---
name: "slrnpull"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "slrnpull"
version: "1.0.3+dfsg-8"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/slrnpull"
---

# slrnpull(1)

Pull a small newsfeed for offline reading.

## NAME

slrnpull - Pull a small newsfeed for offline reading.

## SYNOPSIS

**slrnpull** \[-d *spooldir*\] \[-h *server*\] \[--debug *file*\] \[--expire\] \[--fetch-score *n*\] \[--help\] \[--kill-log *file*\] \[--kill-score *n*\] \[--logfile *file*\] \[--marked-bodies\] \[--new-groups\] \[--no-post\] \[--post\] \[--post-only\] \[--rebuild\] \[--version\]

## DESCRIPTION

*slrnpull* pulls a small newsfeed from an NNTP server.  It puts the articles into a spool directory from which *slrn* can later read them, even if the server is unreachable at that time. Typically, this is useful if you do not have a permanent network connection.

## OPTIONS

The following options can be used when calling *slrnpull* from the command line.

- \-d *spooldir*

  Set slrnpull's root directory for this run to *spooldir*, overriding the *$SLRNPULL\_ROOT* environment variable.

- \-h *host\[:port\]*

  Connect to the NNTP server on *host*, overriding the *$NNTPSERVER* environment variable.  If no *port* is given, the default NNTP port (119) will be used.

- \--debug *file*

  Write dialogue with the server and some additional debugging output to *file*.

- \--expire

  Expire (remove) old messages from the spool, but do not fetch news.

- \--fetch-score *n*

  Fetch article bodies with a score of at least *n* automatically (in true offline mode, the default is to fetch only bodies that were explicitly marked by the user).

- \--help

  Show help for command line switches.

- \--kill-log *file*

  Keep a log of all articles that were killed by the scorefile in *file*. By default, no such logfile is created.

- \--kill-score *n*

  Kill all articles with a score below *n*. The default value for this is 0.

- \--logfile *file*

  Log the messages and errors that slrnpull prints to the screen to *file*. By default, they get written to the file log in slrnpull's root directory.

- \--marked-bodies

  Only fetch bodies that were marked for download within slrn.

- \--new-groups

  Check for new groups, appending them to the file new.groups in the data directory.

- \--no-post

  Do not post any articles to the server.

- \--post

  Obsolete version of *--post-only*.

- \--post-only

  Post outgoing articles, but do not fetch news.

- \--rebuild

  Like --expire, but also rebuild the overview information. To be used when the overview information is damaged.

- \--version

  Print the version number.

## ENVIRONMENT

*slrnpull* reads the following environment variables.  Note that they can be overridden by command line switches.

- **NNTPSERVER**

  You can use this variable to tell *slrnpull* which NNTP server to connect to.  It can be overridden by the command line option -h.

- **SLRNPULL\_ROOT**

  Defines the directory where *slrnpull* will look for its configuration files and spool the articles.  An absolute filename is needed here.  This can be overriden by the option -d.

## FILES

- $SLRNPULL\_ROOT/authinfo

  If the server requires authentication, this file needs to contain the data (username in the first line, password in the second).  Be careful not to make this file world-readable!

- $SLRNPULL\_ROOT/log

  The default file to log status and error messages to.

- $SLRNPULL\_ROOT/score

  If you want *slrnpull* to apply scoring rules to decide which articles to download, put them into this file.

- $SLRNPULL\_ROOT/slrnpull.conf

  The main configuration file.  It tells *slrnpull* how many articles to get from which groups and when to expire them.

## SEE ALSO

The documentation that comes with *slrnpull*, especially README and SETUP. The FAQ of slrn also answers some questions about slrnpull.

You might also want to look at slrn's official home page, *http://slrn.sourceforge.net/* or post to *news.software.readers* if you have a question not covered by existing documentation.

The latest version of *slrnpull* is part of the slrn package available from *http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/slrn/*

## AUTHOR

John E. Davis \<davis@space.mit.edu\>

Please send any bug reports to the current maintainer, Thomas Schultz \<tststs@gmx.de\>