>Seems to me it would make more sense to omit the Newsgroups line and to >have Netnews add it, using the default 'bit.listserv.listname'. The PSU >Netnews implementation does this; perhaps the PUCC implementation does >not (does anyone know?) and that is the reason the Newsgroups default >lines are being added. > >If the Newsgroups line were omitted, this would make it easier if there >were ever to be a massive renaming of Netnews/Listserv groups or if >individual groups were to be renamed. When a Netnews DVM gets a reader file from a Listserv, it needs some way to figure out what newsgroup the articles belongs in. Having the Listserv list add the appropriate Newsgroup header is one way to do this mapping; PUCC happens to use that method. There are other ways to do the mapping. You can look at the file's tag; usually the originid/fn/ft/dist/form are distinctive enough to help you with the mapping. Or you can look at the Sender header. If you use the SENDER header, you may find that the address in the header changes over time. That's because your Listserv subscription may move from one peer to another if the peers change or if the network topology changes enough. When your subscription moves, the node part of the address will certainly change. (The userid part of the address can also change, since peered lists may have different names on different Listservs.) True, this doesn't happen often, but if you are gatewaying a lot of lists, it does mean you'll probably lose some articles until you catch the change. Increases maintenance time on the Netnews side, too. Also, there may be *some* mailers along the route that munge the Sender header so it no longers looks like what you expect. (I'm no mail expect; I don't know if this *should* happen. I just know that it *may*. You won't find mailers munching on the Newsgroups header, since they usually have no idea what this header is for.) If you use the file's tag, you may also encounter the same problem. Generally you can look at the fn/ft/originid/dest/form and figure out that the file is from a Listserv and belong in a particular group. But the pattern that shows up in the tag can change if your subscription happens to move from one Listserv to another Listserv. Until you catch the change, you can lose articles....more maintenance time. I've also seen the tags change as a result of passing through some systems, say when the file goes through some sort of gateway. So the upshot is that there are at least three workable ways of establishing the Listserv mail -> Netnews newsgroup mapping. tried the tag method when developing PUCC's gatewaying, but wasn't happy with the problems I described above. I then moved to the Sender header method, but it too had problems. As a result of discussion a few years ago, Eric Thomas added the Newsgroups header to Listserv.