BBMan wx3/GTK3 Port

This repository is a modern Linux port of BBMan, a classic Taiwan BBS terminal client.

The current wxWidgets 3 / GTK3 port release is 3.2.0.

Upstream

The original BBMan project was published on SourceForge:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/bbman/

This Git repository was started from a BBMan 3.0.1 CVS checkout, imported as the first commit. It is not a GitHub fork of another repository.

Current Scope

The active port targets modern Linux desktops with wxWidgets 3 / GTK3. The main practical target is SSH access to PTT and similar Big5 BBS systems.

Supported in the active wx3 build:

• wxWidgets 3 / GTK3 UI
• Telnet connections
• SSH connections through the system OpenSSH client over a PTY
• Big5/HKSCS-oriented terminal rendering and input
• ANSI colors, BBS cursor behavior, selection, copy/paste, bookmarks
• Bundled BBS site list, themes, desktop file, and application icons
• libsecret-backed storage for saved site secrets

Not supported in the active wx3 build:

• The original embedded libssh implementation
• SFTP
• SSH password auto-login through BBMan's old libssh callback path

Build

Install build dependencies on Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt install build-essential pkg-config libwxgtk3.2-dev \
  libsecret-1-dev openssh-client

Build the wx3/GTK3 target:

cd unix
make -f Makefile.wx3

Run from the source tree:

./obj/bbman

Install

Install under /usr/local by default:

cd unix
sudo make -f Makefile.wx3 install

For packaging or testing an install tree:

cd unix
make -f Makefile.wx3 install DESTDIR=/tmp/bbman-install PREFIX=/usr

The install target installs:

• bbman
• bbman-wx3 compatibility symlink
• themes under share/bbman/theme
• bundled sites.dat
• desktop file
• hicolor application icons
• gettext message catalogs

SSH Model

Modern SSH support is implemented by spawning the system ssh client through forkpty(). BBMan talks to the PTY like a terminal; OpenSSH handles the SSH protocol, host keys, authentication, and password prompts.

For PTT, quick connection fallback can try bbs@ptt.cc over SSH before older telnet-style candidates. BBS account login remains a BBS-level interaction after the SSH connection is established.

Encoding Notes

The terminal still follows Big5 BBS byte semantics. The wx3 port decodes using BIG5HKSCS, which covers more historic BBS characters than plain Big5. Complete UAO 2.50 mapping is not implemented yet, so rare board-specific characters may still display as replacement glyphs.

Build Scope

The maintained build target is the wxWidgets 3 / GTK3 Linux build:

unix/Makefile.wx3

Old Dev-C++ Windows project files and wxGTK2-era Unix Makefiles were removed because the maintained SSH transport uses POSIX forkpty() and the system OpenSSH client.

License

The original source declares GPL licensing through a GPL URL, but the imported CVS tree does not name an exact GPL version. BBMan was originally released in the GPLv2 era, before GPLv3 existed, so this maintained fork is conservatively conveyed under GNU GPL version 2.

See LICENSE for the GPLv2 conveyance note, COPYING for the GPLv2 text, and license for the original one-line upstream file.