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<title "pcp - Perl Cron-Poster">
#Desc: The Perl Cron-Poster. A short perl-script that I wrote for posting the FAQ for at.linux.

  <div align="center">
    <img src="pics/pcp.png" alt="[pcp]">
  </div>

  <hr/>

  &nbsp;On this page you'll find infos about <link rhonda>Rhonda</link>'s very
  own pcp. This little FAQ might help you:

  <ul>
    <li><a href="#what">What</a> is the pcp?</li>
    <li><a href="#where">Where</a> can I get the pcp from?</li>
    <li><a href="#how">How</a> can I use the pcp?</li>
    <li>Is there a <a href="#copy">copyright</a> on pcp?</li>
  </ul>

  &nbsp;Feel free to <link disclaimer>notice me</link> if you have any
  sugguestions either for this page or for the program itself.

  <hr/>

  <h2><a name="what">What</a></h2> 

  <p>
    &nbsp;... is the pcp? pcp stands for <b>P</b>erl
    <b>C</b>ron-<b>P</b>oster and is a short but nice perl-script that allows
    you to set up a cronjob for regular postings (like FAQs and stuff). I
    wrote it for myself for the miniFAQ-Posting for the Newsgroup
    <link a.l>at.linux</link>. But I'm quite sure that it will be helpful to
    all the others out there that have the same problem.
  </p>

  <hr/>

  <h2><a name="where">Where</a></h2> 

  <p>
    &nbsp;... can you get the pcp from? Well, from <a href="pcp.pl">here</a>
    :-)  It is a plain text file and not very big so I refused from packing
    it (it wouldn't help you much). Also notice that there is no
    version-control here at the moment. This will change in the future, I
    hope ;)
  </p>

  <hr/>

  <h2><a name="how">How</a></h2> 

  <p>
    &nbsp;... can you use the pcp? Well, that's a little difficult to say for
    the development isn't quite straitforward and the pcp can (and will!)
    change in several ways (to make it easier to configure, first of all
    :)<br>
    &nbsp;So at the moment there are the following sugguestions for you:
  </p>
  <ul>
    <li>Generated MID: You will have to change the MID (line 26).</li>
    <li>Old MID-File: The path to the old MID-File needs to be changed, too
      (line 27).</li>
    <li>Message: The message has to be change (line 55ff).</li>
  </ul>
  <p>
    &nbsp;If you <i>speak</i> perl it should be no problem at all for you.
    But it shouldn't be too hard to understand even if you don't know perl.
  </p>
  <p>
    &nbsp;However, there are several restrictions to the program: You
    shouldn't trust it too much. It might misfunction if you change some bits
    on the wrong place or set up your cron-job wrong. You might end up
    posting tons of messages to the groups (or even others, if you are not
    careful). You are on your own then - I take no responsibility for the
    program. In more general words: The warranty-paragraph of the GPL applies
    to this piece of code!
  </p>
  <p>
    &nbsp;If you want to use this piece of code for commercial postings
    beware that they are not allowed everywhere. Even if you don't you have
    to notice to not post too often and/or in too many groups (this also
    applies for commercial usage, of course ;).  If you want to post to a
    group check first for the rules for that group or you might get into
    serious troubles.<br/>
    &nbsp;If you get into troubles - don't blame pcp for it. <i>You</i> did
    set it up to do the things it does, right? So first search for the reason
    at your part of the end.
  </p>

  <hr/>

  <h2><a name="copy">Copyright</a></h2> 

  <p>
    &nbsp;..., there is a copyright to this piece of crap? Well, <b>yes</b>.
    Like every piece of intelectual work even this short hack has a
    copyright. It goes to me, <link resume>Gerfried Fuchs</link>. I am the
    <i>intelectual</i> owner of the code. To become a little more serious,
    the copyright that applies to this <i>program</i> goes like this:
  </p>
  <pre><cite><protect>
  pcp - Perl Cron-Poster: a short perlprogram that helps you posting ..
  Copyright (C) 2000 by Gerfried Fuchs                .. FAQ's and stuff

  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
  the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
  (at your option) any later version.

  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
  GNU General Public License for more details.

  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
  along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
  Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA
  </protect></cite></pre>
  <p>
    &nbsp;Especially, I take <b>no</b> responsibility for anything this
    program does. If it doesn't work for you, if you think it works in a
    wrong way, or even if it does any harm to anyone or anything I am not
    responsible for that - you used it, you are responsible. This might sound
    hard but noone said that life is easy, right? :-P
  </p>

  <hr/>
  
  <h2>So far, so good...</h2>

  <p>
    &nbsp;What else is to do? Well, there are several things that I planed:
  </p>
  <ul>
    <li>Reading the message from a seperate file</li>
    <li>Making the setup easier (commandline-options, ...)</li>
    <li>cron-interface</li>
    <li>plausibility-check for old MID</li>
    <li><i>(fill in your own ideas)</i></li>
  </ul>
  <p>
    &nbsp;So, as said before - if you have any sugguestions to make I'd
    pleased to hear of them so <link disclaimer>drop me an email</link>.
  </p>