Nordic Star Products 4.3A - Manual (Page 6)

Overview
XFAX - User’s Guide 4.3a 6
1. Overview
The fax system is constructed in accordance with a client-server principle, with a
fax host that is run in the background and a number of client programs that the
user utilizes to communicate with the host. Faxmaster, as the fax server is
known, keeps order in the user’s fax queues, checks authorizations, gives the
user status information etc. In order to receive information from the faxmaster
and give instructions to it, programs such as faxlogon, faxsend, faxq, faxrm etc.
are used.
The advantage of a system constructed in this way is that the commands that are
executed merely forward the task to the fax server, where all work is done, which
quickly leaves the terminal free for new assignments.
From a system administrator’s point of view, this arrangement means that the
system is easy to configure and administer since the server does all the real work.
When functions in the server can be administered in a simple way it automati-
cally follows that the whole system is easy to administer.
The XFAX directory structure appears in the form shown below, the symbolic
names of the various directories are used throughout this manual.
ETCDIR
System files (configuration, messages, statistics, etc.) Can be changed by
setting the environment variable XFAXDIR. The default directory is /etc/
xfax.
FONTDIR
Font files.
Changed in the configuration file with the keyword FONTDIR. The
default directory is /etc/xfax/Fonts.
BINDIR
Programs (faxmaster, faxlogon, faxsend, etc.).
The directory where the program files are located should be included in
PATH for those users who are to have access to the fax system.
SPOOLDIR
Data and control files for the queue system.
Can be changed with the keyword SPOOLDIR in the configuration file.
HOME/Fax
The user’s own faxes, which have not been sent, are stored here.
In addition, the system uses /tmp for temporary files plus, depending on the oper-
ating system, /usr/spool/uucp, /usr/spool/locks or /etc/locks for locking files in
combination with communication.
We use the following symbolic names for the various directories used by XFAX
throughout the documentation.