Graphical Interface for the NNTP Gateway

[GameCrash]

Current version is 1.2

You can always download the newest version in the first post.

This hack will allow you to administrate the NNTP Gateway hack (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35247) created by Gilby via the Admin CP. This is version 1.1 and will work for NNTP Gateway version 1.8 and 1.9. It will NOT work for 1.7 and earlier.

It is tested with vBulletin 2.2.2 and vBulletin 2.2.4. It may work with 2.0.x, it may not.

For installation instructions please read the install.txt in the zip file.

I created a new thread to make sure I can answer your questions easier. So please do NOT Email, PM or ICQ me about this hack - you will be ignored.

Changelog

Version 1.2 (06.04.2002)
- fixed bug in nntpgateway.php that caused a reset of the last message id when editing a newsgroup

Version 1.1 (28.03.2002)
- Fixed bug in the gateway.php changes causing class.POP3.php3 not beeing included properly when calling via CP

[Gilby]

Thanks, GameCrash, for making this addition! :)

[GameCrash]

Thanks that you allowed me to do it :)

[Robert Basil]

Interesting addition. Any screen shots?

[GameCrash]

I will upload some screenies later... no time atm.

[GameCrash]

Okay, sorry that I'm so late but I had much to do the last days.

The new section in the navigation:

[GameCrash]

This here are the general settings:

[GameCrash]

Add a new newsgroup. It is like adding a simple new forum, just the new section on the top and you don't have the option if it should work as forum - it will always work as one.

[GameCrash]

Modify the newsgroups:

[GameCrash]

Edit one newsgroup (same as add newsgroup)

[~rc~]

What would cause this error during syncronisation?

Warning: Failed opening 'class.POP3.php3' for inclusion (include_path='') in /home/sites/site3/web/forum/gateway.php on line 31

[Gilby]

Originally posted by ~rc~
What would cause this error during syncronisation?

Warning: Failed opening 'class.POP3.php3' for inclusion (include_path='') in /home/sites/site3/web/forum/gateway.php on line 31

You don't have that file uploaded. If you upload the file from the nntp gateway distribution, that error will not occur.

[Gilby]

Ah, I see what's happening. The error is when you to the sync from the control panel. There is an error in the instructions to this. What you need to do is change:
include("class.POP3.php3");
to include("$ad.class.POP3.php3");

[~rc~]

Thanks, that helps but it should read;
include($ad."class.POP3.php3");


Now if you can figure out how to get my cron to work, you'd be a star. I've tried everything, but still nada.

[GameCrash]

the include problem is fixed...

[Thomas P]

Hi,

Great job Gilby & GameCrash! :)
Will try to include this hack the next days.

OT @ GC: Does d)f provide us with lynx?
I mean, does the mentioned cron job work at d)f:
>5,15,25,35,45,55 * * * * /usr/bin/lynx -source "http://www.yourserver.com/vbdir/gateway.php?log=cron"
Errrm, do you use a d)f-nntp server or an external one?

Tia,
-Tom

[GameCrash]

<off topic>

D)F has no newsserver as I know ;) I use news.microsoft.com but you will not be very successfull to find standard newsgroups there ;)

But you will not be very successfull with this cron job. D)F provides cron jobs only via their own interface at kundenmenue.de and they only allow daily (or longer) cron jobs... You also may get problems with the very restrictive script limits there... that are two of the reasons why I use my own server now...

</off topic>

[Thomas P]

Thanks, appreciate that info :)
cu,
-Tom

[jarvis]

Is there a way to limit the number of days that is pulled for a particular group thru the panel, or is there a field I have to alter in the dB?

Thanks!

[GameCrash]

Well... the panel can do everything the gateway itself can do atm (I think). You can't select the number of days, the only thing you can change is the last message number...

[jarvis]

Thanks for your hard work on this!!

I love it...

There are just 2 minor things that I find myself challenged with...

1) If I run "Manual Synch" from with my CP, it just hangs, however, if I call gateway.php from a command line or in my browser, all seems to work fine. Not a big deal since I'm using a scheduler to fire up IE and run my gateway.php every few minutes. I found this much easier than trying to get my durned cron job to work right.

2) If I edit a group from within my CP, my message ID resets to 0 and I get stuck with having to do the initial pull again, or deleteing and re-adding the group with the proper message ID.

Again, neither of these are life threatening and are probably just an error I've done along the way, but if you have any ideas, I'd love to hear 'em. :D This hack keeps me away from my SQL dB, and since I'm a UNIX and mySQL idiot, that's a good thing!! :paranoid:

Thanks again!!

[GameCrash]

1) Well... calling it via CP does not anything other than calling it directly... it's just a include... but maybe it's a bit slower and you hit your server limits...

2) Yes... there seems to be a problem, let me see...

[GameCrash]

Fixed 2). Just reupload the nntpgateway.php. You can find version 1.2 in the first post...

[jarvis]

Thanks a bunch, GC. That's top-notch support!

I will install and test today. :)

[proton242]

this it's not an hack, thi is "THE HACK"!!!
1000000 of thanks for this great HACK!!!

[akaler]

interface + actual nntp hack (two hacks) = the hack. :)

well, one of THE HACK hacks, anyway. (Has a big payoff, and certainly one of the more complex packages to code - so SUPER kudos to the programmers!). there's a couple of others that really dramatically boost usage of the forums that are far simpler... like quickreply. God, I feel like a hippy... "It's all good, maaaan!" :)

[GameCrash]

Well... THE hack has been made by Gilby - I have just hacked the hack ;)

[proton242]

great both guys!

[asarian]

Hmm, so where are these newsgroups supposed to be then?? I did all the install, ran gateway.php, which says something like "1 group(s) gatewayed. mynews server, my newsgroup," but that is about it. It would be cool if it actually did something, like show the newsgroup, for instance. :(

[asarian]

Sigh; getting desperate. :( I can see the imported posts in the dababase, but they just do not show up anywhere on the board. :( If I click on the newsgroup forum, it just shows,

"Public Forum > Newsgroups

(Users Browsing this Forum: admin)"

But there is nothing to see. :(

[asarian]

Well, I changed "cancontainthreads" to 1; now, at least, it is showing the posts. But it behaves like a regular forum, and not a NNTP gateway; that is, replies are simply posted in the forum, but do not make it to the news server.

[GameCrash]

It should send the new posts to the newsgroup when you syncronize it the next time...

[Alby]

Hello :)

I installed everything recently, and when I try to use the "Manual Syncronisation" feature in the admin cp, it gives me this error:

Fatal error: Cannot redeclare stripslashesarray() in /*mydomain*/admin/global.php on line 33


Being a complete php dummy I cannot even guess where the problem is. Could anyone help?

Thanks!

Alby

[GameCrash]

Are you sure you have replaced header("Content-Type: text/plain");
include("global.php");

// Load NNTP classes
include("nntp.php");
// POP3 class
include("class.POP3.php3");
// Load Mime message parser
include("mime.php"); with if ($calledby != "interface") {
$ad = "";
header("Content-Type: text/plain");
include("global.php");
} else {
$ad = "../";
$headers_sent=1;
} in the gateway.php?

[omniweapon]

Hooray for people who don't know SQL like me!!

Thanks!

[omniweapon]

Oh. Wait. Everytime i run gateway.php I get an error as follows.

Database error in vBulletin 2.2.5:

Invalid SQL: SELECT post.postid,post.username,post.userid,post.datelin e,post.attachmentid,post.paget ext,post.showsignature,post.ipaddress,thread.title ,post.threadid,thread.forumid, thread.msgid,thread.prefix FROM thread,post WHERE post.isusenetpost=0 AND thread.threadid=post.threadid AND (thread.forumid=51)
mysql error: Unknown column 'thread.msgid' in 'field list'

mysql error number: 1054

[jschefdog]

Originally posted by asarian
Well, I changed "cancontainthreads" to 1; now, at least, it is showing the posts.Where do you change "cancontainthreads"? I am having the same problem. I click the manual synchronization link, get no warnings or errors, but nothing ever shows up in the forum.

If I open gateway.php from IE, I get the following messages:

Notice: Undefined variable: calledby in c:\inetpub\wwwroot\test_vb\gateway.php on line 19

Warning: Cannot add header information - headers already sent by (output started at c:\inetpub\wwwroot\test_vb\gateway.php:19) in c:\inetpub\wwwroot\test_vb\gateway.php on line 21

Warning: Cannot add header information - headers already sent by (output started at c:\inetpub\wwwroot\test_vb\gateway.php:19) in c:\inetpub\wwwroot\test_vb\gateway.php on line 489

1 group(s) gatewayed. Logging in to .....

Problem resolved:See the NNTP Gateway Thread (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35247) for details.

[Marv]

Deleted [Problem solved]

[MaXxed]

Firstly, great hack and for the most part performs perfectly. I have issues however, as follows:

1. Deleting a usegroup doesnt delete all posts.

2. When manually syncing, it will time out. However, syncing via calling gateway.php will not.

Any clues as to why?

[GameCrash]

Hmm, why didn't I get a email with the other posts??? Sorry that I didn't answer... :(

@MyXxed:

1. I'm not sure what you mean. If you set them to a standard forum all threads will be kept, but no newsgroup function will be anabled any more...

2. Well... if you call the script via command line for example, there will be no time limit. If you call it via web, It is called by apache and the time limits of apache may kill the script. I don't think there is something you can do except you are the owner of the server...

[ethics]

I know I am asking the wrong thread, but since the original author is not supporting the hack that's tied in to this one, I was wondering how you folks got around the fact that you are able to see users and not ignored guests?

[GameCrash]

Hm, hadn't done anything with the hack for a long time now... ;)

What do you mean?

[ethics]

Hey GC. :)

Thanks for the response and if you can't answer this, it's cool.

What I mean is that the original hack works for me but the damn messages on my board are all from "ignored users". In other words, the gateway imports the messages but I just can't see them.

[GameCrash]

Well, it's always importing the messages as user guest (userid=0). Maybe this 'user' is on your ignore list?

[Webdork]

When clicking on manual sync I get the following error:

Warning: Cannot add header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/local/psa/home/vhosts/sizematters.com.au/httpdocs/forums/admin/adminfunctions.php:19) in /usr/local/psa/home/vhosts/sizematters.com.au/httpdocs/forums/gateway.php on line 23

Fatal error: Cannot redeclare stripslashesarray() (previously declared in /usr/local/psa/home/vhosts/sizematters.com.au/httpdocs/forums/admin/global.php:33) in /usr/local/psa/home/vhosts/sizematters.com.au/httpdocs/forums/admin/global.php on line 33

Any ideas?

I have basically ended up with a LOT of duplicate posts. Im looking for a way to delete them. Anyone have a solution?

[GameCrash]

well... are you sure you did what I have written in Post 34 (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?postid=256132#post256132)?

The other thing, you could remove duplicate threads using the function under AdminCP => Import & Maintance => Update counters. But I think it would be the better way to just empty the forum, set the lastpost to 0 and reimport the whole newsgroup...

[Webdork]

Originally posted by GameCrash
well... are you sure you did what I have written in Post 34 (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?postid=256132#post256132)?
Yep.

Reinstalled the hack and now looks like it works. I think I must have stuffed up an update.

Thanks for the hack!

Angus

[GameCrash]

Great to hear :)

[Duke Of Lion]

And how about moderating forum, cause the forum section seem to be replaced but i want to change the attributes of the forum. Any ideas to get to that original screen?

[GameCrash]

AdminCP => Newsgroups => Modify => Edit (for the newsgroup board you want to edit of course)

You should be able to edit anything...

[Duke Of Lion]

I want to modify forums not newsgroups, and my forums I cannot find anymore.....

Thanks for your quick reply, btw.

[GameCrash]

You mean the forums that are NOT newsgroups? They should be available in the forums => modify like before... or are they all called newsgroups?

[SRozhon]

When I do Manual Sync all goes fine but if put address in browser I get a promt box to save or open gateway.php??? When I say open I get an error and it opens notepad. Why would this be happening?

[GameCrash]

WHAT url do you mean? If you mean the url of the original gateway.php, I don't know - this is part of the original hack ;)

[iwearnosox]

OMG this thing is so awesome, thanks for writing it!

[groovesalad]

after adding a newsgroup and then doing the Manual Sync, I get this:


Warning: main(../class.POP3.php3) [function.main]: failed to create stream: No such file or directory in /www/g/groove_salad/htdocs/forum/gateway.php on line 31

Warning: main() [function.main]: Failed opening '../class.POP3.php3' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/local/lib/php') in /www/g/groove_salad/htdocs/forum/gateway.php on line 31
1 group(s) gatewayed.
Logging in to news.comcast.giganews.com, group alt.music.dave-matthews


any ideas?

[groovesalad]

after adding a newsgroup and then doing the Manual Sync, I get this:


Warning: main(../class.POP3.php3) [function.main]: failed to create stream: No such file or directory in /www/g/groove_salad/htdocs/forum/gateway.php on line 31

Warning: main() [function.main]: Failed opening '../class.POP3.php3' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/local/lib/php') in /www/g/groove_salad/htdocs/forum/gateway.php on line 31
1 group(s) gatewayed.
Logging in to news.comcast.giganews.com, group alt.music.dave-matthews


any ideas?

[groovesalad]

edit: delete (double posted for some reason)

[GameCrash]

Are you sure the file class.POP3.php3 exists in your forum directory (not in the admin directory)?

[groovesalad]

oops, no I didn't. I uploaded it and it says this


1 group(s) gatewayed.
Logging in to news.comcast.giganews.com, group alt.music.dave-matthews


but nothing shows up in the forum

[GameCrash]

I think this is a problem with the original hack. Please make sure you have installed it correctly...

[daFish]

Great addition GameCrash. Thanks.
It's working fine for me.

-Fish

[allan grossman]

Outstanding hack - running fine on my clean install of vB 2.3.0

[groovesalad]

In the instructions for installing it says:


# Find:

----------
}
}
----------

# Replace with:

----------
}
}
}
----------


Where exactly is this? I see several } & } sections where this might be. Anyone have any code before or after the } & } to give more insight as to where this goes?

[groovesalad]

no one knows?

[GameCrash]

I'm really sorry I'm currently very busy... I'll try to answer later today...

[groovesalad]

great, thank you very much. This is the only thing stopping me from getting this to work.

[GameCrash]

Okay, I have now looked at this file. It's around line 70/71 in an unhacked admin/forum.php - It won't be this line for you as you have added some lines before ;)

It's just the next }
} after the code you added before...

(Hmm, could you understand this? ;))

[groovesalad]

I get this:


1 group(s) gatewayed.
Logging in to news.comcast.giganews.com, group alt.music.dave-matthews


but nothing shows up in the forums. I have an account with Giganews. I have to have a username and password, is this the problem?

[alesis404]

Any body know what this error might mean?

====================================
<!-- Database error in vBulletin 2.3.0:

Invalid SQL: INSERT INTO thread (threadid,title,lastpost,forumid,open,replycount,p ostusername,postuserid,lastposter,dateline,iconid, visible,attach,msgid,isusenetpost,prefix) VALUES (NULL,'Re: WTB: HU programer for Direct TV','1057187572','9','1','0','Horse Face','0','Horse Face','1057187572','0','1','0','<881e898485dd5101d17573d95af3a7f0@TeraNews>','')
mysql error: Column count doesn't match value count at row 1

mysql error number: 1136

Date: Wednesday 02nd of July 2003 05:12:52 PM
Script: http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/forums/forums/gateway.php
Referer:
-->
====================================

perhaps too many characters? also notice at the bottom of the error for the script location it wrote forms/forums/gateway.php as location when its actually "forums/gateway.php"

BTW..I have had this running fine for days and works great, added new group and went to download and got this error but the posts in the error appear to be from the group that was originally working...thanks for any solutions you might offer :)

[groovesalad]

Man, I can't get mine to work. It says 1 group gatewayed, but nothing showed up in the forums. How did everyone else get this to work?

[alesis404]

have you tried changing the starting post thing from "0" to something else? I thought I had to do this to get it to work...worth a try.

*Try and download the group with outlook express or some other news reader, if it works pick a message from last week...right click and look in properties for the <message id>...use that number to start at and should download all messages from that post till current, mine just seemed to work and downloaded really fast so i kept going back further and further downloading posts in chunks

[alesis404]

Problem resolved

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35247&perpage=15&highlight=nntp&display=&pagenumber=23

Instead of code in (post #344) I used the code in (post #345) by patvdv, works great!

[GameCrash]

@ groovesalad

You can specify usernamen and password in the interface. If this does not work, I think this is a problem with the original gateway hack and you should ask over at its thread...

[groovesalad]

07-03-03 at 12:25 AM alesis404 said this in Post #72 (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?postid=414827#post414827)
have you tried changing the starting post thing from "0" to something else? I thought I had to do this to get it to work...worth a try.

*Try and download the group with outlook express or some other news reader, if it works pick a message from last week...right click and look in properties for the <message id>...use that number to start at and should download all messages from that post till current, mine just seemed to work and downloaded really fast so i kept going back further and further downloading posts in chunks

what group are you downloading? Maybe my group is messed up. When I look at the Message ID, I get this kind of number : Message-ID: <bcrhci$5o0$1@eeyore.INS.cwru.edu>

That doesn't seem correct.

Also, when you syncronize in the Admin CP, what does it say for you?

[alesis404]

groovesalad, try looking for a line something like this...

Xref: pd2nf1so.xxx.xxxxx.xxx alt.satellite.tv.crypt:30168601

**Note the number on the very end of the line...thats the message ID of that current message, alt.satellite.tv.crypt was the group I used for testing.

The "X's" are my provider

**Below is what I see doing a manual syncrinization from the CP, note for newsgroup I am using my ISP's new service...most offer them for free and no password is needed...ask you provider if they offer newsgroups and use there service and then you wont need to use a username/password

In the example below you can see it logs into the first group, grabs 2 new messages and then logs into the second group and it doesnt grab no new messages from the second group

==========================================

2 group(s) gatewayed.
Logging in to news.xxxxxxxx.com, group alt.xxxxxx.xxxx
Getting message number 30802625: New thread; 'Checking something - don't read' from Zap
Getting message number 30802626: Thread found; 'Re: More on T3' from lawdogjr
Logging in to news.xxxxxx.com, group alt.satellite.tv.crypt

==========================================

**Note if I started download and knew the last message was 30168601 , then I would change this to something like 25068601 and then 20168601 through phpmyadmin and download it in chunks *instead* of attempting to download them all at once by changing to "1"...try to decrease that number a bit at a time and note that everytime you go back to phpmyadmin *after* you do this the number will change back to the last message count...in this example 30168601, keep decreasing in large chunks and eventually you'll find you can't download nothing but the newest messages...this is what worked for me anyways and not sure how others did this.

[groovesalad]

Well, I tried this by pulling messages from a pop server, everything worked fine, but when I try this with a listgroup, all I get is this:


1 group(s) gatewayed.
Logging in to news.comcast.giganews.com, group alt.satellite.tv.crypt


I'm with Comcast and they give me a free account to Giganews, however we have to log in with username and password (wondering if this is the problem). It seems strange that the POP server works, but the listgroup doesnt.

[alesis404]

groovesalad, I also have a giganews account with username/password and when i tried in testing it did'nt work for me...I then tried my free account from my isp with *no* username/password and it worked fine and I havent even bothered with my giganews account since.

I can't be sure the username/password thing is the problem but it was in my experience just so you know and I also have a giganews acccount but it was purchased directly from the giganews website and not provided by my isp, my isp account does not require a username/password and maybe that is why its working.

When you tried this using your giganews account did you also roll back the post count that is showing in phpmyadmin?

For instance right now the last post on alt.satellite.tv.crypt is 30168607 ...try changing this to 29068607 through phpmyadmin or whatever you use to access the table with the post counts and then visit gateway.php....give it few minutes if it says its loading the page or whatever and see if that works and downloads some posts to your VBB.

[groovesalad]

Today at 09:42 PM alesis404 said this in Post #78 (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?postid=416011#post416011)
When you tried this using your giganews account did you also roll back the post count that is showing in phpmyadmin?

For instance right now the last post on alt.satellite.tv.crypt is 30168607 ...try changing this to 29068607 through phpmyadmin or whatever you use to access the table with the post counts and then visit gateway.php....give it few minutes if it says its loading the page or whatever and see if that works and downloads some posts to your VBB.

I just set the number in the Admin CP using the Gateway NNTP Interface. How might I change this number in phpmyadmin? Not ever sure where to start.

[groovesalad]

Whats even more interesting, is that in outlook, I can use the server settings of : Netnews.Comcast.net and download messages, however, when I plug that info into my Admin CP, I get this:

2 group(s) gatewayed.
Logging in to pop.groove-salad.com, list catch@groove-salad.com: connected
Could not connect to NNTP-serverLogging in to netnews.comcast.net, group alt.music.dave-matthews
Not connectedNot connected

[Gardener]

Today at 01:41 AM groovesalad said this in Post #80 (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?postid=416065#post416065)
Whats even more interesting, is that in outlook, I can use the server settings of : Netnews.Comcast.net and download messages, however, when I plug that info into my Admin CP, I get this:

2 group(s) gatewayed.
Logging in to pop.groove-salad.com, list catch@groove-salad.com: connected
Could not connect to NNTP-serverLogging in to netnews.comcast.net, group alt.music.dave-matthews
Not connectedNot connected

Most cable companies won't allow outside connections to thier news server. You can connect through Outlook because it's on the network, but your server isn't.

[alesis404]

groovesalad I guess I should have mentioned my IP's for my linux server's are rented from the cable co. ....likely that is why I am able to access them, good luck trying to resolve.

[alesis404]

groovesalad if you have phpadmin installed click on the vbulletin database then chose the table named "nntp_groups" in this table look for the "group name", you might have a few...I have 2 newgroups ,find the group eg; alt.satellite.tv.crypt and click *edit*....now where it says *lastmsg" you might see "30168650"...edit this number and change to a lower number, make sure the "save" option is clicked and hit "GO"...now go visit gateway.php or sync through the admin.cp and you should see a bunch of threads being loaded in...if you use admin.cp you will see all the new posts being added

**Note next time you go into phpadmin the last post count may be changed back to 30168650 or something close, as this is the most current post...thats okay set the number again for the newsgroup a bit lower than last time and keep downloading the posts in chunks as I mentioned above, dont try to do all posts at once in a big group...use this method and decrease the posts each time and download...this worked for me and should work for you.

[groovesalad]

alesis....weird, still nothing. Oh well, thanks for all the help :)

[allan grossman]

07-07-03 at 04:24 PM groovesalad said this in Post #77 (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?postid=416006#post416006)
...I'm with Comcast and they give me a free account to Giganews, however we have to log in with username and password (wondering if this is the problem). It seems strange that the POP server works, but the listgroup doesnt.

I have this hack working with Giganews. I did have to download the first batch of articles in chunks but it works.

http://pointbeing.com/bassforum

[groovesalad]

that's weird allan, not sure why mine doesn't work.

[allan grossman]

I did have to increase the script timeout in php.ini and grab the articles about 50 at a time.

I think it's in the original NNTP gateway thread, but there's a script available that does the same job but provides verbose output. Maybe that'd be something to try - at least then you'd know what was failing.

Good luck -

[Ronin Six]

# Find: while ($forum=$DB_site->fetch_array($forums)) {

There's two instances of this in admin/forum.php, once in "Start updateparentlists" and another in "Start function displayforums".

Under which one do I add the given code, or do I do it for both instances?

Thanks for any help!

- Norm