[en] <2005-02-26> Newsadmin-FAQ for the europa-Newsgroups
europa.* Steering Group
Archive-name: europa/en/newsadmins-faq (v. 0.4)
Posting-frequency: monthly
Last-modified: Sat Feb 26 2005
Introduction
============
This FAQ has been prepared by the europa.* steering group to give
an overview of the hierarchy and with the purpose of helping
news admins all over the world to configure their news system
for the europa.* Usenet-newsgroups.
europa.* is far different from many hierarchies for several reasons.
First of all, it is not a local hierarchy, but the topic is almost
clearly delimited.
Secondarily, europa.* is a brand new hierarchy, managed by a group
of eight people, and claims to be truly multilingual, so that
there is no single language that has any privileged status.
A few config lines added to the configuration files ensure that the
control messages sent by the group-admin maintainer are easily
processed with a good degree of security and automation.
Please send your comments and suggestions to:
Table of contents
=================
1. Recent changes
2. Who administers europa.*?
3. What does the SG do to administer europa.*?
4. Which groups should I take on my site?
5. How should I configure my newssite for europa.*?
6. What is the configuration for moderated groups?
7. Are there any other sources with useful information?
8. Where can I find an up-to-date list of europa.* newsgroups?
1. Recent changes
=================
- 26/02/2005
Links updated
- 07/02/2001
Some corrections and stylistic improvements.
- 20/01/2001:
Some small corrections. Chapter 6 (moderated groups) updated
- 06/01/2001:
Fixed control.ctl section. Added new user-id and the entire PGP
Public key here.
- 05/01/2001:
Added DNEWS section. Fixed some errors.
- 03/01/2001:
First version. Really alpha.
2. Who administers europa.*?
============================
On 03 Oct 2000, Andy Roberts posted an article to
"news.admin.hierarchies" about an informal Request For Discussion with
the purpose of creating a new hierarchy. Many articles have been
written since then, and a steering group (SG) has been formed:
http://www.europa.usenet.eu.org/steering.html
The steering group can be reached at: con...@europa.usenet.eu.org
3. What does the SG do to administer europa.*?
==============================================
The SG takes care of sending control messages for creating (newgroup)
and removing (rmgroup) europa.* newsgroups. Control messages issued for
europa.* are archived at: ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/usenet/control/europa
Discussions about new europa.* groups takes place in europa.usenet.admin
The document that describes how to create a new europa.* newsgroup will
be posted by the SG. A "checkgroups" control message for europa.* is
being posted each 15th day of the month. Old control checkgroups
messages will be archived here:
http://www.europa.usenet.eu.org/old/checkgrps.html
4. Which groups should I take on my site?
=========================================
That is up to you to decide. However, if you're taking a "full feed",
then you should accept the periodic control messages for the europa.*
groups issued by the SG KeyMaster (aka "control authority"), and by
nobody else.
5. How should I configure my newssite for europa.*?
===================================================
The SG KeyMaster uses PGP to digitally sign the newgroup, rmgroup and
checkgroups control messages.
If you are using the PGP, you can have the newsserver automatically
handle the KeyMaster control messages.
The PGP public key for the europa.* hierarchy can also be downloaded
from the following URL: http://www.europa.usenet.eu.org/pgp/
Type Bits/KeyID Date User ID
pub 1024/F5919CA3 2000/12/28 group...@usenet.eu.org
group-admin <group...@usenet.eu.org>
-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: 2.6.3ia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=xb9/
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
For technical details, see:
ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/pgpcontrol/README
or
ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/pgpcontrol/README.html
CONFIGURATION
-------------
Please remember to add the SG PGP public key to your newsservers pgp
ring. (http://www.europa.usenet.eu.org/pgp/).
Cnews [with PGP]
-----
Add the following to your "controlperm" CNews configuration file:
europa group...@usenet.eu.org cnr p group-admin
Cnews [without PGP (strongly discouraged)]
-----
Add the following to your "controlperm" CNews configuration file:
europa group...@usenet.eu.org nr y
DNEWS [with PGP]
-----
Add the following to your "control.conf" DNEWS configuration file :
newgroup:group...@usenet.eu.org:europa.*:doit,pgp
rmgroup:group...@usenet.eu.org:europa.*:doit,pgp
checkgroups:group...@usenet.eu.org:europa.*:doit,pgp
DNEWS [without PGP (strongly discouraged)]
-----
Add the following to your "control.conf" DNEWS configuration file :
newgroup:group...@usenet.eu.org:europa.*:doit
rmgroup:group...@usenet.eu.org:europa.*:doit
checkgroups:group...@usenet.eu.org:europa.*:doit
INN [with PGP]
---
Add the following to your "control.ctl" INN configuration file:
checkgroups:group...@usenet.eu.org:europa.*:verify-gr...@usenet.eu.org=logfile
newgroup:group...@usenet.eu.org:europa.*:verify-gr...@usenet.eu.org=logfile
rmgroup:group...@usenet.eu.org:europa.*:verify-gr...@usenet.eu.org=logfile
[three lines, might be splitted on old terminals]
INN [without PGP (strongly discouraged)]
---
Add the following to your "control.ctl" INN configuration file :
checkgroups:group...@usenet.eu.org:europa.*:doit
newgroup:group...@usenet.eu.org:europa.*:doit
rmgroup:group...@usenet.eu.org:europa.*:doit
6. What is the configuration for moderated groups?
==================================================
Normally, postings to a moderated newsgroup are being sent to a server
that keeps an up-to-date list of moderators. For the europa.*
hierarchy, the server used is: moderators.isc.org
You can use:
C News (file "mailpaths")
------
europa.* %s...@moderators.isc.org
INN (file "moderators")
---
europa.*:%s...@moderators.isc.org
Please use "moderators.isc.org" instead of "moderators.uu.net",
because an email to an europa.* moderator will only be forwarded
correctly through moderators.isc.org
7. Are there any other sources with useful information?
=======================================================
The following URL contains all relevant links for the europa.*
hierarchy: http://www.europa.usenet.eu.org (in different languages)
8. Where can I find an up-to-date list of europa.* newsgroups?
==============================================================
On each 15th day of the month, an actual list is being posted in
"europa.usenet.admin" . The checkgroups control message (see subject 5)
is posted there, too, but normally only shows up in the
pseudo-newsgroups "control" or "control.checkgroups".