SUCK(1)

📦
version 4.3.5 · 2 versions
, in debian trixie, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 SUCK(1) 💖

okay so this is suck, and she's your bestie for pulling a small newsfeed from an NNTP server while avoiding the NEWNEWS command. iconic behavior, honestly. 💅

🌸 NAME 🌸

suck — Pull a small newsfeed from an NNTP server, avoiding the NEWNEWS command. periodt.

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

suck [ hostname ] [ @filename ] [ -V ] [ -K ] [ -L[SL] ] [ -LF filename ] [ -H ] [ -HF filename ] [ -d[tmd] dirname ] [ -s | -S filename ] [ -e | -E filename ] [ -a ] [ -m ] [ -b[irlf] batchfile ] [ -r filesize ] [ -p extension ] [ -U userid ] [ -P password ] [ -Q ] [ -c ] [ -M ] [ -N port_number ] [ -W pause_time pause_nr_msgs ] [ -w pause_time pause_nr_msgs ] [ -l phrase_file ] [ -D ] [ -R ] [ -q ] [ -C count ] [ -k ] [ -A ] [ -AL activefile ] [ -hl localhost ] [ -bp ] [ -T timeout ] [ -n ] [ -u ] [ -z ] [ -x ] [ -B ] [ -O ] [ -G ] [ -X ] [ -f ] [ -y post_filter ] [ -F ] [ -g ] [ -i number_to_read ] [ -Z ] [ -rc ] [ -lr ] [ -sg ] [ -ssl ] [ -SSL ]

💅 Options valid in all modes 💅

  • hostname — the hostname can optionally include the port number, in the form Host:Port. If this option is used, any port number specified via the -N option is ignored. so don't double up, bestie.
  • @filename — this option tells suck to read other options from a file in addition to the commandline. extra credit behavior, love that.
  • -a — this option forces suck to always batch up any downloaded articles, even if suck aborts for any reason. Without this option, suck will only batch up articles if it finishes successfully or is cancelled by a signal (see below). the way that “see below” is doing the most…
  • -A — this option tells suck to scan the localhost (specified with the -hl option) and use its active file to build and update the sucknewsrc. If you add a group to your local server, suck will add it to sucknewsrc and download articles. Or, if you delete a group from your local server, it will be deleted from sucknewsrc. If posting is not allowed to a particular group, then the line in sucknewsrc is just commented out. With this option, you should never have to edit your sucknewsrc. In case you have newsgroups (like control and junk) that you don't want downloaded, you can put these newsgroups in a file active-ignore, one per line, and suck will ignore these newsgroups when it scans the localhost. If your system supports regex(), you may use regular expressions in the active-ignore file to skip multiple groups, eg: fred.*. If you use the -p (postfix) option, suck will check for the existence of an active-ignore file with the postfix. If that doesn't exist, then suck will check for the existence of the file without the postfix.
NOTE: If the localhost is on a non-standard port, the port number may be specified as part of the hostname, in the form Host:Port.
NOTE: If you use regular expressions, suck will silently add a "^" to the beginning of the group name, and a "$" to the end of the group name if they aren't already present, so that if you have "comp.os.linux", it won't match "comp.os.linux.answers" or if you have "alt.test" it doesn't match "comp.alt.test".
  • -AL activefile — this option is identical to the -A option, except it reads the active file from the local file specified instead of reading it from the localhost. All the caveats from the -A option apply to this option as well. If both options are used on the command line, suck first tries to use the -A option, then if that fails it uses this option. fallback queen.
  • -B — this option tells suck to attempt to batch up any articles in its directory BEFORE starting to download messages. This can be useful if you have a problem with the previous download. This option will only work if you specify a batch option (see below). If there are no messages to batch up, some of the batch options may produce warning messages. They may be safely ignored. Also, if the batch files exist at the end of the run, in inn-batch mode, it will be overwritten, since the new batch file will contain all messages. In rnews mode, if the batch file exists, it will abort and not batch up any messages. ngl this is giving “clean up your mess before you make a new one.”
  • -c — if this option is specified, suck will clean up after itself. This includes:
    1. Moving sucknewsrc to sucknewsrc.old
    2. Moving suck.newrc to sucknewsrc
    3. rm suck.sorted and suckothermsgs.
  • -C count — this option tells suck to drop the connection and reopen it every count number of articles. This is designed to battle INN's LIKE_PULLERS=DONT option, that some folks compile in. With LIKE_PULLERS=DONT, after 100 messages INN will pause between every message, dramatically reducing your download speed. I don't recommend the use of this, but if you have no other choice.... lowkey chaotic, but okay.
  • -dd dirname — -dd dirname = directory of data files used by suck (sucknewsrc suckkillfile suckothermsgs active-ignore sucknodownload)
  • -dm dirname — -dm dirname = directory for storage of articles created in Multifile mode or batch mode. DO NOT make this the same as the directories used for the -dt or -d options, or you will lose all your configuration files. not me warning you twice…
  • -dt dirname — -dt dirname = directory of temp files created by suck (suck.newrc, suck.sort, suck.restart, suck.killlog, suck.post).

Specify the location of the various files used by suck.

  • -D — this option tells suck to log various debugging messages to "debug.suck", primarily for use by the maintainer. main character energy, but only for the maintainer.
  • -e | -E filename — these options will send all error messages (normally displayed on stderr), to an alternate file. The lower case version, -e, will send the error messages to the compiled-in default defined in suck_config.h. The default is suck.errlog. The upper case version, -E, requires the filename parameter. All error messages will then be sent to this file. so if stderr is too loud, send it somewhere else.
  • -f — this option tells suck to reconnect after deduping, and before downloading the articles. This is in case long dedupe times cause timeouts on the remote end.
  • -F — this option tells suck to reconnect after reading the local active file, and before downloading the Msg-IDs. This is in case of a large active file, which causes timeouts on the remote end.
  • -g — this option causes suck to only download the headers of any selected articles. As a result of this, any batching of articles is skipped. This option does work with killfiles, however, killfile options such as BODYSIZE> will be ignored, since the body of the article will never be downloaded.
  • -G — this option causes suck to display the message count and BPS status lines in a slightly different format, more suitable for use by a filter program (such as a GUI). for the visual learners, slay.
  • -H — this option will cause suck to bypass the history check.
  • -HF history_file_name — this option tells suck the location of the history file. The default is at /var/lib/news/history.
  • -hl localhost — this option specifies the localhost name. This option is required with both the -A and the -bp option. required, bestie, don't forget it.
  • -i number_to_read — this option tells suck the number of articles to download if you are using the -A or -AL option, and a new group is added. The default is defined in suck_config.h (ACTIVE_DEFAULT_LASTREAD, currently -100). NOTE: This must be a negative number (eg -100, -50), or 0, to download all articles currently available in the group.
  • -k — this option tells suck to NOT attach the postfix from the -p option to the names of the killfiles, both the master killfile and any group files. This allows you to maintain one set of killfiles for multiple servers.
  • -K — this option will cause suck to bypass checking the killfile(s). skip the drama, love that for you.
  • -l phrase_file — this option tells suck to load in an alternate phrase file, instead of using the built-in messages. This allows you to have suck print phrases in another language, or to allow you to customize the messages without re-building suck. See below.
  • -lr — this option, is used in conjunction with the highest article option in the sucknewsrc, to download the oldest articles, vice the newest articles. See that section for more details.
  • -L — this option tells suck to NOT log killed articles to suck.killlog.
  • -LF filename — this option allows you to override the built-in default of "suck.killlog" for the file which contains the log entries for killed articles.
  • -LL — this option tells suck to create long log entries for each killed article. The long entry contains the short log entry and the header for the killed message.
  • -LS — this option tells suck to create short log entries for each killed article. The short entry contains which group and which pattern was matched, as well as the MsgID of the killed article.
  • -M — this option tells suck to send the "mode reader" command to the remote server. If you get an invalid command message immediately after the welcome announcement, then try this option. try it, it might eat.
  • -n — this option tells suck to use the article number vice the MsgId to retrieve the articles. This option is supposedly less harsh on the remote server. It can also eliminate problems if your ISP ages off articles quickly and you frequently get "article not found" errors. Also, if your ISP uses DNEWS, you might need this option so that it knows you're reading articles in a group.
  • -N port_number — this option tells suck to use an alternate NNRP port number when connecting to the host, instead of the default, 119.
  • -O — this option tells suck to skip the first article upon restart. This is used whenever there is a problem with an article on the remote server. For some reasons, some NNTP servers, when they have a problem with a particular article, they time out. Yet, when you restart, you're back on the same article, and you time out again. This option tells suck to skip the first article upon restart, so that you can get the rest of the articles. the way that loop is giving nightmare blunt rotation…
  • -p extension — this extension is added to all files so that you can have multiple site feeds. For example, if you specify -p .dummy, then suck looks for sucknewsrc.dummy, suckkillfile.dummy, etc, and creates its temp files with the same extension. This will allow you to keep multiple sucknewsrc files, one for each site. multiple feeds? we love a multiverse moment.
  • -q — this option tells suck to not display the BPS and article count messages during download. Handy when running suck unattended, such as from a crontab.
  • -R — this option tells suck to skip a rescan of the remote newserver upon a restart. The default is to rescan the newserver for any new articles whenever suck runs, including restarts.
  • -rc — this option tells suck to change its behavior when the remote server resets its article counters. The default behavior is to reset the lastread in sucknewsrc to the current high article counter. With this option, suck resets the lastread in sucknewsrc to the current low article counter, causing it to suck all articles in the group, and using the historydb routines to dedupe existing articles.
  • -s | -S filename

Ok so these next options are all about where your status messages go, bestie. Normally they're vibing on stdout, but we can yeet them somewhere else entirely. The lowercase -s sends them to the compiled-in default defined in suck_config.h — and that default is /dev/null, so basically silence, nothing, a void 💀. The uppercase -S needs you to hand it a filename parameter, and then every status message goes to that file instead. Choose wisely.

  • -sg — tells suck to add the name of the current group being downloaded, if it knows it, to the BPS display. Usually the only time suck doesn't know the group name is when an article gets downloaded via the suckothermsgs file. iykyk.
  • -ssl — tells suck to use SSL when it talks to the remote server — but only if suck was compiled with SSL support. No compile, no SSL, no cap.
  • -SSL — same energy, different server: tells suck to use SSL when it talks to the local server, if suck was compiled with SSL support. 🦋
  • -T timeout — overrides the compiled-in TIMEOUT value. This is how long suck waits for data from the remote host before it gives up and aborts. The timeout value is in seconds.
  • -u — tells suck to send the AUTHINFO USER command immediately on connect to the remote server, instead of waiting politely for someone to ask for authorization. Heads up: you must supply the -U and -P options when you use this one.
  • -U userid — lets you specify a userid, if your NNTP server requires one.
  • -P password — lets you specify a password, if your NNTP server requires one.
  • -Q — tells suck to grab the userid and password for NNTP authentication from the environment variables NNTP_USER and NNTP_PASS instead of using -U or -P. This dodges a potential security problem where somebody running a ps command could literally see your userid and password. Protect yourself, queen 👑.
  • -V — makes suck print out the version number and then exit. Short and iconic.
  • -w pause_timer pause_nr_msgs — this one lets you slow suck down while it's pulling articles. If you send suck a predefined signal (default is SIGUSR1, see suck_config.h), suck will swap the default pause options (the ones you specified with -W) with the values from this option. Example: you run suck with -w 2 2, and you send suck a SIGUSR1 using kill — suck will then pause 2 seconds between every other message, letting the server "catch its breath." Send suck another SIGUSR1 and it puts the default pause options back. And if no pause options were specified on the command line (you omitted -W), suck returns to the default full-speed pull. 🏎️
  • -W pause_time pause_nr_msgs — tells suck to pause between the download of articles. You gotta specify how long to pause (in seconds) and how often to pause (every X number of articles). Example: -W 10 100 makes suck pause for 10 seconds every 100 articles. Why would anyone want this? Because suck can cause heavy loads on a remote server, and this pause lets that server "catch its breath." Be a considerate bestie 🌸.
  • -x — tells suck to not check the Message-IDs for the ending > character. This one exists for brain dead NNTP servers that truncate the XHDR information at 72 characters. Not their fault, but also... their fault.
  • -X — tells suck to bypass the XOVER killfiles. Simple as that.
  • -y post_filter — only valid when using any of the batch modes. It lets you edit any or all of the articles downloaded before posting to the local host. See below for more details 👀.
  • -z — tells suck to bypass the normal deduping process. This is primarily for slow machines where the deduping takes longer than the download of messages would. > Not recommended. Like, at all. You've been warned 💀
  • -Z — tells suck to use the XOVER command instead of the XHDR command to retrieve the info needed to download articles. Use this if your remote news server doesn't support XHDR. Periodt.

🌈 LONG OPTION EQUIVALENTS 🌈

Every short flag, but make it verbose ✨:

  • -a — --always_batch
  • -bi — --batch-inn
  • -br — --batch_rnews
  • -bl — --batch_lmove
  • -bf — --batch_innfeed
  • -bp — --batch_post
  • -c — --cleanup
  • -dt — --dir_temp
  • -dd — --dir_data
  • -dm — --dir_msgs
  • -e — --def_error_log
  • -f — --reconnect_dedupe
  • -g — --header_only
  • -h — --host
  • -hl — --localhost
  • -k — --kill_no_postfix
  • -l — --language_file
  • -lr — --low_read
  • -m — --multifile
  • -n — --number_mode
  • -p — --postfix
  • -q — --quiet
  • -r — --rnews_size
  • -rc — --resetcounter
  • -s — --def_status_log
  • -sg — --show_group
  • -ssl — --use_ssl
  • -w — --wait_signal
  • -x — --no_chk_msgid
  • -y — --post_filter
  • -z — --no_dedupe
  • -A — --active
  • -AL — --read_active
  • -B — --pre-batch
  • -C — --reconnect
  • -D — --debug
  • -E — --error_log
  • -G — --use_gui
  • -H — --no_history
  • -HF — --history_file
  • -K — --killfile
  • -L — --kill_log_none
  • -LS — --kill_log_short
  • -LL — --kill_log_long
  • -M — --mode_reader
  • -N — --portnr
  • -O — --skip_on_restart
  • -P — --password
  • -Q — --password_env
  • -R — --no_rescan
  • -S — --status_log
  • -SSL — --local_use_ssl
  • -T — --timeout
  • -U — --userid
  • -V — --version
  • -W — --wait
  • -X — --no_xover
  • -Z — --use_xover

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

MODE 1 - stdout mode

%suck
%suck myhost.com

Suck grabs news from an NNTP server and sends the articles straight to stdout. Suck accepts the name of an NNTP server as its argument — or, if you don't give it an argument, it'll take the environment variable NNTPSERVER. You can redirect the articles to a file, or compress them on the fly like suck server.domain | gzip -9 > output.gz. After that? It's literally up to you what you do with the articles. Maybe you already have the output on your local machine because you used a slip line, or maybe you still gotta transfer the output over. Either way, the vibes are yours 🦋.

MODE 2 - Multifile mode

%suck -m
%suck myhost.com -m

Suck grabs news from an NNTP server and stores each article in a separate file. They get stored in the directory specified in suck_config.h, or by the -dm command line option. One article, one file, organized queen energy 👑.

MODE 3 - Batch mode

%suck myhost.com -b[irlf] batchfile
or %suck myhost.com -bp -hl localhost
or %suck myhost.com -bP NR -hl localhost
%suck myhost.com -b[irlf] batchfile

Suck will grab news articles from an NNTP server and store them into files — one per article (that's Multifile mode again, bestie). The location of those files is based on the defines in suck_config.h and the command line -dm. Once suck is done downloading, it builds a batch file that can be processed by either innxmit or rnews, or it'll call lmove to put the files directly into the news/group/number format. Slay.

  • -bi — build a batch file for innxmit. The articles are left intact, and a batchfile is built with a one-up listing of the full path of each article. Then you can call innxmit like this:
%innxmit localhost batchfile
  • -bl — suck will call lmove to put the articles into news/group/number format. You must provide the name of the configuration file on the command line. The following arguments from suck are passed to lmove:
    • The configuration file name (the batchfile name provided with this option)
    • The directory specified for articles (-dm or built-in default)
    • The errorlog to log errors to (-e or -E), if provided on the command line
    • The phrases file (-l), if provided on the command line
    • The Debug option, if provided on the command line
  • -br — build a batch file for rnews. The articles get concatenated together, with the #!rnews size article separator. Then you can feed it to rnews:
%rnews -S localhost batchfile
  • -r filesize — specify maximum batch file size for rnews. This option lets you set the maximum size of a batch file fed to rnews. When this limit is reached, a new batch file is created after I finish writing the current article to the old batch file. The second and every successive batch file gets a 1-up sequence number attached to the file name you specified with -br. > Note that since I have to finish writing out the current article after reaching the limit, the max file size is only approximate. Don't come for me about it 🙈
  • -bf — build a batch file for innfeed. This batchfile contains the MsgID and full path of each article. The main difference between this and the innxmit option is that the innfeed file is built as the articles are downloaded, so innfeed can be posting the articles even while more articles are being downloaded. Multitasking icon ⭐
  • -bp — tells suck to build a batch file, and post the articles in that batchfile to the localhost (specified with the -hl option). This option uses the IHAVE command to post all downloaded articles to the local host. The batch file is called suck.post, and lives in the temporary directory (-dt). It gets deleted upon completion, as do the successfully posted articles. If the article is not wanted by the server (usually because it already exists on the server, or it's too old), the article is also deleted. If other errors occur, the article is NOT deleted. With the following command line, you can download and post articles without worrying whether you're using INND or CNEWS:
%suck news.server.com -bp -hl localhost -A -c
  • -bP NR — works identically to -bp above, except instead of waiting until all articles are downloaded, it will post them to the local server after downloading NR of articles.
%suck news.server.com -bP 100 -hl localhost -A -c

🎀 SUCK ARGUMENT FILE 🎀

If you specify @filename on the command line, suck will read from filename and parse it for any arguments you wish to pass to suck. You specify the same arguments in this file as you do on the command line. The arguments can be on one line, or spread out across more than one line. You may also use comments — comments begin with # and go to the end of a line. And hey, all command line arguments override arguments in the file 💅

# Sample Argument file
-bi batch # batch file option
-M   # use mode reader option

🌸 SUCKNEWSRC 🌸

Okay bestie, so this is the file where suck keeps the receipts. 💖 Suck goes looking for a file called sucknewsrc to figure out which articles you actually want and which ones you've already collected. And the format? Iconic. Truly no notes. It's just one line per newsgroup, and every line has two or three fields. That's it. That's the whole thing. ✨

  • The first field is the name of the group. Obviously. 👑
  • The second field is the highest article number that was in the group when that group was last downloaded. So like, the bookmark of it all. 🔖
  • The third field is optional, and it limits how many articles can be downloaded at any given time. If there are more articles than this number, only the newest ones get downloaded. If the third field is 0, then literally no new messages are downloaded, bestie, it's a full stop. And if the command line option -lr is specified, then instead of grabbing the newest articles, suck downloads the oldest articles instead. Character development. 🦋

The fields are separated by a space. Simple as.

comp.os.linux.announce 1 [ 100 ]

When suck is finished, it creates the file suck.newrc, which contains the new sucknewsrc with the updated article numbers. Glow up complete. 💅

Wanna add a new newsgroup? Just stick it in sucknewsrc with a highest article number of -1 (or honestly any number less than 0, we're not picky). Suck will then get the newest X number of messages for that newsgroup. So for example, a -100 would cause suck to download the newest 100 articles for that newsgroup. Math, but make it cute. 🎀

And to tell suck to skip a newsgroup? Put a # as the first character of a line. Boom, ghosted. 💀

🔥 SUCKKILLFILE and SUCKXOVER 🔥

Okay so there are two types of killfiles supported in suck, and they are giving very different energies, ngl.

  1. The first one, via the file suckkillfile, kills articles based on information in the actual article header or body. Reading the whole thing, judging it, deciding its fate. 😤
  2. The second one, via the file suckxover, kills articles based on the information retrieved via the NNTP command XOVER. Judging from the metadata alone, honestly iconic. 💅

They're implemented in two fundamentally different ways, and you need to know this:

  • The suckkillfile killing is done as the articles are downloaded, one at a time. So it's out here making decisions in real time. 🫶
  • The XOVER killing is done while suck is getting the list of articles to download, and before a single article is downloaded. Like, it pre-games the entire thing. ✨

You may use either, none, or both types of killfiles. Your call, bestie, no pressure. 🌈

💖 SUCKKILLFILE and GROUP KEEP/KILLFILES 💖

If suckkillfile exists, then the headers of all articles will be scanned, and the article downloaded or not, based on the parameters in the files. And listen — if no logging option is specified (see the -L options above), then the long logging option is used. Default behaviour, periodt. 👑

Comment lines are allowed in the killfiles. A comment line has a # in the first position. Everything on a comment line is ignored. It's giving "no thoughts, head empty" and honestly, respect. 🙈

Here's how the whole keep/delete package works, step by step, because the way that this thing cascades is a lot:

  • All articles are checked against the master kill file (suckkillfile).
  • If an article is not killed by the master kill file, then its group line is parsed.
  • If a group file exists for one of the groups, then the article is checked against that group file.
  • If it matches a keep file, then it is kept. Otherwise, it is flagged for deletion.
  • If it matches a delete file, then it is flagged for deletion. Otherwise, it is kept.
  • This is done for every group on the group line.

NOTES: With the exception of the USE_EXTENDED_REGEX parameter, none of these parameters are passed from the master killfile to the individual group file. Each killfile is separate and independent. They do not text each other. 🚫📱 Also, each search is case-insensitive unless specifically specified by starting the search string with the QUOTE character (see below). However, the parameter part of the search expression (the LOWLINE=, HILINE= part) is case sensitive. Yes, it's inconsistent. Yes, we're aware. Moving on. 💀

✨ PARAMETERS ✨

Here's the whole menu, bestie. Every single one, no skipping:

LOWLINES=#######
HILINES=#######
NRGRPS=####
NRXREF=####
QUOTE=c
NON_REGEX=c
GROUP=keep groupname filename  OR GROUP=delete groupname filename
PROGRAM=pathname
PERL=pathname
TIEBREAKER_DELETE
GROUP_OVERRIDE_MASTER
USE_EXTENDED_REGEX
XOVER_LOG_LONG
HEADER:
Any Valid Header Line:
BODY:
BODYSIZE>
BODYSIZE<

All parameters are valid in both the master kill file and the group files — with the exception of GROUP, PROGRAM, PERL, TIEBREAKER_DELETE, and GROUP_OVERRIDE_MASTER. Those five are only valid in the master kill file. So don't go putting them in your group files, they will simply not be received. 🫶

🌸 KILL/KEEP Files Parameters 🌸

okay bestie, this is the part where the killfiles actually get powers. Buckle up, there's a lot. 💖

  • HILINES= — matches any article that's longer than the number of lines you put here. 📏
  • LOWLINES= — matches any article that's shorter than the number of lines you put here. 🐜
  • NRGRPS= — matches any article that's in more groups than the number you specify, counting the Newsgroups: line. Usually you drop this in a killfile to stop spam articles. (a "spammed article" is one posted to a million million groups, like those get-rich-quick schemes, etc. 💀)
  • NRXREF= — matches any article with more groups than the number you give, counting the Xref: line. Another spam stopper, bestie. 🛑
WARNING: the Xref: line is not as accurate as the Newsgroups: line, because it only contains groups that the news server knows about. This option is most useful in an xover killfile, since Xoverviews don't typically give you the Newsgroups: line, but they do give you the Xref: line. ✨
  • HEADER: — any valid header line, bestie!! Suck lets you scan any single header line for a particular pattern/string, or you can scan the entire article header. To scan one specific line, just say it. Like, say you wanna scan the From line for boby@pixi.com, you'd write:
From:boby@pixi.com

Note that the header line matches EXACTLY what's in the article. To scan the Followup-To: line, simply put

To search the same header line for multiple things, each search item has to live on its own separate line, like:

From:boby@xxx
From:nerd@yyy
Subject:suck
Subject:help

The HEADER: parameter is a special case of all that — if you use HEADER:, then the entire header gets searched for your item. You're allowed multiple HEADER: lines in each killfile, no cap. 🎀

When suck searches for the pattern, it only searches for what comes after the :, and spaces after the : are significant. 👀 With the example above, Subject:suck, we search the Subject header line for the string suck. If the example had said Subject: suck, suck would've been hunting for the string suck — note that extra space, it matters!! 😭

If your system has regex() routines on it, then the items you search for can be POSIX regular expressions instead of plain strings. Note that the QUOTE= option is still applied, even to regular expressions. 🦋

  • BODY: — this one lets you search the body of an article for text. Again, if your system has regex(), you can use regular expressions, and the QUOTE= option is applied here too. You're allowed multiple BODY: lines in each killfile. 🌸
WARNING: certain regex combos — especially with .* at the beginning, like BODY:.*jpg — combined with large articles, can make the regex code eat massive amounts of CPU, and suck will look like it's just doing nothing. 💀 Not the vibe. Be careful.
  • BODYSIZE> — matches an article if the size of its body (not including the header) is greater than this parameter. The size is in bytes. 📦
  • BODYSIZE< — matches an article if the size of its body is less than this parameter. The size is in bytes. 🫧
  • QUOTE= — this specifies the character that defines a quoted string. The default is a ". Here's the tea: if an item starts with the QUOTE character, then the item is checked as-is (case significant ✨). If an item does not start with the QUOTE character, then it's checked without regard to case.
  • NON_REGEX= — this specifies the character that defines a non-regex string. The default is a %. If an item starts with the NON_REGEX character, then that item is never checked for regular expressions. If the item doesn't start with the QUOTE character, then suck tries to figure out if it is a regular expression, and if it is, it uses regex() on it. This exists so you can tell suck to treat strings like $$$$ MONEY $$$$ as non-regex items. 💸
IF YOU USE BOTH QUOTE and NON_REGEX characters on a string, the NON_REGEX character MUST appear FIRST. order matters, bestie, don't play yourself 💅
  • GROUP= — this line lets you specify either keep or delete parameters on a group-by-group basis. There are three parts to this line, and each part must be separated by exactly one space. 🎯
    1. The first part is either "keep" or "delete". If it's keep, then only articles in that group which match the parameters in the group file get downloaded. If it's delete, articles in that group which match the parameters are not downloaded.
    2. The second part — the group name — is the full group name for articles to check against the group file. The group name may contain an * as the last character to match multiple groups, eg: "comp.os.linux.*" would match comp.os.linux.announce, comp.os.linux.answers, etc.. ⭐
    3. The third part specifies the group file that contains the parameters to check the articles against.

Note: if you specified a postfix with the -p option, then that postfix gets attached to the name of the file when suck goes looking for it — UNLESS you use the -k option above. 🫶

  • GROUP_OVERRIDE_MASTER — lets you override the default behavior of the master kill file. If this option is in the master kill file, then even if an article is flagged for deletion by the master kill file, it still gets checked against the group files. If the group files say don't delete it, then the article is kept. 👑
  • TIEBREAKER_DELETE — overrides the built-in tie-breaker default. The potential exists for a message to get flagged by one group file as kept, and another group file as killed. The built-in default is to then keep the message. TIEBREAKER_DELETE overrides that and causes the article to be deleted. 💀
  • USE_EXTENDED_REGEX — tells suck to use extended regular expressions instead of standard ones. It can be used in the master killfile, in which case it applies to all killfiles, or in an individual killfile, where it only applies to the parameters that follow it in that killfile. 🌈
  • XOVER_LOG_LONG — tells suck to format the killfile generated from an Xover killfile so it looks like an article header. The normal output is to just print the Xover line from the server. ✨
  • PROGRAM= — this line lets suck call an external program to check each article. You may specify any arguments in addition to the program name on this line. If this line is in your suckkillfile, then all other lines are ignored. Instead, the headers get passed to the external program, and that program decides whether or not to download the article. 🧚

Here's how it works: suck will fork your program, with stdin and stdout redirected. Suck feeds the headers to your program through stdin, and expects a reply back through stdout. Here's the data flow for each article:

  1. suck will write an 8 byte long string, which represents the length of the header record, on stdin of the external program. The length is in ascii, is left-aligned, and ends in a newline (example: "1234 \n").
  2. suck will then write the header on stdin of the external program.
  3. suck will wait for a 2 character response code on stdout. This response code is either "0\n" or "1\n" (NOT BINARY ZERO OR ONE — ASCII ZERO OR ONE). If the return code is zero, suck will download the article; if it's one, suck won't. 🔥
  4. When there are no more articles, the length written down (for step 1) will be zero (again in ascii, "0 \n"). Suck will then wait for the external program to exit before continuing on. The external program can do any cleanup it needs, then exit.
Note: suck will not continue processing until the external program exits. ⏳
  • PERL= — this line lets suck call a perl subroutine to check each article. In order to use this option, you must edit the Makefile, specifically the PERL* options. If the PERL= line is in your suckkillfile, all other lines are ignored. Instead, the header is sent to your perl subroutine, and your subroutine determines if the article gets downloaded or not. The parameter on the PERL= line specifies the file name of the perl routine, eg:
PERL=perl_kill.pl

See the sample/perl_kill.pl for a sample perl subroutine. There are a couple key points in this sample: the "package Embed::Persistant;" must be in the perl file — this is so that any variable names you create won't conflict with variable names in suck. In addition, the subroutine you define must be "perl_kill", unless you change the PERL_PACKAGE_SUB define in suck_config.h. Also, your subroutine must return exactly one value, an integer, either 0 or 1. If the subroutine returns 0, then the article is downloaded; otherwise, the article is not downloaded. 🎀

  • NOTES: The perl file is only compiled once, before any articles are downloaded. This is to prevent lengthy delays between articles while the perl routine is re-compiled. Also, you must use Perl 5.003 or newer. In addition, you are advised to run 'perl -wc filter' BEFORE using your filter, in order to check for syntax errors and avoid problems. 🫶

🦋 SUCKXOVER 🦋

If the file suckxover exists, then suck uses the XOVER command to get info on the articles and decide whether or not to download each one. Xover files use the same syntax as suckkillfiles, but they only support a subset of the commands.

The following killfile commands are not supported in suckxover files: 🚫

NRGROUPS:
HEADER:
BODY:
TIEBREAKER_DELETE:

Only the following header lines will be checked: 👀

Subject:
From:
Message-ID:
References:

The behaviour of the size commands (BODYSIZE>, BODYSIZE<, HILINES, and LOWLINES) is that they specify the total size of the article (not just the body), in bytes or lines, respectively. 📏

All other parameters are allowed. However, if you use an invalid parameter, it is silently ignored. 🤫 no error, no warning, just vibes

💫 SUCKXOVER and PROGRAM= or PERL= parameters 💫

okay bestie, these two lil parameters? they DO work inside a suckxover file, but they act slightly differently than how we described them up above. the key glow-up difference: before suck sends each individual xoverview line over to your program, it sends you the overview.fmt listing that it grabbed from the server. and what even is that? it's a tab-separated line describing the fields in each overview.fmt line. so like, the menu before the meal 🍓

For the PROGRAM= parameter, suck first sends your program an 8 byte long string, which is the length of the overview.fmt. That length is formatted as the lengths above (see nr1 under PROGRAM=). Suck will then send the overview.fmt. After that, the flow is as described above. See sample/killxover_child.c for an example. ✨

For the PERL= parameter, Your program must have two subroutines. The first is perl_overview, which will recieve the overview.fmt, and not return anything. The second subroutine is perl_xover, which will recieve the xoverview line, and return 0 or 1, as described in the PERL= above. See sample/perl_xover.pl for an example. 💅

🌸 SUCKOTHERMSGS 🌸

If suckothermsgs exists, it must contain lines formatted in one of three ways. The first way is a line containing a Message-ID, with the <> included, eg:

<12345@somehost.com>

This will cause the article with that Message-ID to be retrieved. 🫶

The second way is to put a group name and article number on a line starting with an !, eg:

!comp.os.linux.announce 1

This will cause that specific article to be downloaded. 👑

You can also get a group of articles from a group by using the following syntax:

!comp.os.linux.announce 1-10

Whichever method you use, if the article specified exists, it will be downloaded, in addition to any articles retreived via the sucknewsrc. These ways can be used to get a specific article in other groups, or to download an article that was killed. These articles ARE NOT processed through the kill articles routines. not even a little bit. periodt.

🎀 SUCKNODOWNLOAD 🎀

If sucknodownload exists, it must consist of lines contaning a Message-ID, with the <> included, eg:

<12345@somehost.com>

This will cause the article with that Message-ID to NEVER be downloaded. The Message-ID must begin in the first column of the line (no leading spaces). This file overrides suckothermsgs so if an article is in both, it will not be downloaded. the block button but make it email 📵

💖 POST FILTER 💖

if the -y post_filter option is specified on the command line in conjunction with any of the batch modes, then suck will call the post filter specified, after downloading the articles, and before batching/posting the articles. The filter is passed the directory where the articles are stored (the -dm option). The filter program is responsible for parsing the contents of the directory. See sample/post_filter.pl for a sample post filter. This option was designed to allow you to add your own host name to the Path: header, but if you need to do anything else to the messages, you can. your filter, your rules, bestie ✨

🦋 FOREIGN LANGUAGE PHRASES 🦋

If the -l phrases option is specified or the file /usr/local/lib/suck.phrases (defined in suck_config.h) exists, then suck will load an alternate language phrase file, and use it for all status & error messages, instead of the built-in defaults. The command line overrides the build in default, if both are present. The phrase file contains all messages used by suck, rpost, testhost, and lmove, each on a separate line and enclosed in quotes. To generate a sample phrase file, run make phrases from the command line. This will create "phrases.engl", which is a list of the default phrases. Simply edit this file, changing the english phrases to the language of your choosing, being sure to keep the phrases within the quotes. These phrases may contain variables to print items provided by the program, such as hostname. Variables are designated by %vN% where N is a one-up sequence per phrase. These variables may exist in any order on the phrase line, for example,

"Hello, %v1%, welcome to %v2%"     or
"Welcome to %v2%, %v1%"

are both valid phrases. Phrases may contain, \n, \r, or \t to print a newline, carriage return, or tab, respectively. Note that the first line of the phrase file is the current version number. This is checked against the version of suck running, to be sure that the phrases file is the correct version. version check!! no mismatched vibes allowed 💜

If you modify any of the source code, and add in new phrases, you will need to regenerate phrases.h, so that everything works correctly. To recreate, just run make phrases.h from the command line.

⚡ SIGNAL HANDLING ⚡

Suck accepts two signals, defined in suck_config.h. The first signal (default SIGTERM) will cause Suck to finish downloading the current article, batch up whatever articles were downloaded, and exit, without an error. so polite. so graceful. 🕊️

The second signal (default SIGUSR1) will cause suck to use the pause values defined with the -w option (see above). take a lil break, you've earned it 😌

🔥 EXIT CODES 🔥

Suck will exit with the following return codes:

  • 0 = success ✨
  • 1 = no articles available for download. 💀
  • 2 = suck got an unexpected answer to a command it issued to the remote server. 😭
  • 3 = the -V option was used. 👑
  • 4 = suck was unable to perform NNTP authorization with the remote server. 🙈
  • -1 = general error.

📜 HISTORY 📜

  • Original Author - Tim Smith (unknown address)
  • Maintainers -
    • March 1995 - Sven Goldt (goldt@math.tu-berlin.de)
    • July 1995 - Robert A. Yetman (boby@pixi.com)

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

testhost(1), rpost(1), lpost(1).

and that's a wrap on the SUCK(1) page bestie!! this was the SUCK(1) manual page — source and version living in that footer right there, with its date stamp and all 💖 go forth and suck responsibly, you absolute icon 🎀✨

📦 where this page comes from