NNTP Gateway for Usenet ( Newsgroups ), Mailing Lists

The latest version: V3.5.0Alpha 1 (21 Jul 2005)

What is it?

This hack provides a gateway from vBulletin forums to the USENET. It allows forum members to read newsgroup messages as well as to send posts to the newsgroups. In a nutshell, it turns vBulletin forums into a basic function news reader.

For an added bonus, this package also supports mailing list archive and forum to mailing list gateway. The software retrieves messages from a pop3 account and import them into the forums threaded. It also allows a forums user to send messages to the mailing list by the forum posting interface.

Why?

The gateway will be appreciated by forum members who do not know how to set up a news reader, or people who do not have port 119 open in their network. A forum interface to read and post news are often considered to be better than a news reader.

The gateway adds more contents to your forums and allows the members to interact with wider audience. It is common to see new users signing up to use this feature.

History

This hack was originally coded by Gilby for vB2. I modified the hack to work with vB3 and have been maintaining and improving the hack. I have now done the modification for this to work with vB3.5.

The very original hack by Gilby can be found here:

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...7&page=1&pp=15

The vB3 version can be found here:

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=65152

Features

Some of the features and improvement include:

• Handles both newsgroup posts and mailing lists.
• Handles MIME encoded messages and attachment.
• Handles UUEncoded messages.
• Two Admin Control Panels for all settings.
• Automated installation.
• Correct thread implementation. All imported messages and posts sent to newsgroups will be threaded correctly according to References and Message-ID headers.
• Optional setting to thread by subject for mailing lists that strip references header.
• Imported messages will be searchable just like normal forum posts.
• Similar threads are built when the messages are imported if the system setting is on.
• Multiple attachments importing.
• Save attachment to database or file according to vB setting.
• Thumbnail created while importing image files.
• Multiple attachment post to newsgroup is also supported.
• Selectable X-No-Archive header honouring system.
• Light on system resources.
• Global Killfile to filter out unwanted messages. Killfiles can have OR and AND effectiveness.
• Strip footer by setting for incoming messages. Strips out repeated message footers.
• Built options to disable signatures and footers for out going messages.

Future development

• Traditional "> " lead posting interface.

What do you need and do not need?

You do not need to edit vB php files.
No need to manually run SQL.

Installation

Basically the AdminCP interfaces take care of installation as well as upgrade in the background. Back up your database first. The scripts can modify your database without alerting you!

Please follow the instructions in the readme.txt file for more details.

It is not a must to click "INSTALL" for this hack if you use it, I do try better answering the questions from people who do.

Support

Please post your support questions to this thread. Please check the FAQ in the second post within this thread first. It may be surprising, but it is possible your question is answered in the adminCP NNTP settings.

Please always provide more details about your problem. Examples and debug messages will certainly help. Well, if you don't even try to have some effort to compose your question, the answer you get may also not include much effort.

================== UPDATES ======================
Jul 21 2005 (release version 3.5.0 Alpha 1)

AdminCP xml file is written by Kadence.

• Ported to work with vB3.5.
• Existing bug fixes.
• Debug message can be sent by email or logged in vB Tast Scheduler.
• Known problem: image attachment thumb nail creation still needs work.
• Needs to be done: Documentation.

Quick installation instruction:
1) Upload files to their correct directory
2) Enter AdminCP, click on NNTP Settings once to install/upgrade. Change settings to your like.
3) Click on NNTP Groups once to install/upgrade.
3a) For new install. Run once
http://www.yourdomain.com/setlastmsg.php

Delete this file afterwards.
If you are upgrading from an older version. There is no need to upload this file. Actually this file should not be there except brand new install.

4)
Manually run in debug mode: http://forums.yourdomain.com/gateway.php?debug=1

[ShawnV]

Will this work on 3.6.1?

_V

[mdevour]

When I bought vBulletin last February I was depending on the fact that this hack was working and supported, which it at least seemed to be at the time.

Lierduh appears to be busy on other things and hasn't posted to this thread since March. Dave Kendall and others have written many tweaks and bug fixes, but they're not yet integrated into the distribution files, requiring each new user to review 350-plus posts to collect them all.

Thankfully, frakman in post 67 gives me some guidance on my most critical requirement, which is importing a bunch of mbox format e-mail archives to initially populate two of my six new forums.

I knew going in that I'd have to build on this code to get my board and list server to work together the way I need them to, but I had hoped to start from a working code base.

We at least need to:

• Integrate the current bug fixes
• Add the new features that a couple of people have coded
• Update and expand the installation instructions
• Update the hacker's guide (or incorporate its features as options)
• Test everything against 3.6.1 and upcoming releases

I'd also like to brainstorm if the mod ought to be upgraded to use the plug-in system, or whatever other ideas anybody has.

If any of this is going to happen either lierduh has to pick it up again or somebody else has to (assuming he agrees, of course...).

Naturally I wouldn't be talking like this if I wasn't prepared to offer myself as a candidate. The trouble with that is I'm not a coder. All my programming experience is 20 years out of date. Every time I pick up this project I have to haul myself a little further up the learning curves for vBulletin's structure, XML, modern HTML, CSS, and PHP. As far as learning curves are concerned, on a scale of one to ten -- where zero is your grandma -- I'm somewhere below two! :cross-eyed:

So, can a guy who's working hard just reading this stuff take what others produce, integrate it, organize it and release it? Project leader as glorified filing clerk? Is that even vaguely realistic?

Is there enough interest here to build a serious collaboration around?

Maybe even enough interest to finance some development work?

What say ye?

I know some of you will think this is a wonderful idea, since you want the hack working again as much as I do, but I'm especially interested in the advice of experienced coders and developers. If I'm hopelessly out of my depth you'll know it, and it'd be better to figure that out now...

Thanks for reading.

Mike Devour

[lierduh]

If anyone who is interested in further developing this hack and provide support for it. I will have no problem hand over the hack. ie. assuming whoever takes over do not turn this into a commercial product.

I have lost the interest to do any work on this for the reasons I might have mentioned before.

1) Hacks are no longer the way the hacks used to be. When I was first on the net around 95, hack means everyone contributes code to make something better. Nowadays hack means free software. I have no problem with that, the problem is most of the people using the hack do not even spend more than a few minutes to read the instruction, let along checking the code, hack the code, help others.

The result is coders start to turn good code into commercial products, creating their own forums to build up the traffic. Not that I blame them.

2) I am not a real programmer, I check php.net regularly for how to use functions etc. I started hacking this when I needed this for my own forums. So I am not interested making money out of this, because my time is much more valuable doing what I do.

[Aylwin]

Originally Posted by mdevour

We at least need to:

• Integrate the current bug fixes
• Add the new features that a couple of people have coded
• Update and expand the installation instructions
• Update the hacker's guide (or incorporate its features as options)
• Test everything against 3.6.1 and upcoming releases

I'd also like to brainstorm if the mod ought to be upgraded to use the plug-in system, or whatever other ideas anybody has.

...

What say ye?

Mike,

Great initiative! I'm willing to help in any way I can.

-Aylwin-

[TMM-TT]

Originally Posted by mdevour

We at least need to:

I think one thing to do is add support for "handshaking", to forums that connects to peer-servers on the same connection. That thing can be hard to explain, specially in english, but I'll try.

Client connects to port 119 as usual, but so are servers (peers that transfer the news). The difference between a peer and a client is the handshake string (not the authinfo). When a server-to-server connection is established, the string "MODE STREAM" are sent to identify the connection as non-human. Clients are sending "MODE READER" to identify as human readers. This hack does not do that, and that gives me some problems since I'm peering locally from the same server as the forum. I also use a suck-feed for some local groups which automatically makes me identified as a peer. So for now I have to use a dummy ip to connect as a client to the server. I tried to fix that part, but failed.

If a server is configured as a clientserver the "MODE READER" isn't necessary for the handshake, so it says "Hi, I'm a clientserver" first - and that's why this hack works so good.

If you're a peer, you have to send MODE READER if you don't want to peer. If a server is configured as a peering server (both methods are made by ip detection), the server immediately acts as streamingserver instead and you have to enter MODE READER to identify as a client. This is where the problems start. When I'm trying to download posts to the forum as a client, the server identify me as a peer and the posts never arrive.

To be short - handshake identification is needed in this hack.


And I'm also willing to help.

[ullo]

Originally Posted by mdevour

When I bought vBulletin last February I was depending on the fact that this hack was working and supported, which it at least seemed to be at the time.

Lierduh appears to be busy on other things and hasn't posted to this thread since March. Dave Kendall and others have written many tweaks and bug fixes, but they're not yet integrated into the distribution files, requiring each new user to review 350-plus posts to collect them all.

Thankfully, frakman in post 67 gives me some guidance on my most critical requirement, which is importing a bunch of mbox format e-mail archives to initially populate two of my six new forums.

I knew going in that I'd have to build on this code to get my board and list server to work together the way I need them to, but I had hoped to start from a working code base.

We at least need to:

• Integrate the current bug fixes
• Add the new features that a couple of people have coded
• Update and expand the installation instructions
• Update the hacker's guide (or incorporate its features as options)
• Test everything against 3.6.1 and upcoming releases

I'd also like to brainstorm if the mod ought to be upgraded to use the plug-in system, or whatever other ideas anybody has.

If any of this is going to happen either lierduh has to pick it up again or somebody else has to (assuming he agrees, of course...).

Naturally I wouldn't be talking like this if I wasn't prepared to offer myself as a candidate. The trouble with that is I'm not a coder. All my programming experience is 20 years out of date. Every time I pick up this project I have to haul myself a little further up the learning curves for vBulletin's structure, XML, modern HTML, CSS, and PHP. As far as learning curves are concerned, on a scale of one to ten -- where zero is your grandma -- I'm somewhere below two! :cross-eyed:

So, can a guy who's working hard just reading this stuff take what others produce, integrate it, organize it and release it? Project leader as glorified filing clerk? Is that even vaguely realistic?

Is there enough interest here to build a serious collaboration around?

Maybe even enough interest to finance some development work?

What say ye?

I know some of you will think this is a wonderful idea, since you want the hack working again as much as I do, but I'm especially interested in the advice of experienced coders and developers. If I'm hopelessly out of my depth you'll know it, and it'd be better to figure that out now...

Thanks for reading.

Mike Devour

I also have bought VBulletin only for this hack.

It work with 3.6.1 ?
For the moment i think to use 3.5.5.
Is this version :
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/attachmen...chmentid=32237
the latest and most recent ?

[Aylwin]

Originally Posted by ullo

It work with 3.6.1 ?
For the moment i think to use 3.5.5.
Is this version :
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/attachmen...chmentid=32237
the latest and most recent ?

I'm using it with 3.6.0 with no apparent problems. But I think I had to tweak something in one of the files. I just can't remember right now. Ihaven't had time yet to upgrade to 3.6.1 but I guess it should still work.

And yes, I believe that's the current version.

[Aylwin]

Originally Posted by mdevour

I'd also like to brainstorm if the mod ought to be upgraded to use the plug-in system, or whatever other ideas anybody has.

My personal interest in this mod is on mailing list support. I've been using it as a mailing list gateway and archive. I'd also like to expand this mod to use it like an email interface to the forums (kinda like phpBB's Mail2Forum mod). I know this is not the original intention of the mod but I think the necessary components are already there. I also know that there's a vB Mail Reply mod but that hasn't had any new development since 3.0.x and the implementation is a bit too complicated.

Having said all that, here's my wishlist:
- IMAP support
- configurable "user check" (I think I can handle this)
- configurable "add to user's post count" (I think I can handle this too)
- multiple forum support instead of 1 list <--> 1 forum
- updated attachment support (no need for an old functions_image.php file)
- support for large attachments (at least I can't get it to work now)

[TMM-TT]

Another thing:

I experience duplicates on posts that goes to usenet. They bounce back to the forum and gets posted one more time, like it was from a usenet-user instead of the original member.

[ullo]

Originally Posted by Aylwin

I'm using it with 3.6.0 with no apparent problems. But I think I had to tweak something in one of the files. I just can't remember right now. Ihaven't had time yet to upgrade to 3.6.1 but I guess it should still work.

And yes, I believe that's the current version.

Thank you very much.
Now i will install 3.6.1