sisNotifier

This is a program for Tufts CS students to use to get updated when grades are posted on SIS.

Step 1: ssh into the homework server

ssh UTLN@homework.cs.tufts.edu

Step 2: Clone this repository

git clone https://github.com/zachkirsch/sisNotifier.git && cd sisNotifier

Step 3: Run the setup script

sh setup

If you get some "Disk Quota Exceeded" errors, you don't have enough space for all the dependencies. This requires about 75 megabytes of space.

Step 4: Create password file

The next few paragraphs are important. Only use this program is you feel comfortable doing so.

In order to access SIS on your behalf, it needs your SIS password. To achieve this, you will need to place your SIS password in a file (for example, in the sisNotifier directory in a file called password.txt). Your SIS password is your Tufts password, not your Tufts CS password.

Of course, you should make sure not to share this file with anyone, or grant permissions to this directory to anybody else.

password.txt is included in the .gitignore for this repository, but if you name your password file something else, you should add that filename to the .gitignore.

Your password is never used as an argument to a script, so would-be sleuths who inspect server processes will not be able to see your password. However, the filename of your password file is passed as an argument, and is thus visible to other users.

The only script that accesses your password is parseGrades.py, which uses your password to sign onto SIS.

vim password.txt
<enter SIS password>
<realize you weren't in insert mode, so now everything is screwed up>
<press i for insert mode>
<enter SIS password>
<spend 10 minutes trying to figure out how to exit Vim>
<Escape>
<:x>
<phew>

Step 5: Try it

You can test if the script works by running notify.sh:

sh notify.sh <SIS username> <password file> <email>

For example, if your name is Jane Smith and your password is stored in password.txt, run the following command:

sh notify.sh jsmith01 password.txt jane.smith@tufts.edu

It should print out your grades to the terminal.

Step 6: Run daemon

Everything is now set up! With the included daemon.sh, you can run the notifier script repeatedly.

sh daemon.sh <epoch expiration> sh notify.sh <SIS username> <password-file> <email>

Combined with nohup, you can set the notifier to run in the background after you log off.

For the notifier to expire on 1/5/2017 (after grades are due), use the expiration 1483574400.

So, as an example, if your name is Jane Smith and your password is stored in passsword.txt, run the following command:

nohup sh daemon.sh 1483574400 sh notify.sh jsmith01 password.txt jane.smith@tufts.edu > /dev/null &

Step 7: Logout

You can now logout of the homework server, and you'll get an email every time your grades are updated on SIS.

logout

About

Created by Zach Kirsch, December 2016

Feel free to let me know if there are any problems.