Subject: NNTP configuration

From: David Henry <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 17:11:15 -0400 (EDT)

I have looked throught the archives of this list to see if I could find 
an answer to my question, to no avail.

I am trying to install the IMAP 4.1 BETA server, and I am having some 
trouble figuring out how to configure the server to use an NNTP server 
upon an attempt to select #news.foo.bar. 

My current server is IMAP2bis, which contains a mechanism for 
explicitly specifying the nntp proxy host.  I can find nothing which 
will do this in the IMAP 4.1 server.

So, what am I missing?

Thanks in advance,

David Henry
Academic IT Services
University of Maryland

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From: Terry Gray <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 16:32:52 -0700 (Pacific Daylight Time)

This is the syntax I use with Pine to have our imap server act as an NNTP
proxy:

  {shivams.cac:145}{news.u.washington.edu/nntp}#news.comp.mail.imap

where the imap server happens to be running on port 145 of a host called
shivams...

-teg

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From: David Henry <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 11:14:30 -0400 (EDT)

It seems to me like the user needs to know a lot about their 
environment to access the news server.

If I understand the source code correctly, news support in the c-client 
server would handle the case where the IMAP server has direct access to 
the news directories (e.g. IMAP server installed directly on the news 
server), in which case, the user would need not specify anything more 
than  {news.u.washington.edu/nntp}#news.comp.mail.imap 
or maybe {news.u.washington.edu}#news.comp.mail.imap
Correct?

So, if the IMAP server can be configured to act as a proxy for NNTP 
should the user need to know what news server the imap server should 
proxy to?  I don't think they should.  So, as I see it, the imap server 
needs to be able to be configured to know to automatically proxy to the 
nntp server when a connection is made to {imap.server}#news.news.group

As I mentioned in my previous inquiry, the imap2bis server I am running 
has this ability.  (Granted, it is a fairly old imap2bis, and this 
feature uses an entry in the verbotten /etc/imapd.conf file to achieve 
its ends. There is an entry like "set nntp-proxy-host host.name" in it.)

Now, I just want to figure out a way, without requiring local source 
code changes, if possible, to achieve the same functionality.  Am I 
wasting my time?

David Henry

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From: Terry Gray <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 09:16:16 -0700 (Pacific Daylight Time)

Whether there should be a default news server name for nntp proxy, and if
so, how to set that default, is a reasonable question, but one which I'll
leave for Mark to address when he returns from vacation.  However, I
believe the client *must* have the ability to over-ride any such default.

If the news spool is local to the imapd, there is no proxying involved, so
it is indeed simpler.  (Your example *without* the /nntp is the correct
one.)

-teg

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From: Mark Crispin <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 23:40:40 -0700 (PDT)

> code changes, if possible, to achieve the same functionality.  Am I

The imap2bis server which you were using was a locally-modified version, and
not a standard version.

It *is* under consideration to provide a more automatic proxy facility in the
standard version.  Such a mechanism will *NOT* use the evil imapd.conf file.
I can not predict at the present time when this will happen; I have several
other higher-priority items on the front-burner.