Hey y'all,

How would you like a package manager for BBSes?
Would it be cool to `pkg install somedoor` and as if by magic it would do it?

Well, I have a surprise for you - I've been working on just such a system and you can read all about it here;
https://meatlotion.com/blog/who-wants-one-more-package-manager/

I currently only have two packages available so far, but now I have the backend structure and front end installer in a mostly working state, it'll only be a matter of time before we have plenty of doors to choose from.

The aim is to be BBS software agnostic, so if you run Synchronet, just pull the synchronet package you want, if you run Mystic, there will be mystic packages available.

Feel free to have a read of my blog post, and provide any feedback you have. I am hoping that this will make Sysop's lives much easier.

---
|14Best regards,
|11Ch|03rist|11ia|15n |11a|03ka |11Me|03aTLoT|11io|15N // @meatlotion:erb.pw

|07── |08[|10eml|08] |15ml@erb.pw |07── |08[|10web|08] |15www.erb.pw |07───┐ |07── |08[|09fsx|08] |1521:1/158 |07── |08[|11tqw|08] |151337:1/101 |07┬──┘ |07── |08[|12rtn|08] |1580:774/81 |07─┬ |08[|14fdn|08] |152:250/5 |07───┘
|07── |08[|10ark|08] |1510:104/2 |07─┘

... Press SPACEBAR once to abort, or twice to save changes

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Linux/64)
* Origin: thE qUAntUm wOrmhOlE, rAmsgAtE, uK. bbs.erb.pw (1337:1/101)

The aim is to be BBS software agnostic, so if you run Synchronet, just pull the synchronet package you want, if you run Mystic, there will be mystic packages available.

Feel free to have a read of my blog post, and provide any feedback you have. I am hoping that this will make Sysop's lives much easier.

---
Best regards,
Christian aka MeaTLoTioN // @meatlotion:erb.pw

I like the idea, but I'm assuming that the "door" has to be 'nix' compatible for this to work right now. This will convince some of us to make the final plunge from windows to linux!

|11ogg
|11SysOp, Altair IV BBS
|11altairiv.ddns.net:2323

... My software never has bugs. It just develops random features...

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Windows/64)
* Origin: Altair IV BBS (1337:3/172)

On 11 Apr 2025, ogg said the following...

The aim is to be BBS software agnostic, so if you run Synchronet, jus pull the synchronet package you want, if you run Mystic, there will b mystic packages available.

I like the idea, but I'm assuming that the "door" has to be 'nix' compatible for this to work right now. This will convince some of us to make the final plunge from windows to linux!

Actually I intend on making it platform agnostic, meaning it will work for Windows and MacOS X BBSes also. I just haven't yet figured out the other platforms.

It would be even neater if I could make it work in DOS as well (assuming that the TCP/IP stack works in DOS =)

---
|14Best regards,
|11Ch|03rist|11ia|15n |11a|03ka |11Me|03aTLoT|11io|15N // @meatlotion:erb.pw

|07── |08[|10eml|08] |15ml@erb.pw |07── |08[|10web|08] |15www.erb.pw |07───┐ |07── |08[|09fsx|08] |1521:1/158 |07── |08[|11tqw|08] |151337:1/101 |07┬──┘ |07── |08[|12rtn|08] |1580:774/81 |07─┬ |08[|14fdn|08] |152:250/5 |07───┘
|07── |08[|10ark|08] |1510:104/2 |07─┘

... Do vegetarians eat animal crackers?

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Linux/64)
* Origin: thE qUAntUm wOrmhOlE, rAmsgAtE, uK. bbs.erb.pw (1337:1/101)

Re: How would you like a package manager for BBSes?
By: MeaTLoTioN to All on Fri Apr 11 2025 02:50 pm

Well, I have a surprise for you - I've been working on just such a system and you can read all about it here; https://meatlotion.com/blog/who-wants-one-more-package-manager/

I currently only have two packages available so far, but now I have the backend structure and front end installer in a mostly working state, it'll only be a matter of time before we have plenty of doors to choose from.

I think it's a slick idea, and I have a small handful of Synchronet ready to contribute, with a few more on the way.

We'll talk shop soon =)

|15 ■ ∙ · codefenix · ∙ · ConstructiveChaos BBS · · ∙ ■ ■
|08 ■ ■ ∙ (https/telnet/ssh)://conchaos.synchro.net · ∙ ■
|07

...RAM = Rarely Adequate Memory
--- SBBSecho 3.23-Win32
* Origin: -=[conchaos.synchro.net | ConstructiveChaos BBS]=- (1337:3/150)

How would you like a package manager for BBSes?
Would it be cool to `pkg install somedoor` and as if by magic it would
do it?

https://meatlotion.com/blog/who-wants-one-more-package-manager/

Very awesome idea and early implementation. I've used bsr on a stock Mystic to install MRC - but will continue to test...

You mentioned today, 04/12/25, that you rewrote the package manager in GO - and added another door... kudos to you for creating; and I think this could be really cool. Many sysops find BBSes again, decide to prop one up and then go onto the FTNs, or a local BBS, to get support. A package manager would help all - I'm stoked about bsr!



|07p|15AULIE|1142|07o
|08.........

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (1337:3/129)

On 11 Apr 2025, MeaTLoTioN said the following...

Hey y'all,

How would you like a package manager for BBSes?
Would it be cool to `pkg install somedoor` and as if by magic it would
do it?

Wow your are simply amazing. What a cool idea. Will it also install MRC? mine is broken and I just haven't had the time to keep retrying to see what is wrong. Would be cool. Just a suggestion.

|23|04Dr|16|12Claw |14W0CLW
|16|14Sysop |12Noverdu |14BBS |20|15Radio|10@|14HTTP://Noverdu.com:88
|16|10 Standard ports for SSH/Telnet |04 WEB|14@|12HTTP://noverdu.com:808 |20|15Global Chat, Global Messaging and Games! |16|10Ditch the Unsocial Media

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Noverdu BBS (1337:3/177)

On 14 Apr 2025, claw said the following...

Wow your are simply amazing. What a cool idea. Will it also install
MRC? mine is broken and I just haven't had the time to keep retrying to see what is wrong. Would be cool. Just a suggestion.

Thanks! And yes, MRC was the first package I made work!

The package manager only works with Linux x86_64 for now, bit if you have that for your BBS, check out my blog post at meatlotion.com about the package manager and at the bottom of the page is a download link to the `bsr` command.

Once you have that downloaded, copy it to a dir in your path, i.e. /usr/bin/ and then you can just run;

# To update the repo
bsr update

# To search for a package
bsr search sometext

# To install a package
bsr install package-name

# To uninstall a package (works but needs tuning)
bsr uninstall package-name

# To see a list of installed packages
bsr list


I think that will give you a head start! =)

---
|14Best regards,
|11Ch|03rist|11ia|15n |11a|03ka |11Me|03aTLoT|11io|15N // @meatlotion:erb.pw

|07── |08[|10eml|08] |15ml@erb.pw |07── |08[|10web|08] |15www.erb.pw |07───┐ |07── |08[|09fsx|08] |1521:1/158 |07── |08[|11tqw|08] |151337:1/101 |07┬──┘ |07── |08[|12rtn|08] |1580:774/81 |07─┬ |08[|14fdn|08] |152:250/5 |07───┘
|07── |08[|10ark|08] |1510:104/2 |07─┘

... There will be a rain dance Friday night, weather permitting!

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Linux/64)
* Origin: thE qUAntUm wOrmhOlE, rAmsgAtE, uK. bbs.erb.pw (1337:1/101)

On 14 Apr 2025, MeaTLoTioN said the following...

On 14 Apr 2025, claw said the following...

Wow your are simply amazing. What a cool idea. Will it also install MRC? mine is broken and I just haven't had the time to keep retrying see what is wrong. Would be cool. Just a suggestion.

Thanks! And yes, MRC was the first package I made work!

The package manager only works with Linux x86_64 for now, bit if you
have that for your BBS, check out my blog post at meatlotion.com about
the package manager and at the bottom of the page is a download link to the `bsr` command.

Once you have that downloaded, copy it to a dir in your path, i.e. /usr/bin/ and then you can just run;

# To update the repo
bsr update

# To search for a package
bsr search sometext

# To install a package
bsr install package-name

# To uninstall a package (works but needs tuning)
bsr uninstall package-name

# To see a list of installed packages
bsr list

I think that will give you a head start! =)

Best regards,
Christian aka MeaTLoTioN // @meatlotion:erb.pw

No config? how do I tell it where the BBS is located?

|23|04Dr|16|12Claw |14W0CLW
|16|14Sysop |12Noverdu |14BBS |20|15Radio|10@|14HTTP://Noverdu.com:88
|16|10 Standard ports for SSH/Telnet |04 WEB|14@|12HTTP://noverdu.com:808 |20|15Global Chat, Global Messaging and Games! |16|10Ditch the Unsocial Media

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Noverdu BBS (1337:3/177)

On 15 Apr 2025, claw said the following...

No config? how do I tell it where the BBS is located?

When you install it, it will tell you what is needed for you to get it working.

I'm actually thinking up a way to make it even easier, but for now you'll just need to symlink or copy the files it tells you, to
where they have to go. It is mostly idiot proof right now, I think... but always room for improvement =)

---
|14Best regards,
|11Ch|03rist|11ia|15n |11a|03ka |11Me|03aTLoT|11io|15N // @meatlotion:erb.pw

|07── |08[|10eml|08] |15ml@erb.pw |07── |08[|10web|08] |15www.erb.pw |07───┐ |07── |08[|09fsx|08] |1521:1/158 |07── |08[|11tqw|08] |151337:1/101 |07┬──┘ |07── |08[|12rtn|08] |1580:774/81 |07─┬ |08[|14fdn|08] |152:250/5 |07───┘
|07── |08[|10ark|08] |1510:104/2 |07─┘

... Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Linux/64)
* Origin: thE qUAntUm wOrmhOlE, rAmsgAtE, uK. bbs.erb.pw (1337:1/101)

On 11 Apr 2025, MeaTLoTioN said the following...

Hey y'all,

How would you like a package manager for BBSes?
Would it be cool to `pkg install somedoor` and as if by magic it would
do it?

I've thought such a thing would be great for the ODOORS linux libs.

Madman with a Blue Box BBS
madmanbbs.ddns.net

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Linux/64)
* Origin: thE qUAntUm wOrmhOlE, rAmsgAtE, uK. bbs.erb.pw (1337:1/101)

On 15 Apr 2025, MeaTLoTioN said the following...

On 15 Apr 2025, claw said the following...

No config? how do I tell it where the BBS is located?

When you install it, it will tell you what is needed for you to get it working.

I'm actually thinking up a way to make it even easier, but for now
you'll just need to symlink or copy the files it tells you, to
where they have to go. It is mostly idiot proof right now, I think... but always room for improvement =)

Hmmm... the bsr list command shows only installed packages. Search seems to require some other input. I'd like a way for it to show all the available packages so I can choose from that.

Madman with a Blue Box BBS
madmanbbs.ddns.net

... Madman with a Blue Box BBS : madmanbbs.ddns.net

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Linux/64)
* Origin: thE qUAntUm wOrmhOlE, rAmsgAtE, uK. bbs.erb.pw (1337:1/101)

On 18 Apr 2025, Gryphon said the following...

Hmmm... the bsr list command shows only installed packages. Search seems to require some other input. I'd like a way for it to show all the available packages so I can choose from that.

I had thought about something like that. I made it currently to act similar to like apt does in Debian.
If you do `bsr search i` it shows you all the packages currently available lol (little hack)

Thanks for checking it out - if you have any doors you wanna package up i'll be happy to add the metadata to the repo to pull your package if that's something you're interested in?

---
|14Best regards,
|11Ch|03rist|11ia|15n |11a|03ka |11Me|03aTLoT|11io|15N // @meatlotion:erb.pw

|07── |08[|10eml|08] |15ml@erb.pw |07── |08[|10web|08] |15www.erb.pw |07───┐ |07── |08[|09fsx|08] |1521:1/158 |07── |08[|11tqw|08] |151337:1/101 |07┬──┘ |07── |08[|12rtn|08] |1580:774/81 |07─┬ |08[|14fdn|08] |152:250/5 |07───┘
|07── |08[|10ark|08] |1510:104/2 |07─┘

... Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Linux/64)
* Origin: thE qUAntUm wOrmhOlE, rAmsgAtE, uK. bbs.erb.pw (1337:1/101)

Hmmm... the bsr list command shows only installed packages. Search see
to require some other input. I'd like a way for it to show all the available packages so I can choose from that.

I had thought about something like that. I made it currently to act similar
like apt does in Debian.
If you do `bsr search i` it shows you all the packages currently available
(little hack)

This had me confused a bit too :) In any case, I'm +1 for the 'list all installable packages', would be great if that could be done somehow. But I now know the workaround too, so that's helpful!

Great stuff!

|15d|07ozo |11t|03gv|11b|03bs|08.|11n|03et|08:|082222|08(|07ssh|08)/|082323(|07telnet|08) |08(|07fsx|08) |0721:1/238 |08(|07agn|08) |0746:20/115
|08(|07tqw|08) |071337:1/117 |08(|07spn|08) |07700:1/117

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: The Global Village ssh://tgvbbs.net:2222 (1337:1/117)

How would you like a package manager for BBSes?
Would it be cool to `pkg install somedoor` and as if by magic it would do i

Well, I have a surprise for you - I've been working on just such a system a
you can read all about it here; https://meatlotion.com/blog/who-wants-one-more-package-manager/

Well, you pointed out during the last TGT that this exists.. and it got me going yesterday!

I only work with rpm-based distro's and was running TGV on Rocky Linux 8. Sadly I needed GLBIC >2.34 and 2.28 was installed by default on RL8. RL9 on the other hand has 2.34. We also discussed rebuilding the Mystic setup on our boards, changing from /mystic to /home/bbs/mystic.

I decided to rebuild the VM to RL9, rebuild the structure for clarity and to allow bsr packages to be installed in /home/bbs/.local. Took me all day yesterday, but hey, I'm happier than ever: RL9 is supported till 2032, the structure is improved, I can use the awesome bsr..!

Thanks ML, for fueling our community with ideas and tools!!

|15d|07ozo |11t|03gv|11b|03bs|08.|11n|03et|08:|082222|08(|07ssh|08)/|082323(|07telnet|08) |08(|07fsx|08) |0721:1/238 |08(|07agn|08) |0746:20/115
|08(|07tqw|08) |071337:1/117 |08(|07spn|08) |07700:1/117

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: The Global Village ssh://tgvbbs.net:2222 (1337:1/117)