Subject: Linux UUCP HOWTO
From: [email-masked] (Vince Skahan)
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 1994 20:00:28 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.announce,comp.os.linux.admin,comp.answers,news.answers

Archive-name: linux/howto/uucp
Last-modified: 19 Apr 94

  The Linux UUCP HOWTO
  Vince Skahan, <[email-masked]>
  v1.6, Last modified 26 March 1994

  This  document  describes  the  setup  and  care+feeding of UUCP under
  Linux.  You need to read this if you plan to connect to  remote  sites
  via  UUCP  via a modem, via a direct-connection, or via Internet.  You
  probably do *not* need to read this document if don't talk UUCP.

  1.  Introduction

  The intent of this document is to answer some  of  the  questions  and
  comments  that  appear  to  meet  the  definition of "frequently asked
  questions" about UUCP software under Linux in general, and the version
  in the Linux SLS and Slackware distributions in particular.

  This  document  and  the corresponding Mail and News "HOWTO" documents
  collectively supersede the UUCP-NEWS-MAIL-FAQ that has previously been
  posted to comp.os.linux.announce.

  1.1.  New versions of this document

  New   versions  of  this  document  will  be  periodically  posted  to
  comp.os.linux.announce, comp.answers,  and  news.answers.   They  will
  also  be  added  to  the  various anonymous ftp sites who archive such
  information including sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO.

  1.2.  Feedback

  I am interested in any feedback, positive or negative,  regarding  the
  content  of  this  document  via e-mail.  Definitely contact me if you
  find errors or obvious omissions.

  I read, but do not necessarily  respond  to,  all  e-mail  I  receive.
  Requests  for  enhancements will be considered and acted upon based on
  that day's combination of available time, merit of  the  request,  and
  daily blood pressure :-)

  Flames will quietly go to /dev/null so don't bother.

  Feedback concerning the actual format of the document should go to the
  HOWTO coordinator - Matt Welsh ([email-masked]).

  1.3.  Copyright Information

  The UUCP-HOWTO is copyrighted (c)1994 Vince Skahan.

  A verbatim copy  may  be  reproduced  or  distributed  in  any  medium
  physical or electronic without permission of the author.  Translations
  are similarly permitted without express permission if  it  includes  a
  notice on who translated it.

  Short  quotes  may  be  used  without  prior  consent  by  the author.
  Derivative work and partial distributions of the  UUCP-HOWTO  must  be
  accompanied  with  either a verbatim copy of this file or a pointer to
  the verbatim copy.

  Commercial redistribution is  allowed  and  encouraged;  however,  the
  author would like to be notified of any such distributions.

  In short, we wish to promote dissemination of this information through
  as many channels as possible. However, we do wish to retain  copyright
  the  HOWTO  documents,  and  would like to be notified of any plans to
  redistribute the HOWTOs.

  We further want  that  ALL  information  provided  in  the  HOWTOS  is
  disseminated.   If  you have questions, please contact Matt Welsh, the
  Linux HOWTO coordinator, at [email-masked], or +1 607 256 7372.

  1.4.  Standard Disclaimer

  Of course, I disavow any potential liability for the contents of  this
  document.  Use of the concepts, examples, and/or other content of this
  document is entirely at your own risk.

  1.5.  Other sources of information

  1.5.1.  USENET

  comp.mail.uucp can answer most of your UUCP questions

  1.5.2.  Mailing Lists

  There is a Taylor UUCP mailing list.

  To join (or get off) the list, send mail to

                [email-masked]

  This request goes to a person, not to a program, so please  make  sure
  that  you include the address at which you want to receive mail in the
  text of the message.

  To send a message to the list, send it to

               [email-masked]

  1.5.3.  Books

  HDB and V2 versions of UUCP are documented  in  about  every  vendor's
  documentation as well as in almost all *nix communications books.

  Taylor  config  files  are currently only documented in the info files
  provided with the sources (and in the SLS distribution hopefully).  To
  read  them,  you  can grab the nice "infosrc" program from the SLS "s"
  disks and compile it.

  The following is a non-inclusive set of books that will help.

  o  "Managing UUCP and USENET" from O'Reilly and Associates  is  in  my
     opinion  the  best book out there for figuring out the programs and
     protocols involved in being a USENET site.

  o  "Unix  Communications"  from  The  Waite  Group  contains  a   nice
     description of all the pieces (and more) and how they fit together.

  o  "Practical Unix Security" from O'Reilly and Associates has  a  nice
     discussion of how to secure UUCP in general.

  o  "The  Internet Complete Reference" from Osborne is a fine reference
     book that explains the various services available on  Internet  and
     is  a  great  "one-stop-shopping"  source  for information on news,
     mail, and various other Internet resources.

  1.6.  Where *NOT* to look for help

  There is nothing "special" about configuring and  running  UUCP  under
  Linux  (any more).  Accordingly, you almost certainly do *NOT* want to
  be posting  generic  UUCP-related  questions  to  the  comp.os.linux.*
  newsgroups.

  Unless  your posting is truly Linux-specific (ie, "please tell me what
  config file support is built into the binaries for Taylor  uucp  v1.04
  in  SLS v1.02"), you should be asking your questions in comp.mail.uucp
  or on the Taylor UUCP mailing list as indicated above.

  Let me repeat that.

  There is virtually no reason to  post  anything  uucp-related  in  the
  comp.os.linux  hierarchy  any  more.  There are existing newsgroups in
  the comp.mail.* hierarchy to handle *ALL* your questions.

  IF YOU POST TO COMP.OS.LINUX.* FOR NON-LINUX-SPECIFIC  QUESTIONS,  YOU
  ARE LOOKING IN THE WRONG PLACE FOR HELP.  THE UUCP EXPERTS HANG OUT IN
  THE PLACES INDICATED ABOVE AND GENERALLY DO NOT RUN LINUX.

  POSTING TO THE LINUX HIERARCHY FOR NON-LINUX-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS WASTES
  YOUR  TIME  AND  EVERYONE  ELSE'S  AND  IT  FREQUENTLY DELAYS YOU FROM
  GETTING THE ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION.

  2.  Hardware Requirements

  There are no specific hardware  requirements  for  UUCP  under  Linux.
  Basically any Hayes-compatible modem works painlessly with UUCP.

  In  most  cases,  you'll  want  the  fastest modem you can afford.  In
  general, you want to have a 16550 UART on your serial board  or  built
  into your modem to handle speeds of above 9600 baud.

  If  you  don't  know what that last sentence means, please consult the
  comp.dcom.modems  group  or  the  various  fine   modem   and   serial
  communications FAQs and periodic postings on USENET.

  3.  Getting UUCP

  Taylor  UUCP (current version 1.04) is available on prep.ai.mit.edu in
  source form and in various Linux distributions in binary form.

  The newspak-2.1.tar.z distribution contains config  files  and  readme
  files  related  to  building uucp, news, and mail software under Linux
  from the various freely-available sources.  It can usually be found on
  sunsite.unc.edu in the directory /pub/Linux/system/Mail.

  4.  Installing the Software

  (Much  of  this  section is taken verbatim from the README file in the
  Taylor UUCP v1.04 sources - it's provided  here  so  I  can  help  you
  "rtfm" instead of just telling you to do so)

  Detailed compilation instructions are in uucp.texi in the sources.

  You can grab "known good" conf.h and policy.h files for Linux from the
  newspak distribution referred to in the "other sources of information"
  section  above.   In  that  case,  you can probably go right to typing
  "make".
  4.1.  Extracting the compressed sources

  To extract a gzip'd tar archive, I do the following:

                  gunzip -c filename.tar.z | tar xvf -

  A "modern" tar can just do a:

                 tar -zxvf filename.tgz

  4.2.  Edit Makefile.in to set installation directories.

  Here, I set "prefix" to "/usr" rather than the default of "/usr/local"

  4.3.  Run "configure"

  Type "sh configure".

  The  configure  script  will  compile a number of test programs to see
  what is available on your system and will calculate many things.

  The configure script will create conf.h from  conf.h.in  and  Makefile
  from Makefile.in.  It will also create config.status, which is a shell
  script which actually creates the files.

  4.4.  Configure the future setup of the software

  4.4.1.  Examine conf.h and Makefile to make sure they're right.

  I took the defaults

  4.4.2.  Edit policy.h for your local system.

  o  - set the type of lockfiles you want (HAVE_HDB_LOCKFILES)

  o  -   set   the   type   of   config   files   you   want   built  in
     (HAVE_TAYLOR_CONFIG, HAVE_V2_CONFIG, HAVE_HDB_CONFIG)

  o  - set the type of spool directory structure you want (SPOOLDIR_HDB)

  o  - set the type of logging you want (HAVE_HDB_LOGGING)

  o  -  set the default search path for commands (I added /usr/local/bin
     to mine)

  4.5.  Compile and install the software

  o  Type "make".

  o  Use "uuchk | more" to  check  configuration  files.   You  can  use
     "uuconv" to convert between configuration file formats.

  o  Type "make install" to install.

  4.6.  Set up the config files

  I'd recommend you start by taking the attached known-good config files
  for HDB mode and installing them.
  o  Make sure that the Permissions file indicates exactly  where  rmail
     and  rnews  are  to be found if you put them anywhere other than in
     the path you specified in policy.h

  o  Make sure that your Devices files matches the  actual  location  of
     your modem (cua1=COM2 in the examples)

  o  Edit  the  Systems  file  to  set up the system(s) you talk to with
     their speed, phone number, username, and password.

     *PROTECT THIS FILE AGAINST WORLD READ*

  o  Set up the Permissions file and add a set of lines  for  each  site
     you  talk  to.  For security reasons, it's recommended to make sure
     they each have a separate account (if you allow  dialin)  and  home
     directory so you can track things.

  4.7.  Give it a try

  /usr/lib/uucp/uucico -r 1 -x 9 -s remote_system_name

  The  -x  9  will  have  maximum  debugging  information written to the
  /usr/spool/uucp/.Admin/audit.local file for help in initial setup.

  I normally run -x 4 here since that level logs details  that  help  me
  with  login  problems.  Obviously, this contains cleartext information
  from your Systems file (account/password) so protect it against world-
  read.

  o  from [email-masked]

     Taylor  has  more  logging  levels.   Use -x all to get the highest
     level possible.

     Also,  do  a  "tail  -f  /usr/spool/uucp/.Admin/audit.local"  while
     debugging to watch things happen on the fly.

  4.8.  It doesn't work - now what ?

  In  general,  you  can  refer  to the documentation mentioned above if
  things don't work.  You can also refer to your more  experienced  UUCP
  neighbors for help.  Usually, it's something like a typo anyway.

  5.  Frequently Asked Questions about Linux UUCP

  5.1.   Why is my binary of uucp configured in HDB rather than "Taylor"
  mode?

  (religious  mode  on  - I know some people are just as religious about
  "ease of use" as I am about "being standard".  That's  why  they  make
  source code you can build your own from :-) )

  Because  IMHO  it's  the de-facto standard UUCP implementation at this
  time.  There are thousands of sites with experienced admins and  there
  are many places you can get incredibly good information concerning the
  HDB setup.

  The uucp-1.04 that's in SLS 1.02 and later  has  all  three  modes  of
  config  files  built  in.  While I can't test it, I did "rtfm" and Ian
  Taylor tells me that it should work.
  The search order for config files is Taylor then V2 (L.sys)  then HDB.
  Use  the  uuconv utility in /usr/lib/uucp to convert config files from
  one mode to another.

  If  you  can't  wait,  grab  the  sources   for   uucp   and   specify
  HAVE_BNU_CONFIG,   HAVE_V2_CONFIG   *and*  HAVE_TAYLOR_CONFIG  in  the
  policy.h file and type "make".

  The following workaround is ugly, but it does work, if you want to run
  Taylor configs from binaries that don't have it built in.

  o  From [email-masked] (Michael E. Bravo)

     -  add   "-I  /usr/local/lib/uucp/config"  to _every_ invocation of
     whatever program in uucp package

  5.2.  Why do I  get  "timeout"  on  connections  when  I  upgraded  to
  uucp-1.04 ?

  o  from Ed Carp - [email-masked]

     If you use a "Direct" device in the Devices file, there's now a  10
     second  timeout  compiled in.  Make the name of the Device anything
     other than "Direct".  If you tweak the example /usr/lib/uucp  files
     provided with SLS, you won't have problems with this one.

  o  from Greg Naber - [email-masked]

     If  you  get  chat  script  timeouts,  you can tweak the sources by
     editing at line 323 in uuconf/syssub.c  and  changing  the  default
     timeouts from 10 seconds to something larger.

  o  from Ed Rodda - [email-masked]

     If  you  get  chat  script  timeouts, typically connecting to other
     Taylor sites, a pause after login can fix this.

     feed Any ACU,ag 38400 5551212 ogin: \c\d "" yourname word: passwd

  o  from Dr. Eberhard W. Lisse - [email-masked]

     Some kernels  experience  modems  hanging  up  after  a  couple  of
     seconds.  The following patch sent by Ian Taylor might help.

     *** conn.c.orig Mon Feb 22 20:25:24 1993
     --- conn.c      Mon Feb 22 20:33:10 1993
     ***************
     *** 204,209 ****
     --- 204,212 ----

          /* Make sure any signal reporting has been done before we set
            fLog_sighup back to TRUE.  */
     +   /* SMR: it seems to me if we don't care about SIGHUPS, we should clear
     +      the flag before we return  */
     +   afSignal[INDEXSIG_SIGHUP] = FALSE;
         ulog (LOG_ERROR, (const char *) NULL);
         fLog_sighup = TRUE;

  5.3.  Why doesn't HDB anonymous uucp seem to work ?

  The SLS anonymous uucp only works in Taylor mode because it's compiled
  with HAVE_TAYLOR_CONFIG.  If you want to do anon  uucp  in  HDB  mode,
  you'll  have  to  recompile  the  sources  with just HDB defined.  Ian
  Taylor is considering which way to deal with this "feature".

  Also, Taylor in HDB mode seems to be  sensitive  to  white  space  and
  blank  lines.   To be safe, make sure that there are no blank lines or
  trailing spaces in the Permissions file.

  Lastly, make sure that  you  have  a  file  called  remote.unknown  in
  /usr/lib/uucp  and that it's *NOT* executable.  See the O'Reilly+Assoc
  book "Managing UUCP and USENET" for details regarding this file.

  5.4.  What does "no matching ports found" mean ?

  In  all  probability,   you   are   attempting   to   use   a   device
  (/usr/lib/uucp/Devices)  that  doesn't  exist,  or  the  device you've
  specified in the /usr/lib/uucp/Systems file doesn't match up with  any
  valid devices in the Devices file.

  Following  this are *sanitized* versions of my working Taylor 1.04 HDB
  config files that you can plug in and use.

  note the "ACU" in the Systems ?  That tells which  "port"  to  use  in
  Devices

  see  the  "scout" word in Systems ?  That tells which dialer to use in
  Dialers.

  If you had a ACU port, but none that matched the specified  dialer  on
  the same line in Systems, you'll get that message.

  5.5.  What are known good config files for HDB mode ?

  The  following  are  "known-good"  config  files for Taylor 1.04 under
  Linux in HoneyDanBer mode.  They work on kernels of 0.99-8  or  later.
  All files should be in /usr/lib/uucp unless you've tweaked the sources
  to put the uucp library elsewhere.

  If you *HAVE* put things in non-standard places, be aware that  things
  like  sendmail  might  get  very confused. You need to ensure that all
  communications-related programs  agree  on  your  idea  of  "standard"
  paths.

  If  you're  running  a  kernel  of 0.99-7 or earlier, change "cua1" to
  "ttyS1".

  #------------- Devices -------------
  # make sure the device (cua1 here) matches your system
  # cua1 = COM2
  #
  # here "scout" is the Digicom Scout Plus 19.2 modem I use
  # tbfast etc. is for a Telebit Trailblazer Plus modem's various speeds
  #
  ACU cua1 - 19200 scout
  ACU cua1 - 9600 tbfast
  ACU cua1 - 1200 tbslow
  ACU cua1 - 2400 tbmed

  #------------- dialers --------------
  # note the setting of the Trailblazer registers "on the fly"
  # "scout" is a Digicom Scout Plus (Hayes-like) modem I use here
  #
  scout   =W-,    "" ATM0DT\T CONNECT
  tbfast  =W-,    "" A\pA\pA\pT OK ATS50=255DT\T CONNECT\sFAST
  tbslow  =W-,    "" A\pA\pA\pT OK ATS50=2DT\T CONNECT\s1200
  tbmed   =W-,    "" A\pA\pA\pT OK ATS50=3DT\T CONNECT\s2400

  #-------------- Systems -------------
  # this is a very generic entry that will work for most systems
  #
  # the Any;1 means that you can call once per minute with using -f (force)
  # the ACU,g means force "g" protocol rather than Taylor's default "i"
  #
  fredsys Any;1 ACU,g 19200 scout5555555 "" \r ogin:--ogin: uanon word: uanon

  #-------------------------------- Permissions -------------------------

  # Taylor UUCP in HDB mode appears to be sensitive to blank lines.
  # Make sure all Permissions lines are real or commented out.
  #
  # this is a anonymous uucp entry
  #
  LOGNAME=nuucp MACHINE=OTHER \
  READ=/usr/spool/uucp/nuucp \
  WRITE=/usr/spool/uucp/nuucp \
  SENDFILES=yes REQUEST=yes \
  COMMANDS=/bin/rmail
  #
  # this is a normal setup for a remote system that talks to us
  # note the absolute path to rnews since this site puts things
  # in locations that aren't "standard"
  #
  LOGNAME=fredsys MACHINE=fredsys \
  READ=/usr/spool/uucp/fredsys:/usr/spool/uucp/uucppublic:/files \
  WRITE=/usr/spool/uucp/fredsys:/usr/spool/uucppublic \
  SENDFILES=yes REQUEST=yes \
  COMMANDS=/bin/rmail:/usr/local/lib/news/bin/rnews
  #----------------------------------------------------------------------

  6.  Acknowledgements

  The following people have helped in the assembly  of  the  information
  (and experience) that helped make this document possible:

  Ed  Carp,  Steve  Robbins,  Ian Taylor, Greg Naber, Matt Welsh, Pierre
  Beyssac

  If I forgot anybody, my apologies.