  PLOR
  Davide Barbieri paci@pluto.linux.it, Zeno Michielon
  zeno@dei.unipd.it
  version 0.3.2 ALPHA, 25 January 1998

  THIS IS FREE SOFTWARE. NO WARRANTY IS MADE FOR THIS SOFTWARE !!!ATTEN-
  TION!!!  PLOR IS AT A VERY ALPHA STAGE. THIS RELEASE IS INTENDED TO BE
  USED BY ALPHA TESTER, IN ORDER TO FIND BUGS AND SUGGESTS IMPROVEMENTS

  11..  WWhhaatt iiss PPLLOORR??

  11..11..  WWhhaatt PPLLOORR ssttaanndd ffoorr??

  PLOR means Pluto Linux Offline Reader

  11..22..  WWhhaatt iitt ddooeess??

  As the name implies it is a news & mail off-line reader; in particular
  it reads qwk or soup packet generate by uqwk program (or some other
  similar packet programs).

  Now it is capable to read only soup packet with bugged reply
  capabilities.

  11..33..  WWhheerree II ccaann ffiinndd PPLLOORR??

  The last version of PLOR can be found on:

  ftp://ftp.pluto.linux.it/pub/pluto/devel

  with name likes plor-???.tgz, where ??? stands for version number.

  There should be a (possibly updated) version also, on sunsite:

  ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/bbs/mail

  11..44..  HHooww ttoo ccoommppiillee pplloorr aanndd iinnssttaallll

  unpack plor.tgz wherever you want:

       gzip -d plor.tgz
       tar -xvf plor.tar

  now you can remove plor.tar;

  1. `cd' to the directory containing the package's source code and type
     `./configure' to configure the package for your system.  If you're
     using `csh' on an old version of System V, you might need to type
     `sh ./configure' instead to prevent `csh' from trying to execute
     `configure' itself.

     Running `configure' takes awhile.  While running, it prints some
     messages telling which features it is checking for.

  2. Type `make' to compile the package.

  3. Type `make install' to install the programs and any data files and
     documentation.

  There should be no problem in compiling plor; if there are any email
  us, please!

  PLOR was compiled with -ansi -pedantic options of gcc; this should
  make PLOR some-what portable on other UNIX-like systems.

  11..55..  HHooww ttoo uussee pplloorr

  Take your soup (or qwk) packet and uncompress it in the plor
  directory; simply call 'plor' and follow the online instructions.

  There won't be difficulties to use plor; if there are some, please let
  us know what kind of difficulties you found using plor.

  Plor support some options:

  +o  -h shows a little help screen

  +o  -p this option is called ``plain output''; it makes plor to
     produced a plain output, without formatting it, or without adding
     anything else than the message; the message could then be formatted
     with a pager like less; this could be useful for someone who decide
     to make a front-end for plor

  +o  -c n select conference number n

  +o  -m n select message number n

  +o  -s select soup mode

  +o  -q select qwk mode (not yet implemented)

  So if you want to see only the first message of the first conference
  in soup mode, and you want to have a plain output, because you like to
  have it formatted by less, use:

       plor -p -s -c 1 -m 1 | less

  11..66..  FFrreeeeBBSSDD

  Yes. Even if PLOR is a Linux Offline Reader, it seems to run also on
  FreeBSD. Thanks to Tim Vanderhoek <thoek@freenet.hamilton.on.ca for
  the port.  Refer to him for any FreeBSD related problem with PLOR.

  22..  GGeenneerraall IInnffoorrmmaattiioonn

  22..11..  HHiissttoorryy

  We are very poor students of University of Padua; we love linux

  PLOR, for us, is an experimental program, which could help us in
  learning C language; if it will work as an offline reader...  well,
  much better :-)

  22..22..  WWhhyy uussee pplloorr

  Some of you could ask why plor exists.

  Well, let me stress that plor is an OFFLINE News & Mail READER.  This
  is useful for people using modem, or people which can use the computer
  only at home, where there is a Linux Box without an internet
  connection.

  There are a lot of programs for people who want to read mail and news
  offline, but none of this has all the features that I want. These are:

  +o  the ability to use my real mailbox and my real .newsrc, so I can
     read news & mail both when I am at university (with a full internet
     connection), and when I am at home offline, without loosing track
     of what I have already read

  +o  the ability to be used with a TCP/IP connection (PPP, SLIP, etc.)
     or with a terminal one (sz and rz are always 10% faster than a PPP
     connection)

  +o  the ability to be run on my provider server, so when I connect I
     have only to download my `gzip -9' news & mail packet.

  Those abilities are achieved with uqwk and a uqwk reader.  uqwk
  already exists for Linux, but there's no good uqwk reader (I hate
  atp!). So I write plor.

  22..33..  OOfffflliinnee rreeaaddiinngg wwiitthh PPLLOORR -- mmiinniiHHOOWWTTOO

  I use:

       uqwk +m +n -r +L

  to download news & mail on my provider server (or on a machine at
  university); then I pack all the *.MSG file in a newsmail.zip file
  with `gzip -9'

  These file can be put on a floppy disk, if I am in console at
  university, or can be downloaded via my PPP connection, or also using
  minicom. This is versatile.

  When I have newsmail.zip at home, I simply unzip it, and use plor to
  read and post.

  When plor exits, it will create a REPLY.zip file, which I uploaded
  next time I connect (or go to university), and post my new mail
  messages and news posts with uqwk.

  For more information: man uqwk.

  22..44..  AAuutthhoorrss

  Davide Barbieri paci@pluto.linux.it

       via Aldo Moro 36,
       Campagnola di Brugine
       35020 Padova Italy

  Zeno Michielon zeno@dei.unipd.it

       via Cips Ciaps 69,
       Lignano
       35xxx Venezia Italy

  22..55..  CCooppyyrriigghhtt

  Plor is FREE SOFTWARE.

  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
  the Free Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at your option)
  any later version.

  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
  WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
  General Public License for more details.

  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
  along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
  Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

  22..66..  PPLLUUTTOO LLiinnuuxx OOfffflliinnee RReeaaddeerr

  Don't know why in the name of our program there is that funny mickey
  mouse dog?

  PLUTO is the Linux User Group of Italy.

  See http://www.pluto.linux.it/ for more informations.

