You will need ftp and telnet access to perform the installation.
The first step is to ftp the archive file you downloaded to a cgi directory on your server. Once you've done this, you will need to telnet into the (CGI) directory you FTP-ed the archive to.
Step 1. You need to un-gzip the file, to do so type the following command:
gzip -d [filename]
For example, if you're installing Radbot version 1.0, you would type:
gzip -d radbot_cgi-1.0.tar.gz
The file should now be un-gzipped and the name will reflect this by dropping the .gz extension.
Step 2. Now you should untar the file. To do this, type the follwing command:
tar xvf [filename]
The file will now untar and create the appropriate directories. We recommend taking a moment at this point to make sure the required directories and files were created. If for some reason they were not, please contact sales@radiation.com.
*Note: the default location of perl in the RadBot scripts is /usr/local/bin/perl -- if this is not the location of your copy of perl, you will need to edit the following scripts (you will find the perl location on line 1 in each of these):
atob.pl
controls.cgi
radbot-shared.pl
radbot.pl
Step 3. OK, Radbot should now be installed, it will, however, still need editing in order to work properly. The following edits need to be made so Radbot will be customized to your server and particular use. Ideally, you will have telnet access to make these changes. It is possible to FTP down the radbot-shared.pl file and make the changes offline, but you will need to make sure you are converting the file properly. The following instructions are given assuming you have telnet access. After telnetting into the "radbot" directory, you'll need to open a UNIX text editor. An editor called 'pico' is usually present on a UNIX machine. You are going to edit the radbot-shared.pl file. In order to do this, using pico type the following command:
pico radbot-shared.pl
You will notice that the radbot-shared.pl file is now open and that you can make changes to it. Make the following changes, then hit control x. This closes pico, which will prompt you to save changes. Type 'y' and hit enter twice to save the changes you've made to the radbot-shared.pl file.
The sections that need editing are:
$controls_url = relative url for controls.cgi (which is located in the radbot directory. The radbot directory is created when you untar Radbot).
Example: /cgi-bin/radbot/controls.cgi
$datadir = relative directory path to data directory, which will be in radbot directory. The radbot directory is created when you untar Radbot.
Example: /home/myaccount/public_html/cgi-bin/radbot/data
$list_db = you want to change the name of the default list. This is the name that will appear as the list name on your control panel. Be sure to keep the directory path intact, change only the text after the "/".
Example: ${data_dir}/mylist
$from = this should be the address you want to appear in the 'from' field in the outgoing emails. Be careful to leave the format the same, specifically leaving the "\" where it is.
Example: sales\@radiation.com
$admin = this is the address that will receive administrative email. This is often used as the test address. Be careful to leave the format the same, specifically leaving the "\" where it is.
Example: admin/@yourcompany.com
$list_name = give this the name of your mailing list.
Example: mylist
$default_exp = give this the date you want subscriptions to expire.
Example: 123102
(which will cause all subscribers not otherwise noted to expire Dec. 31 2002)
$sendmail = this is the relative location of your sendmail module. If you are not sure about this location, check with your system administrator. You may not need to edit this file.
Should you make an error during the editing process and are unable to restore your copy, simply delete the 'radbot' directory and all its contents. The archive file should still be on your server and should still be un-gzipped. You will have to go back to step 2 and start over from there.
Running a Crontab
In order for RadBot to send out mail, it needs to be triggered via a crontab. Crontab is a standard UNIX command that allows scripts to be run at specific times of the day. It can be very complicated, so we are addressing only what is necessary for RadBot. You should check with your system administrator before executing this command as it could, if improperly used, be harmful to your server. In fact, we recommend having your system administrator execute this for you, but we are including the following command in the name of thoroughness. The following crontab is what we recommend for RadBot. This will have RadBot run every 5 minutes:
0,5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40,45,50,55 * * * * /usr/local/bin/perl
/myaccount/cgi-bin/radbot/radbot.pl
Explanation:
Section 1: A comma-seperated list of minutes.
Section 2: Hours field, * means every run every hour.
Section 3: Day of month (1-31), a * means run every day.
Section 4: Month of year (1-12), a * means run every month.
Section 5: Day or week (1-7), a * means run every day of week.
Section 6: The command to run. For a perl script, it must start with the perl command, followed by the absolute path to the script. You should adjust this line to your specific situation.
