squirt - Remotely manage your Amiga over TCP/IP from modern systems

squirtd is a small server (the executable is less than 5kb) that lets you remotely manage your Amiga over TCP/IP using set of command lines tools running on a modern system. This project has two main purposes for me. I want to be able to quickly transfer, install and automatically test games that I am developing on various Amigas from Makefiles; and incrementally back those Amigas up into git repos. All the existing solutions I could find out there for this kind of work had issues (too slow to initiate connections, needed interactive passwords, used too much ram, had memory leaks or stopped working after a while etc, so squirt was born.

You can:

Send (squirt) files
Receive (suck) files
Run non interactive commands
List directories
Perform incremental backups
Run a remote cli
- Filename completion on remote Amiga files
- Line editing and command history (similar to bash etc)
- Run (non interactive) commands remotely on your Amiga
- Run commands locally on your modern system
- Local commands can easily access both Amiga and local files (even mixed in the same command)

:radioactive::warning::no_entry: Please don't run squirtd on any computer that is connected to the open internet!!! :no_entry::warning::radioactive:

There are no passwords, no server side validations and transfers are plain text. To top it off it's written in C and the server code has goto statements! :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

Usage

squirtd requires a destination folder argument where it will write any files that are squirted it's way.

squirtd destination_folder

Note: destination folder must end with a valid directory separator character as the filename is simply appended to destination folder.

For example:

squirtd Work:Incoming/

Running as a daemon

You can run squirtd either as a standalone background daemon or launch it from your TCP/IP stack's inetd (or equivalent) super server. Running as a standalone daemon will limit you to a single active session, but this is still a handy option if using an emulator with bsdsocket.library emulation enabled but no TCP/IP stack installed.

To run as a standalone daemon start it from your TCP/IP stack's startup script or add to to your S:Startup-sequence (in the case of emulator without a TCP/IP stack install). squirtd should gracefully exit when your TCP/IP stack exits. Note: This mode will limit you to a single active session

AmiTCP

Add the following to AmiTCP:db/User-Startnet.

run >NIL: aux:squirtd Work:Incoming/

where Work:Incoming/ is the destination folder you want squirtd to write files.

Roadshow

Add the following to S:Network-Startup.

run >NIL: aux:squirtd Work:Incoming/

where Work:Incoming/ is the destination folder you want squirtd to write files.

AROS/ApolloOS

Add the following to Sys:System/Network/AROSTCP/S/STARTNET

Run <>NIL: QUIET c:squirtd work:Incoming/

See inetd configuration for details on how to add squirtd to your super server.

Management commands

squirting a file

squirt hostname filename

sucking a file

squirt_suck hostname filename

running a command

squirt_exec hostname command and arguments

remote cli

squirt_cli hostname

By default any command you type will be executed on the remote Amiga:

1.WB3.1>dir DEVS:Monitors
DblPAL                           DblPAL.info
Multiscan                        Multiscan.info
PAL                              PAL.info
Super72                          Super72.info
VGAOnly                          VGAOnly.info

If you prefix the command with ! the command will be executed on the host (local) computer

1.WB3.1:> !uname
Darwin

For commands that are run locally, any filenames you specify will be transferred to the local machine so that the local command can access them.

1.WB3.1:> !emacs S:Startup-Sequence

If the command modifies the file, it will be saved back to the Amiga once the command exits.

You can mix local and remote files with local commands. You indicate a file as local by prefixing it with an !. Also any file that starts with a ~ will also be treated as a local file. Arguments starting with - are passed directly to local commands. If arguments to local commands do not start with - they must be escaped with ! to indicate that are not remote files.

1.WB3.1:> !cp S:Startup-Sequence ~/Startup-Sequence.backup
1.WB3.1:> !echo !";A new line" >> S:Startup-Sequence
1.WB3.1:> type S:Startup-Sequence
...
...
Resident Execute REMOVE
Resident Assign REMOVE

C:LoadWB
EndCLI >NIL:
;A new line
1.WB3.1:> !diff S:Startup-Sequence ~/Startup-Sequence.backup
67d66
< ;A new line
1.WB3.1:>

Click on the image below to see a demo video of the remote shell in action.

backing up

squirt_backup [--crc32] [--prune] [--skipfile=skip_filename] hostname path_to_backup

crc32 verify the backed up file using crc32 (slow on slow amigas)

prune remove previously backed up files that have subsequently been deleted on your Amiga.

skip_filename is an optional file which includes a list of files or directories that should not be backed up.

NOTES:

For crc32 support you must install the ssum Amiga executable in your Amiga's C: directory
By default a file named .skip will used as a skip file

list directory

squirt_dir hostname path

License

This software is free software. You can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This software is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with the software; see the file LICENSE.

alpine9000 / squirt

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