Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 12:27:23 -0700 (PDT) From: Jim Dennis <jimd@mistery.mcafee.com> To: zgabor@CoDe.hu (Gabor Zahemszky) Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org, root@netpc.com Subject: Re: BBS's and Menu System Message-ID: <199605281927.MAA19058@mistery.mcafee.com> In-Reply-To: <199605281540.PAA01600@CoDe.CoDe.hu> from "Gabor Zahemszky" at May 28, 96 03:40:31 pm
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> > does anyone know of any good menu systems for use in shell accounts? > 1) You can use the (pd)ksh's and bash's select command to generate simple > menus, or > 2) Get the dialog utility (or write your own command with libdialog - as > the sysinstall command) > and make little shell scripts to generate a menu. In the ports collection there is an 'mshell-1.0' (apparently developed by NYX). It appears to be a menuing system designed to be used as a shell. It is also possible to compile 'Lynx' with local execution enabled. You can then create html pages that provide a very flexible menuing interface. Personally I'd look at the latter option for several reasons: * You probably already know how to write HTML. Lynx local execution links are just a URL of the form: <A href="lynxprog:/usr/bin/foo"> Run The Foo Program (from the /usr/bin dir)</A> ('lynxprog' is for interactive programs, 'lynxexec' is for non-interactive program (like 'ls') and 'lynxcgi' is an unusual one that allows local execution of cgi scripts -- which I don't completely understand I just execute normal CGI through the httpd on the localhost) * You can integrate your menus with their own documentation. * You can integrate your menus and documentation with your internal webserver (if you have one) and with the world-wide-web itself. * There's built in, full screen, menu oriented ftp (including non-anonymous using links like: "ftp://user@ftp.host.org/path") * It's quick. * You can create forms and tie them into your CGI scripts (for things like account and alias requests) * You can use the "DirEd" features to allow users to access a variety of file management functions with through the same menu interface (using URL's like: "file://localhost/~") * You can allow your more advanced users to edit their own menu and other files. This may be particularly handy if they have a ~/public_html directory to maintain. * There are a number of restrictions that can be specified on the command line (and can be used to provide some minor security limits on some users). * I suspect that you could statically link it, and your other "approved" binaries and run the whole shebang in a chroot'd environment. Another option would be 'Midnight Commander' which has extensive custom menuing capabilities in addition to its elegant (ncurses/color) full-screen file management interface. Jim Dennis, System Administrator, McAfee Associates
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