Semaphore Files

Synchronet supports a variety of semaphore files which can be used to externally-trigger internal-operations of the various servers and services.

The contents of semaphore files are not relevant; the mere existence or updated date/time stamp of the file is enough to trigger the coresponding operation.

Semaphore files can be created or their date/time stamp updated with simple command-line operations. For example:

on Windows:

C:\>echo. > \sbbs\data\dothing.now

on UNIX:

$ touch /sbbs/data/dothing.now

Existence semaphore files just need to be merely created to trigger the corresponding operation and the semaphore file will be automatically deleted:

If the file ctrl/sysavail.chat exists, then the sysop availability for chat with users can be indicated and users will be allowed to page the local sysop to chat.

Events that have been configured in SCFG->External Programs->Timed Events can be externally triggered by creating the file data/<event>.now, where <event> is the “Internal Code” of the corresponding timed event. Events are executed (serially, by default) by the Terminal Server Event Thread.

Example (forcing execution of the FidoNet import event):

$ touch /sbbs/data/fidoin.now

QWK message packets can be created for specific user accounts by creating the file data/pack<user>.now where <user> is the number of the user account to to create the packet for.

Example (forcing the creation of a QWK packet for user #1):

$ touch /sbbs/data/pack0001.now

QWK packets are created in the data/file directory with a filename of <user>.qwk. If a QWK packet already exists for the user, it will be opened and appended with any new messages.

The QWK pre-pack event (which runs automatically once a day) can be forced by creating the file data/prepack.now.

QWK Network hub call-out events can be forced to execute by creating the file data/qnet/<hub-id>.qwk, where <hub-id is the QWK-ID of the QWKnet Hub configured in SCFG->Networks->QWK.

Example (forcing QWK call-out to QWKnet hub VERT):

$ touch /sbbs/data/qnet/vert.now

After receiving and processing a QWKnet .QWK or .REP file, Synchronet will touch the data/qnet-qwk.now or data/qnet-rep.now files to trigger timed events of those names, if they exist, to execute.

The existence of the file ctrl/pause (or a supported service/host variant) will cause that server to stop accepting incoming client connections. Any existing clients/connections will continued to be service while the server is paused. Removing the file will “resume” the server.

Timestamp semaphore files are not deleted when the operation is triggered, so the date/time stamp of the file must be updated (i.e. the file must be “touched”) to trigger the operation again:

On a multi-host BBS, the servers and services on a specific host can be signaled by “touching” the file ctrl/<semfile>.<hostname> or ctrl/<semfile>.<host.domainname> instead.

A specific server or service may be signaled by “touching” the file ctrl/<semfile>.<service> instead, where <service> is one of: term, ftp, mail, web, or services.

Synchronet servers and services can be forced to terminate all threads, close sockets, and reload their configuration files by “touching” the file ctrl/recycle.

Servers or services that have the NO_RECYCLE option flag set (in the sbbs.ini file) will not be recycled by external touching of the recycle semaphore file.

If touching the recycle semaphore file does not trigger an sbbs server/services recycle (e.g. on Linux), see recycle for details on why that may be.

Synchronet servers and services can be forced to terminate (shutdown) by “touching” the file ctrl/shutdown.

A sysop can clear the in-memory Failed Login List (temporary IP address ban list) by “touching” the file ctrl/clear.

• Configuration