AmendHub

--- GUIDE Thu Nov 17 23:10:52 2022 +++ GUIDE Fri Nov 18 09:17:30 2022 @@ -0,0 +1,190 @@ +Subtext: a multi-user BBS server for Macintosh +Written by joshua stein <jcs@jcs.org> - http://jcs.org/subtext + +Subtext is free software; see the LICENSE file for copyright/licensing. + +Introduction +================================================================== +Subtext is a multi-user BBS server that is developed and runs on Macintosh +System 6 and above. It supports dialin access through a serial modem and +Telnet access through MacTCP. + +Features +================================================================== +- Multithreaded, multi-user BBS server that runs on System 6+ +- Telnet support through MacTCP +- Direct serial modem support (no Communications Toolbox) +- Integrated ANSI-capable local console +- Local log window with smart screen blanking +- Multiple threaded message boards +- Multi-user interactive chat +- Private messaging/mail +- File uploading and downloading with ZMODEM support +- Secure user password storage with SHA256 +- View/menu templates with variable expansion +- Configurable main menu key shortcuts +- Telnet brute-force IP banning by sending UDP packets to a firewall host + +Setup +================================================================== +Most of the administration is done through the BBS itself, by logging in as +a sysop and accessing the sysop menu. BBS settings, file areas, message +boards, and user accounts can all be modified through this menu. + +Editing views must be done from console, as it is easier to work in large +blocks of text in a Mac window than through telnet. + +When first run, Subtext will ask to open an existing BBS database. Clicking +Cancel will prompt to save a new database. On subsequent runs, Subtext +will automatically try to open the last database that it successfully opened. + +When creating a new database, Subtext will create a default sysop user +with the username "sysop" and password "p4ssw0rd". It will also fill in +some defaults such as an example BBS name and hostname. + +On launch, Subtext will open its logger window and initialize its connection +methods, which are only the console by default. Clicking the BBS menu and +then Open Console will open a sysop session. Pressing ! will access the +Sysop menu, and then S will enter the BBS Settings menu. + +To enable dialin access, change the Modem Port setting to 1 for the modem +port, or 2 for the printer port depending on where the modem is connected. +An appropriate Modem Init String can also be configured, though it should +*not* be configured for Auto-Answer. + +To enable Telnet access, set the Telnet Port to anything other than 0, such +as the standard telnet port of 23. Enabling Telnet requires MacTCP to be +installed. + +View Templates +================================================================== +In the BBS -> Views menu, each view used in the BBS can be edited: + + - Pre-Login (Issue) + - Main Menu + - Short Menu (shown after user has seen main menu) + - Account Signup + - No Free Nodes + - Session Signoff + +Views support expansion of variables, which are put inside {{ and }} +characters, such as "You are connected to {{node}}." + +Supported variables: + + - {{B}} + Enable bold attribute if the user's terminal supports ANSI (otherwise + it prints nothing). + - {{/B}} + Resets ANSI attributes (including bold) if the user's terminal supports + ANSI. + - {{#}} + Stops varible expansion for the rest of the template. Useful when + printing untrusted data (mostly used internally). + - {{node}} + The current node, such as "ttyt0". + - {{phone_number}} + The system's configured phone number, such as "(312) 555-1212". + - {{time}} + The current system time in 24-hour format, such as "23:59". + - {{username}} + The currently logged-in user's username, or "guest". + - {{new_mail}} + If the user has any new, unread mail messages, the count such as + "(4 New)". Otherwise it is blank. + - {{"string"}} + Print the literal string "string". This is useful in conditionals. + +Variable results can also be truncated or padded to a particular length, +which can be helpful when creating menus with columns. This is done with +the pipe character and the length, such as: + + {{ username|10 }} + +Conditionals are also supported with ternary operators "?" and ":" to print +something if the condition is true (or non-null), otherwise print something +else. The following conditionals are supported: + + - user + True if the current user is logged in as a non-guest. + - sysop + True if the current user is a sysop. + +For example, the following would print one string in menu if the user is +a sysop, otherwise it prints something else. + + {{ sysop ? "Answer sysop page" : "Page the sysop" }} + +Or when printing mail for the user: + + {{ user ? new_mail : "Guests cannot access mail." }} + +Main Menu Configuration +================================================================== +In addition to creating a custom menu layout, it may be desirable to change +the mapping of keys to functions. This can be done through Edit Menu +Options. The mapping is one action per line, with the Action, Menu Key, +All Keys list, and Label, separated by a colon. Blank lines and those starting +with # are ignored. + +When there is no custom Main Menu view defined, a list of options will be +programmatically generated by showing all menu options with a Menu Key +defined with the Menu Key and Label. Options with no Menu Key defined are +still accessible by any key in the All Keys field, but are not shown. + +The default mapping is: + + # Action:Menu Key:All Keys:Label + BOARD_SHOW_FIRST:B:Bb:Message Board + BOARD_SHOW_1::1:Message Board 1 + BOARD_SHOW_2::2:Message Board 2 + BOARD_SHOW_3::3:Message Board 3 + BOARD_SHOW_4::4:Message Board 4 + BOARD_SHOW_5::5:Message Board 5 + BOARD_SHOW_6::6:Message Board 6 + BOARD_SHOW_7::7:Message Board 7 + BOARD_SHOW_8::8:Message Board 8 + BOARD_SHOW_9::9:Message Board 9 + BOARD_SHOW_10::10:Message Board 10 + CHAT:C:Cc:Multi-User Chat + FILES_MENU:F:Ff:File Areas + GOODBYE:G:GgXx:Goodbye + RECENT_LOGINS:L:Ll:Recent Logins + MAIL_COMPOSE:N:Nn:Compose New Mail + MAIL_MENU:M:Mm:Private Mail {{ user ? new_mail : "" }} + MOTD:O:Oo:Message Of The Day + PAGE_SEND_OR_ANSWER:P:Pp:{{ sysop ? "Answer Page" : "Page Sysop" }} + SETTINGS_OR_SIGNUP:S:Ss:{{ user ? "Settings" : "Signup For Account" }} + WHOS_ONLINE:W:Ww:Who's Online + SHOW_MENU:?:?:List Menu Options + SYSOP_MENU::!:Sysop Menu + +Trusted Host +================================================================== +While Subtext can handle direct TCP connections for Telnet, it will likely +be behind a firewall/trusted host. To limit brute-force login attempts, +Subtext has a hard-coded list of banned account names that most bots will +try in rapid succession, such as "root", "admin", etc. When a Telnet client +tries one of these usernames, Subtext can send a UDP packet to the trusted host containing the IP to be banned (in dotted-quad plaintext format, such +as "192.168.1.1"). The trusted host IP and port can be configured in the +Sysop menu. If either value is empty/zero, this functionality is disabled. +Since there is no authentication with this mechanism, ensure the trusted +host is only listening for UDP packets on the interface facing the Subtext +server! + +Also during Telnet negotiation, if the IP of the connecting client matches +the trusted host's IP, Subtext will honor the "REMOTE_ADDR" value present +in the NEWENV variable list and use it as the client's connecting IP address +in logs. This is useful if the trusted host is acting as a web proxy and can +pass the IP of the web client through to Subtext over Telnet. + +Screen Blanking +================================================================== +When running on compact Macs, it is recommended to enable Subtext's +screen blanking option to prevent the log window from burning into the +CRT. When the system is idle for a configured amount of time, it will blank +the entire screen for a configured amount of time, immediately unblanking +as soon as a new connection comes in, or when a key is pressed or a mouse +button is clicked. This is better than using a dedicated screen saver which +will not unblank after a period of time, and may be wasting CPU time +drawing flying toasters while Subtext needs to process user activity.