© 1996-2000 Jan Wolter, Steve Weiss
Prev: Part IV: Apache Configuration (Backtalk Accounts or Backtalk Accounts)
(1) Edit the Global Configuration Script
Almost all Backtalk pages are generated by scripts written in the Backtalk script language, which is a stack-based language somewhat similar to Postscript. All scripts are installed in the script directory under the Backtalk directory. The script/config.bt script is a header script run before every other Backtalk script. Many global settings are defined here. You will probably want to change at least some of them.
Note that lines starting with '%' are comments. Most options are described in details by the comments in the file.
/auto_recompile 1 defThis controls what checks Backtalk does to decide if a script needs to be recompiled. For most people, 1 is a good value. If you are going to be doing significant amounts of script development, then you might want to reset this to 2. If eventually your system configuration gets stable enough that you aren't going to be making changes to the config.bt file, and if you want to make Backtalk run a wee bit faster, you may eventually want to change it to 0.
/bbsname (SITE-NAME) defconstantand change the portion in parenthesis to the name of your conferencing system. It can have spaces in it. For example, if you conferencing system is to be called "Star Forum" you might set this to
/bbsname (Star Forum) defconstant
Create the logo image as a .gif, .jpg or .png file and store it in the image directory under Backtalk's home directory (where backtalk.jpg already is). Look for the lines
/logo imghost(/backtalk.jpg)+ defconstantand replace the (/backtalk.jpg) part with the name of your logo image file, replace 125 with the height of your image, and replace 285 with the width of your image. For example, if your logo is a 200 by 400 pixel GIF file named `starforum.gif', then you'd change these lines to to
/logo.h 125 defconstant % height of logo
/logo.w 285 defconstant % width of logo
/logo imghost(/starforum.gif)+ defconstantActually, the image doesn't have to be under the image directory. You can give arbitrary URLs, by doing something like:
/logo.h 200 defconstant % height of logo
/logo.w 400 defconstant % width of logo
/logo (http://www.mysite.com/pictures/starforum.gif) defconstantIf you want the image to be clickable, then find the line that says
%/imageURL (http://localhost) defconstantuncomment it by deleting the initial percent sign, and change the `http://localhost' part to the URL that you want people sent to if they click on your logo image.
/newuseropen 2 defconstant
If you change the newuseropen value to '1', then people will still be able to create accounts with the same public form, but the accounts will be created in an "unvalidated" state, and will not be usable until an administrator has "validated" them (this can be done through the web interface).
If you change the newuseropen value to '0', then it will no longer be possible to create accounts using the public newuser form. Accounts will only be creatable by adminstrators.
/allowanon 1 defconstantJust change the 1 to a 0.
/author_freeze 1 defconstantThey are all normally enabled by default. You can disable them by changing the 1's to 0's.
/author_kill 1 defconstant
/author_retire 1 defconstant
/author_retitle 1 defconstant
/author_erase 1 defconstant
/author_hide 1 defconstant
/author_edit 0 defconstant
The author_freeze option, if enabled, allows the original poster of an item to freeze it, so that no further postings can be made to it by other users.
The author_kill option, if enabled, allows the original poster of an item to delete it so long as no responses have yet been made by other users. If other people have responded to an item, then it cannot be deleted by the author, even if author_kill is enabled.
The author_retire option, if enabled, allows the original poster of an item to retire it, so that it is no longer displayed to users who ``read new'' or ``read all'' but can still be seen by people who explicitly request to see it.
The author_retitle option, if enabled, allows the original poster of an item to edit the title of the item.
The author_erase option, if enabled, allows the original poster of a response to erase that response at a later date. (Normally copies of erased responses are logged.)
The author_hide option, if enabled, allows the original poster of a response to hide that response at a later date. Hidden responses aren't displayed unless the reader makes an extra mouse click. Disabling this would be a bit weird.
The author_edit option, if enabled, allows the original poster of a response to change the text of that response at a later date. (A copy of the previous text is logged.) We think this disrupts the flow of the conversation, and should almost never be enabled. It defaults off.
/fw_erase 1 defconstantThey are all normally enabled by default. You can disable them by changing the 1's to 0's.
/fw_hide 1 defconstant
/fw_retitle 1 defconstant
/fw_edit 0 defconstant
System administrators always have all of these powers. Fairwitnesses can always freeze, retire, and kill items.
The fw_erase option, if enabled, allows the fairwitnesses to erase other user's responses to items in their conferences. The erased text is logged so it can be recovered, but becomes inaccessible to other users.
The fw_hide option, if enabled, allows the fairwitnesses to hide other user's responses to items in their conferences. Hidden responses are not normally displayed to users, but they can see them with one extra mouse click if they want.
The fw_retitle option, if enabled, allows the fairwitnesses to edit the titles of items in their conferences. This may be useful if the author chooses undescriptive titles, or the conversation drifts into other topics.
The fw_edit option, if enabled, allows the fairwitnesses to edit the content of items and responses posted by other users. The original content is logged. We think letting someone change someone else's words is a horrible idea, so this option defaults off, and we strongly discourage turning it on.
Level 0 is the default. You can set other levels by doing something like:
anonymity real full names
can be seen by:full names on responses
can be seen by:0 eveyone. eveyone. 1 authenticated users only. authenticated users only. 2 admins only. fairwitnesses of the
current conference only.3 admins only. admins only.
/anonymity 1 defconstant
%/show_motd 1 defconstantby removing the percent sign from the front. This is most often used on installations with real Unix logins.
%/useplan 1 defconstantby removing the percent sign from the front. This is most often used on installations with real Unix logins.
/text_interface (Picospan) defconstantor:
/text_interface (Yapp) defconstant
Otherwise, just leave it commented out:
%/text_interface (Picospan) defconstant
%/usepublic_txt 1 defconstantby removing the percent sign from the front.
/many_users 0 defconstantChange the default 0 value to 1 if you expect to have too many users.
%/shyfile (/usr/local/backtalk/etc/shylist) defconstantby removing the percent sign from the front, and change the path name in the parenthesis to the place where you want to have your shylist saved.
/languages (american,british,russian,polish) defconstantThe default language is determined by the configuration of the ispell program.
(2) Edit Pistachio Configuration Script
The ``pistachio'' interface is the most commonly used Backtalk user interface. It consists of a set of scripts. It has it's own configuration file, where there are a few settings you may want to alter. The file is installed under the Backtalk directory at script/pistachio/config.bt.
If editing this file seems to have no effect, remove all the "script/pistachio/*.bb" files. Unless you have set the automatic recompilation flag above to 2, Backtalk will not automatically recompile scripts after they have changed, and will instead keep using the old compiled copy. Deleting the compiled scripts is a sure way to force them all to be recompiled.
Actually, you might as well just leave it for now, but if you ever decide you don't like it, this is where to go to change it.
new | only items with new resposnes |
current | all items not forgotten or retired |
all | all items |
forgotten | only forgotten or retired items |
/dflt_item_list (new) defconstant
So pick your terminology, and configure it into the interface, and excuse us for continuing to call things by the same old names in our documentation. Look for the following lines:
/Fairwitness (fairwitness) defconstantEdit the parts in parentheses to your favorite terms. You terms should be all lower case. The scripts will take care of capitalizing them where necessary. I recommend against using multi-word phrases for these things, partly because it's clumsy, partly because the capitalization may not work right.
/AFairwitness (a fairwitness) defconstant
/Fairwitnesses (fairwitnesses) defconstant
/Item (item) defconstant
/AnItem (an item) defconstant
/Items (items) defconstant
/Conference (conference) defconstant
/AConference (a conference) defconstant
/Conferences (conferences) defconstant
/Response (response) defconstant
/AResponse (a response) defconstant
/Responses (responses) defconstant
Note that there are three definitions for each term - singular, plural and singlar with an article. So if you want to rename 'items' to 'topics' you'll need to change three lines, like this:
/Item (topic) defconstant
/AnItem (a topic) defconstant
/Items (topics) defconstant
(3) Edit Abalone Configuration Script
The ``abalone'' interface is a newer, prettier, slower Backtalk user interface. It consists of a set of scripts. It has it's own configuration file installed under the Backtalk directory at script/abalone/config.bt. Currently that file is very like the Pistachio configuration file.
If editing this file seems to have no effect, remove all the "script/abalone/*.bb" files. Unless you have set the automatic recompilation flag above to 2, Backtalk will not automatically recompile scripts after they have changed, and will instead keep using the old compiled copy. Deleting the compiled scripts is a sure way to force them all to be recompiled.
/default_scheme (coffee) defconstantCurrent color schemes are 'coffee', 'openforum' and 'bright'.
You can create new color schemes by editing the abalone/header.bt script. Each scheme defines the following variables:
variable | function | default |
---|---|---|
bg_color | Background color used on all pages | White |
link_color | Color of link text | Dark Green |
alink_color | Color of link text while you are clicking on it | Dark Green |
vlink_color | Color of link text after you have clicked on it | Dark Blue |
text_color | Default text color | Black |
head_bg_color | Color of background on header lines | Dark Green |
head_fg_color | Color of text on header lines | White |
title_bg_color | Color of background on title lines | Dark Gray |
title_fg_color | Color of text on title lines | Black |
row1_bg_color | Color of background on odd numbered rows (text is text_color) | Light Grey |
row2_bg_color | Color of background on even numbered rows (text is text_color) | Medium Grey |
That's all. Happy Backtalking.