1 <!doctype linuxdoc system>
4 $Id: egate.sgml,v 1.1 1995/07/03 12:58:17 adam Exp $
8 <title>Email/Z39.50 gateway guide
9 <author>Europagate, 1995
10 <date>$Revision: 1.1 $
12 This document describes a Email server that provides access to the
21 This document describes how to compile, install and setup the
22 Email server (ES) software. It does not address the internal design of
25 <sect>Before you begin
28 An ANSI C compiler is required in order to compile the ES software.
30 The ES can use either CNIDR's zdist package or the YAZ package from
31 Index Data to interface the Z39.50 protocol. So you need to obtain
32 either of these first.
34 The Zdist package can be found in:
36 <url url="ftp://ftp.cnidr.org/pub/NIDR.tools/zdist/zdist102b1-1.tar.Z" >
38 The zdist doesn't support result-set references. Also, it has a few
39 bugs — see the file zdist.es.patch for details.
43 <url url="ftp://ftp.algonet.se/pub/index/yaz/">.
45 The ES also use GNU's regex package to parse regular expressions.
46 The ES has been tested with regex-0.12. Some systems, such as Linux,
47 comes with the regex package preinstalled.
52 Unpack <tt>egate.tar.gz</tt> and edit the top level <tt/Makefile/. Specify
53 where the GNU regex package is located and specify whether you use
54 YAZ or zdist. One some systems, you may have to set the <tt/NETLIB/ as
57 You may wish to set <tt/CC/ and <tt/CFLAGS/ in your shell, since these
58 will affect the compilation — these are not set in the <tt/Makefile/.
65 If the compilation was successful, you should install the software.
66 Edit the <tt/Makefile/ and set the LIBDIR to the installation
67 directory. Since, the ES is executed by the mail system, and not by a
68 user, this directory shouldn't be globally executable.
70 When satisfied, type <tt/make install/.
72 Three executables are installed in LIBDIR:
74 <tag/eti/ The email transport interface. This program receives
75 incoming mail, identifies the user, and delivers the mail request
76 to the monitor or kernel (depending on configuration).
77 <tag/monitor/ The monitor
78 is optional component. The main objective
79 of the monitor is to limit the number of simultanous running kernel
81 <tag/kernel/ The kernel process is the core of the ES. It parses
82 the user's requests and interfaces the Z39.50 protocols.
85 The <tt/sendmail/ or a similar program delivers the mail to the
86 <tt/eti/ program. The <tt/sendmail/ program usually runs as user
87 <tt/mail/ or some other special user name. We strongly suggest that
88 you create a special user and group for the ES software. In this case
89 you should use <tt/chmod/ to and set the 'set user ID on execution'
90 bits on the executable files and give that user read/write/execute
91 permissions in LIBDIR.
93 The mail system needs to know about the ES. Pick some name that serves
94 as the ES user and edit <tt/aliases/ used by your mail system (usually
95 <tt>usr/lib/aliases</tt>). Now add the following line:
97 <tt>es:"|/usr/local/lib/es/eti </tt><em>options</em><tt>"</tt>
99 In this example the mail user name was <tt/es/ and the LIBDIR was
100 <tt>/usr/local/lib/es</tt>.
102 The ES system can operate with or without the monitor. When using
103 the monitor the number of simultanous running kernels can be
104 controlled. If the <tt>eti</tt> program is started with option
105 <tt>--</tt> it will operate without the monitor.
107 <sect1>With the monitor
110 The monitor must be running at all times in this mode. You should
111 start the monitor in one of your boot scripts (rc). For example this
112 might be put in a boot script:
115 (cd /usr/local/lib/es; ./monitor -d -l mon.log -- -d -l kernel.log &)
118 Here the monitor is started with the options <tt>-d -l mon.log</tt>
119 and the options after the two dashes are transferred to the
120 kernel. In this mode, the eti should contact the monitor (and not
121 the kernel), so the following might be put in the aliases file:
124 es:"|/usr/local/lib/es/eti -c /usr/local/lib/es"
127 The eti sets current directory to the path specified by option <tt>-c</tt>.
129 <sect1>Without the monitor
132 In this mode you should never start the monitor.
133 The eti will contact the kernel directly. The following line could
134 be put in your aliases file:
137 es:"|/usr/local/lib/es/eti -c /usr/local/lib/es -- -d -l kernel.log"
143 The eti program accepts the following options:
145 <tag><tt>-l </tt>log</tag> The log file. If absent stderr is used.
146 <tag><tt>-d</tt></tag> Turns on debugging.
147 <tag><tt>-c </tt>dir</tag> Sets current directory to dir.
148 <tag><tt>--</tt></tag> Indicates that the eti program should contact the
149 kernel (and not the monitor. All options are this one are transferred
151 <tag><tt>-H</tt></tag> Help message.
157 The monitor program accepts the following command line options:
159 <tag><tt>-l </tt>log</tag> The log file. If absent stderr is used.
160 <tag><tt>-d</tt></tag> Turns on debugging.
161 <tag><tt>-H</tt></tag> Help message.
162 <tag><tt>--</tt></tag> Precedes options that are transferred to the kernel
165 The monitor normally reads the resource <tt>default.res</tt> in
166 current directory. You can change this behaviour by specifying an
167 alternate file on the command line.
172 List of options observed by the kernel:
174 <tag><tt>-d</tt></tag> Turns on debugging.
175 <tag><tt>-t </tt>target</tag> Opens connection to target (for testing only).
176 <tag><tt>-g </tt>lang</tag> Set language name.
177 <tag><tt>-o </tt>res</tag> Overriding resource file name. These
178 resources override both <tt>default.res</tt> and all user resources.
179 <tag><tt>-h </tt>host</tag> Override host name (for testing only).
180 <tag><tt>-p </tt>port</tag> Override port no (for testing only).
181 <tag><tt>-l </tt>log</tag> Specify log file.
182 <tag><tt>-H</tt></tag> Help message.
185 The kernel normally reads the resource <tt>default.res</tt> in
186 current directory. You can change this behaviour by specifying an
187 alternate file on the command line.
189 <sect>Managing the system
196 To maintain the ES you need to know the files it uses. These are:
198 <tag>*.res</tag> Resource files with several settings that control
199 how the system operates, such as definition of targets, messages, etc.
200 <tag>lang.*.res</tag> Resource file for a particular langauge.
201 <tag>*.bib</tag> Bib-1 attribute mapping files. These files describe
202 the mapping between CCL and the RPN query.
203 <tag>user.db</tag> Database of users. Only the eti process access
205 <tag>user.*.r</tag> Resource file for a user — accessed by the kernel
206 — only created when the user uses the <tt>def</tt> command.
207 <tag>user.*.p</tag> Persistency file for a user — accessed by
212 The ES system is mostly managed by resource files. The following
213 resource files are enclosed with the ES:
215 <tag><tt>default.res</tt></tag> General resource with reasonable defaults.
216 This file is read by the monitor and the kernel.
217 <tag><tt>loc.res</tt></tag> Resource file for Library of Congress test
219 <tag><tt>drewdb.res</tt></tag> Resource file for Data Research's test
221 <tag><tt>lang.uk.res</tt></tag> Resource file for english conversation.
222 <tag><tt>lang.dk.res</tt></tag> Resource file for danish conversation.
225 <sect1>General resources
228 Most general resources can be found in default.res. Some of the
229 resources may be changed (overridden) by the user, while others may be
230 overriden by individual target defintions.
233 The following table lists general resources:
235 <tag>gw.reply.mta</tag> Name of MTA program.
236 <tag>gw.reply.tmp.prefix</tag> Prefix of temporary files used by the ES.
237 <tag>gw.reply.tmp.dir</tag> Name of directory with temporary files.
238 <tag>gw.marc.log</tag> If this resource is specified, retrieved MARC
239 records will be appended to this file.
240 <tag>gw.timeout</tag> Idle time before the kernel exists. When the
241 kernel exists, the Z39.50 persistency layer will reconnect when
243 <tag>gw.resultset</tag> If this setting is 1, the Z39.50 client will
244 use named result sets. If 0, the Z39.50 will always use Default as
246 <tag>gw.persist</tag> If this setting 1, the persistency is enabled;
248 <tag>gw.max.process</tag> This settings is the maximum number of
249 simultaneous kernel processes — only used by the monitor.
250 <tag>gw.ignore.which</tag> Some targets doesn't indicate whether
251 a record is a diagnostic messaage or a database record. If this
252 setting is 1, the ES will always try to interpret the record as a
253 database record in ISO2709 format. If 0, the ES will use the
255 <tag>gw.default.show</tag> Default number of records to retrieve and display
256 when using the show command. This setting may be changed by the user.
257 <tag>gw.max.show</tag> This setting specifies the maximum number of
258 records the user may retrieve in one show command — default 100.
259 <tag>gw.autoshow</tag> Number of records to retrieve in a find
260 command — default 0. This setting may be changed by the user.
261 <tag>gw.display.format</tag> Default display format. This setting may
262 be changed by the user.
263 <tag>gw.language</tag> Current language. This setting may be