---
name: "newsctl"
section: "5cn"
platform: "linux"
package: "cnews"
version: "cr.g7-40.4"
release: "Debian 5.0 (Lenny)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/newsctl/5cn"
---

# newsctl(5cn)

USENET network news control files

## NAME

newsctl - USENET network news control files

## DESCRIPTION

News control files live in **/var/lib/news**. The major control files are the *sys* file (controlling distribution of news, see [*newssys*(5)](/newssys/5.md)) and the *active* file (controlling local filing, see [*newsdb*(5)](/newsdb/5.md)). A number of minor files are also present.

*Mailname* contains the Internet domain name of this news system. If your news system doesn't have an Internet domain name (e.g. **dept.university.edu** or **fredshouse.sf.ca.us**), you might consider obtaining one. Failing that, if your news system is registered in the UUCP maps, you can use *name***.uucp** where name is your system's UUCP name. If your site is not registered in the UUCP maps but you have UUCP connections to other sites, please get registered! It is, strictly speaking, not acceptable to give *DUMBHOST***.BITNET** as a *mailname*; Bitnet sites should obtain and use Internet domain names or be hidden behind gateways. As a kludge to accommodate unregistered sites who are one hop off registered ones, *mailname*'s contents may be of the form \`\`a@b'', indicating that mail addresses of the form \`\`user%a@b'' are correct.

*Mailpaths* describes how to reach the moderators of various hierarchies of news groups by mail (to submit postings to moderated groups). Each line consists of two fields: a news group pattern (see [*newssys*(5)](/newssys/5.md)) and mail address, preferably in UUCP bang notation (site1!site2!user) to avoid ambiguity. The first line whose group pattern matches the newsgroup is used. An entry for \`all' near the end is a good idea, to forward postings for any otherwise-unrecognised groups to some known \`smart host' (be sure to get the smart-host's permission first). If the user name of the mail address is \`**%s**', as is usual, the **%s** is replaced with the name of the moderated group, except that all dots are replaced with dashes (e.g. posting to **comp.compilers** with a *mailpaths* entry of **all smarthost** would generate a mail address of **smarthost!comp-compilers**). An unrelated feature of *mailpaths* is that an entry for the group **internet** will be used to route mail replies (manual and automatic) for sites whose mailers cannot deal directly with **From:** addresses.

*Organization* (or *organisation*) contains the default value for the **Organization:** header for postings originating locally. Only the first line is significant.

*Postdefltdist* and *postdefltgroup* contain the default distribution and group, respectively, for local postings.

*Server* contains the *hostname* (see [*hostname*(1)](/hostname/1.md)) of the server in your cluster (normally, the host that runs *relaynews*). If such a file exists, certain aspects of processing will be redirected from clients to the server using [*rsh*(1)](/rsh/1.md).

*Whoami* contains the name of this news system, for news purposes. This is the site name used in **Path:** headers and so must agree with the name your news neighbours use in their *sys* files.

## EXAMPLES

A *mailname*.

```
world.std.com
```

A *mailpaths* for a UUNET customer.

```
all	uunet!%s
internet	uunet!%s
```

A *whoami*.

```
world
```

A *server*.

```
world
```

## FILES

```
/var/lib/news/mailname
/var/lib/news/mailpaths
/var/lib/news/organi[sz]ation
/var/lib/news/postdefltdist
/var/lib/news/postdefltgroup
/var/lib/news/server
/var/lib/news/whoami
```

## SEE ALSO

inews(1CN), postnews(1CN), [newssys(5)](/newssys/5.md)

## HISTORY

Written by Geoff Collyer for the C News project.