FAQ
Last update 2001-06-28
This document contains answers to some commonly encountered problems.
The questions discussed are:
A good way to approach communication problems with leafnode is to
switch on the debugmode. This is done by putting "debugmode = 1"
into the leafnode configuration file and then turning on the
logging of the "debug" priority for the facility "news" in
/etc/syslogd.conf. To turn on logging, do the following:
news.=debug /var/log/news.debug
It is mandatory that the two fields be separated by a tab, not spaces.
kill -HUP `cat /var/run/syslog.pid`
or
kill -HUP `cat /var/run/syslogd.pid`
(depends on your distribution).
Be warned that the leafnode programs write a lot of information to this channel.
Comments or additions should be sent to Cornelius Krasel <krasel@wpxx02.toxi.uni-wuerzburg.de>.
1. Leafnode does not compile on my system.
This most frequently seems to happen on Linux. The reason is that Leafnode depends on some system-specific information which is usually included in the sources of the kernel. Unfortunately, nowadays many Linux distribution do not install kernel sources by default; therefore, compilation of Leafnode (and most other programs as well) will fail. The obvious solution is to install the kernel sources. If compilation still does not work afterwards, complain to your distributor. On Linux, if the kernel sources are installed in /usr/src/linux-a.b.cc (with a.b.cc being the version number of your kernel), create a symlink to /usr/src/linux.
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2. I want to change my upstream server.
I have never done this myself, but leafnode should have no
problems with it. Assuming that your new server is called
"new.upstream.server" and your old server "old.upstream.server",
I recommend following the procedure outlined below:
server = new.upstream.server
maxfetch = 100
If you have already another maxfetch defined, reduce it
temporarily.
server = old.upstream.server
and delete the "maxfetch" line that was introduced in step 1).
That's it.
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3. I cannot connect to my newsserver.
Most likely your setup is incorrect. This can have several reasons.
ps axu | grep inetd
If your distributions uses a different program, change the grep
expression accordingly. Any of these programs should be running once.
Run "inetd -d" as root (finish with Ctrl-C). You should get
exactly one line starting like this:
ADD : nntp proto=tcp, ...
If this is not the case, the syntax of your entry in /etc/inetd.conf
is incorrect. Compare it with some other entries. Most notably, it
should not contain any leading spaces.
inetd will log attempts to invoke leafnode in some logfile,
usually /var/log/syslog or /var/log/messages (the exact name
depends on the setup of your /etc/syslog.conf). If an error
occurs when invoking leafnode, you can find out there what
exactly happened.
hosts.deny:
leafnode: ALL
hosts.allow:
leafnode: 127.0.0.1
You can test your setup by opening a telnet connection to your
newsserver. This is done by doing "telnet localhost 119".
You should get back something like
200 Leafnode NNTP Daemon, version xx running at yy
where xx is the version number and yy your hostname. Type "quit"
after seeing this message. If you don't get any connection at
all or something different, check through points 1-4 above.
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4. I am running xinetd, not inetd, and cannot connect to my newsserver.
Beginning with version 7.1, Redhat has replaced inetd with xinetd. xinetd
is an advanced inetd which features access control by itself (i.e. you
do not need tcpwrappers). Unfortunately, its configuration syntax is
completely different from the one in inetd.conf.
Here is a sample /etc/xinetd/leafnode entry. The entry in the "server"
field has to point to your locally installed leafnode executable.
Dependent on the installation, this executable may not reside in /usr/sbin
but elsewhere (e.g. /usr/local/sbin if you installed leafnode from the
source code).
If the leafnode binary is not installed in /usr/sbin but elsewhere (for
example in /usr/local/sbin), you will have to adjust the path in the
"server" field.
This is most likely the result of a corrupt groupinfo
file. Rebuild it by starting fetchnews with the -f parameter.
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The 1.x versions do not support local newsgroups. The 2.x versions
will do that.
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Either you have started the wrong version of tin (the one which
tries to read news directly from the spool) or your groupinfo file
is corrupt.
In the first case, simply invoke tin with the -r flag: "tin -r".
If this does not help, try to rebuild the groupinfo file by
starting fetchnews with the -f flag.
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To search news, older versions of Netscape needed a news server
which supports the XPAT command. Leafnode does not. If you want
to use Netscape, you have to upgrade to version 4.5 and press the
"options" button which appears in the "search messages" window.
In the box which appears you have to select "on your local system".
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This is a problem of Netscape and Outlook Express, not of
Leafnode. These programs store read articles in the cache and
(for some odd reason) refuse to reload an article that has been
already read. To force Netscape to reload articles, clear the
cache (Options/Network Preferences in version 3.0x). Better, get
a sensible newsreader. (If somebody has a solution for OE, please
email me.)
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Here are the two most common occurences which cause this error:
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In the 1.9.x versions of fetchnews, each command is handled at a time.
Since headers and bodies are fetched separately, fetchnews is quite
slow when compared to other news transport programs. There is currently
no remedy for that problem other than to wait for 2.x.
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Maybe your upstream server supports neither the
"XGTITLE news.group.name" nor the "LIST NEWSGROUPS news.group.name"
command. In this case, add "nodesc" to your server entry as
described in leafnode(8) and the config.example file.
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The article which causes the interruption contains three
plus signs ("+++") which is interpreted by a subset of modems
as the beginning of a command. You can either change the
command introduction sequence or switch off the command
completely. Consult the instructions of your modem to find
out how this is done.
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This should not happen, especially not with the current version.
As a workaround, do the following:
If fetchnews crashes during posting, it helps to post the articles
separately (with "fetchnews -P"). If fetchnews crashes during reading
news, repeatedly calling it will often fetch all the articles.
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Fetchnews can only be started as user root or news. Many people find
this inconvenient, but it improves security on the system and prevents
possible damage from berserk processes.
The tool "sudo" allows a normal user to start any other program with
root or other priorities. "sudo" is available from
http://www.courtesan.com/sudo/.
If "sudo" is installed on your system, root priviledges for fetchnews are
invoked as follows:
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Your news reader talks to leafnode via the NNTP protocol. This protocol
provides no means for Leafnode to determine which newsgroups you are
actually subscribe. Therefore, Leafnode assumes that a newsgroup that
is not read for a certain time (which can be configured with the
"timeout_long" parameter) is unsubscribed and will only stop retrieving
articles in it after this time.
If you are somewhat impatient and want to immediately stop fetchnews
retrieving articles from a certain group, delete the appropriate file
in the directory /var/spool/news/interesting.groups/ . The articles
already in your spool will be normally expired by texpire.
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First you should check whether it is indeed Leafnode which
generates the message ID. Leafnode will not touch any message
IDs generated by newsreaders (many of which generate message IDs
themselves). A message ID that is generated by leafnode has the
following general appearance:
If you don't want to change the name of your machine, you can
change the part of the Message-ID behind the @ sign by putting
"hostname = correct.hostname" in your config file. For more
information, see the leafnode(8) man page.
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The backup software that you are using may not reset the atime after reading a
file. Check if you can reconfigure it.
Run texpire with the -f parameter. This will expire articles
somewhat earlier because the time of last access on the files
will be ignored. If you have an urgent need to free some space
in your spool directory, reduce the expiry time in the config
file and re-run texpire -f.
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Run fetchnews with the -n parameter.
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There are several reasons:
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service nntp
{
disable = no
flags = REUSE
socket_type = stream
wait = no
user = news
server = /usr/sbin/leafnode
log_on_failure += USERID
}
5. My news reader complains
about repeated frequent timeouts of the NNTP server.
6. Does Leafnode support
local newsgroups?
7. tin complains about a missing
file "/var/lib/news/active".
8. When searching news with
Netscape, I only get back "unknown command".
9. When running leafnode in
"delaybody" mode, I can only view the headers with Netscape/Outlook
Express.
10. fetchnews does not fetch
any articles.
11. Fetchnews is slow.
Can I speed it up?
12. fetchnews has problems
retrieving new newsgroups.
13. When fetching articles,
the connection is interrupted by the pppd.
14. fetchnews crashes with
a segmentation fault.
15. I want to invoke
fetchnews as normal user.
username hostname = (news) NOPASSWD: /path/to/fetchnews
sudo -u news /usr/sbin/fetchnews
16. I have unsubscribed a
newsgroup, but fetchnews still retrieves articles from it.
17. leafnode generates
incorrect/incomplete message IDs.
<local-part.ln@host-name>
The local-part is generated by Leafnode and you cannot influence
it. For host-name, Leafnode tries to figure out the name of your
computer by calling gethostname(2) and using the return value for a
gethostbyname(3) call. Therefore, if you set the name of your computer
correctly (using hostname(1)) you should also get correct message IDs.
18. texpire does not expire
articles.
19. I want to switch off the
automatic expiring of newsgroups.
20. Why is Leafnode not
licensed under the GPL?
Use, modification and distribution is allowed without limitation,
warranty, or liability of any kind.
This license is very broad. The same spirit is (in my opinion)
contained in the X11 license, which is used by Leafnode nowadays.