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Table of Contents
UNIX and UNIX-like Operating Systems
Flavors
Question:
What flavors of Unix (and Unix-like operating systems) are supported?
Answer:
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.
Linux Distros
Question:
What distributions of Linux are supported?
Answer:
Should work with any GNU/Linux-x86 distribution (e.g. RedHat, Debian, Slackware, Ubuntu, Gentoo, etc.).
64-bit
Question:
64-bit?
Answer:
Untested experimental support for 64-bit platforms is in CVS. Use the
directions available
here
in conjunction with this document for building and be prepared to deal with
bugs.
Installer
Question:
The installer (e.g. Linux-install from sbbsunix.tgz) segfaults, crashes, or fails to get the file size of sbbs_src.tgz.
Answer:
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.
non-x86
Question:
Are non-x86 (Alpha, SPARC, 68k, PowerPC, etc) processors supported?
Answer:
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.
Download
Question:
Where do I get Synchronet for Unix?
Answer:
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.
Binaries
Question:
Will there be binary releases?
Answer:
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.
Mix with Windows
Question:
Can I mix Synchronet for Unix and Synchronet for Win32 or DOS or OS/2 nodes
on the same BBS?
Answer:
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.
DOS
Question:
Does Synchronet for Unix support external DOS programs/doors?
Answer:
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
Doors
Question:
What external programs/doors does Synchronet for Unix support?
Answer:
External programs can either use standard I/O (e.g. bash, pico, Lord/X,
PimpWars) or socket I/O (e.g. Synchronet XSDK doors).
X Windows
Question:
Does Synchronet for Unix require X-Windows?
Answer:
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.
GUI
Question:
Are there any plans to make an X-Windows front-end for Synchronet?
Answer:
See gtkmonitor.
Compiler
Question:
Can I use a different compiler (than GCC) to build Synchronet for *nix?
Answer:
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.
SELinux
Question:
I'm using SELinux and nothing works.
Answer:
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.
Disk Space
Question:
How much disk space do I need?
Answer:
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.