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GROUP MAIL
Version 2.15
Copyright 1988,89
by
System Enhancement Associates, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
This document describes version 2.15 of the GroupMail
conferencing system, which was created by System
Enhancement Associates, Inc. in August of 1989.
"GroupMail" is a trademark of Computer Assisted
Marketing Programs, Inc., and is used by license.
GROUP is the copyrighted property of System
Enhancement Associates, Inc. You are granted a
limited license to use GROUP, and to copy it and
distribute it, provided that the following conditions
are met:
1) No fee may be charged for such copying and
distribution.
____2) GROUP may only be distributed in its original,
unmodified state.
___3) GROUP may not be distributed, in whole or in part,
as part of any commercial product or service
without the express written permission of System
Enhancement Associates, Inc.
Contributions for the use of this program will be
appreciated, and should be sent to:
System Enhancement Associates, Inc.
21 New Street, Wayne NJ 07470
You may not use this product in a commercial
environment or a governmental organization without
obtaining a license for the SEAdog Option Package.
See the order form at the end of this manual for
details.
SEAdog Options Page 1 Group
GROUP is user supported software. This means that you
may copy it freely and give the copies away to anyone
you wish, at no cost. They are in turn requested to
send in a contribution if they decide to use it.
The user supported software concept (often referred to
_________as shareware) is an attempt to provide quality
software at low cost. The cost of offering a new
product by conventional means is staggering, and hence
dissuades many independent authors and small companies
from developing and promoting their ideas. User
supported software is an attempt to develop a new
marketing channel where products can be introduced at
low cost.
If user supported software works, then everyone will
benefit. The user will benefit by receiving quality
products at low cost, and by being able to "test
drive" software thoroughly before purchasing it. The
author benefits by being able to enter the commercial
software arena without first needing large sources of
venture capital.
But it can only work with your support. We're not
___just talking about GROUP here, but about all user
supported software. If you obtain a user supported
program from a friend or colleague, and are still
using it after a couple of weeks, then it is obviously
worth something to you, and a contribution should be
sent.
And now, back to GROUP:
SEAdog Options Page 2 Group
GROUP
GROUP implements a conferencing system for SEAdog
_________using a technique known as GroupMail. "GroupMail" is
a trademark of Computer Assisted Marketing Programs,
Inc., and is used by license.
A conference is a set of messages relating to some
topic, where the messages are kept in a separate area
_________ _______ ____(using the alternate message area feature of SEAdog)
which is duplicated on several systems. Hence, the
people at each of the systems can enter messages which
are then transmitted to every other participating
system.
Please excuse us a moment while we delve into some
terminology we'll be using here:
GroupMail is a "star-based topology", meaning that
several systems connect to one central (or "star")
system. This star system may in turn be one of
several that connect to a higher level star. The
topology may be (and probably will be) different
for every conference.
The topmost star system in any given conference is
the "top star". A person using that system may
then be the "moderator" of that conference. All
messages flow upward to the top star, and then
back down to the conference participants.
In any given conference, any star other than the
top star is a "middle star".
For any given conference that you connect to, if
you are not the top star then there is one system
that you obtain the conference from. That person
is your "uplink".
If you are sufficiently confused, we will proceed.
And what better way than to dive right in!
SEAdog Options Page 3 Group
GROUP ADD <conference> <description> ;<uplink>GROUP ADD <conference> <description> ;<uplink>
This is the command you use to add a new
conference. Suppose, for example, that you would
like to get the BLATZ conference from 520/542.
You would type:
GROUP ADD BLATZ Gzorniblatz forum ;520/542
GROUP will take care of the details, like creating
the proper directories and updating your AREAS.DOG
file. If you run a BBS and you want the
conference to be available on your system you will
need to add the directory to your message areas.
The message directory that GROUP creates will (by
default, see later) be a subdirectory of the GROUP
subdirectory, or in this case it would be
"GROUP\BLATZ".
GROUP DEL <conference> . . .GROUP DEL <conference> . . .
This is used to remove one or more conferences.
For example, if you wanted to remove the BLATZ
conference you would type:
GROUP DEL BLATZ
If you wanted to remove both the BLATZ conference
and the GNORF conference, you would type:
GROUP DEL BLATZ GNORF
Again, GROUP will take care of the housekeeping
details, such as deleting any messages and
removing the subdirectory.
GROUP EDIT <conference> <description> ;<uplink>GROUP EDIT <conference> <description> ;<uplink>
This is used to change an existing conference.
For example, if you wanted to change your uplink
on the BLATZ conference to 440/1, you would type:
GROUP EDIT BLATZ Gzorniblatz forum ;440/1
As always, GROUP takes care of any housekeeping
details.
SEAdog Options Page 4 Group
GROUP EDITGROUP EDIT
A "group edit" command with no arguments tells
GROUP that you want to alter its system
parameters. These control things like the names
of the files, which directories hold GroupMail,
and so forth.
GROUP ASKGROUP ASK
This is used to generate the update requests to
obtain any new traffic in any of your conferences.
You will want to do this every night.
GROUP OUTGROUP OUT
This tells GROUP to scan all of your conferences
for any messages you may have entered. Any new
messages from you are moved from the conference
area to your network mail area, and are
readdressed to your uplink. Any messages marked
"private" are sent as normal netmail directly to
whoever they are addressed to. You will want to
do this every night.
GROUP INGROUP IN
This tells GROUP to unpack any conference archives
you may have received and to place the messages in
their appropriate directories. If you are the top
star, then GROUP will scan your network mail area
for any new messages from your conference
participants. You will want to do this every
morning.
GROUP PACKGROUP PACK
This tells GROUP to pack up any new traffic in any
conference where you are the top star, thus making
it available to others. If you are a top star,
then you will want to do this at least daily. If
you are NOT a top star, then you'll never need to
do this at all.
SEAdog Options Page 5 Group
GROUP LISTGROUP LIST
This tells GROUP to display a report of what
conferences you have and how many messages are in
each conference.
GROUP KILLGROUP KILL
This tells GROUP to scan your network mail area
and kill any stray GroupMail or leftover update
requests.
Any of the above (except ADD, DEL, and EDIT) may be
combined on the command line, in which case they
happen in the order they are given. You can also add
the special command "NOW", which tells GROUP to invoke
the SEAdog MAILER if anything outgoing has been
created.
For example, you could create an external event that
runs every night, issuing the command:
GROUP OUT ASK PACK
This would tell GROUP to (1) scan your message
directories for any outgoing traffic, (2) generate
update requests for all of your areas, and then (3)
pack up any new traffic in any conference where you
are the top star.
Star operation______________Star operation
To set yourself up as the top star of a conference,
use an asterisk for the network address of your
uplink. For example, if you wanted to be the top star
of the BLATZ conference, you would type:
GROUP ADD BLATZ Gzorniblatz forum ;*
SEAdog Options Page 6 Group
To be a middle star of a conference, use both an
asterisk and an uplink address. For example, if you
wanted to be a middle star of the BLATZ conference,
you would type:
GROUP ADD BLATZ Gzorniblatz forum ;* 520/542
When you are a star on one or more conferences, GROUP
will create and maintain a file called PICKUP.DOG,
which is a list of what directories must be available
for file requests. You should insert this file into
your CONFIG.DOG file with an "INCLUDE" statement.
If you are a middle star, then people linking to you
will send you any messages they enter. GROUP IN will
readdress them to your own uplink, who will do
likewise, until they finally reach the top star.
Accordingly, you should set your system routing to
allow messages to be forwarded to your uplink.
Option switches_______________Option switches
There are several option switches that you can use to
modify how GROUP works. These fall into two
categories, those that can be used with ADD or EDIT,
and those that can be used with everything else.
The following command line switches may be used on
_____commands other than ADD or EDIT:
/S Slow scan/S Slow scan; This tells GROUP to take its time
and carefully examine every message and every
GroupMail archive on your system. Generally
speaking, you will neither need nor want to
do this.
/C Crash/C Crash; This tells GROUP that outgoing
messages and update requests should be marked
_____ ________ crash priority.
/O<msgs> Overflow/O<msgs> Overflow; This tells GROUP that the
remainder of the command line is an MS-DOS
command that should be executed whenever the
network mail area gets more than <msgs>
messages. It is intended for use with the /N
option, and functions the same as the /O
_______ option of ARCmail.
SEAdog Options Page 7 Group
/Q Query/Q Query; When used with the LIST command, this
tells GROUP to do an "interpretive listing",
which details how GROUP has interpreted the
various options for each group. You should
not normally need this.
/? Help!!/? Help!!; This tells GROUP to display a brief
summary of which options do what.
The following options can be used only with the ADD or
EDIT commands, and control how each group is
processed:
/N Netmail/N Netmail; This tells GROUP that messages
received for this conference should be placed
in the network mail area. This is intended
for use in interfacing GROUP with systems
that use a different message base structure.
/P Passthru/P Passthru; This tells GROUP that you are a
"passthru star". New GroupMail archives are
placed in your holding area without being
unpacked locally. This is an exceptionally
fast operation, particularly when your GROUP
area and your GRPHOLD area (see below) are on
the same disk drive.
/R<x> Retention/R<x> Retention; This tells GROUP that any
GroupMail archives that you are holding (if
you are a star) should be deleted after <x>
days (default is 30 days). For example, you
would use "/R5" to retain archives for five
days.
/1 Secure1/1 Secure1; This tells GROUP to ignore any
message that has not been authenticated by
_______ Secure1 (see Secure1). This has no meaning
if you are not the top star. A group that is
being authenticated may only be configured as
a simple star (i.e. no midstars).
/D<path> Directory/D<path> Directory; This tells GROUP to use the named
directory for holding GroupMail archives.
For example, you would use "/DE:\JUNK" to use
the E:\JUNK directory. This will rarely be
needed, and is meaningless if you are not a
star.
SEAdog Options Page 8 Group
/K<char> Kitten access/K<char> Kitten access; This is used to set the
Kitten access flag for this conference to
______ <char> (see Kitten). This is ignored by
GROUP.
/X Don't ask/X Don't ask; This tells GROUP that it should
not generate an update request for this
conference when doing a "GROUP ASK". This is
intended for use with conferences that are
delivered, or that are obtained by a GROUP
______ GET over a local area network (see LANdog).
/! Second pack/! Second pack; This designates that the
conference should not be packed during a
normal "PACK" command, but only in response
to an emphatic "PACK!" command.
/S Slow scan/S Slow scan; This tells GROUP to always take
its time and carefully examine every message
and every GroupMail archive for this group.
It functions the same as on other commands,
but with ADD or EDIT it defines a permanent
state of affairs for the specific conference.
/C Crash/C Crash; This tells GROUP that outgoing
messages and update requests for this group
_____ ________ should always be marked crash priority.
/F File distribution/F File distribution; This tells GROUP that
files as well as messages are distributed
with this group. The topstar would
distribute a file by giving it the same name
as the group and placing it in his group
holding area (see below).
/A<opt> ARC options/A<opt> ARC options; This tells GROUP that it should
pass the <opt> string to ARC whenever an
archive for this group is being packed or
unpacked. For example, to use ARC archive
encryption with a password of "BLATZ", the
proper form would be "/AGBLATZ".
For example, if you wanted to add the BLATZ conference
with yourself as a middle star retaining GroupMail
archives for three days, you would type:
GROUP ADD BLATZ Gzorniblatz forum ;* 520/542 /r3
SEAdog Options Page 9 Group
Closed conferences__________________Closed conferences
Conferences can be limited in distribution by
passwording them. For example, if your uplink for the
BLATZ conference tells you that it is passworded with
the password "gnorf", then you would add the BLATZ
conference with the command:
GROUP ADD BLATZ,gnorf Gzorniblatz forum ;520/542
If you are a star, then GROUP will take care of
placing GroupMail archives in their own subdirectory
and will update the PICKUP.DOG file to password that
subdirectory. You will need to update your CONFIG.DOG
file (or the equivalent action on your system) to
password that subdirectory.
As normally done by GROUP, people calling you will use
the same password that you use when calling your
uplink. You can change that by manually putting a
different password on the subdirectory.
Moderated and semi-moderated conferences________________________________________Moderated and semi-moderated conferences
Moderation (the verb, not the noun) is handled by the
top star in any given conference. The top star
decides if the conference is to be moderated,
unmoderated, or semi-moderated.
When you are the top star, new message traffic comes
to you by netmail. It is then imported into your
system by GROUP IN, and then packed for distribution
by GROUP PACK. In between GROUP IN and GROUP PACK
they sit in the message area on your system.
Hence, to run a totally unmoderated conference you
would have an external event give the command:
GROUP IN PACK
so that everything is packed as soon as you get it.
SEAdog Options Page 10 Group
If you want to run a fully moderated conference, then
you would have an external event give the command:
GROUP IN
which will import anything you get, but not pack it.
Now you read the messages in your conference and
delete any which you feel are inappropriate or
undesireable, and then manually type:
GROUP PACK
Thus, nothing is ever packed for distribution until
you've read it.
A better method is to run a semi-moderated conference.
To do this, define an external event every morning
that gives the command:
GROUP IN
Then define another external event every night that
gives the command:
GROUP PACK
Now new messages will be imported every morning, and
packed for distribution every night. This gives you
all day to review the new message traffic, but still
allows everything to flow smoothly in your absence.
Where did that message go?!?!_____________________________Where did that message go?!?!
How GROUP works is sometimes a bit disconcerting the
first time or two if you don't know what it's doing.
Let's say you enter a message in the BLATZ conference,
and then run GROUP OUT. The message you entered is
removed from your BLATZ area and placed in your
network mail area addressed to your uplink. Your
uplink then passes it along until it reaches the top
star, who then packs it in a GroupMail archive. This
archive is then passed back down the chain to you.
When you unpack it with GROUP IN, your message
reappears in your BLATZ area.
SEAdog Options Page 11 Group
So why does it disappear and then reappear?
There are several reasons. For one, you get positive
confirmation that your message made it in and went out
to everyone. If you get it back, then everyone else
got it too. If you don't get it back, then nobody got
it.
Another reason is performance. Any given message is
packed once into one archive, and that's all.
Everyone gets the same archive.
Suppose, for example, that you are a middle-star
receiving two megabytes a day which you then pass on
to fifty local systems. How much disk space do you
need? With GroupMail you need two megabytes for every
day of traffic you retain. If you retain GroupMail
archives for three days, you'll need six megabytes.
How long will it take you to process those two
megabytes? For a passthru star it will take on the
order of three seconds.
However, if you don't like this, just use the GROUP
EDIT command to change it.
What's going on?________________What's going on?
GROUP keeps a log (usually named GROUP.LOG) of
activity in each conference you receive. The headings
are pretty self-explanatory.
If you edit the log file to remove the entry for a
conference, then GROUP will stop keeping statistics on
that conference. You can start keeping statistics for
a conference again by adding a line to the log file
for that conference.
To restart your statistics, delete the first line (the
heading) from the log file.
If you don't want GROUP to keep any statistics at all,
go to the GROUP EDIT screen and delete the name of the
log file.
SEAdog Options Page 12 Group
Other message base formats__________________________Other message base formats
GROUP can be used to import GroupMail into other
formats. For purposes of illustration we will show
how we import GroupMail into a TBBS system. Other
systems should be similar.
We wish to link our TBBS system into the BLATZ
conference. To do this we must first tell TBBS where
to send any messages that are generated locally. We
do this by adding the following line to our AREAS.BBS
file:
5 BLATZ 520/542
This tells the TBBS ECHOSCAN utility that any new
messages in BLATZ should be sent to our uplink. Now
we tell GROUP about the BLATZ conference like so:
GROUP ADD BLATZ Gzorniblatz forum ;520/542 /N
____The "/N" is VERY important!! It tells GROUP to dump
any BLATZ messages into the netmail area, where the
TBBS POSTMAIL utility can access them.
Now we define an external event in the evening that
executes the commands:
echoscan
premail
group ask
We define another external event in the morning that
executes the commands:
group in
postmail -toss
echolink
We can improve the performance of that considerably by
instead using the commands:
group in /o200 postmail -toss
echolink
This will tell GROUP to pause every 200 messages and
run POSTMAIL.
SEAdog Options Page 13 Group
Vanity lines____________Vanity lines
One aspect of echomail that is conspicuously absent
from GroupMail are the "vanity lines" (the tear line
and the origin line at the end of each message).
GroupMail does not require an origin line because the
original address is preserved in the message header.
Also, GroupMail does not use SEEN-BY lines or PATH
lines, so without an origin line there's no need to
stick in a tear line.
However, some folks really like those little taglines
advertising their system, so we made it possible to
stick them in.
To do your own vanity lines and such, you'll need to
create an ORIGIN file. This is simply a file named
"ORIGIN" that sits in the GROUP directory. You can
also put individual ORIGIN files in your message area
directories to customize your vanity lines differently
in different areas.
An ORIGIN file can contain one line or several. The
first character of each line says what the rest of the
line is defining, as follows:
- A tear line
! A slogan
? Your name
* (or anything else) an origin line
For example, if your ORIGIN file contained:
Super Duper BBS (520/542)
-Zap v1.0
!Have a nice day!
?Da Boss
Then any GroupMail message entered on your system will
go out with the following lines appended to the end:
Have a nice day!
--- Zap v1.0
* Origin: Super Duper BBS (520/542)
In addition, any GroupMail message entered by you (the
first name listed in your CONFIG.DOG file, or "SysOp"
if you aren't using SEAdog) will be changed so that it
is from "Da Boss".
SEAdog Options Page 14 Group
System configuration____________________System configuration
GROUP needs to know a few things about how your system
is configured. It finds out by looking for a file
called "CONFIG.DOG". If it doesn't find it, then it
looks for a file called "MAIL.SYS". The CONFIG.DOG
file is a text file used to configure a SEAdog system,
while the MAIL.SYS file is a binary file used to hold
certain system data on a Fido bulletin board system.
Most FidoNet-capable mail systems have some means of
providing a MAIL.SYS file, since so many utility
programs look for it.
If your system has neither, then you should create a
basic CONFIG.DOG file before you try running GROUP.
The statements you need are:
NAMENAME This is your name. This is needed only if
you will be using the "?" capability in an
ORIGIN file.
NODENODE This is your network address.
MAILMAIL This is the name of the directory which holds
your network mail messages.
FILESFILES This is the name of the directory where files
sent to you by network mail are placed.
For example, a typical CONFIG.DOG file might look like
this:
name Thom Henderson
node 520/542
mail C:\MAIL\MESSAGES
files C:\MAIL\INPUT
SEAdog Options Page 15 Group
Interfacing with echomail_________________________Interfacing with echomail
Ideally, any given conference should be either
GroupMail or echomail. The two can coexist quite
nicely on that basis. If a conference were both
___GroupMail and echomail, then many of the problems
associated with echomail would be carried over into
GroupMail.
However, for the nonce we have an interim period where
many conferences exist in echomail but not in
GroupMail. During the transition period System
Enhancement Associates is providing a "gateway system"
to pass messages between the two. A list of the
conferences available, along with statistics on
traffic levels, may be obtained by file-requesting
"GROUPS" from Alliance node 520/542, or by calling
SEAnet Relay at 1-201-473-8522.
SEAdog Options Page 16 Group
ORDER FORM
Check which items you wish to acquire:
[] SEAdog option package at $125 _____
[] SEAdog electronic mail system at $99.95 _____
[] Maintenance contract at $50 per year _____
New Jersey residents add 6% sales tax _____
[] For C.O.D. orders, add $5 shipping _____
[] For orders outside the U.S., add $5 and
enclose an international money order
payable in U.S. currency _____
TOTAL _____
[] Payment is enclosed
[] Please charge to my [] Visa or [] Mastercard:
Card number: __________________________________
Expiration date: ______________________________
Signature: ____________________________________
__________________________________________________
Name
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
Address
____________________________ ________ __________
City State Zip
Send this completed form to:
System Enhancement Associates, Inc.
21 New Street, Wayne, NJ 07470
SEAdog Options Page 17 Group
LIMITED LICENSE AND WARRANTY
IMPORTANT NOTICE:IMPORTANT NOTICE: Any use of this software for any
period of time for any purpose whatsoever constitutes
your unqualified acceptance of this LICENSE and
subjects you to all of the terms and conditions set
forth below:
System Enhancement Associates, Inc. ("SEA") warrants
to any Licensee that acquires the program from SEA or
an authorized SEA representative ONLY that:
1) All diskettes SEA provides constitute an accurate
duplication of the software and SEA will replace
any diskette found to be defective within 30 days
from date of acquisition. SEA will not honor this
warranty if the diskette has been subjected to
physical abuse, or used in defective or non-
compatible equipment.
2) SEA's software will perform substantially as
described in the documentation SEA regularly
supplies with that software, if operated as
prescribed in such documentation including the
hardware and software environment specified.
3) If a significant defect in any program is found,
Licensee's only remedy shall be to receive refund
of the actual fee Licensee paid for such defective
program. In no event will such a refund exceed
the fee SEA charges for such program.
4) SEA makes no warranty or representation that the
software will be error free nor that its use by
Licensee will be uninterrupted.
Except as provided above, SEA disclaims all otherExcept as provided above, SEA disclaims all other
warranties, either express or implied, including butwarranties, either express or implied, including but
not limited to any implied warranty of merchantabilitynot limited to any implied warranty of merchantability
or fitness for any particular purpose.or fitness for any particular purpose.
Licensee agrees to take full responsibility for theLicensee agrees to take full responsibility for the
selection of and any use whatsoever made of theselection of and any use whatsoever made of the
software.software.
IN NO EVENT WILL SEA BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGESIN NO EVENT WILL SEA BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES
WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DAMAGES FORWHATSOEVER (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DAMAGES FOR
LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSSLOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS
OF BUSINESS INFORMATION OR THE LIKE) ARISING OUT OFOF BUSINESS INFORMATION OR THE LIKE) ARISING OUT OF
THE USE OF, INTERRUPTION IN THE USE OF, OR INABILITYTHE USE OF, INTERRUPTION IN THE USE OF, OR INABILITY
TO USE THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF SEA HAS BEEN ADVISED OFTO USE THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF SEA HAS BEEN ADVISED OF
ANY POSSIBILITY OR LIKELYHOOD OF SUCH DAMAGES.ANY POSSIBILITY OR LIKELYHOOD OF SUCH DAMAGES.
SEAdog Options Page 18 Group