Synchronet v3.21e-Win32 (install) has been released (Mar-2026).

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config:nix [2010/02/22 23:40] – created digitalmanconfig:nix [2026/02/21 21:15] (current) – Include instructions for how to integrate your UNIX mail system with Synchronet using sendmail.js digital man
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 ====== UNIX ====== ====== UNIX ======
 +
 +Configuration of ''[UNIX]'' section of the Synchronet initialization file (e.g. ''[[dir:ctrl]]/[[config:sbbs.ini]]'').
 +
 +===== User/Group =====
 +If you are **not** [[howto:linux_non-root|starting sbbs as ''root'']], then you should **not** set these values.
 +
 +==== User ====
 +
 +Default: <none>
 +
 +==== Group ====
 +
 +Default: <none>
 +
 +If you do not want to run Synchronet (and all external programs/doors) as
 +root (the Unix //administrator// user), you will have to set the ''User'' and ''Group'' key values.
 +
 +Example:
 +
 +  User=sbbsuser
 +  Group=sbbsgroup
 +  
 +NOTE: the ''sbbsuser'' and ''sbbsgroup'' names are just examples. You must pick valid user/group names for your system (e.g. exist in your system's ''/etc/passwd'' file) and both the user and group name may be the same.
 +  
 +Also, the Synchronet file
 +permissions/ownership should be such that this user/group would have read
 +and write access to them.  The best way to accomplish this is a command
 +like:
 +
 +  # chown -R sbbsuser:sbbsgroup /sbbs
 +
 +If you do this, then be sure to run any Synchronet utilities (e.g. [[util:SCFG]]) as the same user that the BBS is going to run as:
 +  
 +  # su -c /sbbs/exec/scfg sbbs  
 +
 +===== Logging =====
 +==== LogFacility ==== 
 +
 +Default: ''U'' (User)
 +
 +Supported Values: ''0''-''7'' ("Local0" through "Local7" facility), ''U'' (for "User" facility), and ''S'' or ''F'' (for "Standard" facilities)
 +
 +If you have ''sbbs'' installed to run in the background as a daemon, logging
 +via [[monitor:syslog]] rather than the local console, you may want to set the ''LogFacility'' key value. A good value to use is:
 +
 +  LogFacility=3
 + 
 +Then, in ''/etc/syslog.conf'' (or ''/etc/rsyslog.d/sbbslog.conf'') you will need to add the line:
 +
 +  local3.*                 /var/log/sbbs.log
 +
 +Depending on how your vendor set up ''syslog.conf'' initially, you may also want
 +to exclude local3.* from other log files (Noteably ''/var/log/messages''). how to
 +do this varies with your syslogd implementation, but for BSD based ones
 +(Which BSD and many Linux distros use) you would add ";local3.none" to the
 +end of the first field in the ''/var/log/messages'' line.
 +
 +You will have to create this file manually initially by running:
 +  # touch /var/log/sbbs.log
 +
 +Then send a HUP to syslogd like so:
 +  # killall -HUP syslogd
 +  
 +Or it might be necessary to:
 +  # service syslogd restart
 +  
 +You could then monitor the Synchronet daemon log output with:
 +  # tail -f /var/log/sbbs.log
 +
 +You will want to investigate how your system rotates logs and set it up to
 +rotate ''sbbs.log'' also.
 +
 +  # cat /etc/logrotate.d/sbbs
 +  /var/log/sbbs*.log {
 +        weekly
 +        missingok
 +        rotate 52
 +        notifempty
 +        create 640 root adm
 +        sharedscripts
 +        postrotate
 +                invoke-rc.d rsyslog reload > /dev/null
 +        endscript
 +  }
 +
 +
 +Further use of the ''LogFacility'' setting is beyond the scope of this document.
 +Read your ''syslog.conf'' manpage for more information about this.  In particular,
 +do NOT use the 'S' setting unless you are familiar with advanced syslogd
 +configuration.  The S setting will use different facilities for each feature
 +of Synchronet as appropriate.  Specifically, S will use:
 +
 +    LOG_AUTH
 +    LOG_DAEMON
 +    LOG_FTP (If available)
 +    LOG_MAIL
 +    LOG_CRON
 +    
 +Note: the LogFacility value in the ''sbbs.ini'' file may be overridden with the ''-d'' command-line option (e.g. ''sbbs -d3'' to daemonize ''sbbs'' with LogFacility of ''Local3'').
 +   
 +==== LogIdent ====
 +
 +Default: ''Synchronet''
 +
 +This is the value passed as the ''ident'' argument to the system's ''openlog'' function. Run ''man openlog'' for more details on this setting.
 +
 +===== Process Control ===== 
 +
 +==== PidFile ====
 +
 +Default: ''sbbs.pid''
 +
 +This key contains the path of the file which will contain the process identifier (PID) of Synchronet and may be used by background/daemon startup scripts to query the current state of ''sbbs''. When no path is specified, the file (e.g. ''sbbs.pid'') will be created in the Synchronet ''[[dir:ctrl]]'' directory.
 +
 +  # service sbbs status
 +  Synchronet BBS services status: [running]
 +  PID(s): 6270
 +
 +If you change the value of this key, you may also need to modify your startup script (e.g. ''/etc/init.d/sbbs'').
 +
 +==== umask ====
 +
 +Default: ''077''
 +
 +Sets ''sbbs'''s  file mode creation mask.
 +
 +Note: If the value begins with a ''0'', it will be interpreted in //octal// notation.
 +
 +Run ''man umask'' for more details on this setting.
 +
 +==== Daemonize ====
 +
 +Default: ''false''
 +
 +When set to ''true'', forces ''sbbs'' to run daemonized (in the background) without specifying the ''-d'' command-line option. Setting this value to ''true'' is not recommended.
 +
 +===== Email =====
 +
 +Synchronet's mail base and mail server can be used as your UNIX system's email system, if you wish.
 +
 +==== sendmail.js ====
 +
 +The Synchronet ''[[module:sendmail]]'' module can be used as a suitable replace for:
 +  * /usr/sbin/sendmail
 +  * /usr/bin/mail
 +  * /usr/bin/mailx
 +
 +This is achieved by making symbolic links (e.g. using ''ln -s'') from those locations to the Synchronet ''[[dir:exec]]/sendmail.js'' file. For example:
 +
 +  lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     37 Feb 13  2023 /usr/bin/mail -> /home/sbbs/sbbs/exec/sendmail.js
 +  lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root     37 Feb 12  2023 /usr/sbin/sendmail -> /home/sbbs/sbbs/exec/sendmail.js
 +  
 +This works because the ''sendmail.js'' has a "shebang" that auto-invokes [[util:jsexec]]. That shebang has the path ''/sbbs/exec/jsexec'' hard-coded in it (as is the UNIX way), so you may need a symlink from ''/sbbs'' to wherever the proper 'sbbs' location is for that to work as expected:
 +  #!/sbbs/exec/jsexec -x
  
 ===== See Also ===== ===== See Also =====
   * [[:config:|Configuration]]   * [[:config:|Configuration]]
 +  * [[:monitor:syslog]]
 +
  
 +{{tag>configuration unix operating_system sendmail email}}

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