Hello Wes.

30 May 03 10:32, you wrote to all:

 WG> Okay, this message is addressed to all because I'm compacting replies
 WG> to about 75 different messages into one. Holy cow, I can't believe the
 WG> traffic on MUFFIN!



 WG> For all those who told me to use WordStar commands in MaxEd -- it's
 WG> been 10 years since I've used Maximus (actually, maybe 9 -- memory is
 WG> fuzzy) -- and it's definately been more than that since I've used
 WG> WordStar! Once Max is running stably on my platform, I think I'll pop
 WG> emacs in as the "local   editor". :)

Well "joe" is a nice wordstar compatable editor, and
"pico" is also newbie 
friendly, tho "joe" is a better choice as it can be configured
not to shell 
out to the OS. For this reason "joe" is supported in MBSE BBS as
an alternate 
editor.




 WG>  - Starting under inetd -- I don't know if this worthwhile pursuing.
 WG> It    doesn't really gain us much, except for additional access
 WG> control via    xinetd. If we wanted that, we could always use tcp
 WG> wrappers. But why would you want to limit access to your BBS? :)  ..
 WG> the problem with starting under inetd is that Maximus can't tell the
 WG> difference between
 WG> the "local console" and the remote user -- dangerous (not
to mention
 WG> difficult to use -- the remote user has to turn the keyboard on before
 WG> he can login :) .. I tried dup2()ing STD*_FILENO in order to send the
 WG> local console to the bit bucket; no luck. I even tried rewriting
 WG>  stdin->_fileno; no luck there either (not mention the
 WG> enormous portability problem). I suppose we could go through the code
 WG> and disable the local console mode entirely based on command-line
 WG> switches.. but that doesn't really strike me as a productive use of
 WG> development resources.


I suggest you all take a look at the MBSE BBS code, you might find some 
solutions to things that are bothering you here, and talking to Michiel Broek 
the author of MBSE BBS, might give you further ideas/answers.

MBSE is started in the init scripts which are run when the system starts, 
mgetty is used to answer incoming calls, and the mailer is mbcico, which is a 
modified ifcico mailer.

Until recently (lost internet connection) I ran a dial-up modem on ttyS0 and 
a Internet modem on ttys1, no problem using both simultaneously. mbcico on 
the dial-up and built in binkp on the internet connection.



 WG> Bo:
 WG>  - Project goals -- inetd has huge problems as discussed above. Serial
 WG> via some sort of a getty or mailer handoff should be doable;
 WG> native serial DEFINATELY is. As for a telnet-only BBS -- I think that
 WG> would be    stupid. :)

Agreed, telnet only, is limiting, seriously ...

 WG> I also have no intention of adding ftp/gopher/http/finger
 WG> into Maximus, if people want to use that stuff, they should use the
 WG> internet. A BBS should be a BBS, dammit. Doors *out* to the internet
 WG> are fine, but making a BBS look like a mini-internet always struck me
 WG> as being totally counter-productive. :)

Agreed. 

 WG> All:
 WG>  - Scott sent me the wordprocessed version of the Maximus docs, so we
 WG> should be able to update them for use under UNIX.

Good! 

 WG> PS: Do I win the "long FTN message of the week" award?

So far. 

Russell

--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.4.7