INetShell V2.1a ©1994 TKA Services Written by Paul Leclair Have you ever wanted to get an easy-to-use shell interface between CNet BBS and AmiTCP (or other sana2-complient software)? I did. Since we put up AmiTCP (a great program!) on our BBS, we had to find an easy way for our users to access the Telnet/FTP/etc clients. We've tried a couple of different packages, but either the programs would not do what we wanted them to do, or they were buggy and there was not enough programming support from the creators. Therefore, this project was conceived. I wanted something that my users, especially those who don't have a clue about Internet and the clients, could go into the shell program and travel the Internet easily. So I started working on INet. The earlier beta-versions were very functional, but I wanted MORE than functional. I wanted something that was also nice to look at. So I tried to come up with something that was not only easy, but also very asthetically pleasing. INetShell is probably the easiest package available for CNet (that I'm aware of) for doing everything. The users will be able to Telnet to sites off a pre-defined menu, they can enter a manual Telnet which they can enter the site/port number. It also has the ability to allow users to add notebook/phonebook entries (registered version only) to which they can call up during a visit to the Telnet area. FTP and Finger options also have user-definable database files...no more need for thousands of little post-it notes scattered all around your computer desk. :-) I also wanted to make it idiot-proof and lazy-proof. So, I decided to make all of the options and commands hot-keyed. The less keypresses that someone has to make, makes it that much faster to get around. I also added a directory maintenance utility (built-in) which is also hot-keyed and does all of the functions you could ever wish for in a DirMaint utility for manipulating files that you FTP'd. And the HELP section was set up to be based on the CNet style HELP function so that it would be easy to use and very informative. This project has taken about 6 weeks of programming (my first time at sitting down and writing an ARexx program of this size) and I was very pleased with the end result. I hope you will be also. Installation: o Unarchive the INetShell archive to an empty directory o Make a directory in PFILES: called "InetShell" o Move the files in the "c" directory to your C: directory assign : RPSTART - program to install the Rexx Plus environment : RPHI - the Rexx Plus "halt" command (stops rexx programs from running/halts execution) o Edit your S:user-startup file and add "RPSTART" on a new line so that Rexx Plus's environment can be loaded. (Only do this if you don't have Rexx Plus running on your machine already) o Move the libs/rexxplslib.library to libs: o Copy the remainder of the contents of the archive into Pfiles:InetShell/ o If you have been running another kind of interface program or have had users using FTP and have previously set up the .netrc file(s), they must be all deleted. Usually, they will reside in "Mail:users/". You can delete them all by doing the following command: Delete mail:users/#?/.netrc o Run the RPStart program (to get RexxPlus activated) - it should be located in your C: directory if you moved it there in the step above. You should see a message "RPStart...bla bla, installed" If you have Rexx Plus's environment already installed, you can skip this step. o Run the arexx program called INetMaint. The program is self-explanitory. o Set up a directory to store the user's profiles/FTP Files (this directory must match the name used in the INetConfig entry) (ie. MAKEDIR ) Suggestion: use a drive that has a lot of storage because this is where all FTP files end up when a user does an FTP. It is HIGHLY suggested that you do NOT set up the directory to merge with "mail:users/" due to users having the ability to download from this directory area. o Edit your cnet:bbsmenu file(s) and add the following command to section "3; Main Prompt" NET |{#0PFILES:INetShell/INet} ^ Control-Q (INet can be shared over different ports) o Save bbsmenu file(s) and reload your BBSTEXT/MENU files from the CNet Control panel. o IMPORTANT: Be sure that the pure bit on the main INet file is set. (do a "List pfiles:inetshell/inet" and see if the "p" bit is set. if it isn't, do a "protect pfiles:inetshell/inet +p") o The main INet file is pure and can be made resident to save memory and increased speed for loading. To make resident, do: "resident pfiles:inetshell/inet pfiles:inetshell/inet pure add" (you can add this in your CNet startup script) o Add an Event entry in Cnet's CONFIG for INetMaint. You can set this to run once a week if you like. It only checks to see if there is a purged bbs user who still has an INet account. If it is there, it will purge the INet directory and info for that user. This is an Arexx program. o Logon and type "NET" from your main prompt and away you go. ====================================================================== *** INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO EDIT DATA FILES *** There are 10 types of config files that the shell uses. The files are located in PFILES:INetShell/config/ Inet - main program configuration file TelnetMenu - main list of telnet sites (menu) (registered only) Telnet# - actual telnet sites (registered only) FTPMenu - main list of ftp sites (menu) (registered only) FTP# - actual ftp sites (registered only) ArchieServ - list of Archie servers IRCServer - list of IRC servers newuser.txt - displayed for new users (all users) newuser1.txt - display only if sysops allow users to choose UUCP ID MOTD - entry screen (supplied by Piper of eyesoftime.com) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- TelnetMenu: (only used in the registered version of INetShell) TelnetMenu is the primary menu that users see when they first enter the Telnet command off the main menu of INetShell. This is just a list of available sub-menus that the user can enter. There is no limit to how many sub-menus you can create. The format of TelnetMenu is: 2 Menu Item 1 Menu Item 2 Line1: the total amount of entries in the file (excluding line 1) Line2: name of directory Line3: name of directory etc See the example that is packaged with INetShell. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- FTPMenu: (Only used in the registered version of INetShell) FTPMenu is the primary menu that users see when they first enter the FTP command off the main menu of INetShell. The data format is the same as TelnetMenu. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- IRCServer: This is a list of IRC Servers that you can reach. The data file format is set up like so: 1 IRC Server (US) irc.pitt.edu Line1: number of total servers listed Line2: Name given for the server (the name that will show up on the server listing) Line3: the actual server domain name or IP#. See the example IRCServer file in the config directory. As with TelnetMenu and FTPMenu, there is no limit to how many servers you may add to this list. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ArchieServ: This file contains the available Archie servers that your users can use when doing an Archie file search. The format is: site.name.or.ip site.name.or.ip site.name.or.ip etc etc There is a maximum of 8 sites you can have listed. This may change in the future if there is a need for a larger list. Note that this file format does NOT contain the # of sites at the start. It only contains the domain or IP# of the Archie server site. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Telnet#: (Only used in registered version of INetShell) The Telnet(number) file(s) contain the actual sites and descriptions of the Telnet sites. These files are connected with the TelnetMenu file. Here is how it works: If in TelnetMenu, you have 3 entries, you must have 3 Telnet# files (Telnet1, Telnet2 & Telnet3). When the user picks item 1 off the main Telnet list, it will load up and display the Telnet1 sub-menu. The format is: 1 The Kobayashi Alternative BBS tka.com 23 This is a CNet BBS and home of the INetShell interface program. Line1: number of Telnet sites in the file Line2: the domain.name or IP# and (optional) port number Line3: description line 1 Line4: description line 2 Note, you MUST have 2 description lines before the next entry. These can be blank lines if you wish not to have any description listed. There is no limit to how many sites you can have listed in these files. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- FTP#: (Only used in registered version of INetShell) The FTP(number) file(s) contain the actual sites and descriptions of the FTP sites. These files are connected with the FTPMenu file. The format and how it works is the same as the Telnet# files. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: In the unregistered version, the telnet and ftp menus are read from the files called "TELNET" and "FTP" in the config/ directory. These files follow the format of TELNET# and FTP# which is listed above. ======================================================================= What happens when a new user gets into the INetShell: 1. The program will check to be sure that they have a valid Internet Name (UUCP ID). If this has never been set, it will ask the user to enter a name. 2. The program will then create the user's FTP storage directory in the location you specified in the "INet" config file. 3. It will then copy the default "." files from the INetShell/new/ directory into their FTP storage directory. 4. It will then create a .netrc with default settings in the user's "mail:users/" area. 5. Then it will maintain the AmiTCP:db/passwd file (as specified in the INet config) and add an entry for their account. 6. Finally it will let them into the main menu. ======================================================================= BUGS & ERROR REPORTS: Should the program have a programming error (GOD FORBID!), it will report it in E-Mail to User ID#1 (usually the sysop). Please forward this mail file to me at my Internet address (limahl@tka.com). Note that the program may and will error out should you run the ARexx "halt" (hi) command. Usually, it will give some kind of syntax error. The next release (1.5) should have this taken care of. ======================================================================= OTHER STUFF: I would like to thank Mainiac (Dean C. Banks) for helping me figure out how to get the menuing system working and to keep pushing me to get this project finished. I'd also like to thank my 2 beta-testers for the INet project. Piper of Eyes of Time BBS (piper@eyesoftime.com) and Runr of Laserbase Communications (runr@laserbase.com). With their bug reports and ideas, the shell has become quite stable and VERY easy to use for both sysops and users. Also I want to thank Piper for creating the nice entry screen for INet Shell. This project took me about 6 weeks to complete. Most of the work was done in the last 2 weeks (12 hour days). This is also my first attempt at creating a complex ARexx program so please be kind. :) Added in the distribution of the demo of INetShell is a nice little utility that allows OLMs sent to users online should new Internet E-Mail be imported from the UUMail: directory. Note that this program uses CNETREXX0 and may spit out a number when an olm comes to you on port 0. This is a CNETREXX port problem which I will try to have fixed in a future release of this UUMailScan program. If you have any comments, please E-Mail them to me at the above listed address.