Buffalo Free-Net
SIG Webmaster's Guide
UNIX Shell Access Version
Choice One OnLine, Inc.
300 Theater Place
Buffalo, New York 14202
(716) 853-1331
(716) 853-1350 fax
info@choiceoneonline.com
James R. Gerland
Vice President, Choice One OnLine, Inc.
© Copyright 2000 Choice One OnLine, Inc.
This document was prepared by Jim Gerland. No portion of this
document may be copied, reproduced or otherwise used without the
express written consent of Jim Gerland and Choice One OnLine, Inc.
Choice One OnLine, Inc. is a Proud Supporter of the Buffalo
Free-Net and gladly grant the Buffalo Free-Net the rights to duplicate and
distribute this document to their user community.
Last Revised: July 2, 1998
- Introduction
- Webmaster Account
- Free-Net Files
- UNIX - The Free-Net Operating System
- UNIX Directory Structure
- Free-Net Directory Tree Structure
- UNIX Commands
- The 'cd' Command
- The 'chmod' Command
- The 'cp' Command
- The 'exit' Command
- The 'ls' Command
- The 'mkdir' Command
- The 'mv' Command
- The 'pwd' Command
- The 'rm' Command
- The 'rmdir' Command
- A Word About Files
- Uploading Files Via Kermit
- Uploading Files Via FTP
- Editing Files
- The 'ce' Editor
- The 'pico' Editor
- The 'vi' Editor
- Editing a File
- The WWW Home Page System
- Typical SIG WWW Home Page Example
- The '<html>' & '</html>' Tags
- The '<head>' & '</head>' Tags
- The '<title>' & '</title>' Tags
- The '<body>' & '</body>' Tags
- The '<h1>' & '</h1>' Tags
- The '<img>' Tag
- The '<strong>' & '</strong>' Tags
- The '<a>' & '</a>' Tags
- The '<p>' Tag
- The '<br>' Tag
- The '<ul>' & '</ul>' Tags
- The '<ol>' & '</ol>' Tags
- The '<pre>' & '</pre>' Tags
- The '<hr>' Tag
- The '<em>' & '</em>' Tags
- Typical SIG WWW Home Page
- The 'bfnlynx -dump' Command
- Email Forms Processing
- SIG News Groups
- The General News Group
- Other Moderated News Groups
- Working With Mail Files
- Posting An Article
- Document Revision History
As the Webmaster for a Special Interest Group (SIG) on the
Buffalo Free-Net, you are responsible for maintaining the
information files that you wish to make available to the Free-Net
community.
The Free-Net uses the UNIX operating system. It will be necessary
for you to learn a little about UNIX so that you can adequately
perform your Webmaster duties.
Return to the Table of Contents.
You will be given two accounts for the Free-Net. The first
account will be your 'normal' Free-Net userid, for example
'aa999'. The second account will be your 'Webmaster' userid. This
userid will be the name of your sig, for example 'bfn'. Your
Webmaster userid may be shared by you and your assistant
Webmaster(s). Care should be taken to protect the password and to
keep the password secret to you and your assistant Webmaster(s).
Your 'normal' userid, for example, 'aa999', will place you into
the Free-Net Menu System when you successfully login. To moderate
your SIG, login using your 'Webmaster' userid. You will now be placed
into the Free-Net UNIX system under your Webmaster userid.
You should now use the 'cd work' command to move to your work area (see
"UNIX - The Free-Net Operating System").
Return to the Table of Contents.
There are two types of files. The first is known as a 'static'
file. This is one whose information has a relatively long
'lifetime'. These files should be placed in your SIG area so you
can easily maintain them and should have an appropriate entry in
your SIG menu so the Free-Net community can access them.
A static file are usually an 'html' file. HTML files are
created and maintained by the Free-Net System Operators and SIG
Webmasters. HTML files tell the WWW System how the screen
should look to the Free-Net user community and what actions to
take when the user makes a choice from the WWW Pages. The main HTML
file is called 'index.html'. See the section
"The WWW Home Pages System" for more information.
The second type of file is a 'dynamic' file. This is usually
information that has a relatively short 'lifetime'. It is
recommended that these files be stored in your SIG area so you
can easily maintain them and that you post an updated copy of
them periodically to your appropriate newsgroup so the Free-Net
community can access them.
Return to the Table of Contents.
The Free-Net Menu System runs on top of the UNIX operating
system. You will need to learn a little about the UNIX operating
sysytem to adequately perform your Free-Net Webmaster duties.
This section will provide you with an explanation of the commands
you'll need to know.
Note: UNIX is case sensitive. That means that if a file name
or directory name is in upper case, lower case, or
mixed case, you must type the name exactly as it
appears for the system to recognize it.
Note: All commands in this document are surrounded by
apostrophes (''). This is for illustration purposes
only. You should not type the apostrophes when you
enter the commands.
Return to the Table of Contents.
UNIX uses a directory tree structure to store files. You can
envision your directory structure as an 'inverted' tree. Your
disk space is known as your 'main directory'. When you login, you
need to use the 'cd work' command to place yourself in your work
directory, '/home/9/bfn/work/' for example. The root
for the Free-Net system is the '/home' directory. Figure 1 shows
a part of the Free-Net directory tree structure.
/home
|
------------------------------------
| |
/freeport /9
| |
---------- /bfn
| | |
/files /menus /work
|
------------------
| | |
/admin /sigs /arts
Your SIG area is the 'work' directory under your sig userid directory.
You should wirte your SIG area path here:
/home/__/______/work
You should use this path whenever this document refers to your SIG area.
Return to the Table of Contents.
Following is a brief introduction to some of the basic UNIX
commands you'll need to use to successfully Webmaster your SIG.
There are many good introductory UNIX books available at your
local bookstore, such as Barnes & Noble or Walden Books.
To move around in the directory tree, you would use the 'cd'
(change directory) command. For example, to move from your main
directory down into your SIG area, you would use the command 'cd work'
and to move back to your main directory, you would type 'cd' all by itself.
You need to set the protections are your files so Free-Net users
can access them. Use the 'chmod' (change mode) command to do this.
Whenever you create a new file you should use
the 'chmod a+rx name-of-file' command to change the protections
on that file.
You can make a copy of a file and give it a different name with
the 'cp' (copy) command. For example, to make a copy of a file
'a.a' and call the new file 'a.b' you would use the command 'cp
a.a a.b'.
To leave the Free-Net UNIX operating system and return to the
Free-Net menu system, use the 'exit' command.
Your files are stored in your directory tree. To see a listing of
what files you have in your directory, use the 'ls' (list files)
command. To limit the files displayed, you can use the '*'
wildcard. For example, to see all the files that begin with the
letter 'a', use the command 'ls a*'.
You can create a sub-directory under your main directory with the
'mkdir' (make directory) command. For example, to create a
sub-directory 'sig' you would use the command 'mkdir sig'. You
should create a sub-directory where you can store your SIG
related files.
You can give a file a different name with the 'mv' (move)
command. For example, if you wanted to rename a file 'a.a' to
'a.b' you would use the comamnd 'mv a.a a.b'.
Use the 'pwd' (print working directory) command to find out what
directory you're currently working in.
You can delete a file with the 'rm' (remove) command. For
example, to delete the file 'a.a' you would use the command 'rm
a.a'.
You can delete a sub-directory under your main directory with the
'rmdir' (remove directory) command. For example, to delete the
sub-directory 'sig' you would use the command 'rmdir sig'.
Return to the Table of Contents.
All files used on the Free-Net system must be ASCII files (except
for graphics - see "The <img> Tag").
Sometimes they are called 'text' files. These files must not
include any formatting codes (e.g., no underlining or bold or
fancy fonts) and each line must end with a line feed and carriage
return. If you use a word processor to create the file on your
micro, be sure to save it as 'ASCII/text' with line breaks.
Follow these guidelines:
- Use only ASCII/text files with line breaks.
- Lines should be no longer than about 60 characters.
- Make sure there is a line feed/carriage return at the end of
each line.
- Avoid unnecessary blank lines -- keep the text as compact as
possible.
- Keep static text (information that changes rarely) separate
from text that changes often by putting them in separate
files.
- Very long files should be separated into several smaller
files under their own sub-menus, if a logical breakdown can
be found.
Return to the Table of Contents.
You can create and edit your files on your micro and then use
KERMIT to upload them. The following example illustrates the
upload process from a DOS-based micro. The process from a
Macintosh, Apple or any other micro is similar. The only
difference you should see is a different prompt on the micro.
The correct steps to upload a file are:
- At the DOS C> prompt, type:
kermit
to invoke the MS-KERMIT program.
- At the MS-KERMIT> prompt, type:
set send packet 1024
to tell KERMIT to use a larger packet size for your file transfer.
- At the MS-KERMIT> prompt, type:
connect
and then dial-in to Free-Net.
- Login to your Webmaster account.
- Use the command 'cd work' to place yourself in your SIG area.
- Use the 'kermit' command to invoke Kermit.
- At the C-Kermit> prompt, type:
receive
- Use the CTRL-] C escape sequence to return to your micro.
- At the MS-KERMIT> prompt, type:
send file-spec
where 'file-spec' is the name of the file you want to upload to your
Free-Net account.
- When the file upload is finished, type:
connect
to return to your Free-Net account.
- At the C-Kermit> prompt, type:
exit
to return to your Free-Net account.
- The file should be in your directory under whatever name you
gave it on the 'send' command.
Return to the Table of Contents.
You can create and edit your files on your micro and then use
the File Transfer Protocal (FTP) to upload them. The following example
illustrates the
upload process from a DOS-based session.The process from a
Macintosh, Apple or any other micro is similar. The only
difference you should see is a different prompt on the micro.
The correct steps to upload a file are:
- At the DOS C> prompt, type:
ftp bfn.org
to invoke the FTP program and initiate a connection to the Buffalo
Free-Net machine.
- Login to your Webmaster account.
- Use the command 'cd work' to place yourself in your SIG area.
- At the ftp> prompt, type:
put file-spec
where 'file-spec' is the name of the file you want to upload to your
Free-Net account.
- When the file upload is finished, type:
quit
to return to your PC DOS session.
- The file should be in your directory under whatever name you
gave it on the 'put' command.
Return to the Table of Contents.
There are three editors available on the Free-Net System: ce, pico,
and vi. You can use any of these to edit your files on the Free-Net
System or you can edit your files on your micro and use KERMIT or FTP to
upload them (See "Uploading Files via KERMIT"
or "Uploading Files via FTP").
Chet's Editor, 'ce', is a full screen editor based on 'emacs'
which is one of the most popular editors available for UNIX, DOS,
and many other operating systems. You can teach yourself about
'ce' by using the on-line tutorial available through the 'Help',
'Editors', 'Interactive CE tutorial' menu.
The PICO editor is an easy to use full screen editor which can be
used either as a stand alone editor or in conjunction with the PINE
mail package. The easiest way to learn PICO is to actually use it.
The commands are always listed at the bottom of the screen.
The VIsual editor, 'vi', is a popular editor available for UNIX,
DOS, and many other operating systems. 'vi' works in both full
screen and line mode for editing. You can teach yourself about
'vi' by using the on-line tutorial available through the 'Help',
'Editors', 'Interactive VI tutorial' menu.
Your Free-Net files are stored in your SIG area work driectory.
You can edit any of these files by using the 'cd work' command to get
to your SIG area.
Return to the Table of Contents.
The WWW Home Page System is made up of numerous files that tell
the WWW System what to display on the screen and what steps
to take when a certain hypertext link is chosen. Figure 4 shows a
typical SIG WWW Home Page file. This file should be called 'index.html'.
This is the file the system looks for when someone tries to access your
area via the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of:
http://bfn.org/~your-sig-userid/
Figure 5 shows a typical SIG WWW Home Page as it looks
to the Free-Net user community.
<html>
<head>
<title>Buffalo Free-Net XYZ SIG Area</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1><img src="/images/logo100.gif" alt="Welcome"
valign="center" height="87" width="100"
align="left"> The XYZ SIG</h1>
The XYZ SIG is a place to discuss using the <strong>XYZ food blender</strong>.
Click <a href="about.html">here<a> for more information.<p>
We have newsgroups available for
<a href="news:wny.freenet.buffalo.general">general<a> discussions and
<a href="news:wny.freenet.buffalo.changes">moderated questions &
answers<a> You should note though that these newsgroups are only availble
to you if your news server carries them.<p>
The XYZ SIG is pleased that we can provide access to UBWings
<a href="http://wings.buffalo.edu/">WWW Server</a><p>
<br clear="all>
This SIG covers the following topics:
<ul>
<li>Blenders
<li>Cooking
<li>Coffee
</ul>
<hr>
This SIG has the following prioririte:
<ol>
<li>Eating
<li>Cooking
<li>Drinking Coffee
</ol>
For more information contact:<p>
The XYZ SIG<br>
John Doe<br>
SIG Webmaster<br>
P.O. Box 123<br>
Anytown, USA<br>
</pre>
<hr>
<a href="/sigs/"><img src="/images/bfn-buff-bullet.gif"
alt="Return to the " align="left" border="0">SIGs Hall<a>
This SIG is maintained by John Doe
<a href="mailto:sig-id@bfn.org">
<em>sig-id@bfn.org</em></a><br>
Last Revised: April 11, 1996
</body>
</html>
The '<html>' tag tells the WWW System that this file is in HTML
(HyperText Markup Language) format. It must be the first tag in the .html
file and the '</html>' tag must be the last tag in the file.
The '<head>' tag tells the WWW System that the information between
it and the '</head>' is really 'meta information', i.e. information
about this file.
The '<title>' tag tells the WWW System the name to use for this
piece of informaiton.
The '<body>' tag tells the WWW System that the information between
it and the '</body>' tag is the actual file information.
The '<h1>' tag tells the WWW System that the information between it
and the '</h1>' tag should be treated as a section heading. You can
have up to six (6) different section headings. They do not have to be in
order.
The '<img>' tag tells the WWW System that it should display a graphic
in this spot of the file. The 'src=""' field tells the system where to
find the graphic. You may include any valid URL between the "". The graphic
should be in either .gif or .jpg format. The 'alt=""' field tells WWW browsers
such as Lynx what to substitute for the graphic if it is unable to display
graphics. You are STRONGLY encouraged to use the 'alt=""'
'height=""' and 'width=""' fields for all your <img> tags.
The '<strong>' tag tells the WWW System that the words between it
and the '</strong>' tag are to be highlighted (usually by bolding them).
The '<a>' tag tells the WWW System that the words between it and the
'</a>' tag are to be highlighted and used as an 'anchor' so that when
those words are chosen the system will use the URL found in the 'href=""'
field to take some desired action.
The '<p>' tag tells the WWW System to end the line being displayed
and to put out a blank line before displaying anything else.
The '<br>' tag tells the WWW System to end the line being displayed
but do not put out a blank line before displaying anything else.
The '<ul>' tag tells the WWW System that the information between it and
the '</ul>' tag are is to be displayed as an 'unordered list'. The
'<li>' tag tells the system that the information is an item in that
list. You may nest any kind of list within any other kind of list.
The '<ol>' tag tells the WWW System that the information between it and
the '</ol>' tag are is to be displayed as an 'ordered list'. The
'<li>' tag tells the system that the information is an item in that
list. You may nest any kind of list within any other kind of list.
The '<pre>' tag tells the WWW System that the information between it and
the '</pre>' tag are is to be displayed exactly as it is entered with
no markup at all. This is commonly used for tables and examples.
The '<hr>' tag tells the WWW System to display a horizontal rule
or line of dashes.
The '<em>' tag tells the WWW System that the words between it and the
'</em>' tag are to be emphasized, usually by using italics or underlining.
Buffalo Free-Net XYZ SIG Area
The XYZ
SIG
The XYZ SIG is a place to discuss using the XYZ food blender. Click
here for more information.
We have newsgroups available for
general discussions and
moderated questions &
answers. You should note though that these newsgroups are only availble
to you if your news server carries them.
The XYZ SIG is pleased that we can provide access to UBWings
WWW Server.
This SIG covers the following topics:
This SIG has the following priorities:
- Eating
- Cooking
- Drinking Coffee
For more information contact:
The XYZ SIG
John Doe
SIG Webmaster
P.O. Box 123
Anytown, USA
SIGs Hall
This SIG is maintained by John Doe
sig-id@bfn.org
Last Revised: April 11, 1996
Return to the Table of Contents.
Each SIG has one or more newsgroups associated with it. Most
SIGS will have at least 2 newsgroups 'General' and 'Questions &
Answers'. The 'General' newsgroup is usually 'unmoderated',
while the 'Questions & Answers' newsgroup is generally
'moderated'. This means that only the SIG Webmaster can post
articles which the rest of the Free-Net community will see. If
another Free-Net user posts an article to a moderated newsgroup,
the Free-Net system accepts that article and mails it to the news
group Webmaster. The newsgroup Webmaster then decides whether to
post that article (see 'Working With Mail Files'). If it is a
question, the Webmaster will provide and answer and post both the
question and answer. This helps ensure that readers of this SIG
newsgroup get correct information.
If you would like to add new newsgroups to your SIG area you
need to send e-mail to the userid 'bfn' requesting it. Include
the name of the newsgroup, what topics you expect to cover in
it, and whether you want this newsgroup moderated or an open
discussion group.
The 'wny.freenet.building.your-sig.general' newsgroup is where a SIG
might store
articles such as their calendar, list of officiers, and other SIG
related information.
The 'wny.freenet.building.your-sig.qa' newsgroup is a moderated new
group where
the SIG Webmaster might post SIG-related questions and answers.
When a Free-Net user posts an article to a moderated newsgroup,
the Free-Net system mails that article to the newsgroup
Webmaster.
The newsgroup Webmaster decides whether the article received via
mail is appropriate (type 'BBmail' at the UNIX prompt to read your new mail
or 'mr mailbox' to read your old mail. Use the 'q' (quit) command to leave
mail and return to the UNIX prompt). If the article is appropriate the
Webmaster can
then post it and the system will make it available to the the
Free-Net news service.
To post an article you use the 'a' (Approve message for posting
to bulletin board) command in mail to have the Free-Net mail
system add the necessary 'Approved: ' line to the mail header.
You may now edit the message to remove any unnecessary lines from
the original posting and to add your answer.
When you exit the editor, you may post the message.
Return to the Table of Contents.
- Created:
- Jan 20, 1993 by Jim Gerland, aa011@bfn.org
- Any comments and suggestions are welcome and should be sent
via e-mail to Jim.
- Revised:
- 22-Jan-1993 by Jim Gerland, aa011@bfn.org
- First draft released to Free-Net Development Committee for
their comments.
- 22-Jan-1993 by Jim Gerland, aa011@bfn.org
- Added 'A Word About Files' from Neil Yerkey,
aa014@bfn.org
- 24-Jan-1993 by Jim Gerland, aa011@bfn.org
- Added 'SIG News Groups'
- 02-Feb-1993 by Jim Gerland, aa011@bfn.org
- Modified 'Moderator Account' section as per suggestions from
Jon Hilgreen, aa114@bfn.org
- Modified 'KERMIT' section.
- Modified 'Editing Files' section.
- 09-Feb-1993 by Jim Gerland, aa011@bfn.org
- Modified 'Moderator Account' section.
- Modified 'Working With Mail Files' section.
- 12-Feb-1993 by Jim Gerland, aa011@bfn.org
- Modified 'Posting An Article' section.
- 12-Mar-1993 by Jim Gerland, aa011@bfn.org
- Added blurb about requesting a new newsgroup.
- 18-Mar-1993 by Jim Gerland, aa011@bfn.org
- Added blurb about how to invoke mail.
- 25-May-1993 by Jim Gerland, aa011@bfn.org
- Removed UNIX related information and added Free-Net Menu
- System related information, such as 'Posting an article'.
- 17-Oct-1993 by Jim Gerland, aa011@bfn.org
- Added example for ftp access from SIG menu.
- 20-Apr-1994 by Jim Gerland, aa011@bfn.org
- Converted to a WordPerfect document
- Added examples for Gopher and Lynx access
- 04-Jan-1995 by Jim Gerland, aa011@bfn.org
- Modified to point to your SIG area.
- 26-Jan-1995 by Jim Gerland, aa011@bfn.org
- Converted to an HTML document.
- 03-Mar-1995 by Jim Gerland, aa011@bfn.org
- Added Table of Contents
- 13-Mar-1995 by Jim Gerland, aa011@bfn.org
- Added Gopher Menu and WWW Home Page information
- 05-Apr-1995 by Jim Gerland, aa011@bfn.org
- Removed Gopher Menu information
- 06-Apr-1995 by Jim Gerland, aa011@bfn.org
- Modified to point the your SIG area to the 'work' directory.
- 15-Nov-1995 by Jim Gerland, aa011@bfn.org
- Modified to use new images
- 08-Apr-1996 by Jim Gerland, aa011@bfn.org
- Modified to use index.html instead of .index.html
- 11-Apr-1996 by Jim Gerland, aa011@bfn.org
- Modified to remove references to the FreePort Menu System
- 15-Apr-1997 by Jim Gerland, aa011@bfn.org
- Modified to change references of 'moderator' to 'webmaster'.
- 02-Jul-1998 by Jim Gerland, aa011@bfn.org
- Added example for ftp file upload.
- 14-Jul-2000 by Paul R. Sadowski, bfn@bfn.org
- Added link to instruction page for using /cgi-bin/email.
Buffalo Free-Net
Home Page
This site maintained by Jim Gerland,
bfn@bfn.org