Email/Z39.50 gateway guide <author>Europagate, 1995 <date>$Revision: 1.2 $ <abstract> This document describes a Email server that provides access to the Z39.50 protocol. </abstract> <toc> <sect>Introduction This document describes how to compile, install and setup the Email server (ES) software. It does not address the internal design of the software. <sect>Before you begin An ANSI C compiler is required in order to compile the ES software. The ES can use either CNIDR's zdist package or the YAZ package from Index Data to interface the Z39.50 protocol. So you need to obtain either of these first. The Zdist package can be found in: <url url="ftp://ftp.cnidr.org/pub/NIDR.tools/zdist/zdist102b1-1.tar.Z" > The zdist doesn't support result-set references. Also, it has a few bugs — see the file zdist.es.patch for details. YAZ can be found in: <url url="ftp://ftp.algonet.se/pub/index/yaz/">. The ES also use GNU's regex package to parse regular expressions. The ES has been tested with regex-0.12. Some systems, such as Linux, comes with the regex package preinstalled. <sect>Compilation Unpack <tt>egate.tar.gz</tt> and edit the top level <tt/Makefile/. Specify where the GNU regex package is located and specify whether you use YAZ or zdist. One some systems, you may have to set the <tt/NETLIB/ as well. You may wish to set <tt/CC/ and <tt/CFLAGS/ in your shell, since these will affect the compilation — these are not set in the <tt/Makefile/. Now, type <tt/make/. <sect>Installation If the compilation was successful, you should install the software. Edit the <tt/Makefile/ and set the LIBDIR to the installation directory. Since, the ES is executed by the mail system, and not by a user, this directory shouldn't be globally executable. When satisfied, type <tt/make install/. Three executables are installed in LIBDIR: <descrip> <tag/eti/ The email transport interface. This program receives incoming mail, identifies the user, and delivers the mail request to the monitor or kernel (depending on configuration). <tag/monitor/ The monitor is optional component. The main objective of the monitor is to limit the number of simultanous running kernel processes. <tag/kernel/ The kernel process is the core of the ES. It parses the user's requests and interfaces the Z39.50 protocols. </descrip> The <tt/sendmail/ or a similar program delivers the mail to the <tt/eti/ program. The <tt/sendmail/ program usually runs as user <tt/mail/ or some other special user name. We strongly suggest that you create a special user and group for the ES software. In this case you should use <tt/chmod/ to and set the 'set user ID on execution' bits on the executable files and give that user read/write/execute permissions in LIBDIR. The mail system needs to know about the ES. Pick some name that serves as the ES user and edit <tt/aliases/ used by your mail system (usually <tt>usr/lib/aliases</tt>). Now add the following line: <tt>es:"|/usr/local/lib/es/eti </tt>options<tt>"</tt> In this example the mail user name was <tt/es/ and the LIBDIR was <tt>/usr/local/lib/es</tt>. The ES system can operate with or without the monitor. When using the monitor the number of simultanous running kernels can be controlled. If the <tt>eti</tt> program is started with two dashes (<tt>--</tt>) it will operate without the monitor and the options specified after the two dashes are transferred to the kernel. <sect1>With the monitor The monitor must be running at all times in this mode. You should start the monitor in one of your boot scripts (rc). For example this might be put in a boot script: <tscreen><verb> (cd /usr/local/lib/es; ./monitor -d -l mon.log -- -d -l kernel.log &) </verb></tscreen> Here the monitor is started with the options <tt>-d -l mon.log</tt> and the options after the two dashes are transferred to the kernel. In this mode, the eti should contact the monitor (and not the kernel), so the following might be put in the aliases file: <tscreen><verb> es:"|/usr/local/lib/es/eti -c /usr/local/lib/es" </verb></tscreen> The eti sets current directory to the path specified by option <tt>-c</tt>. <sect1>Without the monitor In this mode you should never start the monitor. The eti will contact the kernel directly. The following line could be put in your aliases file: <tscreen><verb> es:"|/usr/local/lib/es/eti -c /usr/local/lib/es -- -d -l kernel.log" </verb></tscreen> <sect1>eti The eti program accepts the following options: <descrip> <tag><tt>-l </tt>log</tag> The log file. If absent stderr is used. <tag><tt>-d</tt></tag> Turns on debugging. <tag><tt>-c </tt>dir</tag> Sets current directory to dir. <tag><tt>-H</tt></tag> Help message. <tag><tt>--</tt></tag> Indicates that the eti program should contact the kernel (and not the monitor. All options after this one are transferred to the kernel </descrip> <sect1>monitor The monitor program accepts the following command line options: <descrip> <tag><tt>-l </tt>log</tag> The log file. If absent stderr is used. <tag><tt>-d</tt></tag> Turns on debugging. <tag><tt>-H</tt></tag> Help message. <tag><tt>--</tt></tag> Precedes options that are transferred to the kernel </descrip> The monitor normally reads the resource <tt>default.res</tt> in current directory. You can change this behaviour by specifying an alternate file on the command line. <sect1>kernel List of options observed by the kernel: <descrip> <tag><tt>-d</tt></tag> Turns on debugging. <tag><tt>-t </tt>target</tag> Opens connection to target (for testing only). <tag><tt>-g </tt>lang</tag> Set language name. <tag><tt>-o </tt>res</tag> Overriding resource file name. These resources override both <tt>default.res</tt> and all user resources. <tag><tt>-h </tt>host</tag> Override host name (for testing only). <tag><tt>-p </tt>port</tag> Override port no (for testing only). <tag><tt>-l </tt>log</tag> Specify log file. <tag><tt>-H</tt></tag> Help message. </descrip> The kernel normally reads the resource <tt>default.res</tt> in current directory. You can change this behaviour by specifying an alternate file on the command line. <sect>Managing the system <sect1>Summary of files To maintain the ES you need to know the files it uses. These are: <descrip> <tag>*.res</tag> Resource files with several settings that control how the system operates, such as definition of targets, messages, etc. <tag>*.bib</tag> Bib-1 attribute mapping files. These files describe the mapping between CCL and the RPN query. <tag>user.db</tag> Database of users. Only the eti process accesses this file. <tag>user.*.r</tag> Resource file for a user — accessed by the kernel — only created when the user uses the <tt>def</tt> command. <tag>user.*.p</tag> Persistency file for a user — accessed by the kernel process. </descrip> The ES system is mostly managed by resource files. The following are example resource files that comes with the ES: <descrip> <tag><tt>default.res</tt></tag> General resource with reasonable defaults. This file is read by the monitor and the kernel. <tag><tt>loc.res</tt></tag> Resource file for Library of Congress test server. <tag><tt>drewdb.res</tt></tag> Resource file for Data Research's test server. <tag><tt>lang.uk.res</tt></tag> Resource file for english conversation. <tag><tt>lang.dk.res</tt></tag> Resource file for danish conversation. </descrip> <sect1>Resources Most general resources should be set in the file <tt>default.res</tt>. Some of the resources may be changed (overridden) by the user, while others may be overridden by individual target defintions. The complete scenario is depicted below: <tscreen><verb> +-------------+ | default.res | +-------------+ | +--------------+ |<---------| "target.res" | | +--------------+ | | +--------------+ |<---------| user.x.res | | +--------------+ | | +--------------+ |<---------| "lang.res" | | +--------------+ | | +--------------+ |<---------| "override" | | +--------------+ result </verb></tscreen> The following table lists general resources: <descrip> <tag>gw.reply.mta</tag> Name of MTA program — default <tt>/usr/lib/sendmail</tt>. <tag>gw.reply.tmp.prefix</tag> Prefix of temporary files used by the ES. <tag>gw.reply.tmp.dir</tag> Name of directory with temporary files. <tag>gw.marc.log</tag> If this resource is specified, retrieved MARC records will be appended to this file. <tag>gw.timeout</tag> Idle time before the kernel exists. When the kernel exists, the Z39.50 persistency layer will reconnect when necessary. <tag>gw.resultset</tag> If this setting is 1, the Z39.50 client will use named result sets. If 0, the Z39.50 system will always use <tt/Default/ as result-set name. <tag>gw.persist</tag> If this setting 1, the persistency is enabled; disabled otherwise. <tag>gw.max.process</tag> This settings is the maximum number of simultaneous kernel processes — only used by the monitor. <tag>gw.ignore.which</tag> Some targets doesn't indicate whether a record is a diagnostic messaage or a database record. If this setting is 1, the ES will always try to interpret the record as a database record in ISO2709 format. If 0, the ES will use the record type. <tag>gw.default.show</tag> Default number of records to retrieve and display when using the show command. This setting may be changed by the user with the <tt>def defaultshow</tt> command. <tag>gw.max.show</tag> This setting specifies the maximum number of records the user may retrieve in one show command — default 100. <tag>gw.autoshow</tag> Number of records to retrieve in a find command — default 0. This setting may be changed by the user by the <tt>def autoshow</tt> command. <tag>gw.display.format</tag> Default display format. This setting may be changed by the user by the <tt>def f</tt> command. <tag>gw.language</tag> Current language. This setting may be changed by the user with the <tt>def lang</tt> command. When the langauge is set to something, say x, then the resource gw.lang.x should hold a name of a resource file read by the kernel. <tag>gw.lang.<em/x/</tag> Specifies name of resource file for language <em/x/. <tag>gw.target.<em/name/ </tag> Name of resource file of target <em/name/. <tag>gw.portno</tag> Z39.50 target port number — default 210. <tag>gw.hostname</tag> Z39.50 target host name. <tag>gw.bibset</tag> Name of file with Bib-1 attribute mapping. <tag>gw.databases</tag> Available databases on target. <tag>gw.description</tag> Description of a target. This message is returned to the user when the connection is established with the target. </descrip> <sect1>Messages There are several resource settings that deal with language dependencies. These fall into the following categories that depend on the resource name prefixes: <descrip> <tag>gw.msg</tag> Miscellaneous messages. <tag>gw.err</tag> Error messages. <tag>gw.bib1.diag.<em/no/</tag> Diagnostic error message indicated by <em/no/. <tag>gw.help</tag> Help/description of various commands. <tag>ccl.command</tag> CCL command names. <tag>ccl.token</tag> CCL tokens names. </descrip> Refer to the sample files, <tt>default.res</tt>, <tt>lang.uk.res</tt> and <tt>lang.dk.res</tt> for all available settings. <sect1>Target definitions To add a target definition, <em/mytarget/, you need to make a resource entry in <tt>default.res</tt> called <tt>gw.target.</tt>mytarget. The value of this resource is the name of a resource file — for example mytarget<tt>.res</tt>. The resource file should at least define the resources: <tt/gw.hostname/, <tt/gw.databases/ and <tt/gw.description/. The user only needs to use the command <tt>target </tt>mytarget to use the target. </article>