6.2.1.1 Direct Functions

These functions are called direct because they open a direct connection between your machine and the NNTP server. The behavior of these functions is also affected by commonly understood variables (see Common Variables).

nntp-open-network-stream

This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the remote system.

nntp-open-tls-stream

Opens a connection to a server over a secure channel. To use this you must have GNUTLS installed. You then define a server as follows:

          ;; "nntps" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
          ;; however, `gnutls-cli -p' doesn't like named ports.
          ;;
          (nntp "snews.bar.com"
                (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-tls-stream)
                (nntp-port-number )
                (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
     

nntp-open-ssl-stream

Opens a connection to a server over a secure channel. To use this you must have OpenSSL or SSLeay installed. You then define a server as follows:

          ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
          ;; however, `openssl s_client -port' doesn't like named ports.
          ;;
          (nntp "snews.bar.com"
                (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
                (nntp-port-number 563)
                (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
     

nntp-open-telnet-stream

Opens a connection to an NNTP server by simply `telnet''ing it. You might wonder why this function exists, since we have the default nntp-open-network-stream which would do the job. (One of) the reason(s) is that if you are behind a firewall but have direct connections to the outside world thanks to a command wrapper like runsocks, you can use it like this:

          (nntp "socksified"
                (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
                (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-telnet-stream)
                (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
     

With the default method, you would need to wrap your whole Emacs session, which is not a good idea.