Dialcodes File Format for BNU

Purpose

Contains the initial digits of telephone numbers used to establish remote connections over a phone line.

Description

The /etc/uucp/Dialcodes file contains the initial digits of telephone numbers used by the Basic Networking Utilities (BNU) program to establish remote connections over a phone line. The Dialcodes file simplifies entries in the /etc/uucp/Systems file for sites where a number of device phone numbers have the same prefix.

If users at your site communicate regularly by way of telephone lines and modems to multiple systems all located at the same remote site, or to multiple systems located at different remote sites, use the dial-code abbreviations in the /etc/uucp/Systems file rather than entering the complete phone number of each remote modem in that file.

The Dialcodes file contains dial-code abbreviations and partial phone numbers that complete the telephone entries in the /etc/uucp/Systems file. Entries in the Dialcodes file contain an alphabetic prefix attached to a partial phone number that may include the following information in the order listed:

Codes for an outside line
Long-distance access codes
A 1 (one) plus the area code (if the modem is out of the local area)
The three-digit exchange number

The relevant alphabetic prefix (representing the partial phone number), together with the remaining four digits of that number, is then entered in the Phone field in the /etc/uucp/Systems file.

Following is the form of an entry in a Dialcodes file:

DialCodeAbbreviation DialingSequence

The DialCodeAbbreviation part of the entry is an alphabetic prefix containing up to 8 letters, established when setting up the dialing-code listing. The DialingSequence is composed of all the digits in the number that precede the actual four-digit phone number.

Note:

If your site uses only a relatively small number of telephone connections to remote systems, include the complete phone numbers of the remote modems in the /etc/uucp/Systems file rather than use dial-code abbreviations.
Enter each prefix only once in the Dialcodes file. When you have set up a dial-code abbreviation, use that prefix in all relevant entries in the /etc/uucp/Systems file.
Only someone with root user authority can edit the Dialcodes file, which is owned by the uucp program login ID.

Example

The Dialcodes file on system venus contains the following dial-code prefix for use with a number in the /etc/uucp/Systems file:

local 9=445

The Systems file on system venus contains the following entry for system zeus, including a phone number and a dialing prefix:

zeus Any ACU 1200 local8784 in:--in: uzeus word: thunder

When BNU on system venus dials system zeus, BNU uses the expanded telephone number 9=4458784.

Files

Item	Description
/etc/uucp directory	Contains all the configuration files for BNU, including the Dialcodes file.
/etc/uucp/Devices file	Contains information about available devices.
/etc/uucp/Dialers file	Specifies initial handshaking on a connection.
/etc/uucp/Systems file	Describes accessible remote systems.
/etc/uucp/Sysfiles file	Specifies possible files used instead of /etc/uucp/System file, /etc/uucp/Devices file, and /etc/uucp/Dialers file.