Media Share 9/MEDIASHARE_09.ISO/bbs/dwnsrt57.zip/DOWNSORT.INF

OS/2 Help File | 1993-06-25 | 91KB | 2,514 lines

ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1. About Downsort ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Downsort was originated in 1987 as a program for my own use when I was SYSOP of
the Bulletin Board PC-Square (2 The program name is related to the SORTing of
the collection of DOWNloadable files, in DOWNward time-stamp sequence and an
online Bulletin was the only list that was produced at that time. PC-Square was
running BinkleyTerm and OPUS under DOS, and file-requesting was not so popular
then.

Now PC-Square runs with OS/2, BinkleyTerm and MAXIMUS CBCS. I'm not SYSOP
anymore but still strongly involved. As a contribution to PC-Square and the
large international Bulletin Board community of MAXIMUS CBCS boards, and in the
highly appreciated spirit of BinkleyTerm, I decided to upgrade my Downsort
program to the current software. During the past years a lot of improvements
and extensions have been made: many user-configurable options for many more
output formats then the original Downsort.

The only dependency of Downsort on MAXIMUS CBCS is a parameter-file AREA.DAT,
which is usually created with a MAXIMUS utility (SILT(P)), which itself can be
used without actually running MAXIMUS! This is the way I work for testing of
Downsort.

Reference gives an impression of recent history.

Downsort is now developed in an OS/2 environment, but it is distributed as
'family'-application: it runs under OS/2 and DOS.

Downsort is in its 6-th year of development and has entered a period where life
becomes more and more complicated. While adding new features, I have tried to
maintain compatibility. This is the main cause of complications. Maybe in one
of the newer versions I have to leave this compatibility in favour of
maintainability and user-friendliness. In anticipation of this, please do not
use undocumented features, or styles of usage that are not described in this
document.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.1. Registration and Shareware Fee ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Downsort is a $ 0.00 Shareware Program. This means (to me) that you respect the
commonly known rules for shareware, but you don't have to pay me anything.

Registration is voluntary: please send me a netmail message with your name and
(net-)address if you are a regular user of Downsort as SYSOP. That gives me an
impression of the usage and the impact of changes to Downsort.

If you tell me that you are running Downsort on your Bulletin Board as service
to your users, and you appreciate to be mentioned, I'll add your name to the
reference list in Reference.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.2. Warranty ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

For this price? You must be kidding! But I'll listen to your complaints and
suggestions, and if time permits, I'll work on the improvements you suggested.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1.3. Acknowledgements ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

I would like to thank all users that contributed with constructive remarks and
encouraging appraisals. Without doubt Emmanuel Sandorfi of 2:320/5 holds the
record in number of suggestions and amount of additionally required programming
effort. He also provided some additional title-fonts (2 and 3).

I also would like to thank the regular users (SYSOP's of Bulletin Boards) who
made Downsort much more popular than I ever dreamed of! A collection of
geographically dispersed Boards can be found in Reference.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2. Overview ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Downsort is a program to make lists of available download files for Bulletin
Board Systems, especially MAXIMUS CBCS. The different types of lists are each
for a specific audience (online bulletin board user, file-requestor, SYSOP) and
purpose (all files, recent acquisitions). Within each type there are many ways
to customise the contents (selection on user-privilege or user-interest), and
format (sort-sequence of files, titles, logo, etc).

Downsort can produce the following report-types Reference for you: (all these
can be produced in one run).

o user-lists

   - BBS-list, a colorful overview for online users of MAXIMUS CBCS
   - NEW-list of the most recent files (as a response to a file-request of
     'NEWFILES')
   - ALL-list for a complete overview in a file-group per area (as a response
     to a filerequest of 'FILES' of 'ALLFILES')
   - IPF-list similar contents as ALL-list, but in a different presentation
     format (VIEW-able under OS/2)
   - GBL-list for a complete overview over the area-boundaries, as an
     alternative for ALL-list if you don't want to bother file-requestors with
     your area-structure

o SYSOP lists:

   - ORPHAN-report as a help with management of the contents of your area's and
     directories, and to correct possible upload problems or inconsistencies
   - DUP-list for a list of duplicate filenames as a help to control your
     disk-space and with version management.
   - OKFile for (Binkley) File Requests.
   - EMI-list for a list of new file arrivals to be included in an announcement
     message.
   - Updated FILES.BBS files

The lists can be generated for different privilege levels, and be customised to
a very high extend to present your system as you like it to be seen by your
users (headers, log, etc). At the same time Maximus (and OPUS) conventions are
reflected in the way the file information is presented.

A sample of most of these lists can be found in Reference.

In short: Downsort is a very versatile tool to manage your database of files,
both in an OS/2 and DOS environment.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2.1. Purpose and Objectives ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Downsort is designed for the following purposes:

 1. Produce different overviews of files which are available for download by
    online users of the Bulletin Board and by File Requestors. QUICK and EASY
    file retrieval is the main goal for the lists. Therefore many lists-types
    and within a type several variations should be available for SYSOP and
    users.

 2. Should not disclose files to users (file-requesters) without positive
    agreement by SYSOP.

 3. Detect discrepancies between the contents of FILES.BBS and the
    corresponding download directory, such as:

   o The directory contains so called orphan-files, which have no descriptive
     entry in FILES.BBS.
   o FILES.BBS contains entries of which the file in not in the directory (is
     'offline'). This may be on purpose!

 4. Must be able to be run unattended (typically overnight). The file-access
    privilege system of a Bulletin Board System like Maximus CBCS should be
    respected by the reports.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3. User's Guide ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This chapter explains the possibilities of Downsort. Parameter specifications
will be covered in Reference.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.1. Initial setup ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

When you are going to use Downsort for the first time, you have to make a
number of decisions. Below you'll find a kind of check-list, which is setup to
help you with a logical sequence of tasks to make the use of Downsort
succesful. It does NOT give detailed specifications, these can be found in
Reference.

The specifications will be put into a configuration file Downsort.CFG, which
may contain information about:

 1. Data Collection

    File information will be collected from:

   o Privilege and download path-information from AREA.DAT
   o Actual file-information from download directories
   o FILES.BBS files for file descriptions

 2. List Type Selection

    Downsort can produce the following report types for you (all in one run).

   o ORPHAN-report for SYSOP use only
   o BBS-list for online users of MAXIMUS CBCS
   o NEW-list(s) for a list of the most recent files
   o ALL-list(s) for a complete overview in a file-group per area
   o IPF-list(s) same as ALL-list, but in a different presentation format
     (VIEW-able under OS/2, there is a special IP2-list for OS/2 2.0).
   o GBL-list(s) for a complete overview over area-boundaries
   o DUP-list(s) for a list of possibly duplicate filenames
   o OKFile(s) for (Binkley) File Requests
   o EMIFile(s) to for a list of file arrivals over the last period
   o Updated FILES.BBS files

 3. File selection

    Reporting of file-information can be limited by:

   o Reporting privilege: only those files up to a certain privilege level will
     be listed
   o Area INclude or EXclude: for sub-selection for special interest groups
   o Number of files or period (days, weeks or months) to be reported

 4. List Customisation

    The layout of the lists can be jazzed-up with:

   o BLOCK-title and its font
   o TopTitle, SubTitle, BottomTitle, Include (logo-) file
   o Sorting sequence of area's in ALL-list (unsorted, name, include)
   o Sorting sequence of files (unsorted, date, filename)
   o Truncation or wrapping of file descriptions
   o Area- or file-privilege information
   o Message and Warning texts
   o Handling of Avatar codes in comment lines (strip or mimic).

    All in the language which suites your audience best.

The sample Downsort.CFG file (see Reference) contains defaults and a brief
information to help you with the parameter specifications.

Below you can find some more explanation.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.2. Data Collection ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ


AREA.DAT

A MAXIMUS file 'AREA.DAT' is absolutely required by Downsort. It is however not
necessary to run MAXIMUS itself, the AREA.DAT file is created with SILT(P) from
the MAXIMUS package. You can use this utility without the other MAXIMUS stuff.
In fact I do that myself (NOT running a MAXIMUS board)! If you run Downsort in
a directory without AREA.DAT, then you should use specify the filespec for
AREA.DAT. It allows also to specify a different AREA.DAT file than the one that
is used by your MAXIMUS.

With SILT(P) you may build a special AREA.DAT for exclusive use by Downsort,
with different, less, or even more directories! Probably much more convenient
is the use of AreaINclude or AreaEXclude in Downsort.CFG to limit the contents
of the lists to a group of area's, that you want to report together, while you
use the regular AREA.DAT. A combination of a 'special' AREA.DAT and
AreaIN/EXcludes is another option to obtain areagroups.

Remember: The combination of area privilege in AREA.DAT and the
report-privilege specification in Downsort.CFG may restrict the contents of
reports. AreaINclude is subordinate to this and will work only for the
collection of area's within these privilege limits.

If Downsort reports a memory constraint (see also Reference), you may use these
techniques as circumvention: exclude one or more of the file area's and rerun
Downsort.
FILES.BBS

Downsort uses the information in AREA.DAT to locate the description files,
usually called FILES.BBS. So either the ListFile specification in AREA.DAT, or
the download directory to locate them (Maximus default).


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.3. List Type Selection ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Downsort can produce several types of output reports, indicated by type of
list. The following list types are available:
ORPHAN report

This is a list of all files in download directories for which there is no entry
in any FILES.BBS file of all areas which have this directory specified as
download path. The report contains date, area-name and area-path of the orphan.
The entries are sorted on area and filename. Not reported are MAXIMUS system
files like: FILES.*, *.BAK, DIR.?BS and SYSTEM*.?BS.

If you have more than 1 area pointing to the same download directory, but with
different FILES.BBS files, the orphans are reported for the first of these
areas only.

Note:  If there is an entry for a file in FILES.BBS without a description, the
file is NOT considered to be an Orphan!
BBS-list

This is a list of downloadfiles that became recently available on your system.
File selection is on date, but for presentation the list may be sorted on date,
newest first or on filename.

The list contains compiled MECCA control sequences, for direct use in MAXIMUS
bulletins: a user-privilege sensitive list! It might be a good idea to put a
translated [onexit] string, which translates into: ^OFpath. When a user exits
from the BBS-list bulletin, it will fall back to the exit-bulletin.

The length of the file (number of file-entries) may be limited by parameters:

o file-count
o file age in days, weeks or months (30 days)
o maximum privilege

(never more than available within the privilege limit). If neither specified it
will contain all available files in all download directories.

To make it easy for you to build a complete MAXIMUS bulletin-file a
user-provided header is included preceding the list and a trailer at the end of
the list. Header and trailer can be built by SYSOP, and may contain any
information and bulletin-control sequences (a sample is provided).
NEW-list

Basically the same list as above, but in simple ASCII format. This list is
suitable for regular file-requestors as brief overview of the latest additions,
updates or replacements.
EMI-list

Basically the same as NEW-list, but more compact:

o contains file also file-time and exact filesize in bytes.
o Description wrapping (if used) is overlapping the file-details except
  filename.

The EMI-list is especially suitable to generate file-arrival messages (the
output should be included by another program).
ALL-list

A list of all downloadfiles by area. Files of the same area are listed in
groups, separated by imbedded headers with area-name, -description, and
-privilege. Actual status information is provided in the area-header as well:
area-filecount and -bytecount, and latest acquisition (date and file-name).

At the end a SUMMARY report shows per area: area-title, file-count, byte-count,
and totals.

The size of this list is limited only by the privilege parameter. The numbers
in area-header and summary report show only what is available for the
particular privilege.

You may generate several ALL-lists in one run!
IPF- and IP2-list

Same contents as ALL-list but in a different format. Only useful for users that
run OS/2 (OS/2 version 1.2+ under Presentation Manager). This file has the
format of an input-file for the Information Presentation Facility Compiler
(IPFC).

There is a separate form of this list (called IP2-list) for OS/2 2.0. It
produces information that can be compiled only with the accompanying IPF
Compiler of the OS/2 2.0 Toolkit. The result however can be VIEWed under OS/2
1.3!
GBL-list

Similar to ALL-list, but where ALL-list gives the files in groups per area, the
GBL-list ignores area-boundaries and gives a single group. It contains an extra
column with the area-code for each file, there is no area-summary.

SYSOP may choose which of both is suitable to make available to users, and
which to use for himself (or even both).

The GBL-list can be used in stead of the ALL-list if your users prefer
searching in the list without having to bother about area-organisation.
Although one of the original purposes of the GBL-list was checking for
duplicate files, there is now also a special report for this particular purpose
(see Reference).
DUP-list

Simple report of possibly duplicate files over the area's. The format is
basically the same as the GBL-list, but only files with the same filename are
reported. 'Offline' files are included in the check, orphans are not!

Please note that the DUP-list may not always contain what you expect. It can be
more or less, for example:

o Downsort looks primarily at filenames only (extension is of second
  importance, path is completely ignored).
o You may have explicitly excluded area's from the search.
o You may have excluded area's by privilege: Downsort completely ignores area's
  with a higher privilege than any report asked for.
o You have duplicates in 'orphan'-state.

These circumstances may give 'false' signals or hide duplicates!

All duplicate files within the privilige-range will be reported, even when a
counterpart has a higher privilege or are orphan (and thus will not be reported
in the DUP-list)! You may need a file-finder-utility to search for the
'partner'-file in one of the directories with a higher privilege.

There are very few other parameters applicable to this list. File descriptions
may be specified as truncated or wrapped. All user-titles are left out and only
a sort on filename is supported.

Suppression of reporting files with equal filenames and different extensions is
possible with the "NonDupEXT" keyword in Downsort.Cfg. You specify pairs of
extensions. Two files with equal filename and one of each having an extension
specified as 'pair' will not be reported as duplicate. For example, if you
specify:

   NonDupEXT  SDN  SDA
then file pairs xyz.SDN and xyz.SDA will not be reported in the DUP-list.

This pair-exclusion can also be used for more than 2 extensions, but the
exclusion works only for pairs of files. So then you must specify as many pairs
as can be formed. For example if you want to exclude file combinations like
xyz.IDX xyz.DAT and xyz.EXT, then you should specify:

   NonDupEXT  IDX DAT  IDX EXT  DAT EXT

Warning: The check on duplicates by Downsort works only when you specify all
possible pairs of extensions! If you fail to specify any possible pair, the
Dup-list may contain false signals.

Multiple pairs may be specified on a line, and multiple lines are allowed. Up
to 100 pairs of extensions will be accepted by Downsort in total.
OKFile

List filespecifications for file-requests in BinkleyTerm style. The generated
paths in the list obey the following rules:

o the area-privilege is within the privilege limit of the report

o the area is not excluded (by areaEXclude)

o the area has at least 1 file within the privilege limit of the report

The paths are sorted on area-name (although the area-name is not part of the
list). There is no check on duplicate paths.

The list is not jazzed-up with titles, etc, but a file may be included in front
of the list if specified on the OKFileList in Downsort.CFG (see Reference).
This option allows you to insert a list of 'magic' names in the OKFile.

Two formats are available:

o SHORT format with lines in the format "filepath\*.*". This is the regular
  format for BinkleyTerm and other mailers.
o LONG format with lines in the format: "@filespec  filepath\filespec". All
  files have a 'magic'-name assigned and there are no generic file
  specifications in the OKFileList. This prevents directory searches for
  BinkleyTerm for each file request.

Note:  Some newer versions of BinkleyTerm can use the file base of Maximus to
find a file even faster.
FIL-list

New "FILES.BBS" type of file may be (re-)created, one for every area. The
contents of the file-information will be about the same as the original
FILES.BBS, but with the following notes:

o A header is generated with area-name, -title, and -privilege. Also the total
  amount of files and bytes and the most recently acquired new file in this
  area is part of the header information.
o Files with a privilege up to and including the area-privilege are listed
  first.
o Files can have a privilege other than the area-privilege when the original
  FILES.BBS file contains ^Pp-sequences ('p' being a privilege letter). This
  construction will be rebuilt by Downsort. Files with a higher privilege than
  the area-privilege will follow after a compiled MECCA-sequence (^Pp) in the
  new FILES.BBS. Downsort respects these indicators when reading FILES.BBS, so
  all file-privilege information is retained. This ensures no accidental loss
  of file-information, and the regular user won't see more than he should.
o Wild-card specifications in the original FILES.BBS are not propagated to the
  new FILES.BBS.
o The file description is kept internally as a single string of about 2 KBytes
  (Maximus 2.0 supports up to 240 bytes!) When creating FILES.BBS files, this
  will be the file format (single record per file-entry). The original
  FILES.BBS may contain a (long) single string description, or multiple (short)
  multiline descriptions. When encountering multiline descriptions in
  input-FILES.BBS, Downsort concatenates the separate description lines with a
  single intermediate space up to a maximum of 2 KBytes. This will be the
  output format if the FIL-list is requested.
o Comments in FILES.BBS will be preserved only when the Keep-Sequence option is
  used (specify /K on the FilFileList line of Downsort.Cfg).

Special attention is requested for the following:

o The first 8 lines, if comments (starting with a '-'-character), are
  discarded, These are assumed to be the standard header for FILES.BBS of
  Downsort.
o Downsort from version 5.7 on uses the 3 characters: <-><ы><backspace> for
  each of its header-lines, and will skip all lines starting with this sequence
  during the data collection phase, even when encountered after line 8.
o You can include your own file with the /I-option on the FILFilePath line in
  Downsort.Cfg in the header of FILES.BBS. All lines in the include-file for
  FILES.BBS output will be prefixed by Downsort with the 3 character sequence
  mentioned above to make sure that these will also be 'refreshed' by Downsort.

The destination of FILES.BBS-files is not by definition the same as the origin!
When specified with the "FIL:"-parameter (or in the configuration file), the
output may be located in a different directory than the original input
FILES.BBS.

When the output is directed to a separate directory, the files will be named as
follows:

FILES.ac      when all areanames (areacodes) of the selected areas in a single
              run of Downsort are 3 bytes or less.

areaname.BBS  when any areaname is longer than 3 bytes.

The format of the header will be slightly different. Font specification (/Fx in
FILFileList) works for the second case only.

Manual checking or post-processing by some other program may follow Downsort,
after which the files might be put back on the MAXIMUS specified position.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.4. Data Selection ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ


Privilege control

The default file privilege to be shown in the lists is SYSOP. All files with a
higher privilege than the specified (or defaulted) report-privilege will not
appear in the report.

Files without a matching filename-entry in FILES.BBS are treated as Hidden.
That means that by default these files will not be listed, unless the 'H'
privilege is used on the report-request specification.

If you run a mailer like BinkleyTerm and support file-requests, you lack the
extensive privilege system like Maximus. The only distiction BinkleyTerm makes
with file-request is 'unknown', 'known' and 'password-protected'. You may
generate multiple download lists with different privilege indictor, depending
if you allow these categories to request different file collections a sample of
this kind of environment is given in Reference.

This is not needed for Downsort.BBS, since this file has imbedded privilege
control sequences for MAXIMUS users. But you should specify a sufficiently high
privilege for the BBS-list to satisfy your most valuable users!
AREA selection

When you need file selections on subject, you can use AreaINclude or
AreaEXclude to limit the lists to files that are part of certain area-groups.
You should realise that this is the latest selection phase: privilege selection
has taken place already before AreaINclude or AreaEXclude are processed. So
make sure you specified a sufficiently high report-privilege to get the proper
areas into the group.
Report length

For lists that are meant to show the latest file-information only (BBS-list and
NEW-list), the length of the list can be limited to a maximum number of
file-entries or to file-age in days, weeks or months.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.5. List Customisation ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ


Headers, Titles and Include files

There are several ways to custimise the appearance of the lists for Downsort.
All items in the following list are optional, but the sequence in the reports
is fixed and as listed:

Pre-Title   Up to 20 lines as very first lines of your lists. Any text may be
            specified. Leading '~'-characters (tilde) will be treated as
            full-size required blanks, mainly to manually align (center) the
            text in these lines. There is no automatic centering. You may have
            to experiment a little.

TITLE       A short title (8-12 characters), that will be magnified to big
            BLOCK-letters. There are 4 block-fonts to choose from. Not all
            characters are supported and lower-case will be translated to
            upper-case. The '~'-character (tilde) will be treated as full-size
            required blank, the '`'-character (accent-grave) as half-size
            required blank.

            If not specified, a default title is generated as Downsortxy, where
            xy stands for the current version of Downsort.

TitleFont   Number of the font to be used for the BLOCK title. If specified as
            0, the BLOCK-title will NOT be generated at all.

Include-file A text-file to be included. There will be no manipulation of the
            contents of this file. This include-file may be all you need to
            obtain a fully custimised list. For the IPF-list this include file
            will most likely have to contain IPF tags for proper formatting,
            for the OK-file it will be a list of 'magic' name entries.

Sub-Title   Up to 20 lines. These are treated like the Pre-Title lines.

BottomTitle Up to 20 lines as very last lines of the lists. These follow my
            'signature'. The lines follow the same treatment as Pre-Title
            lines.

The BLOCK-title and Pre-, Sub-, and Bottom-titles are used for all reports
identically, there is no such thing as an 'individual' title specification for
each report. However the Include-file may be different for each report. If you
want to build more than 1 list but with different 'headings' or no headings at
all, you better forget the Title-options. In stead make heading-files and use
the Include option of the individual list specifications.

Note:  Exceptions:

 1. None of the above does apply to the BBS-list. As it will generally be
    desirable to imbed (compiled) MECCA control sequences in this type of
    lists, this report will include dedicated top and bottom files (if
    available in the current default directory). These files must be called
    Downsort.HDR (header) and Downsort.TRL (trailer).

 2. The ORPHAN report will not contain any user-titles.

 3. The FILES.bbs files will not use any of the title-specifications, but may
    use an Include-file.

Recommendation: File-requestors appreciate a header with a clear indication of
the source of the reports. Many Bulletin Boards use FILES or ALLFILES as
'magic' name, but that is not very distinctive if you collect lists of
different boards! So use Downsort's facilities to generate a block-title with
your system-name, or an include file with some kind of logo.

Note:  Specification details and samples can be found in Downsort.CFG.

Some SYSOPs do not like to confront their users with privileges. In most
headers there will be a line with the reporting privilege. This may be
suppressed.
File Sorting

The file-entries in the lists can be sorted on different keys:

o Filedate

o Filename

o Sequence of FILES.BBS

The default sorting sequence depends on the type of list. Some lists do not
support some of these sorting keys.

Note:  File sorting has a local scope. It can be specified for to each listtype
individually.
Area Sorting

The order in which the areas are presented in the lists can be specified:

o Order of AREA.DAT
o Sorted alphabetically on areaname
o Order of areaINclude statement in Downsort.Cfg
o Groupname-order

The Groupname-order is a special order based on a popular naming convention for
areas. Many SYSOPs use areanames with a group-name or -letter followed by a
sequence number. With groupname sorting the areaname is split - if possible -
into a groupname (if the first character is not be numeric) and a sequence
number (if the last part of areaname is numeric). Primary sort key is
groupname, secundary sortkey is sequence number. If the first character of the
area-name is numeric, the groupname is empty, and if the last part of the
areaname is not numeric, the second key is empty.

If the ordering does not match your more complicated area naming convention,
you can always fallback on a properly sequenced AREA.DAT, or on areaINclude
sequence.

If Include-order is specified, but AreaINclude is not, then the order falls
back to Group-order.

The area-order specification has a global scope. It applies to every lists
where the areaname is significant, including summaries in ALL- and IPF-lists.

Default sorting order is 'Group'.
Warnings, Indications, Descriptions and Comments

o There are two options for long file descriptions (those that do not fit on a
  80-character line):

   - Truncation at end-of-line
   - Wrapping to multiple lines

  Both options are available for all lists, but the defaults vary with the type
  of the report.

o Orphan description: Text that will be reported in the description column of a
  file, when for this file no entry in FILES.BBS could be located.

  Default: "--- Orphan ---".

o Not-Found description: Text for the description column when the file-entry
  was found in FILES.BBS, but there was no description present.

  Default: "--- no description available ---".

o Offline description: Text that will replace file-size and file-date, when an
  entry for this file was found in FILES.BBS, but the file could not be located
  in the download directory.

  Default: "** offline **".

o Comments in FILES.BBS (mostly used for additional description for groups of
  files) will be listed when no sorting is specified (the /K option for ALL-,
  IPF- and FIL-lists).

  When Downsort encounters Avatar screen handling codes in FILES.BBS these are
  stripped of or partially imitated in the output lists (unless AVAstrip No is
  specified in Downsort.Cfg). Typical screen handling commands (cursor
  movement, color settings) are just stripped, ohers (repeating characters of
  patterns) are imitated.

o Size of a VIEW-page in IPF-list: The IPF-list of area's with more than 250
  file entries will be splitted into 'parts' to prevent the IPF-compiler
  message 'page size exceeded'. But if you have many long descriptions, or wish
  smaller parts, the page-size can be altered with a parameter on the
  IpfFileList line in Downsort.CFG.

  Default: 250.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.6. Miscellaneous report information ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ


File Information in Lists

 1. Dates are marked with a 'new'-indicator: a '*' if the file is only since a
    week on this system, and a '+' if it is since a month. Filedates later than
    the current system date are marked '-' (negative age).

 2. In every outputfile the filename, MAXIMUS-area name, file-size and -date,
    and file-description from FILES.BBS is listed. A report-line will never
    display more than 79 characters.

    The file-description will be multi-line in ALL-, IPF- and GBL-list if it is
    longer than would fit on the standard 79-position line, a word-wrapping
    technique is used for readability (line-split on word boundary). The
    description is truncated at end of line in BBS-list and NEW-list.

    The -T option will force truncation of the description in all reports, the
    -W option will allow multi-line descriptions in all reports.

    If a filename is found in FILES.BBS, but no accompanying description, a
    "--- no description available ---" will be put in place. An alternative
    text may be specified with Downsort.CFG.

    Files for which there is no entry in the FILES.BBS (Orphans) are treated as
    Hidden files, which are only listed in the reports if the Hidden privilege
    is specified.

    Note:  If you want the orphans to appear in FILES.BBS (or in any other
    report), you MUST also request an ORP-list!

 3. 'OFFLINE" in stead of file-size and file-date is reported if FILES.BBS
    contains an file-entry while the file is not in the corresponding
    directory.

 4. The BBS-list contains MAXIMUS authorisation controls (^PLp-sequences),
    corresponding to the privilege of the area or the individual file. So it is
    not necessary to make different files for different categories of MAXIMUS
    users, even with the default privilege-limit SYSOP a user will not see the
    files he/she is not supposed to know about.

    Other lists do not contain any privilege information, the files (or
    complete area's) above the specified privilege are simply not listed,
    however multiple lists can be produced for different categories of users
    (based on privilege).

File Dates

One of the function of Downsort is sorting on file date. Since the introduction
of HPFS in OS/2 version 1.2, there is not one single file-date anymore! A file
on an HPFS volume has different values for:

o Creation date
o LastAccess date
o LastWrite date

The date you see normally in DIR-listings is the LastWrite date. Most SYSOPs
will have noticed that ZMODEM uploads and file-attaches give file-dates
corresponding to the (LastWrite-) date of the sending system. And most
utilities handle only this 'single' date. That means that old ZMODEM-uploaded
files are generally not on top of the acquisition lists.

But HPFS stores the date of arrival on your system (Creation) as well. Downsort
handles the Creation date for sorting, but the lists (see below) contain the
'old fashioned' LastWrite date. This has the following consequences:

o A new acquisition is on top of lists, if that list is sorted on date, and are
  marked in the lists as new by a flag for an 'age' of a week or a month.
o The listed file-date is the 'ordinary' date. So users can judge for
  themselves if the file is 'new' for them as well.

Note:  The LastAccess date is not very relevant for the purposes of Downsort,
although SYSOP may see when it was last downloaded.

Downsort is delivered with a simple DIR-like utility 'HPFSDATE' to show the
three dates of a file on a HPFS volume.
Duplicates

Duplicate filenames are checked if the DUP-list is requested, and they will be
reported only in the DUP-list. So duplicates may appear in the regular
user-lists, which means:

o If a filename.ext is encountered more than once in different subdirectories
  of FILES.BBS files, it will appear that many times in the outputlist. The
  file-privilege reflects that of the area where the file belongs to, unless
  overridden by a ^Px modifier in FILES.BBS.
o It may happen that a file is reported as orphan in one area, and as duplicate
  in another. It is likely that the file is found in a common download
  directory of more than one area but it is described in the FILES.BBS of a
  'secundary' area, but with the wrong extension.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4. Parameter Specifications ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This chapter tells you how to customise the configuration file and what you
might specify on the commandline.

A sample configuration file (in Reference) is part of the package. It contains
a brief comments (in Binkley and MAXIMUS style) to help you.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.1. Commandline parameters ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This paragraph deals only with the commandline parameters!

NOTE: Parameters from Downsort.CFG are processed first, commandline parameters
may complete and (partly) override those in the configuration file.

An explanation of how to read the command syntax diagram can be found in the
(online) OS/2 Command Reference manual.


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@filespec   The character '@' followed by a complete file specification of the
            Downsort configuration file (see Reference for details). This file
            will be used to specify processing parameters. If the file cannot
            be read, only the commandline parameters are used.

            NOTE: The use of a configuration file is mandatory when the file
            AREA.DAT is not in the default directory when running Downsort.

            Default: Downsort.CFG in current default directory.

BBS         Create the BBS-list: Downsort.BBS.

            Default: Downsort.BBS will not be created.

NEW         Create NEW-list(s): Downsort.N~p, where 'p' is the appropriate
            privilege class (see below).

            Default: Downsort.N~p will not be created.

EMI         Create EMI-list(s): Downsort.E~p, where 'p' is the appropriate
            privilege class (see below).

            Default: Downsort.E~p will not be created.

ALL         Create ALL-list(s): Downsort.A~p, where 'p' is the appropriate
            privilege class (see below).

            nnn-limit does not apply to ALL-list.

            Default: Downsort.A~p will not be created.

IPF         Create IPF-list(s): Downsort.I~p, where 'p' is the appropriate
            privilege class (see below).

            nnn-limit does not apply to IPF-list.

            Default: Downsort.I~p will not be created.

GBL         Create GBL-list(s): Downsort.G~p, where 'p' is the appropriate
            privilege class (see below).

            nnn-limit does not apply to GBL-list.

            Default: Downsort.G~p will not be created.

DUP         Create DUP-list(s): Downsort.DUP.

            Only the privilege-specification and WRAP/TRUNC flag apply to
            DUP-list.

            Default: Downsort.DUP will not be created.

OK          Create OKFile(s): Downsort.O~p.

            Only the privilege(s) and include-file specifications apply to the
            OKFile.

            Default: Downsort.O~p will not be created.

ORP         Create ORP-list: Downsort.ORP (orphan report, if any orphans).

            If an orphan report is not requested, no other report will contain
            any orphan information, even when 'Hidden' is specified as
            reporting level.

            Default: Downsort.ORP will not be created.

FIL         Create FILES.BBS type of files for each area.

            The specification does not apply to FILES.BBS, a privilege-limit
            cannot be specified and defaults to SYSOP. Another privilege limit
            can be specified however by means of the configuration file.

            For each individual area the following convention will be used for
            the name and place of the FILES.BBS list (in this sequence):

    1. If the "FIL:" parameter specifies a directory-path, then the
       output-'FILES.BBS'-files of all areas are put in this directory with the
       following naming convention:

       a. When the length of any reported areaname is longer than 3 characters,
          all outputfiles will be called 'areaname.BBS', where "areaname" is
          the name of the area according to Maximus' AREA.DAT.
       b. Otherwise the outputfile will be called "FILES.ac", where 'ac' is the
          areaname. This is the 'old' naming convention (before version 5.7) of
          Downsort.

       In other words: only one of both naming conventions will be used during
       a single run of Downsort, and if none of the reported area's has a name
       longer than 3 characters it will be the 'old' convention for all.

       Previous files in this directory with the same name will be discarded.

    2. If "ListFile" is specified in Maximus' AREA.CTL file, then that name and
       path will be used.
    3. Otherwise the file FILES.BBS: will be put in the directory with the
       download files.

            For situations 2 and 3 existing files will be renamed to .BAK
            (older .BAK files will be discarded).

            Default: FILES.BBS-type of files will not be generated.

fpath       Optional directory path specification for FILES.BBS-output. See the
            "FIL:" parameter for usage.

            Default: none

nnn[P]      If 'nnn' is specified sec (without a trailing letter), then it is
            the maximum number of files to be reported in the BBS- and
            NEW-list(s). When followed by a character (only D, W and M are
            allowed), then 'nnn' specifies the maximum age of the files in
            number of Days, Weeks or Months, to be included in NEW- and
            BBS-lists. A maximum value of 32767 can be specified.

            Default: all files up to and including the (specified or default)
            privilege class will be listed..

p           Single privilege character.

            Lists only download files with a privilege of up to and including
            privilege 'p'. The indicator must be the first character of an
            existing MAXIMUS privilege level (T, D, L, N, W, P, F, E, C, A, S,
            H). No error-message is given for an invalid privilege character,
            there will simply be no file-list for an invalid character!

            For the BBS-list and DUP-list only a single privilege character is
            allowed, the files lists will get the extension of BBS and DUP
            respectively.

            Default: S  (SYSOP):  files of all privilege levels will be listed,
            except HIDDEN files (with real Hidden privilege or files for which
            no entry could be found in FILES.BBS).

pp          Multiple privilege characters (minumum 0, maximum 10).

            Make for every valid specified privilege level a download-list with
            files of a privilege of up to and including privilege 'p'. The
            indicator must be the first character of an existing MAXIMUS
            privilege level. No error-message is given for an invalid privilege
            character, there will simply be no file-list for an invalid
            character!

            Applies to ALL-, GBL-, IPF-, NEW- and OK-lists, these are called
            Downsort.A~p, Downsort.G~p, Downsort.I~p, Downsort.N~p and
            Downsort.O~p respectively, were 'p' represents the applicable
            privilege character.

            Default: S  (SYSOP):  files of all privilege levels will be listed,
            except HIDDEN files (with real Hidden privilege or files for which
            no entry could be found in FILES.BBS).

/T /W       Action to be taken if the file description would cause the
            reportline to exceed 79 characters:

   o T - truncate the description
   o W - wrap the description and provide as many reportlines as needed to show
     the complete description.

            Default: -T for NEW-list and BBS-list, -W for ALL-, IPF- and
            GBL-list.

/A /D /K    Sorting method.

   o A - Sort the files alphabetically on filename.
   o D - Sort the files on reversed date sequence (newest file on top of list).
   o K - keep lines in sequence of FILES.BBS and keep the interfile comment
     lines.

            When the -A option is selected, an additional header-line will
            appear in the BBS-list and NEW-list, indicating the latest
            acquisition. This line is not needed and will not be done when
            these lists are sorted on date, since the the latest acquisition
            will be on top of the list!

            The -K option is useful in situations where the files are primarily
            grouped on AREA, i.c. ALL-, IPF- and FIL-list.

            If and only if this option specified, any imbedded comments in
            FILES.BBS are copied to the ALL-, IPF- and/or FILES.bbs-files.

            Default: -K for FILES.BBS, -D for BBS- and NEW-files, -A for other.

/L          Generate a LONG OKfile with explicit filenames, rather than a list
            with generic file specifications (path\*.*).

/H /Q /V    Operating mode

   o H - help:  display screen with essential information about running
     Downsort, such as the command syntax. In that case the program will not
     undertake any other action.
   o Q - quiet:  display only start and finish-message, and error messages
     which prevent the program from proceeding normally.
   o V - verbose:  display a lot of progress messages. If neither -Q nor -V is
            specified, than the number of console messages will be
            'intermediate': more than -Q, but less than -V.

            Default: none

/X          Exclude Privilege Indications

   o X - exclude privilege indications in all list-types. Some SYSOPs want to
     hide any kind of privilege-system for users and file-requesters of their
     Bulletin Board System. With the -X option specified all privilege
     indications will be suppressed.

     Note:  This does not apply to the compiled MECCA privilege controls in the
     BBS-list!

            Default: none (privilege indications will be reported).


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.2. Hints for specifications ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

 1. All commandline parameters are optional, may be specified in any sequence
    and are case independent.

 2. Parameters from the configuration file are processed before those from the
    commandline. This has some side-effects, like:

   o If you specify a specific list in Downsort.CFG, it will be created anyhow,
     whatever you specify on the commandline.
   o However, if you specify privilege values on the commandline, only the
     commandline values will be used, and none from the configuration file.
   o Commandline parameters have a global meaning, and are applied to all lists
     (if applicable). For example: if you specify '-A' on the commandline, all
     lists will be sorted alphabetically on filename.

 3. Parameters that can be specified with the configuration file only, and
    cannot be overridden with a commandline parameter are:

   o BLOCK title-text and -font
   o Other titles
   o Filename and individual list-options
   o Privilege for FILES.BBS output
   o Replacements of some warnings and messages that may appear in the lists.

 4. Even when specified on the commandline, or in Downsort.CFG, the
    Orphan-report will be generated only if there are any orphans, and then the
    specified parameters apply.

 5. The IPF-list has to be processed by the Information Presentation Facility
    Compiler (IPFC). This compiler is part of the IBM Programmers Development
    Toolkit version 1.2 and 1.3 (maybe also in some other toolkit). The
    following command has to be issued:

            IPFC  Downsort.IPF  /INF

    The option "/INF" is essential (but not documented!) to obtain a viewable
    file. Be also sure to have the file Downsort.BMP in your current default
    directory, or in DPATH, as this will be imbedded by the IPF-compiler. The
    result of the compilation is a file Downsort.INF, which can be VIEWed with
    the following command:

            VIEW  Downsort

    Note:

   o The names "Downsort", "IPF" and "INF" are used here as sample, actually
     the filename depends on the specification in the Downsort configuration
     file, the extensions are the IPFC defaults.
   o If VIEW gives garbled columns and hardly readable block-titles, then it is
     most likely that you did not install (or removed) the standard fonts that
     are delivered with OS/2. Start the 'control panel utility', select
     'installation', 'add fonts'. Specify in the 'from'-field C:\OS2\DLL (see
     HELP of control panel). Now choose at least 1 non-proportional font.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4.3. Configuration file Parameters ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Almost all processing options may be specified in a configuration file. This is
a somewhat more convenient way to specify processing parameters, and provides
even more customisation posibilities for the lists. It is a good place for the
more static parameters of your environment. Commandline parameters are nice to
create quickly 'another' list or a different format (for example wrapped or
truncated descriptions). The parameters are only mentioned here for
completeness, see Reference for a documented specification sample of a
configuration file.
Parameters with global scope

The parameters below influence the execution of Downsort, or have impact on
every list (if it is applicable for that list).

o File Specification of the MAXIMUS CBCS file 'AREA.DAT'.
o Area Selection
o Sorting order of areas
o List title with BLOCK-characters.
o Font for the BLOCK title.
o Pre-titles, Sub-titles and Bottom-lines in 'text' format
o Descriptive text of orphans, files without a description and files for which
  an entry is found in FILES.BBS, but could not be found in the corresponding
  download directory.
o Maximum number of entries in NEW-list and BBS-list.

Parameters with local scope

The parameters below are sub-parameters of the xxxFileList keyword.

o Up to 10 privileges for NEW-, GBL-, ALL- and IPF-list (each resulting in a
  separate list).
o Alternate output filename (in stead of the default Downsort).
o Directory for the output FILES.BBS-lists
o Maximum number of file entries in NEW-list and BBS-list
o File-entry sort sequence (filename or date).
o Wrap or Truncate long file descriptions.
o Title Font selection.
o Suppression of privilege indications in NEW-, ALL-, IPF- and GBL-lists.
o Include textfile in NEW-, ALL-, IPF- and GBL-lists, and in FILES.bbs.

Downsort can generate several lists in a single run, but processes only the
specifications of a single xxxFileList of the same type. If you need different
layouts, for example an ALL-list with files sorted on date, and another
ALL-list with files sorted on filename, then you would need 2 invocations of
Downsort with different configuration files.

If you specify more than one xxxFileList line of the same type, then the
paramaters of each of the lines are 'mixed': some will be overwritten, some
others will remain there from previous specifications. It will probably give
unwanted effects!

A sample configuration file is provided. A listing of this file is imbedded as
Reference. It contains a complete specification with comments on:

o which options are available
o how to specify the options

Read and modify the file as you like. Copy the sample file to a save place
before you start modifying the original Downsort.CFG!

NOTE: The parameters from Downsort.CFG are processed first, then commandline
parameters, which may complete and will (partly) override those in the
configuration file.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5. Sample of Getting organised ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Assume you are runnung MAXIMUS with BinkleyTerm as front end mailer. Suppose
you make a distinction for file-requestors between Unknown, Known and
Password-Protected (e.g. corresponding to Disgrace, Normal and Privileged
MAXIMUS users).


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.1. Downsort ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

You might have a specification like this:

  Downsort bbs:p new:dnp all:dnp 100

In addition to or in place of the specifications in Downsort.CFG, this
specification produces the following lists:

o Orphan report (only if there are any orphans).

o Downsort.BBS with 100 entries for MAXIMUS users of category Privil. Users
  with a lower privilege will actually see a shorter list if the file contains
  Privil entries.

o For file requestors of the magic filename FILES a list, a list with all files
  (with optional titles via Downsort.CFG specifications):

   - Downsort.A~D for UNKNOWN file-requestors
   - Downsort.A~N for KNOWN file-requestors
   - Downsort.A~P for Password Protected file-requestors

  Note that each list is a complete list of what is available to the user of
  the specific privilege class, but your system will generally contain more
  files than listed for UNKNOWN and KNOWN users!

o For file requests of the magic filename NEWFILES a list of the 100 most
  recent additions to your system (with optional titles via Downsort.CFG
  specifications):

   - Downsort.N~D for UNKNOWN file-requestors
   - Downsort.N~N for KNOWN file-requestors
   - Downsort.N~P for Password Protected file-requestors

  Note that each list is 100 entries long, but the contents will generally not
  be quite the same (depending on your privilege strategy).

In general: files, which the requestor is not supposed to know about due to his
privilege status, will not be on his/her list!

Note:  The counters on top of the lists indicate what your system has available
in total (including higher privileges), so a clever user/file-requester may
come up with the question how that is possible: explain that he/she has to earn
a higher privilege level!


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.2. BinkleyTerm ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

In Binkley.Cfg you should specify for requests of FILES:

  Avail        Downsort.A~d
  KnownAvail   Downsort.A~n
  ProtAvail    Downsort.A~p

Furthermore you may need to specify different OKFILEs:

  OKFile       Download.N
  KnownReqList Download.K
  ProtReqList  Download.P

And in each of the appropriate filerequest authorisation files you should
specify the appropriate file-spec:


 ΓòöΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòªΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòªΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòªΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòù
 Γòæ       in: Γòæ OKFile       Γòæ KnownReqList  Γòæ ProtReqList   Γòæ
 Γòæ           Γòæ (Download.N) Γòæ (Download.K)  Γòæ (Download.P)  Γòæ
 Γòæ for:      Γòæ              Γòæ               Γòæ               Γòæ
 ΓòáΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓò¼ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓò¼ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓò¼ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòú
 Γòæ .....     Γòæ .........    Γòæ ...........   Γòæ  ........     Γòæ
 Γòæ @NEWFILES Γòæ Downsort.N~d Γòæ Downsort.N~n  Γòæ  Downsort.N~p Γòæ
 Γòæ @FILES    Γòæ Downsort.A~d Γòæ Downsort.A~n  Γòæ  Downsort.A~p Γòæ
 Γòæ .....     Γòæ .........    Γòæ ...........   Γòæ  ........     Γòæ
 ΓòÜΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓò⌐ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓò⌐ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓò⌐ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓò¥

This will result in sending of the appropriate NEW-list to every requester of
the magic filename: NEWFILES. If you use the second magic filename, then the
Avail-lines in Binkley.Cfg are not needed, and you might prefer this way.

Of course if the privilege level of all download area's is the same, this
construction is not needed, but in that case it is unlikely that you have
specified KnownAvail and ProtAvail!

Downsort may create a set of OK-files for you. The privilege system of MAXIMUS
CBCS is used to select the download paths in this list.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6. Packaging ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6.1. Availability ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The most recent version of Downsort is always downloadable and file-requestable
from Bulletin Board "PC-Square" of the Dutch IBM employee PC club. Search or
request DWNSRT??.* to be independent of the version and compression method!

FIDO-net address:  2:512/4; phone:  [phone] (USR HST-DS).

Downsort is distributed in area SDSMAX of the international Shareware
Distribution System.

There is a fair chance you may find a recent version on one of the other
bulletin boards, listed in Reference.

Downsort is distributed in 2 archives:

o A file "DWNSRTxy.ZIP", containing all material you need to run Downsort,
  including documentation, formatted for browsing or printing (formfeed is the
  only printer-control).

o A file "DWNSRSxy.ZIP", containing all SOURCE material.

Note:  'xy' is the version indication, for example DWNSRT  .ZIP is the version
.  runtime package.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6.2. RUN-time material ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

WHATSNEW.           Summary of amendments to version  .  of Downsort.
DOWNSORT.EXE        Execution module for OS/2 and DOS (Family Application)
DOWN386.EXE         32-bits execution module for OS/2 2.0 or 2.1.
DOWN386.ICO         ICON file for DOWN386.EXE.
DOWNSORT.DOC        Documentation (this file!).
DOWNSORT.CFG        Sample configuration file. This file contains comment lines
                    with extensive instructions how to specify the parameters
                    in the file.
DOWNSORT.HDR        Sample BBS-list header. You may use this header, which is
                    only imbedded in the BBS-list, to imbed text and/or
                    MECCA-sequences. A good candidate for the latter would be
                    [onexit], which translates to ^OFpath. See the sample
                    Downsort.HDR file!
DOWNSORT.TRL        Sample BBS-list trailer.
DOWNSORT.BMP        Bitmap for the IPF-list, to be included by the IPF
                    compiler.
DOWNSORT.INC        Sample Include-file for the reports, referenced in
                    Downsort.CFG.
DOWNSORT.MAG        Sample list of magic names to be included in OKFile(s). See
                    BinkleyTerm documentation for details of its format and
                    contents.
HPFSDATE.EXE        Program to display all three timestamps of a file on an
                    HPFS volume, and optionally reset the CREATION date to
                    LASTWRITE date (helpful after moving or copying of files).
                    Start the program without options to display command syntax
                    and help.
PACKING.LST         The actual contents of the package (produced with PKUNZIP
                    -V), added to the ZIP-file after this was created with the
                    foregoing files of this archive. This gives at least some
                    authentication!


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6.3. Source material ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

DOWNSORT.C          Mainline.
DOWNCOL.C           Data collection functions.
DOWNFNT.C           Font definition and formatting functions.
DOWNPAR.C           Processing functions for commandline and Downsort.CFG
                    parameters.
DOWNRPT1.C          Functions for NEW-, BBS- and EMI-list.
DOWNRPT2.C          Functions for the IPF-lists.
DOWNRPT3.C          Functions for the SYSOP-oriented lists, like ORPhan-, OK-,
                    and DUPlicate-lists, as well as FILES.BBS files.
DOWNRPT4.C          Functions for the ALL- and GBL-lists.
DOWNSRV.C           Miscellaneous services functions.
DOWNVARS.C          Constants and global variables.
DOWNSORT.H          Header file, with external definitions of global variables.
DOWNFPRO.H          Common (global) function prototypes.
DOWNSORT.SCR        Unformatted documentation file. This file includes
                    formatting tags in BOOKMASTER style for printing on
                    whatever devices are supported (like IBM page printers).
                    This format is compatible and can be formatted on an IBM
                    host system with DCF (SCRIPT) as well. The file can also
                    processed by the IPF-compiler (just ignore the warnings and
                    error-messages!).
DOWNSORT.DEF        LINK definition file for OS/2 (1.3 and 2.0)
DOWN386.MAK         MAKE file for DOWN386.EXE for OS/2 2.0 or 2.1, C Set/2
                    compiler and appropriate program development toolkit (OS/2
                    2.0 or 2.1)
DOWNSORT.MAK        MAKE file for Downsort.EXE OS/2 1.3, MS C-compiler 6.00a.
                    The program development toolkit (OS/2 1.2/1.3) is needed
                    when using IBM C/2 1.1 compiler.
PACKING.LST         The actual contents of the package (produced with PKUNZIP
                    -V), added to the ZIP-file after this was created with the
                    foregoing files of this archive. This gives at least some
                    authentication!


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6.4. Installation ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

With the following directions you should be able to setup and run Downsort in a
very short time.

 1. Make a separate directory for Downsort, and make it the current default
    directory every time you run Downsort. The separate directory is a
    recommendation, not a requirement!

 2. Copy the files Downsort.EXE and Downsort.CFG from the Downsort package into
    this directory.

 3. Modify (edit) the file Downsort.CFG to specify your environment and list
    requirements. The sample file contains comments to help you with this
    process. Most specifications are obvious. AreaDat is the most important
    parameter: Downsort won't do anything useful if it cannot find this MAXIMUS
    file. See Reference for a printed sample.

 4. You may give Downsort a first shot by just using its name on the
    commandline, with the parameter -H. This will show a brief HELP-screen with
    the possible commandline parameter specifications.

 5. All reports will be created in the Downsort directory (unless you specified
    'fpath' for the FILES.BBS output). Browse the lists to see if you like the
    contents and titles, and modify the CFG-file to your convenience.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6.5. Dependencies and restrictions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

o Applies to MAXIMUS CBCS 2.01

o Requires OS/2 or DOS 3.0+.

o To convert the IPF-list into VIEW-able format, the IPF-Compiler of the OS/2
  Program Development Toolkit is required (for the IP2-list the corresponding
  OS/2 2.0 version of this compiler)

o The input FILES.BBS files are assumed to contain only filename.ext (the
  regular 8.3 format, no support for OS/2 1.2+ HPFS format), the remainder of
  the line is considered as file description. The filename should be
  left-aligned (start in position 1).

  If a privilege modifier (^Px) is encountered in FILES.BBS then 'x' will
  become the privilege of all subsequent files (it assumes ^Px on a SEPARATE
  line, the REST OF THE LINE IS IGNORED!). Heading, comments and blank lines in
  FILES.BBS are ignored, unless /K is specified on the FilFileList line of
  Downsort.Cfg. In that case comments following line 8 (the standard header
  created by Downsort) are preserved. The modified privilege might be higher
  (generally the case) or lower than the area-privilege.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6.6. Storage and Performance ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

As a rough estimate of the memory requirements of Downsort, use sum of the
following elements:

o Program: about 80KB

o Each area: 300 Bytes

o Each file: 48 Bytes for each download file (excluding file descriptions and
  excluding orphans if no orphan-list requested)

o The sum of the file description texts (average 80 bytes/file?)

o The sum of the comments in FILES.BBS if -K option specified

The maximum number of area's for reporting is 217. Your system may have more,
but Downsort can currently not work properly when more than 217 area's will
have to be scanned for files.

There is a limit on the number of files that can be processed by Downsort:
about 16350. I suppose you'll reach other limits first, for example available
memory (under DOS). But might you reach this limit, then you could do one or
more of the following:

o Use AreaEXclude or AreaINclude to make a selection of groups (for example
  make separate OS/2 and a DOS file-lists). Downsort will not collect
  information of 'excluded' areas.
o If you have many orphans: get rid of them or do not generate an orphan
  report. Downsort releases orphan-memory during the data collection phase as
  soon as it knows that a file is an orphan.
o If you have many comment-lines in your FILES.BBS: do not specify /K for ALL-
  and IPF-lists AND do not activate the FILFilePath parameter in Downsort.Cfg.
  Downsort will skip comments in FILES.BBS when it does not need them for
  reporting.
Downsort has been built with a 'guess' about needed stack space. The author
would appreciate to receive a report for a better estimate.

Processor performance was an issue for large file-area's before version 4.5 of
Downsort in the data-collection process. That has been partly rewritten in
version 4.5 and significantly improved. Fastest execution will always be
obtained when the input FILES.BBS is already sorted on filename.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6.7. Problems ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Although I try to prevent the cause of them, there are some unresolved problems
in the current version of Downsort:

o One user reported unidentified characters in titles.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6.8. Wishlist ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Downsort is not finished! There are a number of wishes and requirements of
users and myself to include in future releases. I list them below not in any
particular order, but some seem to be more important than others, that differs
from SYSOP to SYSOP. And some are more easy to implement than others, which
depends mainly on the author! Some wishes don't even make it to be listed below
and are implemented immediately!

o Follow the MAXIMUS development (changing AREA.DAT and other structures), and
  support several versions simultaneously.
o User-configurable options for:

   - week and month indicators
   - indicator for continuation lines in wrapped descriptions
   - Avatar codes in FILES.BBS headers
   - [selectable] MECCA control in FILES.BBS
   - Private headers in FILES.BBS in stead of the standard headers
   - Right margin (line length) and left margin for continuation lines of long
     descriptions, and an optional 'indent' for a download counter.

o Logging to file in stead of stdout to obtain a history file of Downsort
  usage.
o File-selection with MAXIMUS CBCS key/lock parameters in addition to or in
  stead of area privilege levels.
o Support for use of 'barricaded' areas and key/lock.
o List with the format of IPF-list but the contents of NEW-list.
o Automatic removal of 'bad' files (like .BAK-files, obsolete files, files that
  are not in FILES.BBS), maybe move them to a special BAD_FILE directory.
  Entries in FILES.BBS should be removed accordingly.

Remember: Was there ever a time that all your wishes were fulfilled? That was
the most boring time of your life, wasn't it?


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7. Internals ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7.1. Development Environment ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The family-version of Downsort (for OS/2 1.3 and DOS) is compiled with
MicroSoft C compiler version 6.00a, with the IBM OS/2 Programming Tools and
Information (generally called the OS/2 toolkit) under IBM OS/2 Extended Edition
1.3 as COMPACT memory model. The generated code is at 80286 level (Compiler
option /G2), since I believe that only very few Bulletin Boards do use an XT
these days.

The 32-bit OS/2 2.0+ only version of Downsort is compiled with IBM C Set/2 and
the 2.0 Toolkit.

There is only a single set of source files. A compiler variable takes care of
the selection between 1.3 and 2.0 calls where necessary.

Downsort has been tested for MAXIMUS CBCS 2.0, with the following Operating
Systems:

o IBM OS/2 versions 1.3, 2.0 and 2.1
o IBM PC/DOS version 5.0.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7.2. Program Organisation ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The program is organised as follows:

o Initialisation:

   - Read configuration file.
   - Process commandline parameters.

  Commandline parameters may override configuration file parameters.

o Read AREA.DAT file to collect download pathnames (only of those area's that
  will participate this time).

o For each file-area with a privilege not exceeding any list-request:

   - Read subdirectory (with find-file-first/next function). Take only Normal
     files: ignore directory entries, Hidden and System files and volume
     labels. Also ignore files with the following specifications: FILES.*,
     *.BAK, DIR.?BS and SYSTEM*.?BS.

   - For all regular file-entries found in subdirectory:

      o Get filename.ext, attribute, date, time, size.
      o Get file-description from FILES.BBS file. The path to the FILES.BBS
        file is (1) obtained from the "ListFile" specification in MAXIMUS
        AREA.DAT file, or (2) if not specified from the "DownLoad"
        specification (among the download files).
      o Add files with explicit path specifications.
      o Get file privilege 1) from area, 2) from FILES.BBS file if higher.
      o When no orphan reporting is required, then drop orphan entries
        area-by-area.

o For the ORP-list:

  If any orphan found, and the orphan-report is requested, create the orphan
  report, with the file-entries sorted on (1) area and (2) filename.

o For the BBS-list:

   - Sort the files primarily on descending file-timestamp (and secundary on
     file-name and area-code).
   - Resort the first files on filename if requested.
   - Create output file for sorted list of filenames, -descriptions, etc. The
     file is placed in the current subdirectory (which generally will be the
     MAXIMUS directory) with the name Downsort.BBS.
   - Copy a headerfile (for a customised MAXIMUS bulletin).
   - Put files in formatted outputfile (filename, area#, date, size,
     description), but only if description is found in FILES.BBS. Skip files
     with privilege higher than commandline (or default) parameter. Precede
     each line with a privilege-control sequence (^PLx string) so that MAXIMUS
     users below the specified max-priv-level do effectively see only the files
     they can download.
   - Include a trailerfile in the outputfile (for a custimised Bulletin).
   - Report non-listed files on standard output device (which might be
     re-directed to printer or disk-file).

o If requested, put the above file collection in Downsort.N~p with similar
  contents and layout as Downsort.BBS, but without BBS-control sequences, and
  without including a header and trailer file. Produce a list for the default
  privilege (HIDDEN), or one for each specified privilege.

o If requested, re-sort files on area and then filename or date, and create
  Downsort.A~p, containing all files (respecting the privilege restrictions!).
  Area's with zero files within the applicable privilege limit will not be
  listed at all (will seem non-existing!). Produce a list for the default
  privilege (SYSOP), or one for each specified privilege.

  At the end of the list, an area summary report is generated.

o If requested, re-sort files on filename or date only, and create
  Downsort.GBL.

o If requested, re-sort files on area, privilege and filename, and create for
  each area a FILES.BBS-type of file.

o If requested generate a list of probably DUPlicate files.

o If requested generate a list of download-paths: the OK-file (not: it will
  contain only the paths that participated in this run.

NOTE: the program firstly reads a directory for existing files (not Hidden- or
System-files, and not Subdirectory or Volumelabel), and then reads FILES.BBS to
assign a description to each file. This means:

o If more than 1 matching file-specification in FILES.BBS of the involved area
  is found (note that wild-card specifications in FILES.BBS are supported!),
  than the first matching description from FILES.BBS will appear in the lists
  (new in version 4.5, was 'last' in previous versions of Downsort).
o Files for which no description is found in FILES.BBS will get "---no
  description available---" (or the replacement string you specified in
  Downsort.CFG) in the user reports.
o Files for which no matching filename in FILES.BBS is found will be listed in
  the Orphan report (Downsort.ORP).

  Files for which there is an entry in FILES.BBS, but a corresponding file is
  not found in the directory will be reported as 'offline'.

  In special cases this might become a very large list. For example if you
  collect files in a single directory for different area's, all the files of
  'the other' areas are reported as orphan. This will happen for every area, so
  each file might even be reported many times as orphan! Since the Orphan-list
  is now optional (from version 5.0 on), this list can be suppressed.

  Filenames of Orphans appear only in the other reports when the FileList
  request explicitly specifies the Hidden privilege.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7.3. Main Data Organisation ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Data structure for access to file information via:

 1. array of file-pointers (for file-sort!)
 2. pointerchain in file-info structures
 3. file structure contains pointer to file-description
 4. file-structure contains pointer to area-information
 5. Array of area-information

The structures are shown in the following figure.


ΓòöΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòù
Γòæ  dm  Γòæ
ΓòÜΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓò¥
    Γöé         Array of pointers to structures with file info
    Γöé      ΓòöΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòªΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòªΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ . . . ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòù
(1) ΓööΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ>Γòæ *file[0]  Γòæ  *file[1]  Γòæ *file[2]                 Γòæ
           ΓòÜΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓò⌐ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓò⌐ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ . . . ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓò¥
                 Γöé           Γöé            Γöé
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Γòæ  ca  Γòæ ΓöÇΓöÇ> Γòæ next Γòæ ΓöÇΓöÇ> Γòæ next Γòæ ΓöÇΓöÇ> Γòæ next Γòæ ΓöÇΓöÇ> . . .
ΓòÜΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓò¥     ΓòáΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòú     ΓòáΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòú     ΓòáΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòú
 (first-     Γòæ file-Γòæ     Γòæ file-Γòæ     Γòæ file-Γòæ
 element)    Γòæ info Γòæ     Γòæ info Γòæ     Γòæ info Γòæ    . . .
             Γòæ [0]  Γòæ     Γòæ [1]  Γòæ     Γòæ [2]  Γòæ
             ΓòÜΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓò¥     ΓòÜΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓò¥     ΓòÜΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓò¥
                 Γöé Γöé         Γöé  ΓöéwildcardsΓöé Γöé
                 Γöé ΓööΓöÇΓöÇΓöÉ      Γöé  ΓööΓöÇΓöÇΓöÉ      Γöé Γöé
                 Γöé    Γöé      Γöé ΓöîΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÿ Γöé
(3)              v    Γöé      v v   Γöé ΓöîΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÿ
             ΓòöΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòù Γöé   ΓòöΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòù Γöé Γöé
             Γòæfile- Γòæ Γöé   Γòæfile- Γòæ Γöé Γöé(files of
             Γòædescr Γòæ Γöé   Γòædescr Γòæ Γöé Γöé same area)   . . .
             ΓòÜΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓò¥ Γöé   ΓòÜΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓò¥ Γöé Γöé
                      Γöé            Γöé Γöé
(4)                   v            v v
              ΓòöΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòªΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòªΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ . . . ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòù
(5) ΓöîΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ>Γòæ  area[0]   Γòæ   area[1]   Γòæ                     Γòæ
    Γöé         ΓòÜΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓò⌐ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓò⌐ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ . . . ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓò¥
    Γöé              array of structures of download info
ΓòöΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòù
Γòæ area Γòæ
ΓòÜΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓò¥

Schematic overview of Downsort's in-storage database.

Note:  The area-array cannot be sorted itself: this would invalidate the
pointers in the file-information records!

The block character image is basically a 10x7 matrix (10 vertical and 7
horizontal 'pixels'). The pixel-array takes two rows at a time, so that each
character can be represented with 5 rows of 7 horizontal 'double-pixels'. Each
pixel is displayed as a solid block.

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7
        ΓòöΓòÉΓòªΓòÉΓòªΓòÉΓòªΓòÉΓòªΓòÉΓòªΓòÉΓòªΓòÉΓòù
        Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ   line 1    (lower + upper)
        ΓòáΓòÉΓò¼ΓòÉΓò¼ΓòÉΓò¼ΓòÉΓò¼ΓòÉΓò¼ΓòÉΓò¼ΓòÉΓòú
        Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ        2    (lower + upper)
        ΓòáΓòÉΓò¼ΓòÉΓò¼ΓòÉΓò¼ΓòÉΓò¼ΓòÉΓò¼ΓòÉΓò¼ΓòÉΓòú
        Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ        3    (lower + upper)
        ΓòáΓòÉΓò¼ΓòÉΓò¼ΓòÉΓò¼ΓòÉΓò¼ΓòÉΓò¼ΓòÉΓò¼ΓòÉΓòú
        Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ        4    (lower + upper)
        ΓòáΓòÉΓò¼ΓòÉΓò¼ΓòÉΓò¼ΓòÉΓò¼ΓòÉΓò¼ΓòÉΓò¼ΓòÉΓòú
        Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ-Γòæ        5    (lower + upper)
        ΓòÜΓòÉΓò⌐ΓòÉΓò⌐ΓòÉΓò⌐ΓòÉΓò⌐ΓòÉΓò⌐ΓòÉΓò⌐ΓòÉΓò¥

Each line is represented by a structure of seven 3-bit fields Each 3-bit field
represents a basic element:

 value    char       description
   0                 (blank)
   1     Γûä           lower half
   2       ΓûÇ         upper half
   3         Γûê       lower+upper halves
   4       Γûô         gray pattern
   5     Γûî           left part of upper and lower half
   6       ΓûÉ         right part of upper and lower half
   7         Γûæ       gray pattern
   8      ΓûÆ          gray pattern for not-supported characters

The pitch is variable ('proportional font': a variable number of horizontal
pixels). Three fonts are provided with different character-image and size:

 1. 6x5 (three lines of max 5 characters)
 2. 10x7 (five lines of max 7 characters)
 3. 8x7 (four lines of max 7 characters)
 4. 10x7 (reverse video image of the 8x7 font)

Not all ASCII characters are represented in the font tables!


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8. History of changes ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The paragraphs below show a brief history of changes in Downsort (most recent
revisions on top of list!).

Downsort for MAXIMUS CBCS was developed from an OPUS equivalent (by the same
author). Its pre-MAXIMUS history is not really important here and therefore has
been omitted. However the name Downsort has been maintained, so to prevent
confusion, the version number is inherited (the last version for OPUS was 3.1).


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8.1. Version 5.7 ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

o A 32-bit version (OS/2 2.0+ only) added to runtime package (no functional
  differences with the family version).
o ICON file DOWN386.ICO added for the 32-bit version of Downsort.
o Long areanames (8 characters) are now supported in all reports.
o Changed naming convention of 'FILES.BBS' output files when area's with 'long'
  (more than 3 character) names are used.
o The "FILES.BBS"-type of output (selected with FILFileList in Downsort.Cfg)
  now produces a slightly different header. Downsort recognises its own header
  and an included-file without 'multiplication'-effects.
o Explicit path specifications of files in FILES.BBS are now supported. As a
  consequence:

   - The long format of OK-FileList will contain this explicit path in stead of
     the filearea path.
   - It seems more appropriate to list the pathspec in the DUP-FileList rather
     than the file description. Generic filenames (wildcard specifications) are
  NOT supported (yet)!

o File size and date can be included in FILES.BBS output with the '-L' option
  on the FILFileList line in Downsort.Cfg.
o A new keyword 'NonDupEXT' allows suppression of reporting a file as
  'duplicate' when it is a member of a pair of files with specified extensions.
  Example xyz.SDN and xyz.SDA can be excluded from DupFileList.
o Improved Avatar stripping.
o Bug fix for long 'new'-filelist periods (>32000 days).
o Separation between progress signals (stdout) and error messages (stderr) and
  other 'internal' changes:
o Preparations made to remove most commandline parameters. It has been
  redundant for a long time. Every Downsort specification on the commandline
  can also be made via Downsort.Cfg. Exception: Specification of a
  configuration file will remain possible! Good arguments may change this
  intention, so please object if I am overlooking something.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8.2. Version 5.6 ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

o In stead of the regular OKFile format (path\*.*), there is now also an option
  (/L) to produce a LONG format of the OKFile, containing explicitly all files
  within privilege with complete file-specification (path\filename.ext). Useful
  for file-requests at systems with large directories, and especially with
  CDROM's. With this option in effect, the *.* entries will not be generated,
  so file requests are only honored with EXACT filenames: wildcard
  specifications do not work anymore!
o Improved display of long areanames (>3 char) in ALL- and IPF-lists.
o Avatar codes may be stripped from comment lines in reports.
o Missing include-files are now only reported when running Downsort in
  -V(erbose) mode.
o Some bug fixes (some of them causing Trap 000D under OS/2):

   - If 'downsort.cfg' not found, return code 2 is reported, and downsort.cfg
     now closed at end of file.
   - Output of FILES.BBS could be erraneous when also IP2-list selected.
   - Limit of 217 active area's now relieved (this limit was not documented!).
   - Improved handling of parameters of FILFilePath-line in the sample
     Downsort.Cfg file. Also the explanatory comments are revised.

o '-'-character now precedes the formfeed character in newly created FILES.BBS
  files (version 5.6h+).
o Downsort source is now compilable with IBM C-Set/2 compiler and IBM OS/2 2.0
  toolkit to obtain a real 32-bit version for OS/2 2.0+.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8.3. Version 5.5 ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

o Finally(!) a sort capability for area-sequence. Areas can now be presented in
  order of AREA.DAT ('K'eep original sequence), sorted on areaname
  ('A'lphabetically), sorted in alphanumeric ('G'roup) sequence or in order of
  areaINclude ('I'). The group-sequence is useful with a popular naming
  convention whereby the areaname starts with one or more letters followed by
  one or more digits. Names starting with a digit will be sorted as if it were
  all numeric, and will be sorted accordingly.
o NEW-, BBS-list and EMI-list (see below) can now also be limited in length by
  file-age (period specification in number of Days, Weeks or Months).
o A new list-type introduced: EMI-list (new file EMIsions). I is a simple list,
  comparable to NEW-list. It has a more compact format, and gives also
  file-time and the file-size (in exact bytes). It is especially useful to
  generate messages with file arrivals over the last period (in combination
  with a period specification).
o Readability improvements in IP2-list.
o Documentation extended with sample output for new users of Downsort.
o Some bug-fixes:

   - Compares of path- and area-names now case INdependent
   - Memory allocation error during collection of comments in FILES.BBS
   - Index out-of-range in report preparation phase
   - Processing of /K-option for areas with FILES.BBS but otherwise empty.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8.4. Version 5.4 ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

o Inline comments in FILES.BBS will be reproduced now! When AND ONLY WHEN the
  /K option is specified for All- or IPF-list, or for FILFilePath, the original
  existing comments in FILES.BBS are copied into All- or IPF-list or newly
  created FILES.BBS files. So note: /K means now: Keep sequence of FILES.BBS
  and Keep comments in FILES.BBS and other lists that support the /K option
  (ALL-, IPF and IP2-list).

  Note:  /K is now the default sort parameter for FILFilePath, so that you do
  not loose your comments accidently.
o Downsort's interpretation of the meaning of 'orphan' changed a little: an
  'orphan' is from now on defined as a file for which there is no description
  in any FILES.BBS of all areas pointing to the same directory. This may reduce
  improper(?) orphan-reporting by previous versions of Downsort considerably
  when you have physically a single large directory of which the files are
  grouped logically in different areas with separate FILES.BBS files.
o Duplicate download directories in OK-files will be suppressed.
o Area-summaries in ALL- and IPF-lists are again sorted alphabetically on
  area-name.
o A check during the data collection phase on maximum supported file entries
  (16350) has been added to prevent problems when exceeding this limit.
o Orphan entries in FILES.BBS are now preceeded with '^PS' in stead of the
  unsupported '^PH' (bug fix).
o Some specific adaptations for version 2.0:

   - All files conforming to filespec 'FILES.*' will not be reported anymore.
   - Area code will be handled as 9 character string: area-name! But in some
     reports it will be truncated to the first 3 or 4 characters.
   - AreaINclude and AreaEXclude are used as 'prefix'. Area-name specifications
     will be treated as group-names: you can include or exclude groups of areas
     starting with the same characters.
   - The /b, /t, /bt or /tb flag in FILES.BBS will not appear in the lists, but
     only when it appears immediately after the filename. It is not stripped
     from FILES.BBS.

o As experiment a new list has been added: IP2FileList. It is a copy if
  IPF-list, but uses some new formatting features offered by the IPF-compiler
  of the OS/2 2.0-beta toolkit (i.c. :table.). The result is a faster
  generation, but above al a faster compilation and a better VIEW. VIEWing
  under OS/2 1.2 or 1.3 is still possible!


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8.5. Version 5.3 ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

o New report added: DUP-list, a simple list, for SYSOP-use only, that shows
  (possibly) duplicate fileNAMES over the area's (the file-extension is not
  considered in the comparison).
o Another new report: OKFile in BinkleyTerm style. A list of download paths
  within privilege, with option to include magic names.
o IpfFileList line in Downsort.Cfg now also allows specification of the IPF
  pagesize (maximum number of file-entries per VIEW 'page' or 'part').
o Progress signals streamlined, /Q is really silent now!
o Fixed bug which caused Trap 000D under OS/2 (protection violation) under some
  rare conditions. The restriction that first area may not be empty or not
  contain only orphans has been removed with this change.
o Support for MAXIMUS CBCS 1.00 removed: only version 1.02 is supported (and
  most likely 2.00 as well).
o Downsort's change-history before version 5.0 removed from documentation.
o Use of MicroSoft C Compiler 6.00a: more free memory for DOS users (also
  because of slightly improved program structuring).


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8.6. Version 5.2 ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

o Area selection is now possible within Downsort. Two new keywords are provided
  in Downsort.CFG: AreaINclude to make reports for selected download area's,
  AreaEXclude to omit area's from the reports. These keywords have only effect
  within the collection that would otherwise have been reported completely
  (restricted by AREA.DAT and report privilege).
o FILES.BBS has now a peer relation with the directory in stead of being
  subordinate, in Downsort terms of course. Filenames and their description in
  FILES.BBS for which there is no corresponding file in the download directory,
  are now NOT ignored anymore. In stead the file is reported as 'offline' (on
  the columns for file-date and -size). You may replace the word 'offline' with
  an alternative text.
o Bug repaired that caused some files to be treated as orphan under certain
  rare circumstances. And a correction of an error in 'end-of-line' test/search
  on several places.
o As already 'promised' in 5.1, the Area-summary in ALL-list is now in order of
  AREA.DAT.
o Reorganised the documentation to obtain a more logical sequence of subjects.
  Due to the growing number of options of Downsort, it became more and more
  difficult to see the trees through the wood. I added a number of paragraphs,
  especially for new users. It can be useful for YOU too!


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8.7. Version 5.1 ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

o Since the ORPhan report is optional (changed with version 5.0), orphan
  entries could and now will be removed from internal storage during the
  information collection phase of Downsort, but only when no orphan-list is
  requested! This is especially useful for the situation where a single large
  directory contains the files of several area's, and whereby the file
  descriptions are contained in different FILES.BBS files. Normally this will
  result in reporting lots of duplicate orphans (according to the definition of
  'orphan' in Downsort!). With this change memory utilisation is lower and
  sorting faster.
o Another change of this kind: area's with a privilege exceeding any reporting
  privilege are not scanned anymore. Apart from lower memory utilisation, this
  might be useful for CDROM and slow disk(ette) systems.
o The maximum number of Top-, Sub- and Bottom-Title lines has been extended to
  20.
o In addition all lists may now include a 'logo'-file with a new -I parameter
  on the individual report request specification (see sample Downsort.CFG). The
  file will be copied into the list without any editing or translation. It will
  be positioned directly behind the block-title and before the subtitle (if
  any). For example: you may include your BBS-logo or a picture of your system
  configuration, or anything else you want to tell the file-requestors of
  FILES, ALLFILES and/or NEWFILES. The IPF-list may also include IPF tags, with
  artwork, etc. It may even include other files itself! For FILES.BBS the
  contents of this Include-file will immediately follow the 'standard' header.
o All block-fonts have now a new special character <`> (reversed quote), which
  will be 'printed' as blank (space) with half the width of a normal character.
  This is useful for fine-alignment (e.g. manually centering) the BLOCK-title.
o The chapter on 'titles and headers' has been rewritten to clarify the use of
  all title-options, please read it!.
o In the SUMMARY of ALL- and IPF-lists the areas themselves are not sorted
  anymore, but presented in sequence of AREAS.CTL specification. This is based
  on the assumption that the file area's are in some kind of 'natural' order in
  AREAS.CTL (or maybe it is time to do that now!).
o Descriptions in FILES.BBS are now (again) aligned on column 14 of the
  FILES.bbs file records.
o IPF-list again a little more user-friendly (linking of area's).
o A number of improvements have been applied to the executiontime messages
  (when running in VERBOSE mode).


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8.8. Version 5.0 ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

o Improved IPF-formatting: more colorful, builtin word-wrapping of VIEW used
  for file descriptions (better VIEWable under OS/2 1.3!). It should now also
  compile without errors/warnings. Compiling (with IPFC) takes significantly
  longer however!
o The IPF-list of large filearea's (>200 files) split into parts of 200 files
  to prevent files being left unlisted.
o Top-level title in FileLists shows file-count and byte-count as available
  within the privilege of the list. Thus it indicates what is really AVAILable
  to the user! Area-count omitted in lists which are not area-oriented.
o ORPHAN report made OPTIONAL (must be specified to get it!).


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 9. World-wide use of Downsort ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

PC-Square may be considered as the home-base of Downsort. The most recent
version is always available there (file-requests honoured between 07

PC-Square               Marcel Stikkelman     Zoetermeer, Netherlands
2:512/4                                       31-79-424107

The following SYSOPs have reported using Downsort on their respective board.

OS/2-MANiA              Emmanuel Sandorfi     Paris, France
2:320/5                                       33-1-64090640

OS/2 TASK BBS           Rene Carlsen          Skagen, Denmark
2:231/910                                     45-98451070

Grizzilus Maximus       Collin Adams          Preston, UK
2:250/121                                     44-772-828975

Paradigmus Maximus      John Taylor           London, UK
2:253/68                                      44-81-566-5393

Runnin' with the Devil  Roberto Sonzogni      Treviglio BG, Italy
2:331/205                                     39-363-302798

Fernwood                Emitt Dove            Branford CT, USA
1:141/209                                     1-203-483-0348

The Planet Earth        Joel Lambert          Bridgeport CT, USA
1:141/455                                     1-203-335-7742

Bell's Theorem          Jeremy Buhler         Houston TX, USA
1:106/7674                                    1-713-777-0633

OS/2 Shareware          Pete Norloff          Fairfax VA, USA
1:109/347                                     1-703-385-4325

Singing Bear            John Tarbox           Wilmington DE, USA
1:150/130                                     1-302-984-2238

La Jungle BBS           Stephane Seguin       Quebec, Canada
1:163/116                                     1-819-595-4917

3M Australia            Graham Stair          Sydney, NSW Australia
3:711/409                                     61-2-498-9184

I have received reports from others. Too many for this list, which is just
meant to point to a system in your neighbourhood(?). You may either logon to
one of these boards, or perform a file-request of 'FILES' or 'ALLFILES' to get
an impression of Downsort's capabilities.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10. Sample Lists ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Below follow a number of samples of list layouts and contents. Not shown are
the BBS-, and IPF-lists, since these are screen- rather than paper-oriented,
with their specific formatting and color settings.

The dates and sizes in these lists have been manipulated!


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.1. ALL-list ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
 ΓûêΓûÇΓûÇΓûÇΓûÇΓûÇΓûÇ   Γûê  Γòæ OS/2 - Fernwood - New Acquisitions
 ΓûêΓûäΓûäΓûäΓûäΓûä   ΓûäΓûê  Γòæ Available: 143 files (0.0 MB)
 ΓûêΓûê       ΓûêΓûê  Γòæ Privilege: Disgrace
 ΓûêΓûê       ΓûêΓûê  Γòæ Newest: XLIST233.ZIP  3-22-91  (avail:  7-26-91)
ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ
Filename      Size   Date    Description
ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ
AAFONTS.ZIP     1K  3-22-91  Text from IBM regarding Anti-aliased Fonts.
AFP_120.LZH     1K  3-22-91  Areafix 1.2 for OS/2.  Permits systems that do
                             echomail with yours to change their complement of
                             areas independently.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.2. GBL-list ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ


(Sun Jan 05 15ZIP  3-22-91 (avail:  7-26-91)
                   Date flag: new on this system since: * = 1 week, + = 1 month

Filename       Area    Size   Date    Description
ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ
2COLDIR.ZIP        F3    1K  3-22-91  DoubleDir for OS/2
2MONITOR.ZIP       F4    1K  3-22-91  Source and .EXE for running 2 monitors.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.3. NEW-list ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ


(Sun Jan 05 16ZIP dd  3-22-91 (avail:  7-26-91)
                   Date flag: new on this system since: * = 1 week, + = 1 month

Filename       Area    Size   Date    Description
ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ
2COLDIR.ZIP        F3    1K  3-22-91  DoubleDir for OS/2
2MONITOR.ZIP       F4    1K  3-22-91  Source and .EXE for running 2 monitors.
8514.PAT           F4    1K  3-22-91  Patch to get 32x32 icons on 8514/a


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.4. EMI-list ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ


(Tue Jan 14 21DAT    10-11-91   9ZIP     3-22-91  11


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.5. FILES.BBS ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ


- ΓûêΓûÇΓûÇΓûÇΓûÇΓûÇΓûÇ   Γûê  Γòæ OS/2 - Fernwood - New Acquisitions
- ΓûêΓûäΓûäΓûäΓûäΓûä   ΓûäΓûê  Γòæ Available: 143 files (0.0 MB)
- ΓûêΓûê       ΓûêΓûê  Γòæ Privilege: Disgrace
- ΓûêΓûê       ΓûêΓûê  Γòæ Newest: XLIST233.ZIP  3-22-91 (avail:  7-26-91)
-ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ
-Filename      Size    Date     Description
-ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ
AAFONTS.ZIP   Text from IBM regarding Anti-aliased Fonts.
AFP_120.LZH   Areafix 1.2 for OS/2.  Permits systems that do echomail . . . .

Note:  File date and size are provided dynamically by Maximus CBCS!


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.6. OKfile ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ


Short format (default)

@files Gzip
@avail Gzip
@newfiles Gzip
G*
G*

LONG format (-L)

@files Gzip
@avail Gzip
@newfiles Gzip
@DWNSRT55.ZIP GZIP
@DWNSRT56.ZIP GZIP
@MAXSRT10.ZIP GZIP
@MAXSRT11.ZIP GZIP


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10.7. ORPhan list ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
  Area    Filename      Date    FilePath
ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ
      F1 123R3UPD.ZIP  3-22-91  GZIP  3-22-91  G


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 11. Sample Configuration File ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

;
;      ΓûêΓûêΓûÉΓûêΓûêΓûê   ΓûêΓûÉΓûêΓûêΓûê  ΓûêΓûê   ΓûêΓûê ΓûêΓûêΓûÉΓûêΓûêΓûê ΓûêΓûêΓûÉΓûêΓûêΓûêΓûê  ΓûêΓûÉΓûêΓûêΓûê  ΓûêΓûêΓûÉΓûêΓûêΓûê  ΓûêΓûêΓûÉΓûêΓûêΓûêΓûê
;      ΓûêΓûê   ΓûêΓûê ΓûêΓûê   ΓûêΓûê ΓûêΓûê   ΓûêΓûê ΓûêΓûê  ΓûêΓûê ΓûêΓûê      ΓûêΓûê   ΓûêΓûê ΓûêΓûê   ΓûêΓûê   ΓûÉΓûêΓûê
;      ΓûêΓûê   ΓûêΓûê ΓûêΓûê   ΓûêΓûê ΓûêΓûê Γûê ΓûêΓûê ΓûêΓûê  ΓûêΓûê ΓûêΓûêΓûÉΓûêΓûêΓûêΓûê ΓûêΓûê   ΓûêΓûê ΓûêΓûêΓûÉΓûêΓûêΓûê    ΓûÉΓûêΓûê
;      ΓûêΓûê   ΓûêΓûê ΓûêΓûê   ΓûêΓûê ΓûêΓûê Γûê ΓûêΓûê ΓûêΓûê  ΓûêΓûê      ΓûêΓûê ΓûêΓûê   ΓûêΓûê ΓûêΓûê Γûê      ΓûÉΓûêΓûê
;      ΓûêΓûêΓûÉΓûêΓûêΓûê   ΓûêΓûÉΓûêΓûêΓûê   ΓûêΓûÉΓûêΓûêΓûê  ΓûêΓûê  ΓûêΓûê ΓûêΓûêΓûÉΓûêΓûêΓûêΓûê  ΓûêΓûÉΓûêΓûêΓûê  ΓûêΓûê  ΓûêΓûê    ΓûÉΓûêΓûê
;                                                                   (font 2)
;
;
; ΓûäΓûÇΓûÇΓûÇΓûä ΓûäΓûÇΓûÇΓûÇΓûä ΓûêΓûä  Γûê ΓûêΓûÇΓûÇΓûÇΓûÇ ΓûÇΓûêΓûÇ ΓûäΓûÇΓûÇΓûÇΓûä Γûê   Γûê ΓûêΓûÇΓûÇΓûÇΓûä ΓûäΓûÇΓûÇΓûÇΓûä ΓûÇΓûÇΓûêΓûÇΓûÇ ΓûÇΓûêΓûÇ ΓûäΓûÇΓûÇΓûÇΓûä ΓûêΓûä  Γûê
; Γûê     Γûê   Γûê ΓûêΓûÇΓûêΓûäΓûê ΓûêΓûäΓûä    Γûê  Γûê  ΓûäΓûä Γûê   Γûê ΓûêΓûäΓûäΓûäΓûÇ ΓûêΓûäΓûäΓûäΓûê   Γûê    Γûê  Γûê   Γûê Γûê ΓûÇΓûäΓûê
; ΓûÇΓûäΓûäΓûäΓûÇ ΓûÇΓûäΓûäΓûäΓûÇ Γûê  ΓûÇΓûê Γûê     ΓûäΓûêΓûä ΓûÇΓûäΓûäΓûäΓûÇ ΓûÇΓûäΓûäΓûäΓûÇ Γûê ΓûÇΓûäΓûä Γûê   Γûê   Γûê   ΓûäΓûêΓûä ΓûÇΓûäΓûäΓûäΓûÇ Γûê   Γûê
;                                                                   (font 1)
;
;
;                   ΓûêΓûÇΓûÇΓûÇΓûÇΓûÇΓûÇ   Γûê     Γûê       ΓûêΓûÇΓûÇΓûÇΓûÇΓûÇΓûÇ
;                   ΓûêΓûäΓûäΓûäΓûäΓûäΓûä   ΓûêΓûä    ΓûêΓûä      ΓûêΓûäΓûäΓûäΓûäΓûäΓûä
;                   ΓûêΓûê        ΓûêΓûê    ΓûêΓûê      ΓûêΓûê
;                   ΓûêΓûê        ΓûêΓûê    ΓûêΓûêΓûäΓûäΓûäΓûäΓûä ΓûêΓûêΓûäΓûäΓûäΓûäΓûä
;                                                                   (font 3)
;                                             (font 4 is reverse video of 3)
;
;  ΓöîΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÉ
;  Γöé        Sample Configuration File for DOWNSORT by Rob Hamerling          Γöé
;  ΓööΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÿ
;
; NOTES: Leading blanks are skipped.
;        Lines with '%', '*' or ';' as first non-blank character are
;        considered to contain comments only. So are empty lines and
;        lines with a valid keyword, but without any parameter.
;
;      ! Don't put a comment string after a parameter specification !
;
;
; AreaDat:     Complete file-specification of your 'AREA.DAT'
; -------
;              AREA.DAT is made by MAXIMUS' SILT(P) with -a or -x
;              option the path is normally specified in MAX.CTL
;              with the option AreaDat in Session Section.
;              With the AreaDat you may specify any file that has
;              the SILT(P)-format. For example you may make a special
;              file for running DOWNSORT with a subset (selection)
;              of the normal MAXIMUS file-area's.
;              This might be useful for special usergroups.
;              Another reason may be the memory usage of DOWNSORT
;              under DOS. If you hit the boundary: make a subset.
;              Standard OS/2 / DOS naming applies.

  AreaDat      area5124.dat

; AreaINclude  Select area's to be INCLUDED in the reports.
; AreaEXclude  Select area's to be EXCLUDED from the reports.
; -----------  Specify 1..9 character areanames to indicate which areas
;              have to be INcluded or EXcluded. The selection applies to
;              all areanames starting with the same characters (may be a
;              GROUP of areas!). The selection is case-INsensitive.
;              Use ONLY ONE operation: either AreaINclude or AreaEXclude!
;              If all your selections do not fit on a single line
;              (max 255 characters) take as many lines as you like.
;              In total you may specify a maximum of 200 area's.
;              Separate the areanames with one or more BLANKS.
;              NOTE: A high area-privilege may overrule AreaINclude!

* AreaEXclude  F
* AreaINclude  F1 F2 F3

; AreaOrder    Order in which areas have to be sorted.
;              Selection can be: K[eep]    - Keep order of AREA.DAT
;                                A[lpha]   - Alphabetic order of areaname
;                                G[roup]   - Group order
;                                I[nclude] - order of areaINclude (above)
;              Specify one of these orders (first letter is sufficient).
;              'Group'-order is a special sorting sequence for area names
;              consisting of a group of letters followed by digits.
;              See the documentation for details.
;              Default: Group-order (also with invalid specifications)

  AreaOrder    Group

; TitleFont:   Reference number of the BLOCK-font you want for your Title.
; ---------
;              Valid numbers:   1 .. Simple font             (5x6 pattern)
;                               2 .. Pseudo-Stencil Font     (7x10 pattern)
;                               3 .. ROBoComputer Font       (7x8 pattern)
;                               4 .. Reversed Video RoboComp (7x8 pattern)
;
;              NOTE: The fonts are based on the US-codepage (437).
;                    This will also work properly for 860 (Portugese),
;                    863 (Canadian-French) and 865 (Nordic).
;                    If codepage 850 (Multilingual) is active, the pattern
;                    will be adapted a little, see if you like it or not.
;                    The differences apply mainly to Font2.
;
;              The heading of this file shows font 2, 1 and 3 respectively.

  TitleFont    2

;  Title:      Short string that will be displayed in BLOCK-characters
;  -----       on top of all FileLists (except BBS-list).
;              You may specify this parameter also on the xxxFileList
;              parameter.
;              The BLOCK fonts are 'proportional', the following number of
;              characters will generally fit on a line:
;
;                 FontTitle   1     maximum characters: 13
;                    "      2 .. 4     "        "        8
;
;              No more than 20 characters are accepted as input.
;
;              If Title isn't specified, it will be DOWNSORT by default.
;              Not all characters are supported, and that may vary with
;              the font itself. All fonts support:
;
;                - UPPER case  A..Z
;                - LOWER case  a..z , but will be translated to UPPER case
;                - Digits 0..9
;                - - (hyphen), blank
;
;              In addition fonts 1 and 2 support the following characters:
;
;                   _  *  -  |  .  [  ]  (  )  /  \
;
;              Not-supported characters are displayed as blank.
;              The '~'-character (tilde) may be used as required blank,
;              the '`'-character (reverse quote) as half width blank.

  Title        `DownSort

;  PreTitle    Lines to be displayed immediately before the BLOCK-title.
;  --------    The lines will be copied asis, however leading blanks are
;              skipped, no wrapping or truncation will be applied for
;              'long' lines, '~' (tilde) characters are translated to
;              blanks. You may specify 20 PreTitles, excess is ignored.
;              Empty PreTitle lines are ignored and not counted.
;              There is no default pretitle.
;              To create empty lines in your header specify a PreTitle
;              with a tilde.

  PreTitle     ~
  PreTitle     ~~~~~~~<ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
;  --------    Maximum 20 SubTitles are accepted, and exactly the
;              same rules apply as for PreTitle.
;

  SubTitle     ~
  SubTitle     ~~~~~~~<ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ  s u b - t i t l e ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
  SubTitle     ~  Overview of downloadable files on this magnificent Board
  SubTitle     ~     Node number 9.999/99, modemspeeds: V.99/V.99bis
  SubTitle     ~~~~~~~<ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ>
  SubTitle     ~

;  BottomLine  Lines to be displayed at the end of the filelist.
;  ----------  Maximum 20 BottomLines are accepted, and exactly the
;              same rules apply as for PreTitle and Subtitle.
;

  BottomLine   ~
  BottomLine   ~~~~~~~<ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ b o t t o m : t i t l e ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ>
  BottomLine   ~
  BottomLine   ~~~~~~~<ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ How do you like DOWNSORT, folks? ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ>
  BottomLine   ~

; MaxNewFiles  Limit the number of file entries in BBS-list and NEW-list(s).
; -----------  It specifies the actual number of file entries that may
;              appear in NewFileList and BBSFileList.
;              If you specify more than one privilege for NewFileList,
;              then each list will contain (max) the MaxNewFiles number
;              of file entries, but the collection of each may differ due
;              to privilege considerations.
;              Individual values for BBS-list and NEW-list may be specified
;              on the corresponding xxxFileList line (see below)
;              Optionally the value may be followed by a single letter.
;              In stead of the number of files, the list will then be
;              limited by the age of the files to be included:
;              in days (D), weeks (W) or Months (M).

  MaxNewFiles  3W

; NonDupEXT    Suppress reporting as 'duplicate' if 2 files with equal
; ---------    filenames but unequal extensions are defined as 'pair'.
; 5.7          The example specification below has the effect that files of
; 5.7          any pair "xyz.SDA" and "xyz.SDN"  ("xyz": any filename) will
; 5.7          not be listed in DupFileList.
; 5.7           -  Files with equal filename AND equal extension will
; 5.7              still be reported as duplicate even when the extension
; 5.7              is one of a 'NonDupEXT' pair!
; 5.7           -  Multiple extensions must be specified in as many pairs as
; 5.7              can be formed (3 extension 3 pairs; 4 ext. 6 pairs; etc)
; 5.7              (e.g: for Nodelists:  DAT EXT  DAT IDX  EXT IDX).
; 5.7           Multiple pairs can be specified on a line, and multiple lines
; 5.7           can be specified: in total up to 100 pairs will be accepted.
; 5.7           Default: no suppression

  NonDupEXT    SDN SDA

; OrphanDesc   Description text of Orphan files.
; NotFoundDesc Description text of files without description in FILES.BBS.
; ------------ The description will replace the default hard-coded text.
;              Up to 45 characters may be specified.
;              The '~' (tilde) character will not be translated here!

  OrphanDesc   ~~~~~ !!!! Orphelin !!!! ~~~~~
  NotFoundDesc +++ Ce fichier dВfie toute description! +++


; OfflineDesc  When a filespecification is found in FILES.BBS but not
; -----------  in the corresponding download directory, this text replaces
;              the filesize and date (right aligned).
;              Up to 14 characters are accepted.

  OfflineDesc  -- archived --

; AVAstrip     You may wish to strip off AVATAR graphics characters from
; --------     the contents of your FILES.BBS files.
;              Specify 'No' to deactivate stripping (default is 'Yes').
;              ==> Works ONLY for COMMENT LINES in ALL- and IPF-lists, and
;              remember: comments are only listed with KEEPSEQ (no sort).

  AVAstrip     Yes

; ======================================================================
; Above were the parameters with a global effect: applicable to all
; lists or to the execution mode of DOWNSORT.
; Below follow list-specific parameters, which might override some of
; the settings of the global parameters.
; Leave this sequence: first global, then specific parameters!
; ======================================================================
;
; xxxFileList:  Create one or more File lists of type 'xxx'.
;
; xxx ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÉ     ΓöîΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ TWIT
;        v     ΓöéΓöîΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ DISGRACE     ΓöîΓöÇ FileName of the list
;   ΓöîΓöÇΓöÇ ORP    ΓöéΓöéΓöîΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ LIMITED      Γöé  (without extension,
;   ΓöîΓöÇΓöÇ BBS    ΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöîΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ NORMAL       Γöé  maximum 8 characters)
;   ΓöîΓöÇΓöÇ NEW    ΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöîΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ WHORTY       Γöé
;   ΓöîΓöÇΓöÇ ALL    ΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöîΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ PRIVIL       Γöé
;   ΓöîΓöÇΓöÇ GBL    ΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöîΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ FAVORED      Γöé
;   ΓöîΓöÇΓöÇ DUP    ΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöîΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ EXTRA        Γöé  ΓöîΓöÇ Additional options for
;   ΓöîΓöÇΓöÇ IPF    ΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöîΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ CLERK        Γöé  Γöé  each list individually:
;   ΓöîΓöÇΓöÇ IP2    ΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöîΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ ASSISTSYSOP  Γöé  Γöé
;   ΓöîΓöÇΓöÇ OK     ΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöîΓöÇΓöÇ SYSOP        Γöé  Γöé -W   - Wrap Description
;   ΓöîΓöÇΓöÇ EMI    ΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöîΓöÇ HIDDEN       Γöé  Γöé -T   - Truncate Descr.
;   Γöé          ΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöé               Γöé  Γöé -A   - Alpha sort on name
;   Γöé          ΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöé               Γöé  Γöé -D   - Date sort
;   Γöé          ΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöé               Γöé  Γöé -K   - Keep FILES.BBS seq
;   Γöé          ΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöé               Γöé  Γöé -If  - Include_filespec
;   Γöé          ΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöé     ΓöîΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÿ  Γöé nnnP - max number of entries
;   Γöé          ΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöé     Γöé            Γöé -Fn  - Title font (0..4)
;   Γöé          ΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöé     Γöé            Γöé -X   - eXcl priv in headers
;   v          ΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöéΓöé     v            v
;  ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓöÇΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ vvvvvvvvvvvv  ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ  ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
;  xxxFileList TDLNWPFECASH  FileName  Option-1 Option-2 . . . Option-n
;
;  If just xxxFileList is specified, the Level by default will be SYSOP
;                                    and the filename will be DOWNSORT.
;
;  For NEW-, GBL-, ALL-, IPF-, OK- and EMI-List up to 10 privilege letters
;  can be specified and for each character a separate list-file will
;  be generated with the following extension:
;     NewFileList:   N~p
;     AllFileList:   A~p
;     IpfFileList:   I~p
;     GblFileList:   G~p
;     OKFileList:    O~p
;     EmiFileList:   E~p
;  where 'p' is the privilege character.
;  For the BBS- and DUP-list only 1 privilege character will be accepted.
;  The default filename (DOWNSORT) for each list can be overridden
;  with the [optional] third parameter on the xxxFileList line.
;
;  Additionally the following parameters may be specified (in any sequence).
;
;  nnn[P] Limit the number of file-entries to a maximum of 'nnn':
;           - for BBS-list and NEW-list the max size of the list
;           - for IPF-list the maximum size of a VIEW-page
;         If followed by Period-indicator ('d', 'w' or 'm') the list is
;         limited not by number, but by file-AGE in Days, Weeks or Months.
;         NOTE: the Period-indicator is not valid for IPF-lists.
;
;    -A   Selects Alphabetic sort on filename
;    -D   Selects sort on Date/Time of the file
;    -K   Keep sequence of files in FILES.BBS
;         (ALL- and IPF-list, and newly generated FILES.BBS files).
;
;    -T   Causes Truncation of long descriptions (to about 50 characters)
;         so that only 1 line will appear per file-entry.
;    -W   Causes Wrapping of long descriptions: the report will contain
;         as many lines as needed for the complete description.
;
;    -L   Long list format:
;          - OK-file: explicit filenames in stead of wildcards (PATH\*.*)
;          - not applicable to other lists except FILFilePath (see below)
;
;    -If  Include userfile (f = file-spec) just behind the block-title
;         (if any). The file is included without any translation, so beware
;         of special characters and effects like formatting (text-float) in
;         the IPF- and IP2-list!
;         NOTEs: - does not apply to BBS-, DUP- and ORP-FileLists.
;                - BBSFileList includes DOWNSORT.HDR and DOWNSORT.TRL
;
;    -X   eXclude privilege indications in NEW-, ALL-, IPF- and GBL-lists.
;
;    -Fn  ListTitle font. Choose for 'n': 1, 2, 3 or 4 (default is 2).
;         See some samples of the fonts in the top of this file.
;         If '0' (zero) specified, then NO BLOCK TITLE will be generated.
;
;  If an asterisk (*) is used as parameter value character, the hardcoded
;  default value will be used. If you specify mutually exclusive
;  options (-A or -D) or (-T or -W), then the last value on the line
;  will be effective.
;
;  NOTES 1. For ORP-fileList the privilege parameter does not apply.
;  ----- 2. Invalid or not-recognised sub-parameters will be ignored
;           without warning!
;        3. You may specify only 1 line for each list-type.

  AllFileList   s    Down_All        -k -W  -f4      -IDownsort.Inc
  BBSFileList   s    Down_Bbs    3w  -d -w  -F1
  DupFileList   s    Down_Dup           -w  -F4
  GblFileList   s    Down_Gbl        -a -t  -F3      -IDownsort.Inc
  IpfFileList   s    Down_Ipf  200   -a     -F3
  Ip2FileList   s    Down_Ip2  200   -a     -F3
  NewFileList   s    Down_New    2m  -a -t  -f2
  EmiFileList   s    Down_Emi   22   -d -w           -IDownsort.inc
  OKFileList    s    Down_OKE           -l           -IDownsort.Mag
  OrpFileList   *    Down_Orp        -a -w  -f4

;  NOTE: The IPF-list has the format of an INPUT-file for the
;        Information Presentation Facility Compiler (IPFC), which is
;        part of the IBM OS/2 Program Development Toolkit and equivalent
;        MicroSoft package. This inputfile has to be processed by this
;        compiler. For the sample above with the command:
;             IPFC  DOWN_IPF.I~P  /INF
;        Be sure to have the file DOWNSORT.BMP in the default directory and
;        set the IPFC environment-variable (e.g. SET IPFC=D
;        IPFC will produce a file called DOWN_IPF.INF, which is ready
;        to be viewed with the command:
;             VIEW  DOWN_IPF
;        See the Toolkit documentation for details of IPFC.
;        IPFC is not distributed with the DOWNSORT package!
;
;        IP2FileList has the OS/2 2.0+ IPF format, you will need IPFC
;        of the OS/2 2.0+ toolkit!

; ======================================================================
; FILFilePath  Specifications for the "FILES.BBS"-type of output.
; -----------  - First parameter is privilege selection flag. Specify '*'
;                to get all files, even the newly uploaded ones.
;              - Second parameter is [optional] specification of
;                destination directory of newly generated Files.BBS files.
;                Use the format:  drive7            be "FILES.ac", extension will be the first 3 characters of
; 5.7            areaname. However when 'long' areanames are present (>3 char),
; 5.7            the output-file will be called "areaname.BBS".
;                If not specified the MAXIMUS path specification will be
;                used (ListFile parameter if used in Maximus' AREA.CTL
;                otherwise the Download directory).
;              - Many but not all flags as defined for the 'real' lists
;                apply to the FILES.BBS-output of Downsort, for example:
;                 - TITLE is not applicable to FILES.BBS
;                 - file-description will be kept on a single line, not
;                   wrapped or truncated, even if longer than 240 characters.
;                 - Entries can be sorted, but then you will loose your
;                   comments (if any): -K (Keep Sequence) is default.
; 5.7             - The -L (LONG) means here: include file size and file date.
;                 - Avatar codes will be kept unchanged.

  FILFilePath  s  \c2\downsort\filesbbs\ -a -X -l -idownsort.inc -F4

;
;  ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ
;
;  Commandline parameters may supply additional options, and may
;  (partly) override the specifications in this configuration file.
;  Consider this file as your customised default setting for DOWNSORT,
;  and use commandline parameters only to make other lists on the fly.
;  For the reports there is nothing that you can specify with commandline
;  parameters, that you cannot specify in this configuration file!
;


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden>  ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

For the target audience the distiction between 'user' and 'sysop' is strictly
the author's view!