NAME

mfetch - fetch and decode (multi-part) articles from a NNTP server

SYNOPSIS

mfetch newszilla.news.com:alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.camel 35351 35353 35355 35350 35356

NNTPHOST=newszilla.news.com; export NNTPHOST
mfetch alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.camel 35351:35353:35355 35350:35356

mfetch --destdir my_mp3_dir alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.camel 35351:35353:35355 35350:35356

DESCRIPTION

mfetch retrieves news articles from an NNTP server, and decodes them to extract the (possible binary) contents. It is particular useful for news postings that contain programs or binary data like sounds and images.

COMMAND LINE ARGUMENTS

mfetch takes two arguments: the name of the news group, and a list of article numbers. The name of the news group may be prefixed with the name of an NNTP server, separated by a colon. If the NNTP server is left unspecified, mfetch uses standard environment variables to find the NNTP server name, see below.

The list of article numbers may be passed as distinct arguments, or combined in colon separated lists, or any combination thereof.

mfetch uses Convert::BulkDecoder to decode the contents, and hence supports UUdecoding, ydecoding and MIME attachments.

For yencoded contents, file consistency is verified using length and checksum tests.

COMMAND LINE OPTIONS

--destdir dir

The name of the directory where the resultant contents must be placed. Default is to put the contents in the current directory.

--fetch

Just fetch the articles, and store them under the article numbers. No decoding is done.

--delay secs

Pause for secs seconds between article fetches to reduce the load of the network and server.

--dry-run -n

Don't do anything but checking the arguments.

--comment text

Remarks for this action.

LIMITATIONS

Only yencoded data can be CRC checked. CRC checking is slow, so only the partial checksums are verified.

For multi-part submissions, the article numbers must be passed in the right order.

DEPENDENCIES

Net::NNTP, Convert::BulkDecoder.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

To find the news server, mfetch uses environment variables NNTPSERVER, NEWSHOST, or defaults to a host named news.

AUTHOR

Johan Vromans, Squirrel Consultancy <jvromans@squirrel.nl>

SEE ALSO

Convert::BulkDecoder, newsgrab.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE

Copyright 2003 Squirrel Consultancy.

License: Artistic.