Re: Patch for server-name and server-file

Hi Peter,

Peter J Ross <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Wednesday 20 August 2008 21:01:03 Thomas Wiegner wrote:
>>
>> the old slrn had the following options in the configure script:
>>
>> #v+
>>  --with-server-name=HOST Hostname of a default NNTP server
>>  --with-server-file=FILE File containing the hostname of an NNTP server
>> #v-
>
> Debian-based packages traditionally allow the user to set the server name 
> in /etc/news/server during installation, so they may break if this patch 
> isn't applied.

I'm setting this option in the slrnfeat.h file directly. The Debian
package provides support for /etc/news/server since 0.9.9~pre102-3. See
also <http://bugs.debian.org/469586>.

> 1. Would setting the NNTPSERVER variable in /etc/profile be an acceptable 
> alternative to creating /etc/news/server? (I have no preference; it's just an 
> idea.)

I wouldn't do that, because it's not guaranted that this file is read by
each login, e.g. graphical logins, and editing /etc/profile by a script
isn't easy.

> 2. Last time I installed a Debian/Ubuntu slrn package, APT invited me to 
> download a list of newsgroups from the server I specified, but didn't ask me 
> if I needed to provide a username and password. Can this be fixed?

I think yes, but it seems to be not trivial, because slrn doesn't have an
option for the username and the password, which would also be ugly,
because the password would be visible in the process list.

> 3. A lot of Debian/Ubuntu packages install HTML docs 
> in /usr/share/docs/foo/html/. You might find the slrn-doc-html package 
> useful: <https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=4526>. This 
> is generated from the same SGML sources as the corresponding plain-text docs 
> that are installed in /usr/share/docs/slrn/.

Yes, I can do this, but the slrn package must include the SGML file.

John, please, can you add the SGML file to the source? Otherwise I have
to remove the manual, because the text file is not ‘the prefered form for
modifications.’ You know, we Debian guys are a little bit strange. ;-)

> 4. Can 0.9.9 be sneaked into the Debian Etch release?

Etch? No. Etch was released long time ago. I think you mean Lenny, the
upcomming release. I don't know if it's possible to get 0.9.9 into Lenny.
The archive is frozen. But I would create a special version with only the
bug fixes based on the current version in Lenny (0.9.9~pre111-1) and
would ask for an exception.

Kind regards, Jörg.
-- 
Wenn Du jedesmal stehen bleibst, wenn ein Hund bellt, wirst du Deine Reise
nie beenden.                                       (Arabisches Sprichwort)

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