Preparing and uploading binaries to Usenet (CLI)

[Hallvor]

Uploading to Usenet

In this howto, we'll use CLI tools to prepare and upload binaries to Usenet. Not all providers has upload rights enabled by default, so you may have to enable them on the site of your Usenet host before you proceed. It also requires the installation of non-free software, so this repository must be enabled. (RMS won't be proud...)

You must also install (open source) software from an external source. Proceed at own risk.

Preparing

First install the needed packages (as root):

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# apt install par2 rar 

We will now split the binary in parts of 50 megabytes (because the application we will use for uploads later on prefers small file sizes).

Open a command line interface in the directory with the file you want to upload. Make sure the binary you want to upload is the only file you have in that directory. As an example, I will use the Debian 10 ARM64 version. Replace with your content and file name, of course.

As regular user:

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$ rar a debian-10.1.0-arm64-netinst.rar -v50m -m0 *

And then delete the ISO.

Rar will here make a file called debian-10.1.0-arm64-netinst.rar and split it into parts of 50 megabytes. -m0 means zero compression and is ideal for fast storage. * means that all files in the directory will be appended into the rar. If you are uploading a folder of files, you may want to rar the entire folder to avoid a mess of individual files when extracting them.

Par2 is a file verification and repair tool. It is highly recommended to use it to enable file repair for missing parts. The following command will use your already created rar files to create par2 files with 25% retention, which will be fine in almost all cases.

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$ par2create -r25 *.rar

Uploading

The files are now ready for upload. Sadly, there are not that many options for GNU/Linux, but I have found one that works very well here: https://github.com/PietjeBell88/newspost . This particular version can use several connections to speed up the upload.

Once there, clock the "Clone or Download" button.

Open a terminal in the downloaded directory and type (as user)

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$ make

Then (as root)

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# make install

Once the installation is completed, we can upload our rar and par2 files. Open the terminal in your upload directory:

As regular user:

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$ newspost -i YOURUSENETSERVER.COM -u YOURUSERNAME -p YOURPASSWORD -N 4 -f YOUR@EMAIL.COM -n alt.binaries.boneless -s "debian-10.1.0-arm64-netinst.ISO" *

You will of course have to edit this command. Replace YOURUSENETSERVER.COM with your Usenet host's server. Replace YOURUSERNAME, YOURPASSWORD and YOUREMAIL@EMAIL.COM with your Usenet username/login, password and e-mail. -N 4 means the files will upload with four connections.The e-mail address does not have to be real. alt.binaries.boneless means your binaries will be posted to the alt.binaries.boneless group. This is one of few groups you can post anything to.

If you are unsure of where to post your binaries, this may be a good help:

https://www.giganews.com/newsgroup_sear ... t.binaries

From there, we can see that the group alt.binaries.linux.iso may be a better choice, but alt.binaries.boneless will work as well.

Finally "debian-10.1.0-arm64-netinst.ISO" displays the subject of your post, and * tells newspost to upload everything, so again, make sure you are in the right directory...

All done. Your binaries should be available for download in a few hours.

[stevepusser]

I have to wonder what a use case for this would be in the modern age.