I've been getting emails to run the checkgroups script but I never
bothered to install any automatic handling so it's always been a manual
process.

Assuming this isn't a 2 step process, I wonder if this is something
worth adding to the FAQ by someone with a little more knowledge than
msyelf, then I can step through and verify the process and maybe
provide some feedback?

Failing that, if anyone would like to offer pointers before I start,
I'd appreciate it.

Thanks,

--
End Of The Line BBS - Plano, TX
telnet endofthelinebbs.com 23

Nigel Reed <sysop@endofthelinebbs.com> writes:

> I've been getting emails to run the checkgroups script but I never
> bothered to install any automatic handling so it's always been a manual
> process.

> Assuming this isn't a 2 step process, I wonder if this is something
> worth adding to the FAQ by someone with a little more knowledge than
> msyelf, then I can step through and verify the process and maybe provide
> some feedback?

You didn't specify what news server you are thinking of, but since you
mentioned the FAQ, I'll assume INN. For INN, it's documented in INSTALL:

https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/software/inn/docs-2.7/install.html#S15

--
Russ Allbery (eagle@eyrie.org) <https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>

Please post questions rather than mailing me directly.
<https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/faqs/questions.html> explains why.

On Tue, 03 Jan 2023 10:48:51 -0800
Russ Allbery <eagle@eyrie.org> wrote:

> Nigel Reed <sysop@endofthelinebbs.com> writes:
>
> > I've been getting emails to run the checkgroups script but I never
> > bothered to install any automatic handling so it's always been a
> > manual process.
>
> > Assuming this isn't a 2 step process, I wonder if this is something
> > worth adding to the FAQ by someone with a little more knowledge than
> > msyelf, then I can step through and verify the process and maybe
> > provide some feedback?
>
> You didn't specify what news server you are thinking of, but since you
> mentioned the FAQ, I'll assume INN. For INN, it's documented in
> INSTALL:
>
> https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/software/inn/docs-2.7/install.html#S15

Ok, well, the instructions leave a lot to be desired, I think,
especially the issue between current gpg and gpg version 1.

I guess we'll have to wait for something to come through to see if it
works.

--
End Of The Line BBS - Plano, TX
telnet endofthelinebbs.com 23

On Sat, 14 Jan 2023 22:00:56 -0600
Nigel Reed <sysop@endofthelinebbs.com> wrote:

> On Tue, 03 Jan 2023 10:48:51 -0800
> Russ Allbery <eagle@eyrie.org> wrote:
>
> > Nigel Reed <sysop@endofthelinebbs.com> writes:
> >
> > > I've been getting emails to run the checkgroups script but I never
> > > bothered to install any automatic handling so it's always been a
> > > manual process.
> >
> > > Assuming this isn't a 2 step process, I wonder if this is
> > > something worth adding to the FAQ by someone with a little more
> > > knowledge than msyelf, then I can step through and verify the
> > > process and maybe provide some feedback?
> >
> > You didn't specify what news server you are thinking of, but since
> > you mentioned the FAQ, I'll assume INN. For INN, it's documented in
> > INSTALL:
> >
> > https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/software/inn/docs-2.7/install.html#S15
>
>
> Ok, well, the instructions leave a lot to be desired, I think,
> especially the issue between current gpg and gpg version 1.
>
> I guess we'll have to wait for something to come through to see if it
> works.

This script was NOT executed by controlchan

Seems not.

--
End Of The Line BBS - Plano, TX
telnet endofthelinebbs.com 23

Hi Nigel,

>>> https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/software/inn/docs-2.7/install.html#S15
>>
>> Ok, well, the instructions leave a lot to be desired, I think,
>> especially the issue between current gpg and gpg version 1.

Would step-by-step instructions like the ones for perl-nocem fit your
expectations? (They also mention gpg1 and gpg2.)
https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/software/inn/docs/perl-nocem.html

If that's the case, I can have a look to provide similar instructions to
set up controlchan and newsgroup control message processing.

> This script was NOT executed by controlchan
>
> Seems not.

Did you uncomment the controlchan entry in the default newsfeeds file,
and reload the newsfeeds file?

The entry look likes:

controlchan!\
:!*,control,control.*,!control.cancel\
:AC,Tc,Wnsm\
:<pathbin in inn.conf>/controlchan

--
Julien ÉLIE

« Sum, ergo bibo ; bibo, ergo sum. »

On Tue, 17 Jan 2023 21:11:26 +0100
Julien ÉLIE <iulius@nom-de-mon-site.com.invalid> wrote:

> Hi Nigel,
>
> >>> https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/software/inn/docs-2.7/install.html#S15
> >>>
> >>
> >> Ok, well, the instructions leave a lot to be desired, I think,
> >> especially the issue between current gpg and gpg version 1.
>
> Would step-by-step instructions like the ones for perl-nocem fit your
> expectations? (They also mention gpg1 and gpg2.)
> https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/software/inn/docs/perl-nocem.html

very much so. I'm one of those people with a lot of projects on the go
and while I don't want to sound self-important or anything. I just want
to get things setup and working without having to read a ton of
documents.

> If that's the case, I can have a look to provide similar instructions
> to set up controlchan and newsgroup control message processing.
>
>
> > This script was NOT executed by controlchan
> >
> > Seems not.
>
> Did you uncomment the controlchan entry in the default newsfeeds
> file, and reload the newsfeeds file?

Actually, yes, it does appear that I did.

controlchan!\
:!*,control,control.*,!control.cancel\
:AC,Tc,Wnsm:/news/bin/controlchan

>
> The entry look likes:
>
> controlchan!\
> :!*,control,control.*,!control.cancel\
> :AC,Tc,Wnsm\
> :<pathbin in inn.conf>/controlchan
>

I guess the thing is, how do you know it worked, if it did?
--
End Of The Line BBS - Plano, TX
telnet endofthelinebbs.com 23

On Tue, 03 Jan 2023 10:48:51 -0800
Russ Allbery <eagle@eyrie.org> wrote:

> Nigel Reed <sysop@endofthelinebbs.com> writes:
>
> > I've been getting emails to run the checkgroups script but I never
> > bothered to install any automatic handling so it's always been a
> > manual process.
>
> > Assuming this isn't a 2 step process, I wonder if this is something
> > worth adding to the FAQ by someone with a little more knowledge than
> > msyelf, then I can step through and verify the process and maybe
> > provide some feedback?
>
> You didn't specify what news server you are thinking of, but since you
> mentioned the FAQ, I'll assume INN. For INN, it's documented in
> INSTALL:
>
> https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/software/inn/docs-2.7/install.html#S15

I'm getting someone. I got an email to say it was not processed due to
too many changes.

--
End Of The Line BBS - Plano, TX
telnet endofthelinebbs.com 23

Hi Nigel,

> I'm getting someone. I got an email to say it was not processed due to
> too many changes.

That's good news!
It means that control articles are correctly fed to controlchan, and
that it is processing them.

If the changes look OK to you, I would suggest to manually run the shell
commands in the mail. They'll create/remove groups appropriately.

Or you may want to set a higher /maxdocheckgroups/ line in
<pathetc>/control.ctl.local (unless you want to directly change
control.ctl). The changes will then be automatically done the next time
the checkgroups control article is sent (next month probably).
But I'm not fan of changing this setting as it may be of help in case
one day a "broken" checkgroups article is unfortunately sent; your
server won't process it.

https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/software/inn/docs/control.ctl.html

/maxdocheckgroups/

This type specifies the maximum number of changes that could be made at
one time by a checkgroups before bailing and mailing the changes to the
admin if no log file was specified. The default value is 10.

/maxdocheckgroups/:*:*:10
/maxdocheckgroups/:*:fr.*:20

Such a configuration means that a checkgroups containing 15 changes for
the French-speaking fr.* hierarchy (newgroups to add, remove or change
the status) will be automatically honoured whereas a checkgroups
containing 15 changes for france.* will only have the required changes
mailed or logged.

--
Julien ÉLIE

« Le bonheur, c'est de continuer à désirer ce que l'on possède. »
(Saint-Augustin)

Hi Nigel,

>> Would step-by-step instructions like the ones for perl-nocem fit your
>> expectations? (They also mention gpg1 and gpg2.)
>> https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/software/inn/docs/perl-nocem.html
>
> very much so. I'm one of those people with a lot of projects on the go
> and while I don't want to sound self-important or anything. I just want
> to get things setup and working without having to read a ton of
> documents.

I totally understand.
I note to work on documenting that setup better.

>> The entry look likes:
>>
>> controlchan!\
>> :!*,control,control.*,!control.cancel\
>> :AC,Tc,Wnsm\
>> :<pathbin in inn.conf>/controlchan
>
> I guess the thing is, how do you know it worked, if it did?

I would just monitor when you receive something in control.newgroup,
control.rmgroup or control.checkgroups (by subscribing to these groups)
and see whether there's a controlchan line in news.notice when there's a
message in these groups. You'll also see a section in the Daily Usenet
report the next day summarizing the actions taken.

--
Julien ÉLIE

« Le bonheur, c'est de continuer à désirer ce que l'on possède. »
(Saint-Augustin)

On Thu, 2 Feb 2023 09:22:34 +0100
Julien ÉLIE <iulius@nom-de-mon-site.com.invalid> wrote:

> Hi Nigel,
>
> > I'm getting someone. I got an email to say it was not processed due
> > to too many changes.
>
> That's good news!
> It means that control articles are correctly fed to controlchan, and
> that it is processing them.
>
> If the changes look OK to you, I would suggest to manually run the
> shell commands in the mail. They'll create/remove groups
> appropriately.
>
> Or you may want to set a higher /maxdocheckgroups/ line in
> <pathetc>/control.ctl.local (unless you want to directly change
> control.ctl). The changes will then be automatically done the next
> time the checkgroups control article is sent (next month probably).
> But I'm not fan of changing this setting as it may be of help in case
> one day a "broken" checkgroups article is unfortunately sent; your
> server won't process it.
>
>
> https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/software/inn/docs/control.ctl.html
>
> /maxdocheckgroups/
>
> This type specifies the maximum number of changes that could be made
> at one time by a checkgroups before bailing and mailing the changes
> to the admin if no log file was specified. The default value is 10.
>
> /maxdocheckgroups/:*:*:10
> /maxdocheckgroups/:*:fr.*:20
>
> Such a configuration means that a checkgroups containing 15 changes
> for the French-speaking fr.* hierarchy (newgroups to add, remove or
> change the status) will be automatically honoured whereas a
> checkgroups containing 15 changes for france.* will only have the
> required changes mailed or logged.

I have processed the changes manually for now and I've also increased
the value in the .local file.

With any luck I should be set from here. We'll see what happens next
time around.

Thanks,
Nigel
ZZ

--
End Of The Line BBS - Plano, TX
telnet endofthelinebbs.com 23