Post processor script for flnews

An article is piped-in to the post-processor. This is normally done automatically as soon as the variable “post_proc“ in the flnews configuration file is set to the flnews_post_proc.

Locally stored articles can be piped in to the post-processor, as needed for testing purposes, with a command-line like the following:

flnews_post_proc < article

The flnews newsreader is sufficient for Usenet access, i.e. to receive and read articles from -, as well as to write and post articles to newsgroups.

When you compare news-clients, you will always notice the differences and choose the software that you prefer. Flnews however, has the charm that you can influence how the program itself works but also modify posts that flnews produces, just before the program will transmit them to the chosen nntp-server.

The flnews_post_proc can add and change details of a post, in ways that are currently not possible with flnews alone. As the program is configurable, it can probably respond to the needs of some Usenet users. You should, however, rather take it as an example for what can be done and an inspiration for your own creations.

While the articles that flnews creates, are complete and ready to be posted, some users may not always agree with the result and for arbitrary reasons:

• There may be inconveniences when you post to different newsgroups in
  different languages, as an introductory line which refers to a previous
  post can only be set once in the flnews-configuration. The consequence
  can be that your post to a french newsgroup begins with an introduction
  in English.
  My post-processor program can set an introductory line specifically
  chosen for one or several newsgroups.
• The same conflict arises, when you have set a standard signature-text and
  would like to replace it against another, based on the newsgroup you are
  about to post to.
  The post-processor program sets specific signatures as configured for one
  or several newsgroups.
• Some custom headers may serve to convey additional information to
  interested readers of your post, like GnuPG key IDs, your language skills
  or the like. The signature may be a better choice than custom headers.
  You are free. I just mention face and x-face but prefer that you do not
  remember I did.
  Custom-headers may be defined in the configuration file for the program
  and will then be added to each outgoing post.
• The X-No-Archive header is sometimes set to avoid that an article be
  saved and stays available to search-engines (Google, notably). Test-
  postings, for example, do probably not justify at all that they would be
  referenced in search-results.
  The post-processor program can impose the X-No-Archive header for all
  posts to certain newsgroups.
• If a news post contains many references to either other posts or Web
  pages, the text can be cluttered with URLs.
  The post-processor can identify marked text fragments and transform them
  into footnotes, which will be attached as a list at the bottom of the
  post.
  This works almost like the <ref/> link in Wikipedia, but the delimiter
  can be determined in the configuration file.
  Example (with %=):
  This is an object %=and this becomes the footnote, describing the object
  further=%

You can have a dialog displayed just before the post-processor is invoked, to disable some configuration options. Provided that either YAD, Zenity, Whiptail or only xterm are available on your computer, you can choose from the following options. You cannot use the dialog to enable options which have not yet been set in the configuration.

• Signatures, as set in the configuration can be ignored. Either
  a default signature will appear as set in flnews or none.
• Custom Headers, if configured, can be omitted.
• The X-No-Archive header, if set for the current newsgroup, can be
  ignored.
• Logging can be switched off, if set.

Pushing Esc or the cancle-button of the dialog interrupts the process, flnews will not post the article.

You can disable the dialog, which ensures that all configured options will be applied, without the need for further interaction (see below, option OVERRIDE_CONFIG).

On first execution of the program, a copy of the original configuration file is created in /home/[user]/.flnews_post_proc.conf It is this file which is used from then on. If you delete it, it will be recreated, on the next occasion, but your own changes will be lost.

The configuration file is in YAML syntax and full of explanations. The variables defined in this file can be classified as belonging to one of two categories:

• Variables describing values originally set by flnews, which should be used or
  replaced. The important elements are usually matched in a capture group.
• Variables defining the new or altered content.

FUP_NAME

A Regular Expression, describing the string which contains the name of previous poster who is the author of a quoted post. This string is recognized in the original article and may be used with the fitting element from GROUP_INTRO , below. The Regexp-format is that of the Regexp class in Ruby, noted as a String. Beware to mask a backslash '\' by another one, like in the example. A capture-group '()' serves to extract the name from the match result.

Leave this field empty to keep the default from the FLNews configuration intact.

CONTENT: A String equivalent of a regular expression.

DEFAULT: EMPTY

EXAMPLE1: "On \\d+.\\d+.\\d{2,4} at \\d+:\\d+ (.*) wrote:"

EXAMPLE2: " (.*) wrote:"

FUP_GROUP

A Regular Expression, describing the string which contains the newsgroup where the previous post, that you are referring to in the followup, had been published.

Leave this field empty to ignore the precise group.

CONTENT: A String equivalent of a regular expression.

DEFAULT: EMPTY

EXAMPLE: "wrote in (.*) :"

GROUP_INTROS

Introductory strings, referring to the previous poster who is the author of a quoted post. If you match the newsgroup of the post (see FUP_GROUP), you can use these variables in the result. Currently only %fup_name% and %fup_group% are reproduced in the resulting introductory string.

CONTENT: A newsgroup or regexp per line, followed by a colon, a space and a String

DEFAULT: As configured in FLNews

EXAMPLE: alt.test: "Thus spoke %fup_name% on that baleful %fup_date%:"

GROUP_SIGS

A signature line per Newsgroup. ATTN! In multi line signatures, you have to use \r\n for line breaks.

CONTENT: A newsgroup or regexp per line, followed by a colon, a space and a String.

DEFAULT: As configured in flnews

EXAMPLE: alt.test: "Signature for alt.test\r\nsecond line"

CUSTOM_HEADERS

Additional headers for the outgoing article

CONTENT: 1 line per header : a dash and space, then a String, comprising the name of the header, ending in a colon and the value of the header.

DEFAULT: undefined

EXAMPLE (2 headers):
- 'X-My-Header: nothing fancy'
- 'X-Another-Header: care not!'

XNAY_GROUPS

The newsgroups, where a header X-No-Archive: YES shall be set.

CONTENT: a dash and space, then a String, containing the name of the group or a regexp.

DEFAULT: empty

EXAMPLE (1 group, 1 hierarchy):
- "alt.test"
- "^news.*"

DEBUG_LOG

The name of a file, where debug messages are written. Setting this variable will enable the log. Leave empty to disable logging.

CONTENT: The name of a writable file, which will be created if inexistent and overwritten if need be.

DEFAULT: empty

EXAMPLE: '/tmp/a_log-file.txt'

LOG LEVEL

One of debug, fatal, error, info, warn

REFERENCES_SEPARATOR

A symbol or sequence of symbols marking the end of the message-body and the beginning of a list of “references” or “footnotes”. It will only appear, if the original message-body contains text marked for use as such a footnote. See REFERENCES_DELIMITER .

If the option is not defined or empty, the list of footnotes will appear below the last line of the message body and no separator will be inserted.

CONTENT: A quoted symbol or sequence of symbols.

DEFAULT: empty

EXAMPLE: '---------'

REFERENCES_DELIMITER

A sequence of at least two symbols marking the beginning of a text which will serve as footnote (or reference). The reversed sequence musst be used to mark the end of the text. The presence of this sequence or symbol in the original message body will cause the enclosed text to be moved below the message body. The REFERENCES_SEPARATOR , if defined, will separate the message from the list of footnotes. If this option is not defined or empty, footnotes are not created.

CONTENT a quoted symbol or sequence of symbols.

DEFAULT: none/empty

EXAMPLE: '%?'

REFERENCE_FORMAT

A format-string, using %s for a number, replacing the reference- text in the message body.

DEFAULT: " %s)" -> becomes 1) ... 2) ... 3)

EXAMPLE: "(%s)" -> becomes (1) ... (2) ... (3)

VFY_URLS

A Boolean constant. It determines if the program shall verify and possibly try to correct URLs. Even if URLs are identified as such, only a few manipulations are attempted : * Angular brackets '<' and '>' are added, if missing * Article-references are prepended with "news:", if missing * Slashes are added, if they are found missing after "http(s):"

ATTN! The program is unable to discern "mailto:" and "news:" references. If neither is given, but '@' is present, "news:" is automatically prepended.

If the variable is not set, a value 'yes' is assumed.

CONTENT: One of YES, yes, NO, no, and other variations of case.

DEFAULT: yes

Example: ... I let you guess.

OVERRIDE_CONFIG

A Boolean constant. You can choose to override the following configuration options before an article is posted: GROUP_SIGS, XNAY_GROUPS, CUSTOM_HEADERS and DEBUG_LOG. A dialog may be displayed which allows you to disable any of these four options, so that the defaults from flnews prevail.

ATTN! Canceling the dialog or pushing the Esc-key does interrupt the process. Flnews will not post the article.

Set this option to no, NO or similar to disable the dialog.

DEFAULT: yes

EXAMPLE: No

The effects that the execution of the program will have on a posting can be verified in two ways:

1. By piping-in a post that had previously been saved to a file:
   :~$ /usr/local/bin/[post-processor] < [test-article]
   This will show the resulting new version of the article on screen, but you
   can also pipe the output into another file. This is a great way to test a
   program during development or to test your own configuration of the program.
   
2. By posting directly into a test-newsgroup (like alt.test or similar). This
   is mandatory before you really post to thematic newsgroups and when the
   settings of the post-processor will affect the article.
   

The gem-file that you get with the gem-utility or from rubygems.org contains all the code of the program and some documentation (this page notably). To read its content, you must

1. untar the gem-file with tar -xf flnews_post_proc-0.1.gem
2. uncompress the data.gz archive: gunzip data.gz
3. untar the resultig data.tar archive: tar -xf data.tar

This creates the directories bin, doc and lib.

flnews_post_proc is distributed under the conditions of the WTFPL-2.0 or later License (see http://www.wtfpl.net/txt/copying/ or license-text in the doc directory of the gem-file).