Configuring Cu And Uucp To Dial Out Without Realport - Digi PortServer/8 User Manual

Configuring CU and UUCP to dial out without RealPort

Use FTP or the Digi BBS and download the "rtty" program. (See The Digi Bulletin Board System
on page 103.) The source code will always be available there, and binaries will be provided for
the most popular operating systems.
RTTY works by associating a particular pseudo tty port with a particular port or port "group" on
the PortServer. The pseudo tty then acts enough like a regular port so that it fools most programs
including kermit, uucp and cu.
Not all pseudo ttys can be used for this. RTTY does not work with streams-based pseudo ttys,
and pseudo ttys associated with "clone" devices normally must be opened by the clone device.
However, even systems with clone devices often maintain old-style BSD devices.
In general, you should read your UNIX man pages to find out what your system supports. If your
system supports BSD-style pseudo ttys, you can find the devices available with:
ls /dev/pty*
Choose one or more of the alphabetically highest pseudo ttys, (the system allocates them in
alphabetically) so you will have them to yourself at least most of the time.
The pseudo tty driver will not allow access to the "master" side of a pseudo tty by more than one
program at a time, so once rtty grabs a pseudo tty, it controls it until it lets go. However, to drop
a connection, rtty must close the device and then reopen it. While the device is closed for only a
few milliseconds, it is still possible for another program to grab the device before rtty can
resecure it!
If that happens, CU and UUCP will get confused. Selecting a high port number is generally good
enough to minimize problems.
Assuming you have found /dev/pty[pqrs][0-f] above (64 ptys), and that you needed to
configure four modem ports, you would probably be wisest to use /dev/ptys[cdef] for your
pseudo-modem ports.
If (for example) you want to use PortServer ports 1-4, you would add the lines below to your "rc"
startup script. The parameter "1" says to wait one second after connect before sending data.
(This is needed so that the modem will see DTR go high for a while before looking for "AT").
The "d" says to daemonize the program, and the "s" says to suppress the Copyright Notice during
boot.
rtty -1ds /dev/ttysc dbps-nodename 2101
rtty -1ds /dev/ttysd dbps-nodename 2102
rtty -1ds /dev/ttyse dbps-nodename 2103
PortServer Terminal Server Ÿ Page 87