All,
SourceForge has announced the beta of it's forums-via-NNTP service.
Of course, they only make it available via NNTPS (NNTP-over-SSL).
If you're using Mozilla, Internet Explorer or Netscape, this isn't
too big a deal as the news clients in those applications seem to
support SNEWS/NNTPS just fine. However, if you're working a
Linux-based system and want to participate, I figured out a pretty
simple hack.
The solution is the combination of:
1) tin (or, any other NNTP-capable client)
2) nc (netcat, useful in a pinch like this)
3) openssl (handy command-line)
4) a simple shell script
Using nc, openssl and the shell script, we create an SSL tunnel
for tin to speak to the NNTP server with.
Step 1: Create the shell script
$ cat >sf-nntp-tunnel.sh
#!/bin/sh
openssl s_client -quiet -connect nntp.sf.net 563 2>/dev/null
^D
Step 2: Start the proxy/tunnel
$ nc -l -p 8563 -s localhost -e ./sf-nntp-tunnel.sh
Step 3: Connect using the news reader
$ tin -g localhost -p 8563
... and, you're done!
Their news server will ask you to authenticate -- it's just your
regular SourceForge username and password. The first connection
may take a long time to download the .newsrc and article data,
but who cares. Go make yourself a cup of coffee in the meantime,
or go play Quake, or whatever.
I hope this walk-through helps someone else out.
-- Dossy
--
Dossy Shiobara mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Panoptic Computer Network web: http://www.panoptic.com/
"He realized the fastest way to change is to laugh at your own
folly -- then you can let go and quickly move on." (p. 70)
