From: bobl@bobsbox.rent.com (Bob Lindabury - SysAdmin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.datacomm
Subject: Re: remote access
Date: 10 Oct 92 06:01:33 GMT
Organization: Raven Enterprises -- Piscataway, NJ USA
X-NewsSoftware: GRn 1.16f (10.6.92) by Mike Schwartz & Michael B. Smith

In article <1992Oct9.141733.8855@kocrsv01.delcoelect.com> c23mld1@kocrsv01.delcoelect.com (Marc DeWever) writes:
>
> Is there a software package (non-commercial or commercial) that will
> let me login to a remote Amiga via (internal) modem and run a shell
> executing on the remote machine, but displaying I/O on my machine?
>
> If possible, please respond through E-mail.
>
>
> --
>
> Marc L. De Wever                 Domain: c23mld1@kocrsv01.delcoelect.com
> S/W engineer, Delco Electronics  UUCP: deaes!c23mld1

Yes there is.  It's called AXSh and it is a complete remote shell with
mail and a File Front End (FFE) for file transfers with X,Y,Zmodem and
any other protocols you want to add via XPR libs.  There is an
AXsh-server program that will hang on the serial port waiting for the
line to ring and it will connect via the modem.  The user is then
presented with a typical login/password pair.  The shell has full
commands and security as well as logging.  It supports multiple users
online at once as well as chat and IRC.

It can be FTP'ed from several aminet sites and the last version I was
aware of was AXShDemo_1.25.LHA or something like that.

The following are some excerpts from the docs...



        _________
       /  ___   /|
      /  /__/  / |
     /  /  /  /  |         S y s t e m   I
    /________/   |
    |        |   |
    |  \  /  |   |    _/_/_/_/_/  _/_/    _/_/
    |   \/   |   /   _/_/        _/_/    _/_/
    |   /\   |  /   _/_/_/_/_/  _/_/_/_/_/_/
    |  /  \  | /         _/_/  _/_/    _/_/
    |________|/   _/_/_/_/_/  _/_/    _/_/  ) Digital Design 1991, 1992




                S y s t e m   a d m i n i s t r a t o r ' s
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                r e f e r e n c e   m a n u a l
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



1.0 Getting started
~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                             ~
        1.1     Installing AXsh
        1.2     Adding and removing users
        1.3     Security
        1.4     Helping users
        1.5     Manuals
        1.6     Installing new software
        1.7     Administrator's daily duties

2.0 Configuring and customizing AXsh
~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~            ~
        2.1     /etc/rc
        2.2     /etc/rc.server
        2.3     /etc/rc.ffe
        2.4     /etc/motd
        2.5     /etc/crontab
        2.6     /etc/xprotos.tab
        2.7     /etc/adm/ directory
        2.8     /etc/Questionnaire
        2.8.1   /etc/adm/Answers
        2.8.2   /etc/exampleuser/ directory

3.0 Networking under AXsh
~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                       ~
        3.1     Network installation
        3.2     Creating a node
        3.3     Creating a new network
        3.4     Connecting to Internet
        3.5     UUCP
        3.6     AXnet mail
        3.7     AXnet news

4.0 Registering stuff
~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                           ~
        4.1     Registering form
        4.2     Bug report form
        4.3     New application report form
        4.4     AXsh release history
        4.5     Authors
        4.6     Copyright notices


1.0 Getting started
~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        AXsh is a shell based local communication software, which allows
        remote users to connect into your machine. AXsh consists of three
        main parts: the AXsh shell software, AX-sysghost, which holds
        information about users and AX-server, which takes incoming calls,
        starts AXsh etc.

        Before we start installation, you should check that your system is
        cabable to run AXsh. List of things you should have:

                - Amiga 500/1000/2000/2500/3000/3000T
                - at least 0.5 MB of memory
                - at least 5 MB of hard disk space for AXsh
                - Hayes standard modem connected to Amiga via RS-232

                You also need:
                - arp.library v39 or newer

                To use network or file transfer:
                - xprzmodem.library 2.52 or newer
                - any other xprotocol library

        The disk space size can be controlled by yourself. If you don't
        have 5 megs of disk space for AXsh, don't take Internet news or
        hundreds of users. Frankly, it's up to you.

        This section is kind of abstract stuff, so if you're familiar with
        AmigaDOS and know how to unpack AXsh from the installation diskette,
        skip this first section and concentrate to the second part of this
        manual.

        In this manual some of the paths are defined this way: /etc/adm/
        etc. / means root directory, in this case AXsh: assign. /etc/adm
        means AXsh:etc/adm. In AXsh they both work just fine.


4.0 Registering stuff
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        This section is very important. When you receive AXsh package and
        have installed it correctly AND DO WANT new versions of AXsh,
        PLEASE send the registering card back to us. It guarantees that
        you are on our lists.

        Bug report form is needed, when you find a bug or an unpleasant
        feature from AXsh. AXsh is not bug free, but it's quite well behaving
        program at the moment.

        When you have developed an application for AXsh, let us know about
        it immediately by filling the Application report form and sending
        it to us.


        You can send all the forms via AXnet to

                root@tap.tre.fi or root@pasbox.hro.fi

        or use conventional mail:

                Juha Tuominen             or    Pasi Ojala
                Opiskelijankatu 30 B 42         Kostulantie 67/50
                33720  TAMPERE                  39230 Osara
                FINLAND                         FINLAND

        and forms also come here through Internet:

                po87553@cs.tut.fi
                albert@cc.tut.fi



        4.4 AXsh release history
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        Date            Author  Comments
        ------------------------------------------------------------------
        26-Apr-91       Juha    Created this file
        27-Apr-91       Juha    ModifyPrefs()
        28-Apr-91       Juha    GetString(), PrintOut(), GetCall()
        29-Apr-91       Juha    Yeah, it works, IntuitionBase doesn't.
        30-Apr-91       Juha    Some bugs in receiving data..
        01-May-91       Juha    Running out of money, nothing works :-(
        02-May-91       Juha    I got some money! Everything works!
        02-May-91       Juha    ModifyPrefs() doesn't seem to work..
        04-May-91       Juha    ModifyPrefs() works! proto/all.h, argh!
        05-May-91       Juha    ReadConfig()
        06-May-91       Juha    GetCommand(), GotANewPowerSupply()
        07-May-91       Juha    IdentifyCommand()
        08-May-91       Juha    Stupid test system written
        19-May-91       Juha    LowerCase()
        20-May-91       Juha    cd-command
        25-May-91       Juha    Bug fixing... You can't copy arrays this way: a=b;
        04-Jun-91       Juha    I just tried KS20 - AXsh works fine!
        05-Jun-91       Juha    Coded an intelligent CD-command
        07-Jun-91       Juha    YES! Finally cd works!!!!!!!!
        08-Jun-91       Pasi    Done some optimizing, and Juha learned something too :-)
        08-Jun-91       Juha    Found a fatal principal error.. >ser: <ser:.. 8(
        09-Jun-91       Juha    This is now only a filter, no serial stuff at all.
        10-Jun-91       Juha    Login, bugs fixed from command checking, exit-command
        11-Jun-91       Juha    < and > are now checked. More intelligent parser.
        13-Jun-91       Juha    GetString patched, couple of new hardcoded commands added
        14-Jun-91       Juha    Execute() sucks, SyncRun() rules :-) Arp is on now.
        18-Jun-91       Juha    I found a bug which caused jamming. It's repaired now.
        19-Jun-91       Juha    Simple accesslevel feature added. Now there's everything
                                that we planned. Is it ready? Bugs? Mysterious features?
                                Would someone pay me something for this? YES?
        04-Jul-91       Pasi    No, it isn't ready. I just couldn't watch that code, I had
                                to do something. So, I replaced the GetString and added a
                                command history. Partly rewrote ReadConfig etc.
        05-Jul-91       Pasi    Done major compacting, bug fixes and some optimizing.
                                Password, chfn and local finger added.
        07-Jul-91       Juha    Quota checking added, first beta release version
        10-Jul-91       Pasi    Removed bugs from Identifycommand and changed quota() a bit
        12-Jul-91       Juha    Couple of new options
        14-Jul-91       Pasi    Mail checking improved. Now axsh informs if you have new mail.
        15-Jul-91       Pasi    exit-command position changed, added login-command (internal)
        18-Jul-91       Pasi    more() added
        19-Jul-91       Juha    Rewrote log keeping and found a fatal bug which caused
                                a Guru (Illegal Instruction). Now it's fixed.
        19-Jul-91       Juha    Major improvement to source code outlook, SyncRun prefix to config ('!:')
        19-Jul-91       Pasi    cd rewritten, now ~/ = home, / = root. ../~/../../usr possible :-)
        20-Jul-91       Pasi    removed a bug in bcommands-path. Rewrote some IdentifyCommand code
        20-Jul-91       Pasi    Cd can now use forbidden directories to step to permitted ones.
        21-Jul-91       Juha    Disturb system coded - yeah, and Pasi is gonna debug it, right? :)
        21-Jul-91       Pasi    Disturb changed to write.. :-) (who -w me him message...)
        24-Jul-91       Pasi    Added aliases. Alias- and Unalias-commands
        27-Jul-91       Pasi    Added directory-expansion (l: -> dh0:l/ etc..) Only the symbolic
                                version is needed in config. Both can be used in cd.
        02-Aug-91       Juha    rz and sz
        04-Aug-91       Pasi    Changed who-book-keeping to ax-sysghost, (message system)
                                write was made to an internal command (uses the message system)
        06-Aug-91       Pasi    rz and sz use now stdio and work 'perfectly'.. But that took some
                                work too! And there may be some 'features' left (rz won't work..)
        08-Aug-91       Pasi    cd changed to allow mixed symbolic components in path definations.
                                ":" now denotes root directory.
        11-Aug-91       Pasi    cmd-system rewritten (again :)
        12-Aug-91       Juha    ! and history commands
        15-Aug-91       Juha    commandcounter now even more intelligent :-)
        18-Aug-91       Pasi    Identifycommand->docommand to clear things up. Patched cmd-counter,
                                coded execute (max recursion depth==4) and implemented .login.
        21-Aug-91       Pasi    All directories under home are allowed, checkquota now recursive
        26-Aug-91       Pasi    Directory path and filename path expansions
        30-Aug-91       Pasi    Internal command: quota. Shows number of files too.
        06-Sep-91       Pasi    Started coding environmental variables. Set and unset
        11-Sep-91       Pasi    Something more in variables, one-char-alias -bug removed
        16-Sep-91       Pasi    more() changed to cat()
        28-Sep-91       Juha    getsring() function patched and file name completion added
        29-Sep-91       Pasi    if-construct added, some minor changes
        30-Sep-91       Pasi    fcomp better, cache not worth it
        01-Oct-91       Pasi    filename completion now handles dir-trees, case-insensitive
        04-Oct-91       Pasi    commandname completion, some work on traverse and fcomp.
                                Environmental variable 'prompt'.. %d %h %M %% %t %u %l %r %q
        13-Oct-91       Pasi    Added vt100/ansi-support to command line editor.
                                Variable format -> ${name}, some bug fixes
        16-Oct-91       Pasi    Reduced stack consumption, added some string lenght checking
        20-Oct-91       Pasi    Reduced stack usage, patched checkquota and added some checks
        22-Oct-91       Pasi    Changed userfile-system to work with UID. (no system-dir)
                                25% of the external programs had to be changed :-(
        03-Nov-91       Pasi    Now all of the programs are SyncRunned, no matter what.
                                Also !: must be removed from config. Might make axsh a real
                                shell, if I just knew how NewCLI actually spawns a new shell..
        09-Nov-91       Pasi    Patched a bug in History ([80]->[160])
        16-Nov-91       Juha    Try SpawnCLI() :-) The very first non-beta version. Some junk functions added.
        17-Nov-91       Pasi    Added IBM-set support to AXAUX-handler.. "ibmset"-variable..
        18-Nov-91       Pasi    Cured some Gurus :-) changed write (who() )
        19-Nov-91       Juha    Guru trapping routines (axsh_trap.asm)
        21-Nov-91       Juha    I'm having a cold. SNIF. Improved handling routines for gurus 0-3
        26-Nov-91       Pasi    Changed permitted-dir-list to list of FileLock fl_key's (speed increase?)
                                Originally got the idea from DNET docs, but coded it myself.
                                Superuser has now all sorts of additional priviledges: cd to any
                                existing dir, redirection anywhere, paths on commands, no ignore etc.
        28-Nov-91       Pasi    Added internal Wait and dynamic assignment- and volume-check
                                (No more 'Please insert Volume Huuhaa: in any drive'-requests)
        29-Nov-91       Pasi    ^C and ^D (actually SIGBREAKF_CTRL_C & D) are handled..
                                If $ignoreeof, ^D does exit. But there still is no way to force logout..
        02-Dec-91       Pasi    Added noreq's (removed assignment&volume check), added quit to exit scripts..
        05-Dec-91       Pasi    Superuser can now start any program if logged on console. Minor changes
        18-Dec-91       Pasi    'Filenames' that are not filenames are allowed for superuser.
        26-Dec-91       Juha    AXsh:etc/nologin... user informed about new mail and messages
        30-Dec-91       Pasi    Control chars in prompt
        07-Jan-92       Pasi    Changed some fopen:s to Lock:s.. less overhead
        14-Jan-92       Pasi    variable 'autologout' - shell idle time in minutes 1-15 (default 4) (serial only)
                                If quota==Unset, do not check too often.. Increased login name & password to 16
                                chars (was before actually 15..)
        20-Jan-92       Pasi    If you tried to cd to a file, a Lock was left to that file.. not anymore
        24-Jan-92       Juha    Program name is now removed from the who-list, new sign-on banner, reboot in case of fatal guru
        01-Jan-92       Pasi    login name 'new' will invoke AXsh:bin/register
        08-Feb-92       Pasi    A minor enhancement in line editor (Del and ^D)
        11-Feb-92       Pasi    Bug in readconfig fixed.. took always dirs for normal-user
        20-Feb-92       Pasi    Fixed ftp, added console-flag for commands (run in console mode)
        05-Mar-92       Pasi    Fixed upload/ftp and added a 4096-byte buffer
        09-Mar-92       Pasi    Worked on traverse().. less copying - more speed ?
        10-Mar-92       Pasi    Serious rewriting on the command line parser
        11-Mar-92       Pasi    $[variable][number] will work now
        18-Mar-92       Pasi    Traverse bug fixed
        01-Apr-92       Juha    AXsh is now BSD 4.1 compatible. I just compiled SysV Emacs and it worked OK. GOT YOU!!! :-)
        02-Apr-92       Juha    Now AXsh suggests the user to get the fuck out of the system when it's time for an event
        03-Apr-92       Juha    Finally graduated from my college - no more early wake-ups.
        06-Apr-92       Juha    System crashed if user gave a single \ as a command. Now it's fixed.
        14-Apr-92       Pasi    Different styling, carrier checking by IoErr(); Removed IBM-set
                                support and forced echo from AXAUX-handler to make it more compatible
        23-Apr-92       Pasi    Adding to the middle of a line caused a guru - fixed..
        26-Apr-92       Pasi    Once again changed the way carrier loss is detected - ACTION_QUERY
        29-Apr-92       Pasi    Changed carrier check, "/" is now AXsh:
        04-May-92       Pasi    Started collecting a link library - iomodes
        04-May-92       Juha    Found a nice bug which allowed NULL users. Now it's fixed.
        06-May-92       Pasi    Made internal commands into separate functions
        08-May-92       Pasi    Directories and scripts are now detected as commands (foo -> cd foo)
        18-May-92       Pasi    Command line now allows more arguments, variable sized ..
        19-May-92       Pasi    added lasterr,ioerr variables, arguments for scripts ($argument[n])
        25-May-92       Pasi    Added homedirs to key-list, isinhome() etc. Bug fixes..
        16-Jun-92       Pasi    All commands are run in Cooked mode, unless there is C_RAW-option
        26-Jun-92       Pasi    Added crypting to the password. passwd-file and some programs changed.
        27-Jun-92       Juha    .logout-file is now executable, major enhancement to system un*x-look



        4.5 Authors
        ~~~~~~~~~~~





        4.6 Copyright notices
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        Unix is a registed trademark of AT&T
        Amiga is a registed trademark of Commodore Business Machines, Inc.
        AmigaOS is a registed trademark of Commodore Business Machines, Inc.

        AXsh is not a registed trademark.
        Digital Design is not a registed trademark. But using these without
        permission is bad for your teeth.



--
 Bob Lindabury

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