1 <!doctype linuxdoc system>
4 $Id: egate.sgml,v 1.2 1995/07/05 08:22:37 adam Exp $
8 <title>Email/Z39.50 gateway guide
9 <author>Europagate, 1995
10 <date>$Revision: 1.2 $
12 This document describes a Email server that provides access to the
21 This document describes how to compile, install and setup the
22 Email server (ES) software. It does not address the internal design of
25 <sect>Before you begin
28 An ANSI C compiler is required in order to compile the ES software.
30 The ES can use either CNIDR's zdist package or the YAZ package from
31 Index Data to interface the Z39.50 protocol. So you need to obtain
32 either of these first.
34 The Zdist package can be found in:
36 <url url="ftp://ftp.cnidr.org/pub/NIDR.tools/zdist/zdist102b1-1.tar.Z" >
38 The zdist doesn't support result-set references. Also, it has a few
39 bugs — see the file zdist.es.patch for details.
43 <url url="ftp://ftp.algonet.se/pub/index/yaz/">.
45 The ES also use GNU's regex package to parse regular expressions.
46 The ES has been tested with regex-0.12. Some systems, such as Linux,
47 comes with the regex package preinstalled.
52 Unpack <tt>egate.tar.gz</tt> and edit the top level <tt/Makefile/. Specify
53 where the GNU regex package is located and specify whether you use
54 YAZ or zdist. One some systems, you may have to set the <tt/NETLIB/ as
57 You may wish to set <tt/CC/ and <tt/CFLAGS/ in your shell, since these
58 will affect the compilation — these are not set in the <tt/Makefile/.
65 If the compilation was successful, you should install the software.
66 Edit the <tt/Makefile/ and set the LIBDIR to the installation
67 directory. Since, the ES is executed by the mail system, and not by a
68 user, this directory shouldn't be globally executable.
70 When satisfied, type <tt/make install/.
72 Three executables are installed in LIBDIR:
74 <tag/eti/ The email transport interface. This program receives
75 incoming mail, identifies the user, and delivers the mail request
76 to the monitor or kernel (depending on configuration).
77 <tag/monitor/ The monitor
78 is optional component. The main objective
79 of the monitor is to limit the number of simultanous running kernel
81 <tag/kernel/ The kernel process is the core of the ES. It parses
82 the user's requests and interfaces the Z39.50 protocols.
85 The <tt/sendmail/ or a similar program delivers the mail to the
86 <tt/eti/ program. The <tt/sendmail/ program usually runs as user
87 <tt/mail/ or some other special user name. We strongly suggest that
88 you create a special user and group for the ES software. In this case
89 you should use <tt/chmod/ to and set the 'set user ID on execution'
90 bits on the executable files and give that user read/write/execute
91 permissions in LIBDIR.
93 The mail system needs to know about the ES. Pick some name that serves
94 as the ES user and edit <tt/aliases/ used by your mail system (usually
95 <tt>usr/lib/aliases</tt>). Now add the following line:
97 <tt>es:"|/usr/local/lib/es/eti </tt><em>options</em><tt>"</tt>
99 In this example the mail user name was <tt/es/ and the LIBDIR was
100 <tt>/usr/local/lib/es</tt>.
102 The ES system can operate with or without the monitor. When using
103 the monitor the number of simultanous running kernels can be
104 controlled. If the <tt>eti</tt> program is started with
105 two dashes (<tt>--</tt>) it will operate without the monitor and
106 the options specified after the two dashes are transferred to the
109 <sect1>With the monitor
112 The monitor must be running at all times in this mode. You should
113 start the monitor in one of your boot scripts (rc). For example this
114 might be put in a boot script:
117 (cd /usr/local/lib/es; ./monitor -d -l mon.log -- -d -l kernel.log &)
120 Here the monitor is started with the options <tt>-d -l mon.log</tt>
121 and the options after the two dashes are transferred to the
122 kernel. In this mode, the eti should contact the monitor (and not
123 the kernel), so the following might be put in the aliases file:
126 es:"|/usr/local/lib/es/eti -c /usr/local/lib/es"
129 The eti sets current directory to the path specified by option <tt>-c</tt>.
131 <sect1>Without the monitor
134 In this mode you should never start the monitor.
135 The eti will contact the kernel directly. The following line could
136 be put in your aliases file:
139 es:"|/usr/local/lib/es/eti -c /usr/local/lib/es -- -d -l kernel.log"
145 The eti program accepts the following options:
147 <tag><tt>-l </tt>log</tag> The log file. If absent stderr is used.
148 <tag><tt>-d</tt></tag> Turns on debugging.
149 <tag><tt>-c </tt>dir</tag> Sets current directory to dir.
150 <tag><tt>-H</tt></tag> Help message.
151 <tag><tt>--</tt></tag> Indicates that the eti program should contact the
152 kernel (and not the monitor. All options after this one are transferred
159 The monitor program accepts the following command line options:
161 <tag><tt>-l </tt>log</tag> The log file. If absent stderr is used.
162 <tag><tt>-d</tt></tag> Turns on debugging.
163 <tag><tt>-H</tt></tag> Help message.
164 <tag><tt>--</tt></tag> Precedes options that are transferred to the kernel
167 The monitor normally reads the resource <tt>default.res</tt> in
168 current directory. You can change this behaviour by specifying an
169 alternate file on the command line.
174 List of options observed by the kernel:
176 <tag><tt>-d</tt></tag> Turns on debugging.
177 <tag><tt>-t </tt>target</tag> Opens connection to target (for testing only).
178 <tag><tt>-g </tt>lang</tag> Set language name.
179 <tag><tt>-o </tt>res</tag> Overriding resource file name. These
180 resources override both <tt>default.res</tt> and all user resources.
181 <tag><tt>-h </tt>host</tag> Override host name (for testing only).
182 <tag><tt>-p </tt>port</tag> Override port no (for testing only).
183 <tag><tt>-l </tt>log</tag> Specify log file.
184 <tag><tt>-H</tt></tag> Help message.
187 The kernel normally reads the resource <tt>default.res</tt> in
188 current directory. You can change this behaviour by specifying an
189 alternate file on the command line.
191 <sect>Managing the system
193 <sect1>Summary of files
196 To maintain the ES you need to know the files it uses. These are:
198 <tag>*.res</tag> Resource files with several settings that control
199 how the system operates, such as definition of targets, messages, etc.
200 <tag>*.bib</tag> Bib-1 attribute mapping files. These files describe
201 the mapping between CCL and the RPN query.
202 <tag>user.db</tag> Database of users. Only the eti process accesses
204 <tag>user.*.r</tag> Resource file for a user — accessed by the kernel
205 — only created when the user uses the <tt>def</tt> command.
206 <tag>user.*.p</tag> Persistency file for a user — accessed by
211 The ES system is mostly managed by resource files. The following
212 are example resource files that comes with the ES:
214 <tag><tt>default.res</tt></tag> General resource with reasonable defaults.
215 This file is read by the monitor and the kernel.
216 <tag><tt>loc.res</tt></tag> Resource file for Library of Congress test
218 <tag><tt>drewdb.res</tt></tag> Resource file for Data Research's test
220 <tag><tt>lang.uk.res</tt></tag> Resource file for english conversation.
221 <tag><tt>lang.dk.res</tt></tag> Resource file for danish conversation.
227 Most general resources should be set in the file <tt>default.res</tt>.
228 Some of the resources may be changed (overridden) by the user, while
229 others may be overridden by individual target defintions.
230 The complete scenario is depicted below:
236 |<---------| "target.res" |
240 |<---------| user.x.res |
244 |<---------| "lang.res" |
248 |<---------| "override" |
253 The following table lists general resources:
255 <tag>gw.reply.mta</tag> Name of MTA program — default
256 <tt>/usr/lib/sendmail</tt>.
257 <tag>gw.reply.tmp.prefix</tag> Prefix of temporary files used by the ES.
258 <tag>gw.reply.tmp.dir</tag> Name of directory with temporary files.
259 <tag>gw.marc.log</tag> If this resource is specified, retrieved MARC
260 records will be appended to this file.
261 <tag>gw.timeout</tag> Idle time before the kernel exists. When the
262 kernel exists, the Z39.50 persistency layer will reconnect when
264 <tag>gw.resultset</tag> If this setting is 1, the Z39.50 client will
265 use named result sets. If 0, the Z39.50 system will always use
266 <tt/Default/ as result-set name.
267 <tag>gw.persist</tag> If this setting 1, the persistency is enabled;
269 <tag>gw.max.process</tag> This settings is the maximum number of
270 simultaneous kernel processes — only used by the monitor.
271 <tag>gw.ignore.which</tag> Some targets doesn't indicate whether
272 a record is a diagnostic messaage or a database record. If this
273 setting is 1, the ES will always try to interpret the record as a
274 database record in ISO2709 format. If 0, the ES will use the
276 <tag>gw.default.show</tag> Default number of records to retrieve and display
277 when using the show command. This setting may be changed by the user
278 with the <tt>def defaultshow</tt> command.
279 <tag>gw.max.show</tag> This setting specifies the maximum number of
280 records the user may retrieve in one show command — default 100.
281 <tag>gw.autoshow</tag> Number of records to retrieve in a find
282 command — default 0. This setting may be changed by the user by
283 the <tt>def autoshow</tt> command.
284 <tag>gw.display.format</tag> Default display format. This setting may
285 be changed by the user by the <tt>def f</tt> command.
286 <tag>gw.language</tag> Current language. This setting may be
287 changed by the user with the <tt>def lang</tt> command. When the
288 langauge is set to something, say x, then the resource gw.lang.x
289 should hold a name of a resource file read by the kernel.
290 <tag>gw.lang.<em/x/</tag> Specifies name of resource file for
292 <tag>gw.target.<em/name/ </tag> Name of resource file of target
294 <tag>gw.portno</tag> Z39.50 target port number — default 210.
295 <tag>gw.hostname</tag> Z39.50 target host name.
296 <tag>gw.bibset</tag> Name of file with Bib-1 attribute mapping.
297 <tag>gw.databases</tag> Available databases on target.
298 <tag>gw.description</tag> Description of a target. This message
299 is returned to the user when the connection is established with the
306 There are several resource settings that deal with language
307 dependencies. These fall into the following categories that
308 depend on the resource name prefixes:
310 <tag>gw.msg</tag> Miscellaneous messages.
311 <tag>gw.err</tag> Error messages.
312 <tag>gw.bib1.diag.<em/no/</tag> Diagnostic error message indicated by
314 <tag>gw.help</tag> Help/description of various commands.
315 <tag>ccl.command</tag> CCL command names.
316 <tag>ccl.token</tag> CCL tokens names.
319 Refer to the sample files, <tt>default.res</tt>, <tt>lang.uk.res</tt>
320 and <tt>lang.dk.res</tt> for all available settings.
322 <sect1>Target definitions
325 To add a target definition, <em/mytarget/, you need to make a resource
326 entry in <tt>default.res</tt> called <tt>gw.target.</tt><em>mytarget</em>.
327 The value of this resource is the name of a resource file — for
328 example <em>mytarget</em><tt>.res</tt>. The resource file should at least
329 define the resources: <tt/gw.hostname/, <tt/gw.databases/ and
330 <tt/gw.description/. The user only needs to use the command
331 <tt>target </tt><em>mytarget</em> to use the target.