MBSE BBS Basic Installation
Last update 27-Sep-2000
Before you compile and install MBSE BBS you must first setup the basic
environment.
If you don't do this, things will fail.
Step 1: planning the filesystems.
MBSE BBS is default installed in /opt/mbse. The spoolfiles (in and
outbound, message bases) go into /var/spool/mbse. In the /opt/mbse
path are several subdirectories, bin for the binaries, etc for the
configuration and some scripts, english and dutch for the language
files and menus, home for the users homedirectories, log for the
logfiles, magic for the filerequest magicnames, fdb for the files
database, var for some statistic files and tmp as temp directory.
Don't use UMSDOS or SAMBA filesystems for the bbs, stick by the standard Linux
filesystems (ext2). If you intent to make your bbs also accessible
by FTP and WWW you must create the directory structure under the ftp user
behind the pub directory. Read the
ftp server doc for details. If you don't follow these guidlines, you
will run into trouble later and have to spend a lot of time in correcting
this error.
The default setup will be as follows:
/opt/mbse binaries, config and user home directories.
/var/spool/mbse In/outbound, queues, download directories.
Step 2: Running the installation script.
The installation script must be run by root. It checks if there is a
previous or failed installation on your system. If that's so the script will
not run. In other words, you can only run this script once. The script makes
backup copies of the system files it changes, these files will get the
extension .mbse To run the installation script you need
the archive mbbsebbs-0.33.nn.tar.gz.
Unpack this archive somewhere on your system:
tar xfvz mbsebbs-0.33.nn.tar.gz
To start the script type:
cd mbsebbs-0.33.nn
./SETUP.sh
The script does the following:
- Create the group bbs
- Create the user mbse
- Create a .profile for user mbse
- Create and set owner of directory tree under /opt/mbse
- Creates /opt/mbse/etc/mbsed.conf
- Creates /opt/mbse/etc/client.conf
- Sets owner an rights of the two previous files.
Then the script will ask you to give a password for user mbse
This password is for system maintenance and for you to make changes to the
bbs. You will need that frequently but you should not make that password
easy to guess of course. The script will then continue again:
- The user bbs is added.
- The password will be removed from user bbs This action
will make changes in /etc/shadow (if you have that) otherwise in /etc/passwd.
- If they don't exist in the file /etc/services the services fido, tfido
and mbse will be added.
- If they don't exist in the file /etc/inetd.conf the internet protocols
for the mailer will be added. The inetd is restarted to
activate the changes.
- The system startup scripts are added.
The last action is tricky. I tried to detect if the system is Slackware,
RedHat, Mandrake or Debian. I have no SuSe CD available so I don't know
what happens. Maybe it's recognized as one of the other systems, maybe not
at all. Anyway, if you have SuSe and you don't see the script mention that
startup scripts are installed, please contact me.
Step 3: Check the basic installation
The last screen of the script is about sanity checks. Perform those checks!
If something is wrong, now is the time to fix it. Don't panic and remember
the backups of the system files that are changed are in /etc with the
extension .mbse i.e: those were the original files.
Step 4: Install the basic packages.
Login as user mbse. While in the home directory unpack the distribution
archives:
tar xfvz /path/to/mbsebbs-0.33.nn.tar.gz
You now have the subdirectory with sources in the right place. Indeed, if you
have a new installation, you also have unpacked the archive somewere else
to run the installation script. That one can be removed.
Next build the binaries and install them using the folowing commands:
cd ~/mbsebbs-0.33.nn
./configure
make
su
password: enter root password here
make install
exit
The first time you do this the example menus, textfiles and some databases are
installed. If they already excist on your systems (when you do an upgrade) they
will not be installed again.
If you are not in
fidonet zone 2, change the Zone Mail Hour fields in the file
/opt/mbse/etc/mbsed.conf.
Look out, put the UTC times in there, mbsed will calculate your
local time for determining when it is ZMH. This also means that it is important
that you have to setup your timezone correctly.
Now you may start the
mbsed by hand by typing /opt/mbse/bin/mbsed.
Check in ~/log the file mbsed.log if there are no problems. Also
check with the command ps ax | grep mbsed if mbsed is really
running.
Step 5: (RedHat) startup problems.
From RedHat 6.1 (not the older versions) the behaviour of the
su is changed. This may be true for other distributions since
the end of 1999 and for Mandrake as well. The file /etc/rc.d/init.d/mbsed that is
created by the setup script is different then before. The new command
is su - instead of simply su. It might be
that other new distributions also need the extra minus sign. If that's the
case, please let me know and tell me how I can test what version it is.
Now the basic environment is finished, the next thing is to install
the scripts, examples and configuration.
Back
to Index