Configuring the pms

Linux Amateur Radio AX.25 HOWTO
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# 15. Configuring the pms

The pms program is an implementation of a simple personal message system. It was originally written by Alan Cox. Dave Brown, N2RJT, has taken on further development of it. At present it is still very simple, supporting only the ability to send mail to the owner of the system and to obtain some limited system information but Dave is working to expand its capability to make it more useful.

After that is done there are a couple of simple files that you should create that give users some information about the system and then you need to add appropriate entries into the `ax25d.conf` file so that connected users are presented with the PMS.

## 15.1. Create the `/etc/ax25/pms.motd` file

The `/etc/ax25/pms.motd` file contains the `message of the day' that users will be presented with after they connect and receive the usual BBS id header. The file is a simple text file, any text you include in this file will be sent to users.

## 15.2. Create the `/etc/ax25/pms.info` file

The `/etc/ax25/pms.info` file is also a simple text file in which you would put more detailed information about your station or configuration. This file is presented to users in response to their issuing of the `Info` command from the `PMS>` prompt.

## 15.3. Associate AX.25 callsigns with system users

When a connected user sends mail to an AX.25 callsign, the pms expects that callsign to be mapped, or associated with a real system user on your machine. This is described in a section of its own.

## 15.4. Add the PMS to the `/etc/ax25/ax25d.conf` file

Adding the pms to your `ax25d.conf` file is very simple. There is one small thing you need to think about though. Dave has added command line arguments to the PMS to allow it to handle a number of different text end-of-line conventions. AX.25 and NET/ROM by convention expect the end-of-line to be carriage return, linefeed while the standard UNIX end-of-line is just newline. So, for example, if you wanted to add an entry that meant that the default action for a connection received on an AX.25 port is to start the PMS then you would add a line that looked something like:

    default  1  10 5 100 5   0    root  /usr/sbin/pms pms -a -o vk2ktj

This simply runs the pms program, telling it that it is an AX.25 connection it is connected to and that the PMS owner is `vk2ktj`. Check the man page for what you should specify for other connection methods.

## 15.5. Test the PMS

To test the PMS, you can try the following command from the command line: # /usr/sbin/pms -u vk2ktj -o vk2ktj Substitute your own callsign for mine and this will run the pms, telling it that it is to use the UNIX end-of-line convention, and that user logging in is `vk2ktj`. You can do all the things connected users can.

Additionally you might try getting some other node to connect to you to confirm that your `ax25d.conf` configuration works.

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