# phpman > man > slrn(1)

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## NAME
       slrn - An easy to use NNTP / spool based newsreader.

## SYNOPSIS
       **slrn**  [-aCdknmw]  [-C-]  [-D_name_]  [-f _newsrc-file_]  [-i _config-file_] [-k0] [--create] [--de‐
       bug _file_] [--help] [--inews] [--kill-log _file_] [--nntp [-h _server_] [-p _port_]] [--show-config]
       [--spool] [--version]

## DESCRIPTION
       _slrn_ is an easy to use but powerful NNTP / spool based newsreader.

       It  is highly customizable, supports scoring, free key bindings and can be extended using the
       embedded S-Lang interpreter.

       To use slrn, you either need to set the _NNTPSERVER_ environment variable  to  the  server  you
       want  to  read  news  from or specify a server on the command line.  A _newsrc_ file is needed,
       too.  In case you do not yet have one, you can create it using ``slrn  -f  ~/.jnewsrc  --cre‐
       ate''.

       Inside slrn, online help is available via the '?' key.

## OPTIONS
       The  following  options  can  be used when calling slrn from the command line.  They override
       both environment variables and settings in private and global configuration files.

       -a     Read active file when checking for new news.

       -C     Use colors without checking if the terminal supports it.

       -C-    Don't use colors, even if the terminal supports it.

       -d     Get group descriptions (taglines) from the news server.  Please  note  that  this  may
              cause a download of several hundred kilobytes and thus can take a long time.  The out‐
              put is saved to a local file, so you only need to do this once.  May not be  specified
              in combination with _--create_.

       -D_name_ Add  name  to  the  list of predefined preprocessing tokens, which can be used in your
              slrnrc file to have conditionally interpreted lines.  See the  slrn  reference  manual
              for details.

       -f _newsrc-file_
              Use  file as the newsrc file for this session.  This is permanently set via the _server_
              configuration command.

       -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.  This option is only
              accepted after _--nntp_ or when NNTP is the default mode.

       -i _config-file_
              Read file as the initialization (slrnrc) file.  The default  is  to  use  .slrnrc  (or
              slrn.rc on VMS, OS/2 and Windows) in your home directory.

       -k     Don't read the _score_ _file_.

       -k0    Read  the score file, but inhibit _expensive_ scoring. A scoring rule is _expensive_ if it
              contains header lines that are not included in  the  server's  overview  files.   This
              makes applying them slow.

       -m     Force mouse support (without checking if it works on the current terminal).

       -n     Do not check for new groups (usually resulting in a faster startup).

       -p _N_   Use port N to connect to the NNTP server.

       -w     Wait for a key before switching to full screen mode, allowing the user to read startup
              messages.

### --create
              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.

### --inews
              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.

### --show-config
              Print detailed information about slrn configuration.

### --spool
              Read directly from spool.

### --version
              Print version and some compile time settings.

## ENVIRONMENT
       _slrn_ uses the following list of environment variables.  Note: environment  variables  can  be
       overridden by configuration files or command line switches.

       **COLORTERM**
              If  this  variable is set, slrn will assume that your terminal supports _ANSI_ _color_ _se__‐
              _quences_.  It also enables a workaround for a problem with  the  _mouse_  _reporting_  when
              running slrn inside of an rxvt.

       **DISPLAY**
              If set, slrn assumes that X11 is running.

       **EDITOR** See _$SLRN_EDITOR_.

       **HOME**   See _$SLRNHOME_.

       **HOSTNAME**
              If no _hostname_ is given, the value of this environment variable is used.

       **LOGNAME**
              See _$USER_.

       **NAME**   Set it to your realname, if slrn can't determine it otherwise.

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

       **ORGANIZATION**
              The name of your organization.

       **PRINTER**
              On unix systems, slrn pipes the current article to ``lpr -P _$PRINTER_'' to print it.

       **PWD**    This variable is only used on unix systems that don't  support  [getcwd(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/getcwd/3/markdown).   In  these
              cases, it should be set to the current directory at the time slrn is invoked.  This is
              usually done by the shell and nothing the user has to worry about.

       **REPLYTO**
              The value of this variable is used as the default if you do not set  _replyto_  in  your
              slrnrc file.

       **SLANG**___**EDITOR**
              See _$SLRN_EDITOR_.

       **SLRNHELP**
              You  can  set  this variable to a file slrn should read its online help from.  This is
              only needed when the default key bindings have been changed  and  you  want  the  help
              function  to reflect this.  If unset, slrn looks for help.txt in the configuration di‐
              rectory.

       **SLRNHOME**
              When interpreting filenames as relative to your home directory, slrn uses  this  vari‐
              able  to  find  out what your home directory is.  If _$SLRNHOME_ is unset, _$HOME_ is used
              instead.

       **SLRN**___**EDITOR**
              The editor to start for editing articles.  If this  variable  is  unset,  slrn  subse‐
              quently looks at _$SLANG_EDITOR_, _$EDITOR_ and _$VISUAL_.

       **SLRN**___**SLANG**___**DIR**
              If set, slrn will search for slang macros here. If not set slrn will search in the de‐
              fault path, which is defined at compile time (usually share_dir/slang).

       **TMP**    Indicates the directory in which slrn should save temporary files.

       **TMPDIR** See _$TMP_.

       **USER**   Your username, if slrn can't get it from the system by other means.

       **VISUAL** See _$SLRN_EDITOR_.

## FILES
       $HOME/.slrnrc
              User-specific configuration file.

       config_dir/slrn.rc
              System-wide configuration file. config_dir is set at compile time  (/usr/local/etc  by
              default).

       $HOME/.jnewsrc
              default newsrc file for _slrn._

       $HOME/.jnewsrc.dsc
              Per user newsgroups descriptions.

       share_dir/newsgroups.dsc
              Global newsgroup descriptions. share_dir is set at compile time (/usr/local/share/slrn
              by default).

## SEE ALSO
       The  documentation  that  comes  with  _slrn_,  especially  FIRST_STEPS,  manual.txt,  FAQ  and
       score.txt.   If  you  consider  writing  S-Lang  macros, also look at README.macros and slrn‐
       funs.txt.

       Recent versions of the slrn manual and the FAQ as well as additional information can also  be
       found on slrn's official home page: <http://slrn.sourceforge.net/>

       Questions  about  _slrn_  that  are  not covered by existing documentation may be posted to the
       newsgroup _news.software.readers_ where they will be answered by knowledgeable users or the au‐
       thor of the program.  In addition, announcements of new versions of _slrn_ are posted there.

       Links to the latest version of _slrn_ may be found at <http://www.jedsoft.org/slrn/>

## AUTHOR
       John E. Davis <<jed@jedsoft.org>>



Unix                                        February 2008                                    [slrn(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/slrn/1/markdown)