Re: What exactly is a NOV header

[Anupam Sengupta]

>>>>> "Anupam" == Anupam Sengupta <anupamsg@gmail.com> writes:

>>>>> "Madhu" == Madhu  <enometh@meer.net> writes:
    Slackrat> Slackrat <87ps38lx7i.fsf@azurservers.com> wrote:
    Slackrat> Could someone please refer me to a definition of exactly what a
    Slackrat> NOV header is in simple language?

    Anupam> NOV stands for _News Overview_ and is a header/database format for
    Anupam> newsreaders to process data in the NNTP articles. This format was
    Anupam> developed by Geoff Collyer and is now a defacto standard for NNTP
    Anupam> newsreaders - including Gnus.

    Anupam> You can read more about the NOV format and headers at:

    Anupam> 
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/usenet/software/inn-faq/part1/section-15.html

    Madhu> Its described in the info file for gnus.  Did you already read this:
    Madhu> M-x eval-expression RET (info "(gnus)Headers") RET

    Anupam>     No. NOV is NOT described in the info node you mentioned (at
    Anupam> least on my install, which is gnus v5.11). Please check before
    Anupam> posting. A *reference* is made to NOV headers - but as the OP
    Anupam> pointed out, no definition of *what* NOV headers are is not
    Anupam> provided.

Another good definition is at:

http://quimby.gnus.org/notes/nov-faq.txt

>From the FAQ:

,----
| _What is the Overview/NOV database?_
| 
| The Overview or News OverView (NOV) database was designed by Geoff
| Collyer.  Its a more generalized database, it it contains *no*
| threading information, just the information needed to thread.  The
| overview database is just a database of files, one for each group,
| containing a reference to each article, with seven or eight of the
| most popular headers.  Thus, the newsreader client can get most of the
| information it needs to thread, but it does the threading the way it
| wants to.  Yes, the downside is that now the threading occurs on the
| client's CPU, but that's not as expensive as it may seem, if done
| properly. 
`----

-- 
Anupam