slrn (``S-Lang read news'') is a newsreader, i.e. a program that accesses
a newsserver to read messages from the Internet News service (also known as
``Usenet''). It runs in console mode on various Unix-like systems (including
Linux), 32-bit Windows, OS/2, BeOS and VMS. Beside the usual features of a
newsreader, slrn supports scoring rules to highlight, sort or kill
articles based on information from their header. It is highly customizable,
allows free key-bindings and can easily be extended using the sophisticated
S-Lang macro language. Offline reading is possible by using either
slrnpull (shipped with slrn) or a local newsserver (like
leafnode or INN).
slrn
Directions for downloading the latest version of slrn are available from
the slrn web site at
<http://slrn.sourceforge.net/download.html>.
If you are running Linux, slrn is probably included in your distribution.
However, please note that some distributors modify the sources; in this case,
slrn might not always behave as it is described here.
First of all, please read the documentation found in this file and in
the slrn FAQs at
<http://slrn.sourceforge.net/docs/slrn-FAQ.html>.
Questions not covered by the docs are on-topic in news.software.readers. If you speak German, you also might want to subscribe to de.comm.software.newsreader.
slrn-user is a mailing list for discussion of the use, development and
extension of slrn. You can subscribe to it through the web interface at
<http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/slrn-user>.
To keep track of slrn's development, simply subscribe to slrn-announce.
It is a moderated list that informs you about new releases, important bugfixes
or major changes to the website. The subscription address is
<http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/slrn-announce>.
All announcements are also mailed to slrn-user, so there is no need to read
both lists.
This manual is the official reference for using and customizing the slrn
newsreader. If you find that slrn behaves differently than described here, it
means you found a bug (either in this manual or in slrn itself) and should
report it.
The manual is written in SGML using the ``linuxdoc'' DTD and has been
``rendered'' using the linuxdoc-tools package. The manual and other official
documentation have their own web page at
<http://slrn.sourceforge.net/documentation.html>
where you can find these files in several different formats, as well
as instructions on how to get the latest development version (which might be
useful if you need documentation for a developer version of slrn).
If you want to contribute to the manual (e.g. write additional chapters), please contact us, either privately or via the slrn-user mailing list at <http://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/slrn-user>. We also appreciate feedback about errors, bad language or suggestions concerning this manual.
This manual was started by Matthias Friedrich and Thomas Schultz in 1999 since there was no up-to-date end-user documentation available. As of version 0.9.7.0, it has been part of the official documentation. Since they first started it, the manual has undergone the following revisions:
Updated the manual for changes in version 0.9.9.
Added a brief introduction to the S-Lang prompt
within slrn and updated the manual for version 0.9.8.1.
Updated the manual for version 0.9.8.0.
Added a section that describes the preprocessing facility and changed the manual's structure.
Updated the manual for version 0.9.7.4.
Updated the manual for version 0.9.7.3.
Updated the manual for slrn 0.9.7.2; added
a section about the functions of the
readline interface.
Added a section that describes all interactive
functions and updated the manual for slrn 0.9.7.1.
Manual updated to reflect the changes in
slrn 0.9.7.0.
First public release, explaining all slrnrc commands, configuration and environment variables and command line switches.