.Ch "Annotated Bibliography on C News"
.Ix books bibliography
.Ix bibliography
.SH
This is an informal list of books and papers that are of interest
when running or looking at news systems in general and C News in particular.
It might have been nice to include some of these things in the distribution,
but it would have added considerable bulk to an already-large package.
.PP
.Ix "Managing UUCP and Usenet"
.Ix books "Managing UUCP and Usenet"
\fIManaging UUCP and Usenet\fR, by Tim O'Reilly and Grace Todino,
O'Reilly & Associates, 1989, ISBN 0-937175-48-X,
inquiries to `nuts@ora.com' or
`uunet!ora!nuts'.
This is the Nutshell Handbook on UUCP and news.
This latest
edition covers C News as well as B News.
It's not perfect, but until something better comes along,
it is overwhelmingly the right place for a novice system administrator
to start reading.
.PP
.Ix "News Need Not Be Slow"
.Ix paper "News Need Not Be Slow"
.Ix paper usenix
\fINews Need Not Be Slow\fR, by Geoff Collyer and Henry Spencer,
in \fIWinter 1987 USENIX Technical Conference Proceedings\fR,
The USENIX Association, 1987, no ISBN apparent,
inquiries to `office@usenix.org' or `uunet!usenix!office'.
This paper, although slightly dated, is the basic reference on how C News
runs so much faster than B News.
(We think, and others agree, that it's also a good paper on how to make
things go fast in general.)
It's also the closest thing so far
to a general ``philosophy of C News'' paper,
and gives a good\(emalbeit somewhat selective\(emoverview
of the implementation.
.PP
.Ix "RFC 1036"
.Ix "netnews message format standard"
.Ix standards "netnews message format"
\fIStandard for Interchange of USENET Messages\fR,
by M. Horton and R. Adams,
Internet RFC\|1036, 1987, inquiries to `nic@nic.ddn.mil' or
anonymous FTP from
nic.ddn.mil (pathname RFC:RFC1036.TXT).
This is the current standard for Usenet article format and related issues.
It is not complete, correct, or current, but it is nevertheless the basic
document on the subject.
(See our \fInotebook/rfcerrata\fR for some errata and one or two
out-and-out disagreements.)
Many issues are punted to RFC\|822; see below.
.PP
.Ix "RFC 822"
.Ix "Internet message format standard"
.Ix standards "Internet message format"
\fIStandard for the Format of ARPA Internet Text Messages\fR,
rev. by David H. Crocker,
Internet RFC\|822, 1982, inquiries to `nic@nic.ddn.mil' or
anonymous FTP from
nic.ddn.mil (pathname RFC:RFC822.TXT).
This lengthy and sometimes cryptic document defines
the Internet mail format.
The Usenet news format defined in RFC\|1036 is a subversion
(superset of a subset)
of this,
and legalistic debates over details of the format inevitably end up
referring to 822.
Not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach.
.PP
.Ix "RFC 1123"
.Ix "Internet Hosts Requirements"
.Ix standards "Internet Hosts Requirements"
\fIRequirements for Internet Hosts\(emApplication and Support\fR,
ed. by R. Braden,
Internet RFC\|1123, 1989, inquiries to `nic@nic.ddn.mil' or
anonymous FTP from
nic.ddn.mil (pathname RFC:RFC1123.TXT).
This document updates and amends many older RFCs, notably including
RFC\|822 (and therefore RFC\|1036).
.PP
.Ix news.software.b
\fInews.software.b\fR, various authors, Usenet newsgroup with ongoing
discussion, inquiries to your local Usenet site(s).
The forum for B-News-compatible software in general, including C News.
The definitive source for up-to-date information, patches, bug reports,
warning of forthcoming developments, debates, flame wars,
and general chitchat on news systems in general and C News in particular.
Read, and contributed to, by most authors of news software.
.PP
.Ix news.admin
\fInews.admin\fR, various authors, Usenet newsgroup with ongoing
discussion, inquiries to your local Usenet site(s).
The forum for news administration in general, including that of both
B and C News.
Somewhat noisy at times, but a valuable source of information.
Noteworthy for Gene Spafford's regular postings on topics such as
``How To Construct The Mailpaths File''.
.PP
.Ix news.announce.newusers
\fInews.announce.newusers\fR, various authors, Usenet newsgroup with ongoing
discussion, inquiries to your local Usenet site(s).
(Moderated) newsgroup for regular postings of interest to new readers of
news.
Also quite relevant to novice system administrators.