FAL(8)FAL(8)NAMEfal - File Access Listener for DECnet
SYNOPSISfal [options]
Options:
[-dvVhmt] [-l logtype] [-a auto-type] [-f <auto-file>] [-r <virtual-
root>]
DESCRIPTIONfal is a daemon that serves incoming DAP (Data Access protocol) connec‐
tions from remote systems. It enables transparent file access to files
from OpenVMS machines using standard DECnet syntax. It should be
started at system boot time (after DECnet has been started) and must be
run as root.
The file names output by fal will adapt depending on the sytax of files
that are requested of it. If VMS-style filenames are requested then
VMS-style filenames will be returned. If Unix-style filenames are
requested then Unix-style (native) filenames will be returned. Note
that to force fal to diplay the contents of a directory with Unix-style
names the name must end in a slash or have some form of wildcard char‐
acter in it.
When returning VMS-style filenames, all names will be converted to
upper case, directories will have .DIR appended to them and all file‐
names will have a version number of 1. In addition fal will construct
a volume and directory syntax for the directory that will look familiar
to VMS users. Of course it also understands this syntax when files and
directories are requested of it. One of the problems with this is that
Unix filenames with non-VMS syntax (eg double dots or "funny" charac‐
ters) or files with uppercase letter in their names will not be acces‐
sible from VMS using VMS syntax. You must use Unix syntax to access
these files through FAL.
The options below affect the behaviour of fal. If you are using dnetd
then these options should be specified in the dnetd.conf(5) file.
By default all files sent by fal will be sent in STREAMLF format. This
is configurable by the many command-line switches detailed below.
OPTIONS-l Set logging options. The following are available:
-lm Log to /dev/mono. (only useful if you have my mono monitor
driver or mdacon and a second monitor)
-le Log to stderr. Use this for debugging or testing combined
with -d.
-ls Log to syslog(3). This is the default if no options are
given.
-a Set algorithm for automatically selecting file types.
-ag Guess file type based on first few bytes
-ae Check file extension against a table
By default all files will be sent/received as STREAMLF
-f <filename>
Specify the filename used to check file extensions. Only valid
with -ae. The format if the file is simple:
extension <b/r> <block size>.
In fact, 'r' is more of a comment than an instruction but it may
be used in future to support proper variable-length record
files.
By default an internal table is used with some common file
extensions. It is as follows:
#Generic types
.txt r
.c r
.cc r
.log r
.html r
# VMS types
.com r
.lis r
.bck b 32256
.save b 8192
.exe b 512
.zip b 512
#Linux types
.tar b 10240
.gz b 512
.tgz b 512
.bz2 b 512
# End of file
-u Enable users to override the two above options with a .fal_auto
file in her/his home directory. This file should contain a sin‐
gle word: guess, ext or none. Note that -u and a .fal_auto file
takes effect even if no -a option is present.
-m Use the meta-file directory (normally named .fal) to store file
attributes. Metafiles will override any guessed or checked file
attributes.
-t Instruct FAL for look for .$ADF$ files created by the NFS Client
in TCP/IP for VMS V5.0+ and use them to get file attributes.
This option can be used with the -m and -a flags in which case a
.$ADF$ takes precedence over a fal metafile or a guessed file
type.
-r <virtual root>
Run FAL in a "virtual root". All file accesses will be done
below this directory rather than the normal root filesystem. ie
access for "/" or "SYSDISK:[000000]" will start at the specified
directory. Requests for ".." will be refused. NOTE: This is not
a chroot, fal still runs in the normal filesystem. also note
that this will lose the ability to access users home directo‐
ries: all users doing a "DIR LINUX::*.*" from VMS will see the
virtual root instead.
-d Don't fork and run the background. Use this for debugging.
-v Verbose. The more of these there are the more verbose fal will
be. Don't use more than one for normal operation because it will
seriously impair performance.
-h -? Displays help for using the command.
-V Show the version of fal.
SEE ALSOdecnet.proxy(5), dnetd(8), dnetd.conf(5), dntype(1), dndir(1),
dndel(1), dntask(1), dnsubmit(1), dnprint(1)DECnet utilities May 6 1999 FAL(8)
