{ "mode": "man", "parameter": "tknewsbiff", "section": "1", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/tknewsbiff/1/json", "generated": "2026-07-05T09:34:54Z", "synopsis": "tknewsbiff [ server or config-file ]", "sections": { "NAME": { "content": "tknewsbiff - pop up a window when news appears\n", "subsections": [] }, "SYNOPSIS": { "content": "tknewsbiff [ server or config-file ]\n", "subsections": [] }, "INTRODUCTION": { "content": "tknewsbiff pops up a window when there is unread news in your favorite newsgroups and removes\nthe window after you've read the news. tknewsbiff can optionally play a sound, start your\nnewsreader, etc.\n\n", "subsections": [] }, "SELECTING NEWSGROUPS": { "content": "By default, the configuration file ~/.tknewsbiff describes how tknewsbiff behaves. The syn‐\ntax observes the usual Tcl rules - however, even if you don't know Tcl, all but the most eso‐\nteric configurations will be obvious.\n\nEach newsgroup (or set of newsgroups) to be watched is described by using the \"watch\" com‐\nmand. For example:\n\n\nwatch dc.dining\nwatch nist.*\nwatch comp.unix.wizard -threshold 3\nwatch *.sources.* -threshold 20\n\n\nFor each newsgroup pattern, any newsgroup that matches it and which you are subscribed to\n(according to your newsrc file) is eligible for reporting. By default, tknewsbiff reports on\nthe newsgroup if there is at least one unread article. The \"-threshold\" flag changes the\nthreshold to the following number. For example, \"-threshold 3\" means there must be at least\nthree articles unread before tknewsbiff will report the newsgroup.\n\nIf no watch commands are given (or no configuration file exists), all groups which are sub‐\nscribed to are watched.\n\nTo suppress newsgroups that would otherwise be reported, use the \"ignore\" command. For exam‐\nple, the following matches all comp.* and nist.* newgroups except for nist.posix or .d (dis‐\ncussion) groups:\n\n\nwatch comp.*\nwatch nist.*\nignore nist.posix.*\nignore *.d\n\n\nThe flag \"-new\" describes a command to be executed when the newsgroup is first reported as\nhaving unread news. For example, the following lines invoke the UNIX command \"play\" to play\na sound.\n\n\nwatch dc.dining -new \"exec play /usr/local/sounds/yumyum.au\"\nwatch rec.auto* -new \"exec play /usr/local/sounds/vroom.au\"\n\n\nYou can cut down on the verbosity of actions by defining procedures. For example, if you\nhave many -new flags that all play sound files, you could define a sound procedure. This\nwould allow the -new specification to be much shorter.\n\n\nproc play {sound} {\nexec play /usr/local/sounds/$sound.au\n}\n\nwatch dc.dining -new \"play yumyum\"\nwatch rec.auto* -new \"play vroom\"\n\n\nAs an aside, you can put an \"&\" at the end of an \"exec\" command to get commands to execute\nasynchronously. However, it's probably not a good idea to do this when playing sound files\nanyway.\n\n\"newsgroup\" is a read-only variable which contains the name of the newsgroup that is being\nreported. This is useful when the action is triggered by a pattern. For example, the fol‐\nlowing line could run the newsgroup name through a speech synthesizer:\n\n\nwatch * -new {\nexec play herald.au\nexec speak \"New news has arrived in $newsgroup.\"\n}\n\n\nThe flag \"-display\" describes a command to be executed every time the newsgroup is reported\nas having unread news. The special command \"display\" is the default command. It schedules\n$newsgroup to be written to tknewsbiff's display when it is rewritten. For example, by ex‐\nplicitly providing a -display flag that omits the display command, you can disable the dis‐\nplay of newsgroups that are already reported via -new.\n\n\nwatch dc.dining -new {exec play yumyum.au} -display {}\n\n\nIf you want to execute an action repeatedly and still display the newsgroup in the default\nmanner, explicitly invoke the display command via the -display flag. For example:\n\n\nwatch *security* -display {\nexec play red-alert.au\ndisplay\n}\n\n\nActions associated with the -new and -display flags are executed only once for each matching\nnewsgroup. The command executed is the one associated with the first pattern in the configu‐\nration file that matches and observes the given threshold.\n\nAny command that is simply listed in the configuration file is executed each time before the\nupdate loop in tknewsbiff. The reserved (but user-defined) procedure \"user\" is run immedi‐\nately after the newsgroups are scheduled to be written to the display and before they are ac‐\ntually written.\n\nFor example, suppose unread articles appear in several rec.auto groups and you play the same\nsound for each one. To prevent playing the sound several times in a row, make the -new com‐\nmand simply set a flag. In the user procedure, play the sound if the flag is set (and then\nreset the flag).\n\nThe user procedure could also be used to start a newsreader. This would avoid the possibil‐\nity of starting multiple newsreaders just because multiple newsgroups contained unread arti‐\ncles. (A check should, of course, be made to make sure that a newsreader is not already run‐\nning.)\n\n", "subsections": [] }, "MORE VARIABLES": { "content": "The following example lines show variables that can affect the behavior of tknewsbiff\n\n\nset delay 120\nset server news.nist.gov\nset servertimeout 60\nset newsrc ~/.newsrc\nset width 40\nset height 20\nset activefile /usr/news/lib/active\n\n\ntknewsbiff alternates between checking for unread news and sleeping (kind of like many under‐\ngraduates). The \"delay\" variable describes how many seconds to sleep.\n\nThe \"server\" variable names an NNTP news-server. The default is \"news\". The \"server\" vari‐\nable is only used if the \"activefile\" variable is not set.\n\nThe \"servertimeout\" variable describes how how many seconds to wait for a response from the\nserver before giving up. -1 means wait forever or until the server itself times out. The\ndefault is 60 seconds.\n\nThe \"newsrc\" variable describes the name of your .newsrc file. By default, tknewsbiff looks\nin your home directory for a newsrc file. A server-specific newsrc is used if found. For\nexample, if you have set server to \"cubit.nist.gov\", then tknewsbiff looks for ~/.newsrc-cu‐\nbit.nist.gov. (This is the Emacs gnus convention - which is very convenient when you read\nnews from multiple servers.) If there is no server-specific newsrc, tknewsbiff uses\n~/.newsrc.\n\nThe \"width\" variable describes the width that tknewsbiff will use to display information. If\nany newsgroup names are long enough, they will be truncated so that the article counts can\nstill be shown. You can manually resize the window to see what was truncated. However, if\nyour configuration file sets the width variable, the window will be restored to that size the\nnext time that tknewsbiff checks for unread news and updates its display.\n\nThe \"height\" variable describes the maximum height that tknewsbiff will use to display infor‐\nmation. If fewer newsgroups are reported, tknewsbiff will shrink the window appropriately.\nYou can manually resize the window but if your configuration file sets the height variable,\nthe window will be restored to that size the next time that tknewsbiff checks for unread news\nand updates its display.\n\nThe \"activefile\" variable describes the name of the news active file. If set, the active\nfile is read directly in preference to using NNTP (even if the \"server\" variable is set).\nThis is particularly useful for testing out new configuration files since you can edit a fake\nactive file and then click button 2 to immediately see how tknewsbiff responds (see BUTTONS\nbelow).\n\nIf the environment variable DOTDIR is set, then its value is used as a directory in which to\nfind all dotfiles instead of from the home directory. In particular, this affects the\ntknewsbiff configuration file and the .newsrc file (assuming the newsrc variable is not set\nexplicitly).\n\n", "subsections": [] }, "WATCHING DIFFERENT NEWS SERVERS": { "content": "To watch multiple servers, run tknewsbiff multiple times. (Since you need different .newsrc\nfiles and the servers have different newsgroups and article numbers anyway, there is no point\nin trying to do this in a single process.)\n\nYou can point tknewsbiff at a different server with an appropriate argument. The argument is\ntried both as a configuration file name and as a suffix to the string \"~/.tknewsbiff-\". So\nif you want to watch the server \"kidney\", store the tknewsbiff configuration information in\n~/.tknewsbiff-kidney\". The following two commands will both use that configuration file.\n\n\ntknewsbiff kidney\ntknewsbiff ~/.tknewsbiff-kidney\n\n\nIn both cases, the actual server to contact is set by the value of the server variable in the\nconfiguration file.\n\nIf no configuration file is found, the argument is used as the server to contact. This al‐\nlows tknewsbiff to be run with no preparation whatsoever.\n\nIf the argument is the special keyword \"active\" (or ends in \"/active\"), it is used as the\nname of an active file. This is in turn used to initialize the variable \"activefile\" so\nthat tknewsbiff reads from the active file directly rather than using NNTP.\n\nCreating your own active file is a convenient way of testing your configuration file. For\nexample, after running the following command, you can repeatedly edit your active file and\ntrigger the update-now command (either by pressing button 2 or setting the delay variable\nvery low) to see how tknewsbiff responds.\n\nThe active file must follow the format of a real active file. The format is one newsgroup\nper line. After the newsgroup name is the number of the highest article, the lowest article.\nLastly is the letter y or m. m means the newsgroup is moderated. y means posting is al‐\nlowed.\n\n", "subsections": [] }, "WINDOW": { "content": "When unread news is found, a window is popped up. The window lists the names of the news‐\ngroups and the number of unread articles in each (unless suppressed by the -display flag).\nWhen there is no longer any unread news, the window disappears (although the process contin‐\nues to run).\n\n", "subsections": [] }, "BUTTONS": { "content": "Button or key bindings may be assigned by bind commands. Feel free to change them. The de‐\nfault bind commands are:\n\n\nbind .list <1> help\nbind .list <2> update-now\nbind .list <3> unmapwindow\n\n\nBy default button 1 (left) is bound to \"help\". The help command causes tknewsbiff to pop up\na help window.\n\nBy default, button 2 (middle) is bound to \"update-now\". The update-now command causes\ntknewsbiff to immediately check for unread news. If your news server is slow or maintains a\nvery large number of newsgroups, or you have a large number of patterns in your configuration\nfile, tknewsbiff can take considerable time before actually updating the window.\n\nBy default, button 3 (right) is bound to \"unmapwindow\". The unmapwindow command causes\ntknewsbiff to remove the window from the display until the next time it finds unread news.\n(The mapwindow command causes tknewsbiff to restore the window.)\n\nAs an example, here is a binding to pop up an xterm and run rn when you hold down the shift\nkey and press button 1 in the listing window.\n\n\nbind .list {\nexec xterm -e rn &\n}\n\n\nHere is a similar binding. However it tells rn to look only at the newsgroup that is under\nthe mouse when you pressed it. (The \"displaylist\" variable is described later in this man\npage.)\n\n\nbind .list {\nexec xterm -e rn [lindex $displaylist [.list nearest %y]] &\n}\n\n\n", "subsections": [] }, "OTHER COMMANDS AND VARIABLES": { "content": "Built-in commands already mentioned are: watch, ignore, display, help, update-now, unmapwin‐\ndow, and mapwindow.\n\nAny Tcl and Tk command can also be given. In particular, the list of newsgroups is stored in\nthe list widget \".list\", and the scroll bar is stored in the scrollbar widget \".scroll\". So\nfor example, if you want to change the foreground and background colors of the newsgroup\nlist, you can say:\n\n\n.list config -bg honeydew1 -fg orchid2\n\n\nThese can also be controlled by the X resource database as well. However, the configuration\nfile allows arbitrarily complex commands to be evaluated rather than simple assignments.\n\nCertain Tcl/Tk commands can disrupt proper function of tknewsbiff. These will probably be\nobvious to anyone who knows enough to give these commands in the first place. As a simple\nexample, the program assumes the font in the list box is of fixed width. The newsgroups will\nlikely not align if you use a variable-width font.\n\nThe following variables are accessible and can be used for esoteric uses. All other vari‐\nables are private. Private variables and commands begin with \"\" so you don't need to worry\nabout accidental collisions.\n\nThe array \"db\" is a database which maintains information about read and unread news.\ndb($newsgroup,hi) is the highest article that exists. db($newsgroup,seen) is the highest ar‐\nticle that you have read.\n\nA number of lists maintain interesting information. \"activelist\" is a list of known news‐\ngroups. \"seenlist\" is a list of newsgroups that have been seen so far as the -new and -dis‐\nplay flags are being processed. \"previousseenlist\" is \"seenlist\" from the previous cycle.\n\"ignorelist\" is the list of newsgroup patterns to ignore. \"watchlist\" is the list of news‐\ngroup patterns to watch. \"displaylist\" is the list of newsgroup will be displayed at the\nnext opportunity.\n\n", "subsections": [] }, "UPDATING YOUR FILES": { "content": "tknewsbiff automatically rereads your configuration file each time it wakes up to check for\nunread news. To force tknewsbiff to reread the file immediately (such as if you are testing\na new configuration or have just modified your newsrc file), press button 2 in the display\n(see BUTTONS above).\n\n", "subsections": [] }, "CAVEATS": { "content": "tknewsbiff defines the number of unread articles as the highest existing article minus the\nhighest article that you've read. So if you've read the last article in the newsgroup but no\nothers, tknewsbiff thinks there are no unread articles. (It's impossible to do any better by\nreading the active file and it would be very time consuming to do this more accurately via\nNNTP since servers provide no efficient way of reporting their own holes in the newsgroups.)\nFortunately, this definition is considered a feature by most people. It allows you to read\narticles and then mark them \"unread\" but not have tknewsbiff continue telling you that they\nare unread.\n\n", "subsections": [] }, "UNWARRANTED CONCERNS": { "content": "Your news administrator may wonder if many people using tknewsbiff severely impact an NNTP\nserver. In fact, the impact is negligible even when the delay is very low. To gather all\nthe information it needs, tknewsbiff uses a single NNTP query - it just asks for the active\nfile. The NNTP server does no computation, formatting, etc, it just sends the file. All the\ninteresting processing happens locally in the tknewsbiff program itself.\n\n", "subsections": [] }, "BUGS": { "content": "The man page is longer than the program.\n\n", "subsections": [] }, "SEE ALSO": { "content": "\"Exploring Expect: A Tcl-Based Toolkit for Automating Interactive Programs\" by Don Libes,\nO'Reilly and Associates, January 1995.\n", "subsections": [] }, "AUTHOR": { "content": "Don Libes, National Institute of Standards and Technology\n\n\n\n1 January 1994 TKNEWSBIFF(1)", "subsections": [] } }, "summary": "tknewsbiff - pop up a window when news appears", "flags": [], "examples": [], "see_also": [] }