ULTRIX-32 UUCP Installation and Administration

This document is the "ULTRIX-32 UUCP Installation and Administration Programmer's Manual," published in May 1984. It serves as a comprehensive guide for setting up and managing the UUCP (Unix-to-Unix Copy Program) software on ULTRIX-32 systems, emphasizing significant enhancements over previous UNIX Version 7 uucp releases.

Key areas covered in the manual include:

1. Introduction and Enhancements:

   • Purpose: To describe the installation and administration of uucp, uux, and uucico (the file transfer daemon).
   • Major Improvements: Enhanced performance, significantly improved security, and numerous bug fixes.
     • Spooling: The system now uses separate subdirectories for spooled files, including per-system subdirectories, to prevent performance degradation caused by large data buildups and improve communication with multiple remote systems.
     • Security: Introduction of the USERFILE for robust control over file access, login permissions for remote systems, and remote command execution. Execution levels (X#) can be assigned to commands and remote systems.
   • Hardware Support: Details installation for various modems and Auto Call Units (ACUs), including Bell System 801, DEC DF02/DF03, Hayes Smartmodems, and Ventel MD212.
   • Caveat: The manual stresses that uucp is not self-administering and requires manual monitoring and intervention for issues like large file backlogs.

2. Installation Process:

   • Hardware Setup: Connecting modems, ACUs, or direct links.
   • Special Device Files: Creating and configuring device files (e.g., cua#, ttyab) in /dev with appropriate permissions.
   • Software Configuration: Detailed setup of critical administrative files:
     • USERFILE: Defines system security, controlling what files remote and local users can access, login permissions, and remote execution levels for commands.
     • /etc/passwd: Requires entries for remote systems to log in, pointing to the uucico daemon.
     • L.sys: Contains information for each remote system the local system can call, including call times, devices, phone numbers, and crucial login sequences (expect-send strings).
     • L-devices: Maps logical device types from L.sys to physical /dev entries.
     • L-dialcodes: Stores abbreviations for phone numbers.
     • L.cmds: Lists commands that remote systems are permitted to execute via uux, along with their security levels.
     • Makefile: Used to configure compilation options (e.g., NDIR for directory system calls, UUSTAT for status tracking).
   • Spool Subdirectories: Instructions on creating and managing the structured spool directories (/usr/spool/uucp/sys, per-system directories, and DEFAULT) using utilities like uumkspool and uurespool for migrating old data.

3. Administration and Maintenance:

   • Monitoring Files: Details the use of LOGFILE, ERRLOG, and SYSLOG to diagnose problems. These files provide information on connection attempts, transfer successes/failures, security errors, and data transmission statistics.
   • Debugging: A guide to interpreting log messages and using uucico with debugging flags to troubleshoot connection, login, or file transfer issues.
   • Self-Administration Scripts: Describes shell scripts (uucp.day, uucp.hour, uucp.night, etc.) to be run via crontab for automated tasks like polling remote systems, cleaning up temporary files (uuclean), and managing old requests.
   • Network Monitoring Tools: Introduction to uumonitor (for system snapshot and queue status) and uustat (for job status inquiry and control).
   • Periodic Maintenance: Explains the uucompact utility for optimizing spool directories.

The document provides both a detailed explanation of each component and a quick installation guide in the appendix, making it a comprehensive resource for system programmers and administrators dealing with UUCP on ULTRIX-32.