--- /dev/null
+NewsStats 0.1 (c) 2010 Thomas Hochstein <thh@inter.net>
+
+NewsStats is a software package for gathering statistical data live
+from a Usenet feed and subsequent examination.
+
+This script package is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+modify it under the terms of the GNU Public License as published by
+the Free Software Foundation.
+
+---------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
+
+1) Install the scripts
+
+ * Download the current version of NewsStats from
+ <http://th-h.de/download/scripts.php>.
+
+ * Untar it into a directory of your choice:
+
+ # tar -xzf newsstats-nn.tar.gz
+
+ Scripts in this path should be executable by the news user.
+
+2) Configuration
+
+ * Copy the sample configuration file newsstats.conf.sample to
+ newsstats.conf and modify it for your purposes:
+
+ # cp newsstats.conf.sample newsstats.conf
+ # vim newsstats.conf
+
+ a) Mandatory configuration options
+
+ * DBDriver = mysql
+ Database driver used; currently only mysql is supported.
+
+ * DBHost = localhost
+ The host your mysql server is running on.
+
+ * DBUser =
+ The username to connect to the database server.
+
+ * DBPw =
+ Matching password for your username.
+
+ * DBDatabase = newsstats
+ Database name.
+
+ NewsStats will use those credentials to connect to your mysql
+ installation.
+
+ * DBTableRaw = raw_de
+ Table holding raw statistical data.
+
+ * DBTableGrps = groups_de
+ Table holding data on postings per group.
+
+ b) Optional configuration options
+
+ * TLH = de
+ Limit examination to that top-level hierarchy.
+
+3) Database (mysql) setup
+
+ * Setup your database server with a username, password and
+ database matching the NewsStats configuration (see 2 a).
+
+ * Start the installation script:
+
+ # install/install.pl
+
+ It will setup the necessary database tables and display some
+ information on the next steps.
+
+4) Feed (INN) setup
+
+ You have to setup an INN feed to feedlog.pl.
+
+ * Edit your 'newsfeeds' file and insert something like
+
+ ## gather statistics for NewsStats
+ newsstats!
+ :!*,de.*
+ :Tc,WmtfbsPNH,Ac:/path/to/feedlog.pl
+
+ * You should only feed that hierarchy (those hierarchies ...) to
+ feedlog.pl you'll want to cover with your statistical
+ examination. It may be a good idea to setup different feeds (to
+ different databases ...) for different hierarchies.
+
+ * Please double check that your path to feedlog.pl is correct and
+ feedlog.pl can be executed by the news user
+
+ * Check your 'newsfeeds' syntax:
+
+ # ctlinnd checkfile
+
+ * Reload 'newsfeeds':
+
+ # ctlinnd reload newsfeeds 'Adding newsstats! feed'
+
+ * Watch your 'news.notice' and 'errlog' files:
+
+ # tail -f /var/log/news/news.notice
+ ...
+ # tail -f /var/log/news/errlog
+
+ Everything should be going smoothly now.
+
+ * If INN is spewing error messages to 'errlog' or reporting
+ continous respaws of feedlog.pl to 'news.notice', stop your feed:
+
+ # ctlinnd drop 'newsstats!'
+
+ and investigate. 'errlog' may be helpful here.
+
+ * You can restart the feed with
+
+ # ctlinnd begin 'newsstats!'
+
+ later.
+
+You should be done now.
+
+Just have a look at your raw data (DBTableRaw). It should now start to
+fill up.
+
--- /dev/null
+NewsStats 0.1 (c) 2010 Thomas Hochstein <thh@inter.net>
+
+NewsStats is a software package for gathering statistical data live
+from a Usenet feed and subsequent examination.
+
+This script package is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+modify it under the terms of the GNU Public License as published by
+the Free Software Foundation.
+
+---------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+What's that?
+
+ There's a multitude of tools for the statistical examination of
+ newsgroups: number of postings month or per person, longest
+ threads, and so on (see <http://th-h.de/infos/usenet/stats.php>
+ [German language] for an incomplete list). Most of them use a per-
+ newsgroup approach while NewsStats is hierarchy oriented.
+
+ NewsStats will accumulate data from a live INN feed, allowing you
+ to process the saved information later on.
+
+Workflow
+
+ NewsStats saves overview data and complete headers of (all)
+ incoming postings to a (MySQL) database in real time.
+
+ That raw data will be regularly - e.g. monthly - processed to a
+ second set of database tables each dedicated to a certain
+ statistical aspect, e.g. number of postings per group per month.
+
+ Several kinds of reports can then be generated from those result
+ tables.
+
+Prerequisites
+
+ NewsStats is written in Perl (5.8.x and above) and makes use of a
+ MySQL database, so you'll need Perl, some modules, mysql and, of
+ course, an INN.
+
+ * Perl 5.8.x with standard modules
+ - Cwd
+ - File::Basename
+ - Sys::Syslog
+
+ * Perl modules form CPAN
+ - Cofing::Auto
+ - Date::Format
+ - DBI
+
+ * mysql 5.0.x
+
+ * working installation of INN
+
+Installation instructions
+
+ See INSTALL.
+
+Getting Started
+
+ 'feedlog.pl' will continuously feed raw data to your raw data
+ table. See the feedlog.pl man page for more information.
+
+ You can process that data via 'gatherstats.pl'; currently only the
+ tabulation of postings per group per month is supported. More to
+ come. See the gatherstats.pl man page for more information.
+
+ Report generation is handled by specialised scripts for each
+ report type. Currently only reports on the number of postings per
+ group per month are supported; you can use 'groupstats.pl' for
+ that. See the groupstats.pl man page for more information.
+
+Reporting Bugs
+
+ You can report bugs or feature requests to the author by using the
+ bug tracker at <http://bugs.th-h.de/>.
+
+More Information
+
+ This program is maintained using the Git version control system.
+ You may clone <git://code.th-h.de/usenet/newsstats.git> to check
+ out the current development tree or browse it on the web via
+ <http://code.th-h.de/?p=usenet/newsstats.git>.
+
+Related projects
+
+ <http://usenet.dex.de/> is a site were data gathered via NewsStats
+ is used for a graphical presentation of activity in the de.*
+ Usenet hierarchy over the years.
+
+Author
+
+ Thomas Hochstein <thh@inter.net>
+ <http://th-h.de/>