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*** QQLink V1.00 - the documentation
---{ 1 }---------{ Introduction }---------
Welcome to QQLink - a reply linker for use with the "Squish" mail
processor by Scott J Dudley. If this doesn't make much sense to you,
might have just downloaded the wrong archive - from here on I'll be
assuming that you run, or are about to set up a Fidonet BBS or point
with Scott's software. If some of this is unfamiliar, read Squish.PRN
first, it's got a good basic explanation of what's going on.
QQLink is quite a simple programme - if you haven't already, go and set
up the rest of your mail software. Things will tick along quite happily
without it (not that you won't notice the lack!).
---{ 2 }---{ What QQLink does for you }---
One of the problems with Fidonet echomail, and similar media such as
Usenet's news is that of threading - jumping forward to a message's
reply/replies, back to its original, between replies to the same
message etc. Unlike a local BBS message area, message numbers, and even
the order of messages may vary, so some tricky method must be used,
first to uniquely identify messages in a way that does not vary from
system to system, and secondly to use this information to encode the
structure of a reply thread into message packets.
In Fidonet, this is accomplished by the use of hidden "kludges", called
MSGID and REPLY. This is defined in the standards document "FTS-0009".
Formerly, it was common practice to build the reply links by guessing
from the subject lines of messages - ie. if a message has the subject
"Re: Wibbling and widgets", then the next message with the same subject
becomes its reply.
Needless to say, this has some disadvantages, but this is what Squish
will do! For example, often a thread of discussion will split into two
or more subthreads on different topics, but with the same subject line.
Using Squish's builtin reply linking, all the messages in both threads
will become jumbled into one. Also, in situations where a user will not,
or cannot quote others, attempting to find what they were replying to
could become a nightmare.
QQLink solves all this, and additionally, usually links faster than
Squish (QQLink stands for Quick sQuish Linker).
The speed factor is gained by storing link information in an additional
8K file for each area linked. This is a very good tradeoff - most
echomail areas take up considerably than this, so an additional 8K is
negligible - Squish takes the same approach to storing its
dupe-database.
---{ 3 }------{ How you use QQLink }------
Simply drop QQLINK.EXE into whatever directory you keep Squish in. You
can test it out by manually linking an area. If your Squish.CFG file is
in the current directory, simply enter
QQLink TUB
Or QQLink <some area on your system> if you don't receive the TUB echo.
QQLink will automatically read the path to the echo you specify, and its
type (Squish or *.MSG) from your Squish.CFG or AREAS.BBS
If you have a Squish configuration file called something other than
Squish.CFG, you can specify it using the -c command line switch (see
below)
This manual linking isn't going to be much use if you receive multiple
megabytes a day, however. So the best thing to do is add a call to
QQLink to the batch file you use to process inbound echomail packets.
Make sure Squish is generating an EchoToss.LOG file - the following
should suffice:
change Squish IN OUT
to Squish IN OUT -fechotoss.LOG
if you are using Squish in multipass mode, or doing any other stuff,
consult your Squish.PRN
After the call to Squish in your batch file, enter the following:
QQLink Squish -fechotoss.LOG
DEL echotoss.LOG
If you have other programmes using EchoToss.LOG, make sure they go in
*before* the DEL! QQLink will now run automatically to link any incoming
messages - messages posted by you are assumed to be linked by your BBS
or editor software (this is true for Maximus, and all editors I'm aware
of that use the Squish format).
Use of a disk cache with all mail processing software is STRONGLY
recommended.
---{ 4 }---{ Command line parameters }----
If you run QQLink with the -? parameter, you will see the following help
screen:
Usage: QQLink [-c<Squish.CFG>] [<Areas>] [-k] [-r] [-l] [-f<EchoToss.Log>]
or: QQLink [-a<Areas.BBS>] [<Areas>] [-k] [-r] [-l] [-f<EchoToss.Log>]
-c, and -a are ways of specifying your areas.
-f names a file containing a list of area tags to link.
-r means relink any already linked messages.
-l means link every area listed in Squish.CFG or Areas.BBS
-k means delete <EchoToss.log> after linking.
<Areas> is a list of echo tags of areas you want linked.
Example: QQLink -c\Squish\Squish.CFG NETMAIL -fin.log
This will read \SQUISH\SQUISH.CFG for area definitions, and link
any new messages in NETMAIL and the areas listed in IN.LOG.
I don't have much to add to that, except the following notes.
1) By using the -a switch, you could use QQLink with a *.MSG mail
processor other than Squish, provided that mail processor supported an
Areas.BBS format echo information file.
2) -k has the same effect as a DEL echotoss.LOG command immediately
after the execution of QQLink - any log file specified with the -f
switch will be deleted. This is provided for drop-in compatibility with
SQLink.
3) -r will discard any information gleaned from a .QQL link information
file, and relink and scan the area from scratch. This might be useful if
your .QQL file was corrupted in some way.
---{ 5 }---------{ Why QQLink? }----------
At the moment I am aware of two other products that do the same job as
QQLink - Squish itself, and David Nugent's SQLink programme. I've
already discussed the shortcomings of Squish's linker, primarily lack of
support for FTS-0009.
I ran SQLink for most of the time since I started my Maximus BBS, until
I developed QQLink to overcome certain problems with SQLink, mainly its
godawful slowness when linking large areas. This is mainly because
SQLink will relink and scan all the messages in an area, as it has no
way of knowing a) where it left off last time, or b) what the MSGIDs of
all those linked messages are.
QQLink gets around this by storing this information in a ".QQL" file,
either called <AREA>.QQL for a Squish base, or <AREA>\QQLINK. for a
*.MSG base, where <AREA> is the name of the area. For example, the
Squish area \MAIL\NET would consist of: \MAIL\NET.SQD, \MAIL\NET.SQI,
\MAIL\NET.QQL, and so on.
These .QQL files are usually much smaller (8K) than the rest of the
area, so you won't be losing much space. The gain is tremendous - If you
receive 20 new messages in an area where you keep 500, QQLink will link
only the new 50, as opposed to SQLink's working on all 500. In these
circumstances, QQLink would take just 4% of the time SQLink took. For
smaller areas, such as when used on a point, QQLink will still be around
10 times as fast as SQLink, doing the same job.
---{ 6 }------------{ Cost }--------------
Like Squish itself, QQLink is FREEWARE. I retain copyright, but grant
anyone who wishes to the right to use and distribute it, provided:
No charge is levied for copying QQLink above and beyond the
actual costs of disks or other media, or subscription to a BBS
from which QQLink is downloaded.
This file, QQLink.DOC, and the accompanying executables are not
modified in any way, except to place them in a compressed or
archived format.
Of course, QQLink carries no implicit or explicit warranty. I can only
guarantee that it will take up your disk space.
If you admire QQLink or use it regularly please send a postcard to the
snailmail address below - I welcome feedback and would like to see how
far around the world QQLink progresses, if it does.
If you regularly use QQLink in a commercial environment, add a bar of
chocolate to the postcard. 8-)
---{ 7 }-----{ Reaching the Author }------
I can be reached at any of the following addresses:
FidoNet:
Josh Parsons at 3:771/340.0
(if you are outside zone 3, it might be best to route netmail
direct to me or my NC - I've had messages to zone 1 disappear in
the past)
InterNet:
Josh.Parsons@comp.vuw.ac.nz
SnailMail: (ie. post)
Josh Parsons
42 Glen Rd
Kelburn
Wellington 6005
New Zealand
---{ 9 }-------{ Acknowledgements }-------
Thanks to:
Robert Ruthven for encouraging me.
Scott J. Dudley for his excellent MSGAPI, which I used.
Squish, and Maximus are trademarks of Scott J. Dudley.
Fidonet is a trademark of Tom Jennings.