Usenet gateway

THIS THREAD IS CLOSED!
Posts in here will NOT be answered

This hack has undergone many major changes since this thread was started. Consequently, most of the posts have become dated and of little use. To coincide with the latest major release (20010712), a new one has been started.

See this thread for the latest version and discussion

Originally posted by etones
go for it m8.

I seconded the motion......

This is just a minor update to the newnews.pl script. The sql statements have been revisited and optimized to make better use of indexes. The 'insert ignore' statement has also been replaced with a function that wraps the sql statement into an eval() to trap errors which will prevent the script dying at a key violation. This allows me to make more use of the mysql_insertid function which is obviously far more efficient than re-looking up the key of inserted records manually.

Basically this means the script will place far less load on the server during news pulls. I now run mine every 10 minutes and I never know it's running.

By the way, I will start an install script this weekend. It will only ever be useful on a fresh copy of vB of a specific version obviously. I will try to update the script within a few days of each official vB release.

I suppose I'll have to write it in PHP so that it can be ran from a browser; I'd much rather do it in Perl. Ah well I'd best go and start reading my PHP for Dummies book

Originally posted by fastforward
[B]This is just a minor update to the newnews.pl script. The sql statements have been revisited and optimized to make better use of indexes. The 'insert ignore' statement has also been replaced with a function that wraps the sql statement into an eval() to trap errors which will prevent the script dying at a key violation. This allows me to make more use of the mysql_insertid function which is obviously far more efficient than re-looking up the key of inserted records manually.

Fastforward, thanks for a great hack! I installed on a test directory and it's running great, no problems.

I have a question regarding upgrades to future versions of vb, like 2.0 none beta etc. I have no problems updating php, but I'm pretty green in sql stuff, I can just do the basics, backup, retore, etc.

If I install the latest usenet hack on vb2 beta 3, what would be involved in updating the database to future vb release? I don't mind losing the usenet posts, but don't want to lose members posts and information?

Originally posted by tamarian
If I install the latest usenet hack on vb2 beta 3, what would be involved in updating the database to future vb release? I don't mind losing the usenet posts, but don't want to lose members posts and information?

You should be OK for the most part. The usenet tables are all prefixed by 'usenet_' and it's unlikely they will ever conflict with a vB table. There are some added columns to the vB tables but again, it's unlikely they will conflict as they only have relevence to usenet stuff.

Where you may run into problems is the indexes. It should be fine when vB 2.0 is finally released, but with each beta I see a different set of indexes on the tables. One major ommission on beta 3 is the unique index on the 'username' column in the user table. This is required if you are importing users from usenet so my script adds it. If beta 4 fixes this ommission, you will end up with redundant indexes.

I can't forsee any scenario that would lead to posts or users being lost or removed so you're safe there.

Don't worry too much as I have this installed on my boards and it will be in my interest to make sure it all works for each new release

I'm getting this error when I click on Options in the Usent control panel:

[quote
Warning: Offset 0 is invalid for MySQL result index 6 in /home/tamarian/lowcarber-www/forum/admin/db_mysql.php on line 153
[/quote]

Warning: Offset 0 is invalid for MySQL result index 6 in /home/tamarian/lowcarber-www/forum/admin/db_mysql.php on line 153

That's a standard PHP/Mysql Error. It usually means a table or column can't be found. What about the 'Groups' and 'Spam Control'; do they work?

Make sure you have the 'usenet_setting' & 'usenet_settinggroup' tables.

Yes, the other buttons work.

I deleted the 2.3 newnews.pl and installed the 2.2 one on top of the 2.3 hack. I added the groups through phpMyAdmin and things work fine as far as pulling the groups from nntp.

I can't figure which table is missing though. Any tips on what to look for? Would you like a dump of the schema?

When I ran the sql script, it issued an error regarding a specific forum user!! but since the pdate proceded and create the tables, I dismissed that error.

The only tables the php web page uses are 'usenet_setting' and 'usenet_settinggroup'. It doesn't actually have anything else to with the collecting of news. It is purely for setting the options.

Try downloading the latest hack and running the usenet.php from that. If that fails, drop your usenet_setting and usenet_settinggroup tables, run the SQL that creates and populates them (only those two). You'll have to re-enter your options obviously.

I've just ran the sql script on a fresh vB and loaded up the options with no problem.

In the meantime I'll try to reproduce the problem at my end.

I have the latest hack 2.3 downloaded this afternoon.

I ran the usenet.php script and it gave the same error, so I followed your second sugestion, dropping the two tables, and adding them (through the sql script trimmed to only adding those two) and it worked, I was able to update the usenet options, It gave me this warning:

Your changes have been saved.
Warning: Cannot add header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/tamarian/lowcarber-www/forum/admin/adminfunctions.php:17) in /home/tamarian/lowcarber-www/forum/admin/usenet.php on line 97

But the 2 tables were populated with my entries, and I used the 2.3 newnews.pl which worked fine.

Thanks for your continued help, I have no idea what went wrong, but the drop/load solution worked.

I just got the following db error in replying to a usenet message, I guess it's the ''' in the title:

Database error in vBulletin: Invalid SQL: UPDATE forum SET lastactivethread = LEFT('Atkin's baking mix',35) WHERE forumid = 30
mysql error: You have an error in your SQL syntax near 's baking mix',35) WHERE forumid = 30' at line 1
mysql error number: 1064
Date: Sunday 25th of March 2001 04:26:21 PM
Script: /newreply.php