Statbot Users Manual

Version 3.0.2 (Release 1) - 25 September 1995

Table Of Contents:

Section 1 - Definitions and Abbreviations
Section 2 - Introduction
Section 3 - Requirements
Section 4 - Registration
Section 5 - Installation
Section 6 - Logfile Format
Section 7 - Configuration
Section 8 - Running Statbot
Section 9 - Customizing Statbot
Section 10 - Interpreting Page Statistics
Section 11 - Advanced Topics
Section 12 - Common Questions and Problems
Appendix I - Quick Start
Appendix II - Error Messages
Appendix III - Acknowledgments

The following definitions and abbreviations are used throughout this document:

Browser
A program used to display pages written in HTML that are accessed using the World Wide Web. Two of the most popular browsers are Mosaic and Netscape.

CGI
Abbreviation for 'Common Gateway Interface'. The Common Gateway Interface is a program that runs as part of a World Wide Web page server. It is used to execute programs or scripts in response to information provided by users. Some of the more commonly used CGI programs are used to handle forms processing and Email requests.

HTML
Abbreviation for 'HyperText Markup Language'. The text language used to create special documents with information tags embedded in the body of the document that describe how the document should be displayed and how different documents are linked together.

HTTPD
Abbreviation for 'HyperText Transfer Protocol Daemon'. This program runs on the host and is responsible for serving WWW pages and processing WWW transactions.

Host
The computer system that provides the User Internet connectivity. Hosts come in a wide variety of sizes and operating systems.

WWW
Abbreviation for the 'World Wide Web'.

This document describes Statbot, a WWW utility that gathers, maintains, and displays page access statistics. It has been designed to be easy to install and configure, with no prior programming experience required. The User doesn't need to know how to write Perl scripts, program in 'C', or have access to the CGI. The User simply edits a configuration file and runs Statbot from their own local directory.

Statbot is a passive statistics-gathering utility. It runs outside the normal HTTPD environment and does not need to be installed to run under the CGI. This feature solves the problems of Host security, program maintenance, and the need to have super-user access.

Statbot supports several different Host configurations:

Local Host/Single User
Statbot supports users that are running their own copy of HTTPD on a personal computer. An example of this would be an individual running on a PC Compatible that is connected to their Host via SLIP or PPP.
Internet Host/Single User
Statbot supports users that have their own dedicated Host and are the only user of the system. An example of this would be a business running a Sun Workstation connected to the Internet with a dedicated T1 line.
Internet Host/Personal Account
Statbot supports users that have a subscription to an Internet Service Provider and are one of many users of the system. An example of this would be a personal account on XMission, SprintLink, or InterServ.
Internet Host/Page Server
Statbot supports users that have their own dedicated Host and are using it to provide access to dozens or hundreds of WWW pages. An example of this would be a site that provides a WWW page service for individuals or businesses.

Statbot gathers the information it uses by reading the Host's logfiles. These logfiles are updated by the Host each time a request for a WWW page occurs. The logfiles contain information regarding the time and date of access, the identification of the site making the access, file(s) accessed, and other pertinent information.

Because Host logfiles can become very large, old logs are routinely removed from the system. This can cause problems for users who want to gather statistics for accesses spanning more than just a few weeks. Statbot gets around this limitation by maintaining its own site information database. As it scans the Host's logfiles, any new references of interest to Statbot are added to the local database. When the Host's logfiles are deleted, Statbot's own database remains intact.

Statbot displays the statistics that it gathers by automatically creating an HTML-compliant 'stats' page that can be displayed by any browser or 'linked to' by other HTML documents on the WWW. It is expected that the User will create a link in their home page to the 'stats' page. When someone is viewing the User's home page, all they need to do to see the page statistics is to select the link.

The format of the 'stats' page as well as its content can be customized by the User without the need for code modifications and re-compiling. A configuration file is used by Statbot as a reference in building the 'stats' page. To customize the page, the User simply changes the appropriate entries in the configuration file. The next time Statbot is run, the new changes are added immediately.

The rest of this document describes the installation, configuration, operation and maintenance of Statbot. This manual provides complete information on Statbot, so some sections may not be of interest to all users. As you use Statbot and become more familiar with how it works, the information here will help you get the most out of the utility.

The requirements for installing, configuring, and running Statbot are described below:

Host Requirements
Statbot must be run from the Host that is responsible for serving the User's WWW pages. This is usually the system that the User's login account is found. There are a few situations where WWW pages are uploaded to the Host and the User does not have an account on the system. In this case, the User will need to contact Technical Support at the Host and make arrangements to have Statbot installed and configured for them.

Logfile Permissions
The Host's logfile directory and the logfiles found inside must be "readable" by the User. If the logfiles can't be read by the User, the User will need to contact Technical Support at the Host to have the permissions changed.

Text Editor
The User must have access to a text editor of some type. This is needed for the User to make changes to the configuration file.

Statbot is shareware. Try it for 30 days; if you find it useful and wish to continue using it, you should register your copy.

When you register your copy of Statbot, you are automatically entitled to many benefits and free services. Most of these services are found in The Penthouse, a private area that is part of Club Statbot, the primary support site. All registered users will receive a free account and password that will give them access to this area.

The Penthouse will contain items not available to non-registered users:

The very latest product upgrades and bug fixes.
Advanced notification of other related applications.
Beta versions of the next Statbot. This will be available to registered users months before it is released world-wide on the Internet.
Software utilities to use with Statbot. Would you like a list of all sites that visited three days ago? How about the ability to edit the database file? Perhaps you want to delete all entries in the database that happened before a certain date. These utilities and more will be found here.
Dozens of GIF files that can be used to enhance your WWW pages. These GIF files contain professionally-rendered 2D and 3D images that have been created specifically for registered Statbot users.
Priority ranking for Customer Service and Technical Support.

Individual Registration - $10
To register your personal copy of Statbot, fill out this form, use your Browser to print it, and send it along with $10 to the address provided. As soon as your registration has been processed, you will receive a welcome message that contains your unique login name and password for access to The Penthouse.

Business Registration - $20
To register you business/commercial copy of Statbot, fill out this form, use your Browser to print it, and send it along with $20 to the address provided. As soon as your registration has been processed, you will receive a welcome message that contains your unique login name and password for access to The Penthouse.

Quantity discounts and site licenses are available. Charitable organizations may request a free license and registration. Contact the author at one of these addresses below for more information:

Dave Tubbs
Email: dtubbs@xmission.com
Web: http://www.xmission.com/~dtubbs/

The process of installing Statbot is very simple:

Select an existing directory or create a new directory for the Statbot binaries and support files. Make sure you have full read/write/execute permissions in the directory you have chosen. If you are not sure, simply create a new sub-directory in your home directory. This directory will be referred to as the WORK directory throughout this document.
Copy the Statbot archive file into the work directory.
Extract the Statbot binaries and support files from the archive. This process will vary from Host to Host:
For DOS Hosts:
> pkunzip -d sb200dos.zip
For Sun Hosts running 4.1.X:
% uncompress sb200sun.tar.Z
% tar -xvf sb200sun.tar
For Sun Hosts running Solaris 2.X:
% uncompress sb200sol.tar.Z
% tar -xvf sb200sol.tar
After the extraction process is completed, the following files should be found in the work directory:
statbot - Statbot executable binary.
statbot.cfg - Statbot configuration file.
country.txt - Country code file.
readme.1st - Last-minute information and installation notes.
legal.txt - Legal notices.
register.txt - Statbot registration form.
open.txt - Example text file.
close.txt - Example text file.
ps.gif - Example transparent GIF file (small version).
psh.gif - Example transparent GIF file (large version).

Before Statbot can be configured, a brief introduction to the Host logfile format will help the User understand the issues involved in properly setting up their configuration file.

The Host logfile is a text file that contains one log entry per line. The log entry consists of 10 fields separated by space codes. The following line is an example of a typical log entry:

slc6.xmission.com - - [04/Feb/1995:04:58:28 -0700] "GET /~dtubbs/ HTTP/1.0" 200 4502

In the example above, the log entry is broken down into the 10 fields in the following manner:

Remote Name
This field contains the name of the site making access. In this example, the name of the site is slc6.xmission.com.

Remote Logname
This field contains the login name of the user who owns the account making access. This is one of two fields in the logfile that can be enabled or disabled by the Host. In this example it is disabled, so it is represented by the '-' place holder. This field is disabled on most systems because the information can be used to gain unauthorized access.

User
This field contains the full name of the user who owns the account making access. This is the other field in the logfile that can be enabled or disabled by the Host. In this example it is disabled, so it is represented by the '-' place holder. This field is disabled on most systems because the information can be used to gain unauthorized access.

Date and Time
This field contains the time and date of the access. In this example, the access occurred on February 4, 1995 at 4:58:28 in the morning. The time will be displayed in 24 hour time format.

GMT Offset
This field contains the signed offset from Greenwich Mean Time, which is the international time reference. In this example, the Date and Time information in the previous field is 7 hours and 0 minutes earlier than GMT.

Operation
This field contains the type of operation requested. For WWW page accesses, this field will always be GET.

File
This field contains the path and filename of the WWW page being accessed. There are three types of path/filename combinations:

Implied Path and Filename
This path/filename combination accesses a file in the User's home directory and assumes the name of the file to be the Host default. In this example, '/~dtubbs/ is expanded into '/dir/dir/.../dir/dtubbs/public_html/index.html'.
Relative Path and Filename
This path/filename combination accesses a file in a directory relative to the User's home directory.
Full Path and Filename
This path/filename combination accesses the specified file through the specified path.

Server Protocol
This field contains the type of protocol used to access the page. In this example, HTTP version 1.0 protocol was used.

Status
This field contains the status code generated during the access. In this example, the value 200 was generated.

File Size
This field contains the size of the file accessed in bytes. In this example, the file was 4,502 bytes in size.

In many cases, the Host is configured to access the User's home page using implied path and filenames. These can be difficult to analyze because the User must know how the Host WWW Server has been configured. Here are some examples of home page references using implied path and filenames:

/
This implied pathname expands into a path that references the index.html page found in the WWW server default directory. For HTTPD, this is the 'htdocs' subdirectory.
/~username/ or /%7Eusername/
These implied pathnames expand into '/dir/dir/ ... /dir/username/public_html/index.html'. The %7E escape sequence is used to represent a hex value, in this case the value for the tilde (~) character.

Before Statbot can run, it needs to know about its environment: the location of the logfiles, the login name of the user, where to copy the resulting HTML file, etc. This information is conveyed to Statbot by means of a configuration file called statbot.cfg.

The configuration file contains a series of keywords and associated text and works in a manner similar to the DOS and UNIX environment variables. There are several rules that must be followed when creating or editing the configuration file:

Keywords must begin on the first character position on the line and are terminated with the colon (:) character.
Values following a keyword may be separated by space codes or commas, or they may be listed on separate lines.
Text strings that contain space codes (such as a page title) must be enclosed in double quotes. In order to insert a double quote (") character in a text string, use the \" escape sequence. To insert a backwards slash (\) character, use the \\ escape sequence.
Any line that begins with the asterisk (*) character is considered a comment line - all text following the asterisk to the end of the line will be ignored.

When Statbot is executed, the first thing it does it try to locate the configuration file. It does this using the following sequence:

Look for the configuration file in the current directory.
Examine the environment for the STATBOT_CONFIG entry. If this entry is found, look for the configuration file in the directory specified by the environment entry.
Look in the User's home directory. On UNIX systems, this is done by searching the environment for the HOME environment variable and then looking for the configuration file in the specified directory. On DOS systems, this is done by searching for the configuration file in the '\' directory.
If the configuration file was not found, Statbot exits with an error message.

Once Statbot has found the configuration file, it reads the file and extracts all the information it needs to run. It also reads any optional entries and then customizes itself accordingly.

To properly configure Statbot, the following entries in the configuration file must be set:

WWW_LOG_DIRECTORY
This keyword specifies the directory Statbot will search when it reads the Host logfiles.

WORK_DIRECTORY
This keyword specifies the directory Statbot will use when running. This directory is where Statbot will keep its site database and where is writes all of its temporary files. This is also the location any optional files must be placed.

HTML_DIRECTORY
This keyword specifies the directory Statbot will place the resulting 'stats' page when it is finished. This usually references the directory where the User stores all of their WWW pages. If you do not want the file to be copied, set this value to the same value associated with the WORK_DIRECTORY keyword.

WWW_LOG_LIST
This keyword specifies the name(s) of the Host logfiles. Up to 16 logfiles may be included in the list. On UNIX systems, the default logfile name is set to 'access_log'. On DOS systems, it is set to 'access.log'.

WWW_LOG_TYPE
This keyword specifies the format of the Host logfiles. At the present time, there is only one type supported. This value is set to 'default'.

USER_ID
This keyword specifies the login name of you, the User. This entry is used to scan the logfiles for implied references to your WWW pages.

OUTPUT_HTML
This keyword specifies the name of the 'stats' page. The default name is set to 'ps.html'.

There are several factors involved in choosing a default configuration. Select the one that seems to be the best match with your current Host configuration and try it out. If the results aren't what you expected, try one of the other configurations. Entries in italics indicates text that the User should change in the configuration file.

Single User
If you are running your own WWW server on a workstation or personal computer, use this configuration (note the space code after the '/'):

USER_ID: null
WWW_PAGE_LIST: "/ " , "My Home Page Title"

Internet Host/Personal Account
If you have an account on an Internet Service Provider, try one of these two configurations:

USER_ID: yourLoginName
*WWW_PAGE_LIST: commented out (note the '*' at the first of the line)
USER_ID: null
WWW_PAGE_LIST: youDir/yourHomePageName , "My Home Page Title"

Internet Host/Page Server
If you are running your own WWW server and are providing access to dozens (or possibly hundreds) of WWW pages, use this configuration:

USER_ID: null
WWW_PAGE_LIST:
dir/user1HomePageName , "User1 Home Page Title",
dir/user2HomePageName , "User2 Home Page Title",
.
. (other user entries)
.
dir/userNHomePageName , "UserN Home Page Title"

Running Statbot is as simple as typing statbot on the command line, followed by 'return'. In normal execution, there are no command-line parameters that need to be entered. All important information resides in the configuration file that Statbot locates and loads when it first starts.

When Statbot is executed, a number of user messages are displayed to inform the user about Statbot's progress:

Loading the configuration...
Statbot has found the configuration file and is loading it.

Checking for another running copy...
Statbot is checking to see if another copy is running.

Loading the site database...
Statbot is loading the local site database file.

Processing new logfile entries...
Statbot is scanning all of the specified logfiles for new entries to be added to the local database. The number of entries will be dynamically displayed on the command line as they are processed.

Saving the new site database...
Statbot is saving a new copy of the local site database file.

Building HTML page...
Statbot has started the process of 'stats' page construction.

Copying HTML page to "/dir/dir/ ... /dir/outputfile"...
Statbot is copying the resulting HTML document to the user-specified directory.

Once Statbot has completed its processing, it displays the new page access statistics. These are the same totals that are included in the HTML document. The HTML-compliant page that Statbot generated will have been copied into the user-specified directory and should be available for access.

The basic Statbot statistics report is fairly common; nothing but a few digits indicating the number of accesses for the day. One of Statbot's main features is the power and flexibility of custom report generation. By enabling optional report types, the User can add interesting information to their page statistics report:

Access statistics can be generated for multiple WWW pages.
User-supplied text may be inserted at the beginning and end of the report.
Previous day's access statistics can be displayed.
Names of the sites making access may be included.
The country designation of each site may be included in the site lists.
The site lists may be sorted in various ways.
Backgrounds may be added to your stats page, with full support for the document control attributes: text, bgcolor, link, vlink, and alink.
Individual sites, groups, or domains may be excluded from the statistics calculations.

The following list of keywords are all optional. They may be enabled by including them in the configuration file; they may be disabled by commenting out the line(s) containing them, or they may be completely omitted from the configuration file.

CLOSING_TEXT
This keyword specifies the name of a text file that is appended to the end of the 'stats' page. The file can contain any amount of ASCII text as long as it conforms to the HTML standard. The file must be placed in the work directory.

COUNTRY_NAMES
This keyword specifies whether or not the country name of a site will be included in any visitor lists. The name of the country or province a site is located in will be enclosed in parentheses and added to the end of the site name. If this keyword is enabled, the following keyword may be included:

COUNTRY_ID
This keyword contains a 2-character country identification found in the country.txt file, which is located in the work directory. This keyword is used to suppress the addition of a single country name to the visitor lists.
For example, if a User lives in the United Kingdom and wishes to include the country extensions, they would enable the COUNTRY_NAMES keyword. This would display all country origins (including the United Kingdom). If the User sets COUNTRY_ID to UK, all country extensions would be displayed except for the United Kingdom.

DAILY_LIST
This keyword specifies whether or not a list of daily visitors to the site will be included in the HTML document. A daily list of visitor sites will contain the name of every site visiting from 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM.

If this keyword is enabled, the following keywords must also be included:

DAILY_SORT_KEY
This keyword specifies the type of sorting to be done. If the value is set to alphanumeric, the list will be sorted alphabetically. If the value is set to date, the list will be sorted by the access time and date. If the value is set to visits, the list will be sorted by the number of visits the site has made.
DAILY_SORT_ORDER
This keyword specifies the direction of sorting. If the value is set to forward, the sort will be done in ascending order. For example, an alphabetical list would start with Adams and end with Williams. If the value is set to reverse, the sort will be done in descending order - the list would start with Williams and end with Adams.

FULL_LIST
This keyword specifies whether or not a list of all visitors to the site will be included in the HTML document. A full list of visitor sites will contain the name of every site found since logging began.

If this keyword is enabled, the following keywords must also be included:

FULL_SORT_KEY
This keyword specifies the type of sorting to be done. If the value is set to alphanumeric, the list will be sorted alphabetically. If the value is set to date, the list will be sorted by the access time and date. If the value is set to visits, the list will be sorted by the number of visits the site has made.
FULL_SORT_ORDER
This keyword specifies the direction of sorting. If the value is set to forward, the sort will be done in ascending order. For example, an alphabetical list would start with Adams and end with Williams. If the value is set to reverse, the sort will be done in descending order - the list would start with Williams and end with Adams.

OPENING_TEXT
This keyword specifies the name of a text file that is inserted at the beginning of the 'stats' page. The file can contain any amount of ASCII text as long as it conforms to the HTML standard. The file must be placed in the work directory.

PAGE_TITLE
This keyword specifies the document name of the 'stats' page. This name is not part of the 'viewable' portion of the page, but is displayed by the HTML browser in a separate window or area. This is also the name that will be displayed in the browser's 'hotlist' or 'bookmark' area. Remember to enclose the text string in double quotes if it contains space codes.

PRIOR_REPORTS
This keyword specifies the number of days prior to the report day that access statistics will be displayed. For example, if today is July 2 and PRIOR_REPORTS is set to 3, then statistics will be displayed for July 1, June 30, and June 29.

WWW_PAGE_LIST
This keyword is used to specify other WWW pages to gather and report access statistics for. Following the keyword will be one or more pairs of text. The first element of the text pair is the search key used by Statbot for parsing. The second element is the label or text associated with the search key:

WWW_PAGE_LIST:
dtubbs/ps.html,"Page Statistics",
george/cs.html,"Club Statbot",
dtubbs/db.html,"<A HREF=\"db.html\">Downloadable Binaries</A>"

From the configuration file text above, the following entries would be made in the 'stats' page:

Individual Web Page Visits:

Page Statistics: 24
Club Statbot: 12
Downloadable Binaries: 28

Make note of the fact that a hypertext link was included as part of the text in the 'Downloadable Binaries' entry, and that the \" escape sequence was used to format it properly.

BACKGROUND_TEXT
This keyword is used to include a background GIF image as part of your Statbot statistics page. This keyword also lets you adjust the document attributes available under Netscape: TEXT, BGCOLOR, LINK, VLINK, and ALINK. The following example would add a background GIF:

BACKGROUND_TEXT: mybkgnd.gif

Background files can also be in directories other than WORK_DIR. Just use a relative path. The following example show a relative path:

BACKGROUND_TEXT: ../images/mybkgnd.gif

To add the document attributes, you must build a complex text string. This includes using the \" sequence to insert the double-quote character. Here is an example:

BACKGROUND_TEXT: "mybkgnd.gif text=\"#ffffff\" link=\" #ff0000\" vlink\"#00ff00\" alink=\"#00ffff\""

Note that each time the string required an embedded " character, the escape sequence \" was used. Also notice that the entire string is enclosed by double-quotes. All the document attributes may be used; the only requirement is that the entire HTML line must be contained on a single line in the statbot.cfg file. Line-wrapping is not allowed.

WWW_EXCLUDE_LIST
This keyword is used to "exclude" individual sites, groups or domains from being included in the statistics calculations. Many sites use this feature to exclude hits from their own sites, insuring that only hits from outside are counted. This is one example, there are other possibilities.

The following example would exclude my site (XMission):

WWW_EXCLUDE_LIST: xmission.com

The following example would exclude my site, and anyone from Netscape:

WWW_EXCLUDE_LIST: xmission.com,netscape.com

The following example would exclude the education and military domains:

WWW_EXCLUDE_LIST: .edu,.mil

The following example would exclude everyone above, as well as any site from the United Kingdom (not that I've got anything against them!):

WWW_EXLUDE_LIST: xmission.com,netscape.com,.edu,.mil,.uk

There is no limit on the number of sites, groups, or domains that can be listed under the WWW_EXCLUDE_LIST keyword.

Statbot's database contains entries for every site that accesses the User's WWW page(s). It also contains a list of timestamps for each site. This information is processed and data regarding 'unique' and 'total' accesses is determined. The difference between these two types of accesses is best illustrated using an example:

If tonto@lone.ranger.com accessed the User's WWW page at 10am and later that afternoon at 2pm; and sword@zorro.com accessed the User's WWW page at 9:30am, 12:30pm, and then again at 11:30pm, there would be 5 total accesses. There would also be 2 unique accesses, one for each visiting site.

Running Statbot Automatically
Up until now, you have been running Statbot manually - you type statbot on the command line, hit return, and watch as Statbot gathers the WWW statistics. At times, it can become inconvenient to run Statbot manually, and makes sense to let the Operating System automatically execute it.

Under UNIX, the two programs of choice are at and cron. The 'at' command allows a single, one-time execution of any UNIX command at a specified time or date. The 'cron' command is a program scheduler that allows the User to specify the time(s) during the day and day(s) of the week for program execution. For information on these commands, refer to your Host 'man' pages or references manuals.

When using cron to invoke Statbot automatically, the configuration file MUST be in the User's home directory. This is the only location that Statbot will be able to find the file in due to the environment that is established by cron prior to executing the script.

"I want to use Statbot, but I can't find the binary archive for my particular computer system. Where can I get it?"

New binary archives are added as soon as they become available. If the one you need is not found in the list, contact the author (especially if you know software).

"The first time I run Statbot, it seems to take forever. I give up after 5 minutes. What is happening?"

The first time Statbot is run, it must parse all Host logfiles and create a new database file. It is not uncommon to have Host logfiles greater than 50 Megabytes in size (or roughly 1,500,000 logfile entries). Depending on your system's load and the size and quantity of the logfiles, it can take Statbot 10 minutes or longer to run the first time. After this, the speed-up algorithms kick in and Statbot only requires a few seconds to update the database.

"Statbot seems to run correctly, but reports zero accesses. I know people have visited my home page. Why is this?"

This is the most common problem new Statbot users encounter, and it is usually due to missing information in the configuration file. Refer back to the Configuration section for more information, and pay particular attention to the WWW_PAGE_LIST keyword. If you've already done this, check out the online support areas in Club Statbot.

"I don't want to count visits from my own site in the statistics. Is there any way to exclude my own site?"

The WWW_EXCLUDE_KEYWORD was added for this very purpose. Refer to the Customizing Statbot section above for all the details.

"How many WWW pages can Statbot monitor?"

Statbot has the capability of monitoring an unlimited number of pages. The only real limitation is the size of your disk and the amount of system memory available.

"How many hits/day can Statbot process? How fast does it run?"

Statbot is running on sites that are visited more than 2,000,000 times each day. It can generate statistics on-the-fly due to the intelligent processing algorithms that are used. When Statbot is run once every 5 or 10 minutes, it takes less than 10 seconds each time to update the statistics.

"I really like the page title GIF files that came with Statbot. Are any more of them available?"

Dozens of 2D and 3D GIF files can be found in The Penthouse. They are only available to registered Statbot users.

"Is source available? If so, where is it located?"

The very latest ANSI 'C' source code to Statbot can be found in The Penthouse. It is only available to registered Statbot users.

"I tried to visit The Penthouse, but I couldn't get in. Why not? "

The Penthouse is a protected WWW page that requires a username and password to gain access to it. Only registered users are given a password. This page contains the Beta release of the next version of Statbot, as well as free software utilities, special offers, dozens of free GIF's designed especially for Statbot users, and other assorted goodies.

"What does the future hold for Statbot"

The next release of Statbot will include full support for auto-generated GIF images. These GIF's will show your statistics graphically using a variety of bar charts, pie charts, line graphs, and other visual methods. The alpha release will be online in September, and the beta-release will be available to all registered users before the end of October.
After the next release, the long-awaited and often-delayed database utilites will be finished. These utilities allow you to access the Statbot database and extract information such as visitor lists. There will also be ways to edit the database. For example, the User could delete all entries prior to a given date.

"I still can't get Statbot to work properly - where do I get technical support?"

The first place to check for help would be Club Statbot. There will be several online support areas devoted to configuration issues, bug lists, and last-minute announcements. If the information found here doesn't help, contact the author at the following Email address or use the Email form found on the WWW page:
Dave Tubbs
Email: dtubbs@xmission.com
Web: http://www.xmission.com/~dtubbs/

This procedure is designed to help experienced users install and configure Statbot as quickly as possible. Several 'default' conditions are assumed, so some of the more interesting options may not be enabled after this 'Quick Start' process is completed. Once Statbot has been installed and is running, it is strongly recommended that the User read the rest of the manual, particularly the Customizing Statbot and Advanced Topics sections.

Follow these instructions step-by-step and Statbot should be up and running in just a few minutes:

Refer to the Requirements section for an understanding of the Statbot running environment.
Create/locate the directory where the Statbot binary and associated support files will be located.
Copy the binary archive into this directory and extract the files.
Edit the 'statbot.cfg' file and update the following entries:
- Set WWW_LOG_DIRECTORY to the directory the Host logfiles are found.
- Set WORK_DIRECTORY to the directory the Statbot binary and support files are found.
- Set HTML_DIRECTORY to the directory you want the resulting 'stats' page to be copied to.
- Set WWW_LOG_LIST to the name of the most recent logfile.
- Refer to the Configuration section for proper configuration of the USER_ID and WWW_PAGE_LIST entries.
Run Statbot.

***** Unable to locate "statbot.cfg"
This message is displayed if Statbot is unable to locate the configuration file. Refer to the Configuration section for information regarding the proper location of this file.

***** Unable to load the parameters...
This message is displayed if an error occurred while Statbot was opening or reading the configuration file. This error occurs if the formatting or text content of the file is incorrect. It can also occur if the file permissions have been set to prevent reading the file. Refer to the Configuration section for information regarding the proper formatting and text content of the configuration file.

***** Statbot is already running - TERMINATED!
This message is displayed if Statbot found another Statbot process running on the system. This message can appear on multitasking operating systems like Unix and Windows NT. It can also occur if the previous Statbot process was prematurely aborted. If you are positive there are no other running copies of Statbot, delete the 'statbot.pid' file in the work directory and try again.

***** Unable to load the site database file...
This message is displayed if an error occurred while Statbot was opening or reading the database file. This error occurs if the database file has been corrupted or if the WORK_DIRECTORY keyword in the configuration file is set incorrectly. It can also occur if the file permissions have been set to prevent reading of the file.

***** Unable to save the site database file...
This message is displayed if an error occurred trying to update the database file. This error can occur if the WORK_DIRECTORY keyword in the configuration file is set incorrectly. It can also occur if the file permissions have been set to prevent writing into the specified directory.

***** Unable to create the HTML page...
This message is displayed if an error occurs while trying to create or write the HTML output page. This error can occur if the HTML_DIRECTORY keyword in the configuration file is set incorrectly. It can also occur if the file permissions have been set to prevent writing into the specified directory.

Lawrence Landweber and the Internet Society for creating and maintaining the international connectivity table from which the 'country.txt' file is derived.