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CONNECT.TXT
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1990-09-26
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Connect v1.00
Qmail <--> FrontDoor FileAttacher
Copyright 1990 by Jim Nikolich
All rights reserved
By James Nikolich
T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
-----------------------------------
LICENCE .................................................. 3
TRADEMARKS ............................................... 3
WHAT IS CONNECT? ......................................... 4
HOW CONNECT WORKS ........................................ 4
INSTALLATION ............................................. 4
Systems Without Passthru Areas ....................... 4
Systems With Passthru Areas .......................... 6
CONNECT.CTL VERBS ........................................ 7
Connect v1.00 Documentation --- Page 2
LICENCE
Copyright 1990 by James D. Nikolich. All rights reserved.
Connect is distributed on a non-commercial basis. Commercial
distribution prohibited without express written consent from the author.
Modification of the Connect source, documentation, or executable code
is expressly prohibited.
WARRANTY
IN NO EVENT SHALL JAMES D. NIKOLICH OR ANY OTHER PARTY BE LIABLE TO YOU
OR ANYONE ELSE FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST
SAVINGS, OR OTHER SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING
OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE CONNECT, EVEN IF YOU HAVE BEEN
ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE
QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF CONNECT AND THE ACCURACY OF ITS DOCUMENTATION
RESTS WITH YOU. SHOULD CONNECT OR ITS ASSOCIATED DOCUMENTATION PROVE
DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE FULL COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR,
OR CORRECTION.
TRADEMARKS
Acknowledgement is given to the trademarks and products mentioned in
this documentation. Use of these names or trademarks does not suggest
any affiliation with the specified products. The names or trademarks
referred to are used for reference purposes only.
FrontDoor and TosScan Joaquim Homrighausen.
Opus-CBCS Wynn Wagner III.
ConfMail and oMMM Bob Hartman, Spark Software.
Qmail Greg Dawson.
BinkleyTerm Bob Hartman and Vince Perriello, BBS Inc.
Connect v1.00 Documentation --- Page 3
WHAT IS CONNECT?
Anybody using FrontDoor as a mailer will probably find that they
have quite a small selection of echomail-handling programs from which to
choose. They can use Confmail, an obsolete program that supports
neither passthru areas nor multiple zones. Alternatively They can spend
$45.00 (U.S. dollars) plus shipping and handling for a copy of TosScan,
written by the author of Frontdoor. Prior to Connect, these were about
the only choices a sysop had.
Connect was written to allow users of FrontDoor to implement Qmail
as their echomail handler. Although Qmail might be a bit confusing to
install, it is a competent program used world-wide, and supports
passthru areas, multiple zones, multiple AKA's in seenbys, zonegating,
tiny-seenbys and a host of other features.
HOW CONNECT WORKS
Qmail is capable only of generating oMMM-style .FLO, .CLO, .DLO and
.HLO files (referred to as "Flow files") for use with Binkley and Opus-
style mailers. FrontDoor instead requires that a file-attach message be
created for every file to be transmitted and doesn't even notice the FLO
files as used by Qmail. That's where Connect comes in - Connect will
scan the outbound directories used by Qmail, and generate file-attach
messages for any files waiting to go out. Connect will only create new
messages if the file is attached to no other message already. Connect
will also delete the unnecessary Flow files. In order to keep Qmail
from scanning the netmail directory and packing up any messages found
into outbound packets, Qmail is directed to a dummy directory which
should never contain any files.
INSTALLATION
These installation instructions require that you already be
familiar with the operation of Qmail and FrontDoor. Please refer to
their respective manuals for information on how to get them installed
and running.
Two installation procedures are outlined: one for systems with
passthru areas, and one for those without passthru areas. Generally
speaking you will not normally have any passthru areas unless you act
as some kind of echomail hub or routing system, in which case the
first set of instructions will be the ones for you. Please Refer to the
Qmail documentation for more information on what passthru areas are and
how they are used.
Systems Without Passthru Areas
Step 1.
Copy CONNECT.EXE and CONNECT.CTL into your FrontDoor
directory.
Connect v1.00 Documentation --- Page 4
Step 2.
Create a new subdirectory under your FrontDoor directory.
This can be any name you choose, although "DUMDIR" will be used in
the following examples.
Step 3.
If you've ever used Qmail before, you'll be aware that you
need to run Qmail separately with a different configuration file
for each zone you operate in; otherwise your seenby lines will be
carried over from one zone to the other. If you haven't already
done so, make a configuration file for each zone. Make a second
copy of each Qmail configuration file you have for future use.
The following examples will use "IMEXTOSS.CFG" and "FIDOTOSS.CFG"
as the original files, and "IMEXPACK.CFG and "FIDOPACK.CFG" as the
new copies.
Step 4.
Modify each of the new config files you've made so that the
"NetMail" option within each of them points to the subdirectory you
created under your FrontDoor directory instead of your real Netmail
directory. THIS IS IMPERATIVE! Otherwise Qmail will be able to
get at the messages in your Netmail directory, packing them up into
more outbound files and deleting the messages. The end result
would be an endless loop with Qmail making up files from netmail
messages, and Connect Making more file-attach messages.
Step 5.
Create a Connect control file. CONNECT.CTL is provided as an
example. Refer to "CONNECT.CTL VERBS" for more information. Note:
if you operate in more than one zone, you will have to create a
separate control file for each zone. The following examples use
"CON_FIDO.CTL" and "CON_IMEX.CTL" as the filenames of the control
files.
Step 6.
At this point, you've finished installing Connect. All that
remains is to write the batch files that will run Qmail and
Connect. An example is provided to illustrate the usage.
DOMAIL1.BAT will toss, scan and pack waiting echomail for two
zones. No other batch files are required, however you may wish to
split up the operations of DOMAIL1.BAT into separate batch files,
namely to execute the "Toss" pass separate from the "Scan Pack"
pass. This would allow you to import incoming mail at different
times than when you check for new mail originating on your system.
DOMAIL1.BAT
qm toss -cFIDOTOSS.CFG -aFIDOAREA.BBS
qm scan pack -cFIDOPACK.CFG -aFIDOAREA.BBS -sNORMAL_MAIL
connect CON_FIDO.CTL
qm toss -cIMEXTOSS.CFG -aIMEXAREA.BBS
qm scan pack -cIMEXPACK.CFG -aIMEXAREA.BBS -sNORMAL_MAIL
connect CON_IMEX.CTL
DOMAIL1.BAT first runs Qmail in "Toss" mode which will extract
any incoming echomail you may have and place it in its proper
Connect v1.00 Documentation --- Page 5
echomail area(s). FIDOAREA.BBS is the file that contains all the
echomail information for that zone.
Next Qmail is run in "Scan Pack" mode which will check your
echomail areas and export any echomail waiting to be passed on.
NORMAL_MAIL is the tag of the schedule used to control packing as
defined in your Qmail Routing file (typically QM_ROUTE.CFG).
Connect is then run, generating file attach messages for any
newly-created outbound mail packets. The whole process is then
repeated using the second zone's set of control files.
Systems With Passthru Areas
Steps 1 - 5.
Steps one through five are the same as those described in the
section "Systems Without Passthru Areas".
Step 6.
At this point, you've finished installing Connect. All that
remains is to write the batch files that will run Qmail and
Connect. The following example is provided to illustrate the
usage. DOMAIL2.BAT will toss, scan and pack waiting echomail for
two zones, taking special consideration for any passthru areas that
may exist. No other batch files are required however you may wish
to split up the operations of DOMAIL2.BAT into separate batch
files, namely to execute the "Toss Scan" pass separately from the
"Scan" and " Pack" passes. This would allow you to handle incoming
mail at different times than when you check for new mail
originating on your system. If so, insure that you run Qmail in
"Pack" mode followed by Connect immediately after each time you
"Toss Scan" and "Scan Pack".
DOMAIL2.BAT
qm toss scan -cFIDOTOSS.CFG -aFIDOAREA.BBS
qm scan -cFIDOTOSS.CFG -aFIDOAREA.BBS
qm pack -cFIDOPACK.CFG -sNORMAL_MAIL
connect CON_FIDO.CTL
qm toss scan -cIMEXTOSS.CFG -aIMEXAREA.BBS
qm scan -cIMEXTOSS.CFG -aIMEXAREA.BBS
qm pack -cIMEXPACK.CFG -sNORMAL_MAIL
connect CON_FIDO.CTL
First Qmail is run in "Toss Scan" mode which imports any
incoming echomail into its proper areas. Any incoming mail
destined to be sent on to other systems will also be prepared for
packing. The combined "Toss" and "Scan" modes activate Qmail's
Passthru recognition so that any passthru messages will be deleted
immediately after the pass is completed. NORMAREA.BBS is the file
containing all the echomail information for that zone.
Next Qmail is run again in "Scan" mode which will cause Qmail
to search all echomail areas for any new mail that might have
Connect v1.00 Documentation --- Page 6
originated on your system. This pass is necessary since the
previous "Toss Scan" pass will only handle incoming mail, not new
mail entered on your system.
Qmail is then run a third time in "Pack" mode to pack any mail
waiting to be sent on to other systems. NORMAL_MAIL is the tag of
the schedule used to control packing as defined in your Qmail
Routing file (typically QM_ROUTE.CFG).
Connect is run lastly to generate the required file-attach
messages for any new outgoing mail packets. The whole process is
then repeated using the next zone's set of control files.
CONNECT.CTL VERBS
Following is a listing of each verb in CONNECT.CTL along with their
meaning.
HOLDDIR <directory> The complete path to your Qmail outbound
directory.
NETMAIL <directory path> The complete path to your NetMail
message directory.
ZONE # The zone your system operates in. This must be the same as
the primary zone defined in the Qmail "Pack" configuration
file for that zone.
NET # The Net number of your system. This must be the same as the
primary net address defined in the Qmail "Pack" configuration
file for that zone.
NODE # The Node number of your system. This must be the same as the
primary node address defined in the Qmail "Pack" configuration
file for that zone.
Connect v1.00 Documentation --- Page 7