Usenet 1994 January/usenetsourcesnewsgroupsinfomagicjanuary1994.iso/sources/misc/volume32/xbbs/part08/extra_info

Text File | 1992-09-08 | 8KB | 170 lines

               Extra Information On How the BBS Operates

1) All errors that are detected that would normally go to stderr are sent,
   instead to a file called /tmp/errors_out. Under normal conditions, this
   file should always have a 0 length.

2) The file, callers.bbs, contains a time log of all of your bbs callers.
   In addition to the name and time, all uploads and downloads are logged
   into this file. If a file is uploaded as "SYSOP ONLY", the description of
   the file is also added to callers.bbs instead of files.bbs. This way, you
   can still get the description.

3) A file, /tmp/files, is generated for each and every L(ist) command that is
   requested. This is a temporary file which is sent to the user.

4) The file, users.bbs, contains the list of all of your users, with their
   passwords, first time called, last time called, and their address in the
   form of city and state.

5) The file, messages.bbs, contain all of the messages. There are three codes
   used within this file : 0 - The message is active and not confidential
                           5 - The message is active and is confidential
                           9 - The message was deleted
   ( Note: if you wish to reactivate a deleted message, just change the "9"
           to either a "0" or "5" ).
   ( A program will be available soon to "squeeze" the message file and
     remove deleted messages )

6) The file, crossref.bbs, contains the cross reference table between the
   message number and file record number. This way, RAPID message access
   is achieved. Presently, you can have up to 1000 messages within the system.
   ( active and deleted )

7) The file, bulletin.bbs, contains your bulletin which is printed out
   whenever a user logs into the bbs or with the B command from the main
   menu.

8) The file, header.bbs, contains the information to add the NEXT message
   into the message file. This way, a search is not required to find the
   proper entry point.

9) The file, files.bbs, contains the download file information

A) The file, help.bbs, contains the HELP information for your users.

B) The file, humor.bbs, contains the humor file for your users!

C) The file, lastcall.bbs, contains the information about your last user
   on the system.

D) The file, newuser.bbs, contains the message you output to new users.

E) The file, system.bbs, contains the terminate message you output to the
   user when he "logs off".

F) The file, welcome.bbs, contains the "welcome" message you output when
   the user logs in. Please note that this is sent prior to the bulletin
   and may be your message of the day.




A quick note on how files are handled when they are uploaded.

Files are sent, depending on the protocol used, either to your FILES
directory or to your /usr/bbs directory. In the case of the files
being sent to /usr/bbs ( KERMIT UPLOAD ), they will be moved to FILES
after the transfer is completed. If the file(s) is/are marked as
SYSOP ONLY, they will be moved to your BBS directory to insure complete
privacy. Therefore, even if your user knows the name of the file, he
can not get to it!


Warning! DO NOT try to modify the following files with an editor like
vi: users.bbs, header.bbs, crossref.bbs, messages.bbs since they are
NOT truely ASCII files and the files WILL BE damaged. In the case of
crossref.bbs, no ASCII information is even stored in it ( binary file ).

************************************************************************
USER SIGNALS that are used:

1) SIGUSR1 Toggles the local monitoring of the BBS. An example of the SHELL
   Script that can be used is "toggle". This file can be found in the
   download section.

2) SIGUSR2 Toggles the privileges and time of the present user on the system.
   The time and privilege level is set to maximum so CARE should be used
   with this option since the user can now enter into Unix/Xenix with the
   U option in the main menu. An example of a SHELL SCRIPT that can be used
   is "systoggle". This file can be found in the download section.
*************************************************************************

New features added on October 12, 1986:

Three new .bbs files have been added: filepriv.bbs, mainpriv.bbs, and
userpriv.bbs.

1) filepriv.bbs contains the privileges assigned to the file menu options.
   The file simply contains the letter and privilege assigned to the letter.
   The range of privileges can vary between 0 and 32767. The privileges are
   all relative so you may want to limit the range from 1 to 9. Warning,
   be sure that the G option is ALWAYS lower than the lowest individual
   privilege so you user can log off! An example of the file can be found
   in this download section called filepriv.bbs.

2) mainpriv.bbs contains the privileges assigned to the main menu options.
   It is in the same form as filepriv.bbs. An example of the file can be
   downloaded and is called mainpriv.bbs.

3) userpriv.bbs is a dynamically created/appended file which contains the
   individual user privileges along with their "delta time" allocation.
   The file contains entries for each of your users in the form of:

    FIRSTNAME LASTNAME PRIVILEGE_LEVEL DELTA_TIME EXTRA_KBYTES

    An example of a particular user maybe as follows:

    John Smith 5 600 5

    Basically, the above user has a privilege level of 5 and has 10 additional
    minutes allowed over the default time (RUNTIME in bbscdef.h). Also, he has
    an extra 5 kilobytes of downloading allowed ( added to MAXKBYTES in
    bbscdef.h ).

    An entry may also look like this:

    Joe Blow 2 -2400 -50

    This means that the above user has a privilege level of 2 and has
    been disallowed 40 minutes from the default time. If the default
    time is set at 60 minutes, his total usage time is only 20 minutes.
    His maximum allowable download in bytes has also been reduced by
    50K!

    The default privilege level can be found in bbscdef.h and is called
    NEWPRIV.

***************************************************************************
New features added on October 14, 1986

    The sysop, by using SIGUSR2, can now give the present user temporary
    maximum privileges and time on the system. Since this is a "toggle",
    by issuing this signal again, the user will be returned back to the
    logon time limits and privileges. An example of a SHELL SCRIPT that can
    be used is systoggle.

    You can now allow users to enter into Xenix/Unix! Care should be given
    when allocating the user such high privileges. This is the U option
    in the main menu. A suggestion would be to give this privilege the
    maximum allowed in this BBS, 32767. Remember, when SIGUSR2 is issued,
    that user WILL HAVE that privilege!

***************************************************************************
                       New Nov 9th, 1986

You must now have multiple versions of files.bbs. One, each, for EVERY
download directory and it must be in that directory. The files.bbs file
must only contain the file listing for that particular directory!
***************************************************************************
                       New Nov 12, 1986

Now, there are multiple message bases. The three files, crossref.bbs,
header.bbs, and messages.bbs are stored in each different message base.
***************************************************************************
                       New Dec 8, 1986

A response time variable has been added to the bbs software. This variable
is defined in bbscdef.h as WAITTIME. On this system, it is set to 300
seconds or 5 minutes.