noffle-users

Re: [Noffle-users] Noffle with tin

[Balas M. <ba...@tt...>]

On Thu, 1 Jul 2004, Jim Hague wrote:

> On 01-Jul-2004 Balas Mark wrote:
> > I tried it; tin gave me this answer:
> >
> > Reading config file...
> > release 20020311 ("Toxicity") [UNIX] (c) Copyright 1991-2002 Iain Le
> >
> > Connecting to localhost...
> >
> > Leafnode 1.9.19, pleased to meet you!
>   ^^^^^^^^
>   Noffle != Leafnode.....

I suspected it, I just did not know how to get rid of it.

> Your (x)inetd is configured to run Leafnode, not Noffle (unless you want to use
> Leafnode, in which case you're asking the wrong list....). If you're using
> inetd, you need to replace the 'nntp' line there with
>
> nntp stream tcp nowait news /usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/local/bin/noffle -r
>
> (assuming your noffle executable is in /usr/local/bin). If it's xinetd you use,
> edit packages/redhat/noffle-xinetd and change 'disable = yes' to 'disable =
> no', and copy it to /etc/xinetd.d and remove any file there that runs leafnode.

I did it (which noffle said that the executable is in /usr/bin/noffle);
now tin connects to localhost, than gives the error message

   Connection to news server has timed out. Reconnect? (Y/n) Y

I guess I am overlooking something trivial again (because of my nearly
complete lack of experience). I do appreciate your patience.



Mark Balas

Re: [Noffle-users] Noffle with tin

[Jim H. <jim...@ac...>]

On 01-Jul-2004 Balas Mark wrote:
>> If you're using inetd, you need to replace the 'nntp' line there with
>> nntp stream tcp nowait news /usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/local/bin/noffle -r
>>
>> (assuming your noffle executable is in /usr/local/bin). If it's xinetd you
>> use,
>> edit packages/redhat/noffle-xinetd and change 'disable = yes' to 'disable =
>> no', and copy it to /etc/xinetd.d and remove any file there that runs
>> leafnode.
> 
> I did it (which noffle said that the executable is in /usr/bin/noffle);
> now tin connects to localhost, than gives the error message
> 
>    Connection to news server has timed out. Reconnect? (Y/n) Y

Let's start by making sure that Noffle is installed and will work as a server.

First, I think you said you'd done a 'noffle --query groups' and a 'noffle
--fetch' to populate the news base with groups and some articles.

Now try a quick server session run from the command line. Here's one I just
did. The lines I typed to the server are indicated by '>'.

  jim@fluffy:~$ noffle -r
  200 NNTP server NOFFLE 1.1.4
> list active uk.comp.os.*
  215 Groups
  uk.comp.os.win95 2317 2317 y
  uk.comp.os.linux 56726 56374 y
  uk.comp.os.win2000 4655 4655 y
  .
> quit
  205 Goodbye
  jim@fluffy:~$

You may not get the same group list.

Assuming that all works, the remaining problem is sorting out inetd or xinetd.
The goal is to be able to do the same as above but via a network connection,
like this:

  jim@fluffy:~$ telnet localhost nntp
  Trying 127.0.0.1...
  Connected to localhost.
  Escape character is '^]'.
  200 NNTP server NOFFLE 1.1.4
  list active uk.comp.os.*
  215 Groups
  uk.comp.os.win95 2317 2317 y
  uk.comp.os.linux 56726 56374 y
  uk.comp.os.win2000 4655 4655 y
  .
  quit
  205 Goodbye
  Connection closed by foreign host.
  jim@fluffy:~$

This, by the way, is what inetd or xinetd do - they handle the network port, and
start a program to service the connection. That program thinks it is just
talking to standard input and output.

If you can do the above telnet session successfully, then Noffle is correctly
installed as a server, and the problem is with the tin configuration.

Now, your system will be using inetd or xinetd, but not both. Most modern Linux
distros use xinetd, but not all - Debian, for example, uses inetd by default.
I'm guessing from what you said that you have xinetd. This is trickier for me
to help with, 'cos I'm on Debian. Can you mail the contents of the noffle file
you put in /etc/xinetd.d and we'll check for the problem.

> I guess I am overlooking something trivial again (because of my nearly
> complete lack of experience). I do appreciate your patience.

No problem - I've battled (x)inetd in the past. You're not the only one to have
problems. I do know that this is the difficult stage; don't worry - we will get
there.

-- 
Jim Hague - jim...@ac...          Never trust a computer you can't lift.

Re: [Noffle-users] Noffle with tin

[Balas M. <ba...@tt...>]

On Fri, 2 Jul 2004, Jim Hague wrote:

> On 01-Jul-2004 Balas Mark wrote:
> >> If you're using inetd, you need to replace the 'nntp' line there with
> >> nntp stream tcp nowait news /usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/local/bin/noffle -r
> >>
> >> (assuming your noffle executable is in /usr/local/bin). If it's xinetd you
> >> use,
> >> edit packages/redhat/noffle-xinetd and change 'disable = yes' to 'disable =
> >> no', and copy it to /etc/xinetd.d and remove any file there that runs
> >> leafnode.
> >
> > I did it (which noffle said that the executable is in /usr/bin/noffle);
> > now tin connects to localhost, than gives the error message
> >
> >    Connection to news server has timed out. Reconnect? (Y/n) Y
>
> Let's start by making sure that Noffle is installed and will work as a server.
>
> First, I think you said you'd done a 'noffle --query groups' and a 'noffle
> --fetch' to populate the news base with groups and some articles.
>
> Now try a quick server session run from the command line. Here's one I just
> did. The lines I typed to the server are indicated by '>'.
>
>   jim@fluffy:~$ noffle -r
>   200 NNTP server NOFFLE 1.1.4
> > list active uk.comp.os.*
>   215 Groups
>   uk.comp.os.win95 2317 2317 y
>   uk.comp.os.linux 56726 56374 y
>   uk.comp.os.win2000 4655 4655 y
>   .
> > quit
>   205 Goodbye
>   jim@fluffy:~$
>
> You may not get the same group list.
>
> Assuming that all works, the remaining problem is sorting out inetd or xinetd.

It seems it worked:

trychydts:~# noffle -r
200 NNTP server NOFFLE 1.0.1
list active uk.comp.os.*
215 Groups
uk.comp.os.linux 185354 185355 y
uk.comp.os.win2000 18083 18084 y
uk.comp.os.win95 52220 52221 y
.
quit
205 Goodbye

> The goal is to be able to do the same as above but via a network connection,
> like this:
>
>   jim@fluffy:~$ telnet localhost nntp
>   Trying 127.0.0.1...
>   Connected to localhost.
>   Escape character is '^]'.
>   200 NNTP server NOFFLE 1.1.4
>   list active uk.comp.os.*
>   215 Groups
>   uk.comp.os.win95 2317 2317 y
>   uk.comp.os.linux 56726 56374 y
>   uk.comp.os.win2000 4655 4655 y
>   .
>   quit
>   205 Goodbye
>   Connection closed by foreign host.
>   jim@fluffy:~$

[...]

> If you can do the above telnet session successfully, then Noffle is correctly
> installed as a server, and the problem is with the tin configuration.

There seems to be a problem here:

There is a problem here:

trychydts:~# telnet localhost nntp
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to trychydts.
Escape character is '^]'.
200 NNTP server NOFFLE 1.0.1
list active uk.comp.os.*
503 Cannot init server
215 Groups
Connection closed by foreign host.



> Now, your system will be using inetd or xinetd, but not both. Most modern
> Linux
> distros use xinetd, but not all - Debian, for example, uses inetd by default.
> I'm guessing from what you said that you have xinetd. This is trickier for me
> to help with, 'cos I'm on Debian. Can you mail the contents of the noffle file
> you put in /etc/xinetd.d and we'll check for the problem.

I am on Debian, too, so my system most probably uses inetd.

I hope you meant to contents of the /etc/init.d/noffle file; it is this:
-------
#!/bin/sh

[ -f /etc/noffle/conf.debian ] || exit 0
. /etc/noffle/conf.debian
[ -x $NOFFLE ] || exit 0

PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin

case "$1" in
  start)
    echo -n "Initializing noffle: "
    [ "$NOFFLE_FETCHMODE" = ppp ] && $NOFFLE --offline
    [ "$NOFFLE_FETCHMODE" = cron ] && $NOFFLE --online
    echo "done."
    ;;
  stop)
    echo -n "Stopping noffle: "
    $NOFFLE --offline
    echo "done."
    ;;
  restart|force-reload)
    $0 start
    ;;
  *)
    echo "Usage: /etc/init.d/$NAME {start|stop}"
    exit 1
    ;;
esac

exit 0
# vim:set ts=8:
------

Thanks any help in advance,


Mark Balas

Re: [Noffle-users] Noffle with tin

[Jim H. <jim...@ac...>]

On 02-Jul-2004 Balas Mark wrote:
> There is a problem here:
> 
> trychydts:~# telnet localhost nntp
> Trying 127.0.0.1...
> Connected to trychydts.
> Escape character is '^]'.
> 200 NNTP server NOFFLE 1.0.1
> list active uk.comp.os.*
> 503 Cannot init server
> 215 Groups
> Connection closed by foreign host.

OK. I think I know what's up. It's a file permissions problem. Run as a
server, Noffle can't open its database file.

Assuming your inetd line looks like this:

nntp stream tcp nowait news /usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/bin/noffle -r

Noffle is run as user 'news'. /var/spool/noffle should be owned by news, and
the noffle executable suid news. Try doing the following:

chown news:news /usr/bin/noffle
chmod 06755 /usr/bin/noffle
chown -R news:news /var/spool/noffle

and see if it works.

-- 
Jim Hague - jim...@ac...          Never trust a computer you can't lift.