WebNews Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting

• Make sure that you have all of the perl modules which are listed in the documentation installed. You do need all of them installed.
• You can use the perl CPAN module to install perl modules. Type "perldoc CPAN" for a manual page explaining how.
• You can check if a module named Module is installed by running "perl -MModule -e 1". If it gives you an error message, then Perl couldn't load the module, and you may have to check your settings, and maybe install the module. If it prints nothing, then you are OK.
• You might want to see if "perl -wc webnews.cgi" works (output should end with a "syntax OK" message). If it does, then make sure the path to perl is right in the "#!" line at the top of webnews.cgi.
• Make sure that your config file is well-formed. Run "perl -wc" on it and see if it works.
• If you get a "misconfigured" message, try editing index.cgi to have the right URL for your server/port.
• Make sure the "do" line that reads in the config file near the top of webnews.cgi has the correct pathname for your config file.
• Make sure that WebNews can write to the $WNDIR directory and the $WNDIR/users directory as you've configured them in webnews.conf. It needs to write active.txt (the active newsgroups file retrieved from the server), as well as users' newsrc files, in these directories.
• Make sure that WebNews can log in to your news server. If your news server requires authentication, make sure you have set the username and password correctly, and set SERVER_NEEDS_AUTH to 1, in webnews.conf.

Maintained by Brian R. Gaeke