LINUX GAZETTE
                                       
                          TABLE OF CONTENTS ISSUE #9
                                       
      Copyright (c) 1996 Specialized Systems Consultants, Inc.
      For information regarding copying and distribution of this material see
      the COPYING document.
      
   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
     * The Front Page
     * The MailBag
     * More 2 Cent Tips
          + Emacs Control M Trick
          + XTerm Title Trick 2
          + VI Trick -- Commenting Code
          + Newbie Tip on Find
          + Masquerading with SendMail
          + Linux Upgrade
     * News Bytes
     * Binstats: Finding Unusable Binaries, by Larry Ayers
     * The Easy Way to Set Up a Local News Server, by Christophe Blaess
     * FileRunner: A New Tk/Tcl File Manager, by Larry Ayers
     * Getting Up and Running on StarOffice 3.1, by Dwight W. Johnson
     * YODL: A New, Easy-To-Use Text Formatting Language, by Larry Ayers
     * The Back Page
       
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
    Got any great ideas for improvements! Send your comments, criticisms,
    suggestions and ideas.
    
   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
   This page written and maintained by the Editor of Linux Gazette,
   gazette@ssc.com

    "Linux Gazette...making Linux just a little more fun! "
    
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
The MailBag!

   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
   Date: Tue, 06 Aug 1996 08:45:27 -0500
   From: "Andrew R. Cook" andy@anchtk.chm.anl.gov
   To: fiskjm@ctrvax.Vanderbilt.Edu
   Subject: Linux Gazette comment
   
   
   Hi John,
   
   Thanks for taking the time for putting together the Gazette. I hope
   you have some time left over for doing work for your employer !!! I
   trust/hope that Phil Hughes will be able to keep the Gazette going ...
   I've certainly enjoyed the Gazette over the last year. One comment
   though. In the most recent issue (#8) the format has changed so that
   the Gazette is no longer (easily) printable, but is split among many
   pages. I know this is supposed to be an e-zine, but I liked the old
   format better :-(. I'd hazard to guess that I'm not alone in this, but
   probably in the minority..... Any chance of putting an organized
   single postscript file on the ftp site? That way those of us loosers
   who like to read from paper at our leisure (and don't have laptops,
   sigh..) can still easily print out a copy of the Gazette. This may
   understandably not fly with Phil, but I thought I'd suggest it and see
   what happens anyway!
   
   Thanks again for all your work!
   
   -Andy Cook
   andy@anchtk.chm.anl.gov
   
   
     (Yes, you are in the minority, and I must say it is much easier for
     me if the Gazette is in a multi-part format. As a result, it's very
     likely to stay in multi-part format. However, you should note that
     it can be downloaded as one file from the SSC ftp site --
     ftp.ssc.com/lg/. So you could download it, convert it to
     postscript, print it and read at your leisure. We're not going to
     do all the work for you -- that would take all the fun out of it.
     :-) --Editor)
     
   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
   Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 20:44:20 -0500 (CDT)
   From: Larry Ayers layers@vax2.rain.gen.mo.us
   To: gazette@ssc.com
   Subject: A Few Choice Gleanings From the FTP Sites
   
   This month I've found some really nice utilities and programs in the
   incoming directories of the Linux archive sites. If any of you LG
   readers find (or have written) a program you're excited about, and
   don't have the time or inclination to write a piece for the Gazette,
   drop me a line telling me what you like about it and its location.
   I'll include a piece on it in next month's issue.
     * Binstats: Finding Unusable Binaries
     * FileRunner: A New Tk/Tcl File Manager
     * YODL: A New, Easy-To-Use Text Formatting Language
       
   
   
   Larry
   
     (Larry has done a great job as usual on letting us know about new
     products and releases. Thanks, Larry, for your contributions.
     --Editor)
     
   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
   Date: Tue, 20 Aug 1996 14:27:34 -0700 (PDT)
   From: hans@mlsoft.com (Hans D. Swildens)
   To: gazette@ssc.com
   Subject: Microline Software Free LINUX GUI Version
   
   
   I don't know if you are aware, but we have a free LINUX advanced GUI
   toolkit (based on the Microline Widget Library for Motif) on our ftp
   site www.mlsoft.com. The MWL was used to build Netscape Navigator for
   UNIX and is used for mission critial applications by AT&T, 3Com,
   Merrill Lynch, Canon, Netscape, Sun, SGI, etc.
   
   Please download our free LINUX version. We would like to be reviewed
   or mentioned in the Linux Journal to get the word out. Since we are
   giving it away for free, we can not pay for an ad, etc. We welcome
   your feedback and hope that the LINUX community enjoys the free
   download.
   
   Hans Swildens
   Microline Software
   hans@mlsoft.com
   www.mlsoft.com
   
   
     (Okay, here's your chance to see your name in print. Let me know
     that you have downloaded the software and want to do the review.
     I'll see that it gets in both Linux Gazette and Linux Journal.
     First come, first serve. --Editor)
     
   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
   Date: Tue, 27 Aug 1996 12:25:02 -0400
   From: MikKass@aol.com
   To: gazette@ssc.com
   Subject: MindQ Publishing Inc.'s Intro to Programming Java Applets
   
   
   Dear Editor:
   
   "I'm a programmer and I want to spend a few hours getting acquainted
   with Java applet programming. Is there a faster way to learn than
   books?" "I'm not a programmer, but I want to learn about Java without
   wading through Dweeb books. Is there a way?" "My programmers are
   learning Java and I want to keep up without being overwhelmed. How do
   I do that?"
   
   These are comments we overheard at the Web Interactive Show in New
   York this month. The point? It's not just hard-core techies who want
   to learn about Java--or have time to read the books. So where do the
   rest of us go?
   
   MindQ Publishing Inc.'s "Intro. to Programming Java Applets" is a
   multimedia CD-ROM tutorial designed to teach all of the above--using
   animation, audio, video and hypertext. Experienced programmers can use
   the hyperlinked table of contents to find exactly what they need.
   Newbies can jump on any one of five tours. People inbetween can use a
   combo. All of them can use the Java Developers Kit, or the Launch
   button to go right to other Java-related programs or websites (when
   the Launch capability is activated). The program retails for $49.95,
   but I can provide you with an eval copy. Please email me:
   MikKass@aol.com, or call me (203)323-4166. Thanks. I look forward to
   hearing from you.
   
   Cordially,
   Michael Kassin
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
   The following letters are from authors who will be having articles in
   the Linux Gazette soon.
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
   Date: Sat, 17 Aug 1996 19:07:19 -0400
   From: Randy Appleton randy@dcs.uky.edu
   To: gazette@ssc.com Subject: Re: WANTED: Linux Gazette Needs Writers
   
   I might be the sort of person you are looking for. I've been hacking
   on the kernel since around version 0.8. I'm a new professor looking to
   get my name published. I'm teaching a class in System Administration
   using Linux, and I've written before. Does this sound like the
   qualifications for writers for the Linux Journal? How do I get an
   article in the Linux Journal?
   
   -Thanks
   -Randy
   
     (Sounds qualified to me. See the Author section on the Front Page
     for more information. --Editor)
     
   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
   Date: Sun, 18 Aug 1996 21:46:00 -0500 (CDT)
   From: "jwhyche" jwhyche@scott.net
   To: gazette@ssc.com
   Subject: Writers Needed
   
   
   I read on Usenet where you are looking for writers for Linux Gazette.
   If you would send me some information on what is required.
   
   Thank you,
   
   
     (Again, see the information found in the Author section on the Front
     Page. --Editor)
     
   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
   Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 13:37:12 +0200 (MET DST)
   From: Olof Svensson d95olofs@dtek.chalmers.se
   To: gazette@ssc.com
   Subject: Re: WANTED: Linux Gazette Needs Writers
   
   
   Hey.
   
   I would like to write some small articles for the Gazette. Like some
   novice articles that were in the early articles in LJ. Or maybe it is
   interesting to review some new products or small articles on how to
   set up different network features.
   
   Yours sincerely, Olof S (and of course I will spellcheck my articles)
   
     (Spellchecking is nice -- also formatting them in HTML. --Editor)
     
   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
   Date: Sat, 17 Aug 1996 17:15:41 -0500
   From: Morrissey moz@hti.net
   To: gazette@ssc.com
   Subject: Re: tips & tricks
   
   
   I would like to contribute to the Linux Gazette. I have just put a
   link to the Linux Gazette because of the tips and tricks articles!

----------------------------------------------------
"I wear blue on the outside, 'cause blue  |Richard
is how I feel in the inside." --morrissey.|N=FA=F1ez
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
http://ww.hti.net/~moz/moz.htm ;personal page
http://ww.hti.net/~moz/        ;business page

   
   
     (Thanks for the link. Mr. Nunoz's home page is pretty cool.
     --Editor)
     
   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
   Date: Sat, 17 Aug 1996 14:06:54 +0200
   From: Manuel Soriano dpsys10@dapsys.ch
   To: gazette@ssc.com
   Subject: Ideas for Linux Gazette
   
   
   Hello Marjorie
   
   First, excuse me, my english is not very fluent.
   
   I have several articles, covering general topics, of the intallation
   and configuration of Linux, test of soft, etc... but all in spanish.
   
   My idea is to make a new section on Linux Gazette in others languages
   than english.
   
   This will put LG in a new dimension and, why not, LJ :-)
   
   What do you think about ?
   
   Bye
   Manu

                \|/         dpsys10@dapsys.ch
                O-O         manu@ctv.es
    *****---oOo-(_)-oOo---**********************************************
    * Manuel Soriano             * El Perello/Valencia/Spain *

   
   
     (Why not, indeed. Let's try it. An article from Manuel will appear
     in Issue 10. --Editor)
     
   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
   [ TABLE OF CONTENTS ] [ FRONT PAGE ] Next 
   
   This page written and maintained by the Editor of Linux Gazette,
   gazette@ssc.com

    "Linux Gazette...making Linux just a little more fun! "
    
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
More 2 Tips! 

   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
  CONTENTS:
     * Emacs Control M Trick
     * XTerm Title Trick 2
     * VI Trick -- Commenting Code
     * Newbie Tip on Find
     * Masquerading with SendMail
     * Linux Upgrade
       
   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
  EMACS CONTROL M TRICK
  
   
   
    Date: Fri, 09 Aug 1996 20:15:45 -0500
   From: David Ishee <ishee@erc.msstate.edu>
   To: fiskjm@ctrvax.Vanderbilt.Edu
   Subject: $0.02 tip for removing Control M in emacs
   
   
   After looking at issue 8 about how to remove the pesky Control-M
   character in vi (vim or whatever) I had to also tell how it could be
   done in emacs. Say you loaded up a file that has the ^M all over the
   place. No problem, say M-x replace-string RET C-q C-M RET RET and
   you're done. Emacs rulz!!
   
   David
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
  XTERM TITLE TRICK 2
  
   
   
   Date: Tue, 13 Aug 1996 20:45:39 +0100
   From: Caolan McNamara
   To: fiskjm@ctrvax.Vanderbilt.Edu
   Subject: XTerm title tricks in Linux Gazette #6.
   
   
   Just scanning through back issues and came across the tip to keep the
   hostname of the machine your currently logged into in your xterm
   titlebar (and wanted to add my 2 cents).
   
   I work in a room of 30 linux boxes, so to keep track of which one I'm
   logged into despite logging in from one to another and logging out, I
   put

alias precmd 'echo -n "\033]2;"`hostname`"\007"'

   (course anything could be put here)
   in my .cshrc. Keeps my titlebar updated at all times. As a precmd its
   run after every command but its a tiny overhead and steps around the
   issue of trying to detect log-outs.
   C.

--
Real Life: Caolan McNamara                Local: caolan@skynet
College:   9312811@ul.ie                  Quote: Happiness is a small sig.

   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
  VI TRICK--COMMENTING CODE
  
   
   
   Date: Fri, 23 Aug 96 10:30:06 EDT
   From: dane@cci.com (Daniel Engel)
   To: gazette@ssc.com
   Subject: vi trick
   
   
   This is how you comment in a block of code using vi:

        :START,ENDs/^/# /

   where START is the starting line number and END is the ending line
   number.

        i.e. :10,30s/^/# /

   comments in line 10 through line 30 of the current buffer (file).
   
   same idea can be used for indentation and/or commenting out.
   
   d. at Nortel (dane@cci.com)
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
  NEWBIE TIP ON FIND
  
   
   
    Date: Tue, 20 Aug 1996 12:38:12 -0600 (MDT)
   From: murphyc@cadvision.com(Jim Murphy)
   To: gazette@ssc.com
   Subject: Article submission: Newbie Tip on Finding
   
   
   Hi,
   
   As a new linuxer, I had a hard time finding my way around the
   filesystem, and discovered that I often had to find a file for some
   reason or other. I knew the find command was out there, but
   remembering all the options required to make it search the right
   places, find the right files, and print the right answers was
   something I couldn't do, at first. So I made up my own command, using
   a shell script, and called it "fnd".
   
   "fnd" takes one argument, the name of the file you want to locate,
   complete with any wildcards you may wish to include, and pipes its
   output to "less", which then allows you to view a large list of
   results. What you get, on each line of output, is the complete path to
   anything which you're looking for! I find it amazingly useful (as is a
   rough familiarity with the "less" command.) Here's my script:

#!/bin/bash
find / -iname $1 -mount -print |less

   
   
   That's it! The -iname option tells find to be case insensitive, the $1
   is a variable which subs in your commandline argument, -mount tells
   find not to descend directories on other file systems like your cd-ROM
   (because mine is wonky and locks up the machine if it is accessed;).
   The -print option is required or you don't get any output! (Get used
   to it, it's *nix...) The | symbol tells find to direct its output to
   the "less" command so you can see your results in style! Don't forget
   the / right after the find command, or it won't know where to look. -
   Enjoy! You won't regret the time you spend keying in this little
   shortcut, and don't forget to put it in a "bin" or "sbin" directory
   after chmod'ing it to be executable.
   
   Jim Murphy
   murphyc@cadvision.com
   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
  MASQUERADING WITH SENDMAIL
  
   
   
    Date: Tue, 27 Aug 1996 21:49:27 +0100 (GMT+0100)
   From: "Robert S. Wolfram"
   To: gazette@ssc.com
   Subject: Masquerading with sendmail
   
   
   Hi Marjorie,
   
   First of all, I think it is wonderful that John devoted that much of
   his spare time to start and maintain the Linux Gazette. I am happy to
   see that it is being continued. Keep up this beautiful project!
   
   I was very pleased with Leifs Queue-R-Mail Howto, published in issue 6
   of the Gazette, but I was still left with one drawback. I have a PPP
   dialup account at a local provider, and when sending remote mail, the
   "From" address and "Return Path" should be masqueraded to match my
   address at the provider. If I would fill the $M macro in my
   'sendmail.cf' (as installed by Slackware 3.0), it would only change my
   domain, so it needed some adjustment. I made some direct changes to
   'sendmail.cf', but I did make a backup before trying anything! Here
   are the changes I made:

> # Before the edits




First of all, I filled the $M macro for masquerading my domain and added
a $N macro for masquerading my username:

> DM




Disable masquerading for the local mailer in ruleset 40:

> R$*                   $: $1 @ $M              add local qualification




Include username in remote mail masquerading (rulesets 31 and 61):

> R$*   $@ $1                   $M is defined -- use it
        $@ $N                   $M is defined -- use it
> R$+                   $: $1                   user w/o host
                        user w/o host




If you send your mail as root, you might want to remove its special
treatment:

> #CLroot
> CEroot




After sending 'sendmail' a HUP signal, my mail got masqueraded so that
the receiver could just reply to the correct mailbox.

Two remarks:

First, to find ruleset xx, just search for Sxx in the beginning of a line.
Secondly, tab characters between the fields in the rewriting rules
are REQUIRED!!! Make sure you do not change those into spaces!



Well, those were my $0.02. I hope it was still readable.



Cheers,

Rob.



Rob S. Wolfram   0wolfram01@lelystad.flnet.nl   rwolfram@wi.leidenuniv.nl
W3:                                       http://www.flnet.nl/~0wolfram01
=========================================================================
L I N U X :   T H E   C H O I C E   O F   A   G N U   G E N E R A T I O N
=========================================================================





  __________________________________________________________________________



  LINUX UPGRADE
  




  __________________________________________________________________________


Date: Tue, 20 Aug 1996 11:02:03 -0400

From: David Bourgin dbourgin@wsc.com

Organization: WSC Technologies, Inc.

To: linux@ssc.com

Subject: Linux upgrade




Hello,



Since this FAQ is comes up a very often in comp.os.linux.*,
and since it's already mentioned in kernels 2.0.12+ in
/linux/Documentation/Changes and in some News papers
(still one contacting me today: The editor of the german magazine
UNIXopen.) without any request from us.
So I'm going to ask for you to put something in your interesting
magazine. It's is how to avoid a lot of problem when upgrading
a Linux box. There's a easy way, and some scripts to run.
All the stuff is free, and is available by ftp, located at:
ftp://ftp.wsc.com/pub/freeware/linux/update.linux/



The upgrade is full, it means it will upgrade any system
from 1.2.x (sorry I didn't test any earlier setup).
It will be right for anyone from new Linux users to experts
(no knowledge is required, no questions are done: all
is detected and worked fine for all people who tested,
except non-Lilo users since I force Lilo v19 to install.
This will change next.)



All the upgrade is always up to date, and only fully tested
packages are included (!). For example, I didn't install
kernel 2.0.5 when it comes out since I've found out a bug
in the code (reported to Linus who did 2.0.6 as a patch).
Current upgrade contains:
     * New kernel: 2.0.x
     * New gcc: 2.7.2
     * New libc: 5.4.2
     * New libg: 2.7.1.4
     * New ld.so: 1.8.1
     * New bin utils 86: 0.3
     * New modules: 2.0.0
     * New make: 3.74
     * New lilo: 19
     * New autoconf 2.10
     * New binary utilities 2.6.0.15 (2.7 only works with kernel 2.0.8+)
     * New dip 3.3.7o
     * New fdisk 3.04
     * New fdutils 4.2
     * New fsck 1.04
     * New ftape 2.08
     * New gawk 3.0.0
     * New getty_ps 2.0.7i
     * New gpm 1.09
     * New hd param 3.0
     * New iBCS 2.0 960610
     * New man 1.4h
     * New man pages 1.12
     * New mount 2.5k
     * New mtools 3.0
     * New ncurses 1.9.9e
     * New net tools 1.32alpha
     * New pcmcia modules 2.8.18
     * New ppp 2.2.0f
     * New ps,top,who,w 1.01
     * New sendmail 8.7.5a
     * New SysVinit 2.64
     * New TermCap 2.0.8a
     * New apache (HTML server) 1.1.1
     * New boot sys 0.4a
     * New DosEmu: 960807
     * New ghostscript 3.33
     * New IP masquerading ipfwadm 2.2
     * New lclint 2.1b
     * New loadlin 16
     * New ntfs 951231a
     * New quotas 1.51
     * New samba
     * New snd-util 3.5
     * New socks 5b 0.16.4
     * New Linux utilities: 2.5
     * New WINE: 960717
     * New Netscape: 3.0 (not a freeware!)



All is NOT installed when requested. For more details,
see README file at

ftp://ftp.wsc.com/pub/freeware/linux/update.linux/



I know some mirrors exist in Europe as:

ftp://ftp.ibp.fr/pub/linux/update.linux/



Note: I'm French, and I've moved two months ago from France.
So sorry if my American is not yet plain ;-)



Bye,   David

--

Web: http://www.accescyb.fr/~rezo1/homepage.html

E-mail: dbourgin@wsc.com

David Bourgin - Netware/Unix administration/security.

I'm a netsurfer, and as such, a citizen of the worlda.





  __________________________________________________________________________




 [ TABLE OF CONTENTS ]   [ FRONT PAGE ]   Back    Next  




  __________________________________________________________________________




This page written and maintained by the Editor of Linux Gazette,
 gazette@ssc.com

    "Linux Gazette...making Linux just a little more fun!"
    
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
                                  NEWS BYTES
                                       
   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
  GNU ID UTILITIES
  
   
   
    A new release of the GNU id utilities is available at
   ftp://ftp.gnu.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/id-utils-3.2.tar.gz
   
   GNU id-utils is a package of simple, fast, high-capacity,
   language-independent identifier database tools. Actually, the term
   ``identifier'' is too limiting -- ID Utils stores tokens, be they
   program identifiers of any form, literal numbers, or words of
   human-readable text. Database queries can be issued from the
   command-line, or from within emacs, serving as an augmented tags
   facility.
   
   Release 3.2 fixes a nasty bug in eid (a.k.a., "lid -R edit"), which
   should only be a problem for users of non-emacs editors (e.g., vi).
   This release also fixes as well as some minor portability problems. If
   you use emacs and had no trouble compiling 3.1, there's no reason for
   you to pick up this release.
   
   Additional information: gnu@prep.ai.mit.edu
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
  INFOMAGIC WORKGROUP SERVER
  
   
   
    The InfoMagic Workgroup Server provides high-performance file and
   printing services to PC and Macintosh clients using the Linux
   operating system. It is the first Linux distribution designed
   specifically for servers. Based on networking software created by the
   Internet community and already in use at hundreds of companies,
   universities and organizations worldwide, the InfoMagic Workgroup
   Server provides simple graphical tools for system administration and
   set-up. A Unix novice can set up a sophisticated server environment in
   a couple of hours.
   
   Additional information: Orders@InfoMagic.com,
   http://www.infomagic.com/
   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
  LINUXCONF 1.6
  
   
   
    I am proud to announce the release of linuxconf 1.6. This release
   incorporates many enhancements and features. The last official release
   was 1.3. Since, a major user interface rework has been done and many
   smaller features were added. Release 1.4 and 1.5 were only released on
   the linuxconf mailing list.
   
   It has been uploaded to sunsite in the pub/Linux/Incmoning directory
   and should move to /pub/Linux/System/admin/linuxconf-1.6.src.tar.gz.
   Binaries for both elf and a.out systems are provided at the same
   place.
   
   The major enhancement is the http mode. With this, you can now operate
   linuxconf using any web browser supporting forms. This makes
   administration of large linux networks a wonderful experience. You can
   navigate in linuxconf and even set bookmarks in your browser.
   Ultimatly one can build his corporate administration page with link to
   different part of linuxconf on different linux servers or workstation.
   
   
   Additional information: jack@solucorp.qc.ca
   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
  RED HAT REMBRANDT II
  
   
   
    Red Hat Linux - 3.0.4 (Rembrandt II) BETA now available on both the
   Intel and Sparc!
   
   The Rembrandt beta releases of Red Hat Linux include the following
   nifty features:
   
     Modular kernel (2.0.10) One kernel (one boot disk) for all hardware
     Increased hardware support over 3.0.3 New, simpler installation PAM
     - Pluggable Authentication Modules More comprehensive X
     configuration New network configuration tool New version of RPM -
     2.2.3 Dependencies Libc 5.3.12
     
   
   
   The Rembrandt II release fixes many bugs, and adds a few features.
   Among the improvements over Rembrandt are:
   
     config file handling DOS partitions IDE drives c-h flashing asterisk
     System.map interface cleanups /net /.automount updatedb dip, inn,
     fvwm95, ypbind, ftpuser module parameters package selection
     
   
   
   The Red Hat Linux Rembrandt II is available from:
   
   ftp://ftp.redhat.com/pub/redhat/rembrandt
   
   Additional information: rembrandt-list@redhat.com,
   http://www.redhat.com/redhat/rembrandt
   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
  SDK SOFTWARE
  
   
   
   
   
   URL CHANGE from The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
   
   The free Linux software which I release under the name "SDK Software"
   (morepkgtools - supplements Slackware's pkgtool; tidylinks - searches
   for and tidies dangling and messy symbolic links; LNET-Config -
   configuration script for the LNET TCP/IP (KA9Q-like) program) has
   moved from AOL to:
   
   http://www.kalika.demon.co.uk/sdk-software/index.html
   
   Revised versions of the software, with the correct URLs in the manual
   pages etc., will be released shortly.
   
   If you have my AOL site bookmarked please change your records.
   
   FREE SOFTWARE ANNOUNCEMENT:
   
   http://www.kalika.demon.co.uk/sdk-software/index.html#man2html
   
   http://www.kalika.demon.co.uk/sdk-software/myprogs/unix/man2html
   
   Version 0.15 of this very modest Bourne-shell script is now available.
   The script is a CGI-bin interface to "man", converting UNIX (Linux)
   manual pages into fully-legal HTML on the fly.
   
   Sample output can be viewed at:
   http://www.kalika.demon.co.uk/sdk-software/index.html#manpages
   
   Additional information: steve@kalika.demon.co.uk
   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
  TAPER
  
   
   
    This is to announce the latest release of taper - version 6.7.4
   
   Taper is a user friendly, full featured tape backup solution for
   Linux. Multiple features are supported including most recent restore,
   incremental backups, archive verification and archive management. With
   triple buffering, and internal compression, backup performance is
   quite good.
   
   Taper supports ftape, zftape, scsi, floppies, regular files and
   removable media such as the IOMEGA ZIP drives.
   
   In addition, taper also supports IDE tape drives in ALPHA stage.
   
   PLEASE NOTE:
   I am going away for 2.5 months from this week and will be unreachable
   via e-mail therefore, there will be no support for this version until
   I return mid-late October.
   
   Additional information: yusuf@nagree.u-net.com
   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
  TRANSEND
  
   
   
    Advanced Network Products, Inc. announces the alpha release of
   TranSend. TranSend, a "middleware" product, is an efficient, reliable
   and platform- independent mechanism that provides communications
   between your applications.
   
   TranSend is a development toolkit that allows rapid construction of
   real-time client/server and distributed applications. TranSend is the
   perfect foundation for all of your network development needs,
   including:
     * Real-time client/server and distributed applications
     * High performance data distribution systems
     * Cross-platform connectivity
     * Fault-tolerant systems
       
   Additional information: anpi@advanced-net.com
   http://www.advanced-net.com/examples.html
   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
  WEB-TRAVERSING ROBOT
  
   
   
    The VWbot Web-traversing robot is now available as shareware. It was
   developed on Linux and hasn't been tested on anything else, but it
   ought to run on most Unix. It uses Perl4 and libwww-perl-0.40
   
   The core program may be customised to perform different functions,
   such as keeping track of document modifications, operating as a
   restricted-domain search engine, or as a free-running agent configured
   for tasks such as lexical analysis. The robot adheres to the original
   Robot Exclusion Protocol and includes code to implement the newer
   ROBOTS META tag.
   
   Additional information: robots@vancouver-webpages.com,
   http://vancouver-webpages.com/VWbot/
   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
   [ TABLE OF CONTENTS ] [ FRONT PAGE ] Back Next 
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
   This page written and maintained by the Editor of Linux Gazette,
   gazette@ssc.com

    "Linux Gazette...making Linux just a little more fun! "
    
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
                      BINSTATS: FINDING UNUSABLE BINARIES
                                       
    by Larry Ayers
    
   Copyright (c) 1996
   
      Published in Issue 9 of the Linux Gazette
      
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   Like many other Linux users, I've strayed from the path of my
   originally installed distribution (Slackware 3.00) and have updated
   quite a large percentage of the packages and libraries. This can lead
   to problems; these might come my attention when starting up a
   long-neglected executable only to receive a message indicating that an
   essential library is missing, or that a library has an incompatible
   executable format.
   
   Of course, you could spend a couple of hours every month or so and run
   ldd on each and every executable on your system, writing down the
   results for every one which has errors. This could become tedious, I
   imagine.
   
   Peter Chang is evidently a whiz at cobbling together shell scripts
   which use various Unix utilities chained and piped one to another.
   Binstats is one of his, and it is truly an ingenious contrivance.
   You start it up (after editing it so that it knows where all of your
   /bin directories are), the hard disc grinds away for a minute or
   three, and this little script presents you with a list of all the poor
   orphaned programs which can't run due to a lack of shared libs. It
   also lists how many of each type of executable (ELF, QMagic,
   statically linked, etc.) you have, and which shared libs you have
   which aren't needed by any of your executables.
   
   What really blew my mind was seeing a long list of duplicated
   executable names, an unexpected result of many upgrades. This can be a
   result of this imaginary scenario: Joe has been maintaining Package X
   for several years and is weary of the constant email. He gratefully
   transfers the maintenance of Package X to an eager, energetic young
   programmer, Ed. Ed is appalled to find an installation procedure which
   doesn't follow the Linux Filesystem Standard, and immediately changes
   the default installation directory from /bin to /usr/local/bin. Yours
   truly logs in at sunsite.unc.edu, finds a new version of Package X,
   installs it, and is happy to see the new functionality. Unfortunately
   the old Package X executable is living out the remainder of its days,
   unknown to all, in /bin. Then Binstats does its work and the old X
   binary and all its hoary cohorts are brought to light.
   
   All of the functions of Binstats can be done "by hand", of course. The
   beauty of this shell program is the combination of tasks into one,
   with the results logged to a text file. Then you can see at a glance
   several system administration jobs which should be taken care of.
   
   Binstats is only four and one-half kb. archived in tgz format. A copy
   of the latest version is available at this UK site, as well as in this
   sunsite directory. It's well worth the short download time, even if
   you only run it once.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
    Larry Ayers<layers@vax2.rain.gen.mo.us>
    
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
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     _________________________________________________________________

                  THE EASY WAY TO SET UP A LOCAL NEWS SERVER
                                       
   
   
   By Christophe Blaess (ccb@club-internet.fr).
   
Introduction

   
   
   A few months ago, I decided to set up a local news server on my Linux
   Box, in order to read off-line the articles. Before then I read the
   news directly from the Usenet server of my Internet Provider, at the
   detriment of my phone bill...(Here, in France, even the local
   communications are rather expensive)
   
   Before trying to install and set up one of the two classical news
   servers (Inn and CNews), I browsed a bit the Web, looking for a
   possible other product. I then discovered a very powerful small
   package "Leafnode" written by Arnt Gulbrandsen. It can be found in
   source form at ftp://ftp.troll.no/freebies/leafnode/ and the home page
   of this project is accessible at
   http://www.troll.no/freebies/leafnode.html.
   
   This package (leafnode-0.9.tar.gz, 29 Kb) contains three little
   programs, very easy to install, and to use:
     * "Fetch" can feed a local news server from a remote Usenet server
       (university, ISP...). It also posts the outgoing articles, using
       classical NNTP requests.
       
     * "Leafnode" is a USENET server, run by the inetd daemon, when a
       connection in required on the NNTP port, by a newsreader.
       
     * "Texpire" is generally run daily from the crontab to erase the
       oldest articles from the news spool.
       
   
   
   The main advantage of this system, is the transparent way it is
   inserted between the remote news server and the local newsreader. The
   remote Usenet server sees Leafnode exactly like a classical newsreader
   (like tin, trn, netscape,...) and the local news reader sees Leafnode
   just like a USENET server.
   
   I have been happily using Leafnode for several months, and I would
   like to describe here the (very simple) steps to install and configure
   it. Then I will explain some hints to use it in a multi-users
   environment.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
INSTALLING LEAFNODE

   
   
   I've been using leafnode 0.8 for a few months, but I've recently
   upgraded to version 0.9. The process for installing it is the same as
   the previous version, but I've had a little problem, maybe due to my
   version of make, and I'll describe how I have fixed it.
   
   You first need to download the source code from
   ftp://ftp.troll.no/freebies/leafnode/. You'll get
   leafnode-0.9.tar.gz.
   
  COMPILING THE SOURCE CODE
  
   
   
   Become root and do :

  # cd /usr/local/src
  # tar -xzf ~/leafnode-0.9.tar.gz
  # cd leafnode-0.9/
  # make

   
   
   Everything must compile without any problem...
   
  INSTALLING LEAFNODE
  
   
   
   Make sure there is a "news" user and a "news" group on your system.
   
   Then you can type:

  # make install

   
   
   If "make install" complains when making directories in
   /var/spool/news/message.id/, you may have the same problem as I've
   had. To fix it, I've modified the Makefile, to insert a part of the
   leafnode-0.8 Makefile:
   
   replace the lines (in the "install:" section)

  cd $(SPOOLDIR)/message.id
  for a in 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ; do for b in 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ; do \
     mkdir ${a}${b}0 ${a}${b}1 ${a}${b}2 ${a}${b}3 ${a}${b}4 ; \
     mkdir ${a}${b}5 ${a}${b}6 ${a}${b}7 ${a}${b}8 ${a}${b}9 ; done

   
   
   by the line

  -mkdir -p $(SPOOLDIR)/message.id/{0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9}{0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9}{0
,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9}

   
   
   Be sure that the first character on the line is a tabulation. Then try
   again:

  # make install

  END OF INSTALLATION
  
   
   
   At this point, Leafnode will have installed the following files on
   your system:

    /usr/local/sbin/fetch
    /usr/local/sbin/leafnode
    /usr/local/sbin/texpire
    /usr/local/man/fetch.8
    /usr/local/man/leafnode.8
    /usr/local/man/texpire.8
    /usr/lib/leafnode/config.example
    /var/spool/news/ ... and a lot of subdirectories ...

   
   
   First you have to copy the file /usr/lib/leafnode/config.example to
   /usr/lib/leafnode/config and edit him, to put the name of your remote
   NNTP server in place of:

  server = news.hiof.no

   
   
   Edit the file /etc/inetd.conf, and look for a line like:

  nntp   stream   tcp   nowait   root   /usr/sbin/tcpd   in.nntpd

   
   
   then modify it like this:

  nntp   stream   tcp   nowait   news   /usr/sbin/tcpd   /usr/local/sbin/leafno
de

   
   
   Depending on your configuration, there may be no TCP wrapper
   installed, so you could have to remove the "/usr/sbin/tcpd" part of
   this line.
   
   and do

   # killall -HUP inetd

  FIRST RUN
  
   
   
   Connect to your Usenet provider, and, while being "root" or "news",
   run:

  $ fetch

   
   
   You will have to wait for a moment, because Leafnode is asking the
   NNTP server the list of all the active groups. Once fetch ends, run a
   newsreader, as normal user, and ask him to contact the localhost. for
   example, with tin do:

  $ export NNTPSERVER=localhost
  $ tin -r
        
   
   
   (With Netscape you have to put localhost in "Options/Mail and
   News/Servers/NNTP server")
   
   You will get the list of all available newsgroups, then choose
   interesting ones, and read them. They will appear empty at this time.
   It's normal.
   
   As root run again fetch. It will download all the content of the
   previously read newsgroups. The first downloading will take a while,
   but the next will obviously be very much quicker.
   
   Your local USENET server is installed!
     _________________________________________________________________
   
CONFIGURING LEAFNODE

   
   
   Now that leafnode run on your Linux box, you can configure some
   details:
   
   
   
   In the file /usr/lib/leafnode/config, there are two fields you can
   edit:
     * the expire value tells to Texpire the number of days an unread
       thread must be kept.
     * the maxcount value limits the number of articles to download from
       a newsgroup, during a single execution of Fetch.
       
   
   
   Refer to the comments in this file to choose the values (on my system
   I use expire=10 and maxcount=3000)
   
   You must run Texpire from time to time, and a daily entry in the
   crontab seems to be the best choice:

  00  03  *  *  *  news  /usr/local/sbin/texpire

   
   
   This line is for a system-wide crontab (generally /etc/crontab
   maintained by root), but you will have to remove the username "news"
   on user crontab (/var/spool/cron/news).
   
   You will have to run periodically fetch. If you have a permanent link
   with your news server, there's an obvious solution: the crontab again,
   to run it once per hour for example.

  00   *  *  *  *  news  /usr/local/sbin/fetch

   
   
   If you're using a non-permanent PPP connection, you can insert fetch
   at the end of the ip-up shell script (see Linux Gazette 7 "Setting up
   PPP's ip-up and ip-down scripts!").
   
   Put the name "localhost" in /etc/nntpserver or set the environment
   variable (for example in /etc/profile):

        export NNTPSERVER=localhost =

   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
USING LEAFNODE ON MULTI-USERS SITE.

   
   
   There are problems to avoid, especially if there are other users on
   your system, or if the leafnode server is on a local network. First
   you must make sure of the validity of the headers in the outgoing
   posts, but you also need to limit the list of the accessible
   newsgroups. Don't forget that Fetch will download the whole content of
   a newsgroup if someone tries to read it. So, be very careful with
   newsgroups like alt.binaries.pictures...
   
   Fortunately, we can use some little awk and shell scripts to verify
   and correct the outgoing posts, and to limit the local access to
   selected newsgroups.
   
  CHECKING THE OUTGOING POSTS
  
   
   
   With some newsreaders, the "From:" field of the outgoing articles will
   be set to myname@my.station.on.my.lan and not
   myname@my.internet.provider.com. With some of them you can configure
   the "From:" and "Reply-to:" fields, while the others need you to
   recompile them.
   
   This problem can be worse if you have a Linux box with several users.
   Some of them can have misconfigured newsreader (sometimes on
   purpose...) and it may be safer to check the headers of the outgoing
   articles before posting them.
   
   Here's a small awk filter which allows a kind of masquerading of the
   "From:" line of an article. It will change the line "From:
   username@my.station.on.my.lan (user real name)" to a line "From:
   username@my.internet.provider.com (user real name)".
   
   You may also ensure that username is correct (i.e. in a list of
   allowed users). The same Perl script will help us to determine the
   correct articles. Otherwise it will add a line "*** Wrong From field -
   This article must be deleted ***" to the message.

  #! /usr/bin/gawk -f
  #
  # /usr/local/sbin/change_article_from_domain
  #
  # awk script to change the domain name on the "From:"
  # line of outgoing articles.
  # If the username is not valid a message will be added
  # at the bottom o the file, allowing a 'grep' to delete
  # him.

  BEGIN {
    # replace with the correct domains
    local_domain="my.station.on.my.lan"
    real_domain ="my.internet.provider.com"
    # insert here the name of your users allowed to post articles
    # (may be just one)
    valid_usernames["user1"]
    valid_usernames["user2"]

    must_be_deleted=0
  }

  /^From:/ {
    gsub(local_domain, real_domain)
    username=substr($2,1,index ($2, "@")  - 1)
    if (! (username in valid_usernames)) {
      must_be_deleted=1
      # you can also add a system command
      # example : mail to newsmaster with
      # the username of the wrong article
    }
  }

  END {
    if (must_be_deleted != 0) {
      print "*** Wrong From field - This article must be deleted ***"
    }
  }

  {
    print
  }

   
   
   This script can be useful if you have up to, say, ten users, otherwise
   you'll need to improve it in order to read the list of allowed users
   in an otherfile for example.
   
   Now we will execute the above script on all the outgoing articles,
   sitting in /var/spool/news/out.going, then delete (or move to another
   directory) those with bad usernames.

  #! /bin/bash
  #
  # /usr/local/sbin/modify_outgoing_articles
  cd /var/spool/news/out.going
  for i in * ; do
    /usr/local/sbin/change_article_from_domain /tmp/modified_articles/$i
  done
  rm -f *
  mv /tmp/modified_articles/* .
  rm -f `grep -l "*** Wrong From field - This article must be deleted ***" *`

   
   
   (The backquote is used to catch the result of grep) Don't forget to
   create a /tmp/modified_articles/ directory. This script cannot prevent
   the fake "From:" lines, when an authorized user is hidden behind an
   other correct username. This can not be easily done, and if you really
   don't trust your users, you'll have to use another Usenet package like
   Inn or Cnews.
   
   Now all the outgoing articles will have a correct "From:" line.
   
  LIMITING THE LIST OF ACCESSIBLE NEWS GROUPS
  
   
   
   The second important point to check out is the list of fetched
   newsgroups. If you haven't got a huge disk space, it would be better
   to avoid downloading alt.binaries groups or alt.2600. for example...
   The problem is that fetch will download the content of each newsgroup
   corresponding to a file in /var/spool/news/interesting.groups, for
   example /var/spool/news/interesting.groups/comp.os.linux.announce
   
   A file in this directory is touched by leafnode every time a user
   tries to read the content of the group. Are you sure that none of your
   users will try to have a look at alt.binaries.pictures.erotica...? So
   there are two possible solutions:
     * You can edit the /usr/lib/leafnode/groupinfo file, in order to
       suppress the forbidden newsgroups. But this is not a very good
       solution, because fetch will re-create it during the next
       connection.
     * You can suppress the forbidden groups from
       /var/spool/news/interesting.groups. This can be done by shell
       script, in many different ways, for example:

  #! /bin/bash
  #
  # modify_interesting_groups

  cd /var/spool/news
  rm -f alt.*
  rm -f *windows*
  ...
  touch comp.os.linux.announce
  touch comp.windows.x.announce
  ...

   
   
   you can also have a definite list of fetched newsgroups, for example
   in /var/spool/news/official.list, manually created:

  # mkdir /var/spool/news/official.list
  # cd /var/spool/news/official.list
  # touch comp.os.linux.announce
  # touch comp.os.linux.answer
  # touch comp.lang.c.moderated
  ...

   
   
   And this list will be copied in the interesting.groups directory by a
   script before each execution of fetch.

  #! /bin/bash
  #
  # modify_interesting_groups

  cd /var/spool/news
  rm -f *
  copy /var/spool/news/official.list .

   
   
   Now we have two scripts to insert before running fetch. For example in
   /etc/ppp/ip-up:

  #! /bin/bash
  #
  # /etc/ppp/ip-up
  ...
  /usr/local/sbin/modify_interesting_groups
  /usr/local/sbin/modify_outgoing_articles
  fetch

   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
CONCLUSION

   
   
   I think that Leafnode is a very interesting package for those (most of
   us) who are running Linux on a standalone box with intermitent
   connection to a Usenet server, or on a small local network with few
   users. It's powerful and much simpler to install and to configure than
   Inn or Cnews, designed for bigger sites. Moreover it does not require
   any maintenance.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
   Christophe Blaess (ccb@club-internet.fr).
   
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    "Linux Gazette...making Linux just a little more fun! "
    
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
                     FILERUNNER: A NEW TK/TCL FILE MANAGER
                                       
    by Larry Ayers
    
   Copyright (c) 1996
   
      Published in Issue 9 of the Linux Gazette
      
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
  INTRODUCTION
  
   Recently I happened upon a new Tk-based filemanager, written by Henrik
   Harmsen, who evidently lives in Sweden. I've been using TkDesk quite
   a lot lately (see my review in LG #8) so at first I was struck by the
   resemblance, but the program upon further exploration comes from a
   different philosophy of file-management and fills a different niche in
   the Linux software world.
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
  AMIGAN ORIGINS
  
   I'll let Henrik Harmsen relate to you FileRunner's origins:
   On my good old Amiga, there were a few great file managers called
   things like DirMaster and Directory Opus. They were very simple (in
   concept) but highly usable. Especially I came to love the
   two-filelistings-and-command-buttons concept which is what I've done
   in FileRunner. It's a fast and intuitive way of doing file handling
   commands as very many file commands (mv, ln, cp etc) are happy with a
   source and a destination argument. It also works great for commands
   that only take a list of source files, like an image viewer and an
   editor. I was considering the way the FileManager in Windows displays
   directory trees, but I came to the conclusion that those tree views
   are more often than not a nuisance to navigate. Instead I implemented
   the cool Directory menu that can take you anywhere in the file system
   by mapping directories to sub-menus (even the ".." directory :-). So,
   basically I just wanted to get back the high usability I had with the
   old file managers on the Amiga (plus add my own stuff like FTP
   browsing, the history and hotlist etc).
   
   I had a look at a few other file managers for Unix/X11 but none of
   them were even close to the convenient
   two-filelistings-and-command-buttons concept. Some were bloated, some
   wouldn't compile, some needed Motif etc, and none were intuitive (to
   me :-). So I set out to create my own. Why am I just not a happy
   TkDesk user? Well I started working on FileRunner long before TkDesk
   came out and TkDesk wasn't quite what I was shooting for so I
   continued on FileRunner. That also gave me exactly the file manager I
   wanted, of course :-)
   
   After I read the above explanation, I realized what FileRunner reminds
   me of: I used to use a Norwegian OS/2 filemanager called Dirmaster,
   which was also inspired by the Amiga filemanagers of yore. It had a
   layout similar to FileRunner's, with programmable function buttons and
   twin directory panes.
   
   It's interesting that software has been around long enough that
   traditions have evolved. In the text editor world there are emacs, vi,
   and "windows/CUA" strains of editors, while many filemanagers have
   followed either a "Norton Commander" tradition, an Amiga tradition, or
   a mouse-based iconic tradition, with various hybrid strains emerging
   and recombining.
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
  FEATURES
  
   FileRunner will inevitably be compared to TkDesk, as they share many
   features and are both Tk-based. The two programs aren't really
   designed for the same purposes, though. TkDesk is more of a desktop
   manager combined with a filemanager, as it has an integral icon-bar
   which can serve the same purpose as Fvwm's buttonbar, or several other
   similar utilities. It's best used as an app you would open when
   starting an X-window session and leave open for the duration.
   
   FileRunner is a much less resource-hungry application which starts
   quickly and lends itself to quick tasks followed by dismissal. It uses
   around one-third the memory TkDesk uses. It is probably a more
   appropriate choice for a slower, memory-constrained machine, whereas
   if you have a fast CPU with plenty of RAM TkDesk or Moxfm will run
   well without using a disproportionate amount of your system resources.
   
   Among the many thoughtfully designed features in FileRunner, the
   following I found to be particularly useful:
     * A button for each directory pane which will start an xterm or rxvt
       in the current directory
     * Directory hotlists in a drop-down menu
     * A dynamically expanding directory tree which allows quick
       traversal of the entire filesystem
     * Quick views of text files via a single right-mouse-button-click
     * Function buttons in a column dividing the directory panes, with
       instructions for creating new ones
     * Menu showing directories visited during the session
     * Ability to open remote directories via FTP and browse them as if
       they were local
       
   Here's a screenshot of a Filerunner window:
   FileRunner
   
   
   
   FileRunner also has a feature which has become fashionable lately in
   many of the newer apps: quick rereading of the configuration file(s),
   allowing customization to be done quickly. I first saw this in Fvwm;
   it's a real time-saver.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
  QUIRKS
  
   FileRunner is almost entirely mouse-based in this first release. I
   like to use a mouse, but I'm fond of arrow-keys and page-up and
   page-down keys as well. Henrik Harmsen mentioned in an email message
   that keyboard support is in the works.
   
   When using the FTP function, any downloading activity prevents you
   from doing anything else until its done. A separate process or thread
   would be nice for this. One way around this limitation is to open
   another instance of FileRunner. The program is small and fast enough
   that this is feasible.
   
   Aside from these two minor complaints, I found the program to be
   stable and reliable. It's a relatively small download; why not give it
   a try?
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
  AVAILABILITY
  
   As of August 15, 1996, FileRunner can be found in the
   /pub/Linux/Incoming directory of ftp://sunsite.unc.edu and its
   mirrors. I imagine that it will eventually be moved to
   /pub/Linux/X11/xutils/managers.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
    Larry Ayers<layers@vax2.rain.gen.mo.us>
    
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
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     _________________________________________________________________

    "Linux Gazette...making Linux just a little more fun! "
    
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
                   GETTING UP AND RUNNING ON STAROFFICE 3.1
                                       
    by Dwight William Johnson johnson@olympus.net
    
   Copyright (c) 1996
   
      Published in Issue 9 of the Linux Gazette
      
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
   Happy as can be, I am composing this in Linux on StarWriter, the
   extremely capable word processor that is part of the StarOffice 3.1
   suite of business applications. Below I will guide you through the
   labyrinth of tricks and fixes that you will need to get this first
   beta of StarOffice working on your Linux system.
   
   Star Office 3.1 is a suite of office productivity applications
   containing StarWriter 3.1 (word processor), StarCalc 3.1
   (spreadsheet), StarDraw 3.1 (graphics and presentation package),
   StarImage 3.1 (image manipulation) StarChart 3.1 (bar-, pie- and other
   charts) and StarMath 3.1 (formula design). StarOffice 3.1 makes heavy
   use of common code in shared libraries, therefore using relatively few
   resources for the level of functionality.
   
   If you don't have the patience to fix things that aren't right, you
   should wait for the next beta release. But if, like me, you don't mind
   fixing a few things to get the immediate gratification of
   state-of-the-art business software on Linux that you would pay $400
   for on Windows 95, read on.
   
   To save you frustration and disappointment, I must also caution you
   that you will need about 200 megabyes on your hard drive to install
   StarOffice the way I outline below.
   
   Like many Linux users, I was delighted when the German company
   StarDivision announced it would release an international Linux version
   of its major office suite StarOffice, which competes head to head with
   Microsoft Office in Europe. And still more pleased when I learned that
   for non-commercial use StarOffice would be free.
   
   I am almost never, however, the first to jump into a new application.
   Let others find the bugs; let me find a productive application is my
   credo.
   
   Nevertheless, the prospect of having a high-end WYSIWYG word processor
   to use in Linux was irresistible. When StarDivision was pressured into
   an early release of the first beta of StarOffice 3.1 for Linux on July
   31, I rushed up to the StarDivision Home Page at
   http://www.stardivision.de/index.html and linked to one of a number
   of possible download sites which in my case was
   ftp://ftp.io.org/pub/mirrors/linux/sunsite/apps/staroffice.
   
   What I saw stopped me. StarOffice3.1 is a more than a 40Mb download in
   53 files, mostly diskette images. The installed product takes over 120
   megabytes.
   
   I decided to see what the feedback was on StarOffice before investing
   in that kind of bandwidth. I aimed my Netscape newsreader for a place
   I knew I could count on: comp.os.linux.development.apps.
   
   The news was bad. Many users were having problems installing
   StarOffice and those who could were finding lots of bugs, mostly
   segmentation faults.
   
   The worst news of all was being reminded that StarOffice 3.1 requires
   Motif 2.0. Even though StarOffice was free, it did not seem worth the
   $100-$200 investment in Motif 2.0 to bring up an application that
   might be useless because of segmentation and other faults.
   
   As the days passed, however, the news began to come in that some were
   getting StarOffice installed and were quite thrilled with its look and
   feel.
   
   Then on August 18 Peter Klein wrote in the Redhat-List:
   "to run and even to install Star Office 3.1. you don't need Motif."
   I found his tips and tricks irresistible. I decided to try StarOffice.
   
   
   Below is step-by-step how I installed StarOffice 3.1 on my Red Hat
   3.0.3 system with Metro-X server upgraded to the 2.0.10 kernel using
   Peter Klein's recipe garnished with a few additional tricks and fixes
   which I gleaned from the usenet and mailing lists.
   
       
    1. I went to my chosen ftp site,
       ftp.io.org/pub/mirrors/linux/sunsite/apps/staroffice,
       (Alternatively, you can go to any sunsite mirror. Sunsite is at
       sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/apps/staroffice.) and downloaded the
       file 'staroffice.README'. Here I learned about the StarOffice for
       Linux license, StarDivision's plans for the product, how to
       connect with the StarOffice technical support and development
       system and valuable installation notes.
       
    2. My internet service provider has free hours from midnight to 7:30
       A.M. So I waited till midnight, fired up xtftp, pointed it to the
       ftp site, created a ~/download/staroffice directory for the
       download, highlighted all 53 files, pressed 'copy' and 'ok' and
       went to bed.
       
       (The 'staroffice.README' mentions that you can install only part
       of StarOffice. So my first attempt, not recommended, was to
       install just the common files with StarWriter. Unfortunately, the
       install program comes to an error which has to be stepped past
       each time it finds a file from the complete package that is
       missing. After clicking 'ignore' with my mouse for the first
       hundred or so times, I abandoned this attempt.)
       
    3. If you are fortunate to have Motif 2.0 installed on your system,
       you can skip down to step 6.
       
    4. Peter Klein: "You have to install the SO libraries before you can
       start the install program."
        
            
          + I created the directory ~/so-temp and executed:

cp ~/download/staroffice/file.01-? ~/so-temp
cd ~/so-temp
unzip file.01-1
unzip file.01-2
unzip file.01-3
unzip file.01-4
unzip file.01-5
unzip file.01-6
unzip file.01-7
        In the ~/so-temp file you now have a bunch of subdirectories with
            the unzipped files in them.
            
          + Create a directory to hold the 'so' files. I created mine in
            /usr/X11R6/lib with the command:

mkdir /usr/X11R6/lib/so-libs.
        
            
          + Among the subdirectories created in ~/so-temp you will find
            the ~/so-temp/lib* directories. I manually went through the
            ~/so-temp/lib* directories and copied every file to
            /usr/X11R6/lib/so-libs. I used Midnight Commander, a handy
            two-panel file manager for the virtual console, for this
            task.
            
          + Next, in the /usr/X11R6/lib/so-libs directory I created the
            symbolic links:

cd /usr/X11R6/lib/so-libs
ln -s libso312.so libMrm.so.2
ln -s libso312.so libXm.so.2
        
            
          + I edited the /etc/ld.so.conf file to contain the line:

/usr/X11R6/lib/so-libs
        
            
          + I executed ldconfig from root.
            
            Thank you Peter Klein.
   
       
    5. Not recommended because of the large number of failures reported,
       but still worth checking out for an install approach, is the
       'StarInst' Perl script by Steffen Winterfeldt which can be
       downloaded at:
       http://www.physik.uni-leipzig.de/~wfeldt/starinst/starinst.html.
       This script is alleged to work with installed versions of Motif
       1.2.
       
    6. I next ran StarOffice Install which must be executed from root.
       Install is very easy to use. Just make sure you have enough disk
       space (about 125 Mb) and follow the simple prompts that Install
       presents in its dialog boxes. If you have Red Hat and you are
       executing Install from its own directory, you will need to
       remember to enter './Install'. I installed StarOffice into
       /usr/local/StarOffice3.1.
       
       At the end of Install, I was given directions for proceeding with
       the second part, the user installation. During the user
       installation, a user-specified directory and configuration files
       are created for each user. I found it very easy to just follow the
       directions in the dialog boxes. I answered 'yes' to the prompt to
       copy the templates and demo documents to my directory tree because
       I had been informed that if I answered 'no', I would not be able
       to modify these documents, although I could still access them as
       read-only master copies.
       
    7. It is now necessary to fix a couple of things that StarDivision
       didn't think of in order to actually use StarOffice. I had to
       glean these fixes from posters to comp.os.linux.development.apps
       and the Redhat-List after finding that my installation of
       StarOffice didn't work.
       
       Logged in users must get permission to use StarOffice's fonts and
       other files. Log ('su') into root, and

chgrp -R users /usr/local/StarOffice3.1/Xp3.
   J. Maynard Gelinas proposed the alternate

chmod -R a+r /usr/local/StarOffice3.1/Xp3
   for this fix on the Red-Hat List.
       
    8. Printing is impossible without this next fix. While logged as
       root,

mkdir /tmp/XpSp_
mkdir /tmp/Xp_
mkdir /tmp/XpSp_/tmp
mkdir /tmp/Xp_/tmp
chgrp -R users /tmp/XpSp_
chgrp -R users /tmp/Xp_
   
       
    9. To get the on-line help system (unfortunately only in German in
       this release), you will need to start the two daemons, 'svdaemon'
       and 'svportmap' before starting StarOffice. This is how I did it.
       
       While logged as root, I added the lines:

/usr/local/StarOffice3.1/linux-x86/bin/svdaemon &
/usr/local/StarOffice3.1/linux-x86/bin/svportmap &
   to my /etc/rc.d/rc.local.
       
   10. Finally, as directed by the StarOffice user installation, I edited
       my ~/.bashrc file to contain the line:

. ~/.sd.sh
   and rebooted my computer.
       
   
   
   And, if you followed along with me -- you are finished! All the
   download and intermediate directories can now be deleted. (Wait a few
   days, in case you find you have to redo something.)
   
   Log into your user account, 'startx' and open an 'xterm'. The
   StarOffice applications start at the command line with:

swriter3
scalc3
sdraw3
schart3
simage3
smath3

   You will find bugs in this release of StarOffice. But by
   experimenting, you will also find work-arounds.
   
   For example, I found that exiting the search and replace dialog in
   StarWriter would generate a fatal segmentation fault. But by
   activating the cursor in the search area and pressing I can close the
   dialog box and continue working.
   
   Also, when you use the scroll bar, StarWriter loses its blinking
   cursor. I just go to the menu bar and activate a pull-down menu and
   then click my mouse in the document area. Wherever the mouse touches
   down places the blinking cursor.
   
   For printing on my Postscript printer I have found that I need to set
   the printer to 'NULL' and the default options to 'lpr'.
   
   There is a neat little button bar, 'soffice3', that is designed to
   coordinate all these applications. Unfortunately, bugs make it
   unfunctional. So look, but don't touch until the next release.
   
   Tip of the day for enjoying StarOffice beta one: save your work often.
   
   
   StarDivision operates a news server with StarOffice newsgroups at:
   news://starnews.stardivision.com/beta.staroffice.linux
   where users share their experiences. Be sure to connect during German
   business hours -- no nights or weekends. The same goes for their Web
   site.
   
   StarDivision is eager to get your bug reports at:
   linux-suggest@stardivision.com
   I am still getting my feet on the ground in StarOffice. But I found
   composing this article in StarWriter quite easy and fun. I used a lot
   of cut and paste between multiple windows, formatting, changing fonts,
   printing, search and replace -- all the basic things you do in word
   processing. But I didn't even scratch the surface of the capabilities
   of just StarWriter. And I haven't even looked at the other
   applications yet. I am looking forward to exploring StarOffice in the
   coming months.
   
   I congratulate the vision of StarDivision to recognize that Linux is
   an important platform for major application development.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
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     _________________________________________________________________

    "Linux Gazette...making Linux just a little more fun! "
    
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
               YODL: A NEW, EASY-TO-USE TEXT FORMATTING LANGUAGE
                                       
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
    by Larry Ayers
    
   Copyright (c) 1996
   
      Published in Issue 9 of the Linux Gazette
      
  INTRODUCTION
  
   Linux/un*x is rich in difficult-to-learn, intricate text formatting
   systems. Though the quality of printed output can be extremely high,
   the learning curve can be concomitantly steep.
   
   This has led to the development of "meta-formatting" systems, which
   allow one common text mark-up system to be output in several formats.
   An example is SGML, which is very capable but hardly intuitive.
   
   Karel Kubat, a Dutch programmer, has written a new text formatting
   system which he calls YODL, for Yet OneOther Document Language. (I get
   the impression that the awkward "oneother" word construct exists
   because Mr. Kubat wanted to have .yo as a filename suffix, rather than
   .ya.)
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
  ORIGINS
  
   Karel Kubat had found himself spending an inordinate amount of time
   marking up documents for HTML, then having to repeat the process for
   Latex; in other words, he wanted to have a nicely formatted printout
   of a document and also make it available on a web-page. For various
   reasons SGML was not satisfying his needs so he set out to write an
   easy to use document language. His criteria included a minimum of
   awkward-to-type tags and the ability to include or reference other
   files in one master file. I think he succeeded remarkably well.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
  FEATURES
  
   A sample document will give you a good idea of what a .yo file looks
   like:


COMMENT(File for testing purposes.)

htmlbodyopt(fgcolor)(#0000E0)
htmlbodyopt(bgcolor)(#E0E0C0)

article(Test article for YODL)
       (Karel Kubat)
       (1996)

sect(First section) label(first)

This is the first section. Now for a subsection:

subsect(Subsection of first section.)

This is the subsection.

sect(Second section.)

This is the second section, but ref(first) is the first one.
Lets try some verbatim text.

verb(
 #include

 int main ()
 {
     printf ("Hello World!\n");
     return (0);
 })

Now some weird characters: !@#$%^*[]{}\|"~`'.

Accents? em(Ich m\"ochte bitte \"uberhaupt ein Bier!)
bf(Apr\`es moi la d\'eluge.)

subsect(Some lists.)

subsubsect(An itemized list.)

itemize(

    it() Item one.

    it() Item two.

)

subsubsect(A descriptive list.)

description(

    dit(First:) Item one.

    dit(Second:) Item two.

)

subsubsect(An enumerated list.)

enumerate(

    eit() Item one.

    eit() Item two.

)

   This test file shows you what some of the tagging is like. Here's a
   brief excerpt from a .yo file showing how other files from the current
   directory can be included:

sect(Using the yodl program)
includefile(using)

subsect(Language elements)
includefile(elements)

   As you can see the tags are in an abbreviated verbal form, which makes
   them easier to remember. The included files can be completely devoid
   of tagging. This allows you to concentrate more on content rather than
   structure; the structure can be mostly contained within the master
   document. YODL documents are noticeably easier to read in their source
   format than either HTML or Latex source. Format-specific tags are also
   allowed, as in the above HTML body tags. They will be ignored by the
   Latex parser, for example.
   
   YODL is very well documented, and the installation of the docs is an
   effective demonstration of the system. The docs come in .yo source
   form; these files are copied to /usr/local/yodl/doc, and then YODL is
   run on them during the installation, with the end result being several
   HTML files.
   
   As is true with any "meta-formatter", a user is better-off knowing
   something about the output format. I think it's necessary to at least
   glance through the output, just to catch any obvious errors. The
   advantage of a program like YODL is that it will enable you to avoid
   the grunt-work of starting from scratch.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
  PACKAGE CONTENTS
  
   The main YODL program is written in C, and it works in conjunction
   with several shell scripts and macro files. The main supported formats
   are HTML, Latex, and the troff/groff man and ms formats. There is
   limited support for conversion to plain ASCII and SGML, as well. As
   previously mentioned, the documentation is unusually extensive, being
   about sixty pages worth of well-written material.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
  AVAILABILITY
  
   YODL can be downloaded from its home site under the filename
   yodl-X.YY.tar.gz, with X.YY being a version number. It is also
   available from ftp://sunsite.unc.edu and its mirrors, as of this
   writing in the /pub/Linux/Incoming directory.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
    Larry Ayers<layers@vax2.rain.gen.mo.us>
    
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
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     _________________________________________________________________

                                 LINUX GAZETTE
                                       
                                 THE BACK PAGE
                                       
      Copyright (c) 1996 Specialized Systems Consultants, Inc.
      For information regarding copying and distribution of this material see
      the COPYING document.
      
   
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
    Plans
    
   
   
   Now that Linux Journal has taken over the Linux Gazette from John
   Fisk, I plan to post a new issue of the Gazette sometime during the
   first week of each month -- preferably on the first. Whether or not I
   can make this happens will depend on writers getting articles to me
   each month, AND on time constraints due to my other projects for Linux
   Journal and SSC.
   
   I wish to keep the Gazette both helpful and fun as John has over the
   past year. And, of course, it will also remain free. Any ideas and
   suggestions, as well as criticisms that you might have, for
   improvements to the Gazette will be welcome. Most of all, I will
   welcome your contributions -- after all, without you Linux Gazette
   would disappear.
   
   I'd also like to thank our webmaster, Michael Montoure, for his
   invaluable help in checking the HTML and designing neat graphics.
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
    Not Linux
    
   
   
   In the hopes that everyone had a nice Labor Day weekend, I thought I'd
   tell you about mine. I went camping in Northern Washington and Canada
   with my husband, Riley, our son, Keith, and Keith's dog Lucky. We had
   a grand time exploring the Okanagan Lake area of British Columbia. In
   driving to a campground on Pennask Lake, we traversed what must be one
   of the worst roads in Canada -- thank goodness for high clearance
   vehicles! Keith was ahead of us in his 4 wheel drive truck, and was
   really bouncing through the ditches and holes in the road. Our camper
   was bouncing and swaying enough to make me worry that it might cause
   us to tip over -- Riley assured me it would not. At any rate, after 30
   minutes of hard driving, we reached the beautiful lake only to find
   the campground full of fishermen. So we headed back out that wonderful
   road, looking for side roads, and anyplace that we might camp. We
   found a place down a side road that had only two huge ditches across
   it, and set up camp. No bears showed up to spoil the fun, so we had a
   very good time playing in an isolated spot away from other campers.
   Canada is certainly a very beautiful country, and the British
   Columbians very friendly. This jaunt was not our first trip to Canada
   nor will it be the last.
   
   If you would like some personal information about me, clicking on my
   name below will take you to my home page. It's not very jazzy at the
   moment, but I'm looking for the time to fix it up.
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
   Marjorie L. Richardson
   Editor, Linux Gazette gazette@ssc.com
   
   
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   
   
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