NAME

ypost - Post file(s) to Usenet

SYNOPSIS

ypost [-a, --author=name] [-c, --comment=comment] [-d, --debug] [-f, --force] [-g, --group=newsgroup] [-l, --line=length] [-m, --multipart=lines] [-M, --message-id] [-n, --nosort] [-p, --paths] [-P, --pass=password] [ -q, --quiet] [-r, --retry=retries] [-s, --subject=subject] [-S, --server=address] [-t, --timeout=timeout] [-U, --user=username] [--sfv=name] [--stdout] [--crc=name] [--help] [--version] FILE ...

DESCRIPTION

ypost encodes and posts the files specified on the command line to a Usenet server, which may be specified either on the command line or in the ypost configuration file, located in the user's home directory and named .ypostrc (see ypostrc(5)). Options provided on the command line always take precedence over the options specified in the user's .ypostrc.

By default, ypost always posts large files as multipart archives in multiple messages, with each message containing 5000 lines (or about 640k).

OPTIONS

-a, --author=name

When posting messages, use the name specified in the Usenet From: header field. See the AUTHOR SYNTAX section below for correct syntax. If the name argument is omitted, ypost will attempt to prompt the user interactively for this information.

-c, --comment=comment

The Subject: header field of each message will be suffixed by the specified comment, enclosed in square brackets. If the comment argument is omitted, ypost will attempt to prompt the user interactively for this information.

-d, --debug

Write messages useful for debugging to stderr while program is operating.

-f, --force

By default, ypost will output a summary before posting messages, describing what will be posted. This option disables that behavior and posts the messages without confirmation.

-g, --group=newsgroup

Messages will be posted to the specified newsgroup.

-l, --line=length

Create encoded lines of length characters, instead of 128, which is the default.

-m, --multipart=lines

Split files into multipart posts after lines rather than 5000, which is the default. Note that this usage differs from the yencode program, which accepts a file size instead.

-M, --message-id

Output the Message-ID: header when posting (normally not needed).

-n, --nosort

Do not sort the list of input files before posting.

-p, --paths

Save relative pathnames to files in the encoded data. For example, running ypost files/new/bigfile.mp3 will by default store the filename as bigfile.mp3. If the -p option is specified, the filename will be stored as files/new/bigfile.mp3.

-P, --pass=password

Use password to authenticate with the news server. If password is omitted, the user will be prompted.

-q, --quiet

Try to avoid writing output while running. The only output that will occur is error messages.

-r, --retry=retries

Specify the number of retries after which a post attempt will fail.

-s, --subject=subject

The Subject: header field of each message will be prefixed by the specified subject, enclosed in square brackets. If the subject argument is omitted, ypost will attempt to prompt the user interactively for this information.

-S, --server=address

Post messages through the news server located at the specified address.

-t, --timeout=seconds

Cause socket operations (such as connects, reads, and writes) to time out after the specified number of seconds. The default timeout is 120 seconds.

--sfv=name

Post a yencoded SFV file containing the checksum of each input file. If name is specified, then that name will be used as a prefix for the SFV file.

--stdout

Output messages to standard output instead of posting them via Usenet. This can be used if you want to see what ypost's output will look like without actually posting anything to Usenet. If the standard output is a terminal, the encoded data will be omitted, to keep your screen from filling with garbage and messing up your terminal.

--crc=name

Post a yencoded CRC file containing the checksum of each input file. If name is specified, then that name will be used as a prefix for the CRC file. Note that this CRC file may or may not comply with the "standard" for what a .crc file is supposed to contain.

--help

Display program help and exit.

--version

Output version number and exit.

QUICKSTART

First create a .ypostrc file in your home directory ("~/.ypostrc") containing your news server information. This file will keep you from having to enter the server information on the command line every time you run the program. Make sure the file is not readable by other users ("chmod 0600 ~/.ypostrc") if it contains a username or password. You can run "man ypostrc" for the full documentation, but here's an example that should give you a good start:

# ~/.ypostrc - sample configuration
server = news.example.com                # The name of your news server
user   = user1234                        # Username (if your server requires it)
pass   = IloveUnix                       # Password (if your server requires it)
author = "juser@example.net (Joe User)"  # Use this address in the From: line

Now, let's say you have a short video you want to post, and all the files are in the directory /home/bboy/video:

total 6816
-rw-r--r--    1 bboy     bboy         1776 Mar 14 23:24 shortfilm.nfo
-rw-r--r--    1 bboy     bboy      3072000 Mar 14 23:13 shortfilm.r00
-rw-r--r--    1 bboy     bboy       817510 Mar 14 23:13 shortfilm.r01
-rw-r--r--    1 bboy     bboy      3072000 Mar 14 23:13 shortfilm.rar

To post these files to the newsgroup alt.binaries.test.yenc, and create an SFV file for them as well, you would run:

ypost --sfv -g alt.binaries.test.yenc /home/bboy/video/*

When you run the command, ypost will output a summary of the messages it is about to post, before actually posting the messages:

       Server: news.example.com
    Newsgroup: alt.binaries.test.yenc
       Author: juser@example.net (Joe User)
  1. "shortfilm.nfo" 1776 yEnc bytes
  2. "shortfilm.sfv" 402 yEnc bytes
  3. "shortfilm.rar" yEnc (x/5) 3072000 bytes
  4. "shortfilm.r00" yEnc (x/5) 3072000 bytes
  5. "shortfilm.r01" yEnc (x/2) 817510 bytes
Post 5 files (14 parts)? [y]es, [n]o:

Notice that ypost tries to post your files in a sensible order.  .nfo and .sfv files and the like
get posted first, and the .rar file gets posted before the .r00 file, instead of at the end.

SUBJECT LINE FORMAT

The yEnc specification includes subject line formats for single part and multipart Usenet posts, and strongly recommends their use. ypost is compliant with the specification, and no facility is included to override this behavior. However, there are two comment areas allowed by the specification: one before, and one after the file information. The comment before the file info may be specified by the -s (--subject) option, and the comment after the file info may be specified by the -c (--comment) option. Thus

ypost -s'Test Post' -c'file %f of %F' test.zip test.txt

would post the two files specified (test.zip and test.txt) with the following subject lines:

[Test Post] "test.txt" 4281 yEnc bytes [file 1 of 2]
[Test Post] "test.zip" yEnc (1/5) 3065891 bytes [file 2 of 2]
[Test Post] "test.zip" yEnc (2/5) 3065891 bytes [file 2 of 2]
[Test Post] "test.zip" yEnc (3/5) 3065891 bytes [file 2 of 2]
[Test Post] "test.zip" yEnc (4/5) 3065891 bytes [file 2 of 2]
[Test Post] "test.zip" yEnc (5/5) 3065891 bytes [file 2 of 2]

The variables used in the preceding example may be included in either the subject or the comment line, and will be replaced on a per-file basis with the relevant data. The available variables are:

%p: The current part number within the current file.
%P: The total number of parts within the current file.
%f: The current file number within the overall list of files to post.
%F: The total number of files to be posted.

If you specify either the -s (--subject) or -c (--comment) option without an argument, ypost will prompt you to enter this information.

AUTHOR SYNTAX

RFC 1036 specifies three permissible forms of user identification. ypost will enforce use of one of these forms:

juser@example.net

An email address without further explanation.

juser@example.net (Joe User)

An email address followed by comments enclosed by parentheses.

Joe User <juser@example.net>

The user's name followed by an email address enclosed by angle brackets.

FILES

~/.ypostrc

The configuration file used by ypost if it is present. See ypostrc(5) for further details.

AUTHOR

Don Moore <bboy@bboy.net>

HOMEPAGE

http://www.yencode.org/