To build slrn, first build the slang library. Get it from ftp://space.mit.edu/pub/davis/slang. Unless you are on UCX, you also need to get the clientlib.tar.gz package from http://slrn.sourceforge.net/data/ and replace the dummy files clientlib.c and clientlib.h in slrn's source tree with it. They are not included by default because of their more restrictive license. Once the slang library has been created, change directories to the [.src] subdirectory and do: $ @vmsmake Hopefully this will automatically detect your compiler and TCPIP package. It also assumes the slrn directory is at the same level as the slrn directory, i.e., [.slrn] [.slrn.src] [.slang] [.slang.src] After building slrn, you must do: $ slrn :== $device:[directory.of.slrn]slrn.exe $ define/job nntpserver news.server.name $ slrn --create -f jnews.rc