=head1 NAME

distributions - Recommended values for the Distribution: header

=head1 DESCRIPTION

The file I<pathetc>/distributions contains a list of relevant
distributions and their descriptions.  It provides local information
for posters who wish to add a Distribution: header to their articles
so as to restrict their propagation, although it does not guarantee
that such articles will not leak elsewhere because of a misconfiguration
of a news server to which they are fed.  See newsfeeds(5) for more
information about how a news server handles the Distribution: header.

Each line of this file consists in a distribution area followed by
its description after at least a whitespace.  For instance:

    all     Everywhere:  it is a worldwide distribution.
    fr      Local to France.
    local   Local to this news server.
    nj      Local to New Jersey.
    usa     Local to the United States of America.
    world   Everywhere:  it is a worldwide distribution.

Blank lines and lines beginning with a number sign (C<#>) are ignored.

Any client that issues the LIST DISTRIBUTIONS command obtain these
recommended values, if available.  However, be aware that use of the
LIST DISTRIBUTIONS command is not widespread and most news clients will
never ask for this file.

If this file is missing, it is not an error.  The server will just send
the client an empty response.

The Distribution: header can also be automatically set by B<nnrpd>
if distrib.pats(5) is correctly configured.

=head1 HISTORY

Written by Julien Elie for InterNetNews.

$Id: distributions.pod 8357 2009-02-27 17:56:00Z iulius $

=head1 SEE ALSO

distrib.pats(5), newsfeeds(5), nnrpd(8).

=cut
