NNTP Gateway for Usenet ( Newsgroups ), Mailing Lists

The latest version: V2.3.2 (31 Oct 2004)

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 is basically a hacked vB2 NNTP gateway written by Gilby to work with vB3. The original hack can be found here:

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


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.
• Supports TABLE_PREFIX.
• 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

• AdminCP interfaces. (completed)
• Installation/upgrade script. (completed, coded into AdminCP)
• Traditional "> " lead posting interface.

What do you need and do not need?

You do not need to edit vB php files if you use two bookmarks
You need to edit one vB php file to insert two lines of code if you want direct click links within AdminCP.
No need to 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.

Support

Please post your support questions to this thread. Please check the FAQ in the third post within this thread first.

================== UPDATES ======================
Jul 31 2004 (release version 2.2.0)

• Provided option of not importing attachments
• Provided option of pause between messages
• Provided option of not sending messages to USENET
• Provided mechanism to skip importing a message if it was crashed on it
• Provided "Default Footer" option
• Provided strip_footer function for mailing lists
  (written originally by KevinM)
• Provided Killfile functions with Header/Body/AND/OR settings
• Provided ability to thread messages by subject for mailing lists
• Provided ability to use a single POP3 account for different mailing lists
  (use prefix)
• Merged KevinM's attachment routine, save thumbnail to hard drive
  as vB3.0.3
• Official support to have the script run by Scheduled Tasks
• Many bug fixes

Please note, when you manually run the script, you must turn on the debug mode. Otherwise nothing will be displayed on the screen.

To run as debug mode: http://forums.yourdomain.com/gateway.php?debug=1

25 Oct 2004

• Provided the option of sending posts using the real email address
• Provided the option of sending posts using a fixed email address for
  each group.
• Posts are now held back if they are in the moderating queue
• Scheduled task log is now working
• Provided the option of sending the debug messages to the vB3 cron log
• Bug fixes

31 Oct 2004

Fixed bugs running the gateway by the vB3 Scheduled Tasks

1 March 2004

Uploaded the new zip file. It contains one or two bug fixes.

[Michael2]

Seems to be working ok but posts aren't being exported. I have vBulletin set up to run the task every 15 minutes. I just made a post and this is what I get when I run it manually...

Gateway version 2.3.2 1 group(s) gatewayed.

Connecting to server, server says: 200 News.GigaNews.Com

Server responded after user name: 381 more authentication required

Server responded after password: 281 News.GigaNews.Com

Info for rec.food.veg.cooking at news.giganews.com: 211 896 28612 29507 rec.food.veg.cooking

Can we post? server responded: 340 send article
Posting Message 'Re: How to make Rice krispes' from Michael. Result: 240 post accepted.

The part in bold, that means my post was sent to (and received) by the newsgroup right? It's a moderated newsgroup so I can't just check to see if it made it.

Does this mean I need to set this up as a cron job? I've never set one up. If that's what I need to do can someone help me through it?

[James T Brock]

The part in bold, that means my post was sent to (and received) by the newsgroup right?

Yes.

[Michael2]

Ok, I *think* I have this set up right (I want it to run once per hour). Like I said I've never set up a cron job so if someone could take a look and tell me if it looks right I'd appreciate it.

[AWS]

Originally Posted by Michael2

Ok, I *think* I have this set up right (I want it to run once per hour). Like I said I've never set up a cron job so if someone could take a look and tell me if it looks right I'd appreciate it.

The command should be.

php -q /path/to/gateway.php

[lierduh]

Originally Posted by esfron

Default Footer set to: default_footer
organization_check 0
nofooter 1
nosignature 0

All is working fine except signature and moderating queue.

1) Signature
Thread and profile links are working fine in outgoing posts. Signatures are showing in http forum but they aren't exported in outgoing messages. Signatures are showing usenames instead the real signature i.e. if username is esfron. signature display is:
-------
esfron

2) Moderation
I have both threads and posts moderation enabled in a usenet forum but usenet posts are going directly to the forum instead of the moderatong queue. They aren't held back.

Any idea ?

1). Your profile links should not show since you have "nofooter 1"
Make sure when you post, "Show your signature" is checked. No matter what settings you have. Your user name will always be appended.

2). Your forums set up is wrong somewhere. If local posts show up in moderated forums, then it is nothing to do with the script.

[The Prince]

Hi lierduh,

I'm having the same problems. Posts are being sent no problem. Footer is sent no problem. Username sent too. But signatures only appear in local forum and are not sent in usenet. And the signature box before posting is selected.

Signature: XXXXXXXXXXXXX

NNTP Settings:

nosignature = 0
nofooter = 1
default_footer = http://www.mywebsite.com
send_message = 1

Result in usenet:

--
The Prince

http://www.mywebsite.com


Also, you modified the email sent to usenet, is it still possible to have the emails sent the old way?

ThePrince.1dnp9z@mywebsite.com


thanks!

[Torqued]

Originally Posted by AWS

The command should be.

php -q /path/to/gateway.php

I'm still not able to get the cron stuff sorted.

I've tried:

/usr/local/bin/php /home/<username>/public_html/forums/gateway.php

and

php -q /home/<username>/public_html/forums/gateway.php

I should be able to run these from the commandline and have it execute, no?

When I run it w/ the php -q command @ the commandline it spits out html code to the screen, I get emailed this error:

Database error in vBulletin :

Link-ID == false, connect failed
mysql error:

mysql error number: 0

Date: Thursday 11th of November 2004 07:42:55 PM
Script: http://./gateway.php
Referer:
IP Address:

Can anyone help me get the cron stuff sorted?

[AWS]

Originally Posted by Torqued

I'm still not able to get the cron stuff sorted.

I've tried:

/usr/local/bin/php /home/<username>/public_html/forums/gateway.php

and

php -q /home/<username>/public_html/forums/gateway.php

I should be able to run these from the commandline and have it execute, no?

When I run it w/ the php -q command @ the commandline it spits out html code to the screen, I get emailed this error:



Can anyone help me get the cron stuff sorted?

The error you're getting is because the script can't connect to mysql. The script did run so you have another problem.

[Torqued]

Originally Posted by AWS

The error you're getting is because the script can't connect to mysql. The script did run so you have another problem.

Any ideas? Becuase I can run it if I run http://www.mydomain.com/forums/gateway.php and it runs correctly.

I can also run it via a Scheduled vB Task, but would rather have it as a cron job.

[jarvis]

Okay, so I've been trying to read all 44 pages.

I used this hack in vb2 for a while, but then stopped using it because the "Find New Posts" became very bothersome for users when there were 1000's of new usenet posts showing in their search.

It looks as if some have found a way around this? I'd love to install this again and open up Usenet for my users.

Thanks much in advance!!