NAME

Apache::NNTPGateway - A NNTP interface for mod_perl enabled Apache web server.

SYNOPSIS

 You must be using mod_perl, see http://perl.apache.org/ for details.

 For the correct work your apache configuration would contain apache
 directives look like these:

 In httpd.conf (or any other apache configuration file):

 <Location "/path/to/newsgroup">
    SetHandler          perl-script
    PerlHandler         Apache::NNTPGateway
    PerlSetVar          NTTPGatewayNewsGroup "newsgroup"
    PerlSetVar          NTTPGateway... (see L<CONFIGURATION> Directives)
 </Location>

DESCRIPTION

 This module implements a per group interface to NNTP (Usenet)
 News-Groups, it allow users to list, read, post, followup ... articles
 in a given newsgroup/newsserver depending of configuration. This is
 not a replacement for a real powerful newsreader client but just
 pretend to be a simple, useful mapping of some news articles into a
 web space.

ACTIONS

 Here is the list of all actions that can be performed on the current newsgroup.

list

  List articles, all articles from the current newsgroup or only unread
  articles if the user/client allready did a B<catchup>.

catchup

  Mark all current articles as read. This use a Cookie.

last

  Read the last article available from the newsserver.

read

  Read article by ID.

followup

  Post a followup to an article.

post

  Post an new article to the current newsgroup.

CONFIGURATION

  Except some very few optional adjustements in the module source
  itself all configuration is done with B<PerlSetVar> directives in
  Apache configurations files.

Directives

 All following features of this PerlHandler, will be set in the apache
 configuration files. For this you can use PerlSetVar apache
 directive.

NNTPGatewayNewsGroup

 (string, B<mandatory>)

 The newsgroup used for the current NNTPGateway location. Not setting
 this will make NNTPGateway fail.

NNTPGatewayStop

 (boolean, I<optional>)

 Tell to completely disable NNTPGateway, useful for temporary maintainance.

NNTPGatewayDefaultAction

 (ACTION name, I<optional>) Default value: B<last>

 Default action used when nothing specified. (see L<ACTIONS>).

NNTPGatewayNewsServer

 (string, I<optional>)

  When using correctly configured perl modules B<Net::Domain>,
  B<Net::Config> on a correctly configured system this should not be
  changed, in theory NNTPGateway could be able to handle multiples
  news server but this is greatly nor recommended (see L<BUGS>) unless
  you really know what you are doing.

NNTPGatewayOrganization

  (string, B<recommended>) Default value: B<The Disoganized Corp>

  Set the Organization header when posting articles.

NNTPGatewayTitle

  (string, I<optional>)
  
  Title displayed in NNTPGateway pages.

NNTPGatewayStyleSheet

  (string, I<optional>)

  Set the style sheet used in NNTPGateway pages, or none. There are
  some few classes in the generated HTML, check the source to use them
  in your style sheet.

NNTPGatewayAnonymousPostAllowed

  (boolean, I<optional>) Default value: B<off>

  Allow anonymous posting in the current group.

NNTPGatewayAnonymousPosters

  (list, I<optional>) Default value: B<anonymous=Anonymous>

  A list of pair email=Name that could be used for anonymous
  posts. I'm B<Absolutely> not responsible for any abuse of this
  feature, this is up to the webmaster to control it's usage.
 
  Ex: 
  C<PerlSetVar NNTPGatewayAnonymousPosters "anon=The Unknown Soldier,president=The Big Boss"> 

NNTPGatewayNonLocalPostOk

  (boolean, I<optional>) Default value: B<off>

  Allow user who do not have local (to the same web server machine -
  checked with getpwnam) login account to post articles, in B<non>
  anonymous post mode the users should have been identified themselves
  anyway (with identd or server auth).

NNTPGatewayUsersNamesCaseInsensitive

  (boolean, I<optional>) Default value: B<off>

  Check users names in a case insensitive manner.

NNTPGatewayDisabledActions

  (ACTIONS list, I<optional>) Default value: B<none> 

  List of L<ACTIONS> that are B<not> allowed to be performed by users for
  the current config. (see L<ACTIONS>).

NNTPGatewayTemplatesDir

  (string, L<optional>) Default value: B<lib/templates/NNTPGateway/>
  
  ServerRoot relative Directory where to find HTML templates files (not yet Implemented). 
 

NNTPGatewayDebug

  (boolean, I<optional>) Default value: B<off>
  
  Set this to debug NNTPGateway. 

SECURITY

  If you B<allow> Anonymous posting absolutely no security checks are
  performed unless you protect access to the Location this handler is
  located on, but that is not the job of this module.

  If you B<deny> Anonymous posting, the handler will check
  B<remote_ident> (via Identd) or B<remote_user> and will check if
  they are valid username by checking C<getpwnam()> (a list of some
  generic usernames such as: root, anonymous ... are not considered as
  valid too, even if they are), if directive
  B<NNTPGatewayNonLocalPostOk> had not been set, if they are not they
  are rejected, if they are they could post and the From header will
  be set to that username. That is the only security check the handler
  will do, it is up to other apaches modules to correctly protect the
  Location and set valid usernames (enable identd or loggin via
  AuthNIS or anything else).

  Furthermore the webmaster could disable the use of some actions such
  as post, followup ...

BUGS

 The connection to the nntp server is handled in a global variable so
 that the connection is common to all requests in the current apache
 child process. Due to that, when the module is used with 2 differents
 configs (in 2 <Location xxx>) setting 2 differents newsservers and
 that 2 requests are made in the same child with these 2 configs (or
 more) ... the second request could re-use a NNTP connection (open
 during the 1st request) already open to the B<first> server. I do not
 want to make the nntp object a local variable, because the connection
 is a long process ... But anyway, I have some few ideas of how to
 solve the problem, but as I am lazy and my configuration do not have
 this problem I am waiting for pressure from eventual module users
 ...;-)

Changes

v0.8

 * Cookie domain better handled for catchup.
 * NNTPGatewayNewsGroupTest removed. Set up a new Location and set
   NNTPGatewayNewsGroup to the test group and NNTPGatewayDebug on to
   acheive the same fonctionnality.
 * Some more directives to control users checking
   (NNTPGatewayUsersNamesCaseInsensitive, NNTPGatewayNonLocalPostOk).
 * Some handling of Cache-Control.
 * Made this module ready for my first CPAN contribution ;-)
 ** Cleaning source code.
 ** Cleaning Documentation.
 ** CPAN Enabled distrib (Makefile.PL, .tar.gz dist, README file, CPAN
    ID ...).

v0.7

 * The configuration directive B<NNTPGatewayCatchupCookieName> do not exists anymore.
 * Disconnections to news server start to be better handled.
 

v0.6

 First public release

TODO

•  Safe sharing of the NNTP global.

•  Using an HTML Template system (maybe HTML::Template) instead of hard coded html.

•  Improving the LANG selection stuff (maybe adding a new configuration directive?)

•  Improving the C<check_user()> stuff for more security.

•  more stuff ...

SEE ALSO

 perl(1), mod_perl(3), Apache(3), Net::NNTP(3), Net::Domain(3),
 Net::Config(3), rfc977

COPYRIGHT

 The application and accompanying modules are Copyright CENA Toulouse.
 It is free software and can be used, copied and redistributed at the
 same terms as perl itself.

AUTHOR

 heddy Boubaker <boubaker@cena.fr>

 Home page:
 http://www.tls.cena.fr/~boubaker/WWW/Apache-NNTPGateway.shtml