NAME

       distrib.pats - Default values for the Distribution header field

DESCRIPTION

       The file pathetc/distrib.pats is used by nnrpd to determine the default body of the Distribution header
       field.  Blank lines and lines beginning with a number sign ("#") are ignored.  All other lines consist of
       three fields separated by a colon:

           <weight>:<pattern>:<value>

       The first field is the weight to assign to this match.  If a newsgroup matches multiple lines, the line
       with the highest weight is used.  This should be an arbitrary integer greater than zero.  The order of
       lines in the file is only important if groups have equal weight (in which case, the first matching line
       will be used).

       The second field is either the name of a newsgroup or a uwildmat-style pattern to specify a set of
       newsgroups.

       The third field is the body that should be used for the Distribution header field of a posted article, if
       this line was picked as the best match and no Distribution header field was supplied by the user.  It can
       be an empty string, specifying that no Distribution header field should be added.  If it is not empty, it
       is better to only use US-ASCII characters for that field; otherwise, make sure it is encoded in UTF-8.

       When a post is received by nnrpd that does not already contain a Distribution header field, each
       newsgroup to which an article is posted will be checked against this file in turn, and the matching line
       with the highest weight will be used as the body of the Distribution header field.  If no lines match, or
       if the matching line has an empty string for its third field, no header field will be added.  In case a
       distribution is added by nnrpd, make sure it is not rejected by the newsfeeds "ME" entry.

       A list of recommended distributions can be specified and described in distributions(5).

HISTORY

       Written by Rich $alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net> for InterNetNews.  Converted to POD by Russ Allbery
       <eagle@eyrie.org>.

SEE ALSO

       distributions(5), inn.conf(5), libinn_uwildmat(3), newsfeeds(5), nnrpd(8).

INN 2.7.3                                          2025-05-19                                    DISTRIB.PATS(5)