The Atari Compendium/The Atari Compendium (Toad Computers) (1994).iso/files/umich/telecomm/stadel/stadel2.zoo/document/util.doc

Text File | 1989-08-11 | 17.2 KB | 401 lines

                              Introduction

    Since the days of yore when we received Citadel (the Z80 version
    of Citadel, that is...) from CUG (C User's Group), several
    utilities of interest have been added to the package to supplement
    the original two .com files that came with the package, to wit
    Citadel and Configur.  These come in two types:  one, to provide
    information about what's going on inside this monster which, due
    to runtime space considerations, could not be gotten at;  two, the
    ability to change certain parameters which were either impossible
    to change once a BBS was set up, or were, at the least, difficult
    to change.

    So, the files just grew and evolved.  To run any of these
    utilities, you've got to be in the directory where your
    ctdltabl.sys is located.  When you do a shell escape from inside
    STadel, it writes a copy of ctdltabl.sys to the directory you
    started out in, so that you may run these programs from there.

1) CLOG

    Clog provides access to the userlog for the Sysop.  To use it, the
    file ctdltabl.sys (the one generated by Configur and maintained by
    Citadel) must be on the default disk, and so must be ctdllog.sys.

    There are two ways of using Clog.  First, there is the simple
    call:

     $ clog

    This will print out on the console the list of users in the file
    as they appear in the file.  The user of this program should be
    warned that Citadel does not put new users into the userlog in
    sequential order.  Instead, they are hashed into the log.  Usually,
    first user to log into the system ends up occupying the last
    position in the file!  In general, users are sprinkled everywhere,
    so don't be alarmed if nothing shows up right away.  Be patient.

    In any case, the list is printed out as follows.  First, the log
    position will be printed out, which will always be in sequential
    order.  If nobody occupies that position, then Clog proceeds to
    the next log position.  If somebody does occupy that position,
    then the name of that person (or alias) will be printed out,
    followed by his/her status as aide, expert/non-expert, and screen
    width.

    The second way to use Clog is to give it arguments.  There are
    two arguments currently available;  the -p argument and the -a
    argument.

      $ clog -p -a

    -p will cause the passwords to be listed along with the user's
    name.  This is very useful if somebody forgets their password.  -a
    will only list the aides on the system (this was put in because
    some unscrupulous users might make themselves aides if they get
    access to the system console).

2) EXPAND

    Expand's purpose in life is to allow the sysop to expand the size
    of his/her message file (ctdlmsg.sys).  This makes it easy to
    move upwards as one gets rich running Citadel for cold, hard cash
    and acquires better and better equipment.

    Expand expects to find the file ctdltabl.sys on the default disk
    in the default user area and the ctdlmsg.sys file in #msgdir.
    Simply call Expand without arguments.  Once it has loaded
    ctdltabl.sys, it will display the current size of the message
    file, and then ask for the new size.  Then Expand will do it's
    job.  THIS IS A SLOW PROCESS.  Be patient.  The program will be
    printing some stuff out that might allow the sysop to figure out
    where the program is.

    Once the program is done, it will say so, and will also tell you
    that there is no reason to reconfigure.  This is true -- But you
    should update ctdlcnfg.sys immediately*.

3) LOGEDIT

    Logedit is provided for when strange things start happening in
    the log file, such as duplicate or semi-duplicate logs start
    appearing.  Logedit lets the sysop change a users name, password,
    or kill the account.

    To run, make sure the disk with the #sysDir files is in its
    normal position, and run Logedit.  Logedit will ask for a user
    number to modify -- this is the users position in the call log.
    (This can be gotten from Clog.)

4) LCHANGE


    Lchange lets the Sysop change the size of the current userlog
    file.  To use it, you type

    $ Lchange <new-log-size>

    And Lchange will modify the existing ctdllog.sys.  It will then
    tell you to modify your ctdlcnfg.sys -- you do not need to
    reconfigure.

    <new-log-size> must be greater than 0.  Lchange needs temporary
    space in your #sysDir -- you must have at least 512 free bytes per
    log entry for the new ctdllog.sys.

5) POPULAR

    The Popular utility is a statistics-gathering utility, and, as
    such, can be easily viewed as your basic feeping creaturism.
    However, for those of us who have somehow acquired that horrible
    taste for odd statistics about how people use Citadel, it does
    serve some purpose.

    Popular gathers statistics about the Public rooms on a system.
    These statistics consist of simply calculating how many people
    have forgotten each Public room on a system.  Yes, a rather odd
    statistic to gather, but there it is.  Once it has finished
    processing the data, it displays the results in tabular form, in
    (roughly) the following form:

<room name>    <# of people who have forgotten this room> <% of total users>

    To use this utility, simply make sure your data files are in
    their normal drives, and run this program.

    There are a few command-line options available for Popular:
    `-m' will list the number of messages in each room.
    `-s' will sort the output listing in a few different ways;  `-sp'
    sorts the output by # messages in rooms, `-sz' sorts by number of
    people who have forgotten each room, and `-sb' sorts by both
    number of messages in each room and number of people who have
    forgotten each room.  Needless to say, if you don't do `-m',
    Popular will not be able to sort by # of messages in each room.
    `-r' selects the rooms that Popular does statistics for.  Normally,
    Popular merely does the statistics for public rooms, but if you
    have a system like Pell where 99% of the rooms are private, that
    leads to massively dull popularity lists.  -r takes a second
    option character to determine which sorts of rooms to create
    statistics for:  `a' generates statistics for _all_ the rooms on
    your system;  `i' generates statistics for invitation-only rooms;
    `h' generates statistics for private non-invitation-only rooms;
    `s' generates statistics for all private rooms, invite-only or
    not;  and `n' generates statistics for all non-invite-only rooms.

6) CKDOOR

    Ckdoor is a simple utility that scans your Ctdldoor.sys file and
    makes sure that it is correct.  To run it, you must be in the
    directory that contains your Ctdldoor.sys file.

7) DUMPNET

    Dumpnet produces an ascii dump of all the net nodes for your
    system.  It is handy for moving a netlist between versions of
    STadel.  To use it, type `Dumpnet > listfile'.  You must be in the
    directory with your ctdltabl.sys to run it.

    Dumpnet produces records of the form shown below:

    #node the land@US [phone]
    2,E0,L10,+

    00000601,01
    citanews    11893
    net.politics    11893
    net.religion    11893
    administrivia    11893
    bbs list    11893
    net.sci-fi    11893
    net.flames    11893
    Dumpster    11893
    Sysop Stuff    11893
    aide    11640
    STadel    11893
    comp.atari    11893
    comp.amiga    11893
    C    11893
    Modula-2    11893
    net.gossip    11893


    The first line (#node) gives the system name and node-id/telephone
    number.
    The second line is options for this node - the first number is the
    baudrate code for that system (followed by a `R' if it is a
    recieve-only system), and the rest of the fields are optional:
    Enumber is the external dialer that the system uses (zero means it
    doesn't use one);  Lnumber is the long distance flag - if zero, it
    is a local system, otherwise it's the retry count for that system;
    `+' means the system will do long-distance role reversal.
    The third line is the [A]ccess code for the system, if any.
    The fourth line is contains an encoded long that tells what
    networks the node is active in, followed by an optional integer
    (,integer) that gives the days that this system will be polled in.

    The lines after that are the rooms that this system shares with
    your system.  The number after the roomname (the roomname is
    separated from the number by a single tab) is the message-id of
    the last message sent to that system from your system.  The list
    of rooms shared is terminated by a blank line.
    Dumpnet does not dump the backbone status of a room.

8) LOADNET

    Loadnet takes the output of Dumpnet and converts it into a
    ctdlnet.sys.  To use it, type `Loadnet listfile'.

    When reloading a network, Loadnet makes assumptions about backbone
    status on netrooms - if a system is a long-distance system, all
    the rooms shared with it will be backboned, otherwise they won't.

    Also, when you reload a network with Loadnet, you can diddle the
    need-to-call status of rooms by telling Loadnet to set a specific
    message-number as last-netted.  If you do `Loadnet -number
    listfile', all rooms that do not have a lastmessage set will have
    their lastmessage set to the number you passed in (if the number
    is negative, the lastmessage will be set to the highest message in
    the system plus that number...)

9) PCPDIAL

    Pcpdial attempts to call a system via pc pursuit.  It will call
    your local telenet access point, attempt to connect to the
    destination city, then call the system on the other end.  It is
    primarily for STadel networking, but may be used for manual
    dialing.

    Pcpdial reads the file pcpdial.ini in your #netDir for various
    parameters it needs to connect to telenet.  pcpdial.ini is a
    straight ascii file that contains local access numbers, your
    telenet password, your telenet userid, and the baudrate that your
    local access number is at.  Pcpdial.ini contains the following
    lines:

    userid <your telenet user id>
    password <your telenet password>
    access <your local telenet access>
    baud <baudrate of your local telenet access>

    For example, a user with telenet userid `fred' with a password of
    `spam' who wants to call the telenet access at 555-1212 at 1200
    baud would have a pcpdial.ini file like so:

    userid fred                 (* Please note that the words userid,
    password spam                  password,access and baud MUST be
    access 555-1212                typed in your pcpdial.ini file. *)
    baud 1200

    Pcpdial takes the following options:

             pcpdial [-fx] [-r#] [-l#] city_mnemonic phone#

    -f    Force the call even if you're not calling during
        normal pc-p hours.
    -x    Turn debugging on.
    -r    Retry the connect to the remote city # times --
        normally if pcpdial can't get through to the
        remote city after five attempts, it gives up.
    -l    Retry the system number # times -- the default
        is five retries.
    city    city mnemonic for the target city.
    phone#    local phone # to call in that city.

10) SYSOP

    Sysop is only available on the Atari ST version of STadel.  It is
    provided so you can run STadel in the background under Amulti/MX2
    and still be able to get at the console for doing sysop
    activities.  You need to run Sysop from the #sysDir of your STadel
    -- it looks for a file called CITADEL.LCK to determine whether
    STadel is running or not.  (If STadel isn't running, it will
    inform you and exit back to the shell (or desktop...))

11) SCANZT

    Scanzt is provided for people who are running with the network
    loopzapper active (see network.doc for details on that.) All it
    does is look through the loopzap database and see whether
    everything is okay with it.  If it should find something wrong, it
    will complain to you (and you should run makezt to restore the
    loopzap table.)

12) MAKEZT

    Makezt is also provided for people who are running with the
    network loopzapper.  But instead of merely scanning the zap table,
    it will rebuilt it from scratch.  This comes in handy if you
    suspect that your loopzap table has been corrupted or if some
    message came in from another system with a corrupted date and so
    created a logjam.

    To run it, merely cd to the directory that contains your
    ctdltabl.sys and type `Makezt', then stand back.  Makezt will
    print a lot of information to the screen as it runs, so you don't
    need to pay much attention to it.  If something goes wrong, Makezt
    will stop, print out an error message, then throw out your
    ctdltabl.sys.

13) SPOOLEDT

    Spooledt is provided to allow you to edit your network file
    request and sendfile queues.  To use it, merely type `Spooledt
    <nodename>'.  Spooledt will then locate the appropriate queue and
    invoke your favorite editor to edit it.  To tell spooledt what
    your favorite editor is, you must either set an environment
    variable EDITOR that contains the full pathname of the editor, or
    you must copy the editor into your #netdir as EDITOR.EXE (or
    EDITOR.TOS for the Atari ST.)
    Spooledt assumes that your editor will accept command lines and
    understand tabs.  When it invokes your editor, it passes the name
    of the spoolfile to it on the commandline like `$EDITOR
    spoolfile'.

14) NETMAP

    Netmap merely produces a list of all the rooms you share with
    other systems, listed by system.  Netmap has one option - `-p' -
    which tells it to only list the public rooms shared with other
    systems.

15) RUNIT

    Runit will do the dirty work of executing STadel, reconfiguring if
    STadel crashes, and executing other programs just like a
    shellscript would do.  The advantage of runit is that it is
    tailored for STadel, so it takes much less space (~25K runtime
    load.)

    runit            -- run citadel from this directory
    runit [directory]    -- run citadel from [directory]
    runit [run-file]    -- run citadel using [run-file]

    When you execute runit, it looks for a run-file to read so it can
    determine what to do.  If you don't provide a run-file on the
    command line, it will look for the file CITADEL.RUN in your
    current working directory (or the [directory] you specify on the
    commandline.) The run-file consists of lines of the form
    <opcode>=<command>.  If the opcode is a non-negative number, the
    command will be executed if STadel returns the given status.
    Otherwise runit will give you an error message and exit if it
    isn't one of the following keywords:


        HOME        - where ctdltabl.sys is.
        BIN            - path where programs can be found.
        AFTER        - execute this command after STadel exits,
                  no matter what the status is.
        DEFAULT        - command to execute if STadel returns
                  a status not specified in the
                  run-file.
        ARGS        - arguments to pass to STadel.


    When runit executes, it first checks to see if ctdltabl.sys
    exists in the HOME directory specified in the run-file.  If it
    doesn't exist, runit executes Configur If Configur returns a
    nonzero status or if runit cannot find ctdltabl.sys after running
    it, a error message will print and runit will exit.  After this,
    it runs Citadel.  Then it runs all the AFTER commands, then the
    commands that were specified for the status that STadel gave runit
    (or the DEFAULT commands, if no commands were specified.) If, at
    any time, any program returns a negative* status, runit will exit.

    Commands that you give runit are broken down into the program name
    and the program tail.  If the program name does not specify a full
    pathname, runit will look in the BIN directory for the program.  If
    you don't specify an extention, runit will look the for files with
    the appropriate extention (.EXE/.COM for MS-DOS, .PRG/.TTP/.TOS
    for GEMDOS) with that name.  There also a few special commands
    that runit understands;

        $RM            - delete files
        $EXIT [status]    - exit runit with status (0 if none)
        $CONFIG        - Configur in the bin directory.

    Here is the citadel.run file that Pell uses:

    >
    > BIN=c:\bin
    > ARGS=+netdebug +netlog +zap +hup
    > HOME=f:\pell
    > AFTER=c:\bin\hup -
    > AFTER=c:\bin\callstat -s -u
    >
    > DEFAULT=$EXIT
    > 5=uucall -sstag -x
    > 3=$RM ctdltabl.sys
    > 2=$RM ctdltabl.sys
    > 20=c:\command.com /c c:\bin\popular -msb > f:\pell\library\popular
    >

    When STadel returns a status of 2 or 3, runit deletes
    ctdltabl.sys;  when STadel returns status of 5, uucall calls the
    primary netfeed;  when STadel returns status of 6, uucall calls a
    secondary netfeed;  and when status is 20, the popularity index is
    rebuilt.  Any other status causes runit to terminate.

    No matter what the status is, runit will execute HUP to disable
    the modem, then delete the call log.