[1527] in linux-announce channel archive
BBS-Util 1.0 Released
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Lars Wirzenius)
Sat Jan 13 17:45:12 1996
Date: Sun, 7 Jan 1996 21:17:31 +0200
From: Lars Wirzenius <wirzeniu@cc.helsinki.fi>
To: linux-announce@vger.rutgers.edu
From: amm130@alf.usask.ca (Adam McKee)
Subject: BBS-Util 1.0 Released
Organization: University of Saskatchewan
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.announce
Approved: linux-announce@news.ornl.gov (Lars Wirzenius)
Followup-to: comp.os.linux.development.apps
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As of sometime today, you should be able to get the latest-and-greatest
version of BBS-Util in sunsite's Incoming directory. This version of the
package implements a few suggestions made by users of 0.9, and includes a
few minor internal cleanups. The code is pretty simple, but it is possible
I broke something when I was "cleaning it up". If I did break something,
let me know and it'll be fixed right away.
I'll save myself some typing, and just include the README:
BBS-Util v1.0 for Linux
by Adam McKee
BBS-Util is a package designed to solve the basic problems associated with
administrating a BBS on a Linux system. The functionality provided by the
package is as follows:
- account management
- enforcing time limits
- subscriptions (temporarily increased time limit)
- providing account status information to root and users
BBS-Util will _seldom_ offer a complete solution. It is designed only to meet
your _administrative_ needs. You'll probably want to look into using lynx or
something else as an interface for users who are not comfortable with the
shell.
Here is a quick summary of each utility:
- --- Programs Used by Users ----------------------------------------------------
timeleft:
Tells users how much time they have left before they will be
booted from the system (i.e. all their processes killed with
extreme prejudice ;-).
daysleft:
Tells users how many days they have left before their account
expires. Upon expiration, an account may be either deleted or
unsubscribed. (see user_renew, user_subscribe, user_unsubscribe)
- --- Programs Used by Administrator --------------------------------------------
user_add <login>:
This is just a shell script that calls system-native programs to
set up an account, then calls user_addrec to create a record in the
BBS user database.
user_addrec <login> <days> <mins>:
Creates a record in the BBS user database. <days> specifies the
# of days the account should be allowed to exist (0 -> forever),
and <mins> is the # of mins/day the user should get. You shouldn't
run this directly unless you know what you are doing.
user_del <login>:
A shell script that calls a system-native program to delete a user
account, then calls user_delrec to remove the corresponding record
in the BBS user database.
user_delrec <login>:
Deletes a record from the BBS user database. This is normally
run from user_del, and you shouldn't run it directly unless you
know what you're doing.
user_data <login>:
Shows BBS user record in a readable format.
user_kick <login>:
Give a user the boot (i.e. kill all of their processes).
user_purge <days>:
Remove accounts which have not been used in a certain # of days.
The <days> argument must be > 14, or the program will terminate
with an error message.
user_renew:
At midnight (or some other time), it is necessary to renew each users's
time. This is done by simply calling user_renew from root's crontab:
0 0 * * * /usr/local/bin/user_renew
user_renew also takes care of expired accounts and subscriptions.
user_subscribe <login> <days> <minutes>:
Give a user <login> <mins> minutes / day for the next <days> days.
For example, you could specify that you want user "smith" to be given
90 minutes / day for the next month, and his present time limit would
be restored automatically at the end of the month. user_subscribe
records certain fields in the user's BBS record, so that they can be
restored later by user_unsubscribe. (see user_unsubscribe)
user_sync:
Used to synchronize the BBS user file with the password file. Any
records with a uid field that is NOT associated with a login name in
/etc/passwd are deleted. Also, duplicated accounts (which, of course,
shouldn't exist in the first place) are taken care of. user_sync
should be run periodically just for the fun of it.
user_time <login> <days> <minutes>:
Directly change the expiry date and daily time limit of a user. A
<days> argument of 0 means that there will be *no* expiry date for
the user.
user_touch:
Modify a user's "last online" field to equal the current date. This
is useful if you want to exempt certain users from the effects of
user_purge. (see user_purge)
user_unsubscribe <login>:
Terminate a users's subscription. This is normally called from
user_expire, but can be run directly. Terminating a subscription is
simply a matter of restoring a user's daily time limit and expiry
date to their values before the subscription was given.
user_updated:
user_updated is a daemon that comes alive every 60 seconds and
does the following routine:
For any users currently logged in:
- update their "time left" field (i.e. subtract 1 from it)
- update their "last time online" field, so that user_purge can
use this information.
- if they have used up all of their time, give 'em the *boot*.
If "guest" is not logged in, refresh his time limit. The number of
minutes to give the guest user is defined in user_updated.c
You'll probably want to have user_updated started automatically from
one of your system's init scripts.
- --- Installation Instructions -------------------------------------------------
To install BBS-Util:
- run "make install"
- edit "user_add", and "user_del" as required
- make addition to root's crontab as outlined above
You should also implement a check in /etc/profile and /etc/csh.login (and
whatever other shell startup files...) to ensure that only users who actually
have some time left are allowed to get an interactive session. It is also
a good idea to make sure that only 1 guest user can be logged in at once.
Here are examples for /etc/profile and /etc/csh.login:
- --- /etc/profile: ----------------------------------------
TLEFT=`timeleft | cut -d " " -f 1`
if [ "$TLEFT" = "0" ]; then
echo
echo No time left...
sleep 2
logout
fi
if [ "$LOGNAME" = "guest" -a "$TLEFT" != "10" ]; then
/bin/echo
/bin/echo There is already one guest user using the system.
/bin/echo
/bin/echo Call back in $TLEFT minute\(s\).
sleep 2
logout
fi
- --- /etc/csh.login: --------------------------------------
set TLEFT = `timeleft | cut -d " " -f 1`
if ( "$TLEFT" == "0" ) then
echo -n \\n
echo No time left...
sleep 2
logout
endif
if ( "$LOGNAME" == "guest" && "$TLEFT" != "10" ) then
/bin/echo
/bin/echo There is already one guest user using the system.
/bin/echo
/bin/echo Call back in $TLEFT minute\(s\).
sleep 2
logout
endif
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bug reports, and ideas for improving BBS-Util will both be appreciated.
Also, feel free to let me know if BBS-Util is working great and serving
you well :-)
- Adam McKee <Adam.McKee@usask.ca>
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