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With the release of System V Release 3 from AT&T, a new UUCP version appeared. This version is known by a number of names, most notably the Basic Networking Utilities, or HoneyDanBer (HDB) UUCP. HDB provides capabilities that version 2 UUCP lacks, and corrects some design deficiencies of version 2. Additional functions include the support for newer modems and networks.
The fastest way to know if you have Version 2 or BNU is to look in the directory, /usr/lib/uucp, or /etc/uucp. If you see a file named “Systems,” then you have BNU. If you find “L.sys,” then you have the Version 2 implementation of UUCP, which is described later in the chapter.
UUCP is set up in three directories: /usr/bin, /usr/lib/uucp, and /usr/spool/uucp. A brief description of each file can be found in the following output:
/usr/bin
This contains the user commands, such as
cu * interactive dialup access
uucp * job scheduler
uudecode * decode files
uuencode * encode files
uulog * show UUCP log files
uuname * get UUCP names
uupick * pick files
uustat * get UUCP status
uuto * send files
uux * command execution
/usr/lib/uucp or /etc/uucp
Devices * Device Configuration
Dialcodes * Dial code prefix expansion
Dialers * dialer programs
Maxuuscheds * configuration parameters
Maxuuxqts * configuration parameters
Permissions * Security Controls
Poll * Polling configuration
Sysfiles * file configuration
Systems * Calling System information
Uutry * debuging/text program
remote.unknown * handle unknown callers
uucheck * check configuration files
uucico * transfer program
uucleanup * maintenance program
uudemon.admin * maintenance program
uudemon.cleanu * maintenance program
uudemon.hour * maintenance program
uudemon.poll * maintenance program
uugetty * UUCP getty program
uusched * UUCP job scheduler
uutry * debuging/text program
uuxqt * remote execution program
The location of your system’s UUCP files depends on the operating system that you are running. Most System V implementations, for example, have UUCP files in /usr/lib/uucp. Many BSD versions use the directory /etc/uucp. Your system may have other related files in these directories. For example, SCO Unix has a number of files, such as binary dialer programs for specific modems, in these directories.
Only three files must be modified to bring up a UUCP connection:
Even if you leave all of the other files the same as they were shipped from the vendor, changing only these three files results in a functioning UUCP system. To make these modifications easier, the files are typically shipped full of comments; you may never need to use any documentation.
The Devices File
Before a connection can be established, the modem and serial devices that can be used must be defined. These devices range from serial lines direct to another computer, to modems, and UUCP over TCP/IP or X.25 connections. The Devices file controls what physical devices are available for carrying UUCP connections, and their configuration parameters. Each entry consists of these fields:
Name Device dialer-port speed dialer-token pairs HAYES tty2A - Any hayes \T
Each field is required, and must contain either a value or a placeholder (a hyphen). The fields, allowable values, and their purposes are listed in table 3.2.
| Field Name | Allowed Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Name | This field is the name or type of the device. In the preceding example, the name HAYES is used. | |
| ACU | This is an Automatic Call Unit, or modem. The modem may be directly attached to the computer, or accessed through a LAN switch, according to the UUCP documentation. ACUs or modems are usually attached directly to the system. | |
| Direct | This field indicates that this is a Direct link to a remote system, modem, or LAN Switch. The uucico program does not use lines of this type, only cu does. Note the capital D; this is an important note when looking at the available dialers. In the case of modems, a Direct line is also defined so that a command like “cu -l tty??” will work. This entry is also useful for configuring the modem. | |
| sysname | This field is an entry for connection to a specific system, perhaps using some other specialized dialer for routing through a LAN switch. | |
| Device | This is the actual device that is used to establish the connection. For direct serial and modem links, this field contains the name of the actual device. For TCP connections, this field will say “TCP.” | |
| dialer-port | This is a carryover from the days when the dialer was separate from the modem. This is an optional field, and may be used if the Name keyword is “ACU” and the dialer is an 801 dialer. If you don’t have an 801 dialer, put a hyphen (-) in this field. | |
| speed | a single speed a range Any | This is the speed that connections will be accepted at for this device. It may be a single speed, such as 2400, or the word “Any”, which will match any requested speed, as defined in the Systems file. The speed may also be a range of values indicated by value–value, as in 300–2400. |
| dialer-token pairs | This field identifies the dialer program that will be used in conjunction with a specific modem dialer. The token parameter identifies what type of processing is to be used on the phone number. Often no token is used. The two tokens available are \T, which advises uucico that the phone number should be processed using the dialcodes file, and \D, which indicates that the phone number in the Systems file is to be used. The dialer program named in this field can be a binary program in some implementations of UUCP, direct for use with direct serial connections, or the name of a dialer program (found in the Dialers file). | |
Sample Device file entries and explanations are shown here:
Name/Type Device Dialer Speed dialer-token INTACU tty01 - 1200 intacu
This entry defines a device named INTACU, which is accessed through /dev/tty01, using the intacu dialer program, at only 1200 baud.
TBIT tty17 - Any TBIT
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