=head1 NAME

distrib.pats - Default values for the Distribution header

=head1 DESCRIPTION

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

    <weight>:<pattern>:<value>

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

The second field is either the name of a newsgroup or a uwildmat(3)-style
pattern to specify a set of newsgroups.

The third field is the value that should be used for the Distribution
header of a posted article, if this line was picked as the best match and
no Distribution header was supplied by the user.  It can be an empty
string, specifying that no Distribution header should be added.

When a post is received by B<nnrpd> that does not already contain a
Distribution header, each newsgroup to which an article is posted will be
checked against this file in turn, and the matching line with the highest
weight will be used as the value of the Distribution header.  If no lines
match, or if the matching line has an empty string for its third field, no
header will be added.

=head1 HISTORY

Written by Rich $alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net> for InterNetNews.  Converted to
POD by Russ Allbery <rra@stanford.edu>.

$Id: distrib.pats.pod 6282 2003-04-06 21:50:07Z rra $

=head1 SEE ALSO

inn.conf(5), nnrpd(8), uwildmat(3)

=cut
