UUPC/extended version 1.13j
Installation and User Reference
September 13, 2003
Kendra
Electronic Wonderworks
Post Office Box 80144
Stoneham, MA 02180-0002 USA
Telephone: 781-279-9812
E-mail: help@kew.com
URL: http://www.kew.com
UUPC/extended version 1.13j
Installation and User Reference
September 13, 2003
Kendra
Electronic Wonderworks
Post Office Box 80144
Stoneham, MA 02180-0002 USA
Telephone: 781-279-9812
E-mail: help@kew.com
URL: http://www.kew.com
This document is Copyright © 1989-2001 by Kendra Electronic Wonderworks. All rights reserved. Please see our license agreement on page ix for restrictions on further distribution.
The UUPC/extended software is Changes and Compilation Copyright © 1989-2001 by Kendra Electronic Wonderworks, and also subject to our license agreement on page ix.
Table of Contents............................................................................................................... i
Tables............................................................................................................................... vii
Licensing, Redistribution, and Warranty....................................................................... ix
Terms and Conditions for Copying, Distribution, and Modification.......................... ix
NO WARRANTY............................................................................................................ xi
Revision.......................................................................................................................... xiii
Viewing this document.................................................................................................. xiii
Viewing on a Terminal............................................................................................. xiii
Viewing on a Under Windows................................................................................... xiii
Viewing using a Web Browser.................................................................................. xiii
Special Note for the 1.12u Edition............................................................................... xiii
Part 1: General Information............................................................................................. 1
Introduction.................................................................................................................. 1
Version Numbers............................................................................................. 1
Who Should Use This Program.................................................................................... 2
System Requirements................................................................................................. 3
Required Reading......................................................................................................... 3
Resolving Problems and Other Support....................................................................... 3
Registering for Support.................................................................................... 3
Support Via Electronic Mail............................................................................. 4
Support Via US Mail......................................................................................... 4
Support via Telephone..................................................................................... 5
Support via Mailing Lists................................................................................. 5
Frequently Asked Questions (and Answers)................................................................ 6
Part 2: Basic UUCP Installation..................................................................................... 11
New UUPC/extended Installations............................................................................ 11
Ingredients..................................................................................................... 11
Before You Begin Installing........................................................................... 13
Copying UUPC/extended files onto your system.......................................... 14
Configuring After Installation....................................................................... 16
Testing........................................................................................................... 23
All Dressed Up and No Where to Go?............................................................. 25
Upgrading an Existing Installation............................................................................ 25
Configuring Usenet News Support............................................................................ 26
Selecting a news reader................................................................................ 27
Arranging a News feed................................................................................... 27
Configuring for News..................................................................................... 27
Permissions (PERMISSN) Files.................................................................................. 29
Part 3: Advanced Mail Installation and Configuration............................................... 31
Changing How Mail is Addressed and Delivered Locally.......................................... 31
An Overview of RMAIL..................................................................................... 31
Using Nickname Files, Alias Files, Forward Files, and the HOSTPATH file 32
Implicit Nickname Processing, (or, What Your Bear Never Told You about Aliases) 33
Controlling Mail Routing for Entire Systems and Subdomains................................ 33
Overview of Mail Routing............................................................................... 33
Routing Mail Via Non-Default Mail Servers.................................................. 34
Routing Mail for SMTP Delivery.................................................................... 34
Keeping Local Mail on the Local System....................................................... 34
Aliasing Systems Via The HOSTPATH File................................................... 35
The Ever So English Sport of Site Hiding...................................................... 35
UUPC/extended as a Mail Gateway............................................................... 36
UUPC/extended and Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP)................................... 37
Receiving Mail via the UUSMTPD Server...................................................... 37
UUPC/extended and POP3 clients............................................................................. 38
UUPC/extended in Multi-tasking and Multi-user Environments............................ 38
Using UUPC/extended Under Windows 3.x................................................... 38
Using UUPC/extended Under OS/2, Windows 95, and Windows NT............ 40
Using UUPC/extended On a LAN................................................................... 40
Configuring Universal Naming Convention (UNC) Names...................................... 41
Specialized Communications Drivers....................................................................... 41
Drivers Available Under Different Environments......................................... 41
Using with TCP/IP based hosts..................................................................... 42
Using FOSSIL communications drivers with UUPC/extended.................... 43
General Advice on Multitasking Environments....................................................... 45
Passive Polling: Letting Other Systems Call You...................................................... 45
Modifying your SYSTEMS, PASSWD, and PERMISSN files............................ 46
Test your machine's new configuration....................................................... 47
Test having their machine call yours........................................................... 47
Interfacing With Other Programs.............................................................................. 47
Types of Support............................................................................................. 47
Using V-mail and Other Third Party Mailers................................................ 48
Invoking uucico From External Programs................................................... 49
Having uucico Invoke External Programs.................................................... 49
Part 4: Command Reference........................................................................................... 51
Overview..................................................................................................................... 51
Command Syntax....................................................................................................... 51
COMM34...................................................................................................................... 52
EXPIRE........................................................................................................................ 53
FMT............................................................................................................................. 54
FROMWHO.................................................................................................................. 56
GENHIST...................................................................................................................... 57
GENSIG....................................................................................................................... 58
GETUUPC.................................................................................................................... 59
INEWS......................................................................................................................... 60
MAIL............................................................................................................................ 61
MAILCHEK................................................................................................................... 68
NEWSRUN................................................................................................................... 69
NOVRSTRK.................................................................................................................. 71
PNEWS........................................................................................................................ 72
REGSETUP.................................................................................................................. 73
RMAIL.......................................................................................................................... 75
RNEWS........................................................................................................................ 78
SENDBATS.................................................................................................................. 80
SU............................................................................................................................... 81
uucico........................................................................................................................ 82
uucicon..................................................................................................................... 87
UUCLEAN..................................................................................................................... 88
UUIO............................................................................................................................ 89
UUCP........................................................................................................................... 90
UUCPD......................................................................................................................... 92
UUHOUR...................................................................................................................... 93
UUNAME...................................................................................................................... 94
uupoll....................................................................................................................... 95
UUPOPD...................................................................................................................... 98
UUPORT..................................................................................................................... 100
UUSMTPD.................................................................................................................. 102
UUSTAT..................................................................................................................... 104
UUSUB....................................................................................................................... 107
UUTRAF..................................................................................................................... 108
uux............................................................................................................................ 110
uuxqt....................................................................................................................... 112
WAITING.................................................................................................................... 113
Part 5: Configuration Files........................................................................................... 115
Overview................................................................................................................... 115
The UUPC.RC and [userid].RC files.......................................................................... 115
Introduction.................................................................................................. 115
Keywords Valid in Individual or System Configuration Files..................... 116
Keywords Valid Only in System Configuration Files.................................. 119
Boolean Options Valid in Either UUPC.RC or [userid].RC............................ 122
Modem ([modem].MDM) Files..................................................................................... 128
Introduction.................................................................................................. 128
Modem File Guidelines................................................................................ 128
Valid Fields in Modem Files......................................................................... 129
Boolean Options In Modem Files................................................................. 133
Supplied Modem files................................................................................... 134
The PASSWD file...................................................................................................... 136
The SYSTEMS file.................................................................................................... 137
Introduction.................................................................................................. 137
Time............................................................................................................. 138
Call grades.................................................................................................... 140
Protocols....................................................................................................... 140
Scripts.......................................................................................................... 142
The Fine Art of Chat Scripts........................................................................ 143
Multiple entries in the SYSTEMS file......................................................... 145
System Mail ALIASES File....................................................................................... 146
User Mail FORWARD File......................................................................................... 148
User Mail Nickname File........................................................................................ 148
HOSTPATH routing file............................................................................................ 151
Synopsis....................................................................................................... 151
Description................................................................................................... 151
usenet News ACTIVE Groups File........................................................................... 153
Format.......................................................................................................... 153
Special News Groups.................................................................................... 153
Other Considerations.................................................................................. 154
Usenet news SYS (neighbours) file......................................................................... 155
Appendix 1: Additional Copyrights and Related Credits........................................... 161
Appendix 2: Working With UUPC/extended Source.................................................. 163
Appendix 3: How UUCP File Transfers Work............................................................... 165
Overview................................................................................................................... 165
What’s in a Name?................................................................................................... 165
Files in the UUCP spool directory............................................................................ 165
Basic UUCP Processing............................................................................................ 166
Sample UUCP Job..................................................................................................... 167
Appendix 4: How to Get UUPC/extended..................................................................... 168
Introduction.............................................................................................................. 168
Supported Methods....................................................................................... 168
Obsolete Methods......................................................................................... 168
Sources for UUPC/extended.................................................................................... 168
Anonymous FTP........................................................................................... 168
World Wide Web............................................................................................ 168
Anonymous UUCP......................................................................................... 168
Registering Your Current Copy............................................................................... 169
About the Files......................................................................................................... 169
General Description of the Files................................................................. 169
Summary of Archive Contents.................................................................... 171
Other Trivia............................................................................................................. 172
Questions and Comments........................................................................... 172
Appendix 5: How to Register......................................................................................... 173
Why You Should Register......................................................................................... 173
And as an Added Bonus............................................................................................ 174
Disclaimer of Warranty............................................................................................ 174
Instructions.............................................................................................................. 175
The Form.................................................................................................................. 176
User Information.......................................................................................... 176
System Information..................................................................................... 176
Items Ordered.............................................................................................. 179
Appendix 6: Changes From Previous Versions........................................................... 180
Introduction.............................................................................................................. 180
Version 1.13f – 1.13j Revision Summary................................................................ 180
Bug Fixes...................................................................................................... 180
Enhancements............................................................................................. 180
Version 1.13e Revision Summary........................................................................... 181
Bug Fixes...................................................................................................... 181
Version 1.13d Revision Summary........................................................................... 181
Bug Fixes...................................................................................................... 181
Enhancements............................................................................................. 182
Version 1.13c Revision Summary........................................................................... 182
Bug Fixes...................................................................................................... 182
Enhancements............................................................................................. 182
Version 1.13b Revision Summary........................................................................... 183
Bug Fixes...................................................................................................... 183
Enhancements............................................................................................. 183
Version 1.12w - Version 1.13a Revision Summary................................................ 184
Bug Fixes...................................................................................................... 184
Enhancements............................................................................................. 185
Version 1.12v - Version 1.12w Revision Summary................................................ 185
Bug Fixes...................................................................................................... 185
Enhancements............................................................................................. 186
Version 1.12t - Version 1.12u Revision Summary................................................. 186
Bug Fixes...................................................................................................... 186
Enhancements............................................................................................. 188
Version 1.12s Revision Summary........................................................................... 189
Bug Fixes...................................................................................................... 189
Enhancements............................................................................................. 190
Version 1.12r Revision Summary........................................................................... 192
Bug Fixes...................................................................................................... 192
Enhancements............................................................................................. 193
Version 1.12p Revision Summary........................................................................... 193
Bug Fixes...................................................................................................... 193
Version 1.12o Revision Summary........................................................................... 194
Enhancements............................................................................................. 194
Bug fixes....................................................................................................... 194
Other Changes............................................................................................. 196
Version 1.12j Through Version 1.12n Revision Summary..................................... 196
Enhancements............................................................................................. 196
Bug fixes....................................................................................................... 198
Other changes.............................................................................................. 200
Versions 1.12h through 1.12i Revision Summary................................................. 200
Enhancements............................................................................................. 200
Bug Fixes...................................................................................................... 201
Versions 1.12c through 1.12g Revision Summary................................................. 202
Bug Fixes...................................................................................................... 202
Enhancements and Other Hacks................................................................ 205
Index............................................................................................................................... 207
Table 1 - Archive Files Needed for Various Operating Systems 15
Table 2 - Files to Update for Basic Installation 16
Table 3 - Minimum Fields to Update in UUPC.RC for New Installation 18
Table 4 - Minimum [userid].RC fields to Update for New Installation 19
Table 5 - Contents of a Simple SYSTEMS File 20
Table 6 - Sample Time Zone (TZ) Environment Variable Values 22
Table 7 - Substitution Parameters Allowed in Shell Field of PASSWD File 49
Table 8 - Valid message Operands for MAIL Subcommands 62
Table 9 - Valid filename Operands for MAIL subcommands 63
Table 10 - Valid address operands for MAIL subcommands 63
Table 11 - Mail subcommand summary 64
Table 12 - Subcommands Available While Sending Mail 66
Table 13 - User/System Configuration Keywords 117
Table 14 - System Wide Configuration Keywords 119
Table 15 - Boolean Options Valid in User/System Configuration Files 122
Table 16 - Boolean options valid in System Wide Configuration Files 125
Table 17 - Modem File Configuration Keywords 129
Table 18 - Boolean options valid in Modem files 133
Table 19 - Modem Files Included 134
Table 20 - Fields in the PASSWD File 136
Table 21 - Description of the fields in the SYSTEMS File 137
Table 22 - Values Allowed for Time field in SYSTEMS File 139
Table 23 - Protocols Supported in Systems File 140
Table 24 - Strings Supported in Chat Scripts 143
Table 25 - Processing Flags Specified in Usenet SYS file 157
Table 26 - Compilers Used to Build UUPC/extended 163
Table 27 - Manifest of UUPC/extended Files Available for Download 170
Table 28 - Supported Substitution Parameters 205
"If you feed [UUPC for the Mac] after midnight, and it gets nasty and shreds your living room furniture, that's your problem, not mine. ;-)"
-- Dave Platt
"UUPC/extended", below, refers to the entire UUPC/extended package, as distributed by Kendra Electronic Wonderworks. A "work based on UUPC/extended" means either UUPC/extended or any derivative work under copyright law: that is to say, a work containing UUPC/extended or a portion of it, either verbatim or with modifications and/or translated into another language. (Translation is included without limitation in the term "modification".) Each licensee is addressed as "you".
Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not covered by this License; they are outside its scope. UUPC/extended may be installed and run on as many systems as desired without restriction.
1. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of UUPC/extended's source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any warranty; and give any other recipients of UUPC/extended a copy of this License along with UUPC/extended[ahd1].
a) You may not distribute versions of UUPC/extended that you know to be obsolete. You are specifically prohibited from knowingly distributing obsolete versions of UUPC/extended in order to support third party programs.
b) You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee.
c) If you publish UUPC/extended as part of a larger collection, compilation, or product, including but not limited to inclusion in a book as bonus software or as part of a CD-ROM collection, you agree to provide Kendra Electronic Wonderworks with two copies of each edition of the compilation free of charge for our review and use. Such copies are to be delivered to our address of record via US Mail.
We may waive our right to receive a particular edition, collection, or product without surrendering future rights to the same or other collections in which UUPC/extended is included.
2. You may modify your copy or copies of UUPC/extended, or any portion thereof, thus forming a work based on UUPC/extended, and copy and distribute such modifications or works under the terms of Section 1 above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:
a) The modified files must carry prominent notices stating that you changed the files and the date of any change.
b) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in whole or in part contains or is derived from UUPC/extended or any part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third parties under the terms of this License.
c) You may not make malicious changes to UUPC/extended. You may not insert computer viruses, worms, or other code intended to damage or disrupt the end user's system and/or data.
d) You may not cripple UUPC/extended's functionality in any way. In particular, you may not make continued use of UUPC/extended contingent on payment of a registration fee.
This does not preclude you from charging for services such as access to your own system running UUPC/extended or other mail software, but merely prevents you from charging a premium for providing the UUPC/extended software to others.
These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If identifiable sections of that work are not derived from UUPC/extended, and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those sections. Specifically, unique works may interface to UUPC/extended via configuration, spooling, or other files using routines based on UUPC/extended source code without falling under the scope of this License.
It is not the intent of this section to claim rights or contest your rights to work written entirely by you; rather, the intent is to exercise the right to control the distribution of derivative or collective works based on UUPC/extended.
3. You may copy and distribute UUPC/extended (or a work based on it, under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:
a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,
b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,
c) Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer to distribute corresponding source code. (This alternative is allowed only for non-commercial distribution and only if you received UUPC/extended in object code or executable form with such an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.)
d) Distribution of multiple copies of the object code within a single legal organization is specifically exempted from this section.
The complete UUPC/extended source code means all the source code for all modules UUPC/extended contains plus the scripts used to control compilation and installation of the executable. However, UUPC/extended source code does not include any components of either the operating system under which UUPC/extended runs or the compiler and runtime libraries used to construct the executable.
4. Hardcopy distribution of the documentation for this program, including this Installation and User Reference, is restricted.
a) You may distribute this Installation and User Reference, in its raw or formatted form, in softcopy format with or without any source and object files, so long as you fulfill the requirements of the remainder of this license.
b) You may print as many copies of this document as needed for your own use.
c) You are prohibited from commercially publishing this document in hardcopy for third parties without the express written consent of Kendra Electronic Wonderworks, with the exception of this license and the appendixes.
This license and the appendixes may be distributed in hardcopy without restriction so long as the other conditions of this license are met.
5. You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute UUPC/extended except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute UUPC/extended is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License. However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance.
6. You are not required to accept this License, since you have not signed it. However, nothing else grants you permission to modify or distribute UUPC/extended or its derivative works. These actions are prohibited by law if you do not accept this License. Therefore, by modifying or distributing UUPC/extended (or any work based on UUPC/extended), you indicate your acceptance of this License to do so, and all its terms and conditions for copying, distributing or modifying UUPC/extended or works based on it.
7. Each time you redistribute UUPC/extended (or any work based on UUPC/extended), the recipient automatically receives a license from the original licenser to copy, distribute or modify UUPC/extended subject to these terms and conditions. You may not impose any further restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein. You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to this License.
General
8. Because UUPC/extended is licensed free of charge, there is no warranty for UUPC/extended, to the extent permitted by applicable law. Except when otherwise stated in writing, the copyright holders and/or other parties provide UUPC/extended "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of UUPC/extended is with you. Should UUPC/extended prove defective, you assume the cost of all necessary servicing, repair or correction.
9. In no event unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing will any copyright holder, or any other party who may modify and/or redistribute UUPC/extended as permitted above, be liable to you for damages, including any general, special, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use UUPC/extended (including but not limited to loss of data or data being rendered inaccurate or losses sustained by you or third parties or a failure of UUPC/extended to operate with any other programs), even if such holder or other party has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
High Risk Activities (in Case You Didn’t Get it the First Time)
10. UUPC/extended is not fault-tolerant and is not designed, manufactured or intended for use or resale as on-line control equipment in hazardous environments requiring fail-safe performance, including but not limited to the operation of nuclear facilities, aircraft navigation or communication systems, air traffic control, direct life support machines, or weapons systems, in which the failure of the software could lead directly to death, personal injury, or severe physical or environmental damage ("High Risk Activities"). Kendra Electronic Wonderworks and other contributors to UUPC/extended specifically disclaim any express or implied warranty of fitness for High Risk Activities.
This is the 2nd revision of this document, and applies to UUPC/extended version 1.13j. This document was last updated on September 13, 2003 by Andrew H. Derbyshire. Even if you have read previous versions of this document, Required Reading on page 3 and Changes From Previous Versions on page 180 should be reviewed for updates.
This document includes overstrikes for printing on a printer. To read this document on-line, extract the program NOVRSTRK from the UUPC/extended optional programs archive and issue the following command:
NOVRSTRK UUPCDOCS.PRN UUPCDOCS.TXT
You can then browse the terminal ready version of the document, UUPCDOCS.TXT. However, given that this document is 243 pages long, you'll want to either print it or have a good search function handy.
This document was written using Word for Windows 97, and is distributed in Word format in the archive file upc13jaw.zip. If you have Windows but don’t have Word for Windows, you can download a free Word viewer/printer from Microsoft. The last we saw, the page was:
http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/downloadDetails/wd97vwr32.htm
However, like at many Web Sites, the folks in Redmond move things around a lot, so you may just want to start at http://www.microsoft.com and use their search function.
We convert the manual into HTML browser format, with varying success. We post it to our web site, http://www.kew.com. We also distribute the HTML format document in archive file upc13jah.zip.
In autumn of 1997, the telephone area code for Stoneham, Massachusetts changed from 617 to 781. This document has been updated to reflect this new area code in our telephone numbers.
”The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy is a very unevenly edited book and contains many passages that simply seemed to its editors like a good idea at the time.”
- Douglas Adams
This document provides information on UUPC/extended version 1.13j, produced by Kendra Electronic Wonderworks with contributions from around the globe.
UUPC/extended is a PC based version (and pun of) UUCP (UNIX-to-UNIX copy). UUPC/extended implements peer-to-peer networking using the UNIX UUCP protocols. MS-DOS, OS/2, Windows 3.x, Windows NT, or Windows 95-based personal computers using these protocols can exchange mail, Usenet news, and files with a UNIX system, another UUPC/extended system, or other UUCP systems. It supports serial ports and (except in DOS environments) TCP/IP connections.
UUPC/extended is based on the free widely distributed 1987 interim version of UUPC, version 1.05, written by Stuart Lynne, Richard H. Lamb, and Samuel Lam, in Vancouver, BC. The MS-DOS version of UUPC is no longer maintained in Vancouver; UUPC/extended 1.13j is the official current release of UUPC. The differences between UUPC/extended and UUPC version 1.05 include user aliases, routing to multiple hosts, dial in support, limited domain address parsing and routing, support for the OS/2 and Windows operating environments, and various improvements in the user interface. Because of these changes, much of what is contained in this document does not apply to the original UUPC 1.05 package.
This documentation is written using Microsoft Word for Windows 97.
Minor revisions to UUPC/extended are denoted by changes to the letter suffix on the version number. Minor revisions include only those changes, no matter how great, that allow the user to return to a previous release by at most updating the configuration file. Major revisions are denoted by a change in the number of the version; a major revision has changes in it which introduce a permanent incompatibility with the previous release.
Beginning with version 1.12, major revisions are those which supposed are distributed to the registered user base, whether they introduce a permanent incompatibility or not. See How to Register, page 173, for details on how to register your copy of UUPC/extended. (In practice, both 1.12a and 1.13a were created because the previous versions were 1.11z and 1.12z, which is to say we ran out of letters.)
If you need to communicate with us regarding UUPC/extended, please be sure to include the full version number you are referring to, including the letter suffix.
For a full description of the changes to UUPC/extended and how they affect upgrading from one release to the next, see Changes From Previous Versions, page 180. It should be duly noted that there is no version 1.24b at this time. A user was having nightmares in which she didn't have version 1.24b and everyone else did . . .
As mentioned above, UUPC/extended is a peer-to-peer networking program. Your local system and systems with which it communicates are on an equal footing in that the capabilities and access of the systems are generally symmetrical. You have complete control over and must be responsible for your own system. Compare this to a client-server set-up, such as when you dial in to a central mainframe or bulletin board system on which the system operator handles the administration (and restricts your access).
One application for UUPC/extended is providing remote access to a private system or small network, for example allowing a laptop machine access a single remote PC or UNIX system. This application requires little overhead, and may be used for connections needed for just a few days.
A more common use for UUPC/extended is providing dial-up e-mail and batch news access to public networks such as Usenet and/or the Internet. When UUPC/extended is used for this purpose, you, as the system administrator, are responsible for maintaining your own system as a member of the global network community. Related duties include making sure your system calls other systems regularly (including when you are not around), monitoring your links to other systems, registering your system with a central authority such as the UUCP Project and/or the Internet Network Information Center, and other long term tasks.
Because of these responsibilities, not all people should use a program such as UUPC/extended for general e-mail access. As a rule of thumb, if you do not receive more than one e-mail message a week or do not require e-mail access for more than six months, then you should consider a commercial service such as CompuServe, America Online, MCI Mail, ATT Mail, or others over setting up UUPC/extended. This reduces the set-up work required on your part and avoids problems associated with registering and de-registering your system, leaving the system running during absences, and the like.
UUPC/extended is not intended for interactive logins; it does not present user prompt on login to allow user commands. Nor the UUCP protocols are not compatible with the protocols (Xmodem, Kermit, etc.) included with most PC terminal emulators, and UUPC/extended security is oriented towards a pre-defined list of known systems calling in regularly.
UUPC/extended should also be avoided if your primary interest is:
· A server which allows downloading files to other personal computers which do not have UUPC/extended or some other UUCP program. Use a BBS program instead for generic download functions and/or interactive access to your system.
· Interactive access to the Internet for World Wide Web surfing or FTP. Use a dial-up TCP/IP package instead.
Finally, UUPC/extended should be avoided if you lack the resources, financial or otherwise, to support the program. Installing the program does require either experience in setting up complex systems or a willingness to learn via associates or books. Trying to set up UUPC/extended without experience and resources (such as the Nutshell handbooks discussed below) can cause pain and suffering for a very important person-- you.
For the system requirements needed install UUPC/extended, see the equipment list that’s part of the Ingredients on page 11.
Read Part 2: Basic UUCP Installation, page 11, now for installation and upgrade instructions. Users of previous versions of UUPC/extended should also read Changes From Previous Versions, page 180, for a summary of changes in the current release. Instructions on using the programs are in Part 4: Command Reference, page 51.
This document and its companions only provide an overview of UUCP connections. The average person wishing to set up UUPC/extended will require a reference such as Using & Managing UUCP, part of the Nutshell Handbook series by O'Reilly and Associates.[1],[2],[3] This book, while not specifically addressing UUPC/extended, includes detailed information on:
· Format of the SYSTEMS file
· Format of the PERMISSN (Permissions) file
· Information on debugging login scripts
· Information on registering your site with various networks
· Use of the various UUCP commands under UNIX and other systems
Note: Please read all of the documentation (especially the following section with answers to common questions) and the Nutshell handbooks before sending mail. Yes, we know this manual runs 243 pages, we had to write all 66242 words of it.
See How to Register, page 173, for the cost and benefits of registering for telephone support and other goodies.
Unregistered users are supported via e-mail only.
Please report problems with this version of UUPC/extended via electronic mail to help@kew.com. Please be precise in your description and include all applicable information such as the operating system in use and its release, the release of UUPC/extended and any unique configuration aspects.
Note: If you are not using the current version, please upgrade before sending mail. Old versions are obsolete for a reason, and your problem may have been fixed already.
Note: Please don’t send us all your configuration files and logs in your initial mail. If you have a problem with a particular program you should include its log, but don’t turn the debugging volume all the way up. E-mail is wonderful -- we can always ask for more information.
Note: Do not send UUENCODEd files or MIME mail. If you need to do either, you’re sending too much information! Files which are not human readable will be discarded.
If you are unable to reach Kendra Electronic Wonderworks via electronic mail, mail your problem report to:
UUPC/extended Help Desk
Kendra Electronic Wonderworks
Post Office Box 80144
Stoneham, MA 02180-0002 USA
If and only if you are sending us paper mail, please include with your problem description listings of the files which apply, including:
· UUPC.RC
· [userid].RC
· SYSTEMS
Note: Passwords and userids can and should be changed in the SYSTEMS file.
· Directory listing for your configuration directory.
· A log of the applicable program execution, if any. Both uucico and RMAIL automatically write logs into the spool directory. Debug level 4 (-x 4 on the command line) will provide the needed level of detail.
No claim is made that the problem will be corrected, or that the person reporting the problem will be supplied a copy of the corrected code[4], but reasonable efforts will be made to correct the program.
Note: Don’t uuencode your log files or use MIME mail to send them.
E-mail is the fastest and most reliable way to contact us. Please try it before calling.
Our telephone number is 781-279-9812. However, we do not support unregistered users via telephone. If you are a registered user or making a general query, and you must call rather then using e-mail, the best time to call is between 6 PM and 10 PM Eastern Time (GMT -5).
An electronic mailing list, uupc‑info@kew.com, is open to those interested in UUPC/extended. This list includes messages from users asking questions and responses from Kendra Electronic Wonderworks, and announcements of general interest to users such as new features going into UUPC/extended.
Note: This list is for questions or suggestions of general interest. If you have a particular question, send mail to help@kew.com directly.
To join it, send a command of the following format in the body of a e‑mail message to listserv@kew.com:
subscribe uupc‑info
The list server also accepts the command:
help
To resign from the mailing list, send mail to the list server of the following format:
unsubscribe uupc‑info
Note: DO NOT send requests to be added or deleted to uupc-info@kew.com. Mail sent to this address is automatically forwarded to all users on the list. Questions of an administrative nature which require human attention should be directed to uupc-info-request@kew.com.
Since undeliverable addresses cause mail to be bounced to the list administrator, the administrator reserves the right to drop from the list any user for whom mail is rejected. In many cases, the user will not be notified, since the mail to notify the user will bounce for the same reason the address was deleted in the first place.
This is a digest form of the UUPC-Info mailing list above. Messages from UUPC-Info are collected into a single mail message and sent out weekly or when about 30 kilobytes of messages accumulate, whichever is more often. We only do trivial editing, mostly to purge administrative requests (i.e. subscribe). The digest is useful to people who don’t want to be bothered by messages often but still want full information about UUPC/extended.
To subscribe to and signoff from this mail list, the procedure is the same as the procedure listed above for UUPC-Info, but the list name sent in the commands is UUPC-Info-Digest.
This list is restricted to major announcements from the staff of Kendra Electronic Wonderworks, primarily new releases; users are not allowed to post to this list. Subscribing to this list allows users who do not want continuous updates about UUPC/extended to be notified when new releases are available. Registered users are automatically added to this list.
To subscribe to and signoff from this mail list, the procedure is the same as listed above in UUPC-Info, but the list name sent in the commands is UUPC-Announce.
The following section answers common questions about UUPC/extended. The first questions are general, the latter section deals with specific problems you may see and what to do about them.
Q. Does UUPC/extended support news?
A. In part. The RNEWS command distributed with UUPC/extended now correctly decompresses and delivers local news to directories based on the news group name, and we are in the process of assembling other news handling tools, but the news reader (a port of the UNIX program RN) is still in development.[5]
Q. The uupoll command takes over my entire DOS system when it runs. Can I run it under DOS and still use the system?
A. No, but you can run it under OS/2 or under Windows NT or Windows 95. DESQView should also work. At Kendra Electronic Wonderworks, kendra uses OS/2 Warp, and electra uses Windows 95.
Note: If you run UUPC/extended in the background, be sure to enable multitasking support in your UUPC.RC file with the Boolean option multitask.
Q. It takes forever for the system to recognize a busy signal on the other end. What can I do?
A. Make sure your modem file includes the configuration variable NoConnect to document the strings your modem uses to report failures in the dialing sequence. Also, consider enabling the Boolean option CarrierDetect in your modem file.
Q. Can UUPC/extended support multiple users on one system?
A. Yes. Each user should have an entry in the PASSWD file and a copy of [userid].RC under a unique name in the UUPC/extended configuration directory. A short command file similar to the sample SU.BAT file provided can be used to change the active user. UUPC/extended cannot prevent users from reading other users' mail or mail queued for another system. This is an MS-DOS restriction.
Q. UUPC/extended is wonderful, but it doesn't run on my (insert non-IBM or NT-compatible platform here).
A. While the original UUPC was targeted for both the Mac and Atari-ST in addition to the IBM, Kendra Electronic Wonderworks only supports the MS-DOS, Windows 3.x, OS/2, and Windows NT or Windows 95 environments. Contact Dave Platt <dplatt@snulbug.mtview.ca.us>, on where to find his version of UUPC for the Macintosh. For Amiga systems, try anonymous FTP to wuarchive.wust1.edu. There are no known reliable sources for UUPC for the Atari-ST.
Q. Who is kendra?
A.
Actually, that is correctly "What is kendra?" Kendra
means "womanly knowledge" in Old English.
kendra was originally an 80286 based Epson Equity III+ running MS-DOS 3.3 that used a second 8088 based system as a communications front end. She has
since had multiple upgrades, and as of this writing is actually three physical
machines:
pandora, an IBM PS/1 486DX2/66 running FreeBSD and Taylor UUCP; this is our external Internet gateway.
athena, a Northgate 386/33 DX running OS/2 Warp.[6]
sonata, a NEC Ready 150Mhz Pentium running Windows NT 4.0
Their sibling, our documentation system electra, is a Toshiba 405CS notebook with Windows 95.
Q. You mean you don’t use UUPC/extended to talk to the outside world?
A. Not at this time. UUPC/extended is not designed for use as a dedicated gateway machine, but rather to fit in to an existing PC environment. With the rise of excellent free UNIX clones with containing the original UNIX programs such as Taylor UUCP and sendmail that we are trying to emulate, our focus is to talk to such UNIX machines, not replace them.
Q. I want users to be able to login and read their mail on my system. Since I can't use COMMAND.COM, what shell should I specify for them?
A. Right idea, wrong question. UUPC/extended is not designed for remote user login. Rather, it allows routing mail among multiple peer sites. Set up each user as his/her own node. This arrangement gives each user all the tools of his/her own system when composing mail, and keeps the time spent on-line to a minimum.
Q. Why does Snuffles want chocolate?
A. Because Chocolate is happy food. Snuffles is a very happy bear. However, ever since someone sent her 18 pounds of chocolate, she now looks for donations to the Chocolate Ice Cream Fund instead. This leaves us room in the freezer for more mundane groceries.
Note: Snuffles does still accept[7] Girl Scout Thin Mints.
Q. Could you define a [common printer type] connected to FILE and print the docks to FILE? This would let me do a "copy /b filename LPT1:" and get a nice printed copy without Word for Windows (which I don't have) or a PostScript printer (which I also don't have).
A. In theory we could. In practice, it's the path to madness. We'd soon find ourselves doing that for LaserJets, Epsons, Proprinters, Applewriters, and every other brand of printer you can think of (and none of which we have, so testing would be impossible). Local copy shops often have PostScript printers, the *.PRN files should be printable by most printers, and registered users will receive a printed copy of the documents.
Q. When I start a UUPC/extended application, it displays a message like "environment variable UUPCSYSRC must be specified," or "User configuration parameter "mailbox" must be set, "then exits.
A. You need to set the UUPCSYSRC, UUPCUSRRC, and TZ environment variables. See step 8., page 22, under Configuring After Installation.
Q. When I start up the uucico command, it displays a message like: "Invalid host id in c:/uupc/permissn, MACHINE=[name]; Unable to initialize security," then exits.
A. The PERMISSN file and your SYSTEMS file are inconsistent. There is an entry in your PERMISSN file which does not match a corresponding system in the SYSTEMS file; a userid which does not appear in PASSWD; or a needed directory does not exist. See steps 4., The PASSWD file, and step 6. in Configuring After Installation, on page 16.
Q. When I start up the uucico command, it displays a message like: wanted "OK" got ??? "ERROR????" then exits.
A. You have a problem with your [modem].MDM file. Check your UUPC.RC file (for incoming calls) or SYSTEMS file (for outgoing calls) to make sure you're using the .MDM file you think you are, then check the lines in the file to find the one that gives your modem problems. Try "uucico -x 4" to see more information as uucico processes the script. Also, try using a FOSSIL driver to reduce the chance of lost connections. See also The Fine Art of Chat Scripts, page 143.
Q. When I try to connect to the remote machine, it refuses the connection, even though I was able to dial in with another telecommunications program.
A. This could be one of several things, most of which could be due to errors in the entry in your SYSTEMS file for your mail server. See part 4. in Configuring After Installation, page 20. Or, you could have given your system a different name in your UUPC.RC file than the mail server expected. See part 1. in Configuring After Installation, page 17.
Q. UUPC/extended will connect but will not exchange data with another system, What's wrong?
A. Any number of things, which is why you should seek additional information from either a UNIX guru or the Nutshell Handbooks. However, one hint is that any programs communicating via the UUCP "g" protocol must have a clean eight bit connection. A seven bit even parity connection or a connection with software (X-ON/X-OFF) flow control will ruin your whole day. If you can login as a normal user to the remote system, you can use the STTY command to determine the parity and flow control settings. Also, make sure the Boolean option variablePacket does not appear in your modem file.
Q. When UUPC/extended logins to the remote system, the remote delivers Shere as the first message and then RLOGIN as the second message. Why doesn't UUPC/extended like this second message?
A. The full answer (or at least the full list of the possible error responses to the second message sent to the remote host) is listed in Using & Managing UUCP. Suffice to say the RLOGIN means that the remote system does not know your system. Your system is missing from the remote's USERFILE, L.sys, Systems, or Permissions[8] files.
Q. After UUPC/extended picks up my mail, uuxqt tries to deliver it and fails with the message, "PERMISSION DENIED". What's wrong?
A. Look for additional information before the "PERMISSION DENIED" error message. A good chance is that uuxqt cannot find the RMAIL command. Any program invoked by uuxqt must be in the path. Placing a command in the directory uuxqt is invoked from is not enough, because uuxqt changes directories as it runs.
Q. A mail message created in the editor is sent, but the signature is not appended.
A. Your editor is appending a Ctrl-Z to the file before the signature is appended. Disable that "feature," or use a different editor.
Q. UUCP on your remote host keeps sending you messages about RNEWS exiting normally, and you want the messages to go away.
A. The sending host should set the -n flag for the uux command which generates the RNEWS command for you.
Q. I get dropped characters in the login script when running the DOS version of UUPC/extended under OS/2. How can I fix that?
A. Run the OS/2 uucico or use an OS/2 FOSSIL driver. The DOS version doesn't handle it well when a multi-tasking operating system steals its time slice. The problem also occurs when running the DOS versions under Windows, and can be corrected by using the Windows version of UUPC/extended instead.
Note: The spool directory formats used by all versions of UUPC/extended are compatible, allowing a user to use the OS/2 or NT versions of uucico in conjunction with the DOS versions of other programs. This allows interfacing to DOS-only third party programs
Q. Why are the names in the spool directory so strange?
A. Because DOS FAT file systems only use about 50 unique characters for file names, while UNIX supports about 80 unique characters. In addition, UNIX names can be longer. A mapping routine is used to compress 14 character UNIX names into 11 character DOS names. Part of this conversion involves removing the first two characters (such as X.) and the system name from the front of the file name (the entire system name is encoded as 6 bits, or about a single character), and the rest involves base 80 arithmetic. Neat, huh?
Q. Okay, DOS is brain dead, but why use strange names in the spool directory for my system, which supports mixed-case and long names? I enabled the Boolean option longname and the Boolean option monocase, but they had no effect on the names in the spool directory.
A. First, using the standard mapping routine for the more advanced file systems makes the DOS FAT based spool directories compatible with other versions. This means other DOS programs can interface with DOS UUPC/extended programs while the native versions of other UUPC/extended programs (like UUCICO) are used.
Second, it means less code to maintain. The same routine is upwardly compatible even if the names are ugly.
Most importantly, while some file systems retain the case of characters in the directory listing, names in the DOS-derived file systems (VFAT, HPFS, NTFS) are still case-insensitive when it comes to actually creating or search for files. That is, long.file.name, Long.File.Name and LONG.FILE.NAME are all the same name to the PC operating systems, but they are unique to UNIX. The option monocase prevents UUPC/extended from generating mixed case names, but it cannot prevent a remote UNIX system from sending a mixed case name. Accepting UNIX-generated files and not honoring the case will result in file name collisions sooner or later.
"OS/2, the system so good you can't install it just once."
-- Dave Gomberg
The following assumes that you have never installed UUPC/extended before. If you are upgrading an existing UUPC/extended installation, skip to Upgrading an Existing Installation, beginning on page 25.
Note: If installing for Windows 3.x, first install the native DOS version and then add the Windows versions of the uucico and associated programs. This both allows initial debugging in a simpler environment and provides the needed foundation for running under Windows. See Using UUPC/extended Under Windows 3.x on page 38.
Many thanks to David Watt and his sidekick Frederick Bear Watt for assisting with this section and providing the examples, and to Snuffles for reminding us to change the system names to protect the guilty.
To start sending and receiving mail on your system you'll need the following equipment and knowledge:
Equipment:
* A computer running MS-DOS, OS/2, Windows NT, or Windows 95. Under DOS, you need at least 512 kilobytes of RAM and 2 megabytes of hard disk space (for executables, configuration files, documentation, and mail received). For OS/2, Windows 3.x, Windows NT, or Windows 95 you need the minimum configuration for the operating system plus 2 megabytes of free hard disk space.
* A modem.
* The manual for the modem.
* A text editor. The MS-DOS editor, Windows Notepad, or OS/2 editor will work fine.
* A copy of PKUNZIP.EXE, version 2.04g or later, or a compatible utility such as the Info-ZIP UNZIP utility. PKUNZIP is a shareware utility, UNZIP is freeware, and both can be found at almost all archive sites. Consult your local BBS, or get one of the two programs from wuarchive.wustl.edu.
* A friend or commercial UUCP provider with a machine that does UUCP. This can be a UNIX system, a PC running UUPC/extended or another UUCP clone, or a VMS system running DECUS UUCP.
Knowledge:
How to copy files.
How to edit a text file.
Once you've got all of that, follow these steps to prepare for, install, configure, and test UUPC/extended.
Preparing for installation:
1. Review Who Should Use This Program, page 2, to make sure UUPC/extended is right for you.
2. Read these instructions.
3. Name your system.
4. Find a UUCP neighbor.
5. Choose your user name.
6. Backup your system.
Installing UUPC/extended on your system:
1. Get the UUPC/extended archives needed for your operating system.
2. Make any required directories.
3. Copy the UUPC/extended files onto your system.
4. Create the on-line help files for MAIL.
Configuring UUPC/extended to process mail and call other systems:
1. Find your modem among the .MDM files.
2. Configure several files:
1. UUPC.RC
2. [userid].RC
3. [modem].MDM
4. SYSTEMS
5. PASSWD
6. PERMISSN
7. CONFIG.SYS
8. AUTOEXEC.BAT
9. [userid].SIG
3. Reboot your system.
Testing the new installation:
1. Check your configuration with UUNAME.
2. Check your PERMISSN file with uuxqt.
3. Send mail to yourself.
4. Check the PC <--> modem connection.
5. Check the PC <--> modem <--> modem <--> mail server connection.
6. Send remote UUCP mail.
Then you'll be up and running! Each of the steps is discussed in more detail below.
1. Who Should Use This Program, page 2, contains important information explaining what UUPC/extended will and will not do. It also discusses the responsibilities inherent in running a UUCP site. Please read it before proceeding further.
2. Read all of these instructions before doing anything. Trust us, you'll be glad you did.
3. Your machine needs a name. The name should be all lowercase, since many operating systems are not case-sensitive. If you plan to connect to the outside world, the first six characters of the name need to be unique over all of Usenet. This isn't precisely true, but it's close enough, and the truth is more complicated -- if you're interested in the details, buy a copy of Using & Managing UUCP, published by O'Reilly and Associates. Actually, go buy it anyway, and please read it before asking questions. Required Reading, page 3, has some suggestions on where to find this and other useful books. See RFC1178.TXT in the upc13jad.zip archive for some considerations to keep in mind when choosing a system name.[9]
Example: Fred chose the name "toscis" for his machine, in honor of Snuffles' favorite ice cream.
4. Find a friend or commercial service provider with a machine which supports sending and receiving UUCP news and mail to provide you with a link. Your contact must also be pals with the system administrator of the machine, or someone else who has the power to add accounts to the remote system.[10] They will have to add an account for your system and configure the remote UUCP to acknowledge its existence and permit your system to log in and exchange mail.
Example: Fred uses a feed from Kendra Electronic Wonderworks, which is known in the UUCP world as kewgate. Snuffles assigned toscis an account on kewgate called "Utoscis". The name is conventional -- Ukewgate, Uflopsie, and Uzzyzyx are several accounts on Fred's machine, for some of his neighbors to log onto his system.
Some Internet Service Providers (ISP’s, whose main business is dial-up TCP/IP access for Web Surfing and the like) also provide UUCP access, although many only grudgingly. If you're looking for a UUCP system to connect your machine to, you might try local universities and local software companies for friendly volunteers. The backup connection at the Wonderworks, for instance, is provided courtesy of a machine belonging to the EE department at a local university. If you have Usenet access, you might peruse comp.mail.maps for the names of local systems and their administrators who might be willing to give you a feed.
If you are willing to pay money to get to the Internet, there are a variety of network providers, ranging from small public service-oriented providers to large commercial companies with national coverage. We can’t provide a specific list because the players keep changing.
5. You need to choose a user name for yourself. This name does not have to be unique or anything, but you will need it for some of the configuration of UUPC/extended yet to come. It should be composed only of valid DOS file name characters and should have eight characters or less.
Example: Fred's user name on toscis is fbwatt. Our resident Plump Plush Platinum Programming Polar Bear's[11] user name on kewgate is Snuffles.
6. Backup your system. If you do not regularly backup your system, this is an excellent time to start. Again, trust us.