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This article explains how to configure a uucp script to exchange batched mail via the UNIX rlogin command. Exchanging mail in this way enables you to dial a local Internet provider - who may not offer a UUCP feed -- and rlogin to a remote provider that does offer a UUCP feed - while bypassing long-distance phone companies!
First, you will need to establish a SHELL account with an ISP, and a UUCP feed account with a (long-distance) ISP. Now, configure your BBS or network and ensure that your UUCP feed is working via the direct dialing of your out-of-town provider. Once you have ironed out all of the bugs and idiosyncrasies of running a UUCP feed, you are ready to modify your uucp login script, which is used by your mail program to dial the provider and initiate the transfer.
Login scripts vary according to the software you are using. The example that follows is a script I wrote for PCBoard 15.21's UUXFER program. NOTE: the script is actually one continuous line; however, I have split it over multiple lines so that it formats correctly to the page.
In order to distinguish clearly the login names and passwords, let's use the following examples:
for Netcom (the local-call SHELL provider), login name = sugar and password = uncle
for a2i (the long-distance UUCP feed), password = 87jR2.Q
There is no need to specify the login for the UUCP feed, as we will do that in the rlogin batch file that we will create and store in your Netcom's home directory.
Now that we have our script for direct-dialing our UUCP provider working, let's study our modified rlogin script. First, I have changed the dial-up number to the number for the local provider's node (Netcom in this example). Then I changed the login and password to reflect the local account. Following those changes, you will notice the } braces. After UUXFER logs into your local account and signs on with the proper password, it needs to be told what to look for next. The server you logon to - which may vary with each call - is always enclosed in braces (check the prompt your local provider uses and substitute accordingly), so I have told UUXFER that when it sees the braces it should execute the batch file called feed.
You now will need to call your local provider and after logging in, type pico feed at the main prompt. This will create an empty text file called feed. At this point, we will type out the following rlogin command along with the parameters we will use for logging into the UUCP feed site. Replace hustle.rahul.net in the following command with the address of your UUCP feed server: rlogin hustle.rahul.net -l Uamos
Now press Ctrl-x to exit to save the file known as feed. At the command-line prompt, enter the command chmod +x feed to make feed an executable batch file.
You will have to ask your provider to configure his server to allow your incoming rlogin. He will need the login name you use on your local provider to do this. (Rahul of a2i Communications was very happy to assist me in my efforts and made all of this possible.)
Also notice the -l switch in the rlogin command line above, followed by the UUCP login ID you use with the feed site. Unfortunately, UUXFER treats any switches or other commands as separate commands or programs. Because of this, we have to tell our script to execute the batch file known as feed.
Getting back to our script, we see that after UUXFER sees the braces, it will run the feed batch file which will in turn rlogin to the appropriate server with your UUCP username. Next you will be prompted for a password. When UUXFER sees the string "word" it will enter your UUCP password.
Note that in the modified script I have removed the CONNECT \c portion of the original script when using rlogin to log into the UUCP server. I have done this because we are already logged in, thanks to our feed batch file and the use of the -l parameter with rlogin. All we need to do now is have our script enter the UUCP password.
Once our UUXFER script enters the appropriate UUCP password (in this case, 87jR2.Q), you should see the following message: Shere=sitename. The transfer should begin just as it would had you dialed in directly. Please note that the throughput will be nearly the same, as the feed server is processing the job at the same speed as before.
The good news is that you're connected to a local phone number and transferring all of your batched news without long-distance charges! Congratulations if everything works. With enough persistence and perspicacity, you should be able to adapt this script to work with nearly any program or environment.
Original Uucp Script For Dialing Long-Distance UUCP Provider
#Systems file for a2i, created 5/25/95 by EO.
a2i f1 f2 f3 f4 g "" ATZ OK \dATDT2939010 CONNECT \c gin:--gin Uamos word:--word 87jR2.Q
Modified Script For Local Netcom Node
#Systems file for a2i, modified 6/09/95 by EO.
a2i f1 f2 f3 f4 g "" ATZ OK \dATDT6447850 CONNECT \c gin:--gin sugar word:-word uncle }:--} feed word:--word 87jR2.Q
In certain instances, the rlogin command may be unreliable. The rlogin command traps certain sequences of characters when it sees a dot at the beginning of a line. If this happens, you may want to experiment with BINARY telnet. If your provider does not support BINARY telnet, you will need to obtain the source code and recompile it on your local provider's system. With any luck, your UUCP transactions will never include the character sequences trapped by rlogin, making this precaution unnecessary.
You can increase the throughput of your UUCP transfers by modifying the g parameter in PCBoard's uucp chat script. The g parameter controls the window and packet size used during the transfer. Try changing it to read g65, a setting which works well on my system (my transfer rate increased from 600cps to 1600+ cps). Consult your PCBoard manual for more detailed information.
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