returns a tcl list where each element is of the form:


              newsgroup description


              If a group_pattern is specified then only newsgroups that match
              the pattern will have their name and description returned.

       nntpName xhdr field ?range?
              Returns the specified header field value for the current message
              or for a list of messages from the current group.  field is the
              title of a field in the header such as from, subject, date, etc.
              If range is not specified or is "" then the current message is
              queried.  The command returns a list of elements where each
              element has the form of:


                  msgid value


              Where msgid is the number of the message and value is the value
              set for the queried field.  The range argument can be in any of
              the following forms:

              ""     The current message is queried.

              msgid1-msgid2
                     All messages between msgid1 and msgid2 (including msgid1
                     and msgid2) are queried.

              msgid1 msgid2
                     All messages between msgid1 and msgid2 (including msgid1
                     and msgid2) are queried.

       nntpName xover ?range?
              Returns header information for the current message or for a
              range of messages from the current group.  The information is
              returned in a tcl list where each element is of the form:


                  msgid subject from date idstring bodysize headersize xref


              If range is not specified or is "" then the current message is
              queried.  The range argument can be in any of the following
              forms:

              ""     The current message is queried.

              msgid1-msgid2
                     All messages between msgid1 and msgid2 (including msgid1
                     and msgid2) are queried.

              msgid1 msgid2
                     All messages between msgid1 and msgid2 (including msgid1
                     and msgid2) are queried.

       nntpName xpat field range ?pattern_list?
              Returns the specified header field value for a specified message
              or for a list of messages from the current group where the
              messages match the pattern(s) given in the pattern_list.  field
              is the title of a field in the header such as from, subject,
              date, etc.  The information is returned in a tcl list where each
              element is of the form:


                  msgid value


              Where msgid is the number of the message and value is the value
              set for the queried field.  The range argument can be in any of
              the following forms:

              msgid  The message specified by msgid is queried.

              msgid1-msgid2
                     All messages between msgid1 and msgid2 (including msgid1
                     and msgid2) are queried.

              msgid1 msgid2
                     All messages between msgid1 and msgid2 (including msgid1
                     and msgid2) are queried.

EXAMPLE
       A bigger example for posting a single article.

                  package require nntp
                  set n [nntp::nntp NNTP_SERVER]
                  $n post "From: USER@DOMAIN.EXT (USER_FULL)
                  Path: COMPUTERNAME!USERNAME
                  Newsgroups: alt.test
                  Subject: Tcl test post -ignore
                  Message-ID: <[pid][clock seconds]
                  @COMPUTERNAME>
                  Date: [clock format [clock seconds] -format "%a, %d %
                  b %y %H:%M:%S GMT" -gmt true]

                  Test message body"


BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK
       This document, and the package it describes, will undoubtedly contain
       bugs and other problems.  Please report such in the category nntp of
       the Tcllib SF Trackers
       [http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=12883].  Please also report
       any ideas for enhancements you may have for either package and/or
       documentation.

KEYWORDS
       news, nntp, nntpclient, rfc 1036, rfc 977

CATEGORY
       Networking



nntp                                 1.5.1                             nntp(n)
