---
name: "nntpsend"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "inn"
version: "2.7.4-4"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/nntpsend"
---

# nntpsend(8)

Send Usenet articles to remote sites

## NAME

nntpsend - Send Usenet articles to remote sites

## SYNOPSIS

**nntpsend** \[**-acDdlNnpr**\] \[**-P** *portnum*\] \[**-s** *size*\] \[**-T** *timelimit*\] \[**-t** *timeout*\] \[**-w** *delay*\] \[*sitename* *fqdn*\] ...

## DESCRIPTION

**nntpsend** is a front-end that invokes **innxmit** to send Usenet articles to a remote NNTP site.  The sites to be fed may be specified by giving *sitename* *fqdn* pairs on the command line.  If no such pairs are given, **nntpsend** defaults to the information given in the *nntpsend.ctl* config file.  The *sitename* should be the name of the site as specified in the *newsfeeds* file.  The *fqdn* should be the hostname or IP address of the remote site.  An **innxmit** is launched for sites with queued news. All **innxmit** processes are spawned in the background and the script waits for them all to finish before returning.  Output is sent to the file *nntpsend.log* in *pathlog*.  In order to keep from overwhelming the local system, **nntpsend** waits five seconds before spawning each child.

**nntpsend** expects that the batch file for a site is named *sitename* in *pathoutgoing*.  To prevent batch files corruption, **shlock** is used to "lock" these files.  When *sitename* *fqdn* pairs are given on the command line, any flags given on the command completely describe how **innxmit** and **shrinkfile** operate.  When no such pairs are given on the command line, then the information found in *nntpsend.ctl* becomes the default flags for that site.  Any flags given on the command line override the default flags for the site.

An alternative to **nntpsend** can be **innduct**, mentioned in the [innfeed(8)](/innfeed/8.md) man page.

## OPTIONS

- **-D**, **-d**

  The **-D** flag causes **nntpsend** to send output to stdout rather than the log file *nntpsend.log* in *pathlog*.  The **-d** flag does the same and it passes **-d** to all **innxmit** invocations, which in turn causes **innxmit** to go into debug mode.

- **-n**

  If the **-n** flag is used, then **nntpsend** does not use **shlock** to lock the use of **nntpsend**.  Batch files will still be locked.

- **-s** *size*

  If the **-s** flag is used, then **shrinkfile** will be invoked to perform a head truncation of *size* bytes on the batch file and the flag will be passed to it.

- **-w** *delay*

  If the **-w** flag is used, then **nntpsend** waits for *delay* seconds after flushing the site before launching **innxmit**.

- **-a**, **-c**, **-l**, **-N**, **-P** *portnum*, **-p**, **-r**, **-T** *timelimit*, **-t** *timeout*

  The **-a**, **-c**, **-l**, **-P** *portnum*, **-p**, **-r**, **-T** *timelimit* and **-t** *timeout* flags are passed on to the child **innxmit** program. The **-N** flag is passed as **-s** flag to the child **innxmit** program. See [innxmit(8)](/innxmit/8.md) for more details.

  Note that if the **-p** flag is used, then no connection is made and no articles are fed to the remote site.  It is useful to have [cron(8)](/cron/8.md) invoke **nntpsend** with this flag in case a site cannot be reached for an extended period of time.

## EXAMPLES

With the following *nntpsend.ctl* config file:

```
    nsavax:erehwon.nsavax.gov::-t60
    group70:group70.org::
    walldrug:walldrug.com:4m-1m:-T1800 -t300
    kremvax:kremvax.cis:2m:
```

the command `"nntpsend"` will result in the following:

```
    Sitename        Truncation      innxmit flags
    nsavax          (none)          -a -t60
    group70         (none)          -a -t180
    walldrug        1m if >4m       -T1800 -t300
    kremvax         2m              -t180
```

The command `"nntpsend -d -T1200"` will result in the following:

```
    Sitename        Truncation      innxmit flags
    nsavax          (none)          -a -d -T1200 -t60
    group70         (none)          -a -d -T1200 -t180
    walldrug        1m if >4m       -d -T1200 -t300
    kremvax         2m              -d -T1200 -t180
```

The command `"nntpsend -s 5m -T1200 nsavax erehwon.nsavax.gov group70` `group70.org"` will result in the following:

```
    Sitename        Truncation      innxmit flags
    nsavax          5m              -T1200 -t180
    group70         5m              -T1200 -t180
```

Remember that **-a** is always given when there is no size limit, and **-t** defaults to `"180"`.

## HISTORY

Written by Landon Curt Noll \<chongo@toad.com\> and Rich $alz \<rsalz@uunet.uu.net\> for InterNetNews.  Converted to POD by Julien Elie.

## SEE ALSO

[inn.conf(5)](/inn.conf/5.md), [innxmit(8)](/innxmit/8.md), [newsfeeds(5)](/newsfeeds/5.md), [nntpsend.ctl(5)](/nntpsend.ctl/5.md), [shlock(8)](/shlock/8.md), [shrinkfile(1)](/shrinkfile/1.md).