UNIX and UNIX-like Operating Systems

Currently, Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD are actively supported. Additionally, QNX and Solaris-x86 have been known to work in the past, but are not actively maintained.

Should work with any GNU/Linux-x86 distribution (e.g. RedHat, Mandrake, Debian, Slackware, etc.).

Untested experimental support for 64-bit platforms is in CVS. Use the directions available at here in conjunction with this document for building and be prepared to deal with bugs.

This installer has known issues and is currently unsupported. Do not use it. This installer (known to us as “sbbsinst”) may be revamped and re-released in the near future.

In the mean-time, follow the steps given in this document to download, build, install, and run Synchronet for Unix.

This is an issue linking the JavaScript library for Linux (libjs.a) on RedHat Linux 9 and Mandrake Linux 9 using glibc v2.3.2-11+.

This issue has been resolved with the addition of libjs.so and libnspr4.so to the CVS repository (in the lib/mozilla directory). If you're having this problem, run “cvs update -d” in your lib and src/sbbs3 directories and rebuild.

Another solution is to use the lib[moz]js.so file included with your Linux distribution (if it is). See installation steps 1.E and 1.F for more details.

Not currently. Synchronet assumes a little-endian processor. It *may* work on other little-endian processors (e.g. Alpha), but hasn't been tested. Big-endian support is currently being developed for the v3.20 time-frame.

Yes, that is the plan.

Q. Will Synchronet be ported to Mac OS X? A. Definitely. See the 2 questions above.

Q. Where do I get Synchronet for Unix? A. There are no binary distributions at this time, so you must get the source code from the Synchronet CVS repository (see the step-by-step instructions below for details) or by downloading the latest verified buildable source code tarball (tgz file) from ftp://vert.synchro.net/Synchronet.

Q. Will there be binary releases? A. Maybe. Linux is a particularly difficult “platform” to deliver consistently compatible binaries for and unfortunately, it is the most popular Unix-like operating system we currently support.

Q. Can I mix Synchronet for Unix and Synchronet for Win32 or DOS or OS/2 nodes on the same BBS? A. Yes. As long as all the nodes can access the same live data files (via LAN) you can have as many instances of Synchronet on as many different platforms as you wish.

Q. Does Synchronet for Unix support external DOS programs/doors? A. Currently, only the FreeBSD build has doscmd support “built-in” (and this “support” requires emulators/doscmd to be installed):

For FreeBSD, the path that is entered in the Start-up Directory is mapped as C:\ the current node directory is mapped as D:\ and the Synchronet root directory is mapped as E:\. When a DOS door is executed, a .doscmdrc is created in the node directory. Copying this file and using it to run doscmd in X11 mode while running the setup programs is the simplest way to configure the doors.

Other platforms can use DOSEMU or whatever is available for running DOS programs.

There's a patch for “building-in” DOSEMU support with Synchronet for Linux: http://www.icequake.net/bbs/syncmods/index.html and (mirror) http://www.synchro.net/docs/linux-dosemu.html

and a FAQ for using DOSEMU with Synchronet for Linux (without a patch): http://www.exeonline.com/bbs/howto-doors.txt

Q. What external programs/doors does Synchronet for Unix support? A. External programs can either use standard I/O (e.g. bash, pico, Lord/X, PimpWars) or socket I/O (e.g. Synchronet XSDK doors).

Q. Does Synchronet for Unix require X-Windows? A. No, Synchronet for Unix is currently a console-based application. However, it does have an X-based character mode console now. The X11 headers (Part of the X11-devel package or something similar) are required for this to work.

Q. Are there any plans to make an X-Windows front-end for Synchronet? A. Possibly, but it would be optional.

Q. What are the recent developments in Synchronet? A. There are changes (fixes, improvements, etc.) being made all the time. See http://cvs.synchro.net/commitlog.ssjs for a log of the most recently committed changes to the Synchronet CVS repository.

New releases are always posted on the web-site (http://www.synchro.net), as well as announced in the Synchronet discussion groups (http://www.synchro.net/docs/support.html) and the Synchronet Announcements mailing list (subscribe at listserver@synchro.net).

Q. Can I use a different compiler to build Synchronet for *nix? A. Yes, currently Synchronet has successfully been built with both GCC and ICC (The Intel C Compiler). To specify an alternate compiler, add ``DONT_CLOBBER_CC=1 CC=icc CXX=icpc'' to the gmake command lines where icc is the C compiler name and icpc is the C++ compiler name. If you get errors during the build (not warnings) please submit a bug report. If you are using a commercial compiler other than ICC, we will probobly be unable to help you without a copy of the compiler.

Q. I'm using SELinux and nothing works. A. Yes, you'll need to use chcon on each of the shared objects (.so files) chcon -t texrel_shlib_t /path/to/libwhatever.so Do this for each .so file that Synchronet creates.

Q. How much disk space do I need? A. A fresh install (as of Feb-2009) requires about 70MBytes. Much of the space consumed is in the form of intermediate build files which may be removed after the build is complete if space is a concern.