BatchLogin Install Instructions

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Batch Login Installation Documentation

Installation Formats

Presently, BatchLogin is delivered in three forms:
  1. RPM
  2. Source RPM
  3. Tar archive (Tarball)
It has presently been deployed on three distinct platforms:
  1. Solaris
  2. Linux
  3. Cygwin on top of Windows
However, it's fairly easy to port to just about any Unix-like architecture. There are only a few files with case statements that switch underlying program contexts based upon variables. This means that if you want it to run on some other architecture, it's a matter of finding those case statements and making the desired changes.

BatchLogin Prerequisites

BatchLogin requires ksh, bash and the expect programming language (which itself, requires TCL in order to function). For file transport, it also requires uuencode/uudecode -- this is not typically exotic functionality, but it's not uncommon to find Unix shops where this kind of subsystem simply wasn't installed to save disk space.

BatchLogin' main executable need only be installed in one location on the network. As a matter of fact, the moment you begin using it from more than one location, you are likely creating a headache of some kind. Try to keep it in a central location -- on your desktop or some central server where a graphical login is desired (if you're going to leverage the BLT functionality).

Installing the RPM

Pretty painless:
# rpm -ivh batchlogin-X.X.X-Y.noarch.rpm
Note: on Unix systems, you will likely need to be root to install an RPM. If you don't have root access to your system, it's possible to use it from a subdirectory. You will need to unpack the tar ball, and modify the install.sh script somewhat to put things in writable locations. It's pretty easy, in other words, to install it in an alternate location -- I'm not going to support that kind of functionality, but will answer email questions as best I can if the need arises. See the section about installing from the tar archive for more.

Installing BatchLogin from the Tar Archive

To install BatchLogin from the tar archive, simply unpack it:
# tar xvfz batchlogin-X.X.X.tar.gz
Note: substitute the version you've downloaded for the X's and Y's in the above example.

Now, change to the newly-created batchlogin-X.X.X directory (see above note about X's and Y's). The install program is called install.sh and can be found under the "rpm" subdirectory, under the above directory:

# cd batchlogin-2.0.1
# cd rpm
# ls install.sh
install.sh
# ./install.sh
Although you're not installing an RPM version of BatchLogin, you're using the build script to do something similar. Once you have installed BatchLogin using this method, you can delete the source software directory if no longer needed (say for development purposes).

Source RPM

The batchlogin-X.X.X-Y.src.rpm is the stuff needed to build the RPM. Installing it simply places a corresponding tar ball (see above) in your SOURCES build directory, and the batchlogin.spec file in your SPECS directory. The build directory itself is distribution dependent. On redhat systems it can be found under /usr/src/redhat. On SuSE, it's under /usr/src/packages. Cygwin puts it under /usr/src/rpm -- but the above directories will always be under these locations. To build the rpm, use this command:
# rpm -ba batchlogin.spec
You will need to be in the SPECS directory for this to work. Newer systems use "rpmbuild" instead of the above, so try that if the program seems clueless about the "ba" switches.

That covers most installation issues -- if your software installs properly, "bl2" and "blt2" shell scripts will be placed in /usr/bin where just about anybody can get to them. See the usage documentation for more.


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