nnrp.access - access file for on-campus NNTP sites

The file /etc/news/nnrp.access specifies the access control for those NNTP sites that are not handled by the main InterNetNews daemon innd(8). The nnrpd(8) server reads it when first spawned by innd.

Comments begin with a number sign (``#'') and continue through the end of the line. Blank lines and comments are ignored. All other lines should consist of five fields separated by colons:

hosts:perms:username:password:patterns

The first field is a wildmat(3)-style pattern specifying the names or Internet address of a set of hosts. Before a match is checked, the client's hostname (or its Internet address if gethostbyaddr(3) fails) is converted to lowercase. Each line is matched in turn, and the last successful match is taken as the correct one.

The second field is a set of letters specifying the permissions granted to the client. The perms should be chosen from the following set:

R	The client can retrieve articles
P	The client can post articles

The third and fourth fields specify the username and password that the client must use to authenticate themselves before the server will accept any articles. Note that no authentication (other then a matching entry in this file) is required for newsreading. If they are empty, then no password is required. Whitespace in these fields will result in the client being unable to properly authenticate themselves and may be used to disable access.

The fifth field is a set of patterns identifying the newsgroups that the client is allowed to access. The patterns are interpreted in the same manner as the newsfeeds(5) file. The default, however, denies access to all groups.

The access file is normally used to provide host-level access control for reading and posting articles. There are times, however, when this is not sufficient and user-level access control is needed. Whenever an NNTP ``authinfo'' command is used, the nnrpd server re-reads this file and looks for a matching username and password. If the local newsreaders are modified to send the ``authinfo'' command, then all host entries can have no access and specific users can be granted the appropriate read and post access.

For example:

##  host:perm:user:pass:groups
## Default is no access.
*::  -no-  :  -no-  :!*
##  FOO hosts have no password, can read anything.
*.foo.com:Read Post:::*
##  A related workstation can't access FOO newsgroups.
lenox.foo.net:RP:martha:hiatt:*,!foo.*

If the file contains passwords, it should not be world-readable.

Written by Rich $alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net> for InterNetNews.

innd(8), newsfeeds(5), nnrpd(8), wildmat(3).