1 WEBCIT for the Citadel/UX System
4 Copyright (C) 1996-2000 by the authors. Portions written by:
10 This program is free software released under the terms of the GNU General
11 Public License. Please read COPYING.txt for more licensing information.
17 Citadel/UX is a sophisticated BBS package which allows multiple users to
18 simultaneously access the system using a variety of user interfaces. This
19 package (WebCit) is a "middleware" package which presents an HTML/HTTP user
20 interface to the Citadel system.
22 What this means in practice is that after you've installed WebCit, users can
23 access all functions of your BBS using any web browser. Since this may be the
24 first Citadel experience for many new users, the screens have been designed to
25 be attractive and easy to navigate.
31 If you've installed WebCit v1.xx before, you'll be pleased to know that the
32 new version doesn't require all that tedious mucking about with Apache
33 configuration files and directories. WebCit now contains its own standalone
34 HTTP engine, which you run on another port (port 2000 by default). WebCit is
35 not intended to replace your regular webserver; it is merely a separate service
36 that happens to talk HTTP.
38 To compile from source, enter the usual commands:
42 Then to test it, simply run the webserver:
45 You'll see a bunch of diagnostic messages on the screen. At this time you
46 can try it out. Point your web browser to WebCit using a URL such as:
48 http://your.host.name:2000
50 ...and log in. When you're satisfied that the program is working the way you
51 want it to, you should set it up to be automatically started by the system at
52 boot time. The recommended way to do this is with an entry in /etc/inittab,
53 because init can then automatically restart WebCit if it happens to crash for
54 any reason. Open /etc/inittab and add an entry something like this:
56 wc:2345:respawn:/usr/local/webcit/webserver
59 Several command-line options are also available. Here's the usage for
60 the "webserver" program:
62 webserver [-p localport] [-t tracefile] [remotehost [remoteport]]
66 webserver [-p localport] [-t tracefile] uds /your/citadel/directory
70 -> localport: the TCP port on which you wish your WebCit server to run.
71 this can be any port number at all; there is no standard. Naturally,
72 you'll want to create a link to this port on your system's regular web
73 pages (presumably on an Apache server running on port 80).
75 -> tracefile: where you want WebCit to log to. This can be a file, a
76 virtual console, or /dev/null to suppress logging altogether.
78 -> remotehost: the name or IP address of the host on which your Citadel/UX
79 server is running. The default is "localhost". (NOTE: if you run
80 WebCit and the Citadel/UX server on different hosts, the real-time chat
81 screen will not work, due to the Java security model. Only the chat
82 window is written as a Java applet; everything else is plain HTML.)
84 -> remoteport: the port number on which your Citadel/UX server is running.
85 The default is port 504, the IANA-designated standard port for Citadel.
87 -> "uds" is a keyword which tells WebCit that you wish to connect to a
88 Citadel server running on the same computer, rather than using a TCP/IP
89 socket. /your/citadel/directory should be set to the actual name of the
90 directory in which you have Citadel installed
91 (such as /usr/local/citadel). If you run Citadel and WebCit on the same
92 computer, you should set it up this way; it runs a bit faster.
98 WebCit contains a small amount of graphics (buttons, etc.) which are kept
99 in its "static" subdirectory. All site-specific graphics, however, are
100 fetched from the Citadel server.
102 The "images" directory on a Citadel/UX system contains these graphics. The
103 ones which you may be interested in are:
105 -> background.gif: a background texture displayed under all web pages
106 -> hello.gif: your system's logo. It is displayed along with the logon
107 banner, and on the top left corner of each page.
113 That's all you need to know to get started. If you have any questions or
114 comments, please visit UNCENSORED! BBS, the home of Citadel/UX, at one of the
116 via Internet: uncensored.citadel.org
117 modem dialup: 914-244-3252