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This page displays the COHERENT manpage for dial [File that tells UUCP how to dial a system].
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dial -- System Administration File that tells UUCP how to dial a system /usr/lib/uucp/dial The file /usr/lib/uucp/dial holds information about dialers. A dialer is a device, usually a modem, through which uucico or cu ``dials'' another computer system. The daemon uucico and the command cu use the information in this file to talk to dialers. dial consists of a series of descriptions, each of which describes one dialer. A description consists of one or more commands; each command defines an aspect of how to manipulate the dialer. Descriptions must be separated by one blank line. The following describes the commands you can use in a description: dialer name Name the dialer being described. Each description must begin with a dialer command. For example, the command dialer trailblazer introduces the description for the device named trailblazer. (A name need not be technical: you can also use names like joe or junk_modem.) chat from_modem to_modem ... from_modem This command gives the chat script with which uucico and cu initialize the dialer and have it dial a remote system. chat can have any number of arguments: the odd-numbered strings are received from the modem, and the even-numbered ones sent to it. Strings are separated by space character; therefore, no string can contain a literal space character. To represent a space character in a string, use the escape sequence \s. If, at a given point in the conversation, nothing is expected from the modem or is to be sent to it, then use an empty pair of quotation marks as a placeholder. Please note that unlike the chat script used in file sys, the chat script in dial contains only the information by which the modem is accessed: it does not contain information about how to log into the remote computer system. A chat script can contain the following escape sequences: \D Telephone number of the remote system \T Telephone number plus dialcode translation \M Do not require carrier \m Require carrier, fail if not present \s Represent a space character uucico and cu use the command phone in file /usr/lib/uucp/sys to expand the escape sequence \D. The following gives an example chat script: chat "" ATQ0V1E1L2M1DT\D CONNECT\s2400 The pair of quotation marks tells uucico (or cu) to expect nothing from the modem, and to send immediately the string ATQ0V1E1L2M1DT followed by the telephone number of the remote system. This is a typical send string for a Hayes-compatible, 2400-baud modem. The string also sets certain registers within the modem: Q0V1 turns on verbal result codes, E1 turns on echoing, and L2M1 sets the duration and volume of the modem's speaker. The last string in the chat script gives the expect string. This is the string that the modem sends when it has succeeded in connecting with the remote computer system. In this example, if the modem does not send CONNECT 2400 then the attempt to call the remote system has failed. This example shows, as noted above, that no string to the command chat (or any other command used in dial) can contain a space character. To represent a space character within a string, use the escape sequence \s. chat-timeout seconds This command gives the number of seconds to await the expect string from the modem. For example, the command chat-timeout 10 tells uucico to wait ten seconds for the expected string. chat-fail failure_string This command defines the string that, when received from the modem, indicates that a connection attempt has failed. uucico and cu abort when they receive failure_string. A dialer's description can have multiple chat-fail commands (after all, a call can fail for many different reasons). For example, the commands chat-fail BUSY chat-fail NO\sCARRIER tell uucico and cu to abort when they receive either the strings BUSY or NO CARRIER. chat-seven-bit true|false If true, strip all bits to seven bits before comparing them with the expect string within the chat script. chat-program program [ arguments ] Run program before executing the chat script. The optional arguments are passed to program. The following escape sequences can be embedded within arguments: \Y Name of the port device \S Speed of the port \\ A literal backspace character uucico expands these escape sequences before it passes arguments to command. dialtone stirng string is the code sequence that tells the modem to wait for a dial tone (e.g., if you must dial `9' and then pause briefly to get an outside line). uucico outputs string whenever it encounters a `=' within a telephone number. The default code is a comma. pause string string is the code sequence that tells the modem to pause for one second. uucico outputs string whenever it encounters a `-' within a telephone number. The default code is a comma. carrier true|false true indicates that the dialer supports the modem carrier signal, and uucico therefore will require that that carrier be on. false indicates that the dialer does not support the modem carrier signal, and uucico therefore will not wait for it. carrier-wait seconds Wait seconds for the carrier signal. The default is 60. dtr-toggle true|false [ true|false ] If the first argument is true, toggle DTR before using the modem. If the second argument is true, sleep for one second after toggling DTR. complete-chat string ... string complete-chat-timeout number complete-chat-fail failure_string complete-chat-seven-bit true|false complete-chat-program program [ arguments ] These commands define a chat script to be run after the UUCP session has run to completion. They are exactly like their chat counterparts described above. abort-chat string ... string abort-chat-timeout number abort-chat-fail failure_string abort-chat-seven-bit true|false abort-chat-program program [ arguments ] These commands define a chat script to be run if the UUCP session has aborted. They are exactly like their chat counterparts described above. complete string abort string These are simplified of the complete- and abort- chat scripts described above. The former sends string to the dialer after a call has completed successfully; the latter sends its string after a call has aborted. protocol-parameter protocol parameter Set a protocol parameter. This command is exactly the same as its counterpart used in file sys. For details, see the Lexicon entry for sys. seven-bit true|false When your system negotiates the protocol to use with the remote system, force your system to accept only a protocol that works over seven-bit connection. reliable true|false When your system negotiates the protocol to use with the remote system, force your system to accept only a protocol that works over an unreliable connection. half-duples true|false If true, then the dialer supports only half-duplex connections. This forces your system to avoid bidirectional protocols during protocol negotiation. Example The following gives the entry for a 9600-baud Trailblazer modem: dialer tbfast chat "" AT\sE0\sQ4\sV1\sS7=60\sS50=255\sS51=255\sS66=0 \ \sS111=30\sDP\D CONNECT\sFAST chat-timeout 60 chat-fail BUSY chat-fail NO\sCARRIER chat-fail NO\sANSWER abort-chat "" \d+++\dATH0\sV0\sE0\sQ1\sS0=1 abort-chat "" \d+++\dATH0\sV0\sE0\sQ1\sS0=1 Most of the commands in this example are optional. A dialer entry could work with only the first two commands. The following describes each command in detail: dialer Give the dialer the name tbfast. chat Give the chat script with which uucico converses with the modem. It sets a number of `S' registers, turns echoing off, puts the modem into verbose mode, dials the remote system, and indicates that the signal for success is the string CONNECT FAST. Note that normally the chat script must be one unbroken string; this example is broken into two lines so it will fit onto the page. For information on the commands from which you would construct a chat script, see the documentation that comes with your modem. chat-timeout Tells uucico how long to wait before it times out. In this case, wait 60 seconds. chat-fail Define a string with which the modem indicates failure. In this case, there are three such commands, each naming a different message. abort-chat abort-chat These give the strings to send to the modem in the case of, respectively, the successful completion of call or an aborted call. For this entry, the same string is send in either case: it turns off echoing and verbose mode, and turns on auto-answering. See Also Administering COHERENT, port, sys, UUCP Notes Only the superuser root can edit /usr/lib/uucp/dial. The file dial supports many commands in addition to the ones described here. This article describes only those commands that might be used in typical UUCP connections. For more information, see the original Taylor UUCP documentation, which is in the archive /usr/src/alien/uudoc104.tar.Z.