Some notes on setting up an ITS system

These are some brief notes on setting up an ITS system based on klh10 and the PI (Public ITS) distribution. I work on it very occasionally, but it may help some people along the way.

No, I'm not an ITS wizard, just an old TOPS-20 hacker. Any comments, corrections, or suggestions for improvements are very welcome!

Keep a copy of .INFO.;DDTORD > within arms reach at any point (or read it here). Read .../doc/ksits.txt (but see below) and .../run/ksits/pubits/doc/distrib.its carefully. The ITS Reference Manual is also worth reading, at some point.

1. To get it running decently
2. Minor caveats
3. Setting up COMSAT
4. Maintenance
5. Setting up PANDA/PWORD
6. My contributions
7. Notes on renaming your system (don't try this before you've done the above things!) 2006-09-30
8. Tunneling CHAOS over UDP (don't try this before you've done the above things!) 2005-04-23
9. To do

See also my Luser's Guide to ITS (just started).

1. Run MD instead of PI. Instead of using PI, as suggested in .../doc/ksits.txt, use MD. I.e., use klh10-md.ini instead of klh10-pi.ini.
   Using PI gives a system that runs, but many many programs don't know the PI machine, so you'll typically get .VALUE 0 breakpoints when running INQUIR, LISP etc. MD is more "well-known" (except to COMPLR), so you'll get a system which is easier to use.
2. Get networking up. Since the console gets random typeouts from the system (it is intended as a paper console logging what's happening to the system), it's a good idea to use the system over Telnet or Supdup.
   • If you run Linux, you may be interested in my patch for klh10 to support the Linux tun device (version for klh10-2.0g) ( 2005-08-02); at least this gives you local access, which is all you dare before you get PWORD/PANDA running.
   • You can try my iptables script ( 2005-08-11) to set up restricted external access (and forwarding of the Supdup port from the host to ITS). No guarantees it'll work in your setup.
   • You may also be interested in my patched Supdup client for Linux ( 2005-08-09)
   • If you want to use features like the SAIL character set, Ctrl-8 etc, you may want to try a Supdup client in Java ( 2009-04-05).

• Check that DEVICE;JOBDEV DIRMD exists and is a link to DEVICE;ATSIGN DIRDEV, otherwise Dired in Emacs won't work (unless you do 0m.vDIRED use DIR device$ in your emacs init file). To create the link, use the :LINK command.
• Putting 223fs Help Char$ in your Emacs init file may help, since the default help char is Top-H, and you probably don't have a Top key on your keyboard... (223 is ^_ (which you have to type twice, by the way, see Info node (ITSTTY)A/5.))
• INQUIR will still not work. If you get the following error
  

  MD*:inquir
  INQUIR.181
  ;162798. CAN'T CREATE A HUNK OF THIS SIZE
  
  A bug in INQUIR has been encountered.
  This should never happen.
  Please send a message explaining the circumstances leading to this
  to Bug-INQUIR@MIT-MC.   Thank you.
  :KILL
  

  then your problem is probably a broken LISP; directory in the PI distribution disk. To fix:
  1. Fetch the LISP directory from the AI archive here (or here).
  2. Unpack it with tar zxf lisp.tgz.
  3. Make an ITS tape from the new lisp directory using ITStar (local copy here, doc here, text format):
     itstar -cf lisp.tap lisp
  4. Mount it as a tape:
     1. Press ^\ (to get a klh10 prompt)
     2. devmount mta0 lisp.tap (where lisp.tap is the file created by itstar)
     3. cont (to continue klh10)
     4. :DUMP (if you get a warning message, press ^Z, type :sl ⟨ENTER⟩, then wrong/0 ⟨ENTER⟩ and $P)
     5. reload crdir links sorry (answer y if asked)
     6. quit (when done)
  You now have a fresh LISP directory, and INQUIR will work again.
• Set up mail aliases. It's probably a good idea to edit .MAIL.;NAMES >, basically replacing KLH with your own uname, and replacing @NX with @MD and *NX with *MD
• Greetings.
  • The file SYS;NET MAIL is printed when people connect from the network. Unfortunately this output is erased when Supdup clears the screen immediately after.
  • Maybe SYS;SYSTEM MAIL is a better place for greetings, since it's printed after the version/fair share message. (The file SYS;LOCAL MAIL is shown to non-network/dialup connections.)
  • The standard contents of SYS;NET MAIL points at HACK;PI NEWS, which you'll like to update.

In addition to setting up mailing lists, you'll need to set up COMSAT (the mailer demon) properly.

• As mentioned in distrib.its, you need to set BUGHST, DOMGAT and TCPGAT. BUGHST is most likely the local IP address (192.168.0.203 for MD), the others are most likely your klh10 gwaddr (192.168.0.200 for MD). The format of the address can be described by the following Common Lisp functions:

  (defun make-ipaddr (oct1 oct2 oct3 oct4)
    (dpb oct1 (byte 8 24)
         (dpb oct2 (byte 8 16)
  	    (dpb oct3 (byte 8 8)
  		 oct4))))
  (defun parse-ipaddr (addr)
    (list (ldb (byte 8 24) addr)
          (ldb (byte 8 16) addr)
          (ldb (byte 8 8) addr)
          (ldb (byte 8 0) addr)))
  

  NOTE that CL byte specs count the bits from the right, not left.
  (So 192.168.0.200 => 3232235720. and 192.168.0.203 => 3232235723.)
• So parse your IP address(es), put them in the appropriate locations of .MAIL.;COMSAT BIN, set DEBUG/ 0 and XVERS/ 0, and start at PURIFY.
• Of course, you don't need Common Lisp - you can hack anything with TECO and DDT. To type in an address like 192.168.12.203, say

  <<192.$_24.>+<168.$_16.>+<12.$_8.>+203.>>
  

  to DDT. Note the "." (to make decimal numbers) and that $ is Escape.

I have some notes on my external email setup - YMMV (certainly).

Backup:

1. Mount a tape: give klh10 the command devmount mta0 tapefile rw (where tapefile is a new file), and continue.
2. To see which tape number to use (if you are disciplined about tape use), issue the TAPES command, specifying TTY: as the LIST DEV(ice).
3. • Full backup: give DUMP the command DUMP FULL LINKS, followed by ICHECK to check tape contents and set dumped bit on checked files.
   • Incremental backup: DUMP INCREM LINKS (checks and sets bits)
4. Backup done: QUIT
5. Done: give klh10 the command devunmount mta0

Restore:

1. Mount the tape: devmount mta0 tapefile, and continue
2. Restore: give DUMP the command RELOAD LINKS CRDIR SORRY
3. Dismount tape: devunmount mta0

PWORD is a replacement for HACTRN which doesn't let you log in as anyone without a password (except on the console and local terminals). PANDA is the administrative tool to set passwords, accept account applications, etc.

1. Set the master password for PANDA.

   panda$j
   $l sysbin;panda bin
   ttyhak+7/ CAME T,SPWORD .$b
   run$g

   Now type in a password. When you hit the breakpoint, its encrypted form is in T. Copy it (573037415503 in the example below), and then set it in the real copy:

   t[ 573037415503
   $l sysbin;panda bin (re-load a pure copy)
   spword/ 573037415503
   purify$g
   :pdump sysbin;panda bin

   To make it easy to run, make a link to it in SYS;TS PANDA (so you can run it by :panda).
2. Create ACOUNT; which is needed for account applications etc.
3. Add mail aliases for ACCOUNTS-NOTIFICATION, USER-ACCOUNTS, ACCOUNTS-HELD-REFUSED, USER-ACCOUNTS-ARCHIVE, PASSWORD-SYSTEM, and BUGGY-PWORD (see above). If you expect account applications, read the mail coming to these addresses...
4. Make PWORD the replacement for HACTRN.

   You may want to start by setting a password for your uname:

   :panda
   set uname -pw (where uname is your uname)
   Is this OK? (Y or N) Y
   Enter new password.
   Password: f00
   quit

   Now just make a link to SYS;ATSIGN PWORD in SYS;ATSIGN HACTRN (not the other way!) and you're done. To change your password later, use :login uname -pw.
   Note that logging in on the console never requires a password.

• Patch for klh10 to support the Linux tun device (version for klh10-2.0g) ( 2005-08-02)
• An iptables script to set up restricted external access. No guarantees it'll work in your setup.
• Supdup client for Linux ( 2005-08-09)
• A Supdup client in Java ( 2009-04-05).
• A working CH11 device for tunneling CHAOS over UDP.
• Patches to enable Chaos class support in BIND (the standard DNS server). Work on DNS support in ITS is in progress.
• A web server in Maclisp (yes, I like MIDAS, but it's easier in Lisp, really ;-).
• I wrote my first TECO hack in something like 15 years, to apply patches in the form of SRCCOM output to the original source. The library is called SPATCH (for Srccom PATCH, of course). To be improved!
• Some more Y2K patches. You can also get them together with the ones from Paul Svensson.
• My patches to old ITS programs, both Y2K patches and others, can be found in the PATCH; directory on my ITS machine, when it's up...
• Notes on my external email setup - YMMV (certainly).

Things to document:

• My ddt patches
• Patch to LUSER

If you know how to do these things, please let me know:

• DNS resolver to not have to hack H3TEXT host table (the DQ device is a fake (DQXDEV), but there is another (DQDEV) which might work?)
• Get all the sources missing from the PI distribution (and from Alan's archive) So far, I'm looking in particular for TURNIP;READER, SPACY;NETRTN and SPACY;LSRRTN. It seems some EMACS sources are missing too (e.g. PURIFY). (The sources of :DATE aren't among PI, AI or MC sources, but Paul Svensson has them.)
• Write a script to recompile the world in order to change system name. Update: I've done it manually, and recorded the steps here.
• The "Fair share" is very wrong. Could this be because it's calculated (in SYSTEM;ITS after ALCR1) based on "ticks per second", which we nowadays have many more of than on a KS? But KLH10 (when configured correctly) claims to use 60 ticks/s? New theory: the "host" device (idling the kn10 process in the null job). There is very little idle/lost time on an ITS system under klh10 with the host device+patch. See also notes here.
• Time zone is fixed at -5 (EST)... see my PATCH; directory for an extension of ITS to make it configurable.

In the movie Swordfish (Jackman, Travolta, Berry), the hacker played by Jackman connects to an ITS system in the basement of Caltech to retrieve his worm. In the script, the ITS machine is at MIT, which is surprisingly well written by the author, Skip Woods. Would anyone know how he would know about ITS? Would anyone have a guess why the machine was moved to Caltech in the movie?