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callback(8)		     mgetty+callback manual		     callback(8)

NAME
     callback - call a user back, presenting a login prompt

SYNOPSIS
     callback	 [-x<debuglevel>]    [-V]    [-l<modemlines>]	[-m<initstring>]
     [-s<speed>] [-d] [-S] [phone-number]

DESCRIPTION
     Call the given phone number (if none is given on the command line, ask user
     for one), and if a CONNECT is established, hand over control  to  mgetty(8)
     to present user with a login name prompt.

     callback is used for various purposes:

     *	security:  make  sure your users are who they pretend to be by calling a
     well-known phone number.

     * cost savings: make your company call you back.

     callback can be called directly from the command  line  (but  you	must  be
     "root"  to  do  this,  otherwise  callback  can't	signal	mgetty), or from
     mgetty's "login.config". See the login.config file shipped with mgetty  for
     an example.

OPTIONS
     -x <debug level>
	    Use the given level of verbosity for logging - 0 means no logging, 5
	    is really noisy.

     -V     Print version number and quit.

     -d     Do not go into the background. This is helpful for debugging.

     -l <modem lines>
	    Use  the  given modem lines. Multiple lines can be separated by ":",
	    as with sendfax(8). Example: callback -l tty1a:tty2a

     -m <init sequence>
	    Set the modem initialization sequence (as usual: expect send  expect
	    ...).  This can do nearly everything, as long as it leaves the modem
	    command responses on (that is, no ATQ1 here!) and switches the modem
	    to data mode (AT+FCLASS=0) if it is used in data/fax mode.

     -s <speed>
	    This  is the bit rate that should be used for the machine-modem con-
	    nection.  Usually you'll set this via the "speed <nnnn>"  option  in
	    "callback.config".

     -S     Use  the  line where callback is started from for dialing out. Call-
	    back can make use of multiple modem lines, and  with  this	options,
	    you  can  force it to use just one modem, the one where a call comes
	    in.

CONFIG FILE
     callback will read all its configuration at run-time from a  file,  usually
     called /usr/local/etc/mgetty+sendfax/callback.config. See the documentation
     in the mgetty.info manual for details.

DIAGNOSTICS
     In  most cases, callback can't print any error messages to the console, be-
     cause it must detach itself immediately from the terminal, in case  someone
     wants  to	be  called  back  on the modem line he called in. So, nothing to
     print messages to...

     Because of this, all callback errors are logged to a protocol file (the ex-
     tent of the data written is controlled by the "-x" option), especially  in-
     cluding the reason why a call was not made, or what exactly failed.

     Just  two	messages are printed on stdout, and those are self-explaining, a
     call from a non-root user, and an invalid option.

INTERNALS
     How does it work?

     This is a bit tricky, because of the way init(8) handles the utmp(5)  file.
     You  can't  just  have  any program ask the user for a login name, and then
     start a "login shell", it won't work (this is for the same reason mgetty(8)
     has to be started from /etc/inittab).

     So, mgetty has to do the "asking for login name". But I do not want to have
     all that dialout code in mgetty, bloating it even more.

     The way it works is this: callback dials out on a	modem  device.	It  will
     only  take  a modem device that has a mgetty watching over it (!). When the
     connection is established (CONNECT), callback will send a signal SIGUSR1 to
     mgetty, which, in turn, will send the same signal back  to  signal  "I  got
     your signal".  callback then exits, and mgetty takes over the existing con-
     nection, prompts the user for a login name, and forks off /usr/bin/login.

     Conclusion:  this	will  not  work with mgetty versions before February 04,
     1996 (no support for this signalling), and if  it	doesn't  work  for  you,
     please  send  me  BOTH the mgetty and the callback log file, otherwise it's
     very hard to find the bugs.

BUGS
     callback is "alpha" code, not very stable right now.

     callback is fairly dumb concerning retries.

     callback must be run as root.

     Most of the documentation consists of "reading the source".

SEE ALSO
     mgetty(8), ct(1)

AUTHOR
     callback is Copyright (C) 1993-1996 by Gert Doering, <gert@greenie.muc.de>.

greenie 			    27 Oct 93			     callback(8)

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