ECS Contributions to the Spring '83 VAX SIG Tape




               The Engineering Computer Station is part of the  School
          of  Engineering  of  the University of Massachusetts Amherst
          campus, if anyone is really baffled by the name.

               The Engineering Computer Station  is  submitting  three
          items  which we have found EXTREMELY useful.  Unfortunately,
          only the executables are being made available, due  to  time
          constraints.  Anyone who wants more information about any of
          these programs, or the sources,  may  contact  me  for  more
          data.

               The  first  of  the  programs  is  called  INFORM.   It
          permits,  when  installed  properly,  any  user  to  send  a
          one-line message to any other interactive user on either the
          local  host  or on a host connected via DECnet (R).  It uses
          bit 0 of the location  CTL$GL_SITESPEC  for  the  /NORECEIVE
          capability.  All files pertaining to this program are in the
          subdirectory named [.INFORM].

               The second program is the Group  Quota  Manager,  which
          performs correlations between usernames, account names (from
          the UAF ACCOUNT field), and disk  quotas.   It  creates  and
          uses  a  small indexed file on the MFD of each disk on which
          it is used.  These files are  in  the  [.GQM]  subdirectory.
          NOTE:   A  new  version  of this is in the works, which will
          understand wildcards (a major lose in the current version).

               The final program is called BECOME.  It  is  a  command
          which  permits  a suitably privileged user (CMKRNL required)
          to assume virtually every attribute of any user in the  UAF.
          This  includes  quotas,  privileges, account-name, username,
          processname, UIC, SYS$LOGIN  directory,  and  login  command
          file (this last is sometimes flakey).  These are assumed for
          the CURRENT  process,  so  it  can  be  used  to  see  if  a
          particular  user  has  enough  oomph  to perform some action
          (quotas, privileges, &c.).  The files associated  with  this
          are in the [.BECOME] subdirectory.




               These programs, binaries and source, are the  exclusive
          property of the Engineering Computer Station.  No guarantees
          as to their performance are given.  These  programs  may  be
          used  by  any  site  for  internal  use  ONLY,  and  may  be
          re-distributed  to  any  requesting  site,   provided   this
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          copyright  notice  accompanies  them and that they are being
          distributed free-of-charge.




               Please send any bug reports, suggestions, or flames  to
          me at


                    Ken Coar
                    Engineering Computer Station
                    100 Engineering Building East
                    University of Massachusetts
                    Amherst, MA   01003


          Alternatively, I  may  be  reached  via  netmail  on  CSnet,
          ARPANET, or Usenet at COAR.UMASS-ECE@UDEL-RELAY>.

               Enjoy, folks!



                                        Ken A L Coar