sneakers@heimat.UUCP (Dan "Sneakers" Schein) (09/06/88)
Here is a description file (actually the ReadMe file) for UUCP/UseNet for the AMIGA! So if you have noticed me running news & mail on my Amiga and wished that you could do the same, well now you can. Please read the following information and if you are interested in obtaining a *BETA* copy of UUCP/UseNet then send 2 blank 3.5" disks along with a prepaid, and self addressed return disk mailer to: Sneakers Computing 2455 McKinley Ave. West Lawn, Pa 19609 OR if you prefer send $10 and your name/address to the above address to cover disks, & shipping costs. ----<Cut Here - ReadMe>---- -Amiga UUCP/UseNet- by William Loftus and Dan "Sneakers" Schein Copyright 1988 by William Loftus. All rights reserved. Copyright 1988 by Sneakers Computing. All rights reserved. -=- First -- We HOPE YOU'RE A UUCP EXPERT, because the documentation to learn UUCP is *not* contained here. There are alot of good books available that describe UUCP and Usenet, the two that we recommend are: "Managing UUCP and Usenet," Tim O'Reilly and Grace Todino. It is published by O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. -- 1-800-338-NUTS (cost is about $17.00). "UNIX Communications" The Waite Group. It is published by Howard W. Sams & Company (cost is about $26.95) -=- This disk contains the binaries for AmigaUUCP & UseNet. The second disk contains the 'C' source code. All code was compiled (and written) for Lattice V4.01. AmigaUUCP is a port of GNUUCP to the Amiga. GNUUCP was based on uuslave. In addition, many small support programs have been added. This is version "BETA 0.40". UseNet is a group of 'scratch' programs that give the Amiga access to UseNet via AmigaUUCP. With the UseNet programs you can receive and post messages to the net. UseNet is version "BETA 0.10". -=- Several text files can be found in the ReadMe directory of this disk. They include: heimat_uucp_entry -- an example of a uucp map entry for a uucp site how2usenet -- an introduction to UseNet. Strongly recommended reading NewsGroups -- a listing of the UseNet groups available as of 8/23/88 UseNet.maps.readme -- information on adding your site to the UUCP maps UseNet.standards -- detailed and technical information on how UseNet works ReadMe -- this file -=- There are several files that are critical to the operation of AmigaUUCP and UseNet. These files are located in the "lib" directory on this disk. Below is a short description of each file: L.sys -- This file that contains the remote systems names, phone numbers, login scripts, password, etc. In short, this is the file that has all the information needed to connect to remote sites. Remote sites are the sites with which you will be exchanging mail and news directly. config -- This file contains the name of your machine (node name), the name of the user (it is assumed that only one person will be using an Amiga for mail and news), the users real name, a debugging level, etc.. seq -- This file contains a number that is used (and incremented) for the creation of unique outgoing and incoming UUCP data files. news.distribution -- This file contains the distribution options for posting articles to UseNet. The included file is only an example! -=- The first thing you must do is get a remote site that is willing to let you have UUCP access to their machine. This can be your work machine, or a local university. Next, you must add the appropriate data to the files "L.sys", ".signature", and "config" (found in the lib directory on this disk). There are example files to follow in the LIB directory included on this disk. Next, you must look at the modem.c file in the src/uucico directory. This file contains C code that controls the modem (just high level stuff). If your modem is not a HAYES compatible then you will have to modify the code, recompile modem.c (lc #?.c) and relink (blink with uucico.lnk). Sorry, but until Bill can abstract what is really needed for alot of modems this part will have to be manually done. Bill hopes to write a small version of modemcap later. Last, you have to make sure that the structure of this disk is intact. That means there needs to be a c directory, spool directory, mail directory, news directory inside the mail directory, manuals directory, and lib directory. These directories must have the ability to be referenced by UUCP:c, UUCP:spool, UUCP:mail, and UUCP:lib. Next you need to assign "Man:" to "UUCP:Manuals" (these are the on-line help files). Finally assign "News:" to the directory "UUCP:mail/news". This disk is already setup in the correct fashion, so if you wish to run from this floppy simply rename the disk to "UUCP", assign "News:" and "Man:", but if you prefer to copy it to a hard disk (highly recommended for running UseNet) you must assign UUCP: to the directory on the hard disk. That's it. Again the things you need to do before you can use AmigaUUCP & UseNet: 1) configure the uucp:lib/L.sys file to contain the machines YOU want to call 2) change the uucp:lib/config file to suite your machine 3) edit the uucp:lib/.signature file to suite 3) recompile modem.c with the correct modem command (if needed) 4) make sure UUCP:, NEWS: and MAN: exist and are assigned correctly -=- Programs included. uucico -- This program transmits files from your machine to your host and back. If no arguments are given, then uucico will act as the slave (waiting for a call). The stack must be set to 25000 to run this program. Usage: UUCICO [-x{0-9}] [-ssystemname] x - set debugging level. s - call system. * Before Bill goes to work he types "brun uucp:c/uucico" and then when he is at work and something interesting comes along he can just "uucp" it to his Amiga. * Sneakers runs his from AmigaCron. He has a line in his Amiga's startup-sequence that says: "c:run newcli con:0/0/350/150/UUCP uucp:s/startcron". This opens a new window and starts AmigaCron. The file startcron and an example crontab file can be found on this disk. uucp -- This program queues files to be transferred to or from a remote host. Usage: UUCP from_file to_file Example: UUCP burdvax!/usr/spool/uucppublic/wpl/FILE df0:FILE This example will queue a request for a file on the machine burdvax called /usr/spool/uucppublic/wpl/FILE to be transferred to your Amiga and to be called df0:FILE. Example: UUCP uucico.c burdvax!/usr/spool/uucppublic/wpl/uucico.c This example will put the file uucico.c (in the current working directory) on machine burdvax in the directory /usr/spool/uucppublic/wpl in a file named uucico.c. NOTE: transfers are done by uucico; uucp only queues requests. uuxqt -- You should never have to execute this, since uucico will do it for you, but if "X.#?" files exist in the UUCP:spool directory, uuxqt should be run. uuxqt figures out what to do with the mail messages uucico transferred. uux -- This program runs programs on other systems with a command entered on your system. The main purpose of uux is to enable mail to forward messages to another system after yous. uupoll -- This program will poll a system for mail and news (i.e files to be transferred). It starts up UUCICO with the correct arguments in the background. Usage: UUPOLL <system-name> uuname -- This program will list the names of the systems that are connect to your node (i.e. the systems listed in the L.sys file). uulog -- This program will display the LOGFILE of your UUCP site. Options for a specific sitename or username are supported. rmail -- Mail coming into your system goes through rmail. Again the system should handle running rmail. Currently, all mail coming into your Amiga will be placed in the directory UUCP:mail in a file using the same name as found on the To: field of the message. rnews -- UseNet files (news) coming into your system goes through rnews. Again the system should handle running rnews. unbatcher -- UseNet files (news) will be run through unbatcher and split into articles for each newsgroup. This program should be run by rnews automatically. Currently, all news coming into your Amiga will be placed in the directory UUCP:mail/news in a file using the same name as found on the NewsGroup(s): field of the article. mail -- Your link to the outside world. Type mail<cr> to be prompted for a out going mail message. It uses old style UUCP addressing (e.g., mach!mach!mach!mach!user). When finished you are prompted to append your .signature file. No is the default. from -- List the username and subject of all the mail messages for the configured user in the UUCP:mail directory. readmsg -- This program will list a particular mail message. For example: READMSG 3 will print out mail message number 3. pnews-e -- This is one of your UseNet links to the outside world. Type pnews-e<cr> to be prompted for a out going news article. Multiple newsgroups can be specified by using a comma (,) between the newsgroup names (e.g., misc.wanted,pa.wanted). When finished you are prompted to append your .signature file. Yes is the default. pnews-m -- This is the other of your UseNet links to the outside. Type pnews-m<cr> to be prompted for a out going news article. Pnews-M works like pnews-e, see pnews-e for details. * The difference between pnews-e and pnews-m is the way in which the message(s) are stored for transfer. Pnews-e stores messages in an encrypted form where pnews-m stores messages as a mail message. Pnews-m results in a smaller file size (important if your calling long distance) and pnews-e has the advantage of ensuring that your message will not become damaged or altered in any way. Try both and use the one you feel most comfortable with. Most users will rename the one they use to "Pnews". Other goodies included: vi -- The latest version of DME (its called vi). You should replace vi with your favorite editor. The mail program uses "vi" for editing your mail messages. avi -- This is a Unix VI workalike. Documentation can be found in the ReadMe directory of this disk. blitz -- This is a file viewer/reader program. It is most useful for viewing and reading received UseNet articles and has been edited for the NEWS: directory. compress, uuencode, uudecode, unshar, tar, and tarsplit -- These programs are used to handle data transmitted via UUCP connections. man -- This program is a Unix like command look up utility. It displays a text file with the same name as the command. Example: man uulog<cr> Will display the file "uulog" found in UUCP:man directory. This program uses the CBM "more" program found on AmigaDos 1.2 & 1.3. If you do not have more, then any text file viewer can be used provided it is named "more" and in the UUCP:c directory. more -- Actually 'less', you should replace this with CBM's more command. brun -- Runbackground, lets you start a program (task) and still close the CLI it was started from. AmigaCron -- A Unix styled clock daemon. Starts tasks at the times & dates specified in the UUCP:lib/crontab file. NOTE: all the programs in the C directory *MUST* remain there. Various programs on this disk will reference these programs directly (e.g., brun and vi). The compress program on this disk uses 16 bit compression as a default (not 14 that is usual on the Amiga). If you have problems you should use 14compress (this version uses the Amiga standard 14 bits for compression). There are man entries for most of these commands, so if you need additional help try the man command. -=- Changes over AmigaUUCP BETA 0.20 Uupoll, readmsg, from, and uuhosts programs added. Locking is now done (i.e. you can't run two uucicos at once). Bugs caused by short and long system names was squashed. Bugs in the use of the timer device were squashed. Reorganization of the system files (L.sys, config, seq now in the lib directory, not spool). The code for modem support was pulled into one file, so that it can later be generalized. Numerous little bugs squashed. More documentation added (ha!). Fixed bug with 3b2 UUCP connections (thanks erd!). Added UUX command. -=- Changes over AmigaUUCP BETA 0.30 Added UULog command. Added Man command (and manual entries). Added Tar command. Added Blitz, AVI, and More. More documentation added to this file. Documentation added in the ReadMe directory. UseNet Beta 0.10 files have been included. -=- Programs still needed: uusnap, uucpanz, uuclean, and a news reader (rn or vn maybe ?). * If you want to discuss the changes needed to UnBatcher for use with a News reader, or the codeing of a News reader please contact Sneakers. -=- Known bugs: Pnews E & M will save a copy of any outgoing message in the UUCP:mail/news directory under the file name listed on the "NewsGroup(s):" line. The bug is that Pnews does not break up messages that are cross posted. So if you were to enter a line like this "NewsGroup(s): pa.test,news.test", it would be saved as UUCP:mail/news/pa.test,news.test and not where it belongs. This will be fixed in the next release. (Sneakers ran out of time for this release.) -=- I (William Loftus) would really like to know the following information if you use AmigaUUCP: 1) What modem are you using, and what changes (if any) to the modem.c file did you make. 2) What version of UUCP has AmigaUUCP talked to correctly? (i.e., what are you using AmigaUUCP with?) 3) What Amiga configuration are you using? 4) Any bugs. And I (Dan "Sneakers" Schein) would like to know the following information if you use UseNet: 1) Any bugs. 2) Any changes/improvements you make so they can be considered for the next release of AmigaUUCP & UseNet 3) What Amiga configuration are you using? ----<Cut Here - ReadMe>---- Dan "Sneakers" Schein {alegra|amiga|rutgers|uunet}!cbmvax!heimat!sneakers Sneakers Computing 2455 McKinley Ave West Lawn PA 19609 Call: BERKS AMIGA BBS 24 Hrs - 3/12/2400 Baud Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed are 40 Meg -=- 215/678-7691 those of Sneakers Computing Of course heimat is an Amiga, doesn't everyone run UUCP & UseNet on an Amiga?