Leafnode 2 is an NNTP proxy server intended for small sites, where there are few users and little disk space, but where a large number of groups is desired. It can also be used to give a regular newsreader off-line functionality. The leafnode program itself is the server while the programs fetchnews and texpire transport the news and expire old articles respectively. There is a little work to do to install this program effectively, all of which is clearly set out in the README file contained in the source. It is strongly advised for you to read it thoroughly before installing leafnode. Below is a quick sketch of the requirements for Leafnode setup: After the installation, you need to: 1. Ensure $NNTPSERVER or /etc/nntpserver point to localhost. 2. Set /etc/inetd.conf so leafnode is executed for incoming NNTP connections. nntp stream tcp nowait news /usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/sbin/leafnode 3. Set /etc/hosts.deny and /etc/hosts.allow to protect the server. See the README /etc/hosts.deny: leafnode: ALL /etc/hosts.allow: leafnode: 127.0.0.1 4. Create /etc/leafnode/config and adjust settings as required. A sample file - /etc/leafnode/config.example - is already there. 5. Set cronjobs for fetchnews and texpire. 6. Fetch the newsgroup list from your server. /usr/sbin/fetchnews -vv /usr/sbin/texpire -vv ** texpire will make sure the leafnode news spool is in working order. 7. Set your newsreader to use the localhost leafnode. All of this is carefully written up in the README file of the source code and I stress again the importance of reading that file thorougly. You may also want to read the following guides: The below guide is specifically aimed at slackware users and details concise and quickl instructions on how to get a good leafnode install up and working: * http://www.andrews-corner.org/leafnode.html While the guide below is not specifically written for Slackware, it offers many good tips and many ideas for scripts to make working with leafnode easier. * http://homepage.ntlworld.com/garryknight/linux/leafnode.html