Hello everyone! apologies if I'm posting in the wrong section. I'm trying to install Synchronet on my machine so I could serve my local retrogaming community (X68000/PC98/Macintosh) here in SF... many thanks for keeping the scene alive, I'd love to join with my own setup!

I'm running FreeBSD 13.2 and hit the following issue while compiling from GIT repo clone:

gmake -C /usr/home/sysop/sbbs/exec MAKEFLAGS= os=freebsd RELEASE=1 BAJAPATH=/usr/home/sysop/sbbs/repo/src/sbbs3/clang.freebsd.exe.release/baja gmake[1]: Entering directory '/usr/home/sysop/sbbs/repo/exec'
gmake[1]: *** No rule to make target 'cntnodes.bin', needed by 'all'. Stop. gmake[1]: Leaving directory '/usr/home/sysop/sbbs/repo/exec'
gmake: *** [GNUmakefile:158: baja] Error 2

I can't wrap my head around it, I was wondering if someone may help me? thanks a lot!

---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

forgot to mention: I see the BAJAPATH listed being:

/usr/home/sysop/sbbs/repo/src/sbbs3/clang.freebsd.exe.release/baja (one period .exe/release)

while on the filesystem the following folder is present:

/usr/home/sysop/sbbs/repo/src/sbbs3/clang.freebsd..exe.release/baja (two periods ..exe.release)

---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

Re: FreeBSD BAJA compiling error
By: Pasta68K to digital man on Fri Jul 14 2023 08:23 am

Hello everyone! apologies if I'm posting in the wrong section. I'm trying to install Synchronet on my machine so I could serve my local retrogaming community (X68000/PC98/Macintosh) here in SF... many thanks for keeping the scene alive, I'd love to join with my own setup!

I'm running FreeBSD 13.2 and hit the following issue while compiling from GIT repo clone:

gmake -C /usr/home/sysop/sbbs/exec MAKEFLAGS= os=freebsd RELEASE=1 BAJAPATH=/usr/home/sysop/sbbs/repo/src/sbbs3/clang.freebsd.exe.release/baja gmake[1]: Entering directory '/usr/home/sysop/sbbs/repo/exec'
gmake[1]: *** No rule to make target 'cntnodes.bin', needed by 'all'. Stop. gmake[1]: Leaving directory '/usr/home/sysop/sbbs/repo/exec'
gmake: *** [GNUmakefile:158: baja] Error 2

I can't wrap my head around it, I was wondering if someone may help me? thanks a lot!

'make clean' first (or run src/cleanall.sh) - cntnodes.src/bin hasn't been a thing in the repo for quite some time, so you have stale .d files you need cleaned out of your build tree.
--
digital man (rob)

This Is Spinal Tap quote #20:
Well, I'm sure I'd feel much worse if I weren't under such heavy sedation. Norco, CA WX: 89.0øF, 24.0% humidity, 4 mph SSW wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs ---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

thanks for the reply, I forgot to mention, this was from a clean checkout.

I can conform I:
-deleted the whole sbbs folder
-made a new sbbs
-cloned the git repo via 'git clone https://gitlab.synchro.net/main/sbbs.git ~/sbbs/repo'
-ran 'gmake install SYMLINK=1'

and I'm hitting the above issue :(

While I was waiting I tried compiling form the tarball, it should take another hour on my P3 so I'll be able to report back by then, would that help excluding stale files? thanks!

---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

Re: FreeBSD BAJA compiling error
By: Pasta68K to Digital Man on Fri Jul 14 2023 12:24 pm

thanks for the reply, I forgot to mention, this was from a clean checkout.

I can conform I:
-deleted the whole sbbs folder
-made a new sbbs
-cloned the git repo via 'git clone https://gitlab.synchro.net/main/sbbs.git ~/sbbs/repo'
-ran 'gmake install SYMLINK=1'

and I'm hitting the above issue :(

That certainly doesn't make any sense. cntnodes hasn't been in the sbbs git repo (or exec/GNUmakefile) for 11 years:
https://gitlab.synchro.net/main/sbbs/-/commit/49195be72cf4d31d53d76229fa577a6e7 So... *something* you're using in that build tree is very old.

While I was waiting I tried compiling form the tarball, it should take another hour on my P3 so I'll be able to report back by then, would that help excluding stale files? thanks!

Sure.
--
digital man (rob)

Rush quote #32:
Begging hands and bleeding hearts will only cry out for more
Norco, CA WX: 91.2øF, 27.0% humidity, 13 mph ESE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs ---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

Hi Rob, thanks for your reply,

I don't know what to say, it's a fresh OS install, I added the dependencies packages listed in the wiki, then cloned the repo from the above link. My only guess is that the FreeBSD env may trigger the anomaly.

I tried compiling from the tarball, but I hit another problem:

Linking clang.freebsd..exe.release/umonitor
gmake[1]: Leaving directory '/usr/home/sysop/sbbs3/src/sbbs3/umonitor'
ln -sfr clang.freebsd..exe.release/* /sbbs/exec
ln: illegal option -- r
usage: ln [-s [-F] | -L | -P] [-f | -i] [-hnv] source_file [target_file]
ln [-s [-F] | -L | -P] [-f | -i] [-hnv] source_file ... target_dir
link source_file target_file
gmake: *** [targets.mk:113: symlinks] Error 1

This seems related to FreeBSD's ln version/implementation, missing the option.

Looks like FreeBSD may be too much of niche in terms of installations/testing? I'd be happy to contribute working on a 32bit VM (mostly to speed up the compiling) but looks like I may have to switch the OS to Debian to at least get things running and get acquainted with Synchronet itself.

Thanks again and please let me know if you'd be available/willing to continue investigating the FreeBSD testing together, if here or in other channels, happy to do what I can.

p.s.
...up the irons! \m/

---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

Re: FreeBSD BAJA compiling error
By: Pasta68K to Digital Man on Sat Jul 15 2023 11:42 am

Hi Rob, thanks for your reply,

I don't know what to say, it's a fresh OS install, I added the dependencies packages listed in the wiki, then cloned the repo from the above link. My only guess is that the FreeBSD env may trigger the anomaly.

Which anomly? My last response to you was regarding this build error you reported:

gmake[1]: *** No rule to make target 'cntnodes.bin', needed by 'all'. Stop.

The cause of which is most definitely some old files in your build tree.

I tried compiling from the tarball, but I hit another problem:

Linking clang.freebsd..exe.release/umonitor
gmake[1]: Leaving directory '/usr/home/sysop/sbbs3/src/sbbs3/umonitor'
ln -sfr clang.freebsd..exe.release/* /sbbs/exec
ln: illegal option -- r
usage: ln [-s [-F] | -L | -P] [-f | -i] [-hnv] source_file [target_file]
ln [-s [-F] | -L | -P] [-f | -i] [-hnv] source_file ... target_dir
link source_file target_file
gmake: *** [targets.mk:113: symlinks] Error 1

Using the 'install' instead of the 'symlink' build target should get around that issue.

This seems related to FreeBSD's ln version/implementation, missing the option.

Yup, I'll look into if we need the -r option or not there, but you can get around that by not using the 'symlinks' build target.

Looks like FreeBSD may be too much of niche in terms of installations/testing? I'd be happy to contribute working on a 32bit VM (mostly to speed up the compiling) but looks like I may have to switch the OS to Debian to at least get things running and get acquainted with Synchronet itself.

Thanks again and please let me know if you'd be available/willing to continue investigating the FreeBSD testing together, if here or in other channels, happy to do what I can.

Sure. There are some other sysops already running SBBS on FreeBSD, but always happy to hear of more.
--
digital man (rob)

This Is Spinal Tap quote #39:
Female Airport Security Officer: Do you have any artificial plates or limbs? Norco, CA WX: 92.6øF, 39.0% humidity, 6 mph ESE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs ---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

Thanks Rob,

Quick update, I'm now working on the Debian setup, and as soon as I have a Linux BBS running, I'll go back working on the 32bit VM fro FreeBSD, checking tarball without symlinks, and update this thread.

Regarding the cntnodes.bin issue, what I meant by anomaly is that if on a clean freshly installed system, with a fresh repo clone, the stale files should not be referred to , my only guess is that the compiling process still looks for those because it's a FreeBSD env. and somewhere it ends up looking for that old stuff (as I take this is not happening on Linux or Windows)... I'm not a developer, so apologies if I'm likely missing something (maybe the FreeBSD packages/dependencies are throwing a wrench?) but if you mean I was working on an old build tree, I wanted to assure it's not the case, everything from OS to repo, was installed/cloned for the first time few days ago for the first time, as I wanted to make a dedicated machine.

Thanks a lot for all the support!

Max

---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

just a thought, as I followed the instructions to clone the repo I found here: http://wiki.synchro.net/dev:git

ran 'git clone https://gitlab.synchro.net/main/sbbs.git ~/sbbs/repo'
then ''gmake install SYMLINK=1'

... is it possible that the repo linked in that wiki page is old? I see now on Debian everything get cloned just by running 'make install SYMLINK=1' without need for manually mirror the repo locally first, so maybe the GNUmakefile is pointing to a different repo?

---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

quick update, same error on Debian via GIT, I'll try the tarball.


make -C /sbbs/exec MAKEFLAGS= os=linux RELEASE=1 BAJAPATH=/sbbs/repo/src/sbbs3/gcc.linux.exe.release/baja
make[1]: Entering directory '/sbbs/repo/exec'
make[1]: *** No rule to make target 'cntnodes.bin', needed by 'all'. Stop. make[1]: Leaving directory '/sbbs/repo/exec'
make: *** [GNUmakefile:158: baja] Error 2

(this time I didn't mirror first the repo locally, just run 'make install SYMLINK=1' right after installing the OS dependencies packages, so it pulled everything by itself)

---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

Re: FreeBSD BAJA compiling error
By: Pasta68K to Digital Man on Sat Jul 15 2023 03:27 pm

Quick update, I'm now working on the Debian setup, and as soon as I have a Linux BBS running, I'll go back working on the 32bit VM fro FreeBSD, checking tarball without symlinks, and update this thread.

I committed a change to the git repo that eliminates the '-r' option from the ln command invoked when building the 'symlinks' target, so that should be FreeBSD compatibile now.

Regarding the cntnodes.bin issue, what I meant by anomaly is that if on a clean freshly installed system, with a fresh repo clone, the stale files should not be referred to , my only guess is that the compiling process still looks for those because it's a FreeBSD env. and somewhere it ends up looking for that old stuff (as I take this is not happening on Linux or Windows)... I'm not a developer, so apologies if I'm likely missing something (maybe the FreeBSD packages/dependencies are throwing a wrench?) but if you mean I was working on an old build tree, I wanted to assure it's not the case, everything from OS to repo, was installed/cloned for the first time few days ago for the first time, as I wanted to make a dedicated machine.

No, I don't think FreeBSD has anything to do with. We've had plenty of FreeBSD sysops and noone has ever reported that issue with 'cntnodes' before. I've searched through the repo and there isn't a single reference to cntnodes (that 'grep -ri' can find). Something else is going on there that has nothing to do with it being a FreeBSD system.
--
digital man (rob)

Rush quote #71:
He's not concerned with yesterday, he knows constant change is here today Norco, CA WX: 93.3øF, 38.0% humidity, 10 mph ESE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs ---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

last update! tarball worked as expected, I have now a running system on Debian (still wrestling with an "error running yesnobar" when navigating the BBS menus, I wonder if that's because of 3.20 changes, but I'll try to figure it out).

Thanks again, I'm not sure at this point what I did wrong with GIT, I'm not familiar with it, but maybe I missed some update command and got stale content. I'll run the tarball on FreeBSD but I'm expecting of course it to work the same way.

---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

Re: FreeBSD BAJA compiling error
By: Digital Man to Pasta68K on Fri Jul 14 2023 05:18 pm

Re: FreeBSD BAJA compiling error
By: Pasta68K to Digital Man on Fri Jul 14 2023 12:24 pm

thanks for the reply, I forgot to mention, this was from a clean checkout.

I can conform I:
-deleted the whole sbbs folder
-made a new sbbs
-cloned the git repo via 'git clone https://gitlab.synchro.net/main/sbbs.git ~/sbbs/repo'
-ran 'gmake install SYMLINK=1'

and I'm hitting the above issue :(

That certainly doesn't make any sense. cntnodes hasn't been in the sbbs git repo (or exec/GNUmakefile) for 11 years: https://gitlab.synchro.net/main/sbb s/-/commit/49195be72cf4d31d53d76229fa577a6e7 So... *something* you're using in that build tree is very old.

My mistake: it appears Deuce re-added cntnodes.src to the exec/GNUmakefile *after* I removed it:
https://gitlab.synchro.net/main/sbbs/-/commit/a0621ba3623814ad17dd5408605d07d4c

So yes, the current exec/GNUmakefile does build cntnodes.bin (from cntnodes.src) along with some other long-deprecrated Baja modules. That's correct/expected.
--
digital man (rob)

Sling Blade quote #13:
Karl: He lives inside of his own heart. That's an awful big place to live in. Norco, CA WX: 93.3øF, 38.0% humidity, 10 mph ESE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs ---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

Re: FreeBSD BAJA compiling error
By: Pasta68K to Digital Man on Sat Jul 15 2023 03:42 pm

just a thought, as I followed the instructions to clone the repo I found here: http://wiki.synchro.net/dev:git

ran 'git clone https://gitlab.synchro.net/main/sbbs.git ~/sbbs/repo'
then ''gmake install SYMLINK=1'

... is it possible that the repo linked in that wiki page is old? I see now on Debian everything get cloned just by running 'make install SYMLINK=1' without need for manually mirror the repo locally first, so maybe the GNUmakefile is pointing to a different repo?

All the links in the wiki point to the same git repo that install/GNUmakefile points to. The references to cntnodes.* in exec/GNUmakefile it turns out is correct, expected, so my mistake on that one. There's some *other* reason it's failing to build Baja modules.
--
digital man (rob)

Breaking Bad quote #17:
Your breath could knock the buzzard off a shit wagon. - Hank Schrader
Norco, CA WX: 92.6øF, 42.0% humidity, 13 mph SSE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs ---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

Re: FreeBSD BAJA compiling error
By: Pasta68K to Digital Man on Sat Jul 15 2023 05:38 pm

quick update, same error on Debian via GIT, I'll try the tarball.

make -C /sbbs/exec MAKEFLAGS= os=linux RELEASE=1 BAJAPATH=/sbbs/repo/src/sbbs3/gcc.linux.exe.release/baja
make[1]: Entering directory '/sbbs/repo/exec'
make[1]: *** No rule to make target 'cntnodes.bin', needed by 'all'. Stop. make[1]: Leaving directory '/sbbs/repo/exec'
make: *** [GNUmakefile:158: baja] Error 2

(this time I didn't mirror first the repo locally, just run 'make install SYMLINK=1' right after installing the OS dependencies packages, so it pulled everything by itself)

Do you have the file repo/exec/cntnodes.src?

Is the BAJAPATH above valid? You pasted a path with double-dots ('..') here earlier that looked suspect.
--
digital man (rob)

Synchronet/BBS Terminology Definition #43:
IHA = Ille Homine Albe (Steve Deppe)
Norco, CA WX: 92.6øF, 42.0% humidity, 13 mph SSE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs ---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

Re: FreeBSD BAJA compiling error
By: Pasta68K to Digital Man on Sun Jul 16 2023 02:30 pm

last update! tarball worked as expected, I have now a running system on Debian (still wrestling with an "error running yesnobar" when navigating the BBS menus, I wonder if that's because of 3.20 changes, but I'll try to figure it out).

It sounds like you're not able to build the exec/*.bin files (built with Baja).

Thanks again, I'm not sure at this point what I did wrong with GIT, I'm not familiar with it, but maybe I missed some update command and got stale content. I'll run the tarball on FreeBSD but I'm expecting of course it to work the same way.

The 'stale content' was a red herring on my part - cntnodes.src is indeed still in the git repo 'exec' directory and is built with exec/GNUmakefile.
--
digital man (rob)

Synchronet "Real Fact" #62:
Name of Synchronet PCMS compiler/language "Baja" was coined by Michael Swindell Norco, CA WX: 92.6øF, 42.0% humidity, 13 mph SSE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs ---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

Thanks a lot Rob for the help,

Do you have the file repo/exec/cntnodes.src?

Is the BAJAPATH above valid? You pasted a path with double-dots ('..') here earlier that looked suspect.

I do not have right now that repo folder on disk to check cntnodes.src, but I recall checking and while the compiler was looking for the " .exec.release", on my filesystem I had " ..exec.release" which got me puzzled as well.

It sounds like you're not able to build the exec/*.bin files (built with Baja).

I'm now confused as the tarball ended compiling without errors and so far I was able to run the BBS config and console, even creating the sysop user.

I don't mean to create confusion if this is unrelated, but just to clarify, I'm not having compiling errors (I think), I'm able to run exec/sbbs and when connected (telnet) to the BBS from a terminal emulator often a red error line on screen saying "!ERROR executing yesnobar" appears, while I can see the console log showing:
"!ERROR 2 (No such file or directory) in exec.cpp line 791 (exec_bin) executing "yesnobar" access=0 info=module doesn't exist"

Is this possibly still related to BAJA?

At this point, if the GIT is correct and hits a BAJA issue (but the tarball successfully compiles?) I'm starting wondering if my Pentium III processor may be missing some feature needed? I put together this retro machine to run DOS BBS software, but I eventually realized Synchronet is much more powerful... still it's good having access to FDDs and SCSI card, as I can read/write media from many of my old computers, so I opted to simply run a newer OS on the P3.

---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

Quick update, I now understand a bit better the exec logic using BAJA scripting modules. I was able to download from a web page a very old YESNOBAR.ZIP which contained the missing .bin, and it just work now, showing me the YES/NO cursor, solving the error mentioned above.

Separately, I tried changing the shell to major.bin, and again it can't find the file (it's just not there).

So, to answer my above question, looks like while the tarball built completed without errors, the BAJA-generated .bin are missing... so looks like I'm having issues with BAJA :(

---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

Apologies for the few messages in a row, but I think I got the issue, or at least what was missing from the process I used.

So, all the .bin which should have been generated by the baja interpreter under /sbbs/exec are missing, but the interpreter has been compiled successfully, and I can manually generate .bin form the relevant .src in the same directory.

So, I don't know if this is the expected behavior for default modules, but basically the .bin needs to be created manually (in my env.) but looks like they do work fine after that.

I tried generating major.bin from major.src and the user shell is now changed to the minimalist style of Major BBS as expected.

---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

to summary as basically there were two issues discussed, again sorry for a bit of overlap:

-under both FreeBSD 13.2 or Debian 12.0. using GIT + GNUMakefile from the wiki links, I was not able to finish compiling, because a BAJA path error.

-using the tarball under FreeBSD, I did hit the ln -r option issue (which should now be fixed thanks to Rob)

-using the tarball under Debian, I was able to complete the build successfully, but looks like the .bin files from baja were not generated automatically (which made me think the issue was related possibly to the BAJA path mentioned, even if the build completed). I was able though to generate them manually using the baja executable the build generated, ending with a working system (no errors in the console logs with user connected and transferring files or customizing options)

---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

Re: FreeBSD BAJA compiling error
By: Pasta68K to Digital Man on Sun Jul 16 2023 10:43 pm

-using the tarball under Debian, I was able to complete the build successfully, but looks like the .bin files from baja were not generated automatically (which made me think the issue was related possibly to the BAJA path mentioned, even if the build completed). I was able though to generate them manually using the baja executable the build generated, ending with a working system (no errors in the console logs with user connected and transferring files or customizing options)

yeah that's not big deal. the .src files are to be compiled with the baja executable. when you need to make changes, edit the .src files and then compile again.
---
þ Synchronet þ ::: BBSES.info - free BBS services :::

Re: FreeBSD BAJA compiling error
By: Pasta68K to Digital Man on Sun Jul 16 2023 03:03 pm

Thanks a lot Rob for the help,

Do you have the file repo/exec/cntnodes.src?

Is the BAJAPATH above valid? You pasted a path with double-dots ('..') here earlier that looked suspect.

I do not have right now that repo folder on disk to check cntnodes.src, but I recall checking and while the compiler was looking for the " .exec.release", on my filesystem I had " ..exec.release" which got me puzzled as well.

Yeah, and that's likely the root issue.

It sounds like you're not able to build the exec/*.bin files (built with Baja).

I'm now confused as the tarball ended compiling without errors and so far I was able to run the BBS config and console, even creating the sysop user.

I don't mean to create confusion if this is unrelated, but just to clarify, I'm not having compiling errors (I think), I'm able to run exec/sbbs and when connected (telnet) to the BBS from a terminal emulator often a red error line on screen saying "!ERROR executing yesnobar" appears, while I can see the console log showing:
"!ERROR 2 (No such file or directory) in exec.cpp line 791 (exec_bin) executing "yesnobar" access=0 info=module doesn't exist"

Is this possibly still related to BAJA?

Yes.

At this point, if the GIT is correct and hits a BAJA issue (but the tarball successfully compiles?) I'm starting wondering if my Pentium III processor may be missing some feature needed?

No. When you built from the files cloned from the git repo, you most likely (definitely) used install/GNUmakefile, which also builds (makes) exec/*.bin using exec/GNUmakefile. And when you built using the files from the tarball, you most likely used src/sbbs3/GNUmakefile, which does *not* build/make the exec/*.bin files automatically.

I put together this retro machine to run
DOS BBS software, but I eventually realized Synchronet is much more powerful... still it's good having access to FDDs and SCSI card, as I can read/write media from many of my old computers, so I opted to simply run a newer OS on the P3.

I don't think the P3 is the issue.
--
digital man (rob)

Synchronet "Real Fact" #23:
The third ever Synchronet BBS was The Beast's Domain (sysop: King Drafus) Norco, CA WX: 96.3øF, 24.0% humidity, 6 mph SSE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs ---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

Re: FreeBSD BAJA compiling error
By: Pasta68K to Digital Man on Sun Jul 16 2023 10:43 pm

to summary as basically there were two issues discussed, again sorry for a bit of overlap:

-under both FreeBSD 13.2 or Debian 12.0. using GIT + GNUMakefile from the wiki links, I was not able to finish compiling, because a BAJA path error.

See if you can still reproduce this error by running 'make' while the current working directory is your Synchronet "exec" directory.

-using the tarball under FreeBSD, I did hit the ln -r option issue (which should now be fixed thanks to Rob)

-using the tarball under Debian, I was able to complete the build successfully, but looks like the .bin files from baja were not generated automatically (which made me think the issue was related possibly to the BAJA path mentioned, even if the build completed).

That's because of the makefile you used to start the build. If you use install/GNUmakefile, it'll auto-build the exec/*.bin files. If you use src/sbbs3/GNUmakefile, it will not.

I was able though to
generate them manually using the baja executable the build generated, ending with a working system (no errors in the console logs with user connected and transferring files or customizing options)

Yup. This issue is the same as the first bullet item you listed.
--
digital man (rob)

Breaking Bad quote #38:
Don't drink and drive, but when you do, call Saul.
Norco, CA WX: 96.3øF, 24.0% humidity, 6 mph SSE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs ---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

Thanks Rob, MRO

I'm getting acquainted with Synchronet and now a lot of things are making sense to me as well... also I'm having a lot of fun customizing the BBS, I'm now testing SEXYZ with the X68000 terminal emulator (via wifimodem/telnet serial wrapper like Lantronix), it would be the only BBS allowing both download and upload to work, so that would be a game changer for the X68000 community.

See if you can still reproduce this error by running 'make' while the current working directory is your Synchronet "exec" directory.

Thanks, as soon as I'll get the FreeBSD VM running I'll try again!

---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

Re: FreeBSD BAJA compiling error
By: Pasta68K to Digital Man on Tue Jul 18 2023 01:15 pm

See if you can still reproduce this error by running 'make' while the current working directory is your Synchronet "exec" directory.

Thanks, as soon as I'll get the FreeBSD VM running I'll try again!

I thought you reported the same with a Debian install?
--
digital man (rob)

Synchronet "Real Fact" #34:
The back-up synchro.net nameserver and CVS repository is hosted by Deuce
Norco, CA WX: 93.4øF, 31.0% humidity, 9 mph SSE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs ---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

Yes, I meant to validate the FreeBSD build mainly, but I can totally try on Debian as well to confirm the current directory change right!

---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net