[689] in linux-announce channel archive
drealmBBS version 1.0 released
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Lars Wirzenius)
Sun Jun 18 09:34:04 1995
Date: Sun, 18 Jun 1995 15:36:15 +0300
From: Lars Wirzenius <wirzeniu@cc.helsinki.fi>
To: linux-activists@niksula.hut.fi, linux-announce@vger.rutgers.edu
X-Mn-Key: announce
From: Peter Jones <thanatos@drealm.org>
Subject: drealmBBS version 1.0 released
Followup-To: alt.bbs.drealmbbs
Summary: Release notice for version 1.0 of drealmbbs
Keywords: drealmbbs bbs
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.announce
Organization: ?
Approved: linux-announce@news.ornl.gov (Lars Wirzenius)
drealmBBS 1.0 is now available.
The contents of this notice are:
--------------------------------
Packages and files
Where to get them
Overview
Changes from 0.8 to 1.0
Packages and files:
-------------------
dlmlx_10.tgz Linux binaries and docs
dlmsrc10.tgz Sources and docs
drealm10.txt An overview (probably this file)
patch10.gz Patches from 0.8 to 1.0
patch08.gz Patches from 0.7 to 0.8
patch07.gz Patches from 0.6 to 0.7
The Linux source build supported is:
* GNU 'make' and 'gcc' 2.5.8
The executables were developed on kernel 1.2.9 and libc 4.5.26.
This is a full source code release under the GNU General Public License.
The only supported platform is Linux 1.2.9. However, up to release 0.8,
System V Release 4.2 was supported. The source code should still compile
with minor changes. Indeed, the source is intended to be fairly portable.
Where to get them:
------------------
* drealm BBS +44 (0)181 568 4316, in the drealmbbs file area
* The Purple Tentacle BBS +44 (0)173 426 6974, in the Unix and/or Linux
areas
* Compulink Information Exchange, in the free_software/sources topic
* ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/unix/drealm/
* ftp://tsx-11.mit.edu/pub/linux/packages/drealmbbs/
In the same locations are the Linux Software Map entries. There is an
IAFA-PACKAGE file in the archives.
Overview
--------
A multi-user BBS system for Linux (and other unix systems).
drealmBBS runs a separate process for each node, and finds out about other
nodes by interrogating certain files on disk and via IPC. It needs under
1Mb virtual memory per user.
All data is produced and stored as plain ASCII so it can be accessed by any
other application.
It is highly configurable. All menu options can have access controlled by
user level, user flags, area flags, and min/max times of day.
You may offer your callers any of eight external file transfer protocols,
any three editors and any three display programs. We have included our own
line editor (isle) and our own display program (pager) which are both
absolutely free of shell escapes and command access.
Each BBS user has his/her own account in the passwd file, but may of course
run drealmBBS as his shell for security. Security is also aided by
reverting user to login permissions when using external file transfer
protocols, editors or file viewers - and other external programs optionally.
Facilities include:
1) Private inter-user mail, with interface to unix mail. A quota of
external mail can be set per person, and mail can be made available only to
users over a certain level or with a certain flag set.
2) Message areas (forums). Public messages are grouped into areas.
Messages in an area are posted without naming a recipient and can be read by
anyone with access to that area. Areas can be open or private, read only or
read/write, or moderated. Each area may have an individual usermask, which
represents the flag settings of the users who may access it. An area may
also be restricted to people over a certain security level. In the case of
a 'private' area, access is restricted to only people who are specifically
named.
Messages are linked as threads, and may be read threadwise, numerically, or
by 'reference' (i.e. always reading down through replies first). Messages
may be unlinked, relinked in a different way, and copied to other message
areas. Whole threads or branches may be copied to other areas, retaining
their relationships.
3) File up/downloads. Functions to descend through directories and
re-ascend. File descriptions are held. Files may be posted between
individual users. No internal protocols are provided but you can use any
which are available on your system. Rename, delete, edit, view files.
Searches recursively from any named parent directory on filenames or file
descriptions.
4) Chat. Realtime chat on a message by message basis via named pipes (or
sockets). Users can chat and listen whilst doing other things. Users can
select chat reception on or off. Menus may disable or enable chat at any
point. Chat can be to anyone listening, or a private message to named
person.
5) Timing. Session timers can be set on, off, or paused.
6) User defaults. An extensive range of user default choices including
inactivity timeout, hotkey mode, chat message colours. Also interface
with terminfo to allow user to choose his best terminal type for use
with external programs.
7) Run Unix commands or 'doors' either with BBS permissions or with
login permissions, as required for access and security.
All above are under total control of configuration files and the
semi-programmable menus. Each line of each menu can be made available
only at certain times, or only to people with a certain flag set or
security level.
The nodes themselves may be configured to only accept callers
fulfilling certain criteria.
There is a complete, detailed manual accompanying the package.
Changes from 0.8 to 1.0
-----------------------
Removed a line of debugging code from timer.c
Added a pause in timer.c and chatout.c to avoid getting EAGAIN on fast
Linux machines.
Elapsed time now calculated in GMT not local timezone...
Altered a test which resulted in chairmen being told they had to be a
chairman in order to delete threads!
Changed set_my_address/phone/dob/name to prompt more helpfully, and not give
error messages when they are being set for the first time.
Added menu actions download_ub and download_special_ub which are versions of
download and download_special which do not write files to be downloaded into
a safe directory first. Maybe slightly less secure *in some circumstances*
but can speed up the downloading process. Experiment for preference.
Changed "dlt" function to insert a single word timezone. An expedient for
systems with no timezone set or with a multi-word time zone. Previously
discrepancies here would mess up message headers.
Can use TERMCAP rather than TERMINFO. drealmBBS works best with
ncurses-1.9.0c or later, as the TERMINFO support in that package is good.
In private mail, changed mark unread to never touch outgoing copies.
Fixed return codes from check_unix_mail so it returns Fail if there is no
further new mail since last check.
Changed mail_store which was on occasion trying to deal with an undefined
array and crashing the application!
drealm now looks for .plan and .sig in privatefiles directory rather than
home. If this is the same thing on your system then so be it, no problem.
Amalgamated flag variable table with integer table. Will not make any
functional difference.
pager, displaymsg and displaymail have altered. displaymail always
paginates messages. displaymsg always paginates messages unless flagged as
ANSI, in which case they never paginate. pager always paginates messages
unless screen length is 0 (LINES environment variable) or the first byte of
the file is ESC (dec 27), on the assumption that this is a pretty ANSI
picture that is going to clear the screen to start with. This algorithm
appears to work (otherwise it would be an heuristic...).
Fixed bug in place_lock. When trying to burst a lock, it assumed that the
"remove" of the old lock worked, causing a loop if it didn't. This was
the case with the sticky bit ('t') set on /tmp. Code now gives up
gracefully. We recommend you have a /drealm/tmp directory _without_ the
sticky bit set.
Played around with drealm_getchar and (I think) fixed a niggle with dropped
characters and chat.
In the mini-menus for setting editor or display program, attempts to choose
a number not on the menu would often crash the application. There is now
some arbitrary input checking.
Made sure no debugging code left in anywhere.
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