TkNewsII is started from the command line and takes one (optional) command like option: -iconic. If this option is present on the command line, the application starts up iconified. TkNewsII is configured with a resource file named .TkNewsRc. TkNewsII won’t start with out this file.
The TkNewsII’s GUI consists of a Main Window, described in Section 3.1, and zero or more Spool Windows, described in Section 3.2.
The Main Window’s file menu provides these 6 main functions:
Double clicking on a QWK file in the QWK spool directory listing opens the selected QWK file.
The group list displays the groups subscribed you are subscribed to and also contains a saved message areas as well.
The group menu buttons include:
Double clicking on a group listed in the group list does a Read Group on the selected group.
When a group is open an article list button menu, an article list, and an article button menu is added.
The article list button menu contains buttons that:
Double clicking on an article in the article list does a Read Article on the selected article.
The article button menu contains buttons that:
The file ~/.TkNewsRC is the TkNewsII resource file. It is in standard X11 option database format and consists of key pattern value lines. Lines starting with a # are comments. Otherwise lines consist of option name patterns containing either names or class names of components or window pathname elements the wild cards (*) or periods separating these elements. There is a colon at the end of the pattern and there is a value after that.
The TkNewsII top level window has a class name of Tknewsii, so this should be used to introduce resources in the global X11 option database, that is in .Xdefaults or .Xresources files. In the .TkNewsRc, this is not needed. For spool and group based resources, including the name of the spool or group (with periods replaced with underscores) name (all lower case) or class (first character capitalized, the rest lower case) will specialize the resource to the specific spool or group within the spool. Spool windows are always children of the main top level and group windows are always children of the spool window they are part of. Article read windows are also children of the spool window as well. More specialized resources take precedence over less specialized resources.
Resources:
Name: spoolList
Class: SpoolList
Value: Space separated list of spool names.
Default: Eempty list.
This is the list of defined spools. Each spool is for a single news server or QWK BBS.
Name: autoSpools
Class: AutoSpools
Value: Space separated list of spool names.
Default: Empty list.
This is the list of spools to load on startup.
Name: iconic
Class: Iconic
Value: Boolean flag.
Default: 0 (false)
This flag corresponds to the -iconic option. If true, the main window and the auto spool windows come up iconified.
Name: tocGeometry
Class: TocGeometry
Value: X11 Geometry specification.
Default: Empty string.
This is the initial geometry setting for the Main Window.
Name: qwkInSpool
Class: QwkInSpool
Value: Directory pathname.
Default: ~/spool
This is the directory where inbound QWK files land.
Name: qwkOutSpool
Class: QwkOutSpool
Value: Directory pathname.
Default: ~/spool
This is the directory where outbound QWK rep files are placed.
Name: qwkWorkDir
Class: QwkWorkDir
Value: Directory pathname.
Default: ~/TkNewsWork
This is the directory where QWK files are unpacked and processed. Also where QWK Reply packages are built.
Name: qwkArchiver
Class: QwkArchiver
Value: Command line.
Default: zip -j
This is the command line used to create a reply file. The name of the reply file and the names of the files going into it are appended to this command string.
Name: qwkUnarchiver
Class: QwkUnarchiver
Value: Command line.
Default: unzip -jo
This is the command line used to unpack a QWK file. The name of the QWK packet is appended to the command like.
Name: printCommand
Class: PrintCommand
Value: Command line.
Default: lpr -
This is the command used to send articles to the printer. The articles are passed as a piped data stream to stdin of this command.
Name: qwkGetMailCommand
Class: QwkGetMailCommand
Value: Command line.
Default: Empty string.
This is the command (script) used to fetch a QWK packet. If empty for a given spool, that spool does not use QWK to get articles.
Name: spoolNumGroups
Class: SpoolNumGroups
Value: Integer, positive non-zero.
Default: 20
Number of group lines to display in the group list.
Name: activeFile
Class: ActiveFile
Value: Pathname to active file.
Default: /var/lib/news/active
This is the name of the active file. It is a local file in the spool area when the spool is fed via QWK packets. It is not used when a NNTP server is being used.
Name: cleanFunction
Class: CleanFunction
Value: Boolean value.
Default: no
If set to yes, the [clean] menu option is enabled, which allows flushing all of the local copies of the articles in a group. Should only be used with QWK-based spools.
Name: newsRc
Class: NewsRc
Value: File pathname.
Default: ~/.newsrc
This is the name of the file to keep track of read and unread articles and subscribed groups.
Name: savedNews
Class: SavedNews
Value: Directory pathname.
Default: ~/News
This is the directory where news articles are saved via the File article button.
Name: drafts
Class: Drafts
Value: Directory pathname.
Default: ~/Drafts
This is the directory where unsent drafts are stored.
Name: serverName
Class: ServerName
Value: Hostname.
Default: localhost
Name of the NNTP server to use. Only used if useServer is true.
Name: spellChecker
Class: SpellChecker
Value: Command line.
Default: /usr/bin/X11/xterm -e ispell
This is the command line to start up a spell checker. A file name is appended to this command.
Name: externalEditor
Class: ExternalEditor
Value: Command line.
Default: /usr/local/bin/emacs
Name: spoolDirectory
Class: SpoolDirectory
Value: Directory pathname.
Default: /var/spool/news
This is the directory where news articles live. Not used if useServer is true.
Name: useServer
Class: UseServer
Value: Boolean flag.
Default: no
If this flag is true, news articles are fetched via a NNTP server.
Name: spoolGeometry
Class: SpoolGeometry
Value: X11 Geometry
Default: empty string.
This is the geometry of Spool Windows.
Name: spoolNumArticles
Class: SpoolNumArticles
Value: Positive, non-zero integer.
Default: 10
This is the number of articles to show in the article list box.
Name: isEmail
Class: IsEmail
Value: Boolean value.
Default: no
If set true, the group is really an E-Mail group or area.
Name: signatureFile
Class: SignatureFile
Value: File pathname.
Default: Empty string.
This is the name of a file containing a signature or tag message.
Name: followupWithXCommentTo
Class: FollowupWithXCommentTo
Value: Boolean value.
Default: no
If set to true, followups include a “X-Comment-To:” header line (needed / used by ifgate / fidonet echo mail).
Name: followupEmailTo
Class: FollowupEmailTo
Value: E-Mail address to send followups to (moderated newsgroups).
Default: empty string.
If not empty, followups are E-Mailed to this address instead of posted.
Name: organization
Class: Organization
Value: String.
Default: Yoyodyne
This is the name of the organization to use withe the Organization: header line.
Name: from
Class: From
Value: String.
Default: John Bigbooty
This is the text to include in the From: header line.
Name: ccSelf
Class: CcSelf
Value: Boolean value.
Default: yes
If set true, the Cc: header include your address.
Name: injectProgram
Class: InjectProgram
Value: Command line.
Default: /usr/bin/inews -h
This program is used to inject a news article. The article text is piped to this program’s stdin.
Name: emailProgram
Class: EmailProgram
Value: Command line.
Default: /usr/lib/sendmail -em -i -t
This program is used to send an E-Mail message. The message is piped to this program’s stdin.
Name: articleGeometry
Class: ArticleGeometry
Value: X11 Geometry.
Default: Empty string.
This is the geometry used for Article Read Windows.
Additional general resources can be specified, such as foreground and background colors as well as fonts and other appearance related resources.