Maximus BBS

Documentation for Maximus BBS — Next Generation

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MaxCFG TUI Editor

Interactive text-mode configuration editor for Maximus BBS

If you’ve ever used RemoteAccess Config or KBBS Setup, MaxCFG’s TUI will feel immediately familiar. It’s an ncurses-based configuration editor — menus, forms, list pickers, tree views, color pickers, and a full menu editor with live preview. Everything is keyboard-driven, and you can configure your entire BBS without touching a single config file by hand.

This page covers the screen layout, navigation keys, and general editing concepts. The individual editor pages (linked from the menu tables below) go into detail on each section.

Launching

# Launch with auto-detected sys_path
maxcfg

# Launch with an explicit sys_path
maxcfg /opt/maximus

If no sys_path is given, MaxCFG tries to resolve it from the binary location or the TOML configuration. The sys_path must contain a config/ directory with the TOML configuration files.

Screen Layout

MaxCFG Screen Layout

Setup

The Setup menu configures core system settings through form-based editors.

Item Submenu What it edits
Global BBS and Sysop Info BBS name, sysop name, alias settings
  System Paths System, language, temp, node, log paths
  Logging Options Log file path and log mode
  Global Toggles Snoop, password encryption, reboot, status line
  Login Settings Logon privilege, time limits, baud rates, ANSI/RIP
  New User Defaults Ask phone/alias, single word names, first menu/area
  Display Files ~40 display file path mappings with file picker
  Default Colors Theme color editor (Menu, File, Message, Reader categories)
Matrix/Echomail Matrix Privileges Logon availability, matrix entry settings
  Message Attribute Privs Per-attribute privilege table
  Network Addresses FidoNet address list (add/edit/delete)
  Netmail Settings Nodelist, echotoss, CTLA/SeenBy privileges
Security Levels — Access level list editor
Events — Exit error codes for matrix events
Protocols — External transfer protocol definitions (up to 64)

For details on each form, see Setup & Tools.

Content

Item What it does
Menus Full menu editor — properties, customization, per-option editing
Languages Default language setting + language file list (up to 8)
Language String Browser Filterable heap.key = value browser with live editing
Reader Settings QWK offline reader configuration
Display Files Same as Setup → Display Files (convenience shortcut)

For the menu editor, see Menu Editor. For the language browser, see Language Editor.

Messages

Item What it does
Tree Config Hierarchical tree view of message divisions and areas
Message Divisions Flat list editor for divisions (edit/insert/toggle)
Message Areas Flat list editor for areas within a division

For details, see Area Editor.

Files

Item What it does
Tree Config Hierarchical tree view of file divisions and areas
File Divisions Flat list editor for divisions
File Areas Flat list editor for areas within a division

For details, see Area Editor.

Users

Item What it does
User Editor Browse and edit user accounts (6 category sub-forms)
Bad Users Text list of banned usernames
Reserved Names Text list of protected/reserved names

For details, see User Editor.

Tools

Item What it does
Save Configuration Write all in-memory TOML changes to disk
Key Action
Left / Right Switch between top-level menus
Up / Down Navigate within a dropdown
Enter Select item or open submenu
Esc Close dropdown / return to menu bar
First letter Jump to matching menu item

Form Editor

Forms are the primary editing interface — you’ll spend most of your time in them. Each form has labeled fields with editable values.

Key Action
Up / Down Move between fields
Tab / Shift+Tab Next / previous field
Enter Edit text field, open picker, or invoke action
F2 Open picker (same as Enter for select/file/action fields)
Space Cycle toggle value (Yes/No or multi-option)
F10 Save and close form
Esc Cancel — prompts to save if changes were made

List Picker

List pickers show a scrollable list of items — protocols, addresses, areas, users, and more. They all work the same way:

Key Action
Up / Down Navigate items
Enter Edit selected item
Insert or + Insert new item
Delete or - Delete or toggle-disable item
/ Set filter text
C Clear filter
Home / End Jump to first / last item
PgUp / PgDn Page scroll
Esc Close list (saves if applicable)

Tree View

Tree views show the message and file area hierarchy as a collapsible outline.

Key Action
Up / Down Navigate nodes
Right Expand a division node
Left Collapse a division node
Enter Edit the selected node
Insert Add a sibling node
Delete Toggle enable/disable
Esc Save and exit tree view

Field Types

Forms use several field types, each with its own editing behavior:

Type Visual Cue How to Edit
Text Editable text Enter to start typing, max length enforced
Number Numeric value Enter to type, validated as integer
Toggle Yes/No or option list Space or Enter cycles through options
Select Value with dropdown Enter/F2 opens a picker popup
File Path string Enter/F2 opens file browser; Space for manual edit
Multiselect Checkbox list Enter/F2 opens checkbox picker
Action Button label Enter/F2 invokes an action (opens sub-form, picker, etc.)
Separator Horizontal rule Non-interactive; groups related fields visually

Saving Changes

MaxCFG edits an in-memory copy of the TOML configuration. Changes are not written to disk until you explicitly save:

If you Esc out of a form with unsaved changes, you are prompted:

MaxCFG Abort Changes Dialog

Path Handling

Many forms include path fields (display files, language files, log files, etc.). MaxCFG normalizes these relative to sys_path:

The display shows paths in their shortest relative form when possible. Missing files are flagged with a warning indicator.

See Also