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Text File | 1996-09-21 | 22KB | 491 lines

P A D L O C K ------------------------------------------------- version 3.20 (C) 1996 Stefan Xenos L e g a l S t u f f _____________________ This software is entirely without warrantly, expressed or implied. If you decide to use it, you do so at your own risk. The only thing I guarantee about it is that it will take up space on your hard disk. I take no responsibility for anything that happens through your use of this software, no matter how bad it is. All of the files included in the Padlock distribution archive are (C) 1996 Stefan Xenos. If people weren't in the habit of suing everyone who looked at them the wrong way, then time and space-wasting messages like this would be unnecessary. You may modify this source code however you like for your own personal use as long as the copyright message and the author's name is not removed. You MAY NOT distribute modified versions of the code. You may not charge money for the use or distribution of this program without my prior permission in writing. Feel free to distribute it like crazy as long as you don't charge for it. You may: - Use Padlock on any sort of electronic bulletin board system, even those that charge money for access or provide some commercial service. - Distribute Padlock on a BBS or through the internet. In fact, I'd encourage you to distribute this software like there was no tomorrow. - Modify the source code for your own personal use. - Use portions of Padlock's source code for writing other utilities, as long as you don't distribute them without my prior permission in writing. You may do the following only with my prior permission in writing: - Charge money for the use or distribution of Padlock. - Distribute Padlock on CD-ROM or diskette as part of a compilation of other shareware and freeware. - Include Padlock in the distribution of some other product. - Use any part of Padlock's source code in another piece of software available publicly. You may not: - Take credit for writing Padlock or any portion thereof, no matter how much you've modified its source code. - Distribute modified versions of Padlock. - Add or remove any files to the Padlock distribution archive. This includes BBS adds. - Remove the copyright notice or author's name from the program. - Reproduce the source code in any form. Please remember that this is copyrighted software. Although it is free, it is NOT in the public domain. If you've written bug fixes or patches for Padlock, please do not distribute them. Instead, send them to me for inclusion in the next release, and if I decide to include them, you will be credited for your work. I n t r o d u c t i o n _______________________ The document you are reading now was put together in a real rush. I'm hoping to include better documetation in a future release. If there's any die-hard Padlock user out there who would be interested in writing a better user's manual for me, I'd be very grateful. <grin> Padlock is a flexible call back verifier for Maximus 3.xx and up. It has been written entirely in Mex (The Maximus EXtension Language) to ensure portability and to enable you to customize it however you want. Pleez exkuze my speling. I havint had a chanse to spel chek this fiel yet. F e a t u r e s _______________ This section describes Padlock's features and describes its behaviour. If you just want to get started Padlock's features include: - Multinode friendly. - International phone number support. - Padlock can often guess a user's phone number if it is in the wrong format. - Sysop-definable logic for adding prefixes and suffixes to phone numbers from particular areas. - Verifications to different areas can be restricted to particular times of the day. - The user's city can be updated based on their phone number. - Auto detection of long distance phone numbers. - Baudrate checking. - Many wildcards are supported for specifying phone numbers in the input file. - Additional verification attempts can be made if another user tries to call the BBS during a verification. - Runs under DOS, Win 95, OS/2 2.1, and OS/2 Warp. - Most output is done through user-editable .MEC files. - Complete Mex source code included. - The user's security level can be automatically updated after a successful verification. User keys can also be added or removed. - Cursor animation and line editing for most user input. - Very flexible. Every aspect of Padlock's behaviour is user configurable. Padlock can even be set up to duplicate the behaviour of most other popular verifiers. S y s t e m R e q u i r e m e n t s _____________________________________ In order to run Padlock, you must have the following: - Maximus CBCS v3.00 or higher. Padlock will NOT run with Maximus versions earlier than version 3, and it will not run with any other BBS package (sorry). - An operating system capable of running Maximus 3.00. Padlock should be able to run under any environment Maximus can. - 500k of hard disk space. I have tested Padlock 3.00 using the default settings on a Pentium 90 with a USR Sportster 14.4k under DOS 6.22, OS/2 2.1, OS/2 Warp, and Win 95. In addition, OS/2 2.1 and OS/2 Warp were tested with a Zoom 28.8k modem. I n s t a l l a t i o n _______________________ 1. Move all the files into their own directory. By default, I use a directory inside my main Max directory called PADLOCK. If you decide to use another directory name, you will have to make several additional changes to your configuration. 2. Back up all the default control files that come with Padlock just in case you change something that doesn't work. 3. Edit SETTINGS.CFG. This file contains the minimum configuration information you will need to get Padlock up and running. If you're in a rush to get Padlock running, you can skip to step 4 and finish this step later. Otherwise, you should edit the other .CFG files in your Padlock directory (especially BEHAVIOR.CFG). You may also want to edit the file INSETUP.MH, which controls the behaviour of the input/output routines. 4. Edit the file PHONE.CTL to reflect your local calling area. The default PHONE.CTL is the file I use with my system. It contains examples of many different ways to configure your system. Follow the instructions in that file for more information. If you don't have the time or patience to configure your local calling area, you can use a generic "bare bones" setup. An example of such a setup is included in the file SAMPLE.CTL. It should work on almost any system with very little editing, but does not take advantage of many of Padlock's powerful features. This is not recommended, but is useful if you just want to get Padlock up and running on a trial basis. The current version of PHONE.CTL is backwards compatible to version 1.2, so if you are upgrading from any previous version of Padlock you should be able to use your existing PHONE.CTL without any problems. Just rename the default PHONE.CTL that comes with Padlock and copy yours into the padlock directory. 5. If you placed Padlock to the default directory, you can skip this step. Otherwise, edit all the .MEC files to change all uses of the directory name "padlock\" to wherever you placed the Padlock files. You will also need to modify FILENAME.CFG and change the keywords message_file_directory, phone_file, and log_file to point to the new directory. 5. If you are using the default directory names for maximus and for Padlock, go into the padlock directory and type: BUILD Otherwise, type: BUILD [maximus directory] [mex include directory] where [maximus directory] is the directory where the maximus executables can be found and [mex include directory] is the directory where the file MAX.MH and the other default maximus header files can be found. By default, these files are placed in a directory called "m" inside the main maximus directory. IMPORTANT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You MUST run this batch file EVERY TIME you change any of the .MH, .CFG, or .MEX files that come with padlock in order for your changes to take effect. Forgetting to run BUILD after changing a configuration file is by far the most common mistake I've encountered. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 6. Connect Padlock to your BBS somehow. To do this, you must tell Maximus to display the file padlock.mec to your unregistered users. There are two common ways of doing this. The first is to add a menu option to MENUS.CTL which says something like: display_file padlock\padlock Demoted "Register" Another way is to display padlock.mec from inside another mec file. By displaying padlock.mec from welcome.mec to all users below a certain security level, you can force callers to pass through call back verification before they even get to see your main menu. For example: Add "[keyon]R " to your NEWUSER2.MEC file Then add the following to WELCOME.MEC: [notkey]R [link]padlock\padlock [notkey]R [hangup] Then configure PADLOCK to disable the R key after a successful verification. P r o b l e m s _______________ This section covers some common problems and gives suggestions for solving them. Please read this section to see if your problem is discussed here before writing me with a bug report. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Problem: When Padlock begins, a message appears saying something like: ! 06 Aug 22:13:29 MAX Cannot find file: padlock\somefile.BBS Cannot find file: padlock\somefile.BBS. Please report this error to the sysop Solution: Ensure that all the filenames defined in SETTINGS.MH are correct and that the files actually exist. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Problem: The changes I make in SETTINGS.MH don't seem to have any effect! Solution: Remember to run BUILD after making any changes to SETTINGS.MH. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Problem: Maximus crashes and I get a message that looks something like this: ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ FATAL ERROR. The program encountered an exception violation. Please record the following information and report it to the author. --> This report is being saved to file '953.trp' in the current directory. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── type: c0000005 address: 171d5114 time: 3207e748 flags: 00000000 params: [0]=00000001 [1]=0028ee07 cs:eip=005b:171d5114 ss:esp=0053:0008dd1c cs=005b ds=0053 es=0053 fs=150b gs=0000 ss=0053 eax=0028ee07 ebx=000004d0 ecx=000004d0 edx=00000000 esi=ffffffff edi=001c585d ebp=0008dd38 efl=00092202 ESPd: 15421d17d347290007ee280051291d1730002b0058dd0800000000008cdd0800 EBPd: 8cdd08005d581c00ffffffffd3472900f0000000550a1d170000791300002900 EIPd: 3810a8037409881040c1ca084975f351c1e902e81b0000005983e103740e8810 Stk at 171d5114: 001c585d 001c585d 001c585d 001c585d 00051353 0004f921 0004f3dd 0004f0b4 0004edbc 0005921b 00058fee 00037b85 0003 The BBS has ended for unknown reasons. Please wait while an attempt is made to record this bad news... Thank you. MsgAPI is closing an open area... MsgAPI is done closing areas. SYS1808: The process has stopped. The software diagnostic code (exception code) is 0005. Solution: This is caused by a bug in Maximus, not Padlock. Maximus seems to crash when calling certain small Mex functions (don't ask me why). I think I've managed to avoid this bug while writing Padlock, so this shouldn't happen. If you get this error, please report it to me and I'll try to write a work-around. Be sure to give me enough information to reproduce the problem. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Problem: Padlock takes "forever" to dial out the first time. Solution: You don't have enough of a delay after your hangup command. Try adding a few "~"s to the end of your hangup string. This may also be due to problems in your init string. Try adding a delay to the end of your init string or just using a blank init string to see if that works - most modems don't require any init string at all. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Problem: I get errors when I run BUILD. Solution: You've probably made a typing mistake while editing SETTINGS.MH. Try restoring the default SETTINGS.MH file that came with the distribution archive and making your changes a few at a time until you find where your problem was. You may also get this error if you've modified the Padlock source code. In this case, the error probably has something to do with whatever changes you've made. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Problem: There are no .EXE files in the Padlock distribution archive! Solution: There aren't supposed to be any executables. Padlock is a Maximus add-on. It works in much the same way as your .MEC files do. You can compile and run the files here from within Maximus, without requiring an external .EXE. This makes Padlock more reliable, and portable. It also means that if you're already familiar with MECCA or MEX programming, you can totally reconfigure Padlock to make it do whatever you like. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ U s e r C o m m e n t s _________________________ I've received a lot of positive feedback about Padlock. I liked these ones so much that I just had to quote them here. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Raymond Cool To: Stefan Xenos Subject: Callback verifier I've been waiting for a good, simple, yet flexible Call-Back Verification system, and I must say that yours is what I've been waiting for! It's fast, easy, and even the stupidest of my callers has managed to use it without a glitch. What's your next project? -Ray --- Maximus/2 3.01 * Origin: Covenant BBS Tacoma, Washington (1:138/228) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Joe Negron To: Stefan Xenos Subject: Padlock v2.00 Just finished installing Padlock 2.0 - nice work! It's working great (thus far! :) and is an impressive piece of coding (hats off to Scott also for including something as powerful as MEX in Maximus). --- Maximus/2 3.01 * Origin: The Programmer's Mark * Brooklyn, NY, USA: 718-921-9267 (1:278/216) Thanks, guys. It's hearing things like this that make all this effort worthwhile. S u p p o r t _____________ I tend to fix bugs quite quickly, so if you report a bug, I'll probably have it patched an a new version released before long. Just be sure to tell me in detail what the problem is. It may also be a good idea to include a copy of your input files in your bug report so that I can test them out myself. If you have any suggestions, improvements, criticisms, etc., please get in touch. If you think you've made significant improvements to my code, please send it my way and I may include it in the next release (along with appropriate credit, of course). I encourage user feedback. If you have anything to suggest for a future version of this software, please let me know. Many of the new features in this version were suggested by users. Keep the feedback coming, good or bad. Padlock is entirely free. You don't have to pay a cent for its use. I wrote it for the pleasure of doing so, not to make any money. If you feel that it is worth something to you, though, you're welcome to send a donation my way. If nothing else, this will encourage me to continue supporting this product and write more maximus add-ons in the future. D i s t r i b u t i o n _______________________ You can always pick up the latest version of Padlock by: - Calling Hyper BBS at (613) 257-7636 and logging on as Guest. - File requesting PADLOCK from 1:163/557.0 Several other sysops have also kindly volunteered their services as distribution sites, but as of this writing I still haven't figured out how I'm going to get new versions to them. In the near future, you may also be able to pick up Padlock from: System name: The Programmer's Mark Sysop: Joe Negron Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA Phone number: (718) 921-9267 Fido address: 1:278/216 Action: If you are in the fidonet nodelist, F'req PADLOCK. Otherwise, download it from the BBS. System name: The Barrack's Rat BBS ][ Sysop: Michael Andrews Fido address: 1:260/801 Sysop: John Medland Fido address: 1:250/840 System name: The Vented Spleen Sysop: Tony Summerfelt Fido address: 1:249/139 or 1:249/100 Phone number: (613) 544-9332 Action: F'req "PADLOCK" or "PADxxx.ARJ", where xxx is the version number. C o n t a c t _____________ I can be reached at the following coordinates: Fidonet netmail: 1:163/557.2 Hyper BBS: (613)257-7636 Long distance callers should log on as "Guest" and leave a comment to sysop Snail mail: Stefan Xenos Almonte, Ont. Canada K0A 1A0 I can also usually be reached on any of the following fidonet echos: MECCA, MUFFIN, MAX_UTIL Please address any electronic correspondence to either Stefan Xenos or Cyclone. Snail mail should only be addressed to Stefan Xenos. C r e d i t s _____________ Padlock is written, designed, maintained, debugged, and supported by Stefan Xenos. Special thanks go to: Will Schweizer, for all the testing he did for me. If he hadn't gone through the verifier about a thousand times with different terminal programs and modems, this program would have never seen its first release. Will, thanks a lot for your patience. David Mackintosh, for running the primary Padlock distribution site and putting up with me no matter how many new releases I sent him in a short period of time. John Medland, for his excellent beta testing and feedback. Joe Negron, who suggested adding the Padlock log file. Everyone who wrote me with a detailed bug report, suggestion, or bit of encouragement. Since there's been so many of you I can't possibly list you all, but among others I'd like to thank: Michael Andrews Joel Bergen Tony Summerfelt Padlock users everywhere. I hope you continue to find this software useful and keep recommending it to your friends.