.\"	@(MHWARNING)
.\" @(#)$Id$
.SC BBOARDS 1
.NA
bboards \- the UCI BBoards facility
.SY
bbc
\%[\-check]
\%[\-read]
bboards ...
\%[\-help]
.DE
The home directory of \fIbboards\fR is where the BBoard system is kept.
This documentation describes some of the nuances of the BBoard system.

Note that if your system is configured to use the Network News
Transfer Protocol (\fBNNTP\fP) to read BBoards,
@BEGIN: NNTP
(your system does seem to be configured this way),
@END: NNTP
then there is no local bboards setup; instead, \fIbbc\fP 
opens an \fBNNTP\fP connection to the local server.

.in +.5i
.ti -.5i
\fBBBoards, BBoard\-IDs\fR
.br
A BBoard is just a file containing a group of messages relating to the same
topic.
These files live in the ~bboards home directory.
Each message in a BBoard file has in its header the line
\*(lqBBoard-Id: n\*(rq,
where \*(lqn\*(rq is an ascending decimal number.
This id-number is unique for each message in a BBoards file.
It should NOT be confused with the message number of a message,
which can change as messages are removed from the BBoard.

.ti -.5i
\fBBBoard Handling\fR
.br
To read BBoards, use the \fIbbc\fR and \fImsh\fR programs.
The \fImsh\fR command is a monolithic program which contains all the
functionality of \fIMH\fR in a single program.
The `\-check' switch to \fIbbc\fR lets you check on the status of BBoards,
and the `\-read' switch tells \fIbbc\fR to invoke \fImsh\fR to read
those BBoards.

.ti -.5i
\fBCreating a BBoard\fR
.br
Both public, and private BBoards are supported.
Contact the mail address \fIPostMaster\fR if you'd like to have a BBoard
created.

.ti -.5i
\fBBBoard addresses\fR
.br
Each BBoard has associated with it 4 addresses,
these are (for the ficticious BBoard called ``hacks''):
.in +.75i
.br
.ti -.5i
\fBhacks\fR\0: The Internet wide distribution list.
.br
.ti -.5i
\fBdist-hacks\fR\0: The local BBoard.
.br
.ti -.5i
\fBhacks-request\fR\0:
The people responsible for the BBoard at the Internet level.
.br
.ti -.5i
\fBlocal-hacks-request\fR\0:
The people responsible for the BBoard locally.
.in -.75i
.in -.5i
.Fi
^$HOME/\&.mh\(ruprofile~^The user profile
^$HOME/\&.bbrc~^BBoard information
.Pr
^Path:~^To determine the user's MH directory
.Ps
^bboards:~^To specify interesting BBoards
.Ps
^mshproc:~^Program to read a given BBoard
.Sa
bbc(1), bbl(1), bbleader(1), msh(1)
.De
The default bboard is \*(lqsystem\*(rq
.Co
None
.En