Hello Bradley,
The instructions amounted to a single line at the bottom of the page merely saying to prepend the executable with './' while mentioning nothing about whether the installation should or should not be performed by root or whether it drops its privileges right after it starts and binds the low ports, etc.
Should I be creating an account on the system for Mystic to run under or install as root?
Running Ubuntu I load MIS on bootup via sudo which allows MIS to bind to the necessary <1024 ports but still run as a runtime user. An excerpt from the install docs:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
MYSTIC INTERNET SERVERS *****
=======================
Mystic (MIS actually) has built in Telnet (with IO redirection for things
like DOSEMU), SMTP, POP3, FTP, and NNTP servers.
When running in Linux/OSX keep in mind that by default the
operating system will not let a service bind to a port less than
1025 unless it is a ROOT user (in Linux) and NOT AT ALL in OS/X.
In Linux, MIS has the ability to switch from root back to whatever the user
and group is that owns the executable AFTER it binds to the ports it needs
for the server. So in Linux you can simply do a:
sudo ./mis
Or if you want to run it as a DAEMON you can do:
sudo ./mis -d
As mentioned, it will NOT run as root. It will only use root until it binds
to your ports, and then it will switch to the user who owns the executable.
NOW IN OS/X THIS TRICK DOES NOT SEEM TO WORK.
Instead you have to load the Mystic Configuration and set your server ports
greater than 1024. We will do TELNET for example here. Set your telnet
server port to "2323" and exit the Mystic configuration.
You can then create a rule to map connections that come in on port 23 to the
2323 port that MIS is listening on, using the following command:
sudo ipfw add 100 fwd 127.0.0.1,2323 tcp from any to any 23 in
Once that is done you can start MIS using ./mis or ./mis -d
NOTE that some people will want to use inetd or something similar to run
their telnet, which Mystic is perfectly capable of. To do this, turn off
the TELNET server in your configuration and refer to the section on
external telnet. ------------------------------------------------------------------
Also, I liked BBBS except for the uid being an 'fname lname' format, and of course, the $60 fee for a 2 node nocommercial license. REALLY?
I have been a BBBS 22 node user for quite a few years now. But the reality is that no BBS/MAILER package does everything in the most preferred manner. Supported software is always a "Work in Progress" which is the best way in my opinion.
I had assumed I would just install Synchronet but I'm really intrigued
about the potential of Mystic - any points to consider on why one might
be inclined to instead choose Mystic?
I also have an installation of Synchronet running on spare Linux PC. I also have the current version of Mystic setup on a Linux PC. I like Mystic for several reasons. First is that it is actively supported, secondly is that it's basic functions are well thought out and easy to configure, thirdly is the documentation either in written, Wiki, or Youtube versions provide detailed info on setup, running, and support.
Thanks in advance for any insight you can offer, and again, what about the uid of the person installing and/or running the install?
The bottom line as I see it is to look at each and choose the package that works best based on your individual needs and desires
Jeff
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