CAB.OVL for STiK v1.2618 - July 1997

What is it?

CAB.OVL is a networking interface layer for use with CAB. This release is compatible with any STiK conforming TCP/IP layer, which meets the STiK standards. If you are using a STiK 2 (nearing release at this time) or better compatible layer special case code will be used which provides better functionality upon initiating connections, older STiK spec layers use the normal blocking method.

CAB_OVL now comes in 2 flavors, found in their respective folders in this archive:

NOTE : You cannot use the 030 version of the CAB_OVL on a ST/e/fm,MegaST/e

Foreward:

I've decided to release this now, due to problems that many users are having with 1.25. This release fixes many if not most of those problems.

NEW

Definately read through the rest of the document as some of the errors have changed and some user interaction has been ammended.

Known problems still existing

Variables CAB_OVL uses

These are set in the default.cfg or with an appropriate program that modifies STiK variables.

  1. EMAIL - format "EMAIL = me@myhost.com"

    This is the address where you would like any mail sent with the CAB.OVL to be addressed from. Not all mail servers will send mail with an incorrect email address or a non local email address.
  2. USERNAME - format "USERNAME = mylogin_name"

    This is used by CAB.OVL in conjunction with HOSTNAME, to attempt to create an email address, if the variable EMAIL is not present. This is also used in conjunction with authentication in PPP so this needs to be correct. (note PPP will be available in STiK 2)
  3. HOSTNAME - format "HOSTNAME = myhost.com"

    This is used with USERNAME in the event that EMAIL is not present to construct an email address for you.
  4. SMTP_HOST - format "SMTP_HOST = mail.myhost.com"

    CAB.OVL needs this if you want to send mail with it while cruising the web. It must be a valid SMTP mail host. Some hosts will not allow mail to be sent through them, if this is the case contact your ISP for an alternate mail host.
  5. HTTP_PROXY - format "HTTP_PROXY = proxy.www.cache.com"

    Used in conjunction with HTTP_PROXY_PORT for getting web documents from a local cache as opposed to the original remote host. This cache is not the normal CAB CACHE on your machine, but a similar structure on a remote machine. Many large ISP's supply these (ex. Demon in the UK) and many Universities require them to gain access to the web at all.
  6. HTTP_PROXY_PORT - format "HTTP_PROXY_PORT = 8080"

    Used in conjunction with HTTP_PROXY, for retrieving web documents from a remote cache. If your ISP supplies an HTTP proxy, you can get the info for the name and port from them.
  7. NNTP_PROXY - format "NNTP_PROXY = newsproxy.myhost.org"

    This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.
  8. NNTP_PROXY_PORT - format "NNTP_PROXY_PORT = 8080"

    This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.
  9. NNTP_HOST - format "NNTP_HOST = news.myhost.org"

    This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.
  10. FTP_PROXY - format "FTP_PROXY = ftp.myhost.org"

    This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.
  11. FTP_PROXY_PORT - format "FTP_PROXY_PORT = 8080"

    This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.
  12. GOPHER_PROXY - format "GOPHER_PROXY = gopher.myhost.org"

    This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.
  13. GOPHER_PROXY_PORT - format "GOPHER_PROXY_PORT = 8080"

    This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.
  14. WAIS_PROXY - format "WAIS_PROXY = wais.myhost.org"

    This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.
  15. WAIS_PROXY_PORT - format "WAIS_PROXY_PORT = 8080"

    This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.

(Quite a few eh? Bet you didn't know all that was there ;)

Errors CAB reports

There are 4 types of errors you might encounter during the use of CAB, with this CAB.OVL:

  1. Serious errors

    These are crashes, bombs, Magic's infamous error -69, and others of this type. Unfortunately you will find no more usefull information about these here.
  2. CAB intercepted errors

    These are the infamous "Runtime error at Offset xxx" errors. These might be in CAB or the CAB.OVL or some conjuntion between the two. If anyone has a copy of the error reports for Pure Pascal please send me a copy, as currently I have no idea what any of them actually mean.
  3. STiK errors

    Such as Krmalloc - memory corruption detected.
  4. CAB/CAB.OVL network error reports

    These I can give you more info on. When they occur in a compatible CAB they will appear in the status line.

CAB/CAB.OVL network error definitions

The CAB.OVL now processes and reports normal GEM errors that it encounters during it's operation.

Note: This version of the CAB.OVL uses an internal CAB call that was non existant in some versions of 1.5. So before you delete your old CAB.OVL and replace it with this one. Please test your version of CAB with this OVL. If it doesn't work with your version of CAB you will need to update your version of CAB.

This does not apply to users of the commercial version of CAB.

Thank you,

Dan

EoF