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Text File | 1992-12-27 | 25KB | 556 lines

_ __ _ _ __ _ __ // / //| // || \\| N E W S //_/ // |// || |\\ Vol 1, Issue 7 - October 1990 R o u n d T a b l e Items of interest to participants of the GEnie Unix RoundTable The RoundTable SysOps are: Dave Weinstein......OLORIN Brian Riley.........DELPHI Gary Smith..........GARS Chris North-Keys....HARP Rick Mobley.........LRARK All Unix SysOps.....UNIXSYSOPS$ We strongly encourage you to contact any or all of us if you have -ANY- comments or suggestions. This is -YOUR- RoundTable. We are here to make your participation as pleasant and beneficial as possible. ED: editor notes ( PARTY TIME !!!! ) -- We have the party guests and some great trimming lined up for a GEnie Unix RoundTable party in November. All you have to do is bring yourself and join the fun. I do have a suggestion, though. If you are among those who've discovered the GEnie Unix RoundTable is a pretty neat place to hang-out and enjoy the company of fellow nixen - If you believe this is a pretty terrific *nix resource - If the growing library of files is _your_ file cache - and If the bulletin board area is where you come for solutions, by all means ... bring a guest. Have your *nix buddy or *nix wanna-bee sign up with GEnie, or at least let him/her look over your shoulder and see what we have to offer. This is 'THE GEnie Unix RoundTable's' first year of operation birthday bash and we have lots of goodies lined up to make it a 'dog-and-pony' show for all the good friends who have helped us come up to speed. It's just our way of giving back to all you great users some of the 'warm fuzzies' we have been given during our birth year. If it were not for all of you, all of us could just pack it up, and stay home. So, please accept our sincere 'Thanks' for making our first year on-line a good year, and join in the celebration. After all, it really is _your_ party. Thanks for making us part of your Unix life. Dave(olorin), Rick(lrark), Christopher Alex(harp), Brian(delphi), Gary(gars) your GEnie Unix RoundTable SysOps EVENTS ( conferences aready lined up for the party ) ------ November 6, 1990: The Unix Publishing Industry. What is involved in covering the Unix Community? Join us for a panel discussion with David Flack of Unix World, Mitch Wagner of Unix Today!, and J.D. Hildebrand of Unix Review. November 13, 1990: The role of Unix in Education. Join special guest Patrick McShane as we discuss the role Unix has to play in education, especially at the Primary and Secondary levels. November 14, 1990: SPARC Programming and Applications. Join Max Baron, manager of the SPARC Applications Group at Sun for a conference on the SPARC architecture. README.2 ( A message from lead SysOp, Dave Weinstein ) -------- Sub: One year back... The Year in Review Novemeber 8th is our first anniversary online. And we've gone through some changes in the last year. Randy Seuss and Christopher Cilley were forced to resign due to time conflicts, but their shoes have been more than ably filled by Christopher North-Keys and Brian Riley. The library has grown to more than a thousand files, primarily due to the management and diligence of Gary Smith. But the most important part of the Unix RoundTable is not the size of the staff or the library, but the membership. Even with five staff members from varying Unix backgrounds, we will never be able to answer all of the questions which will arise. But in the last year, answers have come from all over the community, and the Unix RT has been able to help people with questions on subjects outside of the staff experience. And that is due entirely to you. This issue of the newsletter, and the entire month of November is our way of thanking you for helping to make the Unix RoundTable a source of information, and for making it run smoothly, and without incident. November includes a special bonus Upload Contest (with a 3 day weekend in the RoundTable free as the prize!), RTCs, panels, and more. FAST and NASTY, DOWN and DIRTY: quick fix scripts that do something -------------------------------- There are several super scripts this time out. No doubt one or two will become permanent members of your utilities PATH. The first comes from fellow SysOp Rick Mobley. Rick got tired of typing ls -l every time he wanted to see what sub-directories were in the pwd, and he also wanted to know if any of the sub-directories had appended subdirectories, so he hacked out these handy directory scan scripts. The first is 2d and looks two deep, the second is 3d which looks three deep. : # 2dir script for SCO Xenix for dir in ${*:-`pwd`} do echo "Sub-directories of ${dir}" ls -l $dir |grep '^d'|cut -c1-11,31-41,54-80|pr -2e -t -||echo "None." done : # 3dir script for SCO Xenix for dir in ${*:-`pwd`} do echo "Sub-directories of ${dir}" ls -l $dir |grep '^d'|cut -c1-11,54-80|pr -3e -t -||echo "None." done rick@lrark When Rick mailed these to me, they didn't work quite right because of the difference in character format on his Xenix system and my SysV 3b1. Here are the same scripts modified for 3b1. Your system may require a similar hack. The only changes are the cut length. gars@glsrk : # 2d script for 3b1 for dir in ${*:-`pwd`} do echo "Primary Sub-directories of ${dir}" ls -l $dir |grep '^d'|cut -c1-11,28-38,52-80|pr -2e -t -|| echo "None." done : # 3d script for 3b1 for dir in ${*:-`pwd`} do echo "Primary & Secondary Sub-directories of ${dir}" ls -l $dir |grep '^d'|cut -c1-11,52-80|pr -3e -t -||echo "None." done --------------- This next script is a Spelling Checker call script garnered from alphacm. It permits you to run a spelling check from within 'vi'. Such a deal ! #!/bin/sh ############################################################################ # A sh script to allow spelling checks either in vi or stand alone # # Usage: spell_check < file or within vi, # # !}spell_check or # # :(addressed lines)!spell_check # # # # Wrongly spelled words will be surrounded as ###bad-word### # # WARNING: Do not try and sell this tiny shell script to some # # poor sucker! # # Badri Lokanathan, 30 September 1988 # ############################################################################ doc=/tmp/splchk.$$ scr=/tmp/sedscr.$$ trap 'rm -f $doc $scr; exit 1' 1 2 15 cat > $doc cat > $scr <<HEAD s/^/ / s/\$/ / HEAD spell < $doc | sed -e 's/^/s;\$[ ][^a-zA-Z0-9]*\$\$/ s/$/\$\$[^a-zA-Z0-9]*[ ]\$;\\1###\\2###\\3;g/ s/ $//' >> $scr cat >> $scr <<TAIL s/^ // s/ \$// TAIL sed -f $scr $doc rm -f $doc $scr --------------- John Esak, president of Nexus, Inc. and acknowledged *nix, filePro, Scriptsit wizzard now edits a Unix Training publication titled 'The Guru', published by Karen Esak under the Valar Group, Ltd. banner. You might wish to check out subscribing to 'The GURU'. It is small, but loaded with hands-on stuff.Please tell Karen and John you heard about their journal here. (The GURU, P. O. Box 3120, Warrenton, Virginia 22186) <phone:703-349-0987> This next script was included in their inaugural issue, and I fell in love with it. Written by Jim Foy, 'where' finds _any_ file in your PATH. : # where Jim Foy 11/11/89 # returns pathname of argument if [ $# -ne 1 ] then echo "Usage: $0 filename" exit 1 fi FILENAME=$1 IFS=":" set $PATH while true do DIR=$1 if [ -f ${DIR}/${FILENAME} ] then echo ${DIR}/${FILENAME} exit 0 fi shift if [ $# -eq 0 ] then echo "$FILENAME not in PATH" exit 1 fi done # EOF where It was suggested a second use for where would be to call a file for edit: as in vi 'where filename' Instead I rolled a script (which requires 'where') that will call the file and invoke 'vi', called 'viw'. : # viw (vi where) # finds filname using where and invokes vi to edit it if [ $# -ne 1 ] then echo "Usage: $0 filename" exit 1 fi vi `where $1` # EOF viw USENIX REPORT ( Mike Nolan offers this perspective of the last Usenix ------------- conference - just in time to whet your interest in the one coming up in January) Final Score: UNIX 21, USENIX 15 By Mike Nolan Oh, give me a show where the unix types go, and they talk about unix with glee, with Dennis or Ken or the rest from back when it all started at AT&T. As you may have guessed, this is a fairly lighthearted report on USENIX 15 in Anaheim. I'm sure the USENIX people won't mind my casual style; after all, the most sought after badge adornment was an UNOFFICIAL sticker. For the hardcore unix techno-wizards (and you KNOW who you are), USENIX is *the* gathering place. Many of the definitive papers on unix first saw the light of day at USENIX, and sales of back issues of USENIX proceedings seemed to be doing fairly brisk business. Compared to other technical conferences, USENIX is notable in that the topics seem less for the embellishment of the curriculum vitae of the academics in attendance than for the actual presentation of information on and prognostications about unix. The various sessions I observed were crammed with both information and people, and those speakers permitted to solitic questions were not let off easy. The keynote address was delivered by Dennis Ritchie, and entitled, "What to do when your child turns 21". The child, of course, is unix, and Dennis seemed uncomfortable in the role of proud parent, although this may have been more his lack of familiarity with a suit and tie. He admitted that unix has, like most teenagers, been acting fairly independent for the past several years, and in fact, Dennis has had little to do with the 'public' version of AT&T unix. His group is up to version 10, named "Plan Nine", features of which he was reserving for a forthcoming talk in England. Dennis has also been muddling around with some enhancements to "C", notably in the area of improved table handling. He said if he had known making changes would be this much work, he would have designed the language differently. [Also, take heart, GENIE RoundTablers, when asked again if he would be willing to be a conference guest some Tuesday, he admitted refusing the first time, but deferred giving a definitive answer this time.] For his finale, Dennis unveiled a video tape of a practical joke he and others played on the president of Bell Labs. Central to the joke was a 'simulated' conversation with magicians Penn and Teller, who were actually in the next lab. Although it is unlikely that this video will show up on MTV, it is certain to replace Sean Penn in the underground video hit parade. As someone used to other trade shows, USENIX takes a little getting used to. Sun, AT&T, IBM and such all had large displays, but it sometimes seemed like the conventioneers were showing the exhibiters how to make things work,rather than the other way around. And it was highly disturbing to see IBM staffers working the trade floor in blue jeans and sneakers rather than three piece suits. Also, apparently having determined that corporate checkbook types are not at USENIX,some 'major players' such as Apple and NCR chose not to exhibit. Next did not have an exhibit, but did offer presentations in a suite, although it was little more than a 45 minute demonstration of multimedia E-mail. Part of the attraction of USENIX is the Birds of a Feather sessions, informal evening gatherings of the faithful in various specialized topics. If precious information is to be had at USENIX, *this* is where it is found. (After all, one person told me, *anybody* can read the proceedings, but you have to go to USENIX to be at the BoF sessions.) This did lead to some confusion; one person overhead somebody who asked "Where are the Bof rooms" receive instructions on how to find the hotel restrooms. Hospitality suites at conventions are always interesting, but the Sun suite was the first one I've ever seen with a hotel security guard at the door to limit admittance: one out-one in. To somebody's credit, an otherwise unused suite across the hall was opened up (and supplied with beer) for the 50 or more persons waiting in the hall, thus preventing the hotel from being cited for a fire code violation. The next gathering of the unix faithful will be in Dallas at Winter USENIX 91, January 21-25th. Mark your calendars! For details, contact the USENIX Conference Office, 22672 Lambert Street, Suite 613, El Toro, CA 92630. Internet: dallas-conf@usenix.org UUCP: uunet!usenix!dallas-conf CONFIGURATION ( fellow SysOp Brian Riley (delphi) discusses customizing the ------------- U/A on a Unix system using a 3b1 as his model) Customizing the User Agent (tm) on the Unix Pc (tm) by Brian T. Riley The Unix Pc, models 3B1 and 7300, include a windowing interface known as the User Agent to make Unix easier for the novice user. However, unless the user knows how to customize their environment, they are stuck with what ever the administrator has decided that they need. To me, this is unacceptable. Therefore the purpose of this article is to explain the ins and outs of customizing the User Agent. When a user logs in to a Unix Pc, either from the console or a serial port, the User Agent checks first /usr/lib/ua and then the users home directory for it's configuration files to determine what objects should be present in the menus and what it should do when one of those objects is selected. These configuration files also determine how files, directories, the time and the date should be displayed. The following list defines which files are used and what they do. Suffixes Defines file types and default actions on files. Office Defines Office objects and their default actions. Administration Defines initial administration objects. Preferences Defines initial objects that accept preferences. Environment Defines environment variables. Comm_pkgs Provides access to Phone Manager emulators. Not all of these files are usefull to the average user but they all can be used to learn more about how the User Agent works. Keep in mind that the users configuration files must be spelled exactly as shown above and placed in the users home directory and not in the Filecabinet. This means that the user must have access to the Unix prompt and knowledge of ed or vi or annother editor, with the exception of the Environment file which will be updated by the Preferences menu. In order to customize your menus, copies of the main files must be created in your home directory, where they can be modified. Any objects defined in your configuration files that have the same name as those in the main files take precedence over the defaults, and any new objects are then added to the defaults for your Office menu only. In this installment we will work with the menu objects and save the more esoteric subjects, such as file suffixes and environment variables, for a future installment. The Office file determines what objects and menus will appear in the Office window for the user. The objects are defined using the following keywords. Name = This is the name that will appear in the menu. (Required) Expert Only display this object if user is expert. Multiuser Only display object in multiuser mode. (Preferences) Default = Determines the default command (Open or Run). (Required) Open = What action to perform on this object. (Required) Keyword = Used to change defaults on keywords other than Open. The possible values for Open and Run are as follows; UA Menu objects file. FM Directory. FO Files. EXEC File to execute. SH File to execute with a shell. ERROR String to display in message window. Ok, time for some examples of how to use this information. This month we will give ourselves access to our home directory from the UA and add a new menu. We will need to access the home directory to more easily change the configuration. For those of you who prefer a different mail program, we will also teach the UA to use ELM. The first thing we need to do is convince the Administrator to give us expert status so we can get to the Unix prompt. If any of you are new to Unix, I STRONGLY suggest you break out the manuals and learn the following commands. cp used to copy files from where they are to where you want them. mv used to move or rename files. rm used to DELETE PERMENANTLY a file. (use with EXTREME caution) cd used to change your current working directory. chmod used to change access permissions to files. vi Full screen editor available on most Unix systems. emacs An optional editor prefered by some. ed Line oriented editor whose use is somewhat like pulling teeth. The first thing you will notice when you gain expert status is the extra object in the Office window called "UNIX System". This object, when selected, will open a new window containing the Unix prompt (I.E. $). From this point on the system is expecting standard Unix commands so a lot of the special keys on the console won't work, but, that is ok (trust me :) ). Now we need to create our own Office file. The easiest way to do this is to copy the master file to our home directory. To do this, execute the following commands. $ cd $HOME <return> $ cp /usr/lib/ua/Office $HOME <return> $ chmod 777 Office <return> Now we need to edit the file so load the file into your favorite editor and lets get started. The first thing you will notice is that all of the object definitions run together. This is because the UA only needs the Name= keyword to seperate the entries and any thing between one Name= and the next belongs to the current Name= object. You will also notice that there are a lot of objects, more than we need at this point, so you should delete any objects except the keywords for Electronic Mail, which should be at or near the end of the file, and the keywords for the UNIX System object. Just to prove to ourselves that we are actually doing something here, lets modify the UNIX System object to get rid of that border. To do this we need to change the options to the Run= keyword. With your editor change the Run= keyword line so that it looks like this; Run=EXEC -wd $SHELL Now save the file and type exit at the Unix prompt. Now press cmd and select refresh. If you are doing this from a terminal attached to the Unix-pc and not the console you should use the following commands; Escape cm (press the escape key and then c then m ) re <return> Now the User Agent should have read our new file and changed the options for UNIX system. Select UNIX System again and you should see all of the menus go away leaving just the $ on the screen. If you don't, then you made a mistake and you should go back and fix it before going on. Don't worry, the menus are still there, you just told the UA to give you a dimensionless window (I.E. no border). Now reload the Office file into your editor and position the cursor at the Name= line of the Electronic Mail object. Edit the keywords so they look like this; Name=Electronic Mail Default=Open Open = EXEC -d /usr/local/bin/elm Delete the other keywords for this object. And make sure you use the correct path to the "elm" file if yours is in a different place. You could just add these lines to your Office file if you still want to use the normal mail system. The next thing we want to do this month is give ourselves access to our home directory from within the UA so we can make changes easier in the future. To do this, add the following lines to the end of the Office file. Name=Home Default=Open Open=FM $HOME Now the UA knows where our home directory is so we can access files other than those that are in the Filecabinet. We can also use this technique to access other directories that we work in a lot as long as we have permission to. Next we will add a new menu. The example I will use is a Games menu for when we need a break. Keep in mind that this is just an example of the technique and that your system may not have the games that mine does. Adding a new menu is a two step process. First we need to tell the Office menu about it so we can access it. And second we need to create the menu definition file. So lets add these lines to the Office file; Name=Games Default=Open Open= UA Games Nothing new here. The Open=UA Games just tells the Office that the object is menu and that it should read the file "Games" to find out what to display in it. Next we need to create the Games file, so create the file in your home directory, making sure the name is the same as you specified in the Open= line. In my file I have the following; Name=Maze Default=Open Open= EXEC -wd /usr/games/bin/maze3d Name=Rogue Default=Open Open= EXEC -wd /usr/games/bin/Rogue Name=Rocks Default=Open Open= EXEC -wd /usr/games/bin/rocks Name=Bugs Default=Open Open= EXEC -wd /usr/games/bin/bugs Notice that this file looks just like the Office file? That is because all menu files have the same format. If your system has these games, make sure you use the correct path to the programs, and if it doesn't you will still see the menu and the objects in it but you will get an error if you try to run them. This technique can be used to run almost any program, not just games, and add any number of sub-menus. Don't forget to run the Office command Refresh to see the changes we made. Well boys and girls, that's it for today. Tune in next month when we will learn about the Suffixes, Environment, Preferences and Comm_pkgs files and what they do. It's a beautifull day in the neighborhood.... --------------- REMINDER - This newsletter is being sent to you 'by request'. If you do not wish to keep receiving it, e-mail a stop notice to GARS. On the other hand, we would very much appreciate it if you would pass the word that we do distribute this item near the tenth (10th) of each month to anyone on GEnie who requests it, and will gladly add any name that is requested via the same route... e-mail to GARS. P L E A S E also remember contributions are most welcome. Please e-mail items and/or suggestions to GARS. (EOF) Trademark and Copyright notices: Unix is a Trademark of AT&T; GEnie, LiveWire, and RoundTable are Trademarks of General Electric Information Services Company; Xenix is a Trademark of Microsoft Corporation; Scriptsit is a trademark of Tandy Corp.; filePro is a trademark of The Small Computer Company; The Guru is a trademark of The Valar Group, Ltd.; Usenix is a trademark of the Usenix Association. The contents of this newsletter are copyright (c) 1990 and may be copied whole or in part only if original credit is included. The GEnie UNIX RoundTable is not affiliated with AT&T. ay be copied whole or in part only if o