OS/2 Shareware BBS: 35 Internet/35-Internet.zip/soup2sq.zip/SOUP2SQ.INF

OS/2 Help File | 1995-03-04 | 24KB | 599 lines

ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1. Title Page ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                       Soup2Sq - Soup to Squish Converter

                                   Version 1.0

                             Released on 4 Mar 1995

                Documentation and programming by Steven van Loef

                          Copyright 1995 by S. van Loef

Nothing in this document may be copied without prior written permission of the
author. This document should be distributed with the accompanying program
Soup2Sq version 1.0 and all other files that come with it.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2. Introduction ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                   Introduction to the world of offline Email

In the world of fidonet it has been possible for years to read and write your
mail offline with some very good message editors. There is also a wide range of
message area processing utilities. On the internet however it seems almost
impossible to read and write your mail offline. This is of course no problem as
long as your a student of some university or other organisation with internal
networks. But for the user at home who uses a SLIP or PPP connection this is a
problem. Its name is: MONEY. Using a internet provider can get you very high
bills, especially if you want to read newsgroups. You first have to get a list
of articles from a particular newsgroup and then point at the desired article
which is then sent to your system so you can read it and/or reply to it. All
this is done while being connected to your internet provider. A second problem
is that, if you are also reading and writing mail on fidonet you will have to
use at least two message editors (possibly three, one for fidonet, one for
newsgroups and one for internet Email).

Well, Soup2Sq will end all this. Using a program to get soup packets from your
provider (eg Souper) you will be able to retreive all new mail and news using
your SLIP or PPP connection. And that is where Soup2Sq comes in. What it will
do is take the soup packet and toss all messages into your existing squish
messagebase. So now you can use your fidonet message editor to read and write
internet mail and news! And you can now easily reply to (or forward) messages
from internet to fidonet vice versa.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3. License / disclaimer ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                              License / disclaimer

License

You are granted to use Soup2Sq unregistered for a period of 30 (thirty) days.
After that period you must register it with the author. The registered version
may only be installed and used on one computer at the time. This means that if
you want to use it on another computer you will either have to deinstall it
from the other computer or register another copy with the author.

Disclaimer

You use Soup2Sq at your own risk. The author can never be held responsible for
any damage done directly or indirectly by Soup2Sq.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4. Registration ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                                  Registration

Soup2Sq is shareware which means you are allowed to try out the program for a
limited period. The trial period for Soup2Sq is thirty days. If you continue to
use Soup2Sq after this trial period you are required to register it.

The unregisterd version has two limitations that the registered version does
not have. The first is that a maxmimum of twentyfive newsgroups are supported.
The second is that there is a short delay at the startup of Soup2Sq (about 2
seconds). During this delay a message is displayed telling you that you are
using an unregistered version of Soup2Sq.

If you like Soup2Sq and want to continue using it after the trial period, fill
out the order form which can be found in appendix D and send it to the author
of Soup2Sq.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5. Installing ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                                   Installing

The installation procedure is described in the following sections.

Press enter or double click here to start


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.1. The Soup2Sq config file ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                             The Soup2Sq config file

After unzipping Soup2Sq in a directory of your choice, start a text editor and
load the file soup2sq.cfg. All keywords are described in this section. By using
these keywords Soup2Sq will create a messages conform RFC822 and RFC1036. A
sample of a message converted by Soup2Sq from a messages written with a Squish
compatible editor:

Squish Message:

Date : Feb 26 '95, 22:37
From : [e-mail]
To  : [e-mail]
Subj : ANN: Soup2Sq v1.0
ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇ
Hello You,

This is Soup2Sq v1.0 - a squish to soup converter.

Bye!

Internet Message:

To: [e-mail]
From: [e-mail] (Steven van Loef)
Subject: ANN: Soup2Sq v1.0
Date: Mon, 26 Feb 1995 22:37:48 +0100
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Steven van Loef)
Organization: Van Loef Software Design

Hello You,

This is Soup2Sq v1.0 - a squish to soup converter.

Bye!


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.1.1. Name keyword ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                                  Name keyword

This is the name you use to receive Email. For example if your Email address is
[e-mail], then Name would be john and you should put 'Name john' in the
config file. Case is significant, spaces are not allowed.

See also: Domain, FullName


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.1.2. FullName keyword ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                                FullName keyword

This is easy: here you put your full name. For example: 'FullName John R. Doe'.
Case is not significant and you can use as much spaces as you like.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.1.3. Domain keyword ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                                 Domain keyword

The Domain keyword is used to specify the computer you have an account on. For
example if your Email address is [e-mail] then you should put
'Domain somewhere.else.com' in the config file. Case is significant, spaces are
not allowed.

See also: Name


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.1.4. ReplyTo keyword ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                                 ReplyTo keyword

This is an optional keyword. You can use this to receive replies to your
messages to another address then you specified by the Name and Domain keywords.
For example: 'ReplyTo [e-mail]' will send (if supported by the mailer
of the person who is replying to your messages) replies to [e-mail].
Make sure you use a correct internet address. Case is significant, spaces are
not allowed.

See also: Name, Domain, FullName


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.1.5. Organization keyword ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                              Organization keyword

This also is an optional keyword. It describes the organization to which you
belong. The intent of this line is to help identify the person posting the
message. Case is not significant and you can use as much spaces as you like.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.1.6. EncodeLines keyword ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                               EncodeLines keyword

This keywords sets the maximum number of lines generated per message if the
file-attach bit is set and the subject line of the squish message contains a
valid filename. Because it is not allowed on internet to send binary files
(encoded with 8 bits per byte) such files are UUENCODED (converted to 7 bit
encoding). Soup2Sq automatically converts squish messages that have a
fileattach to UUENCODED form. If more than 'EncodeLines' have been written,
Soup2Sq will start a new messages and continue uuencoding. If there is any text
written by you in the message, it will be put in the first message only. If you
set EncodeLines to zero (EncodeLines 0), Soup2Sq will create one message
containing the entire file in uuencoded form.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.1.7. DeletePostedArticles keyword ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                          DeletePostedArticles keyword

Because posted articles will be sent back to you it is not necessary to keep
articles written by you, in the newsgroup. This keyword will delete all those
articles when they get posted. This prevents that you will end up with
duplicate messages.

See also: MovePostedArticles


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.1.8. MovePostedArticles keyword ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                           MovePostedArticles keyword

This keyword will also delete posted articles from the newsgroup in which they
where written, but will move them to a squish area of your choice. For example
if you put 'MovePostedArticles c:\usenet\posted' in soup2sq.cfg, all posted
articles will be moved to the squish area named 'posted'.

See also: DeletePostedArtciles


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.1.9. Reply keyword ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                                  Reply keyword

This keyword tells Soup2Sq in which directory to put soup reply packets. For
example: if you put 'Reply c:\news' in soup2sq.cfg the reply files will be
created in the directory c:\news. Soup2Sq assumes that this directory has
already been created by you.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.1.10. StripRe keyword ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                                 StripRe keyword

While squish has a very good message linker, it does not seem to be able to
link messages that have 'Re: ' at the beginning of the subject line with
messages having the same subject line except for 'Re: ' at the beginning. The
StipRe keyword will remove the text 'Re: ' from all subject lines. This allows
squish to properly link the messages.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.1.11. Newsgroup keyword ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                                Newsgroup keyword

The newsgroup keyword defines the newsgroups you are subscribed to. It has the
format: Newsgroup tag path -n | -m

Some examples:

Newsgroup comp.os.os2.announce c:\internet\usenet\os2\announce -n

defines the newsgroup (-n) comp.os.os2.announce as the squish area announce
(created by Soup2Sq if it does not exist) in the directory
c:\internet\usenet\os2 (must already exist).

Newsgroup comp.os.os2.networking.tcp-ip c:\internet\usenet\os2\tcpip -n

Newsgroup Email c:\internet\email -m

defines the area in which you will receive your Email (-m) as the squish area
email in the directory c:\internet.

You can define as many newsgroups as memory allows. Case is significant.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.1.12. User keyword ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                                  User keyword

This keyword allows you to create aliases for often used Email addresses. It
also solves the problem of squish not allowing addresses that are longer than
36 characters. The format of the user keyword is: User alias address fullname.
The alias and address do not allow spaces the fullname part does. Case is
significant. Again, the number of aliases is limited by memory only.

Some examples:

User svl [e-mail] Steven van Loef

if you use svl in an Email messages in the 'To' header, Soup2Sq will expand
this to:

To: [e-mail] (Steven van Loef)


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.2. The Squish config file ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                             The Squish config file

If you want to use squish to link the messages in the newsgroups and
occasionally pack the newsgroups, you will have to define the newsgroups in the
squish.cfg file. Some examples:

EchoArea comp.os.os2.announce c:\internet\usenet\os2\announce $ -$d7 -$m200
EchoArea comp.os.os2.networking.tcp-ip c:\internet\usenet\os2\tcpip -$ -$m500

Consult the squish documentation for further explanation.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.3. The TimEd config file ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                              The TimEd config file

If you are using TimEd for reading and writing messages (like I do) you will
have to define the newsgroups and Email area in your timed.cfg file. Some
examples:

NetArea "[USENET] OS/2 Announcements" comp.os.os2.announce
    c:\internet\usenet\os2\announce -$
NetArea "[USENET] OS/2 Networking with TCP/IP" comp.os.os2.networking.tcp-ip
    c:\internet\usenet\os2\tcpip -$
NetArea "Internet Email" Email c:\internet\email -$

You could use EchoArea instead of NetArea, if you like an origin line appended
to each message, but this looks a bit strange to other internet users who are
not familiar with fidonet. It is strongly advised that you use the NetArea
keyword to define areas.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5.4. Other fido message editors ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                           Other fido message editors

Of course other fido message editors are also supported, just as long as they
support the squish message base format. Consult the documentation of your
message editor on how to setup areas.

See also: TimEd config


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6. Importing mail and news ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                             Importing mail and news

After you have correctly setup the config files, you can start importing
messages into your messagebase. The command for this is:

soup2sq -r

Before you can import a soup packet, however, you will have to create one by
calling your provider and retreive a soup packet containing new mail. Consult
the documentation of your soup packet creator for this.

Soup2Sq expects an 'AREAS' file in the current directory (the directory from
which you start soup2sq). All the other files belonging to the soup packet
should also be in this directory (the *.MSG files). Soup2Sq will open the
'AREAS' file and try to import all newsgroup and Email. If it finds a newsgroup
in AREAS which you have not yet put in your soup2sq.cfg file, it will notify
you of this and when all newsgroups have been processed a new AREAS file will
be created containing all unprocessed newsgroups. This will allow you to modify
the soup2sq.cfg file and run Soup2Sq again to import those newsgroups. After
Soup2Sq has imported all articles and Email the soup packet will be deleted and
you can start reading!


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7. Exporting mail and news ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                             Exporting mail and news

Reading messages is nice, but you will probably want to write your own messages
and get them on the internet for everyone to read. Use your favorite squish
messagebase editor to write new messages and then when your finished and want
to send them to your provider issue to command:

soup2sq -s

This will create a soup reply packet consisting of the files: REPLIES, MAIL.MSG
(if you create Email messages) and NEWS.MSG (if you create Newsgroup messages).
You can now call your provider and use a program that can send soup packets (eg
Souper).


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8. Future plans ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                                  Future Plans

- Support more soup formats

- Support other message base formats (JAM, Hudson, etc)


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 9. Appendix A: A sample configuration file ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                            A sample soup2sq.cfg file

; Soup2Sq sample configuration file version 1.0

; Lines starting with a semi-colon are comment
; Empty lines are also skipped
; Case of the keywords is not significant

; Name, FullName & Domain will form the 'From:' header

; Your email name
Name myname

; Your full name
FullName My Fullname

; Your domain
Domain my.domain.com

; The previous three keywords are used to set the correct email address:
; [e-mail] (My Fullname)
;
; If the 'From:' header keyword in an email msg is not correct (does not
; contain the '@' symbol) these keywords are used to create the correct
; 'From:' header keyword. This allows you to enter anything on the from line
; with your msgeditor and still get a correct 'From:' header keyword. Just as
; long as you don't use the '@' symbol. If you do use the '@' symbol
; (eg [e-mail]) the msg will have that origin address

; Optional 'Reply-To:' header
; be sure to use the right format: name@domain (fullname) or
; fullname <name@domain>
ReplyTo [e-mail] (John Doe)

; Optional 'Organization:' header
Organization John's internet home

; Maximum number of lines per msg when uuencoding, if zero or not present,
; the file will be uuencoded in one BIG msg
; If you want to send a file to someone, just use your fido msgeditor to
; create a msg with a file-attach, Soup2Sq will do the rest (create multiple
; uuencoded msgs).
EncodeLines 150
; The StripRe keyword will remove the 'Re: ' word from all Subject lines
; for better message linking
StripRe

; When articles are posted a copy will return to you, so you will have two
; of them. To avoid this you can have soup2sq delete all posted articles or
; have them moved to a dedicated squish area. Only one of the two following
; keywords may be used.

; Set this keyword to delete posted articles
DeletePostedArticles

; Set this keyword to move posted articles
;MovePostedArticles c:\binkley\msgbase\usenet\posted

; Directory (without trailing '\') for reply files (replies, mail.msg,
; news.msg). The directory must already exist
Reply c:\news

; Area definition
;
; Newsgroup tag path -n | -m
;
; where:
;    * tag is the name of the newsgroup
;    * path is the fully qualified path+filename of the area
;    * -n specifies that tag is a USENET newsgroup
;    * -m specifies that tag is an Email area

; Defenition of newsgroups to which you have subcription
Newsgroup comp.os.os2.programmer c:\binkley\msgbase\usenet\prog n
Newsgroup comp.os.os2.programmer.misc c:\binkley\msgbase\usenet\misc -n
Newsgroup comp.os.os2.announce c:\binkley\msgbase\usenet\announce -n

; The Email areatag should be 'Email' unless your internet provider uses
; some other name which is not likely

Newsgroup Email c:\binkley\msgbase\usenet\email\email -m

; User definitions (simple address book)
;
; User alias address fullname
;
; Where:
;    * alias is a descriptive name for the user (NO spaces allowed!) case is
NOT significant: 'John' is the same as ' jOhN')
;    * address is the fully qualified address of the user
;    * fullname is the users full name (spaces allowed)
;
; These definitions will be used if an alias is equal to the 'to' field of
; the fidomsg. This is for Email only, it will not work in newsgroups

User svl [e-mail] Steven van Loef


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10. Appendix B: Trademarks and copyrights ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Squish is a trademark of SCI Communications

TimEd/2 is copyright by Gerard van Essen

Souper is copyright by Chin Huang

IBM is a trademark of International Business Machines

OS/2 Warp is a trademark of International Business Machines

Borland C++ for OS/2 is copyright by Borland


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 11. Appendix C: Other information ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The author
Yes, that's me (about four years ago...)

Snail mail address:

Steven van Loef
Prof. Bronkhorstlaan 50
3451 ET  VLEUTEN
THE NETHERLANDS

Email addresses:

Internet: [e-mail]
Fidonet: 2:512/45.16

Development tools used:

OS/2 Warp V3 (Soup2Sq: The Operating System)
Borland C++ version 2.0 for OS/2 (Soup2Sq: The Program)
IPFC (Soup2Sq: The Manual)
TimEd v1.01+ (Soup2Sq: The Message Editor)

Where to get the other utilities

Souper version 1.2:

ftp://ftp-os2.nmsu.edu/os2/unix/souper12.zip

The EMX runtime DLL's:

ftp://ftp-os2.nmsu.edu/os2/unix/emx09a/emxrt.zip

The Squish message API DLL (part of squish v1.11):

ftp://ftp-os2.nmsu.edu/os2/comm/sqshp111.zip

Thanks to

Bob Juge <[e-mail]> for his ideas and testing of Soup2Sq


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 12. Appendix D: Order form ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                                   ORDER FORM

Registering: Soup to Squish converter
Version: 1.0

Registration name: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Your name: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Address: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Zipcode: . . . . . . . .  City:  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Country: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Email address: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Prices:
The registration fee for Soup2Sq is                       HFL  20

For international registrations only:
- International giro transfer, add HFL 11                 HFL ...
- International check drawn on a Dutch Bank, add HFL 15   HFL ...

(If you use a EuroCheque do not forget to put your
bank card number on the back of the cheque!)
                                                          -------
Total amounting to:                                       HFL ...
                                                          =======
Giro account: 5720973 (Postbank NV)

Bank account: 3675.00.493 (Cooperatieve Rabobank 'Vleuten' B.A.)


City: . . . . . . . . . .     Date (dd/mmm/yyyy): .. / ... / ....

Signature:



Send this order form to the author of Soup2Sq, you can find
address information in appendix C.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 13. Appendix E: Release history ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                           Appendix E: Release history

ΓòöΓòÉΓòñΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòñΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòù
Γòæ!Γöé 4 Mar 1995 ΓöéVersion 1.0 First public release                Γòæ
ΓòƒΓöÇΓö╝ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓö╝ΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓöÇΓòó
Γòæ Γöé            Γöé                                                Γòæ
ΓòáΓòÉΓòºΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòºΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòú
Γòæ* bugfix, + added feature, - removed feature, ! new version    Γòæ
ΓòÜΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉΓò¥