NAME

       testhost - test the status of an NNTP news server

SYNOPSIS

       testhost hostname [ -a|-n date time |-o ] [ -M ] [ -s|-S filename ] [ -e|-E filename ] [ -N port_number ]
       [ -U userid ] [ -P password ] [ -Q ] [ -l phrase_file ] [ -T timeout ] [ -d ] [ -q ] [ -z ]

OPTIONS

       -a     Get the active list from hostname

       -d

       This  option  tells  testhost  get the descriptions of the newsgroups on the remote server by sending the
       'list newsgroups' command.  The remote server may or may not support this command.

       -e | -E filename

       These options will send all error messages (normally displayed on stderr), to  an  alternate  file.   The
       lower case version, -e, will send the error messages to the compiled-in default defined in suck_config.h.
       The  default  is  suck.errlog.   The  upper case version, -E, requires the filename parameter.  All error
       messages will then be sent to this file.

       -l phrase_file

       This option tells testhost to load in an alternate phrase file, instead of using the  built-in  messages.
       This  allows  you  to  have  testhost print phrases in another language, or to allow you to customize the
       messages without re-building.  See the "FOREIGN LANGUAGE PHRASES" in suck.1 for more details.

       -n date time

       Get the newgroups created on the host since the date and time specified.  The  date  must  be  in  YYMMDD
       format and the time must be in HHMMSS format.

       -N port_number

       This  option will tell testhost to use an alternate NNRP port number when connecting to the host, instead
       of the default, 119.

       -q

       This option tells testhost to not display the connection and announcement messages, rather  only  display
       the results of the actual command run.

       -s | -S filename

       These  options  will  send all status messages (normally displayed on stdout), to an alternate file.  The
       lower  case  version,  -s,  will  send  the  status  messages  to  the  compiled-in  default  defined  in
       suck_config.h.   The  default  is  /dev/null,  so  no  status messages will be displayed.  The upper case
       version, -S, requires the filename parameter.  All status messages will then be sent to this file.

       -T

       This option overrides the compiled-in TIMEOUT value. This is how long testhost waits for  data  from  the
       remote host before timing out and aborting.

       -U userid

       -P password

       These two options let you specify a userid and password, if your NNTP server requires them.

       -Q

       This  option tells testhost to use the environment variable NNTP_USER & NNTP_PASS to specify a userid and
       password, if your NNTP server requires them.  This option is provided so that the userid & password can't
       be seen with the ps command, a potential security problem.

       -z

       This options tells testhost to use SSL to talk to the remote server, if testhost was compiled with SSL.

DESCRIPTION

       Testhost will query a NNTP news server, specified by hostname.

       The     hostname     may     optionally     include     the     port     number     in      the      form
       Host:Port.Iftheportnumberisincluded,theportnumberspecified by the -N option will be ignored.

       The  default  action  is  to issue the help command to the server, to see what software it is running and
       what commands it accepts.

       If the -a option is used, testhost will display the server's active history list.  If the  -n  date  time
       option  is  used,  testhost  will  display  all  new groups created on the server since the date and time
       specified.  If the -o option is used, then testhost will display the overview format, which is  what  the
       XOVER command returns.

       If  the  -M  option  is used, the command will be preceded with the "mode reader" command, which might be
       needed by some servers.

EXIT VALUES

       0 on success, -1 on failure.

SEE ALSO

       suck(1), rpost(1), lpost(1).

                                                                                                     TESTHOST(1)