tin(1) Usenet newsreader tin(1)
NAME
tin, rtin - Usenet newsreader
SYNOPSIS
tin [[-h|-H|-V] | [[[-a] [-dlnq|-Q] [-ArzxX]] [[-R|-S] -s News_dir] [-cuvZ] [-4|-6] [-N|-M address]
[-o|-w]] [-D debug_level] [-G article_limit] [-f newsrc_file] [-g server] [-m Mail_dir] [-p port] [-I
index_dir] [newsgroup[,...]]]
DESCRIPTION
tin is a full-screen easy to use Usenet newsreader. It can read news locally (e.g., /var/spool/news) or
remotely (rtin or tin -r option) via an NNTP (Network News Transport Protocol) server. It will automat‐
ically utilize NOV newsoverview(5) style index files if available locally or via the NNTP [X]OVER com‐
mand (RFC2980, RFC3977).
tin has four separate levels of operation: Selection level, Group level, Thread level and Article
level. Use the Help ('h') command to view a list of the commands available at a particular level.
On startup tin will show a list of the newsgroups found in ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.newsrc. An arrow
'->' or highlighted bar will point to the first newsgroup. Move to a group by using the terminal arrow
keys (terminal dependent) or Down ('j') and Up ('k'). Use PgUp/PgDn (terminal dependent) or PageUp
('^U') (CTRL-U) and PageDown ('^D') (CTRL-D) to page up/down. Enter a newsgroup by pressing '<CR>'.
The GroupNextUnreadArtOrGrp ('<TAB>') key enters the next newsgroup with unread articles.
EXIT STATUS
0 Successful program execution. No unread news available in batch mode.
1 Usage, syntax, configuration file or network error.
2 Unread news available (batch mode (''-Z'') only).
3 NNTP error.
OPTIONS
-4 Force connecting via IPv4 to the remote NNTP server. Only available when build with IPv6
support.
-6 Force connecting via IPv6 to the remote NNTP server. Only available when build with IPv6
support.
-a Toggle ANSI color (default is off).
-A Force authentication on initial connect. Only available when reading via NNTP.
-c Create/update index files for every group in ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.newsrc or file speci‐
fied by the ''-f'' option and mark all articles as read.
-d Don't load newsgroup descriptions and servers message of the day (interactive mode).
-D debug-level
Enter debug-level (1 = NNTP, 2 = filter, 4 = newsrc, 8 = threading, 16 = memory, 32 = at‐
tributes, 64 = misc, 128 = remove existing debug files). For NNTP-level ''-v'' controls
the verbosity of the output.
-f file Use the specified file of subscribed to newsgroups in place of ${TIN_HOME‐
DIR:-"$HOME"}/.newsrc.
-g server Use the server and newsrc specified in ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/newsrctable. Only
available when reading via NNTP.
-G article-limit
Limit the number of articles/group to retrieve from the server. If article-limit is > 0
not more than the last article-limit articles/group are fetched from the server. If arti‐
cle-limit is < 0 tin will start fetching articles from your first unread minus absolute
value of article-limit. Default is 0, which means no limit.
-h Help listing all command-line options.
-H Brief introduction to tin that is also shown the first time it is started.
-I dir Directory in which to store newsgroup index files. Default is ${TIN_INDEX_NEWS‐
DIR:-"${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin"}/.news. This option has no effect if tin retrieves its
index files via NNTP and cache_overview_files is turned off.
-l Get number of articles per group from the ${TIN_LIBDIR:-NEWSLIBDIR}"/"${TIN_ACTIVEFILE:-ac‐
tive} file. If reading via NNTP this is done with the LIST command (RFC3977). This might
result in incorrect article counts but is usually faster than the default which is to read
the ${TIN_LIBDIR:-NEWSLIBDIR}"/"${TIN_ACTIVEFILE:-active} file (either directly or via
LIST) and then check the article count via NNTP GROUP command (RFC3977) ''-ln''. If reading
via NNTP and LIST COUNTS (RFC6048) is available that is used instead as it gives more accu‐
rate article counts.
-m dir Mailbox directory to use. Default is ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/Mail.
-M user Mail unread articles to specified user for later reading. For more information read section
"AUTOMATIC MAILING AND SAVING NEW NEWS".
-n Only load groups from the ${TIN_LIBDIR:-NEWSLIBDIR}"/"${TIN_ACTIVEFILE:-active} file that
are subscribed to in the user's ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.newsrc. This allows a noticeable
speedup when connecting via a slow line, but tin may not be able detect which groups are
moderated. See also ''-l''.
-N Mail unread articles to yourself for later reading. For more information read section "AU‐
TOMATIC MAILING AND SAVING NEW NEWS".
-o Quick post all postponed articles and exit. In order for this to be really quick, it should
be used with ''-n'' if possible.
-p port Port to use if reading via NNTP (default is 119). This also overrides the environment vari‐
able $NNTPPORT if set. Only available when reading via NNTP.
-q Don't check for new newsgroups and skip loading the servers message of the day.
-Q Quick start. Start tin as quickly as possible. Currently this is equivalent to ''-dnq''.
-r Read news remotely from the default NNTP server specified in the environment variable
$NNTPSERVER or contained in the file /etc/news/server.
-R Read news saved by the ''-S'' option.
-s dir Save/read articles to/in directory. Default is ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/News.
-S Save unread articles for later reading by the ''-R'' option. For more information read sec‐
tion "AUTOMATIC MAILING AND SAVING NEW NEWS".
-u Create/update index files for every group in ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.newsrc or file speci‐
fied by the ''-f'' option. This option is disabled if tin retrieves its index files via an
NNTP server and cache_overview_files is turned off.
-v Verbose mode for ''-c'', ''-D'', ''-M'', ''-N'', ''-S'', ''-u'' and ''-Z'' options. Can be
used multiple times to increase verbosity.
-V Print version and date information.
-w Quick mode to post an article and then exit. This option implies ''-d''. In order for this
to be really quick, it should be used with ''-n'' if possible.
-x No-posting mode. You cannot post articles if you use this option.
-X No overwrite mode. ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.newsrc and files in ${TIN_HOME‐
DIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin will not be overwritten but may be created if they don't exist.
-z Only start tin if there is any new/unread news. If there is news tin will position cursor
at first group with unread news. Useful for putting in login file.
-Z Check if there is any new/unread news and exit with appropriate status. If ''-v'' option is
specified the number of unread articles in each group is printed. An exit code 0 indicates
no news, 1 that an error occurred and 2 that new/unread news exists. Useful for writing
scripts.
tin can also dynamically change its options by the OptionMenu ('M') command. Any changes are written to
${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/tinrc. For more information see section "GLOBAL OPTIONS MENU AND TINRC
CONFIGURABLE VARIABLES" and tin(5).
A list of groups can be specified after the other command-line options. This can be useful if you wish
to yank in or subscribe to a hand-picked subset of the active newsgroups. See the section "NEWSGROUP
LISTS & WILDCARDS" for the types of pattern that tin understands.
If you specify a single group-name, or a wildcard that matches a single group, then you will automati‐
cally enter that group. Otherwise the normal group selection screen will appear, but with all the
matching groups present too, as though you had yanked just those groups in.
With the ''-w'' flag a given group-name is used as default group to post to. If more than one group or
a wildcard is specified only the first group respectively the first group that matches is used.
Once you use SelectYankActive ('y') to yank in all active groups, or SelectToggleReadDisplay ('r') to
toggle the read/unread status, then the command-line groups will be gone. You can use SelectSyncWithAc‐
tive ('Y') to reread the ${TIN_LIBDIR:-NEWSLIBDIR}"/"${TIN_ACTIVEFILE:-active} file and get them back.
NB: With the ''-n'' flag, only unsubscribed groups in the ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.newsrc file (or the
newsrc-file given by the ''-f'' command-line switch or via ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/newsrctable)
can be matched.
Command-line options have higher priority than attributes and tinrc options. Thus, command-line option
takes precedence over configured values.
USAGE
NEWS ADMINISTRATION
Maintaining Netnews on large networks of machines can be a pretty time consuming job as I discovered
when I was given the job of maintaining our news system and news users.
A user starting tin for the first time can be automatically subscribed to a list of newsgroups that are
deemed appropriate by the news administrator. The subscriptions file should be created in your news lib
directory (i.e., ${TIN_LIBDIR:-NEWSLIBDIR}/subscriptions) and should be world readable. If you read
news via NNTP, then your news server must support the LIST SUBSCRIPTIONS command. It is part of the
NNTP List Extensions (RFC6048) and all modern servers should understand it.
SCREEN FORMAT
tin has four separate levels of operation: Selection level, Group level, Thread level and Article
level.
At the Selection level the title displays (the name of the news server and) the number of subscribed
groups (containing new unread articles). The newsgroups are displayed in the middle of the screen usu‐
ally with the number of unread articles displayed on the same line in front, but it can be customized
via select_format.
->M 1 2 comp.security.announce Announcements from the CERT abou
M 2 1 news.admin.announce Announcements for news adminstra
3 22 news.software.misc News-related software other than
4 1475 news.software.nntp The Network News Transfer Protoc
X 5 124 news.software.readers Discussion of software used to r
There may also be a character prefixing the line. An explanation follows:
u This group is unsubscribed. To see only your subscribed groups use the SelectToggleReadDis‐
play ('r') or SelectYankActive ('y') toggle keys.
M This is a moderated group. Any posts you make will have to be approved by the group adminis‐
trator before it will be made public. tin will ask for confirmation before you post to a mod‐
erated group.
N This is a new newsgroup which has been created since you last used tin. New newsgroups are
not subscribed to by default (However, see the $AUTOSUBSCRIBE / $AUTOUNSUBSCRIBE environment
variables). Subscribe to it in the normal way if you wish the group to continue to appear in
your Selection Menu. Simply ignore new newsgroups and they will be gone the next time you
start tin. You will have to yank in all the groups to find them in a later session.
D This group no longer exists. If you no longer wish to see this group then unsubscribe from it
in the normal way. This flag will only appear if you have set strip_bogus to "ask" in the Op‐
tions Menu.
X You may no longer make posts to this group. Often a group will be superseded by a more appro‐
priately named one.
= This group has been renamed and you may no longer post to it. If you do, then you will re‐
ceive an error from your news server telling you the correct group to post to.
At the Group level the title contains the name of the group, the number of conversation threads, the
abbreviated threading method (thread_articles), the limit of articles to get (if set; getart_limit),
the total number of (unread) articles (art_marked_read or art_marked_unread), the number of hot arti‐
cles art_marked_selected, the number of read hot articles (if any; art_marked_read_selected), the num‐
ber of recent articles (art_marked_recent) and the number of killed articles (art_marked_killed). I.e.:
alt.sources (5B -50/23+ 0* 3o 0K)
The characters after the numbers are depending to the configuration and if your are in show_only_un‐
read_arts mode or not. Some numbers could be missing if the specific option is not enabled. It might
also contain an 'M', 'X' or '=' (see above; doesn't work with the ''-n'' command-line switch!) if the
group is moderated, set to no posting or postings to it get redirected.
If a thread has unread articles it is marked with art_marked_unread in front of the total number of ar‐
ticles in the thread. If there are recent articles within the thread it might be marked with
art_marked_recent in front of the total number of articles in the thread — this is controlled by the
recent_time option. If a thread has hot articles in it (see also section "FILTERING ARTICLES") it's
marked with art_marked_selected in front of the total number of articles in the thread. The number of
lines of the first (unread) article in the thread might also be shown right before the subject — this
is controlled by the show_info option. The display can be customized via group_format.
de.admin.net-abuse.announce (11B 13+ 1* 1o 0K) M
-> 1 + 3 108 bincancels in de.talk.sex Christopher Lueg <l
2 + 69 EMP/ECP gecancelt. xynx. BI= 10 Henning Weede <hwee
3 o 93 EMP gecancelt. SouthBeach/Palms Henning Weede <hwee
4 * 368 <1997-11-12> Fremdcancel-FAQ Thomas Roessler <ro
At the Thread level the screen usually (depends on the threading method used) looks like this, but can
be customized via thread_format:
-> 1 [ 7] What is this funny tree in the thr Robert F. Simmig
2 [ 12] +-> Sephan Wagner <s
3 [ 230] | `->Tin thread-level (was: What is Bob Johnson <bob
4 [ 22] `->tin threading menu Brian Richardson
At the Article level the page header has the following format:
Sun, 28 Dec 1997 21:21:01 de.admin.news.groups Thread 20 of 86
Lines 50 Re: EINSPRUCH zu RESULT:de.comm.mobil.ALL Article 47 of 59
Urs Janssen <
[email protected]> at Arbeitskreis Kultur und Kommunikati
article-body
The look of the Selection, Group and Thread level can be customized. See the section "CUSTOMIZING THE
SCREEN FORMAT".
COMMON MOVING KEYS
This table shows the common keys used for moving around all levels within tin.
ANSI/vt100 Other Terminals
Beg. of list/article Home FirstPage (^)
End of list/article End LastPage ($)
Page Up PgUp PageUp (u, ^U or ^B)
Page Down PgDn PageDown (^D or ^F or <SPACE>)
Line Up Up arrow Up (k or ^P)
Line Down Down arrow Down (j or ^N)
COMMON EDITING COMMANDS
An emacs(1) style editing package allows the easy editing of input strings. A history list allows the
easy reuse of previously entered strings. In addition to the cursor keys, the following commands are
available when editing a string:
^A, ^E move to beginning or end of line, respectively.
^F, ^B non-destructive move forward or back one location, respectively.
^D delete the character currently under the cursor, or send EOF if no characters in the buffer.
^H, <DEL> delete character left of the cursor.
^K delete from cursor to end of line.
^P, ^N move through history, previous and next, respectively.
^L, ^R redraw the current line.
<CR> places line on history list if non-blank, appends newline and returns to the caller.
<ESC> aborts the present editing operation.
GLOBAL COMMANDS
The following commands are available at all 4 menu levels and always have the same effect.
ShellEscape '!'
Shell escape. ShellEscape by itself will launch a shell, ShellEscape <command> will run an
external <command>. This facility may have been disabled by the System Administrator.
ToggleColor '&'
Toggle use of ANSI color.
RedrawScr '^L'
Redraw the current screen.
ScrollUp '<'
Scroll screen up by one line.
ScrollDown '>'
Scroll screen down by one line.
Postponed 'O' '^O'
Reload postponed article. If your system blocks the Postponed key you must quote it by press‐
ing '^V' (CTRL-V) first. The postpone-menu offers the following actions: PromptYes ('y') =
reload and spawn editor; PostponeOverride ('Y') = post article (without spawning editor);
PostponeAll ('A') = post all postponed articles (without spawning editor); PromptNo ('n') =
skip this article; Quit ('q') = quit postponed menu. Currently there is no 'simple' way to
delete a postponed article from the postponed-file, you have to use the following command se‐
quence instead: reload it with Postponed, enter editor with PromptYes, quit editor, discard
posting with Quit ('^O''y''q'). See also ''-o'' command-line switch.
Help 'h' Help screen of commands available on the current menu. You can use SearchSubjF ('/'), Search‐
SubjB ('?') and SearchRepeat ('\') to search on this screen. Quit ('q') returns to the menu.
ToggleHelpDisplay 'H'
Toggle the display of help mini menu at the bottom of the screen and posting etiquette after
composing an article (beginner_level).
DisplayPostHist 'W'
List articles posted by user. The date posted, the newsgroup and the subject are listed. See
the section "POSTING HISTORY LISTING" for more information.
Version 'v'
Print tin version information.
NEWSGROUP SELECTION COMMANDS
4 Select group 4.
SelectResetNewsrc '^R'
Reset ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.newsrc file. This will destroy all records of which articles
have been read, so use this carefully.
SetRange '#'
Choose a range of articles to be affected by the next command. See the section "RANGES" for
more information.
SelectSortActive '.'
Sort the list of newsgroups.
SearchRepeat '\'
Repeat the previous search.
SearchSubjF '/'
Search for a group by name and description (if displayed).
SearchSubjB '?'
Backward search through the group names and descriptions.
SelectReadGrp '^J' '<CR>'
Read current group.
SelectEnterNextUnreadGrp '<TAB>' 'n'
Enter next group with unread news. Will wrap around to the beginning of the group selection
list looking for unread groups.
Catchup 'c'
Make current group as all read [after confirmation] and move to the next group in the group
selection list.
CatchupNextUnread 'C'
Mark current group as all read [after confirmation] and enter the next unread group in the
group selection list.
SelectToggleDescriptions 'd'
Toggle display to show just the group name or the group name and the group descriptions.
EditFilter 'E'
Edit the filter file and reload it afterwards.
SelectGoto 'g'
Choose a new group by name. This command can be used to access any group, even those not cur‐
rently yanked in.
ToggleInfoLastLine 'i'
Toggle the display of the description of the current newsgroup in the last line. This will
not be available if tin was started with the ''-d'' option.
ToggleInverseVideo 'I'
Toggle inverse video.
LookupMessage 'L'
Look up article by ''Message-ID:''. If none of the groups listed in the ''News‐
groups:''-header of the referenced article is available, just the contents of the ''News‐
groups:''-header will be displayed in the last line. At this level this command only works
if reading via NNTP and the server supports [X]HDR (RFC2980, RFC3977) or XPAT (RFC2980).
SelectMoveGrp 'm'
Move the current group within the group selection list. By entering '1' the group will become
the first displayed group in the list, by entering '8' the eighth group in the list etc. By
entering '$' the group will be the last group displayed.
OptionMenu 'M'
User configurable options menu (for more information see section "GLOBAL OPTIONS MENU AND
TINRC CONFIGURABLE VARIABLES").
SelectNextUnreadGrp 'N'
Positions the cursor on the next group with unread articles in it.
Quit 'q' Quit tin — ask the user to confirm if confirm_choice is set accordingly.
QuitTin 'Q'
Quit tin — don't ask the user to confirm.
SelectToggleReadDisplay 'r'
Toggle display of all subscribed to groups and just those groups containing unread articles.
Command has no effect if groups were specified on the command-line when tin was started.
BugReport 'R'
Mail a bug report or comment to <
[email protected]>. This is the best way of getting bugs
fixed and features added/changed.
SelectSubscribe 's'
Subscribe to current group.
SelectSubscribePat 'S'
Subscribe to groups matching user specified pattern. See the section "NEWSGROUP LISTS & WILD‐
CARDS" for the types of pattern that tin understands.
SelectUnsubscribe 'u'
Unsubscribe to current group. This can be used to remove bogus groups. See strip_bogus in
the "GLOBAL OPTIONS MENU AND TINRC CONFIGURABLE VARIABLES" section.
SelectUnsubscribePat 'U'
Unsubscribe to groups matching user specified pattern. See the section "NEWSGROUP LISTS &
WILDCARDS" for the types of pattern that tin understands.
Post 'w' Post an article to current group. If posting fails for some reason, you'll get the chance to
PostEdit ('e') the article again, PostPostpone ('o') it for later processing (see also ''-o''
command-line switch) or discard it via Quit ('q').
SelectQuitNoWrite 'X'
Quit tin without saving any changes to the configuration.
SelectYankActive 'y'
Yanks in all groups. Toggles the displayed groups between all the groups in the ${TIN_LIB‐
DIR:-NEWSLIBDIR}"/"${TIN_ACTIVEFILE:-active} file and just those that are subscribed to in
${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.newsrc.
SelectSyncWithActive 'Y'
Reread the ${TIN_LIBDIR:-NEWSLIBDIR}"/"${TIN_ACTIVEFILE:-active} file to see if any new news
has arrived since starting tin.
SelectMarkGrpUnread 'z' 'Z'
Mark all articles in the current group as unread.
GROUP INDEX COMMANDS
All searches in this level are limited to unread articles if in show_only_unread_arts mode. GroupTog‐
gleReadUnread ('r') can be use toggle the setting right before/after the search.
4 Select article 4.
MenuFilterSelect '^A'
Auto select article(s) using a menu. Read the section "FILTERING ARTICLES" for more informa‐
tion.
MenuFilterKill '^K'
Kill article(s) using a menu. Read the section "FILTERING ARTICLES" for more information.
MarkFeedRead '^X'
Mark current article, thread, range, auto-selected (hot) articles, articles matching pattern
or tagged articles as read. A prompt asks which type should be marked.
MarkFeedUnread '^W'
Mark current article, thread, range, auto-selected (hot) articles, articles matching pattern
or tagged articles as unread. A prompt asks which type should be marked.
SetRange '#'
Choose a range of articles to be affected by the next command. See the section "RANGES" for
more information.
LastViewed '-'
Re-enter the last message that was viewed.
SearchRepeat '\'
Repeat the previous search.
SearchSubjF '/'
Search forward for specified subject.
SearchSubjB '?'
Search backwards for specified subject.
GroupSelThd '*'
Select current thread for later processing.
GroupDoAutoSel '+'
Selects all threads in current group. It is a shortcut for calling GroupSelPattern with a
pattern of ''*''.
GroupToggleThdSel '.'
Toggle selection of current thread. If at least one unread article, (but not every unread ar‐
ticle) in the current thread is selected, then all unread articles become selected.
GroupSelThdIfUnreadSelected ';'
For each thread in current group, if it at least one unread article is selected, all unread
articles become selected. This is useful for auto-selection on author where reader wants to
see entire thread.
GroupSelPattern '='
Prompts for a pattern with which to match on. All threads whose subjects match the pattern
will be marked selected. A pattern of ''*'' will match all subjects. Entering just '<CR>'
will re-use the last pattern that was entered.
GroupReverseSel '@'
Reverse all selections on all articles.
GroupUndoSel '~'
Undo all selections on all articles. It clears the toggle effect of GroupMarkUnselArtRead
('X') command. Thus after first doing a GroupMarkUnselArtRead, one can then do GroupUndoSel
to reset articles. Thus, one can iteratively whittle down uninteresting threads.
Pipe '|' Pipe current article / thread / auto-selected (hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
tagged articles into command. See the section "MAILING PIPING PRINTING REPOSTING AND SAVING
ARTICLES" for more information.
QuickFilterSelect '['
Auto select article(s) with a single key [after confirmation]. The defaults used for selec‐
tion are based upon the following four tinrc config variables: default_filter_select_case,
default_filter_select_expire, default_filter_select_global and default_filter_select_header.
Read the section "GLOBAL OPTIONS MENU AND TINRC CONFIGURABLE VARIABLES" for a full explana‐
tion of these variables and "FILTERING ARTICLES" for more information on filtering.
QuickFilterKill ']'
Kill article(s) with a single key [after confirmation]. The defaults used for killing are
based upon the following four tinrc config variables: default_filter_kill_case, default_fil‐
ter_kill_expire, default_filter_kill_global and default_filter_kill_header. Read the section
"GLOBAL OPTIONS MENU AND TINRC CONFIGURABLE VARIABLES" for a full explanation of these vari‐
ables and "FILTERING ARTICLES" for more information on filtering.
GroupReadBasenote '^J' '<CR>'
Read current article.
GroupNextUnreadArtOrGrp '<TAB>'
View next unread article or group.
SearchAuthF 'a'
Author forward search. This searches for articles with a specific ''From:'' line.
SearchAuthB 'A'
Author backward search. Otherwise, see SearchAuthF ('a') above.
SearchBody 'B'
Search the body of all articles in group (can be slow). You can abort the search using Quit
('q').
Catchup 'c'
Mark all articles as read [after confirmation] then return to the group selection list. Move
cursor to next group.
CatchupNextUnread 'C'
Mark all articles as read [after confirmation] and enter the next group with unread news.
GroupToggleSubjDisplay 'd'
Cycle the display of the author through all the possible options for the tinrc variable
show_author.
GroupCancel 'D'
Cancel (delete) or supersede (overwrite) the current article. It must have been posted by the
same user. The cancel message can be seen in the newsgroup 'control' or 'control.cancel'.
EditFilter 'E'
Edit the filter file and reload it afterwards.
GroupGoto 'g'
Choose a new group by name. This command can be used to access any group, even those not cur‐
rently yanked in.
GroupToggleGetartLimit 'G'
Toggle article/group limit.
ToggleInfoLastLine 'i'
Display the subject of the first article in the current thread in the last line.
ToggleInverseVideo 'I'
Toggle inverse video.
GroupMarkThdRead 'K'
Mark article/thread as read and move onto the next unread article/thread. If a range of arti‐
cles/threads is set, the range will be marked as read instead of the current article/thread.
When tagged articles/threads are present, a prompt asks how to proceed.
GroupListThd 'l'
Open the thread under the current cursor position.
LookupMessage 'L'
Look up article by ''Message-ID:''.
GroupMail 'm'
Mail current article / thread / auto-selected (hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
tagged articles to someone. See the section "MAILING PIPING PRINTING REPOSTING AND SAVING AR‐
TICLES" for more information.
OptionMenu 'M'
User configurable options menu (for more information see section "GLOBAL OPTIONS MENU AND
TINRC CONFIGURABLE VARIABLES").
GroupNextGroup 'n'
Go to next group.
GroupNextUnreadArt 'N'
Go to the next unread article.
Print 'o' Send current article / thread / auto-selected (hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
tagged articles to printer. See the section "MAILING PIPING PRINTING REPOSTING AND SAVING AR‐
TICLES" for more information.
GroupPrevGroup 'p'
Go to previous group.
GroupPrevUnreadArt 'P'
Go to previous unread article.
Quit 'q' Return to previous level.
QuitTin 'Q'
Quit tin — don't ask the user to confirm.
GroupToggleReadUnread 'r'
Toggle the display between all articles and unread articles.
BugReport 'R'
Mail a bug report or comment to <
[email protected]>. This is the best way of getting bugs
fixed and features added/changed.
GroupSave 's'
Save current article / thread / auto-selected (hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
tagged articles. See the section "MAILING PIPING PRINTING REPOSTING AND SAVING ARTICLES" for
more information.
GroupAutoSave 'S'
Save marked articles automatically without further prompting.
GroupTag 't'
Toggle tag-status of current article / thread for GroupMail ('m') / Pipe ('|') / Print ('o')
/ GroupSave ('s') / GroupRepost ('x').
GroupTagParts 'T'
Automatically tag/untag all the parts of the current multi-part message in order.
GroupToggleThreading 'u'
Cycle the threading mode through no threading, threading by subject, threading by references,
threading on both subject and references, group multipart articles into a thread (''Sub‐
ject:'' based).
GroupUntag 'U'
Untag all articles that were tagged.
Post 'w' Post an article to the current group. If posting fails for some reason, you'll get the chance
to edit the article again via PostEdit ('e'), postpone it for later processing via PostPost‐
pone ('o') (see also ''-o'' command-line switch) or discard it via Quit ('q').
GroupRepost 'x'
Repost an already posted article / thread / auto-selected (hot) articles / articles matching
pattern / tagged articles to another newsgroup(s). Useful for reposting from global to local
newsgroups. Do not use this to crosspost your own articles.
GroupMarkUnselArtRead 'X'
Mark all unread articles that have not been selected as read, redraw screen to reflect
changes and put index at the first thread to begin reading. Pressing GroupMarkUnselArtRead
('X') again will toggle back to the way it was before. See GroupUndoSel ('~') command for
clearing the toggle effect, leaving the group will also clear the toggle effect and make the
changes permanent.
MarkArtUnread 'z'
Mark current article as unread.
MarkThdUnread 'Z'
Mark current thread as unread. If a range of threads is set, the range will be marked as un‐
read instead of the current thread. When tagged threads are present, a prompt asks how to
proceed.
THREAD LISTING COMMANDS
4 Select article 4 within thread.
MenuFilterSelect '^A'
Auto select article(s) using a menu. Read the section "FILTERING ARTICLES" for more informa‐
tion.
MenuFilterKill '^K'
Kill article(s) using a menu. Read the section "FILTERING ARTICLES" for more information.
MarkFeedRead '^X'
Mark current article, thread, range, auto-selected (hot) articles, articles matching pattern
or tagged articles as read. A prompt asks which type should be marked.
MarkFeedUnread '^W'
Mark current article, thread, range, auto-selected (hot) articles, articles matching pattern
or tagged articles as unread. A prompt asks which type should be marked.
SetRange '#'
Choose a range of articles to be affected by the next command. See the section "RANGES" for
more information.
LastViewed '-'
Re-enter the last message that was viewed.
SearchRepeat '\'
Repeat the previous search.
SearchSubjF '/'
Search forward for specified subject.
SearchSubjB '?'
Search backwards for specified subject.
ThreadSelArt '*'
Select current thread for later processing.
ThreadToggleArtSel '.'
Toggle selection of current article.
ThreadReverseSel '@'
Reverse article selections.
ThreadUndoSel '~'
Undo all selections on current thread.
Pipe '|' Pipe current article / thread / auto-selected (hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
tagged articles into command. See the section "MAILING PIPING PRINTING REPOSTING AND SAVING
ARTICLES" for more information.
ThreadReadArt '^J' '<CR>'
Read current article within thread.
ThreadReadNextArtOrThread '<TAB>'
View next unread article within thread.
SearchAuthF 'a'
Author forward search. This searches for articles with a specific ''From:'' line. The search
will wrap over into the next thread if nothing is found in the current one.
SearchAuthB 'A'
Author backward search. Otherwise, see SearchAuthF ('a') above.
SearchBody 'B'
Search the body of all articles in group (can be slow). You can abort the search using Quit
('q').
Catchup 'c'
Mark thread as read [after confirmation] and return to the group index page. Move cursor to
next thread.
CatchupNextUnread 'C'
Mark thread as read [after confirmation] and enter the next thread containing unread news.
ThreadToggleSubjDisplay 'd'
Cycle the display of the author through all the possible options for the tinrc variable
show_author.
ThreadCancel 'D'
Cancel (delete) or supersede (overwrite) the current article. It must have been posted by the
same user. The cancel message can be seen in the newsgroup 'control' or 'control.cancel'.
EditFilter 'E'
Edit the filter file and reload it afterwards.
ToggleInfoLastLine 'i'
Display the subject of the current article in the last line.
ToggleInverseVideo 'I'
Toggle inverse video.
ThreadMarkArtRead 'K'
Mark article as read and move onto the next unread article. If a range of articles is set,
the range will be marked as read instead of the current article. When tagged articles are
present, a prompt asks how to proceed.
LookupMessage 'L'
Look up article by ''Message-ID:''.
ThreadMail 'm'
Mail current article / thread / auto-selected (hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
tagged articles to someone. See the section "MAILING PIPING PRINTING REPOSTING AND SAVING AR‐
TICLES" for more information.
Print 'o' Send current article / thread / auto-selected (hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
tagged articles to printer. See the section "MAILING PIPING PRINTING REPOSTING AND SAVING AR‐
TICLES" for more information.
Quit 'q' Return to previous level.
QuitTin 'Q'
Quit tin — don't ask the user to confirm.
BugReport 'R'
Mail a bug report or comment to <
[email protected]>. This is the best way of getting bugs
fixed and features added/changed.
ThreadSave 's'
Save current article / thread / auto-selected (hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
tagged articles. See the section "MAILING PIPING PRINTING REPOSTING AND SAVING ARTICLES" for
more information.
ThreadAutoSave 'S'
Save marked articles automatically without further prompting.
ThreadTag 't'
Toggle tag status of current article for mailing, piping, printing, saving or reposting.
ThreadTagParts 'T'
Automatically tag/untag all the parts of the current multi-part message in order.
ThreadUntag 'U'
Untag all tagged threads.
Post 'w' Post an article to the current group. If posting fails for some reason, you'll get the chance
to edit the article again via PostEdit ('e'), postpone it for later processing via PostPost‐
pone ('o') (see also ''-o'' command-line switch) or discard it via Quit ('q').
MarkArtUnread 'z'
Mark current article in thread as unread. If a range of articles is set, the range will be
marked as unread instead of the current article. When tagged articles are present, a prompt
asks how to proceed.
MarkThdUnread 'Z'
Mark all articles in thread as unread.
ARTICLE VIEWER COMMANDS
0 Read the first (base) article in this thread.
4 Read response 4 in this thread.
MenuFilterSelect '^A'
Auto select article(s) using a menu. Read the section "FILTERING ARTICLES" for more informa‐
tion.
PageReplyQuoteHeaders '^E'
Reply through mail to the author of the current article with a copy of the article with all
headers included.
PagePGPCheckArticle '^G'
Perform pgp(1) / gpg(1) operations on article. This expects inline pgp (RFC4880) and not MIME
pgp (RFC3156).
PageToggleRaw '^H'
Toggles the display mode (raw including all headers vs. cooked).
MenuFilterKill '^K'
Kill article(s) using a menu. Read the section "FILTERING ARTICLES" for more information.
PageToggleTabs '^T'
Toggle the TAB width between 4 and 8 characters.
PageFollowupQuoteHeaders '^W'
Post a followup to the current article with a copy of the article with all headers included.
PageToggleTex2iso '"'
Toggle TeX to ISO decoding for current article. The default behavior is taken from the
tex2iso_conv variable in the tinrc file.
PageToggleAllHeaders '*'
Toggles the display of all headers vs. headers in news_headers_to_display.
PageToggleRot '%'
Toggle ROT-13 decoding for this article.
PageToggleUue '('
Toggle the display of uuencoded sections. The default behavior is taken from the hide_uue
variable in the tinrc file.
PageReveal ')'
The form feed character (^L) is often used to hide 'spoilers' that the reader may not ini‐
tially wish to see when viewing an article. Any text after a formfeed is not displayed. This
key-press acts like a reveal key and turns the hidden text back on. Scrolling down will also
reveal the text, scrolling up will hide it again.
LastViewed '-'
Re-enter the last message that was viewed.
SearchRepeat '\'
Repeat the previous search.
SearchSubjF '/'
Forward search the text of this article.
SearchSubjB '?'
Backward search the text of this article.
PageSkipIncludedText ':'
Skip to the end of the next quoted text-block in this article. Quoted text is everything
which matches quote_regex, quote_regex2 or quote_regex3.
PageTopThd '<'
Go to the first article in the current thread.
PageBotThd '>'
Go to the last article in the current thread.
PageToggleHighlight '_'
Toggle word highlighting on/off.
Pipe '|' Pipe current article / thread / auto-selected (hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
tagged articles into command. See the section "MAILING PIPING PRINTING REPOSTING AND SAVING
ARTICLES" for more information.
QuickFilterSelect '['
Auto select article(s) with a single key. The defaults used for selection are set based upon
the following four tinrc config variables: default_filter_select_case, default_filter_se‐
lect_expire, default_filter_select_global and default_filter_select_header Read the section
"GLOBAL OPTIONS MENU AND TINRC CONFIGURABLE VARIABLES" for a full explanation of these vari‐
ables and "FILTERING ARTICLES" for more information on filtering.
QuickFilterKill ']'
Kill article(s) with a single key. The defaults used for killing are based upon the following
four tinrc config variables: default_filter_kill_case, default_filter_kill_expire, de‐
fault_filter_kill_global and default_filter_kill_header. Read the section "GLOBAL OPTIONS
MENU AND TINRC CONFIGURABLE VARIABLES" for a full explanation of these variables and "FILTER‐
ING ARTICLES" for more information on filtering.
PageNextThd '^J' '<CR>'
Go to next base article.
PageNextUnread '<TAB>'
Go to next unread article. If the tinrc variable goto_next_unread doesn't contain PageNextUn‐
read, then this key will first page through the current article.
SearchAuthF 'a'
Author forward search.
SearchAuthB 'A'
Author backward search.
SearchBody 'B'
Search the body of all articles in group (can be slow). You can abort the search using Quit
('q').
Catchup 'c'
Mark the current thread as read [after confirmation] and return to the previous menu. Move
cursor to next item.
CatchupNextUnread 'C'
Mark the rest of the current thread as read [after confirmation] and enter the next thread
with unread articles.
PageCancel 'D'
Cancel (delete) or supersede (overwrite) the current article. It must have been posted by the
same user. The cancel message can be seen in the newsgroup 'control' or 'control.cancel'.
PageEditArticle 'e'
Edit the current article. This is restricted to mailgroups and saved news.
EditFilter 'E'
Edit the filter file and reload it afterwards.
PageFollowupQuote 'f'
Post a followup to the current article with a copy of the article included.
PageFollowup 'F'
Post a followup to the current article without including a copy of the article.
PageFirstPage 'g'
Go to the start of the article.
PageLastPage 'G'
Go to the end of the article.
ToggleInfoLastLine 'i'
Display the subject of the current article in the last line.
ToggleInverseVideo 'I'
Toggle inverse video.
PageKillThd 'K'
Mark rest of thread as read and move onto the next unread thread.
PageListThd 'l'
Show the thread menu that the current article is a part of.
LookupMessage 'L'
Look up article by ''Message-ID:''.
PageMail 'm'
Mail current article / thread / auto-selected (hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
tagged articles to someone. See the section "MAILING PIPING PRINTING REPOSTING AND SAVING AR‐
TICLES" for more information.
OptionMenu 'M'
User configurable options menu (for more information see section "GLOBAL OPTIONS MENU AND
TINRC CONFIGURABLE VARIABLES").
PageNextArt 'n'
Go to the next article.
PageNextUnreadArt 'N'
Go to the next unread article.
Print 'o' Send current article / thread / auto-selected (hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
tagged articles to printer. See the section "MAILING PIPING PRINTING REPOSTING AND SAVING AR‐
TICLES" for more information.
PagePrevArt 'p'
Go to the previous article.
PagePrevUnreadArt 'P'
Go to the previous unread article.
Quit 'q' Return to the previous level.
QuitTin 'Q'
Quit tin — don't ask the user to confirm.
PageReplyQuote 'r'
Reply through mail to the author of the current article with a copy of the article included.
PageReply 'R'
Reply through mail to the author of the current article without including the original arti‐
cle.
PageSave 's'
Save current article / thread / auto-selected (hot) articles / articles matching pattern /
tagged articles. See the section "MAILING PIPING PRINTING REPOSTING AND SAVING ARTICLES" for
more information.
PageAutoSave 'S'
Save marked articles automatically without further prompting.
PageTag 't'
Toggle tag status of current article for mailing, piping, printing, saving or reposting.
PageGroupSel 'T'
Return to group selection level.
PageGotoParent 'u'
Go to parent article.
PageViewUrl 'U'
Display a list of URLs in the current article. See the section "URL LISTING" for more infor‐
mation.
PageViewAttach 'V'
Display a list of attachments of the current article. See the section "ATTACHMENT LISTING"
for more information.
Post 'w' Post an article to the current group. If posting fails for some reason, you'll get the chance
to edit the article again via PostEdit ('e'), postpone it for later processing via PostPost‐
pone ('o') (see also ''-o'' command-line switch) or discard it via Quit ('q').
PageRepost 'x'
Repost an already posted article / thread / auto-selected (hot) articles / articles matching
pattern / tagged articles to another newsgroup(s). Useful for reposting from global to local
newsgroups. Do not use this to crosspost your own articles.
MarkArtUnread 'z'
Mark article as unread.
MarkThdUnread 'Z'
Mark the current thread as unread.
URL LISTING
PageViewUrl ('U') displays a list of URLs in the current article. Besides the common moving keys, the
following commands are available:
UrlSelect '^J' '<CR>'
The current URL will be prompted and opened using the url_handler. '<ESC>' or no input
will skip the URL.
SearchSubjF '/'
URL forward search.
SearchSubjB '?'
URL backward search.
SearchRepeat '\'
Repeat the previous search.
ShellEscape '!'
Shell escape.
ToggleInfoLastLine 'i'
Toggle the display of the current URL in the last line.
Help 'h' Help screen of commands available.
ToggleHelpDisplay 'H'
Toggle the display of help mini menu at the bottom of the screen and posting etiquette
after composing an article (beginner_level).
ATTACHMENT LISTING
PageViewAttach ('V') displays a list of attachments of the current article. Besides the common moving
keys, the following commands are available:
AttachPipe 'p'
Pipe attachment into command.
AttachSave 's'
Save current attachment / tagged attachments to disk.
AttachSelect '^J' '<CR>'
View attachment.
AttachTag 't'
Tag one or more attachments for saving.
AttachTagPattern '='
Prompts for a pattern to match. All attachments whose name/description or content
type/transfer encoding match the pattern will be tagged.
AttachToggleTagged '@'
Reverse tagging of all attachments.
AttachUntag 'U'
Untag all tagged attachments.
SearchSubjF '/'
Attachment forward search.
SearchSubjB '?'
Attachment backward search.
SearchRepeat '\'
Repeat the previous search.
GlobalPipe '|'
Pipe attachment into command. Uses the raw attachment, no decoding is done.
ShellEscape '!'
Shell escape.
ToggleInfoLastLine 'i'
Toggle the display of the name/description of the current attachment in the last line.
Help 'h' Help screen of commands available.
ToggleHelpDisplay 'H'
Toggle the display of help mini menu at the bottom of the screen and posting etiquette
after composing an article (beginner_level).
POSTING HISTORY LISTING
DisplayPostHist ('W') displays a list of all previous posted articles stored in ${TIN_HOME‐
DIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/posted. The following information is shown: a time stamp in "dd-mm-yy"-format, a
single letter indicating the action which initiated the message, the group names (eventually shortened,
see also abbreviate_groupname) or a mail address the message was sent to and the subject of the mes‐
sage. Besides the common moving keys, the following commands are available:
PostedArticlesSelect '^J' '<CR>'
The article with the current ''Message-ID:'' will be opened if available. Note that this
requires that the ''Message-ID:'' of the article was recorded in ${TIN_HOME‐
DIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/posted which may not always be the case. If using NNTP and the inter‐
nal inews (inews_prog set to "--internal") and either the server proposes a ''Mes‐
sage-ID:'' during the POST (RFC3977) command or tin is build to generate ''Message-ID:''
this should be the case. With an external inews (and reading from local spool) it is not.
SearchSubjF '/'
URL forward search.
SearchSubjB '?'
URL backward search.
SearchRepeat '\'
Repeat the previous search.
ShellEscape '!'
Shell escape.
ToggleInfoLastLine 'i'
Toggle the display of the current ''Message-ID:'' in the last line.
Help 'h' Help screen of commands available.
ToggleHelpDisplay 'H'
Toggle the display of help mini menu at the bottom of the screen and posting etiquette
after composing an article (beginner_level).
GLOBAL OPTIONS MENU AND TINRC CONFIGURABLE VARIABLES
At startup, tin reads in the configuration files (see also tin(5)). They contain a list of variables
that can be used to configure the way tin works. If it exists, the global configuration file,
/etc/tin/tinrc is read. After that, the user's own configuration file is read from ${TIN_HOME‐
DIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/tinrc. The global file is useful for distributing system-wide defaults to new users
who have no private tinrc yet.
The variables are user configurable by editing ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/tinrc directly. Most of
them can also be set in the GLOBAL OPTIONS MENU which is accessed by pressing OptionMenu ('M') at all
levels. It allows the user to customize the behavior of tin. The options are saved to the file
${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/tinrc when you exit tin so don't edit the file directly whilst tin is run‐
ning.
In the options menu use the cursor keys in the usual way to move around. Use ConfigSelect ('^J' or
'<CR>') to 'open' the option you wish to change. You will need to enter a new value or use '<SPACE>' to
toggle the available options. ConfigSelect will save the new value, '<ESC>' will abort without saving
changes.
As with the other menus, RedrawScr ('^L') will redraw the screen. You can use SearchSubjF ('/'),
SearchSubjB ('?') and SearchRepeat ('\') to search for a specific option. Use Quit ('q') to exit the
option menu and keep your changes. Use QuitTin ('Q') to exit without keeping your changes.
The options menu provides access to the attributes menu for the current group by the ConfigToggleAttrib
('<TAB>') command. Pressing ConfigToggleAttrib again toggles back to the options menu. For more infor‐
mation see section "ATTRIBUTES MENU AND GROUP ATTRIBUTES".
The ConfigScopeMenu ('S') command brings up the scopes menu. For more information see section "SCOPES
MENU".
Here is a full list of all the available variables. The name in braces is the name of the corresponding
setting in ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/tinrc.
Abbreviate long newsgroup names (abbreviate_groupname)
If ON abbreviate long newsgroup names at group selection level and article level (if necessary)
like this: news.software.readers -> n.software.readers -> n.s.readers -> n.s.r. Default is OFF.
Add posted articles to filter (add_posted_to_filter)
If ON add posted articles which start a new thread to filter for highlighting follow-ups. Default
is ON.
Insert 'User-Agent:'-header (advertising)
Turn ON advertising in header (''User-Agent:''). Default is ON.
Skip multipart/alternative parts (alternative_handling)
If ON strip multipart/alternative messages automatically. Default is ON.
Character to show deleted articles (art_marked_deleted)
The character used to show that an article was deleted. Default is 'D'.
Character to show inrange articles (art_marked_inrange)
The character used to show that an article is in a range. Default is '#'.
Character to show returning arts (art_marked_return)
The character used to show that an article will return as an unread article when the group is next
entered. Default is '-'.
Character to show selected articles (art_marked_selected)
The character used to show that an article/thread is auto-selected (hot). Default is '*'.
Character to show recent articles (art_marked_recent)
The character used to show that an article/thread is recent (not older than X days). See also re‐
cent_time. Default is 'o'.
Character to show unread articles (art_marked_unread)
The character used to show that an article has not been read. Default is '+'.
Character to show read articles (art_marked_read)
The character used to show that an article was read. Default is ' '.
Character to show killed articles (art_marked_killed)
The character used to show that an article was killed. Default is 'K'. kill_level must be set ac‐
cordingly.
Character to show read selected arts (art_marked_read_selected)
The character used to show that an article was hot before it was read. Default is ':'. kill_level
must be set accordingly.
Ask before using MIME viewer (ask_for_metamail)
If ON tin will ask before using a MIME viewer (metamail_prog) to display MIME messages. This only
occurs if a MIME viewer is set. Default is OFF.
Send you a cc and/or bcc automatically (auto_cc_bcc)
Automatically put your name in the ''Cc:'' and/or ''Bcc:'' field when mailing an article. Default
is No.
List thread using right arrow key (auto_list_thread)
If ON automatically list thread when entering it using right arrow key. Default is ON.
Reconnect to server automatically (auto_reconnect)
Default is OFF.
Save articles in batch mode (batch_save)
If set ON articles/threads will be saved in batch mode when save ''-S'' or mail ''-M, -N'' is spec‐
ified on the command line. Default is ON.
Show mini menu & posting etiquette (beginner_level)
If set ON a mini menu of the most useful commands will be displayed at the bottom of the screen for
each level. Also a short posting etiquette will be displayed after composing an article. Default is
ON.
Cache NNTP overview files locally (cache_overview_files)
If ON, create local copies of NNTP overview files. This can be used to considerably speed up ac‐
cessing large groups when using a slow connection. See also "INDEX FILES". Default is OFF.
Hash algorithm for cancel-locks (cancel_lock_algo)
Use this hash algorithm for cancel-locks. Only available when build with cancel-lock support. none
disables the generation of cancel-locks. Valid values are none, sha1, sha256 and sha512. Default
is sha1.
Catchup read groups when quitting (catchup_read_groups)
If set ON the user is asked when quitting if all groups read during the current session should be
marked read. Default is OFF.
Standard background color (col_back)
Standard background color
Color of quoted text from external sources (col_extquote)
Color of quoted text from external sources
Color of sender (From:) (col_from)
Color of sender (From:)
Color of article header lines (col_head)
Color of header-lines
Color of help text (col_help)
Color of help pages
Color for inverse text (background) (col_invers_bg)
Color of background for inverse text
Color for inverse text (foreground) (col_invers_fg)
Color of foreground for inverse text
Color of status messages (col_message)
Color of status messages in last line
Color of highlighting with _dash_ (col_markdash)
Color of words emphasized like _this_. See also word_h_display_marks and word_highlight.
Color of highlighting with /slash/ (col_markslash)
Color of words emphasized like /this/. See also word_h_display_marks and word_highlight.
Color of highlighting with *stars* (col_markstar)
Color of words emphasized like *this*. See also word_h_display_marks and word_highlight.
Color of highlighting with -stroke- (col_markstroke)
Color of words emphasized like -this-. See also word_h_display_marks and word_highlight.
Color of mini help menu (col_minihelp)
Color of mini help menu
Color of actual news header fields (col_newsheaders)
Color of actual news header fields
Standard foreground color (col_normal)
Standard foreground color
Color of quoted lines (col_quote)
Color of quoted lines
Color of twice quoted line (col_quote2)
Color of twice quoted lines
Color of =>3 times quoted line (col_quote3)
Color of >=3 times quoted lines
Color of response counter (col_response)
Color of response counter. This is the text that says "Response x of y" in the article viewer.
Color of signatures (col_signature)
Color of signatures
Color of urls highlight (col_urls)
Color of urls highlight
Color of verbatim blocks (col_verbatim)
Color of verbatim blocks
Color of article subject lines (col_subject)
Color of article subject
Color of text lines (col_text)
Color of text-lines
Color of help/mail sign (col_title)
Color of help/mail sign
Which actions require confirmation (confirm_choice)
Ask for manual confirmation to protect the user.
• commands Ask for confirmation before executing certain dangerous commands (e.g., Catchup
('c')). Commands that this affects are marked in this manual with '[after confirmation]'. De‐
fault is commands & quit.
• quit You'll be asked to confirm that you wish to exit tin when you use the Quit ('q') command.
• select Ask for confirmation before marking all not selected (with GroupMarkUnselArtRead ('X')
command) articles as read.
Format string for display of dates (date_format)
Format string tin uses for date representation. A description of the different format options can
be found at strftime(3). tin uses strftime(3) when available and supports most format options in
his fallback code. Default is "%a, %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S".
(default_art_search)
(default_author_search)
(default_config_search)
The last article/author/config option that was searched for.
(default_filter_days)
Default is 28.
(default_filter_kill_case)
Default for quick (1 key) kill filter case. ON = filter case sensitive, OFF = ignore case. Default
is OFF.
(default_filter_kill_expire)
Default for quick (1 key) kill filter expire. ON = limit to default_filter_days, OFF = don't ever
expire. Default is OFF.
(default_filter_kill_global)
Default for quick (1 key) kill filter global. ON=apply to all groups, OFF=apply to current group.
Default is ON.
(default_filter_kill_header)
Default for quick (1 key) kill filter header.
0
''Subject:'' (case sensitive)
1
''Subject:'' (ignore case)
2
''From:'' (case sensitive)
3
''From:'' (ignore case)
4
''Message-ID:'' & full ''References:'' line
5
''Message-ID:'' & last ''References:'' entry only
6
''Message-ID:'' entry only
7
''Lines:''
(default_filter_select_case)
Default for quick (1 key) auto-selection filter case. ON=filter case sensitive, OFF=ignore case.
Default is OFF.
(default_filter_select_expire)
Default for quick (1 key) auto-selection filter expire. ON = limit to default_filter_days, OFF =
don't ever expire. Default is OFF.
(default_filter_select_global)
Default for quick (1 key) auto-selection filter global. ON=apply to all groups, OFF=apply to cur‐
rent group. Default is ON.
(default_filter_select_header)
Default for quick (1 key) auto-selection filter header.
0
''Subject:'' (case sensitive)
1
''Subject:'' (ignore case)
2
''From:'' (case sensitive)
3
''From:'' (ignore case)
4
''Message-ID:'' & full ''References:'' line
5
''Message-ID:'' & last ''References:'' entry only
6
''Message-ID:'' entry only
7
''Lines:''
(default_goto_group)
(default_group_search)
(default_mail_address)
(default_move_group)
(default_pattern)
(default_pipe_command)
(default_post_newsgroups)
(default_post_subject)
(default_range_group)
(default_range_select)
(default_range_thread)
(default_repost_group)
(default_save_file)
(default_save_mode)
(default_select_pattern)
(default_shell_command)
(default_subject_search)
Draw -> instead of highlighted bar (draw_arrow)
Allows groups/articles to be selected by an arrow '->' if set ON or by a highlighted bar if set
OFF. Default is OFF.
Invocation of your editor (editor_format)
The format string used to create the editor start command with parameters. Default is '%E +%N %F'
with %E=Editor, %N=Linenumber and %F=Filename (e.g., /bin/vi +7 .article). See also $VISUAL and
$EDITOR under "ENVIRONMENT".
Detection of external quotes (extquote_handling)
If ON quotes from external sources will be detected. Default is OFF.
Regex used to show external quotes (extquote_regex)
A regular expression that will be applied when reading articles. All matching lines are shown in
col_extquote. If extquote_regex is blank, then tin uses a built-in default.
Force redraw after certain commands (force_screen_redraw)
Specifies whether a screen redraw should always be done after certain external commands. Default is
OFF.
Number of articles to get (getart_limit)
If getart_limit is > 0 not more than the last getart_limit articles/group are fetched from the
server. If getart_limit is < 0 tin will start fetching articles from your first unread minus abso‐
lute value of getart_limit. Default is 0, which means no limit.
Catchup group using left key (group_catchup_on_exit)
If ON catchup group when leaving with the left arrow key. Default is ON.
Format string for the Group level (group_format)
Format string tin uses for Group level representation. See the section "CUSTOMIZING THE SCREEN FOR‐
MAT". Default is "%n %m %R %L %s %F".
Go to the next unread article with (goto_next_unread)
Which keys tin should accept to jump to the next unread article. Possible is any combination of
PageDown and PageNextUnread. When PageDown is set tin jumps to the next article at the end of the
current one. When PageNextUnread is set tin jumps immediately to the next article when PageNextUn‐
read ('<TAB>') is pressed. Default is PageNextUnread.
Display uue data as an attachment (hide_uue)
If set to 'No' then raw uuencoded data is displayed. If set to 'Yes' then sections of uuencoded
data will be shown with a single tag line showing the size and filename (much the same as a MIME
attachment). If set to 'Hide all' then any line that looks like uuencoded data will be folded into
a tag line. This is useful when uuencoded data is split across more than one article but can also
lead to false positives. This setting can also be toggled in the article viewer. Default is 'No'.
External inews (inews_prog)
Path, name and options of external inews(1). If you are reading via NNTP the default value is
"--internal" (use built-in NNTP inews), else it is "inews -h". The article is passed to inews_prog
on STDIN via '< article'.
(info_in_last_line)
If ON, show current group description or article subject in the last line (not in the pager and
global menu) — ToggleInfoLastLine ('i') toggles setting. This facility is useful as the full width
of the screen is available to display long subjects. Default is OFF.
Use interactive mail reader (interactive_mailer)
Interactive mailreader: if greater than 0 your mailreader will be invoked earlier for reply so you
can use more of its features (e.g. MIME, pgp, ...). 1 means include headers, 2 means don't include
headers (old use_mailreader_i=ON option). 0 turns off usage. This option has to suit mailer_format.
Default is 0.
Use inverse video for page headers (inverse_okay)
If ON use inverse video for page headers and URL highlighting. Default is ON.
Keep failed arts in ~/dead.articles (keep_dead_articles)
If ON keep all failed postings in ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/dead.articles besides keeping the last
failed posting in ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/dead.article. Default is ON.
Filter which articles (kill_level)
This option controls the processing and display of articles that are killed. There are 3 options:
0 Kill only unread arts is the 'traditional' behavior of tin. Only unread articles are killed
once only by marking them read. As filtering only happens on unread articles with kill_level
set to 0, art_marked_killed and art_marked_read_selected are only shown once. When you reenter
the group the mark will be gone.
1 Kill all arts & show with K will process all articles in the group and therefore there is a
processing overhead when using this option. Killed articles are threaded as normal but they
will be marked with art_marked_killed.
2 Kill all arts and never show will process all articles in the group and therefore there is a
processing overhead when using this option. Killed articles simply does not get displayed at
all.
Default is 0 (Kill only unread arts).
Use 8bit characters in mail headers (mail_8bit_header)
Allows 8bit characters unencoded in the header of mail message. Default is OFF. Turning it ON is
effective only if mail_mime_encoding is also set to 8bit. Leaving it OFF is safe for most users and
compliant to Internet Mail Standard (RFC5322 and RFC2047). Default is OFF.
Mail address (mail_address)
User's mail address (and full name), if not username@host. This is used when creating articles,
sending mail and when pgp(1) / gpg(1) signing (RFC4880).
MIME encoding in mail messages (mail_mime_encoding)
MIME encoding of the body in mail message, if necessary (8bit, base64, quoted-printable, 7bit). De‐
fault is quoted-printable.
Quote line when mailing (mail_quote_format)
Format of quote line when replying (via mail) to an article (%A=Address, %D=Date, %F=Fullname+Ad‐
dress, %G=Groupname, %M=Message-ID, %N=Fullname, %C=Firstname, %I=Initials). Default is "In article
%M you wrote:"
Format of the mailbox (mailbox_format)
Select one of the following mailbox-formats: MBOXO (default, except on SCO), MBOXRD or MMDF (de‐
fault on SCO). See mbox(5) and RFC4155 for more details on MBOXO and MBOXRD and mmdf(5) for more
details about MMDF.
Mail directory (maildir)
The directory where articles/threads are to be saved in mbox(5) format. This feature is mainly for
use with the mutt(1) mail program. It allows the user to save articles/threads/groups simply by
giving '=' as the filename to save to. Default is ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/Mail.
Invocation of your mail command (mailer_format)
The format string used to create the mailer command with parameters that is used for mailing arti‐
cles to other people. Default is '%M "%T" < %F' (e.g., /bin/mail "iain" < .article). The flexible
format allows other mailers with different command line parameters to be used such as
sendmail -oem -t < %F
mutt -s "%S" -- "%T" < "%F"
claws-mail --compose "mailto:%T?subject=%S&insert=%F"
interactive_mailer must be set adequate. The following substitutions are supported:
%F filename
%M default_mailer
%S subject-field
%T to-filed
%U username
%% %
'Mark as (un)read' ignores tags (mark_ignore_tags)
When this is ON, the GroupMarkThdRead ('K'), ThreadMarkArtRead ('K'), MarkThdUnread ('Z') at Group
level and MarkArtUnread ('z') at Thread level functions mark just the current article or thread,
ignoring other tagged, (un)read articles. When OFF, the same function presents a menu with choices
of the current thread or article, all tagged, unread articles, or nothing.
Mark saved articles/threads as read (mark_saved_read)
If ON mark articles that are saved as read. Default is ON.
Viewer program for MIME articles (metamail_prog)
Path, name and options of external metamail(1) program used to view non-textual parts of articles.
To use the built-in viewer, set to --internal. This is the default value when metamail(1) is not
installed. Leave it blank if you don't want any automatic viewing of non-textual attachments. The
PageViewAttach ('V') command can always be used to manually view any attachments. See also
ask_for_metamail.
MM_CHARSET (mm_charset)
Charset supported locally, which is also used for MIME header (charset parameter and charset name
in header encoding) in mail and news postings. If MIME_STRICT_CHARSET is defined at compile time,
text in charset other than the value of this parameter is considered not displayable and repre‐
sented as '?'. Otherwise, all character sets are regarded as compatible with the display. If it's
not set, the value of the environment variable $MM_CHARSET is used. US-ASCII or compile-time de‐
fault is used in case neither of them is defined. If your system supports iconv(3), this option is
disabled and you should use mm_network_charset instead.
MM_NETWORK_CHARSET (mm_network_charset)
Charset used for posting and MIME headers; replaces mm_charset. Conversion between mm_net‐
work_charset and local charset (determined via nl_langinfo(3)) is done via iconv(3), if this func‐
tion is not available on your system this option is disabled and you have to use mm_charset in‐
stead. mm_network_charset is limited to one of the following charsets:
US-ASCII, ISO-8859-{1,2,3,4,5,7,9,10,13,14,15,16}, KOI8-{R,U,RU} EUC-{CN,JP,KR,TW},
ISO-2022-{CN,CN-EXT,JP,JP-1,JP-2}, Big5, UTF-8
Not all values might work on your system, see iconv_open(3) for more details. If it's not set, the
value of the environment variable $MM_CHARSET is used. US-ASCII or compile-time default is used in
case neither of them is defined.
Attribute of highlighting with _dash_ (mono_markdash)
Character attribute of words emphasized like _this_. It depends on your terminal which attributes
are usable. See also word_h_display_marks and word_highlight.
Attribute of highlighting with /slash/ (mono_markslash)
Character attribute of words emphasized like /this/. It depends on your terminal which attributes
are usable. See also word_h_display_marks and word_highlight.
Attribute of highlighting with *stars* (mono_markstar)
Character attribute of words emphasized like *this*. It depends on your terminal which attributes
are usable. See also word_h_display_marks and word_highlight.
Attribute of highlighting with -stroke- (mono_markstroke)
Character attribute of words emphasized like -this-. It depends on your terminal which attributes
are usable. See also word_h_display_marks and word_highlight.
(newnews)
These are internal timers used by tin to keep track of new newsgroups. Do not change them unless
you understand what they are for.
Display these header fields (or *) (news_headers_to_display)
Which news headers you wish to see. If you want to see _all_ the headers, place an '*' as this
value. This is the only way a wildcard can be used. If you enter 'X-' as the value, you will see
all headers beginning with 'X-' (like X-Alan or X-Pape). You can list more than one by delimiting
with spaces. Not defining anything turns off this option.
Do not display these header fields (news_headers_to_not_display)
Same as news_headers_to_display except it denotes the opposite. An example of using both options
might be if you thought 'X-' headers were A Good Thing(tm), but thought Alan and Pape were miscre‐
ants... well then you would do something like this: news_headers_to_display=X- news_head‐
ers_to_not_display=X-Alan X-Pape Not defining anything turns off this option.
Quote line when following up (news_quote_format)
Format of quote line when posting/following up an article (%A=Address, %D=Date, %F=Fullname+Ad‐
dress, %G=Groupname, %M=Message-ID, %N=Fullname, %C=Firstname, %I=Initials). Default is "%F
wrote:".
NNTP read timeout in seconds (nntp_read_timeout_secs)
Time in seconds to wait for a response from the server. Default is 120. Setting this to 0 means no
timeout.
Unicode normalization form (normalization_form)
The normalization form tin should use to normalize unicode input. The possible values are:
0 None: no normalization
1 NFKC: Compatibility Decomposition, followed by Canonical Composition
2 NFKD: Compatibility Decomposition
3 NFC: Canonical Decomposition, followed by Canonical Composition
4 NFD: Canonical Decomposition
5 NFKC_CF: Compatibility Decomposition, followed by Canonical Composition and Case Folding
Some normalization modes are only available if they are supported by the library tin uses to do the
normalization. NFC should be used if possible.
Go to first unread article in group (pos_first_unread)
If ON put cursor at first unread article in group otherwise at last article. Default is ON.
Use 8bit characters in news headers (post_8bit_header)
Allows 8bit characters unencoded in the header of a news article, if set this also disables the
generation of MIME-headers when they are usually required. Default is OFF. Only enacted if
post_mime_encoding is also set to 8bit. In a number of local hierarchies where 8bit characters are
used, using unencoded (raw) 8bit characters in header is acceptable and sometimes even recommended
so that you need to check the convention adopted in the local hierarchy of your interest to deter‐
mine what to do with this and post_mime_encoding.
MIME encoding in news messages (post_mime_encoding)
MIME encoding of the body in news message, if necessary. (8bit, base64, quoted-printable, 7bit).
Default is 8bit, which leads to no encoding. base64 and quoted-printable are usually undesired on
usenet.
View post-processed files (post_process_view)
If ON, then tin will start an appropriate viewer program to display any files that were post pro‐
cessed and uudecoded. The program is determined using the mailcap(5) file. Default is ON.
Post process saved articles (post_process_type)
This specifies whether to perform post processing on saved articles. Because the shell archive may
contain commands you may not want to be executed, be careful when extracting shell archives. The
following values are allowed:
0 No (default), no post processing is done.
1 Shell archives, unpacking of multi-part shar(1) files only.
2 Yes, binary attachments and data will be decoded and saved.
Filename to be used for storing posted articles (posted_articles_file)
Keep posted articles in given file. If the given filename does not contain any expandable strings
it will be prefixed with ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/Mail/. If no filename is set then postings will
not be saved. See the section "MAILING PIPING PRINTING REPOSTING AND SAVING ARTICLES" for more in‐
formation about the various expansion characters. Default is 'posted'.
Print all headers when printing (print_header)
If ON, then the full article header is sent to the printer. Otherwise only the ''Subject:'' and
''From:'' fields are output. Default is OFF.
Printer program with options (printer)
The printer program with options that is to be used to print articles. The default is lpr(1) for
BSD machines and lp(1) for SysV machines. Printing from tin may have been disabled by the System
Administrator.
Process only unread articles (process_only_unread)
If ON only save/print/pipe/mail unread articles (tagged articles excepted). Default is OFF.
Show empty Followup-To in editor (prompt_followupto)
If ON show empty ''Followup-To:'' header when editing an article. Default is OFF.
Characters used as quote-marks (quote_chars)
The character used in quoting included text to article followups and mail replies. The '_' charac‐
ter represents a blank character and is replaced with ' ' when read, %I is replaced by author's
initials. Default is '>_'.
Quoting behavior (quote_style)
How articles should be quoted when following up or replying to them. There are a number of things
that can be done: empty lines can be quoted, signatures can be quoted and quote_chars can be com‐
pressed when quoting multiple times (for example, '> > >' will be turned into '>>>'). The default
is to compress quotes, and to quote empty lines.
When you are viewing an article in raw mode ('^H'), and follow up or reply to it, the signature
will be quoted even if it would otherwise not be. If show_signatures is off, then the signature
will never be quoted.
Regex used to show quoted lines (quote_regex)
A regular expression that will be applied when reading articles. All matching lines are shown in
col_quote. If quote_regex is blank, then tin uses a built-in default.
Regex used to show twice quoted l. (quote_regex2)
A regular expression that will be applied when reading articles. All matching lines are shown in
col_quote2. If quote_regex2 is blank, then tin uses a built-in default.
Regex used to show >= 3 times q.l. (quote_regex3)
A regular expression that will be applied when reading articles. All matching lines are shown in
col_quote3. If quote_regex3 is blank, then tin uses a built-in default.
Article recentness time limit (recent_time)
If set to 0, this feature is deactivated, otherwise it means the number of days. Default is 2.
Render BiDi (render_bidi)
If ON tin does the rendering of bi-directional text. If OFF tin leaves the rendering of bi-direc‐
tional text to the terminal. Default is OFF.
Interval in seconds to reread active (reread_active_file_secs)
The news ${TIN_LIBDIR:-NEWSLIBDIR}"/"${TIN_ACTIVEFILE:-active} file is reread at regular intervals
to show if any new news has arrived. Default is 1200. Setting this to 0 will disable this feature.
Directory to save arts/threads in (savedir)
Directory where articles/threads are saved. Default is ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/News.
Score limit (kill) (score_limit_kill)
If the score of an article is below or equal this value the article gets marked as killed.
Score limit (select) (score_limit_select)
If the score of an article is above or equal this value the article gets marked as hot.
Default score to kill articles (score_kill)
Score of an article which should be killed, this must be <= score_limit_kill.
Default score to select articles (score_select)
Score of an article which should be marked hot, this must be >= score_limit_select.
Number of lines to scroll in pager (scroll_lines)
The number of lines that will be scrolled up/down in the article pager when using cursor-up/down.
The default is 1 (line-by-line). Set to 0 to get traditional tin page-by-page scrolling. Set to -1
to get page-by-page scrolling where the top/bottom line is carried over onto the next page. This
setting supersedes show_last_line_prev_page=ON. Set to -2 to get half-page scrolling. This setting
supersedes full_page_scroll=OFF.
Format string for the Selection level (select_format)
Format string tin uses for Selection level representation. See the section "CUSTOMIZING THE SCREEN
FORMAT". Default is "%f %n %U %G %d".
In group and thread level, show author by (show_author)
Which information about the author should be shown. Default is 2, authors full name.
0 None, only the ''Subject:'' line will be displayed.
1 Address, ''Subject:'' line & the address part of the ''From:'' line are displayed.
2 Full Name, ''Subject:'' line & the authors full name part of the ''From:'' line are displayed
(default).
3 Address and Name, ''Subject:'' line & all of the ''From:'' line are displayed.
Show description of each newsgroup (show_description)
If ON show a short group description text after newsgroup name at the group selection level. The
''-d'' command-line flag will override the setting and turn descriptions off. The text used is
taken from the ${TIN_LIBDIR:-NEWSLIBDIR}/newsgroups file and if supported (requires tin to be build
with mh-mail-handling support) from ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/mailgroups for mailgroups. Default
is ON.
Function for sorting articles (sort_function)
Function used for sorting articles. Default is 0.
0 Use qsort(3) for sorting.
1 Use heapsort(3) for sorting. This might be faster in large groups with long threads (somewhat
presorted data).
Show lines/score in listings (show_info)
Which information about the thread or article should be shown. Default is 1, show only the line
count.
0 None, no information will be displayed.
1 Lines, in article listing the line count of an article will be displayed and in thread listing
the line count of first (unread) article will be displayed.
2 Score, in article listing the score of an article will be displayed and in thread listing the
score of the thread will be displayed — see also thread_score.
3 Lines & Score, display line count and score.
Show only unread articles (show_only_unread_arts)
If ON show only new/unread articles otherwise show all articles. Default is ON.
Show only groups with unread arts (show_only_unread_groups)
If ON show only subscribed groups that contain unread articles. Default is OFF.
Display signatures (show_signatures)
If OFF don't show signatures when displaying articles. Default is ON.
Prepend signature with '\n-- \n' (sigdashes)
If ON prepend the signature with sigdashes. Default is ON.
Create signature from path/command (sigfile)
The path that specifies the signature file to use when posting, following up to or replying to an
article. If the path is a directory then the signature will be randomly generated from files that
are in the specified directory. If the path starts with a ! the program the path points to will be
executed to generate a signature. In order to pass the group name to the program, %G can be speci‐
fied. This will be replaced by the name of the current newsgroup. --none will suppress any signa‐
ture. Default is ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.Sig.
Add signature when reposting (signature_repost)
If ON add signature to reposted articles. Default is ON.
Regex used to highlight /slashes/ (slashes_regex)
A regular expression that will be applied when reading articles. All matching words are shown in
col_markslash or mono_markslash. If slashes_regex is blank, then tin uses a built-in default.
Sort articles by (sort_article_type)
This specifies how articles should be sorted. Sort by ascending Date (6) is the default. The fol‐
lowing sort types are allowed:
0 Nothing, don't sort articles.
1 Subject: (descending), sort articles by ''Subject:'' field descending.
2 Subject: (ascending), sort articles by ''Subject:'' field ascending.
3 From: (descending), sort articles by ''From:'' field descending.
4 From: (ascending), sort articles by ''From:'' field ascending.
5 Date: (descending), sort articles by ''Date:'' field descending.
6 Date: (ascending), sort articles by ''Date:'' field ascending (default).
7 Score (descending), sort articles by filtering score descending.
8 Score (ascending), sort articles by filtering score ascending.
9 Lines: (descending), sort articles by ''Lines:'' field descending.
10 Lines: (ascending), sort articles by ''Lines:'' field ascending.
Sort threads by (sort_threads_type)
This specifies how threads will be sorted. Sort by descending Score (1) is the default. The follow‐
ing sort types are allowed:
0 Nothing, don't sort threads.
1 Score (descending), sort threads by filtering score descending (default).
2 Score (ascending), sort threads by filtering score ascending.
3 Last posting date (descending), sort threads by date of last posting descending.
4 Last posting date (ascending), sort threads by date of last posting ascending.
Spamtrap warning address parts (spamtrap_warning_addresses)
Set this option to a list of comma-separated strings to be warned if you are replying to an article
by mail where the e-mail address contains one of these strings. The matching is case-insensitive.
Example:
spam,delete,remove
Regex used to highlight *stars* (stars_regex)
A regular expression that will be applied when reading articles. All matching words are shown in
col_markstar or mono_markstar. If stars_regex is blank, then tin uses a built-in default.
Strip blanks of end of lines (strip_blanks)
Strips the blanks from the end of each line therefore speeding up the display when reading on a
slow terminal or via modem. Default is ON.
Remove bogus groups from newsrc (strip_bogus)
Bogus groups are groups that are present in your ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.newsrc file that no
longer exist on the news server. There are 3 options. 0 means do nothing & always keep bogus
groups. 1 means bogus groups will be permanently removed. 2 means that bogus groups will appear on
the Group Selection Menu, prefixed with a 'D'. This allows you to unsubscribe from them as and when
you wish. Default is 0 (Always Keep).
No unsubscribed groups in newsrc (strip_newsrc)
If ON, then unsubscribed groups will be permanently removed from your ${TIN_HOME‐
DIR:-"$HOME"}/.newsrc file. Default is OFF.
Regex with Subject prefixes (strip_re_regex)
A regular expression to find Subject prefixes like "Re:" to remove. If strip_re_regex is blank,
then tin(1) uses a built-in default.
Regex with Subject suffixes (strip_was_regex)
A regular expression to find Subject suffixes like "(was:" to remove. If strip_was_regex is blank,
then tin(1) uses a built-in default.
Regex used to highlight -strokes- (strokes_regex)
A regular expression that will be applied when reading articles. All matching words are shown in
col_markstroke or mono_markstroke. If strokes_regex is blank, then tin uses a built-in default.
Wrap around threads on next unread (wrap_on_next_unread)
If enabled a search for the next unread article will wrap around all articles to find also previous
unread articles. If disabled the search stops at the end of the thread list. Default is ON.
Display "a as Umlaut-a (tex2iso_conv)
If ON, show "a as Umlaut-a, etc. Default is OFF. This behavior can also be toggled in the article
viewer via PageToggleTex2iso ('"').
Thread articles by (thread_articles)
Defines which threading method to use. It's possible to set the threading type on a per group basis
by setting the group attribute variable thread_arts to 0 – 4 in the file ${TIN_HOME‐
DIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/attributes. (See also "GROUP ATTRIBUTES".) The default is Both Subject and Ref‐
erences. The choices are:
0 None, don't thread.
1 Subject, thread on ''Subject:'' only.
2 References, thread on ''References:'' only.
3 Both Subject and References, thread on ''References:'' then ''Subject:'' (default).
4 Multipart Subject, thread multipart articles on ''Subject:''.
5 Percentage Match, thread base upon a partial character match on ''Subject:''.
Catchup thread by using left key (thread_catchup_on_exit)
If ON catchup group/thread when leaving with the left arrow key. Default is ON.
Format string for the Thread level (thread_format)
Format string tin uses for Thread level representation. See the section "CUSTOMIZING THE SCREEN
FORMAT". Default is "%n %m [%L] %T %F".
Matchingness of a thread (thread_perc)
How closely the subjects must match for two threads to be considered part of the same thread. This
is a percentage and the default if 75%.
Score of a thread (thread_score)
How the total score of a thread is computed. Default is 0, the maximum score in this thread.
0 Max, the maximum score in this thread.
1 Sum, the sum of all scores in this thread.
2 Average, the average score in this thread.
Transliteration (translit)
If ON append //TRANSLIT to the first argument of iconv_open(3) to enable transliteration. This
means that when a character cannot be represented in the target character set, it can be approxi‐
mated through one or several similarly looking characters. On systems where this extension doesn't
exist, this option is disabled. Default is OFF.
How to treat blank lines (trim_article_body)
Allows you to select how tin treats blank lines in article bodies. Default is 0. This option does
not affect lines within verbatim blocks.
0 Don't trim article body, do nothing.
1 Skip leading blank lines.
2 Skip trailing blank lines.
3 Skip leading and trailing blank l., skip leading and trailing blank lines.
4 Compact multiple between text, replace multiple blank lines between text blocks with one blank
line.
5 Compact multiple and skip leading, 4 + 1
6 Compact multiple and skip trailing, 4 + 2
7 Compact mltpl., skip lead. & trai., 4 + 3
Regex used to highlight _underline_ (underscores_regex)
A regular expression that will be applied when reading articles. All matching words are shown in
col_markdash or mono_markdash. If underscores_regex is blank, then tin uses a built-in default.
Remove ~/.article after posting (unlink_article)
If ON remove ~/.article after posting. Default is ON.
Program that opens URLs (url_handler)
The program that will be run when launching URLs in the article viewer using PageViewUrl ('U'). The
actual URL will be appended. Default is url_handler.pl.
URL highlighting in message body (url_highlight)
Enable highlighting URLs in message body. Default is ON.
Use ANSI color (use_color)
If enabled tin uses ANSI-colors. Default is OFF.
Use scroll keys on keypad (use_keypad)
Default is OFF.
Use mouse in xterm (use_mouse)
Allows the mouse button support in an xterm(1x) to be enabled/disabled. Default is OFF.
Use slrnface to show ''X-Face:''s (use_slrnface)
If enabled tin uses slrnface(1) to interpret the ''X-Face:'' header. For this option to have any
effect, tin must be running in an xterm(1x) and slrnface(1) must be in your $PATH. Default is OFF.
Use UTF-8 graphics (utf8_graphics)
If ON use UTF-8 characters for indicator ('->'), thread/attachment tree and ellipsis ('...'). De‐
fault is OFF.
Regex for begin of a verbatim block (verbatim_begin_regex)
A regular expression that tin will use to find the begin of a verbatim block.
Regex for end of a verbatim block (verbatim_end_regex)
A regular expression that tin will use to find the end of a verbatim block.
Detection of verbatim blocks (verbatim_handling)
If ON verbatim blocks will be detected. Default is ON.
Wildcard matching (wildcard)
Allows you to select how tin matches strings. The default is 0 and uses the wildmat(3) notation,
which is how this has traditionally been handled. Setting this to 1 allows you to use perl(1) com‐
patible regular expressions pcre(3) (see also perlre(1) and pcrepattern(3)). You will probably
want to update your filter file if you use this regularly. NB: Newsgroup names will always be
matched using the wildmat(3) notation.
What to display instead of mark (word_h_display_marks)
Should the leading and ending stars, slashes, strokes and dashes also be displayed, even when they
are highlighting marks?
0 no
1 yes, display mark
2 print a space instead
Word highlighting in message body (word_highlight)
Enable word highlighting. See word_h_display_marks for the options available. If use_color is en‐
abled the colors specified in col_markdash, col_markslash, col_markstar and col_markstroke are used
for word highlighting else the character attributes specified in mono_markdash, mono_markslash,
mono_markstar and mono_markstroke are used. Default is ON.
Page line wrap column (wrap_column)
Sets the column at which a displayed article body should be wrapped. If this value is equal to 0,
it defaults to the current screen width. If this value is greater than your current screen width
the part off-screen is not displayed. Thus setting this option to a large value can be used to dis‐
able wrapping. If this value is negative the wrap margin is the current screen width plus the given
value (as long as the result is still positive, otherwise it will fall back to the current screen
width). Default is 0, wrapping at the current screen width.
Quote line when crossposting (xpost_quote_format)
Format is the same as for news_quote_format, this is used when answering to a crossposting to sev‐
eral groups with no ''Followup-To:'' set.
ATTRIBUTES MENU AND GROUP ATTRIBUTES
tin allows certain attributes to be set on a per group basis. If it exists, the global attributes file,
${TIN_LIBDIR:-NEWSLIBDIR}/attributes is read. After that, the user's own attributes file ${TIN_HOME‐
DIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/attributes is read. The global attributes file is useful for distributing system-
wide defaults to new users who have no private attributes file yet.
Note that the scope=<grouplist> line has to be specified before the attributes are specified for that
list. All attributes are set to a reasonable default so you only have to specify the attribute that you
want to change (e.g., savedir). All toggle attributes are set by specifying ON/OFF. Otherwise, these
function exactly the same as their global equivalents. For more details see tin(5).
Attributes can also be changed from the attributes menu which can be accessed by ConfigToggleAttrib
('<TAB>') from the options menu or ScopeSelect ('^J' or '<CR>') from the scopes menu. The attributes
menu looks and behaves very similar to the options menu. The title shows the current scope. Attributes
set in the current scope are marked with '+' to the left of the attributes number.
Besides the keys for moving around and changing values known from the options menu the attributes menu
provides the following command: ConfigResetAttrib ('r') which resets an attribute to a default value.
SCOPES MENU
The scopes menu (accessible from the options menu with ConfigScopeMenu ('S')) shows all scopes read
from the global and local attributes file. Scopes from the global attributes file are marked with '!'
to the left of the scope number. Delete/rename/move are not possible with those scopes.
In addition to the common moving keys the following commands are available: ScopeSelect ('^J' or
'<CR>') enter the attributes menu for the current scope, ScopeEditAttributesFile ('E') edit the local
attributes file, ScopeAdd ('a') add a new scope, ScopeDelete ('d') delete the current scope, ScopeMove
('m') move the current scope to a new position, ScopeRename ('r') rename the current scope. Toggle‐
HelpDisplay ('H') toggles the help mini menu at the bottom of the screen and posting etiquette after
composing an article (beginner_level).
FILTERING ARTICLES
When there is a subject or an author which you are either very interested in, or find completely unin‐
teresting, you can easily instruct tin to auto-select or auto-kill articles that match rules that you
specify. This can be anything from the name of the author to the number of lines in an article.
When tin starts up the user's kill-file ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/filter (see also tin(5)) is read.
Each time a newsgroup is entered the rules are applied and articles killed or selected when they meet
certain criteria.
The degree to which rules are applied depend on the kill_level tinrc setting. By default killed arti‐
cles will only be marked read. Adjust kill_level for more aggressive processing. Articles that match an
auto-selection rule are marked with a ''*''.
Filtering rules can be manually entered into ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/filter (but don't do this
whilst running tin else you will lose your changes) or by using an on-screen menu within tin.
The filtering capabilities of tin have been significantly enhanced over previous versions to include
scoring and better pattern matching. It is recommended that you read the file filtering in the tin doc‐
umentation directory. This file can also be read online at
<
http://www.tin.org/filtering.txt>.
The on-screen filtering menu is accessed by pressing MenuFilterKill ('^K') or MenuFilterSelect ('^A')
at the Group and Article levels. It allows the user to kill or select an article that matches the cur‐
rent ''Subject:'' line, ''From:'' line or a string entered by the user. The user entered string can be
applied to the ''Subject:'' or ''From:'' line of an article. The filter can be limited to the current
newsgroup or it can apply to all newsgroups. Once entered the user can abort the command and not save
the new filter, edit the full filter file or save filter.
POSTING ARTICLES
tin allows posting of articles, follow-up to already posted articles and replying direct through mail
to the author of an article.
Use the Post ('w') command to post an article to a newsgroup. After entering the post subject the de‐
fault editor (i.e., vi(1)) or the editor specified by the $VISUAL or $EDITOR environment variable will
be started and the article can be entered. To crosspost articles simply add a comma and the name of the
newsgroup(s) to the end of the ''Newsgroups:'' line at the beginning of the article. After saving and
exiting the editor you are asked if you wish to a)bort posting the article, e)dit the article again or
p)ost the article to the specified newsgroup(s).
Use the DisplayPostHist ('W') command to display a history of the articles you have posted. The date
the article was posted, which newsgroups the article was posted to and the articles subject line are
displayed. See the section "POSTING HISTORY LISTING" for more information.
Use the PageFollowupQuote ('f'), PageFollowup ('F') or PageFollowupQuoteHeaders ('^W') command to post
a follow-up article to an already posted article. The PageFollowupQuote command will copy the text of
the original article into the editor. The PageFollowupQuoteHeaders command will copy the text and all
headers of the original article into the editor. The editing procedure is the same as when posting an
article with the Post ('w') command.
Use the PageReplyQuote ('r'), PageReply ('R') or PageReplyQuoteHeaders ('^E') command to reply direct
through mail to the author of an already posted article. The PageReplyQuote command will copy the text
of the original article into the editor. The PageReplyQuoteHeaders command will copy the text and all
headers of the original article into the editor. The editing procedure is the same as when posting an
article with the Post ('w') command. After saving and exiting the editor you are asked if you wish to
abort sending the article via PostAbort ('a'), edit the article again via PostEdit ('e') or send the
article to the author via PostSend ('s').
CUSTOMIZING THE ARTICLE QUOTE STRING
When posting a followup to an article or replying direct to the author of an article via email the text
of the article can be quoted. The beginning of the quoted text can contain information about the quoted
article (e.g., Name and the Message-ID of the article). To allow for different situations certain in‐
formation from the article can be used in the quoted string. The following variables are expanded if
found in the tinrc variables mail_quote_format, news_quote_format or xpost_quote_format:
%A Address (Email)
%D Date (uses date_format)
%F Full address (%N <%A>)
%G Groupname
%M Message-ID
%N Fullname of author
%C Firstname of author
%I Initials of author
e.g.,
mail_quote_format=On %D in %G you wrote:
news_quote_format=In %M, %F wrote:
would expand to:
On 21 Sep 1993 09:45:51 -0400 in alt.sources you wrote:
In <
[email protected]>, Joe Bar <
[email protected]> wrote:
The quoted text section of an article is marked by a preceding quote string at the beginning of each
quoted line. The default quote string is set to '>_'. The default can be changed by setting the tinrc
variable quote_chars to ones own preference. (Note that '_' underline is used to represent a space).
MAILING PIPING PRINTING REPOSTING AND SAVING ARTICLES
The command interface to GroupMail, PageMail, PostMail or ThreadMail ('m'), Pipe ('|'), Print ('o'),
PageRepost or GroupRepost ('x') and GroupSave, PageSave or ThreadSave ('s' and GroupAutoSave, PageAu‐
toSave or ThreadAutoSave 'S') articles is the same for ease of use.
Auto-saving with *AutoSave ('S') is a special case and operates only on marked articles. They will pro‐
cessed without any further prompting according to the default save parameters defined in tinrc or by
any attributes set for the current group.
Otherwise, the initial prompt will ask you to select which article, thread, hot (auto-selected), regu‐
lar expression pattern, tagged articles you wish to mail, pipe etc.
Tagged articles must have already been tagged with a *Tag ('t') command. All tagged articles can be un‐
tagged by a *Untag ('U') untag command.
If a regular expression pattern is selected you are asked to enter a pattern (e.g., to match all arti‐
cles subject lines containing 'net News' you enter "net News"). Any articles that match the entered ex‐
pression will be mailed, piped etc. See also the wildcard tinrc variable for advanced pattern matching
options.
Various expansion characters are recognized when entering the directory and file to save to. Environ‐
ment variables (prefixed with '$') and user home directories (prefixed by '~' or '~username') can be
specified. Environment variables can themselves contain other special characters.
To save articles to a mailbox enter '=<mailbox name>' when asked for the save filename. If you enter
just '=' then articles will be saved to a mailbox with the name of the current newsgroup (eg,
alt.sources). See maildir.
To save in savedir/<news.group.name>/<filename> format enter '+<filename>'. See savedir. Like '+' %G
is expanded to the current news.group.name but without savedir prefixed. %P is expanded to the
news.group.name with all '.' replaced by '/'.
If saving multiple files at once the filename (if not referring to a mailbox) will be extended by
".num" where "num" is at least 3 digit number counting up from 1. Environment variables are allowed
within a filename (e.g., $SOURCES/dir/filename).
When saving articles you can specify whether the saved files should be post processed. A default
process type can be set via post_process_type.
AUTOMATIC MAILING AND SAVING NEW NEWS
tin allows new/unread news articles to be mailed (''-M'' and ''-N'' option) or saved (''-S'' option) in
batch mode for later reading. Useful when going on holiday and you don't want to return and find that
expire has removed a whole load of unread articles. Best to run via cron(8) everyday while away, after
which you will be mailed a report of which articles were mailed/saved from which newsgroups and the to‐
tal number of articles mailed/saved. Articles are saved in a private news structure under your savedir
directory (default is ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/News). Be careful of using this option if you read a lot
of groups because you could overflow your file system.
When using ''-S'' together with a given directory to save to (''-s'' option), the same directory must
be specified when reading the articles by ''-R''.
If you only want to save some of your groups use the batch_save tinrc variable. Set to ON or OFF in
tinrc to enable/disable saving of all groups and then use the batch_save attribute to fine tune which
groups you want to have saved. For example, if you want to save most of your groups, then set
batch_save to ON in tinrc and selectively turn off the ones you don't want using attributes.
tin -M iain -c -f newsrc.mail
(mail any unread articles in newsgroups specified in file newsrc.mail to the local
user iain and mark them as read)
tin -S -c -f newsrc.save
(save any unread articles in newsgroups specified in file newsrc.save and mark them
as read)
tin -R (read any articles saved by tin -S)
RANGES
A range is simply a group of items marked using the SetRange ('#') key. Certain tin commands will oper‐
ate on a range if one exists rather than just the current item. A range is an expression of the form
<min>–<max>, e.g. 10–15 will highlight items 10 through 15 on the current screen. Other than absolute
numeric positions, '.' can be used in place of the current cursor position and '$' can be used to mean
the highest number available. Currently the only commands that understand ranges are GroupMarkThdRead
('K'), MarkArtUnread ('z') and MarkThdUnread ('Z').
NEWSGROUP LISTS & WILDCARDS
Several places in tin allow you to specify a list of newsgroups. These include command-line groups,
(un)subscribe groups, the AUTO[UN]SUBSCRIBE mechanism. The scope= attributes file tag and the filter
file group= tag also use the same syntax. tin interprets this variable similarly to rn(1). It contains
a list of patterns, separated by commas and possibly prefixed with exclamation points. An exclamation
point negates the meaning of a match on this pattern, and can be used to cancel certain matches. See
wildmat(3) for details about the understood patterns. Some examples:
alt.config,news.*,!news.test
Matches alt.config and everything in the 'news' hierarchy except news.test
See the explanation for the $AUTOSUBSCRIBE and $AUTOUNSUBSCRIBE variables for further examples.
SIGNATURES
tin will recognize a signature in either ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.signature or ${TIN_HOME‐
DIR:-"$HOME"}/.Sig. If ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.signature exists, then the signature will be pulled
into the editor for mail commands only. A signature in ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.signature will not be
pulled into the editor for posting commands since inews(1) will append the signature itself.
A signature in ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.Sig will be pulled into the editor for both posting and mailing
commands.
The following is an example of a .Sig file:
NAMES Joe Bar <
[email protected]>
SNAIL Musterweg 12, 99999 Notreal, Germany
tin also has the capability to generate random signatures on a per newsgroup basis if so desired. The
way to accomplish this is to specify the default signature or the group attribute sigfile as a direc‐
tory. If for example the sigfile path is /usr/iain/.sigs and .sigs is a directory then tin will select
a random signature from any file that is in the directory .sigs (note: one signature per numbered
file). A random signature can also consist of a fixed part signature that can contain your name, ad‐
dress etc. followed by the random sig. The fixed part of the random sig is read from the file
$HOME/.sigfixed.
CUSTOMIZING THE SCREEN FORMAT
The look of the Selection, Group and Thread level can be customized via format strings. These format
strings define the content and the position of each element on the screen. Variables are used within
the format strings as placeholders. The following variables are available:
%D date
%F from, name and/or address
%G newsgroup name
%I initials
%L line count
%M message-id
%R number of responses in thread
%S score
%T thread tree
%U unread count
%d newsgroup description
%f newsgroup flag
%m article marks
%n current group/thread/article number
%s subject
%% %
Not all variables can be used in each level. The following table provides an overview:
select_format group_format thread_format
%D X X
%F X X
%G X
%I X X
%L X X
%M X X
%R X
%S X X
%T X
%U X
%d X
%f X
%m X X
%n X X X
%s X
%% X X X
Defaults for the format strings:
select_format: "%f %n %U %G %d"
group_format: "%n %m %R %L %s %F"
thread_format: "%n %m [%L] %T %F"
show_description controls whether the newsgroup description is shown or not. The description can also
be toggled with SelectToggleDescriptions ('d').
The information displayed with '%F' depends on the value of show_author. GroupToggleSubjDisplay resp.
ThreadToggleSubjDisplay ('d') switches through all available options.
For date representation '%D' uses date_format. It is possible to specify a different date format in
round brackets (e.g. '%(%d %b %y %H:%M)D'). See date_format for more details.
The length of each item (except '%%') can be defined with a positive number after the '%'. The follow‐
ing example displays the score in the thread level 10 characters wide: '%10S'.
If the newsgroup name is displayed together with the newsgroup description, the width of the newsgroup
name can be controlled via an optional comma separated second value (e.g. '%60,20G'). It is valid to
omit the first value (e.g. ('%,20G')). If no second value is given, tin uses a default value of 32.
Some variables do have a default width which may lead to truncation. Truncation for variables which
contain only numbers happens by dividing the value with a sufficient power of ten and adding a SI suf‐
fix to the result, that is the variable holds a value of 54321 and the width for the variable is 4 the
result will be "54 k". If that's undesired you have to specify a larger width manually, e.g. '%6n'.
Here is an overview of the defaults:
Variable width
%I 3
%L 4
%M 10
%R 3
%S 6
%U 5
%n 4
If no length is given for '%D', the length is determined by the format string for the date and the date
of the current day. If the date format string contains weekdays or months names it may happen that the
date is longer than determined in the first pass. In this case, the date is truncated before display.
This occurs, for example, if the current month is May and the article to which the date is displayed
was posted in December. In such cases it might useful to determine the maximum length manually and
specify the length in the format string.
In case the format string contains '%G' and '%d' and no length are given, tin determines the longest
newsgroup name and uses this length for '%G'. The remaining space will used for '%d'.
When the format string contains the specifier '%F' and '%s' resp. '%T' and no length are given, '%F'
will use one third and '%s' resp. '%T' will use two third of the available space.
In addition, a minimum screen width can be defined for each item (except '%%'). In this case, the item
will only be displayed when the screen is wider than specified. This comes in handy to not overload a
small screen but have maximum information on a large screen. The minimum screen width has to be speci‐
fied by a positive number preceded by an '>'. In the following example tin will display the score only
if the screen is wider than 100 characters: '%>100S'.
If both the length and the minimum screen width should be specified for an item, the length must be the
first parameter and the minimum screen width must be the second one. The following example displays the
score with a length of 10 characters only if the screen is wider than 100 characters: '%10>100S'.
TIPS AND TRICKS
tin can be pretty much be navigated by using the four cursor keys. The left arrow key goes up a level,
the right arrow key goes down a level, the up arrow key goes up a line and the down arrow key goes down
a line.
The following newsgroups provide useful information concerning news software:
—news.software.readers (info. about news user agents tin, rn, nn, slrn etc.)
—news.software.nntp (info. about NNTP)
—news.answers (Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about many different themes)
Many prompts within tin offer a default choice that the cursor is positioned on. By pressing '<CR>' the
default value is taken. Most prompts can be aborted by pressing '<ESC>'.
When tin is run in an xterm(1x) it will resize itself each time the xterm(1x) is resized.
tin will reread the ${TIN_LIBDIR:-NEWSLIBDIR}"/"${TIN_ACTIVEFILE:-active} file at set intervals
(reread_active_file_secs) to show any newly arrived news.
If you find large number of new newsgroups cluttering up your screen, pressing SelectToggleReadDisplay
('r') will make them go away.
XTERM BUTTONS
If the environment variable $TERM is set to xterm(1x), then button pressing can be used to select
groups and articles. In this discussion, the buttons are assumed to be assigned conventionally (i.e.,
Button1 is the left button).
In general (i.e., for the group, thread and article menus),
Button1 (left)
enters next (lower) level if you click on an article, otherwise pages down.
Button2 (center)
returns to the previous (upper) level if you click on an article, otherwise pages up.
Button3 (right)
positions on the article line under mouse cursor, or pages down if you've clicked outside the
list of articles.
In the group selection menu, if the mouse is pointing at a group then:
left button
moves to and selects the group pointed at, just like SelectReadGrp ('<CR>').
center button
quits the program, just like Quit ('q').
right button
moves to the group pointed at.
In the article menu, if the mouse is pointing at an article (or thread) then:
left button
reads the article pointed at, just like GroupReadBasenote ('<CR>'), or the thread, just like
GroupListThd ('l').
center button
exits the menu, catching up on the group if you have group_catchup_on_exit set in your con‐
figuration, just like Quit ('q').
right button
moves to the article (or thread) pointed at.
In the thread menu, if the mouse is pointing at an article then:
left button
reads article pointed at, just like ThreadReadArt ('<CR>').
center button
exits the menu, catching up on the thread if you have thread_catchup_on_exit set in your con‐
figuration, just like Quit ('q').
right button
moves to the article pointed at.
In other menus and areas button pressing reverts back to usual cut and paste of xterm(1x), but after
one click of any button.
INDEX FILES
If your news server supports NOV index files (see newsoverview(5), most modern installations will) and
you have a fast connection to your news server then this section can be ignored.
If your news server doesn't support NOV index files or you have a very slow connection to your news
server then tin can cache the index for each newsgroup if cache_overview_files is set to ON. Note that
this cache can use up large amounts of disk space if you read a lot of groups and/or high traffic
groups.
Each user creates/updates his/her own index files that are stored in ${TIN_INDEX_NEWSDIR:-"${TIN_HOME‐
DIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin"}/.news/. If you are reading via NNTP then the news server name will be appended to
keep the indexes for different servers separate. If you are reading off the local spool and local over‐
view files already exist then turning on caching will have no effect. Likewise unless you see signifi‐
cant delays entering a group when reading via NNTP then turning on caching will have little or no ef‐
fect.
Entering a group the first time tends to be slow because the index file must be built from scratch. To
alleviate the slowness start tin to create all index files for the groups you subscribe to with tin -u
-v and go for a coffee. Subsequent readings of a group will only need to do incremental updating of the
index file and will be much faster as only new articles will need to be cached.
As indexing might take some time you may want to run tin from the system batcher cron(8) with the
''-u'' option:
30 6 * * * /usr/local/bin/tin -u
If you are low on local disk space you should consider to manually purge cached data for groups you are
not reading anymore with something like:
find ${TIN_INDEX_NEWSDIR:-"${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin"}/.news* \
-type f -name "[0-9]*.[0-9]" -atime +28 | xargs rm -f
FILES
For a detailed description see tin(5).
$MAILCAPS
~/.mailcap
/etc/mailcap
/usr/etc/mailcap
/usr/local/etc/mailcap
/etc/mail/mailcap
/etc/news/server
${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.cancelsecret
${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.mime.types
/etc/mime.types
/etc/tin/mime.types
${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.newsauth
${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.newsrc
${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/$NNTPSERVER${NNTPPORT:+":$NNTPPORT"}/.oldnewsrc
${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.signature
${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.Sig
${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.sigfixed
${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/.inputhistory
${TIN_INDEX_MAILDIR:-"${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin"}/.mail/
${TIN_INDEX_NEWSDIR:-"${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin"}/.news${NNTPSERVER:+"-$NNTPSERVER"}/
${TIN_INDEX_SAVEDIR:-"${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin"}/.save/
${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/active.mail
${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/active.save
/etc/tin/attributes
${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/attributes
${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/filter
/etc/tin/keymap${${LC_ALL:-"${LC_CTYPE:-"${LC_MESSAGES:-"$LANG"}"}"}:+".${LC_ALL:-"${LC_CTYPE:-"${LC_MESSAGES:-"$LANG"}"}"}"}
${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/keymap${${LC_ALL:-"${LC_CTYPE:-"${LC_MESSAGES:-"$LANG"}"}"}:+".${LC_ALL:-"${LC_CTYPE:-"${LC_MESSAGES:-"$LANG"}"}"}"}
${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/mailgroups
${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/newsrctable
${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/posted
${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/Mail/posted
${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/postponed.articles
${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/$NNTPSERVER:${NNTPPORT:+":$NNTPPORT"}/newsgroups
${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/$NNTPSERVER:${NNTPPORT:+":$NNTPPORT"}/serverrc
/etc/tin/tinrc
${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/tinrc
/etc/tin/tin.defaults
/usr/local/share/locale/${LC_MESSAGES}/LC_MESSAGES/tin.mo
${TIN_LIBDIR:-NEWSLIBDIR}"/"${TIN_ACTIVEFILE:-active}
${TIN_LIBDIR:-NEWSLIBDIR}/active.times
${TIN_LIBDIR:-NEWSLIBDIR}/newsgroups
${TIN_LIBDIR:-NEWSLIBDIR}/organization
${TIN_LIBDIR:-NEWSLIBDIR}/overview.fmt
${TIN_LIBDIR:-NEWSLIBDIR}/subscriptions
ENVIRONMENT
TINRC Define this variable if you want to specify command-line options that tin should be started with
to save typing them each time it is started. The contents of the environment variable are added
to the front of the command-line options before it is parsed therefore allowing an option speci‐
fied on the command-line to override the same option specified in the environment.
TIN_HOMEDIR
Define this variable if you do not want the .tin directory in $HOME/. E.g., if you want all
tin's private files in /tmp/.tin you would set $TIN_HOMEDIR to /tmp.
TIN_INDEX_NEWSDIR
Define this variable if you do not want the .news directory in ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/.
E.g., if you want all tin's news index files in /tmp/.news you would set $TIN_INDEX_NEWSDIR to
/tmp.
TIN_INDEX_MAILDIR
Define this variable if you do not want the .mail directory in ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/.
E.g., if you want all tin's mail index files in /tmp/.mail you would set $TIN_INDEX_MAILDIR to
/tmp.
TIN_INDEX_SAVEDIR
Define this variable if you do not want the .save directory in ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.tin/.
E.g., if you want all tin's save index files in /tmp/.save you would set $TIN_INDEX_SAVEDIR to
/tmp.
TIN_LIBDIR
Define this variable if you want to override the NEWSLIBDIR path that was compiled into the tin
binary, default is /usr/lib/news. If tin is running in NNTP mode setting this variable has no
effect.
TIN_SPOOLDIR
Define this variable if you want to override the SPOOLDIR path that was compiled into the tin
binary, default is /var/spool/news. If tin is running in NNTP mode setting this variable has no
effect.
TIN_NOVROOTDIR
Define this variable if you want to override the NOVROOTDIR path that was compiled into the tin
binary, default is SPOOLDIR (see above). If tin is running in NNTP mode setting this variable
has no effect.
TIN_NOVFILENAME
Define this variable if you want to override the OVERVIEW_FILE filename that was compiled into
the tin binary, default is .overview. If tin is running in NNTP mode setting this variable has
no effect.
TIN_ACTIVEFILE
Define this variable if you want to override the NEWSLIBDIR/active path that was compiled into
the tin binary. If tin is running in NNTP mode setting this variable has no effect. If $TIN_LIB‐
DIR is set it is prepended to $TIN_ACTIVEFILE.
NNTPSERVER
The default NNTP server to remotely read news from. This variable only needs to be set if the
''-r'' command-line option is specified and the file /etc/news/server does not exist. The ''-g''
command line option overrides $NNTPSERVER.
NNTPPORT
The NNTP TCP-port to read news from. This variable only needs to be set if the TCP-port is not
119 (the default). The ''-p'' command-line option overrides $NNTPPORT.
DISTRIBUTION
Set the article header field ''Distribution:'' to the contents of the variable instead of the
system default.
ISO2ASC
Set the ISO to ASCII charset decoding table character to use in decoding an article text. Values
can range from -1 to 6.
-1 no conversion
0 universal table for many languages
1 single-spacing universal table
2 table for Danish, Dutch, German, Norwegian and Swedish
3 table for Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish using the appropriate ISO 646 variant
4 table with RFC1345 codes in brackets
5 table for printers that allow overstriking with backspace
6 table for IBM PC character set (code page 437)
ORGANIZATION
Set the article header field ''Organization:'' to the contents of the variable instead of the
system default. If reading news on an Apollo DomainOS machine the environment variable $NEWSORG
has to be used instead of $ORGANIZATION.
NEWSORG (DomainOS)
DomainOS specific, same as $ORGANIZATION on other OSs (see above).
REPLYTO
Set the article header field ''Reply-To:'' to the return address specified by the variable. This
is useful if you wish to receive replies at a different address.
NAME Overrides the full name given in the gecos-field in /etc/passwd, see also mail_address.
REALNAME
Same as $NAME.
HOME Pathname of the user's home directory. See environ(5) for more info.
MAILER This variable has precedence over the default mailer that is used in all mailing operations
within tin.
MAIL Full path to the user's mailbox.
VISUAL This variable has precedence over the default editor (i.e., vi(1)) that is used in all editing
operations within tin (e.g., posting, replying, follow-ups, ...). Evaluation order is ${VIS‐
UAL:-"${EDITOR:-vi}"}. See environ(5) for more info.
EDITOR If $VISUAL is unset, then this variable is looked up for a default editor. If $EDITOR and $VIS‐
UAL are both unset, tin uses the systems default editor (i.e. vi(1) on UNIX-systems). See
environ(5) for more info.
AUTOSUBSCRIBE
A new group is checked against the list of patterns; if it matches, tin subscribes the user to
the group without further query. See the section "NEWSGROUP LISTS & WILDCARDS" for an explana‐
tion of the valid syntax. For example, setting
AUTOSUBSCRIBE=comp.os.unix.*,talk.*,!talk.politics.*
will automatically subscribe the user to all new groups in the comp.os.unix hierarchy, and all
talk groups other than talk.politics groups (which will be queried for as usual). Of course this
does not work if tin is started with the ''-X'' command-line switch.
AUTOUNSUBSCRIBE
Is handled like the $AUTOSUBSCRIBE variable, but groups matching the list are unsubscribed from
without further query. For example, setting
AUTOUNSUBSCRIBE=alt.flame.*,u*,!uk.*
will automatically unsubscribe the user from all new alt.flame groups and all groups starting
with u (university groups) other than UK groups (which will be queried for as usual).
TMPDIR A pathname of a directory made available for tin to create temporary files.
MAILCAPS
This variable can be used to override the default path search for mailcap(5) files. See also
tin(5).
NOMETAMAIL
Set this variable to disable the use of metamail(1) or a replacement (e.g. metamutt).
MM_CHARSET
MIME character set used if not configured via the tinrc variable mm_charset.
ISPELL Set this variable to point to ispell(1) or a replacement and its cmd-line options.
PGPOPTS
Define any additional options that you wish to pass to your pgp(1) or gpg(1) program.
PGPPATH
Override the name of the pgp(1) directory in $HOME that holds your keys etc..
GNUPGHOME
Override the name of the gpg(1) directory in $HOME that holds your keys etc..
LC_CTYPE
This variable determines the locale(5) category for character handling functions. Usually it de‐
termines the character classes for pattern matching character classification and case conver‐
sion. Currently this is not true for tin (which temporary unsets $LC_CTYPE right before any
match is done to avoid confusion). It's value should be of the form language[_territory][.code‐
set][@modifier]. See environ(5) for more information.
LC_MESSAGES
Formats of informative and diagnostic messages and interactive responses. It's value should be
of the form language[_territory][.codeset][@modifier]. See locale(5) and environ(5) for more in‐
formation.
LC_TIME
Date and time formats. It's value should be of the form language[_territory][.codeset][@modi‐
fier]. See locale(5) and environ(5) for more information.
LC_ALL This variable overrides the value of the $LANG variable and any other $LC_ variable. It's value
should be of the form language[_territory][.codeset]. See locale(5) and environ(5) for more in‐
formation.
LANG This variable determines the locale(5) category for any category not specifically selected with
a variable starting with $LC_. It's value should be of the form language[_territory][.codeset].
See environ(5) for more information.
LANGUAGE
This variable defines a priority list for translations. Whenever a translation is not available
in the language selected via $LC_ALL or $LANG the next language from the list is tried. It's
value should be of the form language:language[:language]. See environ(5) for more information.
COLUMNS
A decimal integer > 0 used to indicate the user's preferred width in column positions for the
terminal screen or window. If this variable is unset or null, the implementation determines the
number of columns, appropriate for the terminal or window. When $COLUMNS is set, any terminal-
width information implied by $TERM will be overridden. Users and portable applications should
not set $COLUMNS unless they wish to override the system selection and produce output unrelated
to the terminal characteristics.
LINES A decimal integer > 0 used to indicate the user's preferred number of lines on a page or the
vertical screen or window size in lines. A line in this case is a vertical measure large enough
to hold the tallest character in the character set being displayed. If this variable is unset or
null, the implementation determines the number of lines, appropriate for the terminal or window.
When $LINES is set, any terminal-height information implied by $TERM will be overridden. Users
and portable applications should not set $LINES unless they wish to override the system selec‐
tion.
TERM The type of terminal in use. This is used when looking up termcap sequences. See environ(5) for
more information.
DISPLAY
Display name, pointing to the X server; required for xface.
WINDOWID
Used for determining terminal's X window id; required for xface. Should be set by the terminal
emulator.
SHELL The pathname of the user's login shell. Used to set default_shell_command.
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR
The pathname of the user's dir to put non-essential run time files into.
SIGNALS
tin handles a couple of signals:
SIGHUP Terminate gracefully.
SIGTERM
Terminate gracefully.
SIGUSR1
Terminate gracefully but do not restore terminal (tty).
SIGUSR2
Write out ${TIN_HOMEDIR:-"$HOME"}/.newsrc-file.
SECURITY
If tin is started in debug mode (''-D n'') it will create world readable files in $TMPDIR which may
contain the users NNTP password in cleartext. On multiuser-systems $TMPDIR should be set to a safe lo‐
cation before starting tin in debug mode (e.g. TMPDIR=$HOME tin -D 1).
CONFORMING TO
tin does conform to the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2008, Section 12, Utility Conven‐
tions (Utility Argument Syntax, Utility Syntax Guidelines).
NOTES
Regular expression support is provided by the PCRE library package pcre(3), which is open source soft‐
ware, written by Philip Hazel, and copyright by the University of Cambridge, England.
<
https://www.pcre.org/>
BUGS
CNews NNTPd, noffle(1) (<= V1.0-pre5) and NewsCache (<= V1.1.91) can't handle pipelined GROUP commands.
If you run into trouble with any of the mentioned servers define DISABLE_PIPELINING in include/auto‐
conf.h and recompile.
Before mailing a bug-report to <
[email protected]> please check if you are using the latest (stable) re‐
lease, and if not, please upgrade first! Have a look at the doc/TODO file for known bugs. If you still
think you've found a bug, please use the BugReport ('R') function and write in English. Please do NOT
enclose a core-file in your bug-report until we request it.
HISTORY
tin is based on the tass(1) newsreader that was developed by Rich Skrenta and posted to alt.sources in
March 1991; its first version was released on August 23rd 1991. tass(1) itself was heavily influenced
by notesfiles a public domain UNIX version of PLATO Notes, developed at the University of Illinois by
Ray Essick and Rob Kolstad in 1982. For a version overview see
<
http://www.tin.org/history.html>.
CREDITS
Rich Skrenta
author of tass(1) v3.2 which this newsreader used as its base.
Bill Davidsen
author of envarg.c environment variable reading routine.
Mike Gleason
author of sigfile.c random signature generation routines.
Markus Kuhn <
[email protected]>
author of langinfo.c, charset.c and iso2asc.txt ISO-8859-1 documentation.
Arnold Robbins
author of strftime.c date formatting routine.
Rich Salz
author of wildmat.c pattern matching and parsdate.y date parsing routines.
Dave Taylor
author of curses.c from the elm(1) mailreader.
Chris Thewalt
author of getline.c emacs(1) style editing routine.
Steven Madsen
for adding pgp(1) (Pretty Good Privacy) support.
Philip Hazel <
[email protected]>
for pcre(3) (Perl-compatible regular expression library).
Patrick Powell <
[email protected]>
for snprintf(3) and vsnprintf(3) fallbacks.
AUTHOR
Iain Lea <
[email protected]>
MAINTAINER
Urs Janssen <
[email protected]>
SEE ALSO
elm(1), emacs(1), gpg(1), inews(1), ispell(1), lp(1), lpr(1), metamail(1), mutt(1), noffle(1), perl(1),
perlre(1), pgp(1), rn(1), sendmail(1), shar(1), slrnface(1), tass(1), unshar(1), uudecode(1), vi(1),
xterm(1x), heapsort(3), iconv(3), iconv_open(3), nl_langinfo(3), pcre(3), pcrepattern(3), qsort(3),
snprintf(3), strftime(3), vsnprintf(3), wildmat(3), environ(5), locale(5), mailcap(5), mbox(5),
mmdf(5), newsoverview(5), tin(5), cron(8), RFC1345, RFC1524, RFC2045, RFC2046, RFC2047, RFC2048, RFC‐
2231, RFC2980, RFC3156, RFC3977, RFC4155, RFC4643, RFC4880, RFC5322, RFC5536, RFC5537, RFC6048
2.6.2 December 24th, 2021 tin(1)
