NEWS
----

The NEWS utility allows users to read news bulletins which appear on the
system from time to time.  Old news items may be reread and users can get
a directory of news items currently on the system.  All users receive
notice of system news.  Group news is also available for users with
accounts in the same UIC group.  NEWS is used to access system news and
GNEWS is used to access group news.  A logical name NEWS$SYSTEM must be
present to point to the system news directory.  Group news is optional.
NEWSBUILD.COM builds the programs in the package.  NEWSINIT initializes
file which stores information on which items a user has read.  This file is
called NEWS$SYSTEM:NEWSNUM.DAT and the protection must be W:RW.  NEWS.EXE
and GNEWS.EXE live in SYS$SYSTEM and NEWS.HLB lives in SYS$LIBRARY.  The
help module NEWS.HLP can also be added to the system HELP library.  The
programs ZERONEWS and ZEROGNEWS can be used to reset news item counts for
users.  NEWSASG.COM should be called from SYSTARTUP.COM to set up system
and group logical names when the system is booted.

Files used by the NEWS system are:

NEWS.END	in the NEWS$SYSTEM directory.  Contains the number of the
		latest news item which exists in the news system.

NEWS.TTL	in the NEWS$SYSTEM directory.  Contains a directory of all
		currently available news items with title and date of issue.

NEWS.001 -	in the NEWS$SYSTEM directory.  News item text for items 001
 NEWS.999	to 999.

The same files are required in NEWS$GROUP directories.  NEWSCHK should be
run as part of the login procedure and symbols to run NEWS and GNEWS should
be set up.  The command procedure UPDATE.COM can be used to add, delete or
alter news items.  News item counts are assumed in increase monotonically,
so when 999 is reached, counts must be zeroed to start over again.


						Chris Chaundy
						Melbourne State College
						c/- Computer Centre
						University of Melbourne
						Parkville, Victoria. 3052
						Australia