1 <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
4 <title>Citadel/UX Documentation</title>
7 <meta http-equiv="content-type"
8 content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
15 <h2>a messaging and collaboration platform for BBS and groupware applications</h2>
16 Copyright ©1987-2003 by the Citadel development team:<br>
19 <table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" border="0" align="center">
22 <td valign="top">Steven M. Bellovin<br>
24 <td valign="top"><i>author of public domain 'parsedate'
29 <td valign="top">Nathan Bryant<br>
31 <td valign="top"><i>build system, security, database
32 access, and others<br>
36 <td valign="top">Art Cancro<br>
38 <td valign="top"><i>overall system design and lead developer<br>
42 <td valign="top">Brian Costello<br>
44 <td valign="top"><i>cosmetics, additional commands<br>
48 <td valign="top">Michael Hampton<br>
50 <td valign="top"><i>client software development<br>
54 <td valign="top">Andru Luvisi<br>
56 <td valign="top"><i>troubleshooting and development assistance<br>
60 <td valign="top">Daniel Malament<br>
62 <td valign="top"><i>string compare function for IMAP
67 <td valign="top">Stu Mark<br>
69 <td valign="top"><i>additional client features, IGnet
74 <td valign="top">Ben Mehlman<br>
76 <td valign="top"><i>additional client features<br>
80 <td valign="top">Ari Samson<br>
82 <td valign="top"><i>assistance with project management<br>
86 <td valign="top">John Walker<br>
88 <td valign="top"><i>author of public domain base64 encoder/decoder<br>
92 <td valign="top">Steve Williams<br>
94 <td valign="top"><i>documentation<br>
98 <td valign="top">Ethan Young<br>
100 <td valign="top"><i>IGnet protocol design<br>
109 <div align="justify">The entire package is open source; you can redistribute
110 and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
111 as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the
112 License, or (at your option) any later version.<br>
114 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
115 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY
116 or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public
117 License for more details. </div>
119 <div align="justify"><br>
120 For more information, visit either of these locations on the
124 <li>The Citadel home page: <a
125 href="http://www.citadel.org">http://www.citadel.org</a></li>
126 <li>UNCENSORED! BBS, the home of Citadel: <a
127 href="http://uncensored.citadel.org">http://uncensored.citadel.org</a></li>
131 <hr width="100%" size="2">
132 <h2 align="center">Table of Contents</h2>
135 <li><a href="#GPL">License</a></li>
136 <li><a href="#Installation">Installation</a></li>
139 <li><a href="#Everything_in_its_place...">Everything in its place...</a></li>
140 <li><a href="#The_BBS_Login">The BBS Login</a></li>
141 <li><a href="#Bypassing_the_login:_prompt">Bypassing the login:
143 <li><a href="#Compiling_the_programs">Compiling the programs</a></li>
144 <li><a href="#Upgrading">Upgrading</a></li>
145 <li><a href="#The_citadel.rc_file">The citadel.rc file</a></li>
146 <li><a href="#Using_an_external_editor_for_message">Using an external
147 editor for message composition</a></li>
148 <li><a href="#Printing_messages">Printing messages</a></li>
149 <li><a href="#URL_viewing">URL viewing</a></li>
150 <li><a href="#Setup_and_login">Setup and login</a></li>
151 <li><a href="#Configuring_your_host_system_to_start">Configuring
152 your host system to start the service</a></li>
153 <li><a href="#Logging_in_for_the_first_time">Logging in for the
155 <li><a href="#Welcoming_new_users">Welcoming new users</a></li>
156 <li><a href="#Space_for_adding_your_own_client">Space for adding
157 your own client features (doors)</a></li>
158 <li><a href="#Troubleshooting_and_getting_help">Troubleshooting
159 and getting help</a><br>
163 <li><a href="#sysop">System Administration</a></li>
166 <li><a href="#Overview_">Overview</a></li>
167 <li><a href="#Aide_commands">Aide commands</a></li>
168 <li><a href="#Editing_rooms">Editing rooms</a></li>
169 <li><a href="#File_directories">File directories</a></li>
170 <li><a href="#Creating_and_editing_user_accounts">Creating and
171 editing user accounts</a></li>
172 <li><a href="#Deleting_and_moving_messages">Deleting and moving
174 <li><a href="#Customizing_the_help_files">Customizing the help
176 <li><a href="#Site_configuration">Site configuration</a><br>
180 <li> <a href="#Configuring_Citadel_for_Internet_e-mail">Configuring
181 Citadel for Internet e-mail</a></li>
184 <li><a href="#Introduction">Introduction</a></li>
185 <li><a href="#Basic_site_configuration">Basic site configuration</a></li>
186 <li><a href="#Enabling_the_Internet_mail_protocols">Enabling the
187 Internet mail protocols</a></li>
188 <li><a href="#Hosting_an_Internet_mailing_list">Hosting an Internet
191 <li><a href="#citmail">Using Citadel in conjunction with another
195 <li><a href="#Building_or_joining_a_Citadel_network">Building or joining
196 a Citadel network</a></li>
199 <li><a href="#Overview__">Overview</a></li>
200 <li><a href="#Conventions_and_etiquette_when">Conventions and etiquette
201 when connecting to the public Citadel network</a></li>
202 <li><a href="#Getting_ready_to_join_the_network">Getting ready to
203 join the network</a></li>
204 <li><a href="#Defining_neighbor_nodes">Defining neighbor nodes</a></li>
205 <li><a href="#Sharing_rooms">Sharing rooms</a></li>
206 <li><a href="#Sending_mail">Sending mail</a></li>
207 <li><a href="#Changing_the_polling_interval">Changing the polling
211 <li><a href="#Database_maintenance">Database maintenance</a></li>
214 <li><a href="#Introduction_">Introduction</a></li>
215 <li><a href="#Database_repair">Database repair</a></li>
216 <li><a href="#ImportingExporting_your_Citadel">Importing/Exporting
217 your Citadel database</a><br>
221 <li><a href="#utilities">Included utilities</a></li>
223 <LI><A HREF="#overview">Overview</a></LI>
224 <LI><A HREF="#aidepost">aidepost</a></LI>
225 <LI><A HREF="#whobbs">whobbs</a></LI>
226 <LI><A HREF="#stats">stats</a></LI>
227 <LI><A HREF="#msgform">msgform</a></LI>
228 <LI><A HREF="#userlist">userlist</a></LI>
229 <LI><A HREF="#readlog">readlog</a></LI>
230 <LI><A HREF="#sendcommand">sendcommand</a></LI>
236 <hr width="100%" size="2"><br>
238 <h2 align="center"><a name="GPL"></a>GNU General Public License<br>
242 <p> Version 2, June 1991 </p>
244 <pre>Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc. <br>59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA<br><br>Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies<br>of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.<br></pre>
246 <h3 align="justify">Preamble</h3>
248 <div align="justify"> </div>
250 <p align="justify"> The licenses for most software are designed to take
251 away your freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General
252 Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change
253 free software--to make sure the software is free for all its users.
254 This General Public License applies to most of the Free Software Foundation's
255 software and to any other program whose authors commit to using it.
256 (Some other Free Software Foundation software is covered by the GNU Library
257 General Public License instead.) You can apply it to your programs, too.
260 <div align="justify"> </div>
262 <p align="justify"> When we speak of free software, we are referring to
263 freedom, not price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make
264 sure that you have the freedom to distribute copies of free software
265 (and charge for this service if you wish), that you receive source code
266 or can get it if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces
267 of it in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things. </p>
269 <div align="justify"> </div>
271 <p align="justify"> To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions
272 that forbid anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender
273 the rights. These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities
274 for you if you distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.
277 <div align="justify"> </div>
279 <p align="justify"> For example, if you distribute copies of such a program,
280 whether gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights
281 that you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get
282 the source code. And you must show them these terms so they know their
285 <div align="justify"> </div>
287 <p align="justify"> We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright
288 the software, and (2) offer you this license which gives you legal permission
289 to copy, distribute and/or modify the software. </p>
291 <div align="justify"> </div>
293 <p align="justify"> Also, for each author's protection and ours, we want
294 to make certain that everyone understands that there is no warranty
295 for this free software. If the software is modified by someone else and
296 passed on, we want its recipients to know that what they have is not
297 the original, so that any problems introduced by others will not reflect
298 on the original authors' reputations. </p>
300 <div align="justify"> </div>
302 <p align="justify"> Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by
303 software patents. We wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of a free
304 program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the program
305 proprietary. To prevent this, we have made it clear that any patent must
306 be licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at all. </p>
308 <div align="justify"> </div>
310 <p align="justify"> The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution
311 and modification follow. </p>
313 <div align="justify"> </div>
315 <h3>TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION</h3>
317 <div align="justify"> </div>
319 <p align="justify"> <strong>0.</strong> This License applies to any program
320 or other work which contains a notice placed by the copyright holder
321 saying it may be distributed under the terms of this General Public License.
322 The "Program", below, refers to any such program or work, and a "work
323 based on the Program" means either the Program or any derivative work
324 under copyright law: that is to say, a work containing the Program or
325 a portion of it, either verbatim or with modifications and/or translated
326 into another language. (Hereinafter, translation is included without limitation
327 in the term "modification".) Each licensee is addressed as "you". </p>
329 <p align="justify"> Activities other than copying, distribution and modification
330 are not covered by this License; they are outside its scope. The act
331 of running the Program is not restricted, and the output from the Program
332 is covered only if its contents constitute a work based on the Program
333 (independent of having been made by running the Program). Whether that
334 is true depends on what the Program does. </p>
336 <p align="justify"> <strong>1.</strong> You may copy and distribute verbatim
337 copies of the Program's source code as you receive it, in any medium,
338 provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy
339 an appropriate copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact
340 all the notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any
341 warranty; and give any other recipients of the Program a copy of this License
342 along with the Program. </p>
344 <p align="justify"> You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring
345 a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange
348 <p align="justify"> <strong>2.</strong> You may modify your copy or copies
349 of the Program or any portion of it, thus forming a work based on the
350 Program, and copy and distribute such modifications or work under the
351 terms of Section 1 above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:
354 <p align="justify"> </p>
356 <div align="justify">
358 <li><strong>a)</strong> You must cause the modified files
359 to carry prominent notices stating that you changed the files and
360 the date of any change.
364 <li><strong>b)</strong> You must cause any work that
365 you distribute or publish, that in whole or in part contains or
366 is derived from the Program or any part thereof, to be licensed
367 as a whole at no charge to all third parties under the terms of this
372 <li><strong>c)</strong> If the modified program normally
373 reads commands interactively when run, you must cause it, when
374 started running for such interactive use in the most ordinary way,
375 to print or display an announcement including an appropriate copyright
376 notice and a notice that there is no warranty (or else, saying that
377 you provide a warranty) and that users may redistribute the program
378 under these conditions, and telling the user how to view a copy of
379 this License. (Exception: if the Program itself is interactive but
380 does not normally print such an announcement, your work based on
381 the Program is not required to print an announcement.) </li>
384 These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole.
385 If identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program,
386 and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in themselves,
387 then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those sections when
388 you distribute them as separate works. But when you distribute the
389 same sections as part of a whole which is a work based on the Program,
390 the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of this License, whose
391 permissions for other licensees extend to the entire whole, and thus
392 to each and every part regardless of who wrote it. </div>
394 <p align="justify"> Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights
395 or contest your rights to work written entirely by you; rather, the intent
396 is to exercise the right to control the distribution of derivative or collective
397 works based on the Program. </p>
399 <p align="justify"> In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based
400 on the Program with the Program (or with a work based on the Program)
401 on a volume of a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other
402 work under the scope of this License. </p>
404 <p align="justify"> <strong>3.</strong> You may copy and distribute the
405 Program (or a work based on it, under Section 2) in object code or executable
406 form under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also
407 do one of the following: <!-- we use this doubled UL to get the sub-sections indented, -->
408 <!-- while making the bullets as unobvious as possible. --> </p>
410 <div align="justify">
412 <li><strong>a)</strong> Accompany it with the complete
413 corresponding machine-readable source code, which must be distributed
414 under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily
415 used for software interchange; or,
419 <li><strong>b)</strong> Accompany it with a written offer,
420 valid for at least three years, to give any third party, for a
421 charge no more than your cost of physically performing source distribution,
422 a complete machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code,
423 to be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a
424 medium customarily used for software interchange; or,
428 <li><strong>c)</strong> Accompany it with the information
429 you received as to the offer to distribute corresponding source
430 code. (This alternative is allowed only for noncommercial distribution
431 and only if you received the program in object code or executable
432 form with such an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.) </li>
435 The source code for a work means the preferred form of the
436 work for making modifications to it. For an executable work, complete
437 source code means all the source code for all modules it contains, plus
438 any associated interface definition files, plus the scripts used to control
439 compilation and installation of the executable. However, as a special
440 exception, the source code distributed need not include anything that
441 is normally distributed (in either source or binary form) with the major
442 components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the operating system on which
443 the executable runs, unless that component itself accompanies the executable.
446 <p align="justify"> If distribution of executable or object code is made
447 by offering access to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent
448 access to copy the source code from the same place counts as distribution
449 of the source code, even though third parties are not compelled to copy
450 the source along with the object code. </p>
452 <p align="justify"> <strong>4.</strong> You may not copy, modify, sublicense,
453 or distribute the Program except as expressly provided under this License.
454 Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the
455 Program is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this
456 License. However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from
457 you under this License will not have their licenses terminated so long
458 as such parties remain in full compliance. </p>
460 <p align="justify"> <strong>5.</strong> You are not required to accept
461 this License, since you have not signed it. However, nothing else grants
462 you permission to modify or distribute the Program or its derivative
463 works. These actions are prohibited by law if you do not accept this
464 License. Therefore, by modifying or distributing the Program (or any work
465 based on the Program), you indicate your acceptance of this License to
466 do so, and all its terms and conditions for copying, distributing or modifying
467 the Program or works based on it. </p>
469 <p align="justify"> <strong>6.</strong> Each time you redistribute the Program
470 (or any work based on the Program), the recipient automatically receives a
471 license from the original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program
472 subject to these terms and conditions. You may not impose any further
473 restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein.
474 You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to this
477 <p align="justify"> <strong>7.</strong> If, as a consequence of a court
478 judgment or allegation of patent infringement or for any other reason
479 (not limited to patent issues), conditions are imposed on you (whether
480 by court order, agreement or otherwise) that contradict the conditions
481 of this License, they do not excuse you from the conditions of this License.
482 If you cannot distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations
483 under this License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence
484 you may not distribute the Program at all. For example, if a patent
485 license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Program by
486 all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then
487 the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to refrain
488 entirely from distribution of the Program. </p>
490 <p align="justify"> If any portion of this section is held invalid or unenforceable
491 under any particular circumstance, the balance of the section is intended
492 to apply and the section as a whole is intended to apply in other circumstances.
495 <p align="justify"> It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to
496 infringe any patents or other property right claims or to contest validity
497 of any such claims; this section has the sole purpose of protecting
498 the integrity of the free software distribution system, which is implemented
499 by public license practices. Many people have made generous contributions
500 to the wide range of software distributed through that system in reliance
501 on consistent application of that system; it is up to the author/donor
502 to decide if he or she is willing to distribute software through any other
503 system and a licensee cannot impose that choice. </p>
505 <p align="justify"> This section is intended to make thoroughly clear what
506 is believed to be a consequence of the rest of this License. </p>
508 <p align="justify"> <strong>8.</strong> If the distribution and/or use of
509 the Program is restricted in certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted
510 interfaces, the original copyright holder who places the Program under this
511 License may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding
512 those countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among countries
513 not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates the limitation
514 as if written in the body of this License. </p>
516 <p align="justify"> <strong>9.</strong> The Free Software Foundation may
517 publish revised and/or new versions of the General Public License from
518 time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present
519 version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns.
522 <p align="justify"> Each version is given a distinguishing version number.
523 If the Program specifies a version number of this License which applies
524 to it and "any later version", you have the option of following the terms
525 and conditions either of that version or of any later version published
526 by the Free Software Foundation. If the Program does not specify a version
527 number of this License, you may choose any version ever published by
528 the Free Software Foundation. </p>
530 <p align="justify"> <strong>10.</strong> If you wish to incorporate parts
531 of the Program into other free programs whose distribution conditions
532 are different, write to the author to ask for permission. For software
533 which is copyrighted by the Free Software Foundation, write to the Free
534 Software Foundation; we sometimes make exceptions for this. Our decision
535 will be guided by the two goals of preserving the free status of all derivatives
536 of our free software and of promoting the sharing and reuse of software
539 <p align="justify"><strong>NO WARRANTY</strong></p>
541 <div align="justify"> </div>
543 <p align="justify"> <strong>11.</strong> BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED
544 FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT
545 PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING
546 THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS"
547 WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING,
548 BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS
549 FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE
550 OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME
551 THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION. </p>
553 <p align="justify"> <strong>12.</strong> IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY
554 APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR
555 ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED
556 ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL
557 OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE
558 PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED
559 INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE
560 OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER
561 OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. </p>
563 <p align="justify"> </p>
565 <h3>END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS</h3>
568 <hr width="100%" size="2"><br>
571 <h2><a name="Installation"></a>Installation</h2>
574 <div align="justify">
577 <p>Citadel/UX is an advanced, multiuser, client/server, room-based BBS program.
578 It is designed to handle the needs of both small dialup systems and
579 large-scale Internet-connected systems. It was originally developed on
580 an Altos system running Xenix, and has been installed and tested on various
581 Unix and Unix-like platforms. The author's current development environment
582 (and BBS) is an ordinary Linux system. The current distribution includes:
586 <li>The Citadel/UX server (this is the back end that does all
588 <li>A text-based client program designed with the traditional
589 Citadel "look and feel" (room prompts, dot commands, and the like)
591 <li>Setup programs </li>
592 <li>A set of utilities for system administration and maintenance
594 <li>Documentation </li>
598 <p>Some knowledge of the Unix system is necessary to install and manage the
599 system. It is mandatory that the sysop have "root" access to the operating
600 system. The following are required to install Citadel/UX: </p>
603 <li>A Unix operating system (Linux, BSD, Solaris, Tru64, HP/UX)
605 <li>C compiler (such as gcc or egcs) and "make" </li>
606 <li>POSIX threads (the "pthreads" library) </li>
608 <li><a href="http://www.sleepycat.com">Berkeley DB</a> v4.1
609 or newer (GDBM also works, but its use is officially depracated. If
610 you are building a new system, do <i>not</i> use GDBM. If you have an
611 existing system which uses GDBM, you should migrate it to Berkeley DB
612 as soon as possible.) </li>
613 <li>Enough disk space to hold all of the programs and data </li>
617 <p>If you are running Citadel/UX on a Linux system, it is STRONGLY recommended
618 that you run it on a recent distribution (such as <a
619 href="http://www.redhat.com">Red Hat</a> 7.3 or newer). A new-ish distribution
620 will have most or all of the prerequisite tools and libraries already
621 integrated for you.</p>
623 <h3>Now available:</h3>
626 <li>"WebCit", a gateway program to allow full access to Citadel
627 via the World Wide Web. Interactive access through any Web browser.
629 <li>Access to Citadel via <i>any</i> standards-compliant e-mail
630 program, thanks to Citadel's built-in SMTP, POP, and IMAP services.
631 You can use Netscape/Mozilla, Evolution, Eudora, Pine, or even Microsoft
632 VirusSpreader (better known as "Outlook") with Citadel. </li>
636 <h3>Coming soon:</h3>
639 <li>Newer and better GUI-based clients. </li>
643 <h3><a name="Everything_in_its_place..."></a>Everything in its place...</h3>
645 <p>Hopefully you've unpacked the distribution archive into its own directory.
646 This is the directory in which all Citadel files are located and in
647 which all activity will take place. Several subdirectories have already
648 been created during the unpacking process, and others may be created
649 by the software if needed. Make sure you have Berkeley DB installed on
650 your system, and that you have all the development libraries and headers
651 in place so that you can compile against them. If you don't, you can
652 get the latest Berkeley DB at <a href="http://www.sleepycat.com">http://www.sleepycat.com</a>.
653 If your operating system uses a separate library to support POSIX threads
654 (pthreads), make sure that library is installed as well. This is almost
655 never the case with Linux, but some commercial Unix flavors might need
658 <h3><a name="The_BBS_Login"></a></h3>
660 <h3>The BBS Login</h3>
662 <p>As with many Unix programs, Citadel wants to run under its own user ID.
663 Unlike other programs, however, this user ID will do double-duty as a
664 public login for your system if you are running a BBS. This account is
665 typically called "bbs" or "citadel" or something to that effect. You will
666 tell Citadel what the user-id of that account is, and when someone logs
667 in under that account, Citadel will prompt for a user name.</p>
669 <p>The Citadel user should have a unique uid. The home directory should be
670 the one your Citadel installation resides in (in this example we will
671 use /usr/local/citadel) and the shell should be either "citadel" in that
672 directory, or a script that will start up citadel (you may wish to set
673 up an external text editor; see below). Example:</p>
675 <pre>bbs::100:1:BBS Login:/usr/local/citadel:/usr/local/citadel/citadel<br></pre>
677 <p>When you run setup later, you will be required to tell it what the Citadel
678 user's numeric user ID is, so it knows what user to run as. If you create
679 an account called <tt>bbs</tt>, <tt>guest</tt>, or <tt>citadel</tt>, the
680 setup program will automatically pick up the user ID by default.</p>
682 <p>For all other users in /etc/passwd, Citadel will automatically set up
683 an account using the full name (or 'gecos' in Unixspeak) of the user. It'll
684 also ignore any password you supply, because it uses the user's password
685 on the host system. This allows a 'single sign on' type of environment.
686 Note that this does have to be enabled at compile time -- it's the configure
687 option called <tt>--enable-autologin</tt>. Keep in mind that these users
688 can use *either* their Citadel login name or their login name on the host
689 computer, and their password on the host computer.</p>
691 <h3><a name="Bypassing_the_login:_prompt"></a></h3>
693 <h3>Bypassing the <tt>login:</tt> prompt</h3>
695 <p>If you normally log in to your host system using some method other than
696 telnet (such as ssh), you might want the telnet service to go straight
697 to the Citadel BBS, instead of displaying the <tt>login:</tt> prompt first.
698 You can do this by having telnetd start citadel directly instead of
699 <tt>/bin/login</tt>. This is actually very simple to implement; all you
700 need to do is make a simple change to your <tt>inetd</tt> or <tt>xinetd</tt>
701 configuration. Here are some configuration examples.</p>
703 <p>An example for <tt>inetd</tt> (put the following line in <tt>/etc/inetd.conf</tt>,
704 replacing any existing telnet configuration line already there):</p>
706 <pre>telnet stream tcp nowait root /usr/sbin/tcpd in.telnetd -L /usr/local/citadel/citadel<br></pre>
708 <p>An example for <tt>xinetd</tt> (if you have a file called <tt>/etc/xinetd.d/telnet</tt>
709 then simply replace that file with this one):</p>
711 <pre>service telnet<br>{<br> flags = REUSE<br> socket_type = stream<br> wait = no<br> user = root<br> server = /usr/sbin/in.telnetd<br> server_args = -L /usr/local/citadel/citadel<br> log_on_failure += USERID<br> disable = no<br>}<br></pre>
713 <p>Please make sure you know what you're doing before you install this! If
714 you are going to put Citadel somewhere other than <tt>/usr/local/citadel</tt>
715 then change the directory name accordingly. If you know of any other
716 local peculiarities which need to be observed, edit the above configuration
717 accordingly as well. And, of course, if you're working remotely, make
718 sure you can successfully log in using SSH before you start changing your
719 telnet configuration, otherwise you could lock yourself out of your system
720 (ask any networking specialist about the dangers of "working inline" --
721 then pull up a chair and get a fresh cup of coffee, because you're going
722 to hear some war stories).</p>
724 <h3><a name="Compiling_the_programs"></a>Compiling the programs</h3>
726 <p>You can easily compile the Citadel system with the following commands:</p>
728 <pre>./configure<br>make<br>make install<br></pre>
730 <p>The 'configure' script will generate a Makefile from the Makefile.in,
731 and it will also write the file "sysdep.h" to your Citadel directory. Please
732 do not edit sysdep.h or Makefile.in yourself. The configure script will
733 figure out your system dependencies and set everything correctly.</p>
735 <p>Mac OS X 10.1 and later are now supported. (Sorry, 10.0 cannot be supported,
736 now or in the future.) You need to install the Developer Tools CD, which
737 you can purchase or download for free from <a
738 href="http://developer.apple.com">http://developer.apple.com</a>. Then run
739 configure like this:</p>
741 <pre>env CC=/usr/bin/cc ./configure (options - see below)<br></pre>
743 <p>By default, the Citadel system will install in <tt>/usr/local/citadel</tt>.
744 If you wish to place it in a different directory, you can instead do:</p>
746 <pre>./configure --prefix=/export/home/citadel (or whatever)<br></pre>
748 <p>If you've got Berkeley DB installed in a non-standard location, you can
749 help the configure script find it by doing something like this:</p>
751 <pre>./configure --with-db=/usr/local/BerkeleyDB-4.1<br></pre>
753 <p>The configure script prefers Berkeley DB if it is available, but will fall
754 back to GDBM if it has to.</p>
756 <p>File permissions are always a bother to work with. You don't want Citadel
757 to crash because someone couldn't access a file, but you also don't want
758 shell users peeking into the binaries to do things like reading others'
759 mail, finding private rooms, etc. The Citadel server needs to be started
760 as root in order to bind to privileged ports, but as soon as its initialization
761 is finished, it changes its user ID to your BBS user ID in order to avoid
764 <h3><a name="Upgrading"></a></h3>
768 <p>Any existing Citadel installation which is at version 5.50 or newer may
769 be upgraded in place without the need to discard your existing data files.</p>
771 <p>Upgrading to a new version uses the same build procedure as compiling
772 the program for a fresh install, except that you want to do <tt>make install-exec</tt>
773 instead of <tt>make install</tt>. This will overwrite the programs but
774 not your data. <b>Be sure to shut down citserver during this process!</b>
775 If Citadel is running while you upgrade, you may face data corruption issues.<br>
778 <p>After doing <tt>make install-exec</tt>, you should run <tt>setup</tt>
779 again to bring your data files up to date. Please see the setup section
780 below for more information on this.</p>
782 <h3><a name="The_citadel.rc_file"></a>The <tt>citadel.rc</tt> file</h3>
784 <p>The text-based client included with Citadel is suitable for BBS applications.
785 Much of its command set and other behavior is configurable through a Run
786 Control (RC) file. The standard client looks for this file in the following
790 <li><tt>$HOME/.citadelrc</tt></li>
791 <li><tt>/usr/local/lib/citadel.rc</tt></li>
792 <li><i>your-Citadel-directory</i><tt>/citadel.rc</tt></li>
795 The next couple of sections deal with client-side configuration.
797 <h3><a name="Using_an_external_editor_for_message"></a>Using an external editor
798 for message composition</h3>
800 <p>Citadel/UX has a built-in message editor. However, you can also use your
801 favorite text editor to write messages. To do this you simply put a line
802 in your citadel.rc file like this:</p>
804 <pre>editor=/usr/bin/vi<br></pre>
806 <p>The above example would make Citadel call the vi editor when using the
807 <tt><b>.E</b>nter <b>E</b>ditor</tt> command. You can also make it the
808 default editor for the <tt><b>E</b>nter</tt> command by editing the <tt>citadel.rc</tt>
809 file. <b>But be warned:</b> external editors on public systems can be
810 a security hole, because they usually provide users with the ability to
811 drop into a shell on the host system, or save files using names other than
812 the name of the temporary file they are editing. If you intend to use an
813 external editor on a public BBS, make sure you use one that has been hardened
814 for such a purpose -- one which has had the 'shell' and 'save as' commands
815 disabled, as well as any other functions which a destructive user could
816 use to gain unauthorized access to your host system.</p>
818 <h3><a name="Printing_messages"></a>Printing messages</h3>
820 <p>Citadel/UX can send messages to a printer, or just about anywhere else
821 in your system. The variable <tt>PRINTCMD</tt> in <tt>citadel.rc</tt>
822 specifies what command you use to print. Text is sent to the standard input
823 (stdin) of the print command.</p>
825 <p>So if you did this:</p>
827 <pre>printcmd="nl|pr|lpr -Plocal"<br></pre>
829 <p>...that would add line numbers, then paginate, then print on the printer
830 named "local". There's tons of stuff you can do with this feature. For
831 example, you could use a command like <tt>cat <<$HOME/archive</tt>
832 to save copies of important messages in a textfile. Again, this is probably
833 something you don't want to configure for a public BBS host -- most system
834 administrators don't want remote users sending arbitrary things to local
837 <h3><a name="URL_viewing"></a>URL viewing</h3>
839 <p>This is one more feature which is appropriate for local users. While reading
840 a message that has Internet URL's in it, you can select the <tt><b>U</b>RL-view</tt>
841 command, and it will perform some pre-defined action (usually, this is
842 to open up the URL in a web browser). For example:</p>
844 <pre>urlcmd=netscape -remote "openURL(%s)"<br></pre>
846 <p>In the above example, it would open up the URL in an open <a
847 href="http://www.netscape.com/download">Netscape</a> window.</p>
849 <h3><a name="Setup_and_login"></a></h3>
851 <h3>Setup and login</h3>
853 <p>Before logging in for the first time, you must run the setup program.
854 To begin this procedure, enter the following commands:</p>
856 <pre>cd /usr/local/citadel<br>./setup<br></pre>
858 <p>The setup program will guide you through a simple configuration procedure.
859 It will ask you what directory to place your data files in -- the default
860 is the current directory, which is usually the sensible thing to select.
861 If you want to run more than one instance of Citadel on the same host,
862 however, you can specify a different directory here -- just remember to
863 specify the directory name again when you start up the server later on.</p>
865 <p><tt>setup</tt> will then shut down the Citadel service if it is found to
868 <p>You will then be prompted for the name of the system administrator. This
869 is not merely a cosmetic option -- when you log in to your system a little
870 while from now, you'll log in with this name, and it will automatically
871 assign your account the highest access level.</p>
873 <p>Next, you will be prompted for the User ID of the Citadel account on your
874 host system. If you have an account called <tt>bbs</tt>, <tt>guest</tt>,
875 or <tt>citadel</tt>, that account's UID will be the default. If you
876 are upgrading or reconfiguring an existing system, the existing value
877 will be preserved.</p>
879 <p>Then you will be prompted for a server port number. This is the TCP port
880 which Citadel clients use to connect to your Citadel server. In almost
881 all cases, you want to use the default -- port 504, which is the official
882 port number assigned by the IANA for Citadel implementations.</p>
884 <p>The Citadel service will then be started, and you will see the following
887 <pre>Setup is finished. You may now log in.<br></pre>
889 <p>Setup is now complete, on most systems, anyway. Please see below to find
890 out if you need to do anything else:</p>
892 <h3><a name="Configuring_your_host_system_to_start"></a>Configuring your host
893 system to start the service</h3>
895 <p><b>Please note:</b> this topic involves modifications made to <tt>/etc/services</tt>
896 and <tt>/etc/inittab</tt> in order to configure your host system to automatically
897 start the Citadel service. <tt>setup</tt> will automatically perform these
898 steps if it can, and if you allow it to -- just answer 'Yes' when prompted,
899 and everything will be taken care of for you. If you answer 'No' -- or
900 if your system is a little bit odd (for example, BSD systems don't have
901 <tt>/etc/inittab</tt>) -- read this section and do what you need to in order
902 to get things configured.</p>
904 <p>Before you can use Citadel, you must define the "citadel" service to your
905 system. This is accomplished by adding a line to your /etc/services file
906 that looks something like this:</p>
908 <pre>citadel 504/tcp # Citadel/UX Server<br></pre>
910 <p>504 is the port number officially designated by the IANA for use by Citadel.
911 There should not be any need to use a different port number, unless you
912 are running multiple Citadels on the same computer and therefore need a
913 different port for each one.</p>
915 <p>The next step is to arrange for the server to start. The <tt>citserver</tt>
916 program is the main Citadel server. Before we cover the recommended method
917 of starting the server, let's examine its usage options:</p>
919 <pre>citserver [-hHomeDir] [-xDebugLevel] [-tTraceFile] [-d] [-f]<br></pre>
921 <p>The options are as follows:</p>
923 <p><tt>-hHomeDir</tt> - the directory your BBS data files live in. This should,
924 of course, be a directory that you've run the <tt>setup</tt> program against
925 to set up some data files. If a directory is not specified, the directory
926 name which was specified in the <tt>Makefile</tt> will be used.</p>
928 <p><tt>-xDebugLevel</tt> - Set the verbosity of trace messages printed. The
929 available debugging levels are: </p>
932 <li>1 - Internal errors (failed thread creation, malloc problems,
934 <li>2 - Network errors (broken sockets, failed socket creation)
936 <li>3 - Begin and end of sessions, startup/shutdown of server </li>
937 <li>5 - Server commands being sent from clients </li>
938 <li>7 - Entry and exit of various functions </li>
939 <li>8 - Entry and exit of critical sections </li>
940 <li>9 - Various debugging checkpoints (insanely verbose) </li>
944 <p><tt>-tTraceFile</tt> - Tell the server where to send its debug/trace output.
945 Normally it is sent to stdout.</p>
947 <p><tt>-d</tt> - Run as a daemon; i.e. in the background. This switch would
948 be necessary if you were starting the Citadel server, for example, from
949 an rc.local script (which is not recommended, because this won't allow
950 the server to automatically restart when it is shut down).</p>
952 <p><tt>-f</tt> - Defragment all the databases upon startup. This isn't normally
953 necessary due to the nature of the data stored in Citadel, but the option
954 is provided in case you need it. (Note that this only applies to GDBM
955 installations; if you are using Berkeley DB it has no effect.)</p>
957 <p>The preferred method of starting the Citadel server is to place an entry
958 in your /etc/inittab file. This will conveniently bring the server up
959 when your system is up, and terminate it gracefully when your system is
960 shutting down. The exact syntax for your system may vary, but here's an
961 entry that could be used on a Linux system:</p>
963 <pre>cit:2345:respawn:/usr/local/citadel/citserver -h/usr/local/citadel -t/dev/tty9 -x3<br></pre>
965 <p>In this example, we've chosen debugging level 3, and have the trace stuff
966 output to one of the virtual consoles. It's important to remember to turn
967 off any getty that is set up on that virtual console, if you do this.
968 After making this change, the command <tt>init q</tt> works on most systems
969 to tell init to re-read the file. If in doubt, just reboot the computer.</p>
971 <h3><a name="Logging_in_for_the_first_time"></a>Logging in for the first time</h3>
973 <p>At this point, your system is ready to run. Run the <tt>citadel</tt> program
974 from the shell and log in as a new user. NOTE: the first user account
975 to be created will automatically be set to access level 6 (Aide). This
976 overcomes some obvious logistical problems - normally, Aide access is given
977 by another Aide, but since there aren't any on your system yet, this isn't
980 <h3><a name="Welcoming_new_users"></a>Welcoming new users</h3>
982 <p>Sometimes you might decide that you want a welcome message (or several
983 different messages) automatically mailed to new users upon their first
984 login. Now there is a way to do this. If you create a room called <tt>New
985 User Greetings</tt>, and it is a <i>private</i> room (invitation-only probably
986 makes the most sense), any messages you enter into that room will automatically
987 be delivered to all new users upon registration.</p>
989 <p>You can put anything you want there: a welcome message, system policies,
990 special information, etc. You can also put as many messages there as you
991 want to (although it really doesn't make sense to clutter new users' mailboxes
992 with lots of junk).</p>
994 <p>Don't worry about wasting disk space, either. Citadel has a single-instance
995 message store, so all the new users are actually looking at the same copy
996 of the message on disk.</p>
998 <h3><a name="Space_for_adding_your_own_client"></a>Space for adding your own
999 client features (doors)</h3>
1001 <p><b>Please take note!</b> This function really represents the "old" way
1002 of doing things, and it doesn't fit in well with the client/server paradigm.
1003 Please consider it "deprecated" because it may be removed someday.</p>
1005 <p>The "doorway" feature is just a generic way to add features to the system.
1006 I called it "Doorway" to make it resemble the doors on non-Unix boards,
1007 but as we all know, us Unix types don't have to write special code to access
1008 the modem. :-) Anyway, when a user hits the <tt><b>*</b></tt> (doorway)
1009 command, Citadel does...</p>
1011 <pre>USERNAME=(username); export USERNAME<br>./subsystem (user-number) (screen-width) (access level)<br></pre>
1013 <p>...so you can put whatever you want in there. I suggest putting in a menu
1014 program to allow the users to pick one of a number of programs, etc. Do
1015 be aware that door programs will only be available when the client and server
1016 programs are running on the <i>same</i> computer, and when the user is running
1017 the text-mode client. Because of these restrictions, Door programs are being
1018 utilized less and less every day.</p>
1020 <h3><a name="Troubleshooting_and_getting_help"></a>Troubleshooting and getting
1023 <p>That's just about all the information you need to install the system.
1024 But if you get stuck, you can visit UNCENSORED! BBS and report a problem or
1025 ask for help. But if you intend to report a problem getting the Citadel server
1026 to run, <i>please</i> double-check the following things first: </p>
1029 <li>Did you do <tt>./configure && make && make install</tt>
1031 <li>Did you run setup? </li>
1032 <li>Did you start the server? </li>
1036 <p>To report a problem, you can log on to UNCENSORED! or any other BBS on
1037 the Citadel network which carries the <tt>Citadel/UX></tt> room. Please
1038 DO NOT e-mail the developers directly. Post a request for help on the
1039 BBS, with all of the following information: </p>
1042 <li>The exact nature of your difficulty </li>
1043 <li>A transcript of the error message(s) if possible </li>
1044 <li>The version of Citadel you are running </li>
1045 <li>The version of Berkeley DB present on your system </li>
1046 <li>Which operating system you are running, and what version </li>
1047 <li>If you are running a Linux system, we need to know which distribution,
1048 and the version of the kernel, libc, and pthreads you are using (it would
1049 help to post the output of a <tt>ldd ./citserver</tt> command). </li>
1054 <div align="center">
1055 <hr width="100%" size="2">
1056 <h2><a name="sysop"></a>System Administration</h2>
1059 <div align="justify">
1060 <h3><a name="Overview_"></a>Overview</h3>
1062 <p>Citadel/UX, when installed properly, will do most of its maintenance by
1063 itself. It is intended to be run unattended for extended periods of
1064 time, and most installations do just that without any software failures.</p>
1066 <p>The system has seven access levels. Most users are at the bottom and have
1067 no special privileges. Aides are selected people who have special access within
1068 the Citadel program. Room Aides only have this access in a certain room.
1069 Preferred users can be selected by Aides for access to preferred only rooms.
1070 A sysop is anyone who has access to the various sysop utilities - these
1071 are in their own executable files, which should have their permissions set
1072 to allow only sysops to run them. You should either create a sysops group
1073 in /etc/group, or use some other existing group for this purpose.</p>
1075 <p>Aides have access to EVERY room on the system, public and private (all
1076 types). They also have access to commands starting with <tt>.<b>A</b>ide</tt>
1077 in addition to being able to delete and move messages. The system room,
1078 <tt>Aide></tt>, is accessible only by those users designated as Aides.</p>
1080 <h3><a name="Aide_commands"></a>Aide commands</h3>
1082 <p>Aides have the following commands available to them that are not available
1083 to normal users. They are:</p>
1088 <td width="30%"><tt> .<b>A</b>ide <b>K</b>ill this room </tt></td>
1089 <td> Deletes the current room from the system. </td>
1092 <td width="30%"><tt> .<b>A</b>ide <b>E</b>dit this room </tt></td>
1093 <td> Allows editing of the properties of the current room.
1094 This is explained in greater detail below. </td>
1097 <td width="30%"><tt> .<b>A</b>ide <b>W</b>ho knows room </tt></td>
1098 <td> For private rooms with access controls, or mailbox rooms,
1099 this command displays a list of users who have access to the current room.
1103 <td width="30%"><tt> .<b>A</b>ide edit <b>U</b>ser </tt></td>
1104 <td> Allows editing of the properties of any user account on
1108 <td width="30%"><tt> .<b>A</b>ide <b>V</b>alidate new users
1110 <td> For public access systems, this command reviews all new
1111 user registrations and allows you to set each new user's access level (or
1112 simply delete the accounts). </td>
1115 <td width="30%"><tt> .<b>A</b>ide enter <b>I</b>nfo file </tt></td>
1116 <td> Each room may contain a short textual description of its
1117 purpose, which is displayed to users upon entering the room for the first
1118 time (or in the room banner, for users of the Web client). This command
1119 allows you to enter or edit that description. </td>
1122 <td width="30%"><tt> .<b>A</b>ide <b>R</b>oom <b>I</b>nvite
1124 <td> Access control command to grant any specific user access
1125 to a private room. </td>
1128 <td width="30%"><tt> .<b>A</b>ide <b>R</b>oom <b>K</b>ick out
1130 <td> Access control command to revoke any specifc user's access
1131 to the current room. This works regardless of whether the room is public
1135 <td width="30%"><tt> .<b>A</b>ide <b>F</b>ile <b>D</b>elete
1137 <td> If the current room has an associated file directory, this
1138 command may be used to delete files from it. </td>
1141 <td width="30%"><tt> .<b>A</b>ide <b>F</b>ile <b>S</b>end over
1143 <td> If the current room has an associated file directory, this
1144 command may be used to transmit a copy of any file in that directory to
1145 another node on a Citadel network. </td>
1148 <td width="30%"><tt> .<b>A</b>ide <b>F</b>ile <b>M</b>ove </tt></td>
1149 <td> If the current room has an associated file directory, this
1150 command may be used to move any file in that directory to another room.
1151 The target room must also have an associated file directory. </td>
1154 <td width="30%"><tt> .<b>A</b>ide <b>M</b>essage edit </tt></td>
1155 <td> This command allows editing of any of the various system
1156 banners and messages which are displayed to users. Type the name of the
1157 banner or message you wish to edit. </td>
1160 <td width="30%"><tt> .<b>A</b>ide <b>P</b>ost </tt></td>
1161 <td> This is the functional equivalent of the <tt><b>E</b>nter
1162 message</tt> command available to all users, except that it allows you
1163 to post using any user name. </td>
1166 <td width="30%"><tt> .<b>A</b>ide <b>S</b>ystem configuration
1167 <b>G</b>eneral </tt></td>
1168 <td> This command allows configuration of a large number of
1169 global settings for your Citadel system. These settings will be explained
1170 in greater detail below. </td>
1173 <td width="30%"><tt> .<b>A</b>ide <b>S</b>ystem configuration
1174 <b>I</b>nternet </tt></td>
1175 <td> This command allows configuration of settings which affect
1176 how your Citadel system sends and receives messages on the Internet. </td>
1179 <td width="30%"><tt> .<b>A</b>ide <b>S</b>ystem configuration
1180 check <b>M</b>essage base </tt></td>
1181 <td> Perform a consistency check on your message store. This
1182 is a very time-consuming operation which should not be performed unless
1183 you have reason to believe there is trouble with your database. </td>
1186 <td width="30%"><tt> .<b>A</b>ide <b>S</b>ystem configuration
1187 <b>N</b>etwork </tt></td>
1188 <td> Configure networking (e-mail, room sharing, etc.) with
1189 other Citadel nodes. </td>
1192 <td width="30%"><tt> .<b>A</b>ide <b>S</b>ystem configuration
1193 network <b>F</b>ilter list </tt></td>
1194 <td> If you are on a large public or semi-public network of
1195 Citadel nodes and you find content from certain systems or individuals
1196 objectionable, you can use this command to define a rule set to automatically
1197 reject those messages when they arrive on your system. </td>
1200 <td width="30%"><tt> .<b>A</b>ide <b>T</b>erminate server <b>N</b>ow
1202 <td> Immediately shut down the Citadel service, disconnecting
1203 any users who are logged in. Please keep in mind that it will start right
1204 back up again if you are running the service from <tt>/etc/inittab</tt>,
1205 so in practice this command will probably not get much use. </td>
1208 <td width="30%"><tt> .<b>A</b>ide <b>T</b>erminate server <b>S</b>cheduled
1210 <td> Shut down the Citadel service the next time there are zero
1211 users connected. This allows you to automatically wait until all users
1212 are logged out. </td>
1215 <td width="30%"><tt> .<b>A</b>ide mailing <b>L</b>ist recipients
1217 <td> Any room may be made into a mailing list. Enter this command
1218 to open an editor window containing the list of Internet e-mail addresses
1219 to which every message posted in the room will be sent. </td>
1222 <td width="30%"><tt> .<b>A</b>ide mailing list <b>D</b>igest
1223 recipients </tt></td>
1224 <td> Similar to the regular mailing list command, except the
1225 messages will be sent out in 'digest' form -- recipients will see messages
1226 from the address of the room itself rather than the address of the author
1227 of each message, and a digest may contain more than one message. Each room
1228 may have any combination of List and Digest recipients. </td>
1231 <td width="30%"><tt> .<b>A</b>ide <b>N</b>etwork room sharing
1233 <td> Configures the sharing of the current room's contents with
1234 other Citadel nodes. Messages posted in this room on any Citadel system
1235 will automatically be replicated to other Citadel systems carrying the
1242 <h3><a name="Editing_rooms"></a>Editing rooms</h3>
1244 <p>This command allows any aide to change the parameters of a room. Go to
1245 the room you wish to edit and enter the <tt><b>.A</b>ide <b>E</b>dit
1246 room</tt> command. A series of prompts will be displayed. The existing
1247 parameters will be displayed in brackets; simply press return if you want
1248 to leave any or all of them unchanged.</p>
1250 <pre> <br>Room name [IG's Fun Room]:<br></pre>
1252 <p>...the name of the room.</p>
1254 <pre>Private room [Yes]? <br></pre>
1256 <p>...enter Yes if you wish to restrict access to the room, or no if the room
1257 is to be accessible by all users. Note that Citadel doesn't bother users
1258 about access to rooms every time they need to access the room. Once a user
1259 gains access to a private room, it then behaves like a public room to them.
1260 The following four questions will only be asked if you selected Private...</p>
1262 <pre>Accessible by guessing room name [No]?<br></pre>
1264 <p>...if you enter Yes, the room will not show up in users' <tt><b>K</b>nown
1265 rooms</tt> listing, but if they <tt><b>.G</b>oto</tt> the room (typing
1266 the room's full name), they will gain access to the room.</p>
1268 <pre>Accessible by entering a password [No]?<br>Room password [mypasswd]: <br></pre>
1270 <p>...this adds an additional layer of security to the room, prompting users
1271 for a password before they can gain access to the room.</p>
1273 <p>If you did not select guessname or passworded, then the only way users
1274 can access the room is if an Aide explicitly invites them to the room using
1275 the <tt><b>.A</b>ide <b>R</b>oom <b>I</b>nvite user</tt> command.</p>
1277 <pre>Cause current users to forget room [No] ? No<br></pre>
1279 <p>Enter Yes if you wish to kick out anyone who currently has access to the
1282 <pre>Preferred users only [No]? No<br></pre>
1284 <p>Enter Yes if you wish to restrict the room to only users who have level
1285 5 (Preferred User) status (and Aides too, of course). You should make
1286 the room public if you intend to do this, otherwise the two restrictions
1287 will be COMBINED.</p>
1289 <pre>Read-only room [No]? No<br></pre>
1291 <p>If you set a room to Read-Only, then normal users will not be allowed to
1292 post messages in it. Messages may only be posted by Aides, and by utility
1293 programs such as the networker and the "aidepost" utility. This is useful
1294 in situations where a room is used exclusively for important announcements,
1295 or if you've set up a room to receive an Internet mailing list and posting
1296 wouldn't make sense. Other uses will, of course, become apparent as
1297 the need arises.</p>
1299 <p>Now for a few other attributes...</p>
1301 <pre>Directory room [Yes]? Yes<br></pre>
1303 <p>...enter Yes if you wish to associate a directory with this room. This
1304 can be used as a small file repository for files relevant to the topic
1305 of the room. If you enter Yes, you will also be prompted with the following
1308 <pre>Directory name [mydirname]: <br></pre>
1310 <p>...the name of the subdirectory to put this room's files in. The name
1311 of the directory created will be <tt><i><your BBS directory></i>/files/<i><room
1312 dir name></i></tt>.</p>
1314 <pre>Uploading allowed [Yes]? Yes<br></pre>
1316 <p>...enter Yes if users are allowed to upload to this room.</p>
1318 <pre>Downloading allowed [Yes]? Yes<br></pre>
1320 <p>...enter Yes if users are allowed to download from this room.</p>
1322 <pre>Visible directory [Yes]? Yes<br></pre>
1324 <p>...enter Yes if users can read the directory of this room.</p>
1326 <pre>Network shared room [No]? No<br></pre>
1328 <p>...you can share a room over a network without setting this flag, and
1329 vice versa, but what this flag does is twofold: </p>
1332 <li>It prevents people with no network access from entering messages
1334 <li>Messages are displayed with the name of their originating system
1335 in the header. </li>
1339 <pre>Permanent room [No]? No<br></pre>
1341 <p>Citadel contains an 'auto purger' which is capable of removing rooms which
1342 have not been posted in for a pre-defined period of time (by default
1343 this is set to two weeks). If you wish to keep this from happening to
1344 a particular room, you can set this option. (Keep in mind that <tt>Lobby></tt>,
1345 <tt>Aide></tt>, any private mailbox rooms, any network shared rooms,
1346 and any rooms with a file directory are automatically permanent.)</p>
1348 <pre>Anonymous messages [No]? No<br>Ask users whether to make messages anonymous [No]? No<br></pre>
1350 <p>...you can have rooms in which all messages are automatically anonymous,
1351 and you can have rooms in which users are prompted whether to make a
1352 message anonymous when they enter it. The real identity of the author
1353 of each message is still revealed to the Room Aide for this room, as well
1354 as any system-wide Aides.</p>
1356 <pre>Room aide [Joe Responsible]: <br></pre>
1358 <p>...on larger systems, it helps to designate a person to be responsible
1359 for a room. Room Aides have access to a restricted set of Aide commands,
1360 ONLY when they are in the room in which they have this privilege. They
1361 can edit the room, delete the room, delete and move messages, and invite
1362 or kick out users (if it is a private room), but they cannot perform aide
1363 commands that are not room-related (such as changing users access levels).</p>
1365 <pre>Listing order [64]: <br></pre>
1367 <p>This is just a simple way to try to control the order rooms are listed
1368 in when users call up a <tt><b>K</b>nown Rooms</tt> listing. Rooms with
1369 a lower listing order are displayed prior to rooms with a higher listing
1370 order. It has no other effect. For users who list rooms in floor order,
1371 the display will sort first by floor, then by listing order.</p>
1373 <pre>Message expire policy (? for list) [0]:<br></pre>
1375 <p>This provides you with the opportunity to select how long each message
1376 will remain in a room before automatically being deleted. Press <tt><b>?</b></tt>
1377 for a list of options. You can choose to keep messages around forever
1378 (or until they are manually deleted), until they become a certain number
1379 of days old, or until a certain number of additional messages are posted
1380 in the room, at which time the oldest ones will scroll out.</p>
1382 <p>You will notice that you can also fall back to the default expire policy
1383 for the floor upon which the room resides. This is the default setting.
1384 You can change the floor's default with the <tt><b>;A</b>ide <b>E</b>dit
1385 floor</tt> command. The default setting for the floor default, in turn,
1386 is the system default setting, which can be changed using the <tt><b>.A</b>ide
1387 <b>S</b>ystem configuration <b>G</b>eneral</tt> command.</p>
1389 <pre>Save changes (y/n)? Yes<br></pre>
1391 <p>...this gives you an opportunity to back out, if you feel you really messed
1392 things up while editing.</p>
1394 <h3><a name="File_directories"></a>File directories</h3>
1396 <p>If you have created any directory rooms, you can attach file descriptions
1397 to the filenames through a special file called <tt>filedir</tt>. Each line
1398 contains the name of a file in the directory, followed by a space and
1399 then a description of the file, such as:</p>
1401 <pre>myfile.txt This is a description of my file.<br>phluff A phile phull of phluff!<br></pre>
1403 <p>...this would create file descriptions for the files <tt>myfile.txt</tt>
1404 and <tt>phluff</tt> which would be displayed along with the directory.
1405 It should also be noted that when users upload files to your system, they
1406 will be prompted for file descriptions, which will be added to the <tt>filedir</tt>
1407 file. If one does not exist, it will be created.</p>
1409 <h3><a name="Creating_and_editing_user_accounts"></a>Creating and editing
1412 <p>Anyone with Aide level access may use the <tt><b>.A</b>ide edit <b>U</b>ser</tt>
1413 command to create and/or edit user accounts. There are several parameters
1414 which can be set here.</p>
1416 <p>To create a user:</p>
1418 <pre>Lobby> . Aide edit User <br>User name: New User Name<br>No such user.<br>Do you want to create this user? Yes<br></pre>
1420 <p>At this point, the new user account has been created, and the command will
1421 continue as if you were editing an existing account. Therefore the remainder
1422 of this procedure is the same for creating and editing:</p>
1424 <pre>Lobby> . Aide edit User <br>User name: person of significance<br>User #70 - Person of Significance PW: <br> <br><br>, <br> <br> <br><br>Current access level: 4 (Network User)<br></pre>
1426 <p>The blank lines are the user's 'registration' information -- personal
1427 information such as full name, address, telephone number, etc. This information
1428 will comprise the user's vCard in both their user profile and in the Global
1431 <pre>Change password [No]: No<br></pre>
1433 <p>...answer Yes to set or change the password for this account.</p>
1435 <pre>Access level [4]: <br></pre>
1437 <p>...this allows you to set or change the access level for this account.
1438 The access levels available are as follows: </p>
1441 <li>0 - Deleted. (This immediately deletes the account.) </li>
1442 <li>1 - New, unvalidated user </li>
1443 <li>2 - Problem user (severely restricts account - use for probationary
1445 <li>3 - User with no network privileges. Same access as a normal
1446 user except cannot post messages in rooms shared on a network. </li>
1447 <li>4 - Normal user </li>
1448 <li>5 - Preferred user (access is granted to privileged rooms) </li>
1449 <li>6 - Aide (administrative access to the whole system) </li>
1453 <pre>Permission to send/receive Internet mail [ No]? No<br></pre>
1455 <p>If your system is configured to only allow Internet mail privileges to
1456 certain users, this is where you can grant or revoke that privilege.</p>
1458 <pre>Ask user to register again [Yes]: Yes<br></pre>
1460 <p>If you answer Yes to this question, the user will be presented with a
1461 'registration' screen or set of prompts, the next time they log in using
1462 a Citadel client. This will prompt them for their full name, address, telephone
1465 <pre>Times called [0]: <br>Messages posted [0]: <br></pre>
1467 <p>These statistics are available for informational purposes only, so there
1468 is normally no need to change them.</p>
1470 <pre>Set last call to now [No]: No<br>Purge time (in days, 0 for system default [0]: <br></pre>
1472 <p>Citadel contains an auto-purger which is capable of automatically deleting
1473 accounts which have not been accessed in a predefined period of time.
1474 If you choose to perform this operation, you can 'touch' the account of
1475 a wayward user by setting their 'last call' time to 'now'. You can also
1476 adjust, on a per-user basis, the amount of time which must pass before
1477 their account is purged by the system. This time is set in days. You
1478 can also specify 0 days to indicate that you wish to use the system default
1481 <h3><a name="Deleting_and_moving_messages"></a>Deleting and moving messages</h3>
1483 <p>Aides and Room Aides have the ability to delete and move messages. After
1484 each message, the normal prompt appears:</p>
1486 <pre>(8) <B>ack <A>gain <Q>uote <R>eply <N>ext <S>top m<Y> next <?>help -><br></pre>
1488 <p>Entering <tt><b>D</b>elete</tt> will delete the message. A <tt>(y/n)</tt>
1489 prompt will appear to confirm that you really want to delete the message.
1490 Entering <tt><b>M</b>ove</tt> will prompt for a room to which the message
1491 should be moved.</p>
1493 <h3><a name="Customizing_the_help_files"></a>Customizing the help files</h3>
1495 <p>The subdirectory called <tt>help</tt> contains your system's help files.
1496 There's nothing hard-coded into the system that dictates what files should
1497 be there. Whenever a user types the command <tt><b>.H</b>elp</tt> followed
1498 by the name of a help file, it displays the contents of that help file.</p>
1500 <p>The help files that come with the system, of course, are enough to guide
1501 a user through its operation. But you can add, change, or remove help
1502 files to suit whatever is appropriate for your system.</p>
1504 <p>There are several strings that you can put in help files that will be automatically
1505 substituted with other strings. They are:</p>
1507 <pre> <br> ^nodename = The node name of your system on a Citadel/UX network<br> ^humannode = Human-readable node name (also your node name on C86Net)<br> ^fqdn = Your system's fully-qualified domain name<br> ^username = The name of the user reading the help file<br> ^usernum = The user number of the user reading the help file<br> ^sysadm = The name of the system administraor (i.e., you)<br> ^variantname = The name of the BBS software you're running<br> ^bbsdir = The directory on the host system in which you have<br> installed the Citadel system.<br></pre>
1509 <p>So, for example, you could create a help file which looked like:</p>
1511 <pre> "Lots of help, of course, is available right here on ^humannode. Of<br>course, if you still have trouble, you could always bug ^sysadm about it!"<br></pre>
1513 <h3><a name="Site_configuration"></a>Site configuration</h3>
1515 <p>Once your Citadel server is up and running, the first thing you'll want
1516 to do is customize and tune it. This can be done from the text-based client
1517 with the <tt><b>.A</b>ide <b>S</b>ystem configuration <b>G</b>eneral</tt>
1518 command, or from WebCit (if you have it installed) by clicking 'Advanced
1519 Options' followed by 'Edit site-wide configuration.' Either method will
1520 offer the same configuration options. This document shows the text mode
1521 client being used.</p>
1523 <p>The first set of options deal with the identification of your system.</p>
1525 <pre>Lobby> . Aide System configuration General<br>Node name [uncnsrd]: <br>Fully qualified domain name [uncensored.citadel.org]: <br>Human readable node name [Uncensored]: <br>Modem dialup number [US 914 999 9999]: <br>Geographic location of this system [Mount Kisco, NY]: <br>Name of system administrator [IGnatius T Foobar]: <br>Paginator prompt [<jinkies
1526 !="" more="" text="" on="" the="" next="" screen="">]: <br></jinkies></pre>
1528 <p>'Node name' refers to the short, unqualified node name by which your system
1529 is known on a Citadel network. Generally it will be the same as the unqualified
1530 host name of your computer; this is, in fact, the default setting.</p>
1532 <p>Then enter the fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) of your system. If you
1533 are not on the Internet, you can simply set it to the same as your unqualified
1534 host name. Otherwise you should set this value to the host name by which
1535 your system is most commonly known.</p>
1537 <p>The field called 'Human-readable node name' (also known as the 'node title'
1538 or 'organization name' in other software) is used solely for display purposes.
1539 Set it to the actual name of your system as you want it to appear in banners,
1542 <p>If you have a modem or bank of modems answering data calls for your system,
1543 enter it in the field marked 'Modem dialup number.' Otherwise you may
1546 <p>'Geographic location of this system' is another display field. Enter a
1547 city and state, or city and country. </p>
1549 <p>'Name of system administrator' is important! Any user who logs on with
1550 the name you enter here will automatically be granted Aide privileges.
1551 This is one of two ways for the system administrator to grant himself/herself
1552 Aide access to the system when initially setting it up. (The other is simply
1553 to have the first account created on a new installation.)</p>
1555 <p>The next set of options are your system's security settings. Before delving
1556 into the actual options, we should review the various access levels available
1557 on the system. Citadel has seven access levels:</p>
1560 <li>0 (Deleted). A user whose access level is set to 0 will automatically
1561 be deleted by the system. </li>
1562 <li>1 (New User). Users at this level may only read messages.
1563 Entering messages is prohibited, except in the <tt>Mail></tt> room,
1564 where a message to 'sysop' may be entered. </li>
1565 <li>2 (Problem User). Also known as 'Twit.' </li>
1566 <li>3 (Local User). May enter messages, except in rooms shared
1567 on a Citadel network. </li>
1568 <li>4 (Network User). May enter messages in every accessible room.
1570 <li>5 (Preferred User). Use of this level is up to the whim of
1571 the system administrator. </li>
1572 <li>6 (Aide). Access is granted to the administrative functions
1573 of the system. (This access level may also be granted to a user only for
1574 a specific room, please see 'Room Aide' for more information.) </li>
1578 <pre>Require registration for new users [No]: No<br>Disable self-service user account creation [No]: No<br>Initial access level for new users [4]:<br>Access level required to create rooms [4]: <br>Automatically give room aide privs to a user who creates a private room [No]: No<br><br>Automatically move problem user messages to twit room [Yes]: Yes<br>Name of twit room [Trashcan]: <br>Restrict Internet mail to only those with that privilege [No]: No<br>Allow Aides to Zap (forget) rooms [Yes]: Yes<br>Allow system Aides access to user mailboxes [Yes]: Yes<br>Log all pages [No]: No<br></pre>
1580 <p>'Registration' refers to the process of a user entering various personal
1581 contact information (real name, address, telephone number, etc.) into
1582 the system. When enabled, this information is stored as a vCard object
1583 on the system in two places: the user's <tt>My Citadel Config></tt> room,
1584 and in the <tt>Global Address Book></tt> room. (Note: the latter should
1585 be made private on publicly-accessible systems, for obvious reasons.)</p>
1587 <p>If you answer Yes to 'Require registration for new users' then each new
1588 user, upon creating a new account, will immediately be entered into the
1589 registration process. On the other hand, if you answer Yes to 'Disable
1590 self-service user account creation' then new users will not be able to log
1591 in at all -- all accounts must be created by an Aide.</p>
1593 <p>'Initial access level for new users' should be set to 1 (New User) if you
1594 would like to review each new user's registration info before granting
1595 them higher access. This would be done periodically with the <tt><b>.A</b>ide
1596 <b>V</b>alidate new users</tt> command. If you do not require registration,
1597 you should set the initial access level to 4 (Network User).</p>
1599 <p>Given the above options, it then becomes clear that there are generally
1600 two ways you can set up your Citadel system, depending on its purpose:</p>
1603 <li><b>A public access BBS or message board</b> - since you do not
1604 know who might want to log in, self-service account creation needs to
1605 stay enabled. If you want to be strict about users identifying themselves,
1606 then you should also require users to register (just remember to post
1607 a privacy policy if you're going to collect personal information) -- then
1608 set the initial access level to 1 (New User), so new users cannot post messages
1609 until after you've validated them. For a more lax environment, you can
1610 remove the registration requirement and grant new accounts level 4 (Normal
1611 User) access on the first visit. </li>
1612 <li><b>A private email/groupware system for your organization</b>
1613 - in this case, disable self-service account creation; you don't want
1614 strangers welcoming themselves to your system. You'll probably also want
1615 to disable registration, because you or some other site administrator
1616 will be entering users' contact info when you create their accounts.
1617 Since this is also how you assign their Internet e-mail addresses, it's
1618 probably a good idea to do it yourself instead of expecting them to do it.
1623 <p>'Access level required to create rooms' is up to you. You might wish to
1624 restrict the creation of new rooms only to Aides, or you might wish to allow
1625 anyone to create a room. The latter is one of the Citadel culture's most
1626 long-standing traditions; the former may be appropriate if users are abusing
1629 <p>You have the ability to 'Automatically give room aide privs to a user who
1630 creates a private room.' If you answer Yes, then any user who creates a
1631 guess-name, passworded, or invitation-only room will automatically become
1632 the room aide, and will have access to a subset of the <tt><b>.A</b>ide</tt>
1633 command set while in that room. If you would rather grant this permission
1634 manually, answer No.</p>
1636 <p>Another tradition in the Citadel culture is to refrain from deleting
1637 problem users, but instead to 'twit' them (reduce their access level to 2
1638 [Problem User]). You can then 'Automatically move problem user messages
1639 to twit room' (answer Yes, then specify 'Name of twit room' and remember
1640 to create that room). If you employ this logic, any user with level 2 (Problem
1641 User) access will continue to have access to the same set of rooms, but all
1642 messages posted will automatically be routed to the Trashcan (or whatever
1643 you call your twit room).</p>
1645 <p>If you have Internet mail configured, you have the option of restricting
1646 its use on a user-by-user basis. If you wish to do this, answer Yes to
1647 'Restrict Internet mail to only those with that privilege.' Obviously this
1648 makes no sense for an internal e-mail system, but for a public BBS it might
1651 <p>Normally, Aides have access to every room, public or private, except for
1652 user mailboxes. They are also forbidden from <tt><b>Z</b>ap</tt>ping rooms,
1653 because the review of content is considered one of their roles. If you
1654 wish to change these policies, the next two options allow you to. You
1655 may 'Allow Aides to Zap (forget) rooms', in which case they may use the
1656 <tt><b>Z</b>ap</tt> command just like any other user. Furthermore, if
1657 you 'Allow system Aides access to user mailboxes', then they may <tt><b>.G</b>oto</tt>
1658 any private mailbox belonging to any user, using a special room name format.</p>
1660 <p>If your local security and/or privacy policy dictates that you keep a
1661 log of all pages (instant messages) that go through the system, then answer
1662 Yes to 'Log all pages'. If you answer Yes, you will be prompted for the
1663 name of a room to which all pages will be logged. If you answer No, then
1664 only the sender and recipient of each individual message will receive a copy.</p>
1666 <p>The next set of options deals with the tuning of your system. It is usually
1667 safe to leave these untouched.</p>
1669 <pre>Server connection idle timeout (in seconds) [900]: <br>Maximum concurrent sessions [20]: <br>Maximum message length [2147483647]: <br>Minimum number of worker threads [5]: <br>Maximum number of worker threads [256]: <br></pre>
1671 <p>The 'Server connection idle timeout' is for the connection between client
1672 and server software. It is <b>not</b> an idle timer for the user interface.
1673 900 seconds (15 minutes) is the default and a sane setting.</p>
1675 <p>'Maximum concurrent sessions' is the highest number of user sessions you
1676 wish to allow on your system at any given time. Citadel can scale to
1677 hundreds of concurrent users, but if you have limited hardware or (more
1678 likely) limited bandwidth, you might wish to set a maximum. You can also
1679 set it to zero for no limit.</p>
1681 <p>'Maximum message length' is just that. This could be a good way to prevent
1682 enormous multimedia files from finding their way into your message base.
1683 This maximum is enforced in all protocols and is also advertised by the
1686 <p>The minimum and maximum number of worker threads can be tuned to your
1687 liking. Citadel will attempt to keep one worker thread running per session,
1688 within these constraints. You should be aware that due to the use of the
1689 worker thread model, Citadel can handle a large number of concurrent sessions
1690 with a much smaller thread pool. If you don't know the programming theory
1691 behind multithreaded servers, you should leave these parameters alone.</p>
1693 <p>The next set of options affect how Citadel behaves on a network.</p>
1695 <pre>How often to run network jobs (in seconds) [3600]: <br>SMTP server port (-1 to disable) [25]: <br>POP3 server port (-1 to disable) [110]:<br>IMAP server port (-1 to disable) [143]:<br></pre>
1697 <p>'How often to run network jobs' refers to the sharing of content on a
1698 Citadel network. If your system is on a Citadel network, this configuration
1699 item dictates how often the Citadel server will contact other Citadel servers
1700 to send and receive messages. In reality, this will happen more frequently
1701 than you specify, because other Citadel servers will be contacting yours
1702 at regular intervals as well.</p>
1704 <p>Then you can specify TCP port numbers for the SMTP, POP3, and IMAP services.
1705 For a system being used primarily for Internet e-mail, these are essential,
1706 so you'll want to specify the standard port numbers: 25, 110, and 143.
1707 If Citadel is running alongside some other mail system, though, then you
1708 might want to choose other, unused port numbers, or enter -1 for any protocol
1709 to disable it entirely.</p>
1711 <p>The final set of options configures system-wide defaults for the auto-purger:</p>
1713 <pre>Default user purge time (days) [120]: <br>Default room purge time (days) [30]: <br>System default message expire policy (? for list) [2]: <br>Keep how many messages online? [150]:<br></pre>
1715 <p>Any user who does not log in for the period specified in 'Default user
1716 purge time' will be deleted the next time a purge is run. This setting
1717 may be modified on a per-user basis.</p>
1719 <p>'Default room purge time' behaves the same way, and may also be modified
1720 on a per-room basis.</p>
1722 <p>'System default message expire policy' defines the way in which old messages
1723 are expired (purged) off the system. You can specify any of:</p>
1726 <li>Purge by age (specify in days) </li>
1727 <li>Purge by message count in the room (specify number of messages)
1729 <li>Do not purge at all </li>
1733 <p>Again, this setting may be overridden on a per-floor basis, and the floor
1734 setting may be overridden on a per-room basis.</p>
1736 <pre>Save this configuration? No<br></pre>
1738 <p>When you're done, enter 'Yes' to confirm the changes, or 'No' to discard
1742 <hr width="100%" size="2">
1743 <h2 align="center"><a name="Configuring_Citadel_for_Internet_e-mail"></a>Configuring
1744 Citadel for Internet e-mail</h2>
1746 <div align="justify">
1747 <h3><a name="Introduction"></a>Introduction</h3>
1748 As you know by now, Citadel is a completely self-contained, full-featured
1749 Internet e-mail system. When you run Citadel you do not need any other
1750 mail software on your host system. This eliminates the need for tedious
1751 mucking about with sendmail, qmail, postfix, Cyrus, the UW IMAP server,
1752 or any of countless other needlessly complex programs that lead some people
1753 to the false assumption that Unix systems are difficult to administer.<br>
1755 Some of the many features supported by Citadel are:<br>
1758 <li>Built-in SMTP and ESMTP service, for delivering and receiving
1759 e-mail on the Internet</li>
1760 <li>Built-in POP3 service, for remote fetching of messages</li>
1761 <li>Built-in IMAP service, for access to mail using any standard mail
1763 <li>Web mail (implemented using the "WebCit" middleware, which is
1764 installed separately)</li>
1765 <li>Support for mailing lists, in both "individual message" and "digest"
1767 <li>Multiple/virtual domain support</li>
1768 <li>Any user may have multiple Internet e-mail addresses, in multiple
1770 <li>Global address book (Users with addresses in a domain may be spread
1771 out across many servers on a Citadel network)</li>
1772 <li>Easy-to-configure integration with <a
1773 href="http://www.spamassassin.org/">SpamAssassin</a> can block spam <i>before</i>
1774 it enters the mail system</li>
1777 This section of the documentation will demonstrate how to configure
1781 <h3><a name="Basic_site_configuration"></a>Basic site configuration</h3>
1783 <p>Basic configuration of your Citadel system for Internet e-mail begins with
1784 the <tt><b>.A</b>ide <b>S</b>ystem configuration <b>I</b>nternet</tt> command:</p>
1786 <pre>Lobby> <b>.A</b>ide <b>S</b>ystem configuration <b>I</b>nternet<br><br>### Host or domain Record type<br>--- -------------------------------------------------- --------------------<br> 1<br><A>dd <D>elete <S>ave <Q>uit -><br></pre>
1788 <p>This is a "clean" setup. For a simple, standalone e-mail system you simply
1789 have to enter the <tt><b>A</b>dd</tt> command:</p>
1791 <pre><A>dd <D>elete <S>ave <Q>uit -> <b>A</b>dd<br><br>Enter host name: schmeep.splorph.com<br> (1) localhost (Alias for this computer)<br> (2) gateway domain (Domain for all Citadel systems)<br> (3) smart-host (Forward all outbound mail to this host)<br> (4) directory (Consult the Global Address Book)<br> (5) SpamAssassin (Address of SpamAssassin server)<br><br>Which one [1]:<br></pre>
1793 <p><b>localhost:</b> Basically what you're doing here is telling Citadel
1794 what any aliases for your machine are. If your machine were <tt>schmeep.splorph.com</tt>
1795 and you also had a DNS entry set up for <tt>blah.com</tt>, you might want
1796 to enter '1' and enter <tt>blah.com</tt> as your alias, so that e-mail
1797 sent to that address won't bounce.</p>
1799 <p><i>Important tip:</i> if your system is known by one name and <i>only</i>
1800 one domain, you might not even need to do this at all. You will recall
1801 that you entered your system's fully qualified domain name earlier when you
1802 went through the <tt><b>.A</b>ide <b>S</b>ystem configuration <b>G</b>eneral</tt>
1803 command. The domain name you entered there is automatically considered
1804 by Citadel to be a 'localhost' entry in your Internet mail configuration.
1805 It does not hurt to enter it in both locations, though.</p>
1807 <p><b>gateway domain:</b> this is a simple way of mapping various Citadel
1808 hosts in an Internet domain. For example, if you enter <tt>bar.com</tt>
1809 as a gateway domain, then mail to users at <tt>foo.bar.com</tt> will be forwarded
1810 to the host called <tt>foo</tt> on a Citadel network, mail to users at <tt>kunst.bar.com</tt>
1811 will be delivered to the Citadel server called <tt>kunst</tt>, etc. This
1812 feature has limited usefulness; if you are operating a network of Citadel
1813 servers, it is more likely that you will use the 'directory' feature, explained
1816 <p><b>smart-host:</b> Normally, Citadel sends outbound Internet e-mail directly
1817 to its destination. This may not be appropriate for some sites; you may
1818 require (due to local convention, security policy, or whatever) that all
1819 outbound mail be sent to an SMTP relay or forwarder. To configure this
1820 functionality, simply enter the domain name or IP address of your relay
1821 as a 'smart-host' entry.</p>
1823 <p><b>directory:</b> a domain for which you are participating in directory
1824 services across any number of Citadel nodes. For example, if users who
1825 have addresses in the domain <tt>citadel.org</tt> are spread out across multiple
1826 Citadel servers on your network, then enter <tt>citadel.org</tt> as a 'directory'
1827 entry. <i>For this to work, all Citadel servers participating in directory
1828 service <b>must</b> carry and share the <tt>Global Address Book></tt>
1831 <p><b>spamassassin:</b> if you are running a <a
1832 href="http://www.spamassassin.org">SpamAssassin</a> service anywhere on your
1833 <b>local</b> network, enter its name or IP address as a 'spamassassin' entry.
1834 This may be (and, in fact, will usually be) <tt>127.0.0.1</tt> to specify
1835 that the service is running on the same host computer as the Citadel server.</p>
1837 <p>Please install SpamAssassin as per its own documentation. You will want
1838 to run SpamAssassin in client/server mode, where a <tt>spamd</tt> daemon
1839 is always running on your computer. Citadel does not utilize the <tt>spamc</tt>
1840 client; instead, it implements SpamAssassin's protocol on its own.</p>
1842 <p>Connecting to a SpamAssassin service across a wide area network is strongly
1843 discouraged. In order to determine whether an incoming e-mail is spam,
1844 Citadel must feed the <i>entire message</i> to the SpamAssassin service.
1845 Doing this over a wide area network would consume time and bandwidth, which
1846 would affect performance.</p>
1848 <p>Citadel invokes the SpamAssassin service when incoming messages are arriving
1849 via SMTP. Before a message is accepted, it is submitted to SpamAssassin.
1850 If SpamAssassin determines that the message is spam, the Citadel SMTP
1851 service <i>rejects the message,</i> causing a delivery failure on the sending
1852 host. This is superior to software which files away spam in a separate
1853 folder, because delivery failures will cause some spammers to assume the
1854 address is invalid and remove it from their mailing lists.</p>
1856 <p>Now select <tt><b>S</b>ave</tt> and you are just about ready for Internet
1859 <h3><a name="Enabling_the_Internet_mail_protocols"></a>Enabling the Internet
1862 <p>As previously mentioned, Citadel contains its own SMTP, POP3, and IMAP
1863 services. Enabling them is simple.</p>
1865 <p>Check for the existance of a current MTA (sendmail, qmail, etc.) by connecting
1866 to port 25 on your host. If you see something similar to the following
1867 you're running an MTA already and you'll need to shut it down:</p>
1869 <pre>smw @ pixel % telnet localhost 25<br>Trying 127.0.0.1...<br>Connected to localhost.<br>Escape character is '^]'.<br>220 pixel.citadel.org ESMTP Sendmail 8.9.3/8.9.3; Wed, 15 Mar 2000 19:00:53 -0500<br></pre>
1871 <p>In the above example, we see that the host already has Sendmail listening
1872 on port 25. Before Citadel can use port 25, Sendmail must be shut off.
1873 Please consult the documentation for your operating system for instructions
1874 on how to do this. (On a Red Hat Linux system, for example, you can run the
1875 <tt>ntsysv</tt> utility, un-checking <tt>sendmail</tt> to disable it at the
1876 next reboot; then, run <tt>service sendmail stop</tt> to shut off the currently
1877 running service.)</p>
1879 <p>If you get a 'connection refused' message when you telnet to port 25 there's
1880 nothing running and you should be able to continue. You might also want
1881 to turn off POP (try the above test substituting 110 for 25) and IMAP (port
1882 143) and use Citadel's POP and IMAP services.</p>
1884 <p>Citadel will look for an existing pop/smtp server on startup. If they
1885 don't exist (and you've configured them properly) then Citadel should enable
1886 them at startup. You can check your logs to be sure, or you can start the
1887 server from a shell and watch it load. It might look something like this:</p>
1888 <font size="-2"> </font>
1889 <pre><font size="-2">smw @ pixel % ./citserver<br><br>Multithreaded message server for Citadel/UX<br>Copyright (C) 1987-2000 by the Citadel/UX development team.<br>Citadel/UX is open source, covered by the GNU General Public License, and<br>you are welcome to change it and/or distribute copies of it under certain<br>conditions. There is absolutely no warranty for this software. Please<br>read the 'COPYING.txt' file for details.<br><br>Loading citadel.config<br>Opening databases<br>This is GDBM version 1.8.0, as of May 19, 1999.<br>Checking floor reference counts<br>Creating base rooms (if necessary)<br>Registered a new service (TCP port 504)<br>Registered a new service (TCP port 0)<br>Initializing loadable modules<br>Registered server command CHAT (Begin real-time chat)<br>Registered server command PEXP (Poll for express messages)<br>Registered server command GEXP (Get express messages)<br>Registered server command SEXP (Send an express message)<br>Registered server command DEXP (Disable express messages)<br>Registered a new session function (type 0)<br>Registered a new x-msg function (priority 0)<br>Loaded module: $Id$<br>Registered a new session function (type 1)<br>Registered a new message function (type 201)<br>Registered a new message function (type 202)<br>Registered server command REGI (Enter registration info)<br>Registered server command GREG (Get registration info)<br>Registered a new user function (type 100)<br>Loaded module: $Id$<br>Server-hosted upgrade level is 5.62<br>Loaded module: $Id$<br>Registered server command EXPI (Expire old system objects)<br>Registered server command FSCK (Check message ref counts)<br>Loaded module: $Id$<br><b>citserver: Can't bind: Address already in use<br>ERROR: could not bind to TCP port 25.</b><br>Registered a new service (TCP port 0)<br>Registered a new session function (type 50)<br>Loaded module: $Id$<br><b>citserver: Can't bind: Address already in use<br>ERROR: could not bind to TCP port 110.</b><br>Registered a new session function (type 0)<br>Loaded module: $Id$<br>Registered a new message function (type 202)Loaded module: $Id$<br>Registered server command RWHO (Display who is online)<br>Registered server command HCHG (Masquerade hostname)<br>Registered server command RCHG (Masquerade roomname)<br>Registered server command UCHG (Masquerade username)<br>Registered server command STEL (Enter/exit stealth mode)<br>Loaded module: $Id$<br>Changing uid to 513<br>Starting housekeeper thread<br></font></pre>
1891 <p>The lines emphasized in boldface in the above log output tell you that
1892 Citadel "can't bind" to various ports. The error 'address already in use'
1893 generally means that something else is already running on the requested
1894 port. Make SURE you've followed the above steps to remove sendmail/pop and
1895 start your Citadel server again.</p>
1897 <h3><a name="citmail"></a>Using Citadel in conjunction with another MTA</h3>
1899 <p>Occationally it is not practical to remove a non-Citadel MTA on your host
1900 system. For example, you might have multiple groups of users, some of
1901 which are using Citadel and some of which are using a legacy Unix mail
1902 spool. This type of configuration is discouraged, but a tool is provided
1905 <p>The tool is called <tt>citmail</tt> and it is, quite simply, a local MDA
1906 (Mail Delivery Agent) which you can configure into your MTA for final delivery
1907 of incoming messages to Citadel users. A full discussion of the finer
1908 points of complex Sendmail configurations is beyond the scope of this document;
1909 however, you might want to visit <a
1910 href="http://pixel.citadel.org/citadel/docs/">Pixel BBS</a> where some useful
1911 HOWTO documents are provided.</p>
1913 <p>For outbound mail, you can either allow Citadel to perform deliveries directly
1914 (this won't affect your other mail system because outbound mail doesn't tie
1915 up port 25) or enter <tt>127.0.0.1</tt> as your smart-host, which will tell
1916 Citadel to forward all of its outbound mail to your other mail system.</p>
1918 <h3><a name="Hosting_an_Internet_mailing_list"></a>Hosting an Internet mailing
1921 <p>Citadel has built in mailing list service (known in the 'net vernacular
1922 as "listserv") functionality. You can turn any room into a mailing
1923 list. Users can then choose how they participate -- by logging on to
1924 your Citadel server directly, or by having the room's contents mailed to them
1925 somewhere else. Configuring this is easy.</p>
1927 <p>Citadel supports two modes of mailing list delivery: </p>
1930 <li>"List mode" -- each individual message is delivered as a single
1931 e-mail to each list mode recipient. The "From:" header will display
1932 the address of the message's original author.</li>
1933 <li>"Digest mode" -- groups of one or more messages are delivered to
1934 digest mode recipients. The number of messages in the group depends
1935 on how many new messages arrived since the last batch was delivered. The
1936 "From:" header will display the address of the room itself, which allows
1937 replies to be posted back to the room.</li>
1940 A room may have any combination of list mode and digest mode recipients.
1942 <p>As alluded to above, every room on your Citadel system has an Internet
1943 e-mail address of its own. Messages sent to that address will be posted
1944 in the room (and sent back out to mailing list recipients, as well as to
1945 any other Citadels you share the room with). The address format is
1946 <tt>room_</tt> plus the name of the room, with any spaces replaced by underscores,
1947 followed by <tt>@</tt> and your hostname. For example, if your system is
1948 known as <tt>phlargmalb.orc.org</tt> on the Internet, and you have a room
1949 called <tt>Bubblegum Collectors</tt>, you can post to that room from anywhere
1950 on the Internet simply by sending an e-mail to <tt>room_bubblegum_collectors@phlargmalb.orc.org</tt>.
1951 When the message arrives, it's automatically posted in that room.</p>
1953 <p>To manually edit the list of "list mode" recipients, simply enter the <tt><b>.A</b>ide
1954 mailing <b>L</b>ist management</tt> command. Your text editor will open
1955 up and you will be able to create or edit a list of recipients, one per line.
1956 Lines beginning with a hash (<tt>#</tt>) are comments.</p>
1958 <p>To manually edit the list of "digest mode" recipients, enter the <tt><b>.A</b>ide
1959 mailing list <b>D</b>igest recipients</tt> command. As with the previous
1960 command, the text editor will open up and you can edit the list of digest
1961 mode recipients, one per line.</p>
1963 <p>Citadel also has a facility which allows users to subscribe or unsubscribe
1964 to mailing lists using a web browser. In order to do this, WebCit must also
1965 be running on your server in addition to Citadel. WebCit is obtained and
1966 installed separately from the rest of the Citadel system.</p>
1968 <p>In order to prevent "just anyone" from subscribing to any room on your
1969 system, there is a setting in the <tt><b>.A</b>ide <b>E</b>dit room</tt>
1972 <pre>CitaNews} . Aide Edit this room<br>Room name [CitaNews]:<br><br><i>(lots of other stuff omitted for brevity...)</i><br><br>Self-service list subscribe/unsubscribe [No]: Yes<br></pre>
1974 <p>When you answer "Yes" to self-service list subscribe/unsubscribe, you are
1975 enabling that feature. Now, all you have to do is tell the world about the
1976 web page they need to visit. It looks like this:</p>
1978 <center><tt>http://foobar.baz.org:2000/listsub</tt></center>
1980 <p>In this example, the server is called <tt>foobar.baz.org</tt> and WebCit
1981 is running on port 2000. Edit appropriately.</p>
1983 <p>Citadel offers a subscribe/unsubscribe facility that is more intuitive
1984 than other listservs. With most systems, sending commands to the listserv
1985 requires that you e-mail it commands in a special format. It's easy to get
1986 it wrong. Citadel simply uses your web browser. You select the list you
1987 want to subscribe or unsubscribe (hint: it's the list of rooms you've enabled
1988 self-service for), select whether you want list mode or digest mode, and
1989 enter your e-mail address. For security purposes, a confirmation message
1990 is sent to the address you enter. But you don't have to reply to the message
1991 in a weird format, either: the confirmation contains another URL which you
1992 simply click on (or paste into your browser if you can't click on URL's
1993 in your e-mail software) and the confirmation is automatically completed.</p>
1995 <hr width="100%" size="2">
1997 <h2><a name="Building_or_joining_a_Citadel_network"></a>Building or joining
1998 a Citadel network</h2>
2001 <h3><a name="Overview__"></a>Overview</h3>
2003 <p>If you are running Citadel as a BBS or other forum type of application,
2004 one way to 'keep the conversation going' is to share rooms with other Citadel
2005 systems. In a shared room, a message posted to the room is automatically
2006 propagated to every system on the network. It's kind of like a UseNet newsgroup,
2007 but without the spam.</p>
2009 <p>If you are using Citadel as the e-mail and groupware platform for a large
2010 organization, you can use its networking features to build a large network
2011 of Citadel servers which share content (think of rooms as public folders),
2012 redistribute e-mail throughout the organization, and integrate the global
2013 address book. It might make sense, for example, in a large corporation
2014 to give each department or location its own Citadel server. Thanks
2015 to Citadel's global address book features, you could still have all of the
2016 users share a single e-mail domain.</p>
2018 <p>Obviously, the first thing you have to do is find another Citadel to share
2019 rooms with, and make arrangements with them. The following Citadels are
2020 a good place to start:</p>
2023 <li>UNCENSORED! - <a href="http://uncensored.citadel.org">uncensored.citadel.org</a>
2025 <li>The Dog Pound II - <a href="http://dogpound2.citadel.org">dogpound2.citadel.org</a>
2027 <li>PixelBBS - <a href="http://pixel.citadel.org">pixel.citadel.org</a>
2032 <p>You don't have to be a part of the citadel.org domain to participate in
2033 the public Citadel network, but the DNS service is provided free of charge
2034 by the Citadel community if you wish to do this.</p>
2036 <h3><a name="Conventions_and_etiquette_when"></a>Conventions and etiquette
2037 when connecting to the public Citadel network</h3>
2039 <p>Before we get into the technical nitty gritty, there are two points of
2040 etiquette to keep in mind. The first thing to keep in mind is that the
2041 operator of any particular Citadel may not be willing to share some of his/her
2042 rooms. Some sites are proud to offer exclusive content in certain areas.
2043 Chances are, if a room is already being shared on the network, it's available
2044 for anyone to share; if not, it can't hurt to ask -- but take care not to
2045 demand it of them. Ask if you may share the room instead of telling them
2046 that you wish to share the room. When looking at a <tt><b>K</b></tt>nown
2047 rooms list, network rooms are the ones ending in parentheses instead of angle
2048 brackets. For example, <tt>Gateway)</tt> would be a network room, <tt>Lobby></tt>
2051 <p>The other point of etiquette to remember is that you should be making
2052 the arrangements in advance, and then set it up. It is extremely rude to
2053 simply begin networking with another Citadel, or unilaterally start sharing
2054 a new room, without first obtaining permission from its operator. Always
2055 ask first. Most Citadel operators are more than happy to network with you.
2056 Also, if later on you decide to take your system down, please take the time
2057 to notify the operators of any other Citadels you network with, so they can
2058 unconfigure their end.</p>
2060 <h3><a name="Getting_ready_to_join_the_network"></a>Getting ready to join
2063 <p>Ok, first things first. On a Citadel room sharing network, the first
2064 thing you need to know is your own system's node name. Presumably you set
2065 this up during installation, but if you want to change it you can do so using
2066 the <tt><b>.A</b>ide <b>S</b>ysconfig <b>G</b>eneral</tt> command:</p>
2068 <pre>Lobby> . Aide System configuration General<br>Node name [uncnsrd]:<br>Fully qualified domain name [uncensored.citadel.org]:<br>Human readable node name [Uncensored]:<br></pre>
2070 <p>The "node name" is important, it's how the network identifies messages
2071 coming from your system. The "human readable node name" is simply a label;
2072 it shows up in messages coming from your system. "Fully qualified domain
2073 name" is your DNS name; it's used for routing messages on the Internet.
2074 In the above example, the node name is "uncnsrd".</p>
2076 <h3><a name="Defining_neighbor_nodes"></a>Defining neighbor nodes</h3>
2078 <p>The next thing you need to do is configure your neighbor node(s). You
2079 need to do this for each node you network with. Let's say you wanted to
2080 talk to a Citadel system called "frobozz". Use the <tt><b>.A</b>ide <b>S</b>ysconfig
2081 <b>N</b>etwork</tt> command:</p>
2083 <pre>Lobby> . Aide System configuration Network<br>### Node Secret Host or IP Port#<br>--- ---------------- ---------------- -------------------------------- -----<br><A>dd <D>elete <S>ave <Q>uit -> Add<br><br>Enter node name : frobozz<br>Enter shared secret: frotz<br>Enter host or IP : frobozz.magick.org<br>Enter port number : [504]: 504<br><br>### Node Secret Host or IP Port#<br>--- ---------------- ---------------- -------------------------------- -----<br> 1 frobozz frotz frobozz.magick.org 504<br><A>dd <D>elete <S>ave <Q>uit -> Save<br><br>Lobby><br></pre>
2085 <p>As you can see in the above example, you have to enter the Citadel node
2086 name, the DNS name or IP address of the server, and the port number the
2087 Citadel service is running on. The "shared secret" is a password to allow
2088 the two Citadel nodes to connect to each other to exchange network data.
2089 The password must be <i>identical</i> on both ends of the connection --
2090 when the operator of the other Citadel node sets up the connection with
2091 your system, he/she must use the same password.</p>
2093 <h3><a name="Sharing_rooms"></a>Sharing rooms</h3>
2095 <p>Now you're ready to share rooms. You have to do this for each room you
2096 want to share, and you have to do it from BOTH ENDS -- again, when you
2097 share a room with another Citadel, they must share it with you as well.
2098 Let's say you have a room called "Quiche Recipes>" and you want to share
2099 it with the node you set up above. First, edit the room and flag it as a
2102 <pre>Quiche Recipes> . Aide Edit this room<br>Room name [Quiche Recipes]:<br>Private room [No]: No<br>Preferred users only [No]: No<br>Read-only room [No]: No<br>Directory room [No]: No<br>Permanent room [No]: No<br>Network shared room [No]: Yes<br>Automatically make all messages anonymous [No]: No<br>Ask users whether to make messages anonymous [No]: No<br>Listing order [64]:<br>Room aide (or 'none') [none]:<br>Message expire policy (? for list) [0]:<br>Save changes (y/n)? Yes<br>Ok<br><br>Quiche Recipes)<br></pre>
2104 <p>Notice how the prompt changed? It was > before, but it's ) now. That
2105 means it's a network room. Now you can tell Citadel that you want to share
2106 the room with frobozz. Enter this command:</p>
2108 <pre>Quiche Recipes) . Aide Network room sharing<br></pre>
2110 <p>Your text editor will pop up (you <i>did</i> configure Citadel to use
2111 your favorite text editor, right?) with a screen that looks like this:</p>
2113 <pre># Configuration for room: Quiche Recipes<br># Nodes with which we share this room<br># Specify one per line.<br></pre>
2115 <p>All you have to do is enter the name of the other Citadel node (i.e. "frobozz"
2116 in our example) on a line by itself. As usual, lines starting with a "#"
2117 are comments. Just go to the end of the file, type "frobozz" (without
2118 the quotes), save the file... and you're done!</p>
2120 <p>At this point, you just sit back and enjoy. Your Citadel and the other
2121 one will begin polling each other at regular intervals (once per hour by
2122 default) and sharing messages.</p>
2124 <h3><a name="Sending_mail"></a>Sending mail</h3>
2126 <p>You can send mail to any user on any node of your Citadel network. It
2127 may take a little while for your system to learn the entire node list, though,
2128 as this is done by watching incoming messages on the network and learning
2129 which nodes are out there.</p>
2131 <p>To send a private message, just enter <tt>user @ host</tt> as the recipient:</p>
2133 <pre>Mail> Enter message <br>Enter recipient: Some other user @ frobozz<br> Feb 11 2003 11:36pm from I. M. Me to Some other user @ frobozz<br>type message here...<br><br>Entry command (? for options) -><br></pre>
2135 <h3><a name="Changing_the_polling_interval"></a>Changing the polling interval</h3>
2137 <p>As previously mentioned, Citadel will poll other Citadel nodes for messages
2138 once per hour. If this is not an acceptable interval, you can change it
2139 using the <tt><b>.A</b>ide <b>S</b>ystem configuration <b>G</b>eneral</tt>
2140 command. Enter this command and look for the option:</p>
2142 <pre>How often to run network jobs (in seconds) [3600]:<br></pre>
2144 <p>Change it to whatever you like. For example, 15 minutes is 900 seconds.
2145 So if you changed the default value to 900, network polling would occur
2146 every 15 minutes.</p>
2149 <h2 align="center"><a name="Database_maintenance"></a>Database maintenance</h2>
2151 <h3><a name="Introduction_"></a>Introduction</h3>
2152 The data store used by Citadel is reliable and self-maintaining. It
2153 requires very little maintenance. This is primarily due to its use
2154 of the <a href="http://www.sleepycat.com">Berkeley DB</a> record manager.
2155 It is robust, high-performance, and transactional.<br>
2157 A few small data files are kept in your main Citadel directory, but the
2158 databases are in the <tt>data/</tt> subdirectory. The files with names
2159 that begin with "cdb" are the databases themselves; the files with names that
2160 begin with "log" are the journals. Journal files will come and go as
2161 you use your system; when the database engine has determined that a particular
2162 log file is no longer needed, the file will automatically be deleted. Nevertheless,
2163 you should always ensure that there is ample disk space for the files to
2166 There is no need to shut down Citadel during backups. The data store
2167 may be backed up "hot." The makers of Berkeley DB suggest that you should
2168 back up the data files <i>first</i> and the log files <i>second</i>. This
2169 is the only method that will guarantee that a database which is being changed
2170 while you back it up will still be usable when you restore it from the tape
2174 <h3><a name="Database_repair"></a>Database repair</h3>
2175 Although Citadel's data store is quite reliable, database corruption can
2176 occur in rare instances. External factors such as an operating system
2177 crash or an unexpected loss of power might leave the database in an unknown
2178 state. A utility is provided which may be able to repair your database
2179 if this occurs. If you find that your Citadel server is not running,
2180 and reading the logs shows that it is crashing because of an inability to
2181 validate a database, follow these steps:<br>
2184 <li>Edit <tt>/etc/inittab</tt> and switch the Citadel service from "respawn"
2185 to "off." Type <tt>init q</tt> to make this setting permanent.</li>
2186 <li><b>Make a backup of your data.</b> Either write it out to tape
2187 or copy it to another directory, or a tarball.<br>
2189 <li><tt>cd</tt> to your Citadel directory and type <tt>./database_cleanup.sh</tt></li>
2190 <li>Edit <tt>/etc/inittab</tt> and switch the Citadel service from "off"
2191 to "respawn". Type <tt>init q</tt> to activate your changes.</li>
2194 If this procedure does not work, you must restore from your most recent
2198 <h3><a name="ImportingExporting_your_Citadel"></a>Importing/Exporting your
2199 Citadel database<br>
2202 <p>Citadel/UX now contains an importer/exporter module, affectionaly known
2203 as the "Art Vandelay" module (a not-so-obscure Seinfeld reference). It
2204 allows you to export the entire contents of your Citadel databases to a
2205 flat file, which may then be imported on another system. (This procedure
2206 is also known as "dump and load" to some database gurus.)</p>
2208 <p>Why would you want to do this? Here are some scenarios: </p>
2211 <li>You are moving a Citadel installation to another computer, which uses
2212 a different CPU. Since Citadel stores data in an architecture-dependent
2213 format, the data files wouldn't work on the new computer as-is. </li>
2214 <li>Your computer crashed, lost power, etc. and you suspect that your
2215 databases have become corrupted. </li>
2216 <li>You want to switch to a different back-end data store. (For example,
2217 from GDBM to Berkeley DB) </li>
2221 <p>So ... how do we work this magic? Follow these steps <i>exactly</i> as
2222 documented and you should be able to do it all with very little trouble.</p>
2225 <li>This should be obvious, but it's still worth mentioning: MAKE SURE
2226 YOU TAKE A BACKUP OF EVERYTHING BEFORE YOU START THIS!! You're performing
2227 a major operation here. Don't risk it. </li>
2228 <li>First, get all the users logged off from your system. Disconnect
2229 it from the network if possible. You don't want anyone logging in while
2230 you're doing this. </li>
2231 <li>Log on as root, or some other user that has read/write access to
2232 all relevant files. </li>
2233 <li>Go to the directory that Citadel is installed in. For example, issue
2234 a command like <tt>cd /usr/local/citadel</tt> </li>
2235 <li>Export the databases with the following command:<br>
2237 <tt>./sendcommand "ARTV export" >exported.dat</tt><br>
2239 This command may run for a while. On a very large system it could take
2240 an hour or more. Please be patient! </li>
2241 <li>When the export completes, check to make sure that <tt>exported.dat</tt>
2242 exists and has some data in it. (Type "ls -l exported.dat") </li>
2243 <li>Shut down the Citadel server. If you have a line in <tt>/etc/inittab</tt>
2244 that reads like this:<br>
2246 <tt>c1:2345:respawn:/usr/local/citadel/citserver -h/usr/local/citadel</tt>
2248 ...then you should change the <tt>respawn</tt> to <tt>off</tt> and then
2249 type <tt>/sbin/init q</tt> to make the changes take effect. </li>
2250 <li>Now it's time to delete your current binary databases. Type:<br>
2252 <tt>rm -f citadel.config citadel.control data/*</tt> </li>
2253 <li>If you're moving Citadel to another computer, you should move the
2254 <i>entire</i> directory over at this time. <tt>exported.dat</tt> only
2255 contains the information that was in the binary databases. Information which
2256 was stored in portable formats doesn't need to be exported/imported, so you
2257 must bring it all over in its current form. </li>
2258 <li>Now get Citadel running on the new computer (or whatever). Run <tt>setup</tt>
2259 and turn the service back on (from <tt>/etc/inittab</tt>) but DO NOT log
2261 <li>As root, run the import command:<br>
2263 <tt>./sendcommand "ARTV import" <exported.dat</tt><br>
2265 This will import your databases. Again, it may run for a long time.
2267 <li>Restart the Citadel server. You can do this any way you like. From
2268 the command line, you can do it with a command like:<br>
2270 <tt>./sendcommand "DOWN"</tt> <br>
2272 <li>Now you're finished. Log in and test everything. You may delete
2273 exported.dat at this time, or you might want to save it somewhere as a sort
2274 of pseudo-backup. </li>
2279 <center><h2><a name="utilities"></a>Utilities</center></h2>
2281 <h3><a name="overview"></a>Overview</h3>
2283 <P>The following utilities will be discussed:
2285 <LI><b>aidepost</b> - Post standard input to the Aide> room
2286 <LI><b>whobbs</b> - Who is on the system
2287 <LI><b>stats</b> - Print the calling statistics & graph
2288 <LI><b>msgform</b> - Format a binary message to the screen (stdin or in a file)
2289 <LI><b>userlist</b> - Print the userlist
2290 <LI><b>readlog</b> - Read the caller log
2291 <LI><b>sendcommand</b> - Send a server command
2294 <p>It is up to you to decide which utilities should be made accessible only
2295 to system administrators.
2296 It is important that you set the file permissions correctly. All
2297 utilities should have access to the Citadel data files. We will attempt to
2298 address each program individually.</p>
2300 <h3><a name="aidepost"></a>aidepost</h3>
2302 <p>The nature of this program is rather simple. Standard input (stdin) is
2303 converted into a message, filed in the main message store, and posted
2304 in the Aide> room. This is useful for keeping transcripts of system
2305 activity that has to do with Citadel operations.
2306 You might even elect to send all of your system
2307 logs there, too.</p>
2309 <p><tt>aidepost</tt> also accepts the usage <tt>aidepost -rTargetRoom</tt>,
2311 is the name of a room to which you'd like the message to be sent.</p>
2313 <h3><a name="whobbs"></a>whobbs</h3>
2315 <p>This program is similar to the <tt>who</tt> command.
2316 It lists all of the users
2317 who are currently connected to your Citadel server, either locally or across a
2318 network. Unless you're running a standalone system,
2319 <tt>who</tt> and <tt>whobbs</tt> will
2320 probably not have a one-to-one correspondence. Remember that you will see
2321 sessions for SMTP, POP, and IMAP users, as well as users running a
2324 <p>One thing to keep in mind is that the <tt>whobbs</tt> utility
2326 connection to the server. If the server is maxed out,
2327 <tt>whobbs</tt> will still be
2328 able to provide a listing, because it doesn't need to log in to execute the
2329 <tt>RWHO</tt> command. Note that whobbs does not list its own session.</p>
2331 <p>The <tt>whobbs</tt> utility is smart enough
2332 to know when it is being invoked by a
2333 web server as a CGI program. In this situation, it will output its listing as
2334 a nicely formatted web page instead of plain text. This makes it easy to just
2335 put a link to the whobbs binary in your cgi-bin directory, allowing a quick and
2336 easy way for web surfers to see who is online.</p>
2338 <p>Running the <tt><b>W</b>ho is online</tt> command
2339 from the Citadel client does <b>not</b> call this
2340 utility. It has this functionality built in.</p>
2342 <h3><a name="stats"></a>stats</h3>
2344 <p>This program displays
2345 various statistics on the screen based on the calllog file, such as number
2346 of connects, number of logins, number of logouts, number of disconnects,
2347 bad password attempts, etc. All statistics are provided in three figures:
2348 times per call, times per day, and total times.</p>
2350 <p>After this screen appears, you may press return for the next screen. This
2351 is a graphic representation of system usage, broken down into 20 minute
2352 segments of the day. This will show you when your peak usage is.</p>
2354 <p>Press return again and the stats program will list your system's top
2357 <p>The final screen lists the twenty users with the highest post per call
2358 ratios. Unline the other screens, this statistic is extracted from the user
2359 file itself rather than the call log.</p>
2361 <p><tt>stats</tt> may be called with the <tt>-b</tt> option to
2362 run in batch mode. In this case,
2363 it skips all the prompts and just prints everything out in one bulk output.
2364 Or it may be called with the <tt>-p</tt> option to only print the Post-to-Call
2365 ratios and nothing else. These options may be useful for embedding the
2366 output of <tt>stats</tt> in a batch report or a web page.</p>
2368 <p>Nearly all of the statistics displayed by the <tt>stats</tt> utility
2369 are completely wrong.</p>
2371 <h3><a name="msgform"></a>msgform</h3>
2373 <p>The <tt>msgform</tt> utility reads its standard input (stdin) looking for
2374 Citadel messages stored in the internal format used on disk and over the
2375 network, and sends them in a human-readable format to standard output
2376 (stdout). There is no longer much use for this program, but it is included
2379 <h3><a name="userlist"></a>userlist</h3>
2381 <p>This is a program to print the userlist. There are two flags that may be
2382 set when running this program. When called without any arguments,
2383 <tt>userlist</tt> will display all users (except those who have chosen to
2384 be unlisted), their user numbers, times called, messages posted, screen
2385 width, and date of their most recent call.</p>
2387 <p><tt>userlist</tt> is simply the same user listing code that is in the
2388 client, made into a standalone utility for convenience.</p>
2390 <h3><a name="readlog"></a>readlog</h3>
2392 <p>Called without any arguments, <tt>readlog</tt> dumps the contents of the
2393 call log file. This file records all logins to the Citadel server, as
2394 well as some other statistics.</p>
2396 <h3><a name="sendcommand"></a>sendcommand</h3>
2398 <p><tt>sendcommand</tt> will interpret its arguments (except for
2399 <tt>-hDIRNAME</tt>) as a server command, which is sent to the server.
2400 Commands which require textual input will read it from stdin. Commands
2401 which generate textual output will be sent to stdout.</p>
2403 <p>This utility is intended to be used to enable Citadel server commands to
2404 be executed from shell scripts. Review the script called <tt>weekly</tt>
2405 which ships with the Citadel distribution for an example of how this can
2408 <p><b>NOTE:</b> be sure that this utility is not world-executable. It
2409 connects to the server in privileged mode, and therefore could present a
2410 security hole if not properly restricted.</p>
projects / citadel.git / blob