Hello all,

For a while now I've been trying to get MysticBBS running in Debian Linux. While I (finally!) got most of the stuff down, a pretty complicated thing happens:

New users who register have no problem going through the registration form,
but once they're registered the system writes the user down as "Unknown".
These "Unknown"s keep getting added to the user list as more join up, and
even seem to share E-mails as they can see all the default new user email
thing automatically sent by Mystic. No information actually input by the user during the registration form is stored other than an account creation process took place.

I thought it was a permission issue at first (mystic is installed in the root directory, owned by root) so I changed the directory ownership to a non-root user to see if that helped, but with no avail.Then I realized I was running a somewhat older version of Mystic (1.12 A3) so I deleted everything and
started anew with 1.12 A31... and nothing. Googling the issue and searching it around networks didn't give me much to work with either. Is this a common problem or did I mess up somewhere...?

Here's hoping my next fsxnet message isn't about help with getting Mystic up and running :^)

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A31 (Raspberry Pi)
* Origin: Alcoholiday / Est. 1995 / alco.bbs.io (21:1/113)

On 01/08/17, rola pondered and said...

Hello all,

Hi there :)

New users who register have no problem going through the registration form, but once they're registered the system writes the user down as "Unknown". These "Unknown"s keep getting added to the user list as more

[snip]

was running a somewhat older version of Mystic (1.12 A3) so I deleted everything and started anew with 1.12 A31... and nothing. Googling the issue and searching it around networks didn't give me much to work with either. Is this a common problem or did I mess up somewhere...?

Hmm.. well firstly I don't think is a common problem, I have not heard of it but perhaps someone else reading may have?

I do agree using the latest 1.12 A31 is the way to go.

As for permissions I tend to agree something seems amiss there and/or the
data file that users are being written to may be (for some reason) corrupted etc.

Is this a case of you doing an upgrade between the earlier version and the latest one that could have led to the issue? There were a few steps to follow to do this correctly. But if I understand you right, you're saying the probs remain with a fresh install - right?

So if that's the case lets unpick how you do that install and the permissions etc. you use to do it with.

Tell me where and how you do the basic install please.

Also, have you made any major changes to the BBS or can you afford to start over afresh to try and fix this as you have already done once before?

You're not swapping in/out data files from past versions into the data directory of your 'fresh' install are you? That would be bad.

Best, Paul

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A31 (Windows)
* Origin: Agency BBS | telnet://agency.bbs.geek.nz (21:1/101)

Tell me where and how you do the basic install please.

Also, have you made any major changes to the BBS or can you afford to start over afresh to try and fix this as you have already done once before?

I wouldn't mind trying again, I suppose. The installation process is the one
as explained in the instructions: sudo ./install and let everything install
to /mystic. I tried changing the /mystic folder's ownership before installing but the installation aborts when it sees the already existing folder. Running without sudo doesn't work as it tries to install directly into the root directory. Changing ownership after installation, as I said, does nothing either.

Noticing that I could create the Sysop account locally running ./mystic -l
once installed without problem, I realize that the issue only seems to show
up whenever someone tries to sign up through Telnet.

You're not swapping in/out data files from past versions into the data directory of your 'fresh' install are you? That would be bad.

Nope. I only kept trying to fix it by installing it anew leaving the fresh installation verbatim, without even overwriting the cosmetic ANSI.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A31 (Raspberry Pi)
* Origin: Alcoholiday / Est. 1995 / alco.bbs.io (21:1/113)

On 01/08/17, rola said the following...

Hello all,

For a while now I've been trying to get MysticBBS running in Debian
Linux. While I (finally!) got most of the stuff down, a pretty
complicated thing happens:

New users who register have no problem going through the registration form, but once they're registered the system writes the user down as "Unknown". These "Unknown"s keep getting added to the user list as more join up, and even seem to share E-mails as they can see all the default new user email thing automatically sent by Mystic. No information
actually input by the user during the registration form is stored other than an account creation process took place.

I thought it was a permission issue at first (mystic is installed in the root directory, owned by root) so I changed the directory ownership to a non-root user to see if that helped, but with no avail.Then I realized I was running a somewhat older version of Mystic (1.12 A3) so I deleted everything and started anew with 1.12 A31... and nothing. Googling the issue and searching it around networks didn't give me much to work with either. Is this a common problem or did I mess up somewhere...?

Here's hoping my next fsxnet message isn't about help with getting
Mystic up and running :^)

When you changed the permissions did you do -R at the end to ensure all of /mystic permissions are changed and not just the main folder?

so sudo chown user:user /mystic -R

user being whatever your user account is on the machine.

Is there anything showing in the logs for the nodes?

Cheers!
Pequito

+- $s.s$s.s$ ----------------------------------------+
| $ý"$$$"ý$ twinklebbs.homeip.net |
| .$$$. winkle BBS twinklebbs.homeip.net:8080 |
+-- .$$$$$. -----------------------------------------+
$ý"~"ý$ Christopher Malo aka Pequito!

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A31 (Linux)
* Origin: Twinkle BBS (21:1/126)

When you changed the permissions did you do -R at the end to ensure all
of /mystic permissions are changed and not just the main folder?

so sudo chown user:user /mystic -R

user being whatever your user account is on the machine.

Is there anything showing in the logs for the nodes?

Yeah, the ownership was changed recursively. I'll check out later on if the logs show something.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A31 (Raspberry Pi)
* Origin: Alcoholiday / Est. 1995 / alco.bbs.io (21:1/113)

On 01/09/17, rola pondered and said...

install to /mystic. I tried changing the /mystic folder's ownership
before installing but the installation aborts when it sees the already existing folder. Running without sudo doesn't work as it tries to

Yep that's normal it needs to see no existing directory otherwise is will abort. Designed that way to stop files being accidentally overwritten.

existing folder. Running without sudo doesn't work as it tries to
install directly into the root directory. Changing ownership after

Can you try installing it in to the home directory of the user that you are logged into? You may still need the sudo ./install to do so. Just wondering
if that may make a difference at all regards something to do with
permissions. Not sure..

Noticing that I could create the Sysop account locally running ./mystic
-l once installed without problem, I realize that the issue only seems
to show up whenever someone tries to sign up through Telnet.

Once you create the sysop account do you elevate it to s255 using ctrl-u
first, before allowing others to sign up?

Do you also state that alias/real name in the config > gen settings section
for 'sysop' and 'send feedback to' ?

If you run another local login and sign up as a new user what happens then?
So take the Telnet side of it out of the equation for now..

Best, Paul

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A31 (Windows)
* Origin: Agency BBS | telnet://agency.bbs.geek.nz (21:1/101)

On 01/09/17, rola said the following...

When you changed the permissions did you do -R at the end to ensure a of /mystic permissions are changed and not just the main folder?

so sudo chown user:user /mystic -R

user being whatever your user account is on the machine.

Is there anything showing in the logs for the nodes?

Yeah, the ownership was changed recursively. I'll check out later on if the logs show something.

If you like sometime I or Avon might be willing to help, if you have SSH open on the nix server. Would just need to reach us privately from our respective BBS's with the connection info and could take a look. Would not be the first time I had assisted someone this way.

Cheers!
Pequito

+- $s.s$s.s$ ----------------------------------------+
| $ý"$$$"ý$ twinklebbs.homeip.net |
| .$$$. winkle BBS twinklebbs.homeip.net:8080 |
+-- .$$$$$. -----------------------------------------+
$ý"~"ý$ Christopher Malo aka Pequito!

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A31 (Linux)
* Origin: Twinkle BBS (21:1/126)

It sure was much easier than what I thought...

Do you also state that alias/real name in the config > gen settings section for 'sysop' and 'send feedback to' ?

Here's what got me wondering. Once I made the sysop account, I turned off the "Ask Real Name" field for new users (No intention to have my BBS plugged into an echomail network just yet...) - but the "Ask Alias" field was also turned off by default for whatever reason (or I've been turning it off all this time without noticing, maybe?). I guess I thought that when the registration
process was started it would save whatever the user had actually input in the login screen! Turning on Alias and not Real Name will ask the user again for the alias, but this time sticks. If it's done the other way around, the
system saves the Real Name instead.

So anyways, that was that. No issue with permissions nor anything of the sort
- just Mystic's way of saying it never saved any username information because it never asked for it in the first place!

Thank you all very much for your support. I'll let you know if anything happens.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A31 (Raspberry Pi)
* Origin: Alcoholiday / Est. 1995 / alco.bbs.io (21:1/113)

On 01/09/17, rola pondered and said...

off the "Ask Real Name" field for new users (No intention to have my BBS plugged into an echomail network just yet...) - but the "Ask Alias"
field was also turned off by default for whatever reason (or I've been

Aha OK that's a good catch.. well done :)

turning it off all this time without noticing, maybe?). I guess I
thought that when the registration process was started it would save whatever the user had actually input in the login screen! Turning on

It's saving the other data they type in like email address of male vs. female etc. but as both real name and alias are off it's forced to state 'unknown'
it turns out.

So anyways, that was that. No issue with permissions nor anything of the sort - just Mystic's way of saying it never saved any username
information because it never asked for it in the first place!

yeah really interesting to my way of thinking that seems wrong to allow this behavior. As a sysop I would want to know either an alias and/or a real name but not be allowed to configure the software to deny both being required to successfully create an account. I'll note this for discussion with g00r00
when he comes back on the scene, it would be interesting to get his take on this. I figured both could be on or one on the other off but not both off...
at the moment clearly that is allowed... who knew huh :) ?

Thank you all very much for your support. I'll let you know if anything happens.

You're welcome, it's really a team effort... there's a good bunch of
supportive guys about here and we're lucky to have them :)

Best, Paul

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A31 (Windows)
* Origin: Agency BBS | telnet://agency.bbs.geek.nz (21:1/101)