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Software Vault: The Diamond Collection
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RELEASE.TXT
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1994-12-31
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26KB
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585 lines
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ InterBBS Version 1.0 │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
InterBBS version 1.0 is released. This software has been written in its
entirety by Ron Pierce. The InterBBS Development Team consists of
Ron Pierce and Mike Delaney.
This file contains information TOO recent to be placed in the documentation
for InterBBS version 1.0.
o Added Multiple SIG (Special Intrest Group or FORUM) Support - Up to 4096
(0-4095) SIGs are supported which totals 134,205,440 conferences possible
if all 4096 sigs had the maximum possible conferences. No features of the
the conferences have been removed, thus, all other functions are increased
by 4,096 also.
Note: The Main SIG is Sig "0" and users are automatically placed in this
SIG during the logon sequence.
When changing SIGs the user is always placed at the SIG's Main Menu.
A user may type "SIG" (No quotes) at the MAIN, FILE, MESSAGE and QWK menu
and the SIG Menu will be shown to the user (provided you have created one).
SIG Setup is located on FILE LOCATIONS 3 in IBBSCFG. See the InterBBS
Documentation.
o Increased conferences to 32,765 per SIG/Forum.
o Implementation of PCBoard 15.x style message and index Files. This
implements InterNet style long TO: and SUBJECT: Fields also. Changes have
been made the the SECOND page of the CONFERENCE SETUP to encompass InterNet
handling areas and also to FORCE ECHO on msgs.
o Alt-V Toggles the display mode from 25 lines to 43 lines (if supported).
This permits much more information about the caller to be displayed on the
bottom portion of the screen
o Converted IB-NET.EXE for SIG Use. It *MUST* be started for EACH SIG you
want scanned. A new command line paramater passes the SIG # to IB-NET:
IB-NET SIG:2 SCAN
The above command line would cause the high message pointers of SIG #2 to
be written to a file named "IB002.PTR".
CAUTION: You must create a POINTER file for each SIG that you create! To
do this, the FIRST time that IB-NET.EXE is run, use the "SCAN"
parameter as shown above. This *MUST* be done before IB-NET.EXE
will function properly.
IB-NET SIG:2 QWK
The above command line would cause SIG #2 to be scanned with no delay upon
completion ("QWK").
The "IB-NET.LOG" file entries now includes the SIG #.
o CONFUTIL has been updated to support SIGS (Forums). The only command-line
paramater change is that "/SIG:###" must be the first part of the command
line for Confutil. Then follows the old command-line paramaters:
CONFUTIL /SIG:2 5 3 /DELETE
The above command line would cause 3 conferences in SIG #2 to be deleted
with the first conference being #5. Note that conference numbers begin at
0. Before you ask; NO, you can not copy conferences across SIGS.
Note: The default is SIG:0
o Added support for copying/moving messages within the BBS between SIGs. Use
the copy/move command as before and you will be prompted for a SIG, then
the conference within that SIG.
o Added SIG support to IBBSPACK. Added more options to IBBSPACK. "/SIG:###"
must be the first part of the command line for IBBSPACK. Then follows the
old command-line parameters:
IBBSPACK /SIG:4 /IN
etc.
Note: The default is /SIG:0
NEW FEATURES OF IBBSPACK
─────────────────────────
IBBSPACK will search to see if you have a RAMDISK. If it finds one and the
message file is small enough to use it, it will. This will dramatically
boost IBBSPACK's performance (although it performs well on a hard disk).
1) /FAST = Less screen output resulting in quicker completion times.
2) /NORAM = Disables RAM DISK usage by IBBSPACK. This should normally NOT
be used since RAM DISK usage provides for maximum efficiency
when IBBSPACK is working.
3) /DATE: = Added support in IBBSPACKfor removing messages older than a
specified DATE or number of DAYS:
IBBSPACK 14 /DATE:03-31-94 (removes messages with a date before
03-31-94)
IBBSPACK 14 /DATE:90 (removes messages older than 90 days)
Note that the date may be entered as:
MM-DD-YY, MM-DD-YYYY, MM/DD/YY, MM/DD/YYYY, MMDDYY
4) /NOBACK = If "/NOBACK" is included in the command line to start IBBSPACK,
then no backup files will be left when the message packing is
done.
o Added SIG support to IBFILER. Added new options. "/SIG:###" must be the
first part of the command line for IBFILER. Then follows the old command
line paramaters:
IBFILER /SIG:5 (Enters IBFILER Editor Mode in SIG:5)
IBFILER /SIG:4 /LIST C:\FILES\ALLFILES 0,3-5
(Creates All files list of SIG:4, Conferences 0, 3, 4 & 5)
Note: The default is SIG:0 if not specified, as shown below.
IBFILER /LIST C:\FILES\ALLFILES 0,8-10
(Creates All files list of SIG:0, Conferences 0, 8, 9, & 10)
1) Added support for EXCLUDING directories within a conference while
building an ALLFILES list has been added to IBFILER.
IMPORTANT: You *MUST* NOT have any spaces on the command line after the
conference information begins.
Example: IBFILER /SIG:1 C:\FILES\ALLFILES 0/2/4/,1-2,5/6/55/
In the above example, SIG:1 is being processed. The conferences being
processed are 0, 1, 2 & 5. File Directories 2 & 4 are being excluded
from conference 0's listing, no file directories are being excluded from
conferences 1 or 2, and file directories 6 & 55 are being excluded from
conference 5's listing.
The first conference to process is 0. The forward slashes ("/") are
used to specify directory numbers in the conference to EXCLUDE.
NOTE: The excluded directory number is sandwiched between the slashes.
There can be NO RANGE of file directories between slashes (You can't
use a /2-5/ to exclude directories 2 through 5, you must use the
format: /2/3/4/5/
IBFILER looks for the commas "," to distinguish the start of a new
conference and those numbers sandwiched between slashes "/" to denote
directories to exclude from the processing conference.
IBFILER /SIG:23 /LIST C:\FILES\ALLFILES 3-6,9/2/3/4/22/27/,11
In the above example SIG:23 is being processed. Conferences 3-6 will be
done first, there are no exclusions. Conference 9 will be done next,
file directories 2, 3, 4, 22, & 27 will be excluded from it. Finally,
conference 11 will be processed.
o New MACROS.
@LFIRST@ = lowercase first name of caller.
@LLAST@ = lowercase last name of caller. Note: If user has a
single word name, @LLAST@ will return the same
information as @LFIRST@.
@DNAM:####@ = Returns the DOOR Name for the door specified. @DNAM:0133@
would return the doorname for door 133 as it is in the
IBBSCFG door.lst file.
@CSIG@ = Returns the name of the Current SIG/Forum.
@SIG:####@ = Returns the name of the SIG/Forum specified. @SIG:0000@
would return the name of SIG 0, usually "Main Board".
o The "!" redirection command. If you do not understand redirection, please
please look in the manual for the basics of the command for files.
The "!" redirection command works in exactly the same fashion as the "%"
redirection command, except that it tells InterBBS that you do NOT
want to display a file, but instead RUN a program. This means that you can
redirect any prompt to run a DOOR program with a .BAT file or also run a
.EXE or .COM file as specified as long as the program supports com routines.
o You can now perform an AND search with an OR search for the ANDed text.
Example:
T <ENTER>
BBS & (InterBBS | Mail) <ENTER>
1 <ENTER>
Y <ENTER>
The above commands will search thru every available message in ALL
conferences areas you are set to scan for any message that has both the
text "BBS" AND either the text "InterBBS" OR the text "Mail" in it.
The parenthesis tell InterBBS how you want to group your criteria if you
have a complex search request such as the one above.
o Added support for SHELLING (F9) when performing a text search of messages.
o Modified the F9 DOS SHELL command in that it no longer re-reads the
SRCONFIG file upon returning from the SHELL. Use the F6 IBBSSM\IBBSCFG
shell to alter the configuration and SRCONFIG and the USER's record are
re-read upon InterBBS regaining control.
o Modified the code which COPIES files from a cd-rom/slow drive so it does
not re-copy any file after (E)diting the batch.
o Drastically increased the efficiency of the Message Text Search. Re-wrote
the Message (T)ext Search algorythm from scratch. It is now more than 3x
faster than previous versions of InterBBS.
o Noticeably increased the Zippy search of the File Directories. All
(Z)ippy searches are now faster. The search algorythm has been "rethunk"
and re-coded. The increase is nothing like the above Message (T)ext
Search performance jump.
Modified the (Z)ippy search in the file transfer section (for file names
or text in the descriptions) to achieve better performance (it wasn't very
shabby to start with). Now, if an AND (&) search is directed and the first
phrase is a frequent flyer such as "the" or "well", and the second phase is
a hermit such as "wahoozie", the search is much faster than in previous
versions of FeatherNet.
o Modified InterBBS's "seconds since midnight" function. It is now 7x
faster than the previous one. Please keep an eye out for any weirdness
around the witching hour but I don't expect to hear any feedback on this.
o Increased the speed of the conference information display when performing a
(U) command to set conference scans and hmr's.
o Added support for SIG Specific Conference Listings.
o Added support Off-line file tagging. Your users can now compile a list of
files offline and then log on to the BBS and upload the list using the UF
command from the file menu. All files in the list will automatically be
tagged for download.
The file name the users use *MUST* be IBFILES.FLG and it has to be used
with the UF command. This file *MUST* be a straight ASCII, CrLf delimited
list of file names to flag. i.e. One filename per line.
Column
|
v 11
0123456789012
Example: 0+------------
ROW 1 -> |BNU170.ZIP
2|X00130.ZIP
3|ANSIART.ZIP
4|MENUS.ZIP
5|
o Added a file named UFLG to the \DISP sub-directory where your PREUP (or
PREUL) file is located. This will be displayed to users before they upload
the IBFILES.FLG file. In this file you should make it clear that ONLY the
file IBFILE.FLG may be upload there.
o Some of you may not understand the concept of a SIG or FORUM. For you we
add this section in to the file.
A SIG/FORUM is a GROUPING of conference areas. The conferences do NOT
change in the least. What this does is allow you to place certain
conferences together by mail network, similar intrests (i.e. Programming)
or nature (i.e. All Adult conferences).
A basic structure outline is as follows; NOTE: All names are for example
only!)
Logon
|
|
|
Main Menu
SIG 0 ----------- CONF 0 MAIN BOARD
| | ;This is where a user starts from when logging on.
| ------ CONF 1 GENERAL CHATTER
| |
| ------ CONF 2 User Help
|
From here a user has a choice. They may either Join a conference
within SIG 0 or switch to a new SIG. Keep in mind a user MUST join
a SIG to download QWK mail from conferences within that SIG.
|
|---- SIG 1 -------- CONF 0 Introductions
| Adult --- CONF 1 Singles
| --- CONF 2 Swingers
|
|---- SIG 2 -------- CONF 0 Basic Programming
| Programming --- CONF 1 Pascal Programming
| --- CONF 2 C Programming
|
|---- SIG 3 -------- CONF 0 COFFEKLATCH
| FidoNet --- CONF 1 BBS_STANDARDS
| --- CONF 2 BBS_CARNIVAL
|
---- SIG 4 -------- CONF 0 What's It Mean?
Religion --- CONF 1 Alien Or Spirit?
--- CONF 2 Who Wrote the Book?
Hope this helps. As for the structure on your hardrive, as I have said
many times, it doesn't matter, put em anywhere ya want.
o Added a scrollback buffer which functions in LOCAL MODE. The buffer allows
a local user to view text which has scrolled off the screen. Additionally,
when editing messages in either the line editor or the full screen editor,
text can be blocked by pressing the spacebar (to mark the beginning and
again to mark the end of the block). Pressing ESC to terminate the scroll
back buffer viewing causes any blocked text to be entered entered into the
message being edited. (Copy and Paste for those of you who do DTP <g>)
If the scrollback buffer size is configured for less than 25 lines, then
it is effectively disabled.
The Scroll Lock key will allow viewing of the scrollback buffer from any
command prompt as well as in the full screen message editor. The UP ARROW
also allows viewing of the scrollback buffer when at a command prompt.
The scroll back buffer is a circular one. The last line is incremented
until the maximum number of lines is reached. Then the pointer for the
last line points to the first line in the buffer. The cursor is always
positioned on the last line when viewing of the scrollback buffer begins.
Thus, when you have finished viewing your maximun scroll back buffer
lines it starts again at the beginning.
Added the ability to shell to dos when viewing the buffer. F9 will do
this for you.
Added a "timeout" after 10 minutes in the scroll back buffer. During the
final minute the "noisemaker" will twang at you at 15 second intervals.
Once this noise beings it is time to wrap-up loose ends and bail out
(block any text you want transferred upon exit).
o InterBBS will now properly re-size a MSGS.IDX file (new message index) if
it is determined to be too small when opened. This would only be necessary
for those using mail tossers which do not yet support the new .IDX message
index files (IP for example).
o The caller log naming convention has changed. In IBBSCFG, you now specify
the path & name of the caller log. This is not exactly the TRUE name of
the caller log anymore. InterBBS *will* append the node number to
the name you have specified in IBBSCFG.
Example IBBSCFG entry for caller log: D:\IBBS\IBSYS\CALLER
Node #1 caller log file is: D:\IBBS\IBSYS\CALLER1
Node #2 caller log file is: D:\IBBS\IBSYS\CALLER2
... etc
If you configure more than 99 nodes, ensure your caller log name is 5 or
fewer characters. i.e. D:\IBBS\IBSYS\CALOG
Each node on a multi-node system *should* use the same caller log path &
name. This allows any node's caller log to be viewed from other nodes.
o Added support for a conference KEYWORD or PHRASE search. The command to
perform this function is "CS" from a CONFERENCE MENU prompt. It will take
a command-line argument: CS INTERBBS
Added a KWD menu which must be placed in the directory your MENUs are in.
You must add the "CS" command to your Message/Conference Menu.
o Changed the DOS Errorlevel which InterBBS sets when running under a
front door program to "notify" your bbs startup batch file that new mail
has been saved while the last caller was online. Some SysOps prefer to do
a re-scan of mail after each caller if any new messages have been written.
The OLD errorlevel was 255. The NEW errorlevel is 254.
o Changed the DOS Errorlevel which InterBBS terminates with when NOT
running under a front door program and a FAX call is received when at the
WFC screen. The OLD errorlevel was 254. The NEW errorlevel is 253.
o IF you are using a Front End mailer... Change your IBRUN.BAT files to
reflect the new errorlevels.
IF ERRORLEVEL 255 GOTO RESTART
IF ERRORLEVEL 254 GOTO EXTRACT_MAIL (Or whatever you currently
use for getting mail from
the BBS now)
IF ERRORLEVEL 253 GOTO GET_FAX (Or whatever label you
currently use to call your
FAX Modem program)
o The DOOR.SYS & CALL BACK VERIFIER problems should be solved.
o Changed the logoff sequence when running under a front door. After a caller
is logged off, InterBBS now resets the modem before terminating and
returning control to the front door program via batch file processing.
o Found and corrected the problem with using @Xbf color codes in prompts.
(The caller's Prompt was actually one line below the prompt text)
o Added a MENU to the "L" command from the conference menu. This is now
configurable in File Locations #1 in IBBSCFG (4th item from the bottom).
o Modified IBBSSM so it will properly size the *.USR files if they are
found to be incorrect.
o Included some Utility Programs with the package.
IBBSMSG - A text or file echo utility by Ron Pierce. This will echo text to
a caller (and/or local screen). The text may be a single string
you pass as a command-line paramater or the path and name of a
text file to send to the caller.
IBBSMSG You must wait until the door is not in use.
IBBSMSG D:\IBBS\DISP\DOORBUSY.TXT
UREC - This is a program by Ron Pierce to support callers viewing
essentially the same information a SysOp views when Alt-V is used
to toggle the display mode. Add the path and name of UREC.EXE to
you CMD translation configurations (Main, Conference, File
Transfer) in IBBSCFG and when UREC<enter> is typed, UREC.EXE is
run. Urec also comes with LISTUREC.TXT which *must* be in your bbs'
\DISP sub-directory (D:\IBBS\DISP\ for example). Urec lets the
caller type in "H" to view this text file. Urec has a 30 second
timer for the "Press ENTER" prompt and a 10 second delay for the
other prompts.
The one hitch is that you *must* make sure you have the IBDIR and
IBDRV environment variables properly set for each node you operate
o Added support for a "TO" command. This allows a caller to specify both a
SIG to join and a conference to join in the newly joined SIG.
Examples:
TO;5;875 or TO 5 875
Joins SIG 5, then Conference 875 in SIG 5.
TO;4096;3 or TO 4096 3
Joins SIG 4096, then Conference 3 in SIG 4096.
Invalid SIG or Conference numbers are ignored.
o Modified the code to force subscription checking when the "quick" login
feature is used (*FIRST LAST). Before, callers who used the quick login
feature bypassed the subscription expiration check during the logon
process, thus remaining at the unexpired security level they had before
calling.
o Added a configuration option in IBBSCFG for a modem off-hook string. Some
modems will not go off-hook with the string previously "hard-coded"
(ATM0H1). This is added to the MODEM / SUBSCRIPTION / NODE configuration.
You MUST edit IBBSCFG Modem Screen and add the Hangup string if you want
your modem going OFFHOOK!
o Placing a Y in the DOOR.SYS column of DOOR.LST also creates a DORINFO1.DEF
FILE.
o Added a configuration option in IBBSCFG, General Information #1 which allows
the Personal Mail Waiting Check at login to be skipped. It is recommended
this NOT be done since callers generally expect to be notified of new mail
waiting for him/her when logging into a BBS or other telecommunications
service.
o Added support for 2 more modem initialization strings in IBBSCFG. These are
located on the MODEM / NODE / SUBSCRIPTION configuration screen.
o Added support for the CNAMES.ADD file in CNAME120.EXE.
o Event "BATCH" File Search Methodology:
1) The node directory for a NODE SPECIFIC event "batch" file. The name
*must* be the event name plus the node number padded left with zeros.
Example: MYEVENT.001 (For Node 1)
2) The subdirectory where the EVENT.LST file is kept. The event "batch"
file *must* be named the event name: Example: MYEVENT
3) The node subdirectory is the last sub-directory checked for the event
"batch" file. The event "batch" file *must* be named the event name:
Example: MYEVENT
o Added support for (L)ocate file from the file transfer area. This command
caused support for (L)ist "logged" dir file to be dropped.
The (L)ocate command is a "stackable" command like the zippy search and
almost all InterBBS commands. Wildcards are automatic and need not be used
(they are stripped if entered). Only one filespec can be used. The "|" and
"&" operators are not currently abailable when locating a FileName.
o Added a parameter in IBBSCFG.EXE (File Locations #1) to specify the
InterBBS SYSTEM subdirectory. This was defaulting to "\IBBS\IBSYS\"
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ULTester v5.02 Upload Processor for InterBBS │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
ULTester version 5.02 comes with a new look. It also includes a DOS "window"
for SysOp viewing of "shelled" tasks.
ULTester v5.02 now terminates with some error codes to indicate the reason a
file was rejected or why ULTester terminated the test prematurely. The error
codes are as follows:
1 - Incorrect Command Line to start ULTester. Possibly incorrect ULTx.CFG
file path & name.
2 - The file to be tested does not exist. This will be a rare occurrance
(a local "test" of ULTester with the "/L" command line parameter).
3 - Archive failed the integrity check. PKUNZIP, LHA or ARJ reports that
the archive has errors. Check your ULTester "log" file routinely for
new entries. The file was moved to your HOLD directory.
4 - A VIRUS is suspected! This could be a false alarm if your virus
scanning program returned an errorlevel due to a non-viral condition.
Perform a "scan" of the file contents "manually" to confirm or dismiss
the virus alert. The file was moved to your VIRUS HOLD directory.
5 - A file is being rejected because it is not an allowed archive format.
Example: Someone uploads a .ARJ file and you do not accept .ARJ files.
Keep in mins ULTester will convert all uploads to either ZIP, ARJ or
LHA format if you configure it to do so.
6 - A .GIF file has failed the miniimum acceptable resolution you
specified when configuring ULTester (ULTCFG.EXE). The file was moved
to your HOLD directory.
7 - A .GIF file has failed the GIF integrity test. The file was moved to
your HOLD directory.
8 - A file has failed age constraints. The percentage of "overage" files
in the archive equals or exceeds that which you specified in the
configuration. The file was moved to your HOLD directory.
9 - A file has failed the Teledisk integrity test. These files are rarely
used today. The file was moved to your HOLD directory.
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
You can use Ron Pierce's FNPMSG.EXE utility to send a "text" file to the
caller when one of these errors occurs. After the ULTester entry in your
IBBSTEST.BAT file you could add entries such as:
if errorlevel 9 goto e9
if errorlevel 8 goto e8
if errorlevel 7 goto e7
if errorlevel 6 goto e6
if errorlevel 5 goto e5
if errorlevel 4 goto e4
if errorlevel 3 goto e3
if errorlevel 2 goto e2
if errorlevel 1 goto e1
if errorlevel 0 goto e0
:e9
fnpmsg D:\IBBS\DISP\TDFAIL.TXT
goto end1
:e8
fnpmsg D:\IBBS\DISP\AGEFAIL.TXT
goto end1
:e7
fnpmsg D:\IBBS\DISP\GIFINTEG.TXT
goto end1
:e6
fnpmsg D:\IBBS\DISP\GIFREZ.TXT
goto end1
:e5
fnpmsg D:\IBBS\DISP\FILEFMT.TXT
goto end1
:e4
fnpmsg D:\IBBS\DISP\VIRUS.TXT
goto end1
:e3
fnpmsg D:\IBBS\DISP\INTEGFAL.TXT
goto end1
:e2
fnpmsg D:\IBBS\DISP\NOFILHER.TXT
goto end1
:e1
fnpmsg D:\IBBS\DISP\ULTCMDLN.TXT
goto end1
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The above are examples of what you CAN do with the errorlevels. InterBBS
uses its own method of determining a file's upload status and sends the
appropriate text file to the caller after each upload.