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GREETING: v2.40 by Stephen de Plater
April 7, 1991 GT Network Address 302/1
GREETING
by Stephen de Plater
GT Network Address: 302/1
Voice: +61 2 977-3075
Data: +61 2 977-2013
======================================================================
0. REVISION LIST
======================================================================
VERSION: Release Date: Comments:
------- ------------ --------------------------------------
1.00 June 23, 1988 First Release.
1.01 July 1, 1988 Added LEVELS.BBS file and /F parm.
1.10 September 4, 1988 Added call count, and ratios. Some minor
adjustments were also made.
1.20 September 23, 1988 Added mail waiting notice, optional mid
screen pause, banned user recognition,
and some small changes in information
displayed about ratios.
1.21 October 7, 1988 A minor change to the way NE and NL
permissions are listed. Now by INCLUSION
rather than EXCLUSION.
1.22 October 24, 1988 A minor change to accommodate an
undocumented feature of GT, the /F
parameter DROPPED, some formatting
changes, support for timezone display
and daylight saving explanations, and
support for the separate DX gtpasswd.bbs
permission under GT 14.03. Also
recompiled under Turbo C 2.0.
>> page 1 <<
GREETING: v2.40 by Stephen de Plater
April 7, 1991 GT Network Address 302/1
1.23 December 9, 1988 When the GTUSER.BBS file is rewritten
(with the GT "Y" command) during a
session, the time-on field is reset!
This resulted in re-displays of GREETING
giving some very strange figures for the
amount of time so far used. This data
now sourced from the GTMAIL.CTL record,
which is always correct.
1.30 May 1, 1989 An almost total rewrite. The initial
time and date display has been revised.
The ratio display has been moved to the
bottom of the report. An expert mode
has been added. The numbers (supposedly
fixed in 1.23) have been well and truly
fixed this time! Support is added for
password supervision in co-operation
with the CHANGE program. These two
programs now work together, and the
CHANGE archive contains a number of
auxiliary programs which are used by
both CHANGE and GREETING.
A number of new command line parameters
have been added (see below) and the /N
command line parameter has been deleted.
A new registration scheme is now in
place (see below).
1.31 May 17, 1989 Some minor cosmetic changes to prevent
users being given the option of
selecting a password by number when they
have not chosen the suggested password
option.
A bug existed which caused all passwords
belonging to users with only one name
(no last name) to be rejected as
containing their name. Fixed.
A new feature (the EXCLUDE.BBS file) is
added.
2.00 December 16, 1989 GT15 version released.
>> page 2 <<
GREETING: v2.40 by Stephen de Plater
April 7, 1991 GT Network Address 302/1
2.10 April 21, 1990 New feature (/J parameter) and auto-
joining of users to areas where they
have mail waiting.
2.20 June 29, 1990 New feature: (/R parameter) to totally
supress any mention of ratio
information.
Suggested by: Tom Currie.
Bug Fix: prevent the "you have mail
waiting ..." message when the only mail
waiting is in areas to which the user
does not have access.
Reported by: Claude Almer.
Bug Fix: in THECOUNT. Deleted records
were being counted (some with wierd
numbers in them!!).
Reported by: Bob Spence.
THECOUNT no longer requires (although it
will still accept) registration.
GREETING itself though DOES require
registration for full use.
Both programs ported to the new compiler
(Turbo C++).
2.30 Never Released
2.40 April 5, 1991 Added check for last use (if any) of
FastMail. Use the new /Y parameter to
control (disable) this feature.
Added an online MailScan. It is fast
enough to allow to run every time. Use
the revised /W parameter to control this
function. Ken Thompson's WHOYOU program
is now not required and is no longer
supported. A maximum of 512 mail areas
are supported (and that ought to be
enough)!
Added support for the .BBS/.CBS paths.
>> page 3 <<
GREETING: v2.40 by Stephen de Plater
April 7, 1991 GT Network Address 302/1
======================================================================
1. COPYRIGHT
======================================================================
GREETING is not placed in the Public Domain. The copyright is retained
and the software is provided on licence:
You are free to use and make as many copies of this program as you
wish. You may also give it away to any nodelisted GT Sysop who wants
it, provided:
1. No fee is charged.
2. This archive is distributed intact.
3. You register the package with an OZNET registration
centre.
Beta code should be treated exactly as full releases are treated.
That is, beta code may also be distributed to any nodelisted Sysop
without restriction. You should be aware of course, that beta code
may not be as refined as the full release versions would be, and what
you see there may change when the beta tag is removed.
======================================================================
2. REGISTRATION
======================================================================
A new registration scheme now applies to all OZNET software.
Regardless of any previous registration, this program now requires
individual installation for each BBS using it.
There is still NO fee involved at all. DO NOT send any money!
Registration simply involves obtaining from me a CRC code which
matches your BBS name. You may do this at any of the OZNET
registration centres:
Kangaroo Korner 302/001 Stephen de Plater
The Black Hole 302/003 Ken Thompson
Control Systems 071/001 Ed Cavender
Gidget's Domain 081/005 Jack Hazel
Fuzzy Logic 050/018 Phill Piddell
Geno's Place 044/003 Gene Newcomb
InfoStation 032/001 Perry Alexander
>> page 4 <<
GREETING: v2.40 by Stephen de Plater
April 7, 1991 GT Network Address 302/1
If you are in the nodelist then you will be able to register direct
online at any of those centres or via mail in the correct form to
OZRobot at any of those centres. See the included OZRobot document
for details. If you are not in the net you will need to apply via
private netmail or message to Sysop at any of the centres. Whatever
way you do it you will need to supply the full (case sensitive) name
to which you want the program registered.
You will also need to obtain the OZINSTAL program which performs the
actual installation. OZINSTAL is not included in this archive. You
should look for OZINST11.ZIP.
======================================================================
3. PURPOSE
======================================================================
(Or what does this thing do anyway?)
GREETING is a logon door program for GT Power BBS Systems. It welcomes
users onto your board and provides them with the following
information:
1. Current date and time. I have users from different parts of the
world logging on here, and they're anything like me, they will be
unsure of the local time on my board. This is important when it
comes to various scheduled events which will make the system
unavailable for users.
2. The time remaining for the current call, adjusted for any
reductions in time caused by pending scheduled events. With this
the time on is displayed, and also the time by which the current
call must finish.
3. The access level of the current user is displayed, together with
the total number of times that user has called your system.
4. The access limits are displayed: the maximum time allowed per
call; the maximum number of calls allowed per day, together with
the count of calls so far for the present day; and the maximum
time allowed per day, together with the time already used on
previous calls.
5. The upload path applicable to this user. The area number and
description are displayed (only areas visible to the access level
>> page 5 <<
GREETING: v2.40 by Stephen de Plater
April 7, 1991 GT Network Address 302/1
of the current user are counted). If the user does not have
access to the upload area he is advised that uploads will go to a
special (hidden) area.
6. The various permissions granted to that level of user are listed
with explanatory notes.
7. Greeting will display to users their total uploads, downloads,
and current ratio. It will also show them the levels at which my
SPONGE program will take action and downgrade them!
8. Users with unread mail waiting will be told of that fact (in
fact, they will be told exactly which messages in which areas
they have not read. The message number, sender's name, and topic
are displayed for each unread message). At Kangaroo Korner they
are also then immediately dropped into a mail scan. They are not
given the option of avoiding reading their mail.
When the /J command line parameter is selected users will be
automatically JOINED to areas they have mail in (if they were not
previously joined to that area). This means that a forced mail
read will find ALL their mail. The only exceptions to this are
areas which have an "application only" flag set in the
GTMDIR.BBS, and areas to which the user does not have access.
10. Password supervision is provided. Greeting can monitor the date
of last change of password of each user and, after a preset
length of time, force a password change before allowing users out
of the logon door. This section of the program works in
conjunction with CHANGE and relies on some control files which
must be created by auxiliary programs supplied with that package.
A user will be required to change his password (once the system
is primed) when the last change was longer than a specified
number of days ago (the default is 30 days), when the password
presently in use is shorter than a specified minimum length
(default 6 characters), when the user's name (either first name
or last name) is used in a password, or when a password contains
a word in a sysop defined exclusion list. In addition, when a
password is changed, the new password is checked against all
these criteria before being accepted. Further, a user may not
change to a password which "is similar to" (see the definition of
that later) any password which that user has previously had
within a period defined by the sysop (by default 6 months).
>> page 6 <<
GREETING: v2.40 by Stephen de Plater
April 7, 1991 GT Network Address 302/1
The programs MKPSCHNG.EXE, PASSMNT1.EXE, PASSMNT2.EXE,
SHOWPASS.EXE, and SHOWPL.EXE are required for this feature to
work correctly. These programs are NOT provided with this
archive--they come with CHNGE200.ZIP (CHANGE). This feature
cannot be enabled until both of these packages (CHANGE and
GREETING) are registered with OZNET.
======================================================================
4. USAGE
======================================================================
To use GREETING, install it as a logon door (GTLOGON.BAT) like this:
@echo off
gtdrwy
doorway [various params]greeting [various params]
It is not necessary to place a PAUSE at the end, the program will wait
and the user to press any key to continue.
The parameters are optional and function as follows:
1. /M Force monochrome.
2. /C The file name of the call count file (generated by the
companion program THECOUNT.EXE and maintained by GREETING).
The default is "CALLS.BBS." This file (whatever it may be
called) must reside in the LAN directory (or the GTPATH
directory if the LAN directory is not specified in your
GT.CFG). On each occasion when GREETING is run, the number
in this file is read, incremented by one, returned to the
file, and displayed. The display is in the form "You are
caller number nnn." If this file is not present this display
is simply ignored. The /C parameter is only necessary if you
want to use a different filename than CALLS.BBS.
To initialise this file see the notes on THECOUNT.EXE in
this document.
3. /H When this parameter is specified, the number in CALLS.BBS is
read and displayed (if present) but NOT incremented. This
allows for GREETING to be made available not only as a logon
door, but also as a regular door so that users may at any
>> page 7 <<
GREETING: v2.40 by Stephen de Plater
April 7, 1991 GT Network Address 302/1
time check their details. This parameter should NOT be used
in the logon door.
4. /S This gives the name of the sponge file which (if it exists)
must be in the GTPATH (or BBS/CBS path) directory. The
default is SPONGE.BBS. This file (used primarily by my
SPONGE program to decide when to downgrade or upgrade users)
is here used to warn users about the levels and ratios which
will cause a downgrade on your system. If you use the
default filenames for all of these programs most of these
parameters are not necessary. They are here so that you can
change the filenames if you really want to (although I can't
see why!)
5. /P This is probably the simplest parameter of the lot! There is
a distinct possibility that Greeting will produce more lines
of information than will fit on one screen. Giving this
parameter will cause the program to stop and wait for a
keypress half way through. It will not pause during the
MailScan though.
6. /X Expert Mode. When this flag is enabled, AND the user has
expert mode on, only a summary of the standard greeting
information will be shown. For instance, the information
regarding the number of calls made, number allowed per day,
time allowed per day etc, together with the various
permissions granted to that user will not be shown.
PASSWORD SUPERVISION
--------------------
7. /Fnn The number of days until a password is considered stale.
The default is 30. Anyone who has a password last changed
before this time will be required to change it before
greeting will allow them through to the main menu.
8. /Lnn The minimum length of password allowed on this system. I
don't consider 4 character passwords secure! The default
here is 6. If you choose a number above 8 it will be reset
down to 8. That is, you cannot demand a minimum password
length of 15 characters! This is required so that the
automatic password suggestion feature will produce passwords
which can actually be used.
>> page 8 <<
GREETING: v2.40 by Stephen de Plater
April 7, 1991 GT Network Address 302/1
9. /O (The letter not the number!) This is used to switch on the
"over-ride" feature (and optionally to select a different
filename other than OVERRIDE.BBS). When this feature is
switched ON, then ALL users with last change dates before
the date contained in the first line of the override.bbs
file will be required to change their password. The
OVERRIDE.BBS file should be in the LAN directory if defined,
otherwise in the GTPATH directory.
The first line of this file must contain a date (beginning
in column 1) in the form:
mm-dd-yy
The rest of the file should contain a message explaining why
the user is required to change his password on this
occasion. It is designed to be used when (for example) a
password file has been hacked off a nearby system and you
decide that NOW would be a good time for everyone to change
so that stolen passwords cannot be used on your system.
It's not the sort of feature you need often, but when you do
need it you need it badly!
10. /T Tight security. With this switch on two things happen.
First: for users who have SYsop permission or SHell
permission (i.e. anyone who can get through to DOS), the
stale time (specified by the /F parameter above) is divided
by 4. Therefore, with the default 30 days /F stale password
time, a user with SHell access would be required to change
his password at 7 day intervals. This will NOT be enforced
when you log in remotely (you never know who might be
looking over your shoulder when you do it). It will be
applied with local logons however.
Second: the algorithm for determining "is similar to" when
checking against a password previously used, is tighter.
Without this parameter the rule is that the new password may
not be contained within any password previously used, and no
old password may be contained within the new. When this
flag is enabled no sequence of 5 characters in the new
password may be contained in any password previously used.
The nett effect of this is that without tight security a
user with a password of say MYPASSWD1 would be permitted to
>> page 9 <<
GREETING: v2.40 by Stephen de Plater
April 7, 1991 GT Network Address 302/1
change it to MYPASSWD2, whereas with tight security ON that
change would be flagged as "is similar to" and rejected.
The number of characters checked in this way may be varied.
The default is 5, and the minimum allowed is 4 (below which
the feature turns itself off). You can change it by
specifying a number with this parameter (e.g. to relax it to
7 characters [the higher the number the more relaxed the
checking], you would use /T7).
11. /Ex This parameter (if present) specifies an access level at or
above which password supervision will _NOT_ be applied. Use
it at your own risk!
12. /J This parameter enables automatic joining of users to mail
areas where they have mail waiting. For this parameter to
work, you must be using Ken Thompson's WHOYOU program in
conjunction with GREETING. This feature replaces the old
PUTUSER program (from GT14 days). Users will be shown which
areas they have mail waiting in, and then (with a forced
mail read) shown ALL their mail as they log on. The only
exceptions are "application only" mail areas, and mail areas
with access levels too high for the user to see.
13. /R Supress totally all reporting of ratio information.
14. /Y Supress totally the scan for last use of Ken Thompson's
FASTMAIL. The default is scan ON.
15. /W THIS PARAMETER HAS BEEN CHANGED! Now the /W parameter
controls the use of the new full mail scan. The default is
scan for unread mail for all users. This command can be
used to disable the scan for access levels at or above a
particular level. For instance, you may not want to remind
the visiting Sysops that they have mail waiting on your BBS
(they will probably have _heaps_ of it which they have
already dutifully read on their own systems <GRIN>). If
they have access level say "G" on your system you can
prevent the mail scan for them (and anyone higher than that
level) by using the /W parameter as follows: /W:G
A colon MUST immediately follow the "W" and the next
character is the (case sensitive of course) access level
from which the mail scan is disabled.
>> page 10 <<
GREETING: v2.40 by Stephen de Plater
April 7, 1991 GT Network Address 302/1
Of course, I think the mail scan is fast enough to just
leave on for everyone (including me)! I don't know how much
time it would take on a slower machine, but with about 110
mail areas here, on a 385/25 (running under DesqView) with a
one meg HyperDisk cache and a 1:1 buffered disk controller -
- it is QUICK!
To turn it off totally then simply disable it for all levels
above and including "z", use /W:z.
SPECIAL FILES USED
------------------
There are two special files used and maintained by both
CHANGE and GREETING. One contains user names and last
change dates only. The other contains a log of usernames,
change dates, and old and new passwords. This second file
is encrypted and hidden. The encryption key is chosen by
the programs and is different for each BBS. That is, if you
DID manage to get hold of my copy of this file, your copies
of the programs could not read it! These files are
maintained by PASSMNT1.EXE and PASSMNT2.EXE respectively.
The contents of these files can be examined. SHOWPASS.EXE
examines the first file, and SHOWPL.EXE examines the second.
Neither of these programs will transmit ANY confidential
information over a phone line. All four of these programs
stamp the GT.LOG each time they are run.
These programs are supplied only with the CHANGE program.
There is another file which is also used, if present (in the
LAN directory if present, otherwise in the GTPATH
directory). DEADPASS.BBS is a pure ASCII file containing,
one entry per line, passwords which are not allowable on
your system. Any password which contains any one of these
lines will be rejected. For example, I don't think that
"PASSWORD" is a very secure password, so I have placed
"PASSWORD" in my DEADPASS.BBS. I have also placed "KANGA"
there, so any derivative of the BBS name will also be
rejected. This file may have up to 100 entries.
Nothing special is required to enable the password
supervision functions of GREETING and CHANGE. Once the
>> page 11 <<
GREETING: v2.40 by Stephen de Plater
April 7, 1991 GT Network Address 302/1
MKPSCHNG program has been run (see the document for CHANGE)
both CHANGE and GREETING will detect that fact and take over
supervision functions from that point.
EXCLUSIONS
----------
It is possible that you may wish to exclude certain people
from EVER being required to change their password. You may
have some users who log on so infrequently that otherwise
GREETING would make them change passwords with every logon.
To avoid this an exclusion list is provided. Just place the
names of everyone you wish excluded from password checking
into a file called EXCLUDE.BBS. This file must live in the
LAN directory if present, otherwise in the GTPATH directory.
The names must be in proper GT format (first character of
each word only in upper case, the rest in lower, exactly one
space between words). There must be only one name per line.
The password check section of GREETING will be skipped for
each user whose name appears in this file. e.g:
Stephen Deplater is fine, but
Stephen dePlater is not.
You should see the /Ex command line parameter above.
The command line options must be separated by white space, (i.e.:
"/M/F30" is not valid, but "/M /F30" is). They may be in either upper
or lower case, and supplied in any order. Also, you may use the '-'
character as the command line parameter flag instead of '/'.
(i.e.: "-M" is fine.)
In addition, you may place a text file called "LEVELS.BBS" in your
GTPATH (or BBS/CBS path) directory which contains descriptions of the
access levels in use. It will make the "You have access level ..."
message somewhat more meaningful. All you need to do is to create an
ASCII file with one line for each access level you are using, (except
for the first two lines, which are explained below), in the following
format:
>> page 12 <<
GREETING: v2.40 by Stephen de Plater
April 7, 1991 GT Network Address 302/1
Column 1 MUST contain the access level character,
There must be some white space after Column 1 (one blank will do
fine), and
The rest of the line is a description of the access level in use.
For example: on this system the file looks something like this:
----------------------------------------------------------
* Australian Eastern Standard Time
+ FALSE
0 SYSOP Access Level
9 OZNET *ALPHA* Testers
B GT15 *BETA* Testers
F Special Access Level
G GTSysop level (of another BBS)
H GTSysop level (of another BBS), DOWNLOADS DENIED!
I GTSysop level (direct access) PLEASE REGISTER!
M Extra Privileged access to Kangaroo Korner, NO RATIOS APPLY
P Privileged access to Kangaroo Korner
Q Privileged access to Kangaroo Korner, DOWNLOADS DENIED!
R Regular access to Kangaroo Korner
S Regular access to Kangaroo Korner, DOWNLOADS DENIED!
U Unverified User access to Kangaroo Korner
V Visitor only access to Kangaroo Korner
x LAST CHANCE access to Kangaroo Korner -- comply or be BANNED!
----------------------------------------------------------
Just make up your own levels to suit your own system. Each access
level represented in your GTPASSWD.BBS file should have a
corresponding line in your LEVELS.BBS file. This file is optional.
The first two lines (and they MUST be the first two if they are to be
present), are optional and control the timezone display. The first
line (beginning with a '*') should have a description of the timezone
in use. There must be some white space between the '*' and the
description, which is in free form for the rest of the line. The
second line (beginning with a '+') should have either TRUE or FALSE
after it. There must again be some intervening white space. This word
is not case sensitive. If the line contains TRUE (or is missing
altogether), then no message regarding daylight saving is displayed.
If the line contains FALSE then a message indicating that networking
requirements preclude the use of daylight saving time on this system
is displayed. In Sydney, because of mail interactions between the GT
net and Fidonet all systems run on Australian Eastern Standard Time
>> page 13 <<
GREETING: v2.40 by Stephen de Plater
April 7, 1991 GT Network Address 302/1
for the whole year. In order to stop users becoming confused (or at
least too confused!!) this message indicates why the System Time is
one hour different from their time for a few months each year!
ERRORLEVEL EXITS:
GREETING will exit with one of the following errorlevels. In this way
your batch files can check what GREETING has discovered and take
appropriate action. The errorlevels which may be set are:
0 Normal termination, no mail waiting.
1 to 254 The number of unread messages waiting. If there
are more than 254 unread messages, 254 will be
returned. (It also means that you have a VERY
popular user <GRIN>!)
255 An error has occurred. This will generally be
flagged by a highlighted message asking the user
to contact the Sysop. The nature of the error is
shown in the message.
======================================================================
5. COLOURS
======================================================================
If the user has ansi graphics selected (and if you have not forced
monochrome mode with the /M command line parameter), GREETING will run
in the colours of your BBS. If you don't like the colours you see,
don't blame me -- after all you chose them <grin>.
======================================================================
6. THECOUNT.EXE
======================================================================
THECOUNT.EXE is a companion to GREETING and is supplied with this
archive. Its function is to generate the CALLS.BBS file which contains
the number of calls so far made to the board. It has only one command
line parameter (/Cfilename) where the filename is the name of the call
count file. The default is CALLS.BBS. If you are happy with that name
then no parameter is required at all. (The parameter is the same as
the /C parameter in GREETING.) The file will be placed in the LAN
directory if present, otherwise in the GTPATH directory.
>> page 14 <<
GREETING: v2.40 by Stephen de Plater
April 7, 1991 GT Network Address 302/1
How often should this program be run?
Well, ideally only once! It presets the number which GREETING then
maintains.
======================================================================
7. ASSOCIATED PROGRAMS
======================================================================
If you use GREETING and THECOUNT then chances are you will want the
whole package. You need to pick up the CHANGE, (which also comes with
MKPSCHNG, SHOWPASS, SHOWPL, PASSMNT1, and PASSMNT2), and perhaps also
SPONGE. All programs are available from Kangaroo Korner 302/1 at
Manly Beach).
CHANGE also operates password supervision and its associated programs
are required before all the features of either GREETING or CHANGE can
be used.
SPONGE uses the USER file information and its own control file to
determine when users have begun to abuse your hospitality by
downloading excessive amounts. The program will step in and
automatically downgrade them (according to preset controls). They are
informed by personal message of the action taken and action is logged
for the Sysop.
======================================================================
8. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
======================================================================
Both CHANGE and GREETING when changing passwords will, if requested by
the user, suggest a series of passwords which may be used. These
passwords, each eight characters long, are formed by randomly choosing
two words of 4 characters from a list of over 1000. There are over
1.5 million possibilities. This suggestion was provided by John
Della-Torre from 302/0, "The Poet's Dilemma."
>> page 15 <<
GREETING: v2.40 by Stephen de Plater
April 7, 1991 GT Network Address 302/1
======================================================================
9. DISCLAIMER
======================================================================
Q: What kind of guarantee comes with this software?
A: *** ABSOLUTELY NONE!!! ***
If you break it you get to keep both halves!
I take no responsibility at all for what this software may do on any
computer other than my own. If you use it you do so at your own risk.
All that I am prepared to say about it is that it works fine here (and
I can see no good reason why it should not also work fine everywhere
else also -- but ....)
By using this program you accept these conditions.
======================================================================
10. ENJOY!
======================================================================
At least, I hope you do!
Stephen
>> page 16 <<
