

PC Yarn User Manual - version 0.88                                            


              PC Yarn - offline news storage and reading system

     Copyright 1995 by Chin Huang

     Permission to copy and distribute this material for any purpose and
     without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice
     and this permission notice appear in all copies.  The author makes no
     representations about the accuracy or suitability of this material for
     any purpose.  It is provided "as is", without any express or implied
     warranties.  The author will assume no liability for damages either from
     the direct use of this product or as a consequence of the use of this
     product.


                                 INTRODUCTION

     PC Yarn is a suite of programs for your personal computer, used to store
     and read USENET news and mail downloaded from a USENET host.

FEATURES

     -  An import program inserts USENET articles into a "news base" from
        Simple Offline USENET Packet (SOUP) format.  For each newsgroup, you
        specify the number of days to keep articles, after which, an expire
        program deletes them.  However, articles containing an Expires: header
        are deleted on the date specified in the header.

     -  The news base stores only one copy of a cross-posted article.  The
        news base implementation stores multiple articles per file.

     -  A mail filter moves incoming mail to specific folders or deletes
        incoming mail based on user defined rules.

     -  The Yarn news reader presents articles in threads arranged by
        Message-ID and References headers.  The reader program generates SOUP
        reply packets.

     -  Score files contain rules to score articles based on matching text
        found in the article.  The reader can be set up to not show articles
        having scores below a certain threshold.

     -  Multiple users are supported by storing separate configuration files
        for each user.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

     -  MS-DOS 3.0 or higher

     -  compression software such as PKZIP and PKUNZIP

     -  80186 compatible CPU or better.  An 80386 compatible CPU or better is
        required to run the 32-bit DOS extender programs.

     -  a lot of hard disk storage, depending on how much news you want to
        keep.  For example, the author subscribes to 120 newsgroups including
        some binaries and sources groups, keeping most articles for 7 days.


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        The amount of disk space used is 40 megabytes.


                                 INSTALLATION

INSTALL YARN DIRECTORY

     Unpack the files from the Yarn distribution into a directory.  Run the
     command

          english [drive:]directory

     where [drive:]directory specifies where to install the Yarn data
     directory.  This directory is created if it doesn't already exist.
     Choose a disk drive with a lot of free space because the news base will
     be stored here.  In this document, this directory will be called the
     %YARN% directory.

SET UP USER DIRECTORY

     To set up a user directory where Yarn will store your user information,
     run the command

          adduser

     A form appears in which you fill in the required user information.

     + Add User ------------------------------------------------------------+
     |                                                                      |
     |    Home directory: C:\JIM                                            |
     |                                                                      |
     |           User ID: jsmith                                            |
     |                                                                      |
     |       Host system: netcom.com                                        |
     |                                                                      |
     |  User's full name: Jim Smith                                         |
     |                                                                      |
     |    Editor program: edit                                              |
     |                                                                      |
     | Reply packet file: C:\UPLOAD\IOXR.ZIP                                |
     |                                                                      |
     +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

     Home directory
          Specify the directory where Yarn will store your user information.
          This directory is created if it doesn't already exist.  In this
          document, this directory will be called the %HOME% directory.

     User ID
          Set this to your login name on the host from which you download and
          upload USENET news.

     Host system
          Set this to the full domain name of your host.




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     User's full name
          Set this to your full name.  This is the name that appears in
          parentheses on the From: header in messages you send.

     Editor program
          Set the name of the editor program to run when you send messages.

     Reply packet file
          Specify the full path of the SOUP reply packet file where your
          outgoing messages are stored.  If the reply packet file does not
          exist, it is created when you post an article or send a mail message
          from the reader program.  When you exit the reader program, the
          reply packet is ready to upload to your host.

     The program writes the user information to a configuration file named
     %HOME%\yarn\config.  This document refers to other configuration settings
     also stored in this file.  If you want to change those settings, you have
     to edit the configuration file with a text editor.

SET TIME ZONE

     Set the environment variable TZ to your time zone.  The format of the TZ
     string is

          zzz[+/-]h[h][ddd]

     zzz is a three character field representing the name of the time zone.

     [+/-]h[h] is an optionally signed number representing the local time
     zone's difference from Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) in hours.  Positive
     numbers adjust westward from GMT.  Negative numbers adjust eastward from
     GMT.

     ddd is an optional three character field that represents the name of the
     local time zone's daylight saving time.

     If no TZ environment variable is set, a default TZ=EST5EDT is assumed.

UPDATE SYSTEM FILES

     Ensure the FILES setting in the CONFIG.SYS file is set to

          FILES=20

     or higher.  If there is no FILES setting, then add it.

     Put these SET commands in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file to ensure the environment
     settings persist after the next time you reboot your system.  (If you are
     installing Yarn for OS/2, put the SET commands in the CONFIG.SYS file
     instead.)  Use the settings determined above for the values appearing to
     the right of the equal signs.

          SET YARN=C:\YARN
          SET HOME=C:\JIM
          SET TZ=EST5EDT



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SET UP OTHER USERS

     To set up another user, run the adduser command, and specify a different
     home directory.  To run Yarn as that user, set the HOME environment
     variable to the user's home directory.

ENVIRONMENT

     These enviroment variables modify the behaviour of Yarn if they are set.

     EDITOR    Specifies the external editor program, overriding the editor
               specified in the configuration file.

     LOGDIR    Sets the user's home directory.  If LOGDIR is not set, the home
               directory is set from the HOME environment variable.

     TMP       Specifies a directory where temporary working files are stored.
               The default is %YARN%\temp.

     YARNRC    Specifies an alternate configuration file to read instead of
               the default %HOME%\yarn\config.

HOW TO ADD MIME SUPPORT

     Yarn supports the decoding of Multimedia Internet Mail Extension (MIME)
     messages by running an external MIME processing program.  One such
     program is metamail.  A DOS port of metamail is available from

          ftp://thumper.bellcore.com/pub/nsb/

     An OS/2 port of metamail is available from

          ftp://ftp-os2.nmsu.edu/os2/unix/

     Put this setting in the Yarn configuration file, assuming you installed
     the metamail executable in a directory in your PATH:

          decode-mime=metamail %f


HOW TO ADD PGP SUPPORT

     Yarn contains hooks to external cryptographic programs.  The standard
     Yarn distribution is set up to run Pretty Good Privacy (PGP).  Ensure
     that the PGP executable is in the execution PATH.  Uncomment the "secret-
     sign", "encrypt", "decrypt" and "decrypt-view" lines in the Yarn
     configuration file.  Yarn is now configured to use the PGP privacy and
     authentication functions.










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                                  OPERATION

IMPORT NEWS AND MAIL

     To import messages from SOUP format, run

          import <file>

     where <file> is the path of the SOUP file.  The import program takes
     these options.

     -n        Do not delete the packet file.

     -q        Operate in quiet mode.  Do not list the imported newsgroup
               names.

     -r        Import rnews batch or UNIX mailbox files instead of SOUP files.

     -u [directory]
               Assume the files from a SOUP packet have already been unpacked
               into the current directory and import messages from those
               files.  If the optional directory is specified, then import
               from the files in that directory.

SET EXPIRY OF NEWSGROUPS

     Two settings are associated with each newsgroup.  One is the number of
     days that articles in the newsgroup will be kept before the expire
     program deletes them.  The other is the absolute maximum number of days
     that articles with an Expires: header will be kept.  The Expires: header
     may contain a date far in the future, but the article will be kept only
     for the specified number of days.

     When the import program finds a newsgroup in the packet that is not
     already in the news base, it adds the newsgroup with keep days and
     maximum keep days settings specified from the configuration file.  The
     "keep" and "max-keep" settings specify the keep days and maximum keep
     days respectively.  For example, if the configuration file contains the
     settings

          keep=7
          max-keep=30

     then articles are normally kept in the newsgroup for 7 days and
     absolutely not more than 30 days.

     You can set the keep days of individual newsgroups.  Run the command

          newgroup <name> <keepDays> [<maxDays>]

     where <name> is the newsgroup name and <keepDays> is the number of days
     that articles in the newsgroup will be kept before the expire program
     deletes them.  The optional parameter <maxDays> is the absolute maximum
     number of days that articles containing an Expires: header will be kept.




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     Instead of naming a newsgroup on the command line, you can specify a text
     file containing a list of newsgroup names.  Every newsgroup listed in the
     file is assigned the keep days value.

          newgroup @<file> <keepDays> [<maxDays>]


EXPIRE NEWS

     Periodically run the expire program to delete old articles from the news
     base.  To expire old articles from all newsgroups, run the command

          expire -o

     To expire old articles from specific newsgroups, list the newsgroups on
     the command line.  For example:

          expire -o comp.answers news.answers

     To delete all read articles in all newsgroups, run

          expire -r

     To delete read articles from specific newsgroups, run expire with the -r
     option and list the newsgroups on the command line.  For example:

          expire -r comp.answers news.answers

     The program may expire newsgroups in addition to the newsgroups you
     specified if an expired article was crossposted to multiple newsgroups.

     You can specify a text file containing a list of newsgroups to expire.
     Run expire with the argument

          @<file>

     on the command line, where <file> is the file path.

     The expire program accepts these options:

     -d <n>    Assume it is <n> days in the future.  Use this option to expire
               articles before they normally would have been expired.

     -n        Do not actually delete any articles.  Used for testing.

     -o        Delete old articles.

     -q        Operate in quiet mode.  Display fewer messages than usual.

     -r        Delete read articles.








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REMOVE NEWSGROUP

     To remove a newsgroup from the news base, run the command

          rmgroup <name>

     where <name> is the newsgroup name.

USING THE MAIL FILTER

     The mail filter looks at incoming mail messages and processes the
     messages based on a set of rules you define.  You can set up a rule that
     automatically moves messages you receive from a mailing list to a
     specific folder.  Or, you can automatically delete messages from a
     specific user so that you don't even see messages from that user.

     Run the filter program to set up the filter rules.  A list of filter
     rules appears.  To add a filter rule, press the [Ins] key.  The mail rule
     form appears.

     + Mail Rule ----------------------------------------------------------+
     |                                                                     |
     | Rule name: Yarn Mailing List                                        |
     |                                                                     |
     | Search in: ( ) From          Search for: yarn-list                  |
     |            (*) To            Match case: No                         |
     |            ( ) Subject                                              |
     |            ( ) Header                                               |
     |            ( ) Body                                                 |
     |            ( ) Header and body                                      |
     |                                                                     |
     |    Action: (*) Move to folder/newsgroup: list.yarn                  |
     |            ( ) Delete                                               |
     |                                                                     |
     +---------------------------------------------------------------------+

     Rule name
          Enter a name for the rule.  Filter rules are processed in sorted
          order by rule name.  Each rule is checked in turn until a match is
          found.  If no rules match, the message is moved to the INBOX folder.

     Search in
          Select where to search.  If you select "To", then the To: and Cc:
          headers are searched.

     Search for
          Enter the string to search for in the selected header.

     Match case
          Set the field to Yes if you want the search to be case sensitive.

     Action
          Select "Move to folder/newsgroup" if you want to move the message to
          a specific folder or newsgroup.  If the specified name is a
          newsgroup in the news base, the message is moved to the newsgroup,
          otherwise the message is moved to the named folder.  Select "Delete"


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          if you want to automatically delete the message.

     The mail filter allows you to automatically transfer messages from a
     mailing list into a newsgroup.  You can also set up Yarn to send any
     posts you make to that newsgroup back to the mailing list.  For example,
     suppose you want to filter messages from the Yarn mailing list into a
     newsgroup.  Run the command

          newgroup list.yarn 7 30 yarn-list@lists.colorado.edu

     to create a newsgroup named list.yarn.  Set up a mail filter rule to move
     messages from the mailing list into the newsgroup.  Now when you post a
     message to the list.yarn newsgroup, it is mailed to the list address
     yarn-list@lists.colorado.edu.

READ NEWS

     Run the yarn program to read news and mail.  The yarnx program uses a DOS
     extender, which uses the CPU's memory management functions to give the
     program access to much more memory than conventional DOS programs.  It
     requires an 80386 compatible CPU or better.  With more available memory,
     the program can list much more articles in a newsgroup.

     The reader program operates in several modes -- the newsgroup selection
     level, the article selection level, and the article reading level.

     In the newsgroup selection level, yarn displays a window listing the
     newsgroups you are subscribed to along with the number of unread articles
     in each newsgroup.  You can subscribe, unsubscribe or rearrange the order
     of newsgroups in this list.  Press the [Ins] key to subscribe to a
     newsgroup.  This brings up a list of unsubscribed newsgroups.  To make a
     selection, use the arrow keys to move the highlight to the newsgroup, and
     then press the [Enter] key.  The selected newsgroup is inserted into the
     subscribed newsgroup list.  Press the [Del] key to unsubscribe from the
     highlighted newsgroup.  To move a newsgroup in the list, press the [Del]
     key to remove it, position the highlight to the desired location, then
     press the [Ins] key and reinsert the newsgroup.

     By selecting a newsgroup, you go to the article selection level, where
     yarn presents a list of the subjects of each article.  A subject
     beginning with the greater than (>) symbol indicates an article belonging
     to the thread above it in the list, but the author of the article changed
     the subject.  You can select an article to read from this list, taking
     you to the article reading level.

USING SCORE FILES

     Score files contain rules used to automatically calculate a numeric rank,
     called a score, for news articles.  You can set up the reader so it
     doesn't show articles having scores less than a threshold score.  A
     global score file contains rules applied in all newsgroups.  Each
     newsgroup can have a separate score file containing rules that are also
     applied in that newsgroup.





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     A rule in a score file has the format

          <points> <where> <string>

     where

     <points>
          is the number of points added or subtracted if the rule matches the
          article.  It is a positive or negative number.  An article's score
          is the total points of all matching rules in the global score file
          and the newsgroup score file.

     <where>
          names an article header to search, such as "From:", "Subject:" or
          "Message-ID:".  You can name any header that might appear in an
          article header.  You can also specify two special options.  The
          "Header" option searches the entire article header.  The "Body"
          option searches the article body.  Searching the "From:", "Subject:"
          and "Message-ID:" fields is significantly faster than the other
          search options.

     <string>
          is the string to search for.  All searches are case-insensitive.  If
          the optional keyword "pattern" appears between <points> and <where>,
          the string is interpreted as a regular expression.

     A score file entry in the form

          killthreshold <n>

     sets the kill threshold to <n> points.  The default kill threshold is 0.
     Articles having scores less that this threshold are marked as already
     read, and you normally will not see them.

     Blank lines and lines beginning with the # character are ignored.

     Here is an example score file that the author uses for the
     alt.usenet.offline-reader newsgroup.

          # I have little interest in Forte Agent.
          -1 Subject: Agent
          -1 Subject: Forte
          -1 pattern Subject: \bFA\b

          # But I am interested in Yarn and SOUP.
          10 Subject: Yarn
          5 Subject: SOUP

     Press [Shift-E] at the newsgroup selection level to edit the global score
     file.  This starts your configured editor program on the global score
     file.  Press [Shift-E] while inside a newsgroup to edit the score file
     specific to the newsgroup.






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NEWSGROUP SELECTION LEVEL

     These commands are available in the newsgroup selection level.

     Down Arrow, Ctrl-N
          Move to the next newsgroup.

     Up Arrow, Ctrl-P
          Move to the previous newsgroup.

     Tab, N
          Move to the next newsgroup that contains unread articles.

     Shift-Tab, P
          Move to the previous newsgroup that contains unread articles.

     Home Move to first newsgroup.

     End  Move to last newsgroup.

     /    Search forward for newsgroup name containing matching text.

     ?    Search backward for newsgroup name containing matching text.

     ;    Continue forward search.

     :    Continue backward search.

     Space, Right Arrow
          Go to the article selection level, listing only unread articles.

     Enter
          Go to the article selection level, listing all articles.

     Ins, +
          Subscribe to a newsgroup and insert the newsgroup at the current
          position.

     Del, -
          Unsubscribe from the highlighted newsgroup.

     A    Post an article to the highlighted newsgroup.

     M    Send mail message.

     C    Mark all articles in the highlighted newsgroup as read.

     E    Edit the global score file.

     O    Save unread articles in the highlighted newsgroup to a folder.

     S    Save unread articles in the highlighted newsgroup to a file.  The
          program prompts for a file name.  If you don't give a full path
          name, the file is stored in the directory %HOME%\news.




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     W    Same as the 'S' command, except omit the article headers.

     !    Run command shell.  Type "exit" to return to Yarn.

     F2, Ctrl-L
          List address book.

     Esc  Exit program

ARTICLE SELECTION LEVEL

     These commands are available in the article selection level.

     Down Arrow, Ctrl-N
          Move to the next article.

     Up Arrow, Ctrl-P
          Move to the previous article.

     Tab, N
          Move to the first article of the next thread.

     Shift-Tab, P
          Move backwards to the previous article beginning a thread.

     Home Move to first article.

     End  Move to last article.

     /    Search forward for article containing matching text.

     ?    Search backward for article containing matching text.

     ;    Continue forward search.

     :    Continue backward search.

     Space, Right Arrow
          Read the article.

     Del, -
          Mark the article as read and go to the next unread article.

     Ins, +
          Mark the article as unread.

     O    Save the current article through to the last article in the thread
          to a folder.

     S    Save the current article through to the last article in the thread
          to a file.  The program prompts for a file name.  If you don't give
          a full path name, the file is stored in the directory %HOME%\news.

     W    Same as the 'S' command, except omit the article headers.




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     B    Extract uuencoded file from the current article.

     K    Mark the current article through to the last article in the thread
          as read.

     U    Mark the current article through to the last article in the thread
          as unread.

     C    Mark all articles in the newsgroup as read.

     E    Edit the newsgroup score file.

     A    Post an article to the newsgroup.

     M    Send mail message.

     L    Toggle short, medium or long subject list.

     T    Sort articles by arrival, subject or score order.

     V    Toggle listing of all articles or unread articles.

     !    Run command shell.  Type "exit" to return to Yarn.

     |    Run a program, piping the article into the program's standard input.
          If you put %f on the command line, it is replaced with the name of a
          temporary file containing the article, and the article will not be
          piped into the standard input.

     F2, Ctrl-L
          List address book.

     F3, Ctrl-A
          Add the author of the current message to the address book.

     Esc, Left Arrow
          Return to the newsgroup selection level.

ARTICLE READING LEVEL

     These commands are available in the article reading level.

     Down Arrow, Enter
          Scroll one line down.

     Up Arrow
          Scroll one line up.

     PgDn Show next page.

     Space
          Show next page.  If at the end of an article, go to the next unread
          article.





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     PgUp, b
          Show previous page.

     Home Go to top of article.

     g    Search article for matching text.

     G    Continue search in article.

     Ctrl-G
          Search for the next line beginning with "Subject:".  You can use
          this command to search for the next message in a message digest.

     /    Search forward for article containing matching text.

     ?    Search backward for article containing matching text.

     ;    Continue forward search.

     :    Continue backward search.

     n, Right Arrow
          Mark the article as read and show the next unread article.

     N    Show next article.

     p    Show previous unread article.

     P    Show previous article.

     a, A Post an article to the newsgroup.

     f    Post a followup article.

     F    Post a followup article, quoting the original article.

     r    Mail a reply to the author of the article.

     R    Mail a reply, quoting the original article.

     m    Mail (forward) the article to someone.

     M    Compose a mail message.

     o    Save the article to a folder.

     s    Save the article to a file.  The program prompts for a file name.
          If you don't give a full path name, the file is stored in the
          directory %HOME%\news.

     w    Same as the 's' command, except omit article headers.

     B    Extract uuencoded file from the article.





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     x    ROT13 decrypt the article.

     X    Decrypt the article by running the external cryptography program
          specified in the Yarn configuration.

     k, Del
          Mark the article as read.

     K    Mark this article and the rest of the articles in the thread as
          read.

     u, Ins
          Mark the article as unread.

     U    Mark this article and the rest of the articles in the thread as
          unread.

     C    Mark all the articles in the newsgroup as read.

     E    Edit the newsgroup score file.

     v    Toggle verbose headers.

     c    Cancel the article.  You must be the author to be able to cancel the
          article.

     z    Supersede the article.  You must be the author to be able to
          supersede the article.

     Z    Same as the 'z' command, except you start with a copy of the
          original article in the editor.

     !    Run command shell.  Type "exit" to return to Yarn.

     |    Run a program, piping the article into the program's standard input.
          If you put %f on the command line, it is replaced with the name of a
          temporary file containing the article, and the article will not be
          piped into the standard input.

     F2, Ctrl-L
          List address book.

     F3, Ctrl-A
          Add the author of the current message to the address book.

     Esc, Left Arrow
          Return to the article selection level.

     q    Return to the newsgroup selection level.









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READ MAIL

     To list your incoming mail messages, press [Shift-I] at the newsgroup
     selection level.

     You can send new mail by pressing [Shift-M].  A form pops up, asking you
     to enter the destination mail address and subject for the message you
     want to send.  If you press the [F2] key while the cursor is in the mail
     address field, the address book pops up.  You can select an entry from
     the address book by moving the highlight with the arrow keys and pressing
     the [Enter] key.

     Press [Shift-F] at the newsgroup selection level to bring up a list of
     folders.  You can select a folder to read from this list.

     If you start yarn with the -m option, you go directly to reading your
     received mail and skip reading news.  If you start yarn with the -f
     option, you go directly to the folder list and skip reading news.

EDIT REPLIES

     The Yarn reader allows you to edit the messages in the reply packet.  At
     the newsgroup selection level, press [Shift-R] to display a list of
     folders in the reply packet.  The reply packet may contain up to two
     folders, ``mail'' which holds outgoing mail messages, and ``news'' which
     holds outgoing USENET articles.

     By selecting a folder, you go to the message selection level, where the
     program lists the messages in the folder.  Press the [Del] key to delete
     the currently highlighted message.  Press [Shift-E] to edit the message.

     To view a message, select it from the message selection level.  While a
     message is displayed, pressing the 'd' key deletes the message.  Press
     the 'e' key to edit the message.

     If you start yarn with the -r option, you go directly to the replies list
     and skip reading news.

USING THE ADDRESS BOOK

     The address book is used to conveniently retrieve mail addresses.  An
     address book entry consists of an alias and an address.  An alias is a
     word representing a address or a list of addresses.  If an alias appears
     in a To:, Cc:, or Bcc: header, it is replaced with the corresponding
     address(es) when the message is sent.

     To list the address book, press [F2] at the newsgroup selection level.
     To add an address book entry, press the [Ins] key.  A form appears in
     which you enter the alias and address.  To specify a list of addresses,
     enter the addresses in the Address: field, separating them with a comma.

     While you are reading a message, you can capture the mail address of the
     message author and add it to the address book by pressing the [F3] key.





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YARN OPTION SUMMARY

     The yarn program accepts these options:

     -b   Output to the display using BIOS calls instead of direct screen
          writes.

     -f   List folders.  Do not read news.

     -m   List mail.  Do not read news.

     -r   List replies.  Do not read news.

     -s   Disable the '!' run shell command.

REGULAR EXPRESSIONS

     The search functions use regular expressions to specify the pattern to
     match.

     A \b matches a word boundary.

     A ^ matches the beginning of the buffer.

     A $ matches the end of the buffer.

     A . matches any character.

     A single character with no special meaning matches that character.

     A string enclosed in brackets [] matches any single character in that
     string. Ranges of ASCII character codes may be abbreviated as 'a-z0-9'.
     A left bracket ] may occur only as the first character of the string.  A
     literal - must be placed where it can't be mistaken as a range indicator.
     If the first character is the caret ^ then any character not in the
     string will match.

     A regular expression followed by * matches a sequence of 0 or more
     matches of the regular expression.

     A regular expression followed by + matches a sequence of 1 or more
     matches of the regular expression.

     A regular expression followed by ? matches a sequence of 0 or 1 matches
     of the regular expression.

     Two adjacent (concatenated) regular expressions match a match of the
     first followed by a match of the second.

     Two regular expressions separated by | match either a match for the first
     or a match for the second.

     A regular expression enclosed in parentheses matches a match for the
     regular expression.




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     The order of precedence of operators at the same parenthesis level is []
     then *+? then concatenation then |.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

------------------------------

Subject: How do I create SOUP files on my UNIX host?

     The uqwk program creates and processes SOUP files on your UNIX host.  It
     is available by anonymous FTP from ftp.gte.com in the /pub/uqwk
     directory.

     To create a SOUP download packet, named "down.zip" in this example, run
     these commands on your UNIX host:

          uqwk +n +x +L
          zip -m down.zip AREAS *.MSG

     Download the down.zip file to your PC.  Run this command on your PC to
     insert the messages into the Yarn news base:

          import down.zip

     When you send mail or post articles, the Yarn reader creates a SOUP reply
     packet, named "up.zip" in this example.  Upload the up.zip file to your
     UNIX host.  Run these commands on your UNIX host to send the messages in
     the reply packet:

          unzip -U up.zip
          uqwk -m -n +L -RREPLIES


------------------------------

Subject: The newsgroup selection list showed a number of the unread articles
     in a newsgroup.  When I selected the newsgroup by pressing the space bar,
     the article selection list had less articles than that number.

     When you read an article that was cross-posted to multiple newsgroups,
     that article is marked as read in all the newsgroups to which it was
     cross-posted.  The newsgroup you selected contains cross-posted articles
     that you already read in another newsgroup.  The program counts the true
     number of unread articles when you select the newsgroup.

------------------------------

Subject: After running "expire -o", I reduced the keep days for a newsgroup
     and ran "expire -o" again, but it didn't delete any more articles.

     Each article is assigned an expiry date after which it is deleted.  The
     "expire -o" command deletes articles having an expiry date older than the
     current date.  The article storage scheme requires that an article's
     expiry date be set when the article is imported into the news base.  Once
     imported, the article's expiry date cannot be changed.  When you change
     the keep days for a newsgroup, you only change how long you keep


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     subsequently imported articles.  You don't affect the expiry dates of
     articles already in the news base.

------------------------------

Subject: What is the junk newsgroup?

     When the import program finds an article that doesn't belong to any of
     the newsgroups in the news base, it tosses the article into the junk
     newsgroup.  This usually shouldn't happen with properly configured
     software.

------------------------------

Subject: How do I configure Yarn for OS/2 to run the MS-DOS version of PKZIP
     and PKUNZIP?

     Put these settings in your configuration file, adjusting the drive and
     path appropriately.

          compress=cmd.exe /c c:\path\pkzip -m %f %d\*.*
          uncompress=cmd.exe /c c:\path\pkunzip -o %f %d


------------------------------

Subject: How do I configure Yarn to use InfoZip's zip and unzip programs?

     Put these settings in the configuration file.

          compress=zip -kjm %f %d/*
          uncompress=unzip -o %f


------------------------------

Subject: How do I print an article from the reader program?

     Use the save to file command.  When prompted for a file name, enter the
     name

          prn


------------------------------

Subject: How do I cross-post an article to more than one newsgroup?

     While you are editing the article, add the newsgroups where you want to
     cross-post to the Newsgroups: line.  Separate the newsgroups with commas.
     Do not put any spaces between the newsgroups.

------------------------------





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Subject: The program aborted with the error message "history file is corrupt".

     The history file is an critical part of the news base.  It contains the
     location where each article is stored.  If the history file becomes
     corrupted, some articles may become inaccessible.

     The rebuild program is a utility that rebuilds the history file by
     scanning all the articles in the news base.  If the files containing the
     articles are intact, rebuild should restore the links to every article in
     the news base.  To repair the history file, first run the chkdsk command
     to fix any file system errors, then run the command

          rebuild -h


------------------------------

Subject: The program aborted with the error message "dbm file is corrupt:
     %YARN%\supersed" or "dbm file is corrupt: %HOME%\yarn\readart".

     These files aren't so critical and can be deleted if they become
     corrupted.  First run the chkdsk command to fix any file system errors,
     then delete the supersed.* files in the %YARN% directory or delete the
     readart.* files in the %HOME%\yarn directory respectively.

------------------------------

Subject: Is there a Yarn mailing list?

     Yes, to subscribe to the mailing list, mail a message to
     listproc@lists.colorado.edu.  The body of the message should be the line

          subscribe yarn-list Your Full Name

     assuming Your Full Name is your full name.  If it isn't, substitute your
     own name.

FILES

     %HOME%\mail                Folder directory
     %HOME%\news                Default save directory
     %HOME%\replies             Reply work directory
     %HOME%\yarn                User configuration directory
     %HOME%\yarn\scores         Score file directory
     %HOME%\yarn\scores\global  Global score file
     %HOME%\yarn\addrbook       Address book file
     %HOME%\yarn\config         User configuration file
     %HOME%\yarn\filter         Mail filter configuration file
     %HOME%\yarn\newsrc         Newsgroup subscription file
     %HOME%\yarn\readart.*      Read cross-posted article lookup table

     %YARN%\active              Active newsgroup file
     %YARN%\global              System-wide configuration file
     %YARN%\history.*           Article history lookup table
     %YARN%\supersed.*          Superseded article lookup table
     %YARN%\overview            Article overview directory


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     %YARN%\news                Article spool file directory


                               ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

     The MS-DOS yarn.exe program uses the SPAWNO routines by Ralf Brown to
     minimize memory use while shelling to DOS and running other programs.

     The MS-DOS yarnx.exe program uses PMODE for Watcom C/C++, a DOS extender
     written by Charles Scheffold and Thomas Pytel.
















































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