This is a simple Gopher server.

Read more about Gopher here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher_(protocol)

To use it:

• Edit the variables at the top of the script if you want, but the defaults are probably fine.
• By default, it looks for programs to run in "/gopherspace" ... make sure the scripts from this source tree's gopherspace directory are there, or wherever you edited the script to look.
• Run the script as root:

  sudo ./IcculusGopher_daemon.pl -d

You have to run as root since it wants to bind TCP port 70. After startup, the script will drop privileges. You can also run as a non-root user without the -d to make it take a request on stdin and reply on stdout before exiting, if you'd rather xinetd handle connections and ports for you.

The first part of a connection's request's selector will be used to decide what program to run to serve a response, and hands off the connect to that program with a fork/exec call. If a blank request comes in, a program named "default" is chosen.

These environment variables set for the handler program:

• GOPHERSPACE: where the programs are run from ("/gopherspace" by default).
• GOPHERHOST: The current server's hostname, for use in replies that are intended to direct the client to the same server.
• GOPHERPORT: The port the Gopher server is listening on, for use in replies that are intended to direct the client to the same server.

The handler program runs as the (non-root) user that is specified at the top of IcculusGopher_daemon.pl.

The handling program is launched with the desired selector as its only command line argument, with the program name stripped off the front. So if the client asked for "music/pop/taylor_swift" then the daemon runs something like...

export GOPHERSPACE=/gopherspace
export GOPHERHOST=gopher.icculus.org
export GOPHERPORT=70
/gopherspace/music pop/taylor_swift

...and what the handler does is entirely up to it. Note that handlers are expected to transmit well-formed Gopher responses. It's not a complicated protocol; refer to the provided example programs.

Basic logging is done to the syslog.

Questions? Ask me. icculus@icculus.org

--ryan.