*Someone asked me a question today and I wasn't sure the answer. I hope you guys are more knowledgeable than I am on this one. :)*
* * *I was asked what would be involved in setting up a private NNTP server (username/password authenticated) that could sync usernames/passwords with a Postgres database (he actually only specified a SQL compatible db, but I prefer Postgres mostly). This server would provide full NNTP functionality, but would not affect the central Usenet groups at all, but would be private groups only (not dissimilar to XMission's xmission.* newsgroups). What would be REALLY nice is if the messages could also be stored in Postgres. He really wants these "newsgroups" to be as closely synchronized with his web site and it's message base as possible. I realize (and told him) that newsgroups do not (as a rule) have a specific destination, but are always public (i.e. if you can get on the server, you can read the message) where as the message base on the web site he was designing would in fact have a destination (to: field), but he said that that was okay and he would design certain "message areas", defined as not having a destination field, which the NNTP server could access. Meanwhile, those with the destination would not be NNTP accessible and would require logging into the web site itself. As near as either one of us could tell, unless the messages are stored in the same database as the main website message areas it would require some kind of JavaScript NNTP client (or similar) that could be embedded in the website in order to be able to access the messages from within the website without forcing the users to load a separate program just to access the "newsgroups". I'm working on trying to convince him that this is really going overboard and not needed, but so far he's being stubborn. So I said I'd do some research on this, but I'm actually at a loss as to where to look. Perhaps you all can help me on this? What he wants is:* *fully NNTP compliant (required)* *username/password authentication either from DB or synched to DB on a regular basis (i.e. every 30 mins, required)* *not sharing messages with any other server (required)* *messages stored in database so as to be accessible on web site also (optional, preferred)* * * *From what I can gather, he plans to put up a web site somewhat similar to old school BBS's, except that 1) it's web based, and 2) those who don't want to actually login to the BBS to check the public messages can do so via a NNTP client.* * * *Any help on this is most welcome. Especially if you can recommend a good NNTP server that would fit the bill (if necessary, a bit of modification of FOSS software to enable reading/writing of a message via Postgres instead of their normal message storage method is possible, but not preferred)* * * *Thanks guys!* *--- Dan* /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
