{
    "mode": "man",
    "parameter": "slrn",
    "section": "1",
    "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/slrn/1/json",
    "generated": "2026-06-15T14:38:05Z",
    "synopsis": "slrn  [-aCdknmw]  [-C-]  [-Dname]  [-f newsrc-file]  [-i config-file] [-k0] [--create] [--de‐\nbug file] [--help] [--inews] [--kill-log file] [--nntp [-h server] [-p port]] [--show-config]\n[--spool] [--version]",
    "sections": {
        "NAME": {
            "content": "slrn - An easy to use NNTP / spool based newsreader.\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "SYNOPSIS": {
            "content": "slrn  [-aCdknmw]  [-C-]  [-Dname]  [-f newsrc-file]  [-i config-file] [-k0] [--create] [--de‐\nbug file] [--help] [--inews] [--kill-log file] [--nntp [-h server] [-p port]] [--show-config]\n[--spool] [--version]\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "DESCRIPTION": {
            "content": "slrn is an easy to use but powerful NNTP / spool based newsreader.\n\nIt  is highly customizable, supports scoring, free key bindings and can be extended using the\nembedded S-Lang interpreter.\n\nTo use slrn, you either need to set the NNTPSERVER environment variable  to  the  server  you\nwant  to  read  news  from or specify a server on the command line.  A newsrc file is needed,\ntoo.  In case you do not yet have one, you can create it using ``slrn  -f  ~/.jnewsrc  --cre‐\nate''.\n\nInside slrn, online help is available via the '?' key.\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "OPTIONS": {
            "content": "The  following  options  can  be used when calling slrn from the command line.  They override\nboth environment variables and settings in private and global configuration files.\n\n-a     Read active file when checking for new news.\n\n-C     Use colors without checking if the terminal supports it.\n\n-C-    Don't use colors, even if the terminal supports it.\n\n-d     Get group descriptions (taglines) from the news server.  Please  note  that  this  may\ncause a download of several hundred kilobytes and thus can take a long time.  The out‐\nput is saved to a local file, so you only need to do this once.  May not be  specified\nin combination with --create.\n\n-Dname Add  name  to  the  list of predefined preprocessing tokens, which can be used in your\nslrnrc file to have conditionally interpreted lines.  See the  slrn  reference  manual\nfor details.\n\n-f newsrc-file\nUse  file as the newsrc file for this session.  This is permanently set via the server\nconfiguration command.\n\n-h host[:port]\nConnect to the NNTP server on host, overriding the $NNTPSERVER  environment  variable.\nIf  no  port  is given, the default NNTP port (119) will be used.  This option is only\naccepted after --nntp or when NNTP is the default mode.\n\n-i config-file\nRead file as the initialization (slrnrc) file.  The default  is  to  use  .slrnrc  (or\nslrn.rc on VMS, OS/2 and Windows) in your home directory.\n\n-k     Don't read the score file.\n\n-k0    Read  the score file, but inhibit expensive scoring. A scoring rule is expensive if it\ncontains header lines that are not included in  the  server's  overview  files.   This\nmakes applying them slow.\n\n-m     Force mouse support (without checking if it works on the current terminal).\n\n-n     Do not check for new groups (usually resulting in a faster startup).\n\n-p N   Use port N to connect to the NNTP server.\n\n-w     Wait for a key before switching to full screen mode, allowing the user to read startup\nmessages.\n",
            "subsections": [
                {
                    "name": "--create",
                    "content": "Read the active file (the list of all groups) from the news server to create  an  ini‐\ntial newsrc file.\n\n--debug file\nWrite debugging output to file.\n\n--help Show help for command line switches.\n",
                    "long": "--create"
                },
                {
                    "name": "--inews",
                    "content": "Use an external inews program to post articles.\n\n--kill-log file\nKeep a log of all articles that were killed by the scorefile in file.\n\n--nntp Use  builtin NNTP support for reading and posting (an external program is used to post\nif slrn was compiled with --enable-force-inews).\n\n--pull Spool outgoing articles locally for slrnpull to send.\n",
                    "long": "--inews"
                },
                {
                    "name": "--show-config",
                    "content": "Print detailed information about slrn configuration.\n",
                    "long": "--show-config"
                },
                {
                    "name": "--spool",
                    "content": "Read directly from spool.\n",
                    "long": "--spool"
                },
                {
                    "name": "--version",
                    "content": "Print version and some compile time settings.\n",
                    "long": "--version"
                }
            ]
        },
        "ENVIRONMENT": {
            "content": "slrn uses the following list of environment variables.  Note: environment  variables  can  be\noverridden by configuration files or command line switches.\n\nCOLORTERM\nIf  this  variable is set, slrn will assume that your terminal supports ANSI color se‐\nquences.  It also enables a workaround for a problem with  the  mouse  reporting  when\nrunning slrn inside of an rxvt.\n\nDISPLAY\nIf set, slrn assumes that X11 is running.\n\nEDITOR See $SLRNEDITOR.\n\nHOME   See $SLRNHOME.\n\nHOSTNAME\nIf no hostname is given, the value of this environment variable is used.\n\nLOGNAME\nSee $USER.\n\nNAME   Set it to your realname, if slrn can't determine it otherwise.\n\nNNTPSERVER\nYou  can  use  this  variable to tell slrn which NNTP server to connect to.  It can be\noverridden by the command line option -h.\n\nORGANIZATION\nThe name of your organization.\n\nPRINTER\nOn unix systems, slrn pipes the current article to ``lpr -P $PRINTER'' to print it.\n\nPWD    This variable is only used on unix systems that don't  support  getcwd(3).   In  these\ncases, it should be set to the current directory at the time slrn is invoked.  This is\nusually done by the shell and nothing the user has to worry about.\n\nREPLYTO\nThe value of this variable is used as the default if you do not set  replyto  in  your\nslrnrc file.\n\nSLANGEDITOR\nSee $SLRNEDITOR.\n\nSLRNHELP\nYou  can  set  this variable to a file slrn should read its online help from.  This is\nonly needed when the default key bindings have been changed  and  you  want  the  help\nfunction  to reflect this.  If unset, slrn looks for help.txt in the configuration di‐\nrectory.\n\nSLRNHOME\nWhen interpreting filenames as relative to your home directory, slrn uses  this  vari‐\nable  to  find  out what your home directory is.  If $SLRNHOME is unset, $HOME is used\ninstead.\n\nSLRNEDITOR\nThe editor to start for editing articles.  If this  variable  is  unset,  slrn  subse‐\nquently looks at $SLANGEDITOR, $EDITOR and $VISUAL.\n\nSLRNSLANGDIR\nIf set, slrn will search for slang macros here. If not set slrn will search in the de‐\nfault path, which is defined at compile time (usually sharedir/slang).\n\nTMP    Indicates the directory in which slrn should save temporary files.\n\nTMPDIR See $TMP.\n\nUSER   Your username, if slrn can't get it from the system by other means.\n\nVISUAL See $SLRNEDITOR.\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "FILES": {
            "content": "$HOME/.slrnrc\nUser-specific configuration file.\n\nconfigdir/slrn.rc\nSystem-wide configuration file. configdir is set at compile time  (/usr/local/etc  by\ndefault).\n\n$HOME/.jnewsrc\ndefault newsrc file for slrn.\n\n$HOME/.jnewsrc.dsc\nPer user newsgroups descriptions.\n\nsharedir/newsgroups.dsc\nGlobal newsgroup descriptions. sharedir is set at compile time (/usr/local/share/slrn\nby default).\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "SEE ALSO": {
            "content": "The  documentation  that  comes  with  slrn,  especially  FIRSTSTEPS,  manual.txt,  FAQ  and\nscore.txt.   If  you  consider  writing  S-Lang  macros, also look at README.macros and slrn‐\nfuns.txt.\n\nRecent versions of the slrn manual and the FAQ as well as additional information can also  be\nfound on slrn's official home page: http://slrn.sourceforge.net/\n\nQuestions  about  slrn  that  are  not covered by existing documentation may be posted to the\nnewsgroup news.software.readers where they will be answered by knowledgeable users or the au‐\nthor of the program.  In addition, announcements of new versions of slrn are posted there.\n\nLinks to the latest version of slrn may be found at http://www.jedsoft.org/slrn/\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "AUTHOR": {
            "content": "John E. Davis <jed@jedsoft.org>\n\n\n\nUnix                                        February 2008                                    slrn(1)",
            "subsections": []
        }
    },
    "summary": "slrn - An easy to use NNTP / spool based newsreader.",
    "flags": [
        {
            "flag": "",
            "long": "--create",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Read the active file (the list of all groups) from the news server to create an ini‐ tial newsrc file. --debug file Write debugging output to file. --help Show help for command line switches."
        },
        {
            "flag": "",
            "long": "--inews",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Use an external inews program to post articles. --kill-log file Keep a log of all articles that were killed by the scorefile in file. --nntp Use builtin NNTP support for reading and posting (an external program is used to post if slrn was compiled with --enable-force-inews). --pull Spool outgoing articles locally for slrnpull to send."
        },
        {
            "flag": "",
            "long": "--show-config",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Print detailed information about slrn configuration."
        },
        {
            "flag": "",
            "long": "--spool",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Read directly from spool."
        },
        {
            "flag": "",
            "long": "--version",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Print version and some compile time settings."
        }
    ],
    "examples": [],
    "see_also": []
}