nntp(3tcl) Tcl NNTP Client Library nntp(3tcl)______________________________________________________________________________NAMEnntp - 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 connec‐
tion. 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 head‐
ers, followed by a blank line, and then followed by the body of
the article. Each element in the list is one line of the arti‐
cle.
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 cur‐
rent 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. Cur‐
rently 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 arti‐
cle 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 mes‐
sage (if there is one) and returns the msgid of that message.
nntpName list
Returns a tcl list of valid newsgroups and associated informa‐
tion. 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 num‐
bers) 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 ele‐
ment 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 cur‐
rent group in the last day.
nntpName newnews since
Query the server for a list of new articles posted to the cur‐
rent 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 com‐
mand 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 ele‐
ment 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 mes‐
sages 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 ele‐
ment 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://source‐
forge.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(3tcl)
