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╔══════════════════════════════ ║ ALAB ║ ArchiveLab (tm) ╟────────────────────────────── ║ (c) 1992-1993 Lee Teck Chee ╟────────────────────────────── ║ Release : 1.26 ║ Rel.Date: 26th August 1993 ╟────────────────────────────── ║ Address: Lee Teck Chee ║ Blk 128, Toa Payoh, ║ Lorong 1, #09-833, ║ Singapore 1231 ╚══════════════════════════════ ┌────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 0 │ Table of Contents │ └────────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ 1 ---- General Information 1.1 Copyrights and License Agreement 1.2 Newer versions and contacting the author 2 ---- Package description and requirements 2.1 Preface 2.2 Requirements 2.3 Included files 2.4 History 2.5 Introduction & specs 3 ---- Installation description 3.1 Installation (general) 3.2 Installing ALAB.EXE 3.3 ALAB.CFG 3.3.1 Basic statements 3.4 ALAB.DAT 4 ---- Runtime information 4.1 Multinode operations 4.2 Multiline descriptions 4.3 Swapping 4.4 Warning with TSR anti-virus programs 5 ---- Version information and credits 5.1 Credits 5.2 Copyright, Trademarks ┌────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 1 │ General information │ └────────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ 1.1 Copyrights and License Agreement ──────────────────────────────────── - Users of the ArchiveLAB-package must accept this disclaimer of warranty: - The ArchiveLAB-package is supplied as it is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liabawity for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of the ArchiveLAB-package; - The ArchiveLAB-package is a "shareware program" and is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free to share it with your friends, but please do not give it away altered or as part of another system. The essence of "user- supported" software is to provide personal computer users with quality software without high prices, and yet to provide incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products. - If you find this program useful and find that you are using and continue the use of the ArchiveLAB-package after a 21 days trial period, you must register the ArchiveLAB-package as described below; - Fill up the registration form included in the package, and send it off with the payment to Lee Teck Chee, 'Attn: ArchiveLAB registration'; - Anyone distributing the ArchiveLAB-package for any kind of remuneration must first contact the Author at the address above for authorization; - You are encouraged to pass a copy of the ArchiveLAB-package along to your friends for evaluation. Please encourage them to register their copy if they find they can use it; - Support on ArchiveLAB is available by means of written letters or by netmail, and echomail; - The ArchiveLAB-package are copyrighted 1992-1993 by Lee Teck Chee. All rights are reserved. You may copy this package for backup purposes. Also you may copy and share unmodified copies of the whole package, providing that the copyright notice is reproduced and included on all copies. - It is forbidden to modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile and/or disassemble the software in the ArchiveLAB package. - Performing any of the illegal actions as stated in the previous lines, is a theft and no fair play to the author and, more important, to the registered users; - After the normal trial period of 21 days, you must register the software or you must remove it from your PC; - Comments, suggestions and bug reports are welcome and will be answered as soon as I have the time to do so. You can send me a letter or leave a NetMail <tm> message named to Lee Teck Chee on node 6:600/408 (MultiMedia GS); 1.2 Newer versions and contacting the author ──────────────────────────────────────────── The newest version of ArchiveLAB is always available at ALAB-HQ on node 6:600/408. You can also obtain ArchiveLAB from: - Logging on at ALAB-HQ or a support node 6:600/408 (MultiMedia GS ) ALAB-HQ (Sysop: Tan Jye ) 6:600/78 (ShareWare Info System) Support & beta (Sysop: Foo Kelvin ) 6:600/217 (TeraByte BBS ) Support & Beta (Sysop: Jiang Dawei ) 6:600/600 (Interact BBS ) Support & Beta (Sysop: Teo Chee Kian ) 1:381/84 (Visionaire BBS ) Support & Beta (Sysop: Curtiss Denson) The BBS's above will always have the most current version of ArchiveLAB available. You can use ALAB as a magical name to FREQ the newest version. - Logging on to ALAB beta sites (listed in the package); - Logging on to your own favourite and local BBS; If you think you have found problems in ArchiveLAB, or in any other case, you wish to contact the author, you can send me: - A letter to the address you can find in the header of this file; - An echomail message in the ArchiveLAB Support Conference; - A NetMail <tm> message to Lee Teck Chee at 6:600/408; ┌────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 2 │ Package description and requirements │ └────────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ 2.1 Preface ─────────── Please notice the following : - ArchiveLAB is a ShareWare product in every right way, this means this software is not crippled in any way. Everyone is urged to register this program when using it for a period longer than 21 days. - This program will need the actual archivers to work. These are not supplied in this package, but are widely available on most BBS's. 2.2 Requirements ──────────────── ArchiveLAB - PC XT/AT/386/486 - At least 300K free memory for ArchiveLAB to run. - DOS 3.xx and higher; - The following programs : (Optional) PKUNPAK, TDCHECK; (Required) PKZIP, PKUNZIP, ARJ, LHA, McAfee's SCAN or TBAV's TBSCAN. - FileDoor v2.xx or v3.01 recommended (but not required). 2.3 Included Files ────────────────── The package includes : ALAB.EXE The main program ALAB.CFG An example config file ALABDAT.EXE Support/clean-up program FDOOR.EXE Wrapper for FILEDOOR.EXE ALAB.DOC The documentation ALAB-FAQ.DOC FAQ for ALAB REGISTER.FRM Registration form SUPPORT.LST List of support sites BETASITE.LST List of beta sites REG.LST List of registered users ALAB.A* Default ANS/AVT display ALAB.MSG ALAB mail daemon message WHATSNEW.125 History of changes FILE_ID.DIZ DIZcription of ALAB DISCLAIM.DOC Disclaimer 2.4 History ─────────── ArchiveLAB <tm> is originated from Lee Teck Chee. It was started when he, having seen various nice-looking archive checking packages for the PCBoard, realized there was NO such package for the RA system. A lot of work has been gone into making the program as flexible as possible and thorough beta-testing was done on several boards for some time. 2.5 Introduction & specs ──────────────────────── ALAB is an automated archive-processor to add various archive checking, and virus-scanning capabilities to the RA file system. It works best with FileDoor <tm> in tandem. ALAB has : - direct interface to all RA systems from 0.xx and up. - supports FileDoor <tm> v2.xx, and v3.01 if available. - supports McAfee's SCAN and TBAV's TBSCAN. - full multinode, multitasking capabilities - fully swappable in limited memory situations - configurable colours - supports (.ZIP, .ARJ, .LZH, .TD0) archives and their various self-extract formats. Partial support for the .ARC format. - archive checking for errors, including any imbedded archives up to any level. Supports archives with directory information. - virus-scanning of all files extracted from the archive to any level. It will not be outdated as SCAN.EXE/TBSCAN.EXE is used for the virus-scanning, you only have to keep your version of SCAN/TBSCAN current. - GIF/JPG testing, and limits on minimum resolution and colours. - age constrain to prevent files older than a specified date from being accepted. - able to remove unwanted advertisement files and/or add your own BBS advertisement files. - archive comment addition/removal (only for ARJ and ZIP archives, LZH does not support archive comments). - Uses FILE_ID.DIZ and DESC.SDI descriptions if desired where available. - Includes name of uploader in descriptions if so desired. - Appends the resolution/colours of GIF/JPG files via a templating system if wanted. - can be made to strip the Authenticity Verification information used in .ZIP archives, and to add your own if desired. - user display during the scanning process to give feedback to the user which phase is going on. - local uploads for FileDoor implementations now supported. - able to repack archives up to a size you specify to either ARJ or ZIP format (Registered copy) - ability to add archive information/statistics and transfer time estimation into the file description. - Included a mail daemon to post messages to a user regarding the status of failed uploads. (Registered copy) - Protection of developer's archives from alteration. - Checks files against listing/index of suspected hacks/trojans produced by The Hack Report regularly. ┌────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 3 │ Installation description │ └────────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ 3.1 Installation (general) ────────────────────────── Before installing you MUST read this DOC file and the ALAB- FAQ.DOC which will answer frequently asked questions. First read the part on how to install ALAB.EXE in your BBS system, then carefully read the part about the configuration file (ALAB.CFG). If you still have problems, you can send me a netmail/echomail. - Create a subdirectory to put all the ALAB files. - If you have FileDoor, place FDOOR.EXE into the same directory. FDOOR.EXE is REQUIRED if you have FileDoor for FILE_ID.DIZ and uploader name support. Place this file in the FileDoor directory, or make sure that FileDoor is in the DOS PATH. - Place ALAB.ANS and ALAB.AVT either in the same directory as ALAB.EXE or in the RA textfiles directory (where all your ASC/ANS/AVT files are). ALAB.CFG can be found in the following ways: - In the current directory, or in the directory ALAB.EXE was executed from (in that order); - From an environment variable: Use SET ALAB=[drive][\path] to show the directory where all ALAB support files are located. 3.2 Installing ALAB.EXE ─────────────────────── Native RA 1.xx without FileDoor : The program is installed as a type 7 (shell to file) or type 15 (exit to DOS) in your RA menu. You have to create a separate menu for uploading files. This menu should contain as the first line, a type 33 (upload a file) menu line. The second line should contain a type 7 or type 15 menu line to call ALAB.EXE. ALAB accepts a single parameter to point to the file area to scan, either a '/F' if you allow uploading to any template file area, or '[drive][/path]' if you have a single area for all uploads. Remember to enable the memory-swap option. Example optional data line : 'C:\RA\ALAB.EXE C:\RA\NEW *M' RA 1.xx and RA 2.00 with FileDoor : The program is most simple to install in FileDoor. Locate a free 'ExitAfterUploadx' option in FileDoor.CFG. Insert a call to ALAB.EXE into one of them, ie 'ExitAfterUpload1 ALAB.EXE $U $M $N'. The '$U' will pass the upload directory to FileDoor, and the '$M' will swap FileDoor out of memory (because the support files for ALAB requires a lot of memory). '$N' will tell FileDoor only to call ALAB if there is an actual upload (only available in FileDoor v3.xx). Next, change all the menu-lines that calls FileDoor.EXE instead to point to FDOOR.EXE. The rest of the parameters remain the same. For example, if you have a line 'D:\FD\FILEDOOR.EXE -du *M', you must change it to 'D:\FD\FDOOR.EXE -du *M', and place FDOOR.EXE where your FILEDOOR.EXE is located. It is advisable that you swap RA out using the '*M' parameter so to get maximum memory for ALAB. NB: You must also disable the 'InternalOverUser' option in the FILEDOOR.CFG for FileDoor 3.xx to use comments supplied by user for private files rather than use the FILE_ID.DIZ. With native RA 2.00 : You must decide if you want to use the RA2 mode or the RA2FAST mode. In RA2FAST mode, ALAB will only scan files uploaded during a particular session. The RA2 mode will cause ALAB to scan any new files found in the upload directory. The latter looks nicer though. Following are steps to install ALAB on RA 2.00 systems, 1. Rename ALAB4RA.EXE to ALAB.EXE 2. Change the 'System' option in ALAB.CFG to 'System RA2' or 'System RA2FAST'. ( RA2FAST mode will only scan files uploaded during a particular session, RA2 mode will scan any new files found in the current upload directory ) 3. If using RA2FAST mode, you need to add in the following line to the virus scanning program field in RACONFIG: <path>ALABPRE.EXE @ *N For RA2FAST mode, you will need to create a separate menu for ALAB scanning. Create a menu (eg UPLOAD.MNU, and DOWNLOAD.MNU), which will be called when the user presses the key for upload or download. In this menu, add in the normal file upload (or download) menu command, followed by a type 7 menu command (automatic) that will call ALAB: <path>ALAB.EXE /A<file upload area number> *M *! 4. If using RA2 mode, simply add the following line into the Upload Scanner field in RACONFIG: <path>ALAB.EXE /A<file upload area number> *M *! After installing : After completing the above steps, there is one last step to do. At this moment, your upload directory will appear to ALAB as un- scanned and the WHOLE directory will be scanned by ALAB upon the next user upload! Thus, you have to either get the directory scanned manually (use ALAB [upload path] from DOS), or if you want ALAB to skip scanning any old archives, you run 'ALABDAT [upload path] /I' from the DOS. 3.3 ALAB.CFG ──────────── The ALAB.CFG file is a normal text-file (ASCII-file). It must be in the same directory that ALAB.EXE is called from, or set in the environment variable. ALAB.CFG contains many options, some of which are optional. The general format for the ALAB.CFG file is: Option [parameter] [parameter] ... [parameter] There are NO restrictions to the position you start the command, nor the starting position of the (optional) parameters, but the 'option' and (if present) the 'parameters' have to be separated by one or more spaces. You can make any mixture of upper and lower case! A generalized example of ALAB.CFG is included in the release- file. It contains ALL options available in this release (with conflicting ones commented out). 3.3.1 Basic Statements ────────────────────── The following statements are to allow you to turn on/off certain ALAB functionality to your liking. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ System [Type] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : This option will inform ALAB as to the type of BBS System it is running on so that it can make necessary adjustments. Currently supports [Type] of 'RA' (for native RA v1.xx and below), 'FD2' (for FileDoor v2.xx), and 'FD3' (for FileDoor v3.01). Make sure you get this correct. Example : System FD3 ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Debug │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : Turning this option on will enable extended debug information logging by ALAB. Various useful information will be logged to the RA log file. Use this to solve problems and to report bugs to the author. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ SwapDir [Directory] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : Enabling this option allows ALAB to swap itself out of memory when calling external programs. You should enable this if you get out of memory errors. ALAB will place any swap-files in this directory. Make sure you have at least 200K free on the disk you point to for every copy of ALAB that is swapped (see chapter on swapping). More than one directory can be specified, separated by semicolons just like the DOS PATH. Example : SwapDir D:\;C:\SWAP ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ NoEMS │ │ NoXMS │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : When any of the options are enabled, ALAB will ignore the use of the type of memory for swapping (if needed). If neither of these 2 resources is available, ALAB will be forced to use disk-space. Note that you must enable 'SwapDir' for any swapping to take place. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ WorkDir [Directory] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : This option will inform ALAB which directory to use for its work files. The default is the current directory. Example : WorkDir C:\TEMP ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ LocalUpload [Mode] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : This option is used to activate one of two modes during local upload with FDOOR.EXE. Mode 'COPY' means ALAB will process the local upload and post it while keeping the original copy intact. Mode 'MOVE' will delete the original copy after ALAB finishes. Example : LocalUpload MODE ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ NoVirusCheck │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : Enabling this option tells ALAB not to call the virus scanner for virus scanning during upload processing. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Scanner [VirusScanner Type] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : This options tells ALAB which virus-scanner package to use. Currently, it supports McAfee's SCAN ([Type] = McAfee), and TBAV's TBSCAN ([Type] = TBAV). Example : Scanner McAfee ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ ScanLog [path to log file] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : This option, if enabled, will cause the virus-scanner to log the results of its scan into the log file specified. Example : ScanLog D:\TBSCAN\SCAN.LOG ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ SCANExt [path to virus ID file] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : If enabled, ALAB will pass the virus ID file containing ID strings of new and unknown viruses to SCAN/TBSCAN to include in its virus-scanning. Example : SCANExt C:\SCAN\1399.V ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ StrictChecking │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : By default, ALAB scans the header of any file to determine its archive type. If enabled, ALAB will assume an archive to be indicated by its extension. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Repack [Type] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : If enabled, ALAB will convert all archives to the [Type] specified. [Type] can be either 'ARJ' or 'ZIP'. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ MaxRePackSize [SizeK] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : This option, together with 'Repack' specifies the largest archive size in KB that is to be repacked. Any archive larger than this amount will NOT be repacked. Useful to limit on-line repacking so that it will not take up too much of the users' time. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ AutoComment │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : If set, ALAB will add its own comments (indicating that the archive is error-free) to all archives that passes the scanning. If 'Comment [path]' is also selected, ALAB will append this to the end of your own comments! ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ KeepComment │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : If set, ALAB will keep all archive comments untouched. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Comment │ │ Comment [path] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : If set, ALAB will use the specified comment file to comment all passed archives. If no [path] is specified, ALAB will remove all archive comments without adding new ones. If 'AutoComment' is also selected, ALAB will append its auto-comments! Example : Comment C:\BBS.CMT ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ RegisteredZIP │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : If set, this tells ALAB that your version of PKZIP has been registered (-AV code present). All addition/deletion of advertisement files will cause an -AV code to be stamped on the archive. If disabled, ALAB will strip all the -AVs from archives which need deletion/addition of advertisement files. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ StripAV │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : If set, ALAB will strip all AV (Authenticity Verification) information from .ZIP files. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ NoDisplay │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : Enabling this option tells ALAB not to display anything on the remote user's screen. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ TextColour [Colour] │ │ IndicatorOn [Colour] │ │ IndicatorOff [Colour] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : You can configure ALAB's display colours with these parameters. '[Colour]' is a value calculated by Blink*128+BackGroundColour*16+ForegoundColour. 'TextColor' will change the colour of the progress text ALAB displays. 'IndicatorOn' is the colour for the indicator when it is ON, and 'IndicatorOff' is the colour when it is OFF. Example : TextColour 30 ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Age [YYYYMM] │ │ DynamicAge [MM] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : Enable only one of the above. 'Age' defines the latest date that will pass ALAB's test. A file older than the date specified will be considered a bad archive. 'DynamicAge' does the same thing, except that it only passes files not older than [MM] months from the current date. Example : Age 198001 ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ InformUser [Board] │ │ InformUser [Board] [Message] │ │ InformSysop [Board] │ │ InformSysop [Board] [Message] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : Available in the registered version. This option tells ALAB to post a mail to the user (or to the sysop in the case of 'InformSysop' in the [Board] specified if the upload(s) has failed in any circumstances. [Message] is optional, and should specify a full path name to a text file which will be appended to the message from ALAB. There is no support for the JAM message base yet, so not set [Board] to a JAM area. Example : InformUser 1 D:\ALAB\ALAB.MSG InformSysop 200 ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ UseHackReport [Path] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : Enabling this option will let ALAB check filenames of files uploaded against the ASCII listing of suspected hack/trojans published by The Hack Report regularly. Example : UseHackReport D:\ALAB\HACKIDX.TXT ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ RejectList [Path] [Word] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : If enabled, ALAB will reject all files listed line by line in the file [Path]. If [Word] is specified, it will use the specified word number as the location of the filename in each line. For example, if [Word] is 3, it will take the 3rd word of each line as the filename in the rejectlist. Example : RejectList D:\FDUPLOAD.LOG 3 ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ AutoFileDiz [Lines] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : Enables FILE_ID.DIZ/DESC.SDI descriptions support. If such a file is found in any archive, it will be used to described the file instead of the one supplied by the uploader. You can configure the exact number of lines from the FILE_ID.DIZ that you want to take, from 1 to 12. Example : AutoFileDiz 12 ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ DizIndent [Column] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : If multi-line DIZ support is enabled, this option will specify which column to start the second and subsequent lines. The default is 30. Example : DizIndent 30 ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ DizPrefix [Text] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : [Text] will be appended to the beginning of the first line of the description obtained from the FILE_ID.DIZ. Special characters : '|' will add a newline, '_' will add a space. Example : DizPrefix [00] ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ FDUploadDir [Path] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : If you are using FileDoor, you will need to define the FileDoor upload path. It should be the same as that specified in your FileDoor.CFG file. Example : FDUploadDir C:\RA\NEW ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ AddArchiveStats │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : If set, ALAB will include archive statistics (no of files, oldest and newest file) in the file description. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ AddTxTime │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : If set, ALAB will include estimated file transfer times in the file description for 1200, 2400, 9600, 14.4K, and 16.8K bps connections. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ AddUploader [Mode] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : If set, ALAB will include the uploader's name as the part of the description. If [Mode] is SEPARATE, the name will be added on a separate line at the end of the description, if JOIN, it will be appended to the last-line of the description. Example : AddUploader SEPARATE ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ TestGIF │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : If set, ALAB will test all GIF/JPG found as well. The default is to leave them alone. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ GIFTemplateSEP [Template] │ │ GIFTemplateJOIN [Template] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : Enable only one of the above. When enabled, the resolution and/or colours of any GIF/JPG file will be appended to the description of the file. Refer to the part on AddUploader for more information on the two different modes. [Template] can contain any text including space. All will be inserted as it appears into the description, except for macros which will be expanded. Supported macros are %X for X-size, %Y for Y-size, and %C for number of colours. Use %% if you need to have a literal '%'. Example : GIFTemplateJOIN (%Xx%Yx%C) ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ MinX [X] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : Valid only if 'TestGIF' is enabled. Specifies the minimum X-resolution of the GIF/JPG file to be accepted. Example : MinX 640 ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ MinY [Y] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : Valid only if 'TestGIF' is enabled. Specifies the minimum Y-resolution of the GIF/JPG file to be accepted. Example : MinY 480 ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ MinColours [Colours] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : Valid only if 'TestGIF' is enabled. Specifies the minimum number of colours of the GIF file to be accepted. Example : MinColours 256 ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ DeleteBadFile │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : If set, ALAB will delete all 'bad' archives it found during the process. 'Bad' archives are archives that fail various phases of the test (including age). ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ MoveBadFiles [badfiles directory] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : If set, ALAB will move all 'bad' archives to the specified directory without changing the filename. If the filename conflicts, it will rename to '.??1' and so on. You must ensure that the directory specified is NOT the same as the upload directory. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ RenameBadFile [badfiles directory] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : If set, ALAB will rename all 'bad' archives to an extension of '.bad', and move them to the specified directory. If the filename conflicts, it will rename to '.ba1' and so on. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ DeleteAdvert [filename] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : This option can be repeated for as many times as necessary to specify ALL the filenames that are to be removed from the archive file. Normally, you would set them to the BBS advertisement files you always find. Example : DeleteAdvert VOYAGER.DIS ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ BBSAdvert [path] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : If set, ALAB will add your own BBS advertisement file (not recommended) as specified via the 'path' to any valid archives. Example : BBSAdvert C:\BBS.AD ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ OverWrite │ │ NoOverWrite │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Usage : Only one of these options should be enabled. 'OverWrite' will allow ALAB to add in the BBS Advert file even if the file already exists in the archive. 'NoOverWrite' will stop ALAB from adding if it already exists. 3.4 ALAB.DAT ──────────── This file should NOT be deleted/handled by other than the ALAB support utilities. It is a data file created by ALAB during scanning so that passed archives will not be scanned again the next time round. The support utility ALABDAT.EXE is designed for the purpose of maintaining this data-file. Run this program once daily in your clean-up batch file for your BBS. It will reorganize the ALAB.DAT so that no redundant information is stored in it. Run it as follows : 'ALABDAT <upload directory>'. The directory is important as it will update the ALAB.DAT based on this directory (which should be the same as the one the main program ALAB.EXE uses). If you do not run this utility frequently, the ALAB.DAT file will grow and grow even though some of the scanned archives have already been moved to their proper directory. ┌────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 4 │ Runtime information │ └────────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ 4.1 Multinode operations ──────────────────────── ALAB will work fine in a multiline setup. This version implements full sharing (when SHARE.EXE is loaded) for those files that can be accessed from different lines at the same time. Excluded are the log-files. There must be separate log- files for each line. In some special cases, the user will have to wait a while when ALAB is updating some files on two separate lines at the same time. All temporary directories and files are made line-specific. ALAB will use the line-number in all its temporary directories. There are no chances in cross-linking any file. 4.2 Multiline descriptions ────────────────────────── When you enable multiline descriptions using FILE_ID.DIZ, DESC.SDI or separate line descriptions with uploader's name or GIF/JPG templating, the FILES.BBS file will contain descriptions for one file on multiple lines. It seems that most FILES.BBS processing utilities for RA do not make allowances for multiline descriptions. So if you are using one of these, the automatic sort option will probably mess up the descriptions. Turn off the sort in these utilities if you have enabled multiline descriptions. I have managed to get Wang Yumin to support multi-line descriptions with his latest release of FLPRO v4.41 and MSORT v1.02. If you need to sort multi-line descriptions from ALAB please use either of these programs. FLORG (FileList ORGanizer) is also available from me which can also do what FLPRO can do, and it's written in C++, so it should be quite fast. 4.3 Swapping ──────────── When you run a BBS, you already know what swapping is. ALAB can swap itself from memory when McAfee's SCAN is called. In this case, you must enable the 'SwapDir' option in the ALAB.CFG file. ALAB will first look for EMS, if not available then XMS is used, if not available then disk space is used. 4.4 Warning with TSR anti-virus programs ──────────────────────────────────────── I have received reports from Raymond Tan (Ace Connections) that usage of ALAB with VSAFE/TSAFE (part of the Central Point Anti- Virus package) may cause the system to 'hang' as the TSR anti- virus program will catch the virus before SCAN does and prompt the local console for an input. Please be aware of this possible problem when using TSR anti-virus programs. Disable them if you are running ALAB. If you really must have a TSR anti-virus program, you can try VSHIELD from McAfee which does not have such a problem working with SCAN. ┌────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 5 │ Version information and credits │ └────────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ 5.1 Credits ─────────── Thanks to the following people: - All registered users. You make it worthwhile to continue work on ALAB; - All users who wrote me a message and/or sent me something; - The support and beta team. 5.2 Copyright, Trademarks ───────────────────────── MSDOS is a trademark of Microsoft(tm) ARC is a trademark of SEA, Inc. PKZIP/PKUNZIP is a trademark of PKWare Inc. FileDoor is a trademark of Robert W. van Hoeven Remote Access is a trademark of Continential Software ALAB is written in Turbo Pascal 5.5, with the help of Turbo Debugger 2.0, and door-writing package RADU v2.0. Also included are some routines of Ralf Brown's fine SPAWNO 4.13 for memory swapping. Turbo Pascal is a trademark of Borland International Turbo Debugger is a trademark of Borland International ======================= END OF DOCUMENT ======================