• SynchroNET & Pi

    From IB Joe@VERT/JOETRAIN to All on Monday, March 12, 2018 10:18:55
    Okay, playing around a little... Raspbary Pi and SynchroNET. I have a few questions.

    I really don't know much about Linux, whatever flavour, the docs to get SynchroNET to install on my Pi box was easy as 3.14... There are a few issues, one being that the ports seem to complain a lot. Even if I move them... ie ftp=2121 or whatever. Is there a simple way to get the BBS to bind and listen to ports in the higher range??

    Binkit, how do I get this to run/work?? I see there an INI or a CFG file?? Is it auto loaded or do I have to run it in a different process??

    Lets just say I can make the BBS work in Pi, I see there is a lot of activity going on with the programming updates how easy/hard is it to update my Pi box??

    That's it for now...

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ The Joe Train BBS
  • From Digital Man@VERT to IB Joe on Monday, March 12, 2018 10:33:41
    Re: SynchroNET & Pi
    By: IB Joe to All on Mon Mar 12 2018 10:18 am

    Okay, playing around a little... Raspbary Pi and SynchroNET. I have a few questions.

    I really don't know much about Linux, whatever flavour, the docs to get SynchroNET to install on my Pi box was easy as 3.14... There are a few issues, one being that the ports seem to complain a lot. Even if I move them... ie ftp=2121 or whatever. Is there a simple way to get the BBS to bind and listen to ports in the higher range??

    You can change the port numbers in your ctrl/sbbs.ini and services.ini files (if you prefer to use different port numbers) - but you don't have to use high port numbers if you don't want.

    Binkit, how do I get this to run/work??

    See wiki.synchro.net/module:binkit

    I see there an INI or a CFG file??

    Yes, running "jsexec binkit install" will create a default binkit.ini file for you (assuming you have a setup sbbsecho.ini already).

    Is it auto loaded or do I have to run it in a different process??

    It runs in the BBS.

    digital man

    Synchronet/BBS Terminology Definition #56:
    XJS = External JavaScript
    Norco, CA WX: 67.0øF, 75.0% humidity, 1 mph WSW wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net
  • From Al@VERT/TRMB to IB Joe on Monday, March 12, 2018 11:05:37
    Re: SynchroNET & Pi
    By: IB Joe to All on Mon Mar 12 2018 10:18 am

    I really don't know much about Linux, whatever flavour, the docs to get SynchroNET to install on my Pi box was easy as 3.14... There are a few issues, one being that the ports seem to complain a lot. Even if I move them... ie ftp=2121 or whatever. Is there a simple way to get the BBS to bind and listen to ports in the higher range??

    On linux only root can bind ports <=1024. If your ports are above that they should bind ok.

    I would leave the ports standard whenever possible. In your ctrl/sbbs.ini if you uncomment and change the user and group to the user and group you are running as you can start sbbs with sudo and it will bind the ports and run as that user. In my sbbs directory I run "sudo exec/sbbs" and my BBS seems to run well like that.

    Binkit, how do I get this to run/work?? I see there an INI or a CFG file?? Is it auto loaded or do I have to run it in a different process??

    Binkit needs ctrl/binkit.ini. If you have nodes setup in your sbbsecho.ini you can run "exec/jsexec binkit install" and binkit will install two timed events (BINKPOLL and BINKOUT) and create ctrl/binkit.ini. That .ini may need an edit to work properly.

    There is a wiki page at http://wiki.synchro.net/module:binkit that explains it.

    Lets just say I can make the BBS work in Pi, I see there is a lot of activity going on with the programming updates how easy/hard is it to update my Pi box??

    I update almost daily but if your BBS is working as you like there is no need to update. I find the process takes about 5 minutes here but you may need more build time on a Pi.

    Ttyl :-),
    Al


    ... Tact: knowing how far to go too far.

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada - trmb.synchro.net
  • From IB JOE@VERT/JOESBBS to Al on Monday, March 12, 2018 13:26:00
    Lets just say I can make the BBS work in Pi, I see there is a lot of activity going on with the programming updates how easy/hard is it to update my Pi box??

    I update almost daily but if your BBS is working as you like there is no need to update. I find the process takes about 5 minutes here but you
    may need more build time on a Pi.


    What is the process to update it on a Pi/Linux box??I don't need to be
    current all the time... but if I were to do it what is the process??

    BTW, how many users have you had on at one time with your Pi Box??

    Thanx

    IB JOE
    AKA Joe Schweier
    SysOp of Joe's Computer & BBS
    Telnet: joesbbs.com

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A35 (Raspberry Pi/32)
    * Origin: Joe's Computer & BBS -=joesbbs.com=-
  • From Nightfox@VERT/DIGDIST to Al on Monday, March 12, 2018 12:49:46
    Re: SynchroNET & Pi
    By: Al to IB Joe on Mon Mar 12 2018 11:05 am

    On linux only root can bind ports <=1024. If your ports are above that they should bind ok.

    If you want to run Synchronet or some other server as a non-root user, you can use setcap to grant the program permission to use ports below 1024. There's a page on the Synchronet wiki about that: http://wiki.synchro.net/howto:linux_non-root

    I looked up reasons why only root can use ports >1024, but even after reading what I found, I'm still not sure there's a clear reason why that was done. I'd think you'd want to run your public-facing servers as a non-root user to reduce the possibility of someone gaining root access to your system.

    Nightfox

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com
  • From IB JOE@VERT to Digital Man on Monday, March 12, 2018 13:29:09
    You can change the port numbers in your ctrl/sbbs.ini and services.ini files (if you prefer to use different port numbers) - but you don't have to use high port numbers if you don't want.

    I'lllook into these files, I may just seek some help how to run the BBS
    logged in under the root.... or whatever that's called.

    Thanx

    IB JOE
    AKA Joe Schweier
    SysOp of Joe's Computer & BBS
    Telnet: joesbbs.com

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A35 (Raspberry Pi/32)
    * Origin: Joe's Computer & BBS -=joesbbs.com=- (1:342/200)
    þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net
  • From Nightfox@VERT/DIGDIST to IB JOE on Monday, March 12, 2018 14:03:42
    Re: Re: SynchroNET & Pi
    By: IB JOE to Digital Man on Mon Mar 12 2018 01:29 pm

    I'lllook into these files, I may just seek some help how to run the BBS logged in under the root.... or whatever that's called.

    That just means running it as the root user. That's basically the equivalent of running as Administrator in Windows. If you're running it manually, you can just put "sudo " in front of the command line. It will prompt you for the
    root user password before it runs the command. ("sudo" means "superuser do"; "superuser" is another word for root user).

    Nightfox

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com
  • From Tony Langdon@VERT to Al on Tuesday, March 13, 2018 07:45:00
    Al wrote to IB Joe <=-

    I would leave the ports standard whenever possible. In your
    ctrl/sbbs.ini if you uncomment and change the user and group to the
    user and group you are running as you can start sbbs with sudo and it
    will bind the ports and run as that user. In my sbbs directory I run
    "sudo exec/sbbs" and my BBS seems to run well like that.

    That's the "standard" way of doing it on Linux, in general (not just for SBBS), but you can also get SBBS to bind the low ports as a non root user using, which is what I'm currently doing. Documentation for that is on the wiki.

    http://wiki.synchro.net/howto:limux_non-root

    ... Tact: knowing how far to go too far.

    LOL true. :D


    ... The secret to life...just hang around until you get used to it...
    === MultiMail/Win32 v0.49
    --- SBBSecho 3.03-Linux
    * Origin: Freeway BBS Bendigo,Australia freeway.apana.org.au (3:633/410)
    þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net
  • From Tony Langdon@VERT to Nightfox on Tuesday, March 13, 2018 07:52:00
    Nightfox wrote to Al <=-

    I looked up reasons why only root can use ports >1024, but even after reading what I found, I'm still not sure there's a clear reason why
    that was done. I'd think you'd want to run your public-facing servers
    as a non-root user to reduce the possibility of someone gaining root access to your system.

    I think it goes back to the days when you had many (human) non root users on Unix systems with shell accounts logged in remotely. You obviously wouldnn't have wanted some random user setting up a mail server or DNS server, for example. So, the restriction would have ensured that only the administrator had that privilege. Linux was written to be a Unix clone on the 80386 (and later) processors at the time, so it initially inherited the characteristics of Unix for the most part. But times have changed. Ordinary shell users are now fairly rare. Non root users are now mostly for running low privilege processes (basically everything that doesn't need full access to the system), or they may have limited (FTP for exampe) access to upload files to a webhost on a shared host.

    That's my take on it.


    ... Monogamy leaves a lot to be desired.
    === MultiMail/Win32 v0.49
    --- SBBSecho 3.03-Linux
    * Origin: Freeway BBS Bendigo,Australia freeway.apana.org.au (3:633/410)
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  • From Al@VERT/TRMB to IB JOE on Monday, March 12, 2018 14:07:19
    Re: Re: SynchroNET & Pi
    By: IB JOE to Al on Mon Mar 12 2018 01:26 pm

    What is the process to update it on a Pi/Linux box??I don't need to be current all the time... but if I were to do it what is the process??

    I don't have a Pi. I'm running on a slim desktop with 4 cores running at
    1.8Ghz and 4 (maybe 8) gigs of RAM. Not high end but it runs the BBS nicely.

    BTW, how many users have you had on at one time with your Pi Box??

    Just me localy. I've had at most two users on the BBS, myself and one other and I don't notice anything getting slow at all. There is a small amount of web users at times, mostly web crawlwers I think.

    Ttyl :-),
    Al


    ... DISK ERROR: DISK ERROR: DISK ERROR: @$%#&%!! *WHACK* C:\>

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada - trmb.synchro.net
  • From Nightfox@VERT/DIGDIST to Tony Langdon on Monday, March 12, 2018 17:10:01
    Re: Re: SynchroNET & Pi
    By: Tony Langdon to Nightfox on Tue Mar 13 2018 07:52 am

    I looked up reasons why only root can use ports >1024, but even
    after reading what I found, I'm still not sure there's a clear
    reason why that was done. I'd think you'd want to run your
    public-facing servers as a non-root user to reduce the possibility
    of someone gaining root access to your system.

    I think it goes back to the days when you had many (human) non root users on Unix systems with shell accounts logged in remotely. You obviously wouldnn't have wanted some random user setting up a mail server or DNS server, for example. So, the restriction would have ensured that only the administrator had that privilege. Linux was written to be a Unix clone on the 80386 (and later) processors at the time, so it initially inherited the characteristics of Unix for the most part. But times have changed. Ordinary shell users are now fairly rare. Non root users are now mostly for running low privilege processes (basically everything that doesn't need full access to the system), or they may have limited (FTP for exampe) access to upload files to a webhost on a shared host.

    I suppose that makes sense. I remember when ISPs used to offer shell access and some user space on their host machine. I never really knew what to do with the shell access, but one time (when I was still using dialup), I noticed that I could sometimes download a file faster by first downloading it to my ISP space via FTP or wget (on the command line), as the file would download there reqlly quick, and then I'd download the file from my ISP account space via FTP (which would go fairly fast). I used to also use my ISP space for hosting small web pages that I'd want to share with people, and sometimes I'd use my ISP space for photo hosting, so I'd have links to the photos that I could paste on web forums online, etc.. I suppose now people can use things like Photobucket, etc. But services like that may need to charge money if you have more than a certain amount of content on their server..

    Nightfox

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com
  • From Tony Langdon@VERT to Nightfox on Tuesday, March 13, 2018 11:42:00
    Nightfox wrote to Tony Langdon <=-

    I think it goes back to the days when you had many (human) non root users on Unix systems with shell accounts logged in remotely. You obviously

    I suppose that makes sense. I remember when ISPs used to offer shell access and some user space on their host machine. I never really knew what to do with the shell access, but one time (when I was still using

    My first Internet access was on a shell account in 1994. I used it for all the "normal" stuff, like surfing the (what little there was) web, Gopher, email, newsgroups, IRC, etc.

    dialup), I noticed that I could sometimes download a file faster by
    first downloading it to my ISP space via FTP or wget (on the command line), as the file would download there reqlly quick, and then I'd download the file from my ISP account space via FTP (which would go

    I found similar, except the second hop was via zmodem, rather than FTP, since I was using a standard BBS terminal program to access the Unix shell.

    fairly fast). I used to also use my ISP space for hosting small web
    pages that I'd want to share with people, and sometimes I'd use my ISP space for photo hosting, so I'd have links to the photos that I could paste on web forums online, etc.. I suppose now people can use things like Photobucket, etc. But services like that may need to charge
    money if you have more than a certain amount of content on their
    server..

    ISP hosting was the only viable option then. :)


    ... Cats are purrfect
    === MultiMail/Win32 v0.49
    --- SBBSecho 3.03-Linux
    * Origin: Freeway BBS Bendigo,Australia freeway.apana.org.au (3:633/410)
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  • From KK4QBN@VERT/KK4QBN to IB JOE on Monday, March 12, 2018 22:30:46
    Re: Re: SynchroNET & Pi
    By: IB JOE to Digital Man on Mon Mar 12 2018 13:29:09

    I'lllook into these files, I may just seek some help how to run the BBS logged in under the root.... or whatever that's called.


    Umm, afaik its easier running sbns under root than it is any other user.

    --

    Tim Smith (KK4QBN)
    KK4QBN BBS

    ---
    * Synchronet * KK4QBN BBS - kk4qbn.com - kk4qbn.synchro.net - Chatsworth GA USA
  • From IB Joe@VERT/JOETRAIN to KK4QBN on Tuesday, March 13, 2018 09:47:52
    Re: Re: SynchroNET & Pi
    By: KK4QBN to IB JOE on Mon Mar 12 2018 10:30 pm

    Re: Re: SynchroNET & Pi
    By: IB JOE to Digital Man on Mon Mar 12 2018 13:29:09

    Umm, afaik its easier running sbns under root than it is any other user.

    Tried the root thing and it didn't work out too well for me. I missing a few things... my complete lack of understanding is getting in the way.

    sudo ~/sbbs/exec/sbbs and it craps out... environment issues does not know where the ~/sbbs/ctrl directory is. In synchronet wiki page on how to install Synchronet on a Pi stated that I should use an export command... export SBBSCTRL=~/sbbs/ctrl ... doesn't help me too much here.

    I am missing the fundimentals.... frustrating!!!

    Joe

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ The Joe Train BBS
  • From KK4QBN@VERT/KK4QBN to IB Joe on Tuesday, March 13, 2018 12:43:08
    Re: Re: SynchroNET & Pi
    By: IB Joe to KK4QBN on Tue Mar 13 2018 09:47:52

    Umm, afaik its easier running sbns under root than it is any other
    user.

    Tried the root thing and it didn't work out too well for me. I missing a few things... my complete lack of understanding is getting in the way.

    sudo ~/sbbs/exec/sbbs and it craps out... environment issues does not know where the ~/sbbs/ctrl directory is. In synchronet wiki page on how to install Synchronet on a Pi stated that I should use an export command... export SBBSCTRL=~/sbbs/ctrl ... doesn't help me too much here.

    sudo is not really running under root.. it gives sbbs permision to bind ports long enough and then switches back to whatever uuser you are running sbbs under. for sudo to work you would need to put that username in your sudoers file.

    now to run as root just pull up a terminal ctrl+alt+f1, etc and login as root.. or use the command su to login as root..

    I would still recommend using sudo, but that user would need to be in the sudoers file, and make sure all the file permissions, names are correct.

    I just about bet that the username you are using is'nt in the sudoers file.

    there is a difference between sudo and su.

    I am missing the fundimentals.... frustrating!!!

    it's the tiny, simple crap that always gets me.. it took me a good month or to to export the SBBBSCTRL variable correctly :)

    --

    Tim Smith (KK4QBN)
    KK4QBN BBS

    ---
    * Synchronet * KK4QBN BBS - kk4qbn.com - kk4qbn.synchro.net - Chatsworth GA USA
  • From Denn@VERT/OUTWEST to IB Joe on Tuesday, March 13, 2018 09:49:03
    Re: Re: SynchroNET & Pi
    By: IB Joe to KK4QBN on Tue Mar 13 2018 09:47 am

    Umm, afaik its easier running sbns under root than it is any other
    user.

    Tried the root thing and it didn't work out too well for me. I missing a few things... my complete lack of understanding is getting in the
    way.

    sudo ~/sbbs/exec/sbbs and it craps out... environment issues does not know where the ~/sbbs/ctrl directory is. In synchronet wiki page on how to install Synchronet on a Pi stated that I should use an export command... export SBBSCTRL=~/sbbs/ctrl ... doesn't help me too much here.

    ftp://outwestbbs.com/raspberry.pi.re/RASPBERR/00index.html%3F$jepvyo2y
    this is a raspian distro where I have pre configured Synchronet and it has the envronment varible pre set.
    just download and use win32 to install this distro to you SD card.
    I have also intalled Mystic.
    all istructions are on desktop in text files.

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ the Outwest BBS - outwestbbs.com
  • From Digital Man@VERT to IB Joe on Tuesday, March 13, 2018 15:17:29
    Re: Re: SynchroNET & Pi
    By: IB Joe to KK4QBN on Tue Mar 13 2018 09:47 am

    Re: Re: SynchroNET & Pi
    By: KK4QBN to IB JOE on Mon Mar
    12 2018 10:30 pm

    Re: Re: SynchroNET & Pi
    By: IB JOE to Digital Man on Mon Mar 12 2018 13:29:09

    Umm, afaik its easier running sbns under root than it is any other user.

    Tried the root thing and it didn't work out too well for me. I missing a few things... my complete lack of understanding is getting in the way.

    sudo ~/sbbs/exec/sbbs and it craps out... environment issues does not know where the ~/sbbs/ctrl directory is.

    Try "sudo -E ..." instead.

    In synchronet wiki page on how to
    install Synchronet on a Pi stated that I should use an export command... export SBBSCTRL=~/sbbs/ctrl ... doesn't help me too much here.

    I am missing the fundimentals.... frustrating!!!

    Patience. Also, read this: http://wiki.synchro.net/config:env

    digital man

    Synchronet/BBS Terminology Definition #9:
    CR = Carriage Return (ASCII 13, Ctrl-M)
    Norco, CA WX: 69.3øF, 67.0% humidity, 7 mph ENE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net