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1999-01-25
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Searchlight Alias Maintenance Utility
-------------------------------------
Alias maintenance utility (AUTIL.EXE) is a command line driven program for
use with Searchlight 3.5A and later releases. It provides three main
functions related to the use of alias names:
- An alphabetical list of all alias names in use on your system;
- An alphabetical list of user names and their corresponding aliases;
- A cross-reference utility to detect and fix inconsistencies between
the USER.SL2 and ALIAS.SL2 files.
The syntax for using AUTIL.EXE is:
AUTIL [A|U|X] [/Y|/N]
A = List contents of ALIAS.SL2 file
U = List alias names in USER.SL2 file
X = Cross-reference User & Alias files
/Y = Fix cross-reference errors without asking
/N = Do not fix cross-reference errors
To understand the difference between the two types of listings, and the need
for the cross-reference utility, an understanding of how Searchlight stores
alias names is needed. When you use the Options command in Searchlight,
alias names appear on-screen as though they were simply another item of data
associated with a particular user record. In fact, though there is an alias
name field associated with each user record, there is also a separate file
called ALIAS.SL2 that holds a list of all the alias names in use on your
system. The ALIAS.SL2 and USER.SL2 files work together to provide support
for alias names.
The A option to AUTIL.EXE provides a listing of the contents of your
ALIAS.SL2 file; in other words, a listing of all the alias names that are in
use on your system, along with the corresponding real names. For example, if
you type:
AUTIL A
You will see a list similar to this one:
Alias Name Real Name
BATMAN ..................... BRUCE WAYNE
CAPTAIN CRUNCH ............. MOLLY JONES
DARK AVENGER ............... SHELLY SMITH
GREAT PUMPKIN .............. LIONEL RICHARDS
POPEYE ..................... GEOFF BECKMAN
THE VAULTKEEPER ............ JIM BARRY
6 names were listed.
The left column contains all of the alias names in use on your system, in
alphabetical order. The right column contains the real name to which each
alias belongs.
When you use the U option with AUTIL.EXE, you generate the opposite listing:
real names on the left, and alias names on the right. For example, if you
enter "AUTIL U", you will see a listing such as:
Real Name Alias Name
BRUCE WAYNE ................ BATMAN
GEOFF BECKMAN .............. POPEYE
JIM BARRY .................. THE VAULTKEEPER
LIONEL RICHARDS ............ GREAT PUMPKIN
MOLLY JONES ................ CAPTAIN CRUNCH
SHELLY SMITH ............... DARK AVENGER
6 names were listed.
This list contains the same information as the prior list, except that it is
sorted by real name rather than alias name. (In fact, this is really just a
list of your USER.SL2 file, except that only those users who have alias
names on file are shown).
You can use standard DOS redirection symbols to pipe either list to a text
file, printer or other device. For example:
AUTIL A >PRN
AUTIL U >ALIAS.TXT
Alias Cross Reference
---------------------
Searchlight always updates both the USER.SL2 and ALIAS.SL2 files whenever
you add, change or remove an alias name from a user's account, or delete a
user account. In this way, the alias and user files are always kept "in
sync" with one another.
However, it is occasionally possible for user and alias files to become
inconsistent with one another. Problems that can arise include duplication
of alias names; alias names that are the same as real names; or entries in
the alias file that do not match the corresponding information in the user
file. In many cases, these problems result in the inability to look up or
send mail to an alias name, and "lost" mail (because the mail is routed to
the wrong mailbox). There are a number of ways that such inconsistencies
can be created:
o If your USER.SL2 or ALIAS.SL2 file is physically damaged, some records
may be lost from one file but not the other.
o If you restore a back-up of your USER.SL2 or ALIAS.SL2 file without
restoring both files simultaneously, changes made since the backup
will be lost.
o During the beta test period for Searchlight 3.5A, bugs in the software
may have resulted in inconsistent files. For example, the Rename
function in the 3.5A beta release did not update the alias file
properly.
o Third-party programs may improperly update alias name data, especially
programs that were released before Searchlight 3.5A.
To detect and repair these problems, the alias utility offers a cross-
reference function. To activate it, enter:
AUTIL X
Both the USER.SL2 file and ALIAS.SL2 file are scanned for logic errors.
Typical errors that might appear include the following:
o Alias names that are the same as real names
o Real names that are the same as alias names
o ALIAS.SL2 records that do not match the corresponding USER.SL2 record
o Invalid alias names
When such errors are found, a message is printed and you are given the
option to fix the error. For example:
Real Name : SYSOP
Alias Name : THE TERMINATOR
Source : USER.SL2 File
This alias name is also in use as another person's real name.
Do you want to repair this problem (Y/N/Quit)?
In this case, it was found that the alias name "THE TERMINATOR" is actually
another person's real name. Because Searchlight requires all alias names to
be distinct from real names, this situation is an error. If you type Y at
the prompt, the alias utility will try to fix the problem.
In general, the alias utility fixes problems by attempting to update the
USER.SL2 and ALIAS.SL2 files to get them back in sync. If that is not
possible (because of duplicate names, for example), then it deletes the
offending alias name. In the example shown above, the problem would be fixed
by removing the SYSOP's alias name, and deleting the corresponding record
from the ALIAS.SL2 file. Note that while the alias utility may update,
create or delete records from the ALIAS.SL2 file to fix a problem, it never
adds or deletes real user names from your USER.SL2 file.
If you wish to run the cross-reference utility without the "Do you want to
repair this problem" prompts, you can add a /Y or /N switch to the command
line. If you use /Y, then all problems are fixed automatically. If you use
/N, then no problems are fixed. For example, this command will scan and
repair all problems without asking:
AUTIL X /Y
You may wish to make back up copies of your USER.SL2 and ALIAS.SL2 files
before running this command, in case you need to go back to the old files
for any reason.
It is important to note that the cross-reference function only looks for
high-level problems, like name duplication. It doesn't check the low-level
binary tree structure of the alias or user files. Low level problems
typcially cause runtime errors or lock-ups when listing the contents of the
user or alias files; if such a problem exists, correct it by running the
User/Balance command from within Searchlight before you run the alias cross-
reference utility.