This is the README file for version 1.07 of the Taylor UUCP package.
It was written by Ian Lance Taylor. I can be reached at ian@airs.com.
There is a mailing list for discussion of the package. The list is
hosted by Eric Schnoebelen at cirr.com. To join (or get off) the
list, send mail to taylor-uucp-request@gnu.org. Mail to this address
is answered by the majordomo program. To join the list, send the
message ``subscribe ADDRESS'' where ADDRESS is your e-mail address.
To send a message to the list, send it to taylor-uucp@gnu.org. There
is an archive of all messages sent to the mailing list at
http://lists.cirr.com.
This package is covered by the Gnu Public License. See the file
COPYING for details. If you would like to do something with this
package that you feel is reasonable but you feel is prohibited by the
license, contact me to see if we can work it out.
The most recent version may be obtained from any Gnu archive site.
The canonical site is prep.ai.mit.edu. There are many mirror sites,
including ftp.uu.net and wuarchive.wustl.edu.
WHAT IT IS
This is the complete source code for a Unix UUCP package. It provides
everything you need to make a UUCP connection. It includes versions
of uucico, uusched, uuxqt, uux, uucp, uustat, uulog, uuname, uuto,
uupick, and cu, as well as uuchk (a program to check configuration
files), uuconv (a program to convert from one type of configuration
file to another) and tstuu (a test harness for the package).
This is the standard UUCP package of the Free Software Foundation.
The package currently supports the 'f', 'g' (in all window and packet
sizes), 'G', 't' and 'e' protocols, as well a Zmodem protocol, the FX
UUCICO 'y' protocol, and two new bidirectional protocols. If you have
a Berkeley sockets library, it can make TCP connections. If you have
TLI libraries, it can make TLI connections. It supports a new
configuration file mechanism which I like (but other people dislike).
The package has a few advantages over regular UUCP:
You get the source code.
It uses significantly less CPU time than many UUCP packages.
You can specify a chat script to run when a system calls in,
allowing adjustment of modem parameters on a per system basis.
You can specify failure strings for chat scripts, allowing the
chat script to fail immediately if the modem returns ``BUSY''.
If you are talking to another instance of the package, you can use
the new bidirectional protocol for rapid data transfer in both
directions at once. You can also restrict file transfers by size
based on the time of day and who placed the call.
On the other hand:
It only runs on Unix. The code is carefully divided into system
dependent and system independent portions, so it should be
possible to port it to other systems. It would not be trivial.
You don't get uuclean, uusend, uuq, uusnap, uumonitor, uutry,
uupoll, etc. If you have current copies of these programs, you
may be able to use them. Shell scripts versions of uuclean and
uutry are provided, with most, if not all, of the functionality of
the usual programs. I believe the supplied uustat program allows
you to do everything that uuq, uusnap and uumonitor do. uupoll
could be written as a shell script.
The package does not read modemcap or acucap files, although you
can use V2 configuration files with a BNU Dialers file or a dialer
file written in my new configuration file format.
The package cannot use SCO dialer programs directly, although it
can with a simple shell script interface.
If you start using this package, I suggest that you join the mailing
list (see above) to keep up to date on patches and new versions. I am
also open to suggestions for improvements and modifications.
DOCUMENTATION
The documentation is in the file uucp.texi, which is a Texinfo file.
Texinfo is a format used by the Free Software Foundation. You can
print the documentation using TeX in combination with the file
texinfo.tex.
See the TODO file for things which should be done. Please feel free
to do them, although you may want to check with me first. Send me
suggestions for new things to do.
The compilation instructions are in uucp.texi. Here is a summary.
Type ``sh configure''. You can pass a number of arguments in the
environment (using bash or sh, enter something like ``CC=gcc
configure''; using csh, enter something like ``setenv CC gcc; sh
configure''):
CC: C compiler to use; default is gcc if it exists, else cc
CFLAGS: Flags to pass to $CC when compiling; default -g
LDFLAGS: Flags to pass to $CC when only linking; default none
LIBS: Library arguments to pass to $CC; default none
INSTALL: Install program; default install -c or cp
The configure script will compile a number of test programs to see
what is available on your system, so if your system is at all
unusual you will need to pass in $CC and $LIBS correctly. You can
also pass other arguments on the command line. Use configure
--help for a complete list. Of particular interest:
--prefix=DIRNAME
The directory under which all files are installed.
Default /usr/local.
--with-newconfigdir=DIRNAME
The directory in which to find new style configuration
files. Default PREFIX/conf/uucp.
--with-oldconfigdir=DIRNAME
The directory in which to find old style configuration
files. Default /usr/lib/uucp
The configure script will create config.h from config.h.in and
Makefile from Makefile.in. It will also create config.status,
which is a shell script which actually creates the files. Please
report any configuration problems, so that they can be fixed in
later versions.
Igor V. Semenyuk provided this (lightly edited) note about ISC
Unix 3.0. The configure script will default to passing -posix to
gcc. However, using -posix changes the environment to POSIX, and
on ISC 3.0, at least, the default for POSIX_NO_TRUNC is 1. This
means nothing for uucp, but can lead to a problem when uuxqt
executes rmail. IDA sendmail has dbm configuration files named
mailertable.{dir,pag}. Notice these names are 15 characters long.
When uuxqt compiled with -posix executes rmail, which in turn
executes sendmail, the later is run under POSIX environment too!
This leads to sendmail bombing out with 'error opening 'M'
database: name too long' (mailertable.dir). It's rather obscure
behaviour, and it took me a day to find out the cause. I don't
use -posix, instead I run gcc with -D_POSIX_SOURCE, and add
-lcposix to LIBS.
On some versions of BSDI there is a bug in the shell which causes
the default value for CFLAGS to be set incorrectly. If ``echo
${CFLAGS--g}'' echoes ``g'' rather than ``-g'', then you must set
CFLAGS in the environment before running configure. There is a
patch available from BSDI for this bug. (Reported by David
Vrona).
On AIX 3.2.5, and possibly other versions, cc -E does not work,
reporting ``Option NOROCONST is not valid.'' Test this before
running configure by doing something like
touch /tmp/foo.c
cc -E /tmp/foo.c
This may give a warning about the file being empty, but it should
not give the ``Option NOROCONST'' warning. The workaround is to
remove the ",noroconst" entry from the "options" clause in the
"cc" stanza in /etc/xlc.cfg. (Reported by Chris Lewis).
Examine config.h and Makefile to make sure they're right.
Edit policy.h for your local system.
Type ``make''.
Use ``uuchk'' to check configuration files. You can use
``uuconv'' to convert between configuration file formats.
Type ``make install'' to install. Note that by default the
programs are compiled with debugging information, and they are not
stripped when they are installed. Read the man page for strip for
more information.
On older System V based systems which do not have the setreuid
system call, problems may arise if ordinary users can start an
execution of uuxqt, perhaps indirectly via uucp or uux. UUCP jobs
may wind up executing with a real user ID of the user who invoked
uuxqt, which can cause problems if the UUCP job checks the real
user ID for security purposes. On such systems, it is safest to
put ``run-uuxqt never'' in the `config' file, so that uucico never
starts uuxqt, and invoke uuxqt directly from cron.