Apache::NNTPGateway - A NNTP interface (Usenet newsgroups) for mod_perl enabled Apache web server.
You must be using mod_perl, see http://perl.apache.org/ for details. For the correct work your apache configuration should contain apache directives look like these: In httpd.conf (or any other apache configuration file): <Location "/path/to/newsgroup"> SetHandler perl-script PerlHandler Apache::NNTPGateway PerlSetVar NNTPGatewayNewsGroup "newsgroup" PerlSetVar NNTPGateway... (see L<CONFIGURATION> Directives) </Location>
This module implements a per group interface to NNTP (Usenet) News-Groups, it allow users to list, read, post, followup ... articles in a given newsgroup/newsserver depending of configuration. This is not a replacement for a real powerful newsreader client but just pretend to be a simple, useful mapping of some news articles into a web space.
Here is the list of all actions that can be performed on the current newsgroup.
List articles, all articles from the current newsgroup or only unread articles if the user/client already did a B<catchup>.
Mark all current articles as read. This use a Cookie.
Read the last article available from the newsserver.
Read article by ID.
Post a followup to an article.
Post an new article to the current newsgroup.
Except some very few optional adjustments in the module source itself all configuration is done with B<PerlSetVar> directives in Apache configurations files.
All following features of this PerlHandler, will be set in the apache configuration files. For this you can use PerlSetVar apache directive.
(string, B<mandatory>) The newsgroup used for the current NNTPGateway location. Not setting this will make NNTPGateway fail.
(string, I<optional>) Short description (1 or 2 lines) of what this newsgroup is for/contain.
(boolean, I<optional>) Tell to completely disable NNTPGateway, useful for temporary maintenance.
(ACTION name, I<optional>) Default value: B<last> Default action used when nothing specified. (see L<ACTIONS>).
(string, I<optional>) When using correctly configured perl modules B<Net::Domain>, B<Net::Config> on a correctly configured system this should not be changed, in theory NNTPGateway could be able to handle multiples news server but this is greatly nor recommended (see L<BUGS>) unless you really know what you are doing.
(string, B<recommended>) Default value: B<The Disorganized Corp> Set the Organization header when posting articles.
(string, I<optional>) Title displayed in NNTPGateway pages.
(string, I<optional>) Set the style sheet used in NNTPGateway pages, or none. There are some few classes in the generated HTML, check the source to use them in your style sheet.
(boolean, I<optional>) Default value: B<off> Allow anonymous posting in the current group.
(list, I<optional>) Default value: B<anonymous=Anonymous> A list of pair email=Name that could be used for anonymous posts. I'm B<Absolutely> not responsible for any abuse of this feature, this is up to the webmaster to control it's usage. Ex: C<PerlSetVar NNTPGatewayAnonymousPosters "anon=The Unknown Soldier,president=The Big Boss">
(boolean, I<optional>) Default value: B<off> Allow user who do not have local (to the same web server machine - checked with getpwnam) login account to post articles, in B<non> anonymous post mode the users should have been identified themselves anyway (with identd or server auth).
(boolean, I<optional>) Default value: B<off> Check users names in a case insensitive manner.
(ACTIONS list, I<optional>) Default value: B<none> List of L<ACTIONS> that are B<not> allowed to be performed by users for the current config. (see L<ACTIONS>).
(string, L<optional>) Default value: B<lib/templates/NNTPGateway/> ServerRoot relative Directory where to find HTML templates files (not yet Implemented).
(boolean, I<optional>) Default value: B<off> Set this to debug NNTPGateway.
If you B<allow> Anonymous posting absolutely no security checks are performed unless you protect access to the Location this handler is located on, but that is not the job of this module. If you B<deny> Anonymous posting, the handler will check B<remote_ident> (via Identd) or B<remote_user> and will check if they are valid username by checking C<getpwnam()> (a list of some generic usernames such as: root, anonymous ... are not considered as valid too, even if they are), if directive B<NNTPGatewayNonLocalPostOk> had not been set, if they are not they are rejected, if they are they could post and the From header will be set to that username. That is the only security check the handler will do, it is up to other apaches modules to correctly protect the Location and set valid usernames (enable identd or loggin via AuthNIS or anything else). Furthermore the webmaster could disable the use of some actions such as post, followup ...
The connection to the nntp server is handled in a global variable so that the connection is common to all requests in the current apache child process. Due to that, when the module is used with 2 differents configs (in 2 <Location xxx>) setting 2 differents newsservers and that 2 requests are made in the same child with these 2 configs (or more) ... the second request could re-use a NNTP connection (open during the 1st request) already open to the B<first> server. I do not want to make the nntp object a local variable, because the connection is a long process ... But anyway, I have some few ideas of how to solve the problem, but as I am lazy and my configuration do not have this problem I am waiting for pressure from eventual module users ...;-)
* Article id or subject added to title in read. * More CSS classes everywhere... read the sources. * use Apache::Log qw(); to access to log functions. * Makefile.PL improved to really check used modules versions. * Call Net::Cmd functions in a clean manner to make perl 5.6 happy (end of that Bareword "CMD_ERROR" install bug).
* Cookie domain better handled for catchup. * NNTPGatewayNewsGroupTest removed. Set up a new Location and set NNTPGatewayNewsGroup to the test group and NNTPGatewayDebug on to achieve the same functionality. * Some more directives to control users checking (NNTPGatewayUsersNamesCaseInsensitive, NNTPGatewayNonLocalPostOk). * Some handling of Cache-Control. * Made this module ready for my first CPAN contribution ;-) ** Cleaning source code. ** Cleaning Documentation. ** CPAN Enabled distrib (Makefile.PL, .tar.gz dist, README file, CPAN ID ...).
* The configuration directive B<NNTPGatewayCatchupCookieName> do not exists anymore. * Disconnections to news server start to be better handled.
First public release
Safe sharing of the NNTP global.
Keeping into account the If-Modified-Since, Last-Modified and so on ... stuff.
Using an HTML Template system (maybe HTML::Template) instead of hard coded html.
Improving the LANG selection stuff (maybe adding a new configuration directive?)
Improving the C<check_user()> stuff for more security.
Integrating Jie Gao threaded view of articles list.
more stuff ...
Thanks a lot to these people for they help:
Jie Gao <J.Gao@isu.usyd.edu.au> For his help to build a clean installation of the module.
perl(1), mod_perl(3), Apache(3), Net::NNTP(3), Net::Domain(3), Net::Config(3), rfc9771, getpwnam(3)
The application and accompanying modules are Copyright CENA Toulouse. It is free software and can be used, copied and redistributed at the same terms as perl itself.
heddy Boubaker <boubaker@cpan.org> Home page: http://www.tls.cena.fr/~boubaker/WWW/Apache-NNTPGateway.shtml
To install Apache::NNTPGateway, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.
cpanm
cpanm Apache::NNTPGateway
CPAN shell
perl -MCPAN -e shell install Apache::NNTPGateway
For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.