I'm having an odd issue with rlogin.js.

Years ago I set up Synchronet (3.18) on Windows 7 as a game server, on my internal network. Since then I've only connected to it from a Mystic BBS and it's worked great.

Recently I've been working on Synchronet (last pull from git was just a couple days ago) running on Debian 11.9.

I'm able to make a rlogin connection fine via rlogin.js; however, I'm having an odd issue with CR/LF. Whenever I press the "Enter" key, extra characters are being sent making it impossible to use/play the remote door game.

LORD for example, behaves like below:

What would you like as an alias?
Name: Bob
Bob? [Y] : .
What would you like as an alias?

So when hitting enter, an extra "." is being sent.

My connection under Online Programs looks like this:

Name: LORD 4.06
Internal Code: NHLORD406
Start-up Directory:
Command Line: ?rlogin <internal IP> -c [v01d]@NODE_USER@ -t xtrn=lrd406
(everything else is default)

Anyone have any ideas what might be going on or what I should check?

Thank you for any suggestions
Travis

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Re: Strange rlogin.js behavior
By: Greyb34rd to All on Mon Sep 09 2024 04:00 pm

> I'm having an odd issue with rlogin.js.
>
> Years ago I set up Synchronet (3.18) on Windows 7 as a game server, on my
> internal network. Since then I've only connected to it from a Mystic BBS and
> it's worked great.
>
> Recently I've been working on Synchronet (last pull from git was just a
> couple days ago) running on Debian 11.9.
>
> I'm able to make a rlogin connection fine via rlogin.js; however, I'm having
> an odd issue with CR/LF. Whenever I press the "Enter" key, extra characters
> are being sent making it impossible to use/play the remote door game.

Okay, so you're connecting from a Telnet client to a Synchronet v3.20 server and then gatewaying (via rlogin.js) to a Synchronet v.318 server? Just to clarify the configuration.

As for the "extra characters", most likely, it's a line-feed (ASCII 10) character. Telnet clients normally send CR/LF (0x0D, 0x0A) any time the ENTER key is pressed. You can use any network packet capture utility/program to confirm that. Those Telnet CRLF's normally should be translated by Synchronet to just a CR (carriage-return) sent to the rlogin gateway provided: The Telnet connection is not in "binary mode" (normally used for file transfers) and the TG_PASSTHRU telget gateway mode flags is not used.

What revision is the rlogin.js file you're using?

If you want confirm this translation of CRLF->CR is actually happening (on the server that's executing the rlogin.js), you can change this line in main.cpp:
#if 0 /* Debug CR/LF problems */

to this:
#if 1 /* Debug CR/LF problems */

And then for any received CR/LF combination, you should see an info-level log
message that says something to the effect of "CR/0A detected and ignored" in your server log output.

> LORD for example, behaves like below:
>
> What would you like as an alias?
> Name: Bob
> Bob? [Y] : .
> What would you like as an alias?
>
> So when hitting enter, an extra "." is being sent.

It's likely the Telnet client is not actually sending a '.' character, but rather that's just what LORD happens to echo-back to the user for unsupported/recognized input characters.

> My connection under Online Programs looks like this:
>
> Name: LORD 4.06
> Internal Code: NHLORD406
> Start-up Directory:
> Command Line: ?rlogin <internal IP> -c [v01d]@NODE_USER@ -t xtrn=lrd406
> (everything else is default)
>
> Anyone have any ideas what might be going on or what I should check?

There have been big changes in the telnet/rlogin gateway recently (mainly for better support of Telnet servers that are the destination of the gateway), so it's possible there was a regression somewhere. So I'd like to help you get to the bottom of it.
--
digital man (rob)

Synchronet "Real Fact" #87:
Synchronet Message Base and its library, SMBLIB, was used by AXiS BBS Software
Norco, CA WX: 93.6øF, 23.0% humidity, 8 mph W wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs
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Re: Strange rlogin.js behavior
By: Digital Man to Greyb34rd on Mon Sep 09 2024 07:06 pm

DM> Okay, so you're connecting from a Telnet client to a Synchronet v3.20
DM> server and then gatewaying (via rlogin.js) to a Synchronet v.318 server?
DM> Just to clarify the configuration.

Yes this is correct. And for further clarity, the behavior is the same with Telnet or SSH, and with SyncTerm, IcyTerm and Netrunner.

DM> As for the "extra characters", most likely, it's a line-feed (ASCII 10)
DM> character. Telnet clients normally send CR/LF (0x0D, 0x0A) any time the
DM> ENTER key is pressed. You can use any network packet capture
DM> utility/program to confirm that. Those Telnet CRLF's normally should be
DM> translated by Synchronet to just a CR (carriage-return) sent to the rlogin
DM> gateway provided: The Telnet connection is not in "binary mode" (normally
DM> used for file transfers) and the TG_PASSTHRU telget gateway mode flags is
DM> not used.

DM> What revision is the rlogin.js file you're using?

Apologies as my git skills are pretty low. But it's the same as the latest revision in the gitlab repo, with a SHA commit of: e5eca8bc43ad91d3a5ab0debee5515cf055efb1e if that helps at all.

DM> If you want confirm this translation of CRLF->CR is actually happening (on
DM> the server that's executing the rlogin.js), you can change this line in
DM> main.cpp: #if 0 /* Debug CR/LF problems */

DM> to this:
DM> #if 1 /* Debug CR/LF problems */

DM> And then for any received CR/LF combination, you should see an info-level
DM> log message that says something to the effect of "CR/0A detected and
DM> ignored" in your server log output.

I believe I've done this, and I ran cleanall.sh and recompiled (make install SYMLINK=1). I then restarted sbbs but I'm not sure where I should be seeing the info-level log message.

I looked under data/logs, as well as error.log, or should I be checking the node.log while I'm connected. (Sorry for being a pain.)

DM> It's likely the Telnet client is not actually sending a '.' character, but
DM> rather that's just what LORD happens to echo-back to the user for
DM> unsupported/recognized input characters.

This makes sense because Usurper behaves differently but still oddly.

DM> There have been big changes in the telnet/rlogin gateway recently (mainly
DM> for better support of Telnet servers that are the destination of the
DM> gateway), so it's possible there was a regression somewhere. So I'd like
DM> to help you get to the bottom of it.

I really appreciate this and will do whatever I can to help out!

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Re: Strange rlogin.js behavior
By: Greyb34rd to Digital Man on Thu Sep 12 2024 07:00 pm

> Re: Strange rlogin.js behavior
> By: Digital Man to Greyb34rd on Mon Sep 09 2024 07:06 pm
>
> DM> Okay, so you're connecting from a Telnet client to a Synchronet v3.20
> DM> server and then gatewaying (via rlogin.js) to a Synchronet v.318
> DM> server? Just to clarify the configuration.
>
> Yes this is correct. And for further clarity, the behavior is the same with
> Telnet or SSH, and with SyncTerm, IcyTerm and Netrunner.

Interesting. I assume it happens when using RLogin from those terminals (that support it) too?

The telnet/rlogin gateway code does have a mode that can expand CR to CRLF (it's called TG_CRLF), but it's not enabled by default in any script accept mudgate.js. You're not using mudgate.js by any chance, are you?

If you're not, and you're not passing TG_CRLF on the rlogin.js command-line, you can try disabling this feature in the source code by removing or commenting out the following lines from telgate.cpp to see if the behavior changes:
if((mode&TG_CRLF) && buf[rd-1]=='\r')
buf[rd++]='\n';

> DM> As for the "extra characters", most likely, it's a line-feed (ASCII 10)
> DM> character. Telnet clients normally send CR/LF (0x0D, 0x0A) any time the
> DM> ENTER key is pressed. You can use any network packet capture
> DM> utility/program to confirm that. Those Telnet CRLF's normally should be
> DM> translated by Synchronet to just a CR (carriage-return) sent to the
> DM> rlogin gateway provided: The Telnet connection is not in "binary mode"
> DM> (normally used for file transfers) and the TG_PASSTHRU telget gateway
> DM> mode flags is not used.
>
> DM> What revision is the rlogin.js file you're using?
>
> Apologies as my git skills are pretty low. But it's the same as the latest
> revision in the gitlab repo, with a SHA commit of:
> e5eca8bc43ad91d3a5ab0debee5515cf055efb1e if that helps at all.

That commit is from August 12. It might be worth updating your code and rebuilding, just in case it's something that's already been addressed.

> DM> If you want confirm this translation of CRLF->CR is actually happening
> DM> (on the server that's executing the rlogin.js), you can change this
> DM> line in main.cpp: #if 0 /* Debug CR/LF problems */
>
> DM> to this:
> DM> #if 1 /* Debug CR/LF problems */
>
> DM> And then for any received CR/LF combination, you should see an
> DM> info-level log message that says something to the effect of "CR/0A
> DM> detected and ignored" in your server log output.
>
> I believe I've done this, and I ran cleanall.sh and recompiled (make install
> SYMLINK=1).

make install SYMLINK=1 is not the correct "recompile" command-line. That's the command-line used for a fresh/original install. See https://wiki.synchro.net/install:nix#updating
for the correct "recompile" command line, depending on your situation.

> I then restarted sbbs but I'm not sure where I should be seeing
> the info-level log message.

If you're running sbbs daemonized, then most likely it'd go wherever your syslog output goes:
https://wiki.synchro.net/monitor:syslog


> I looked under data/logs, as well as error.log, or should I be checking the
> node.log while I'm connected. (Sorry for being a pain.)

Server log output goes through syslog on *nix when running sbbs daemonized (e.g. as a systemd service) or with the 'syslog' command-line option.
--
digital man (rob)

Synchronet "Real Fact" #78:
Synchronet Match Maker had at one time over 4000 profiles of men and women
Norco, CA WX: 64.2øF, 81.0% humidity, 3 mph WNW wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs
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