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TNET 2.1 Documentation
======================
TABLE OF CONTENTS
-----------------
Introduction ...................................................... 2
TNet Distribution ................................................. 3
Hardware and Software Requirements ................................ 4
Setting up TNet ................................................... 5
Details of TNet's Configuration File .............................. 6
Software Specific Notes ........................................... 10
Wildcat 2.x ................................................... 10
Wildcat 3.x ................................................... 10
MajorBBS ...................................................... 10
UTI Drivers ................................................... 11
Running TNet ...................................................... 12
Network Sysop Message Support ..................................... 13
Appendix A: Error Messages ........................................ 14
Appendix B: Message Networks Supporting TNet ...................... 15
Appendix C: Disclaimer ............................................ 16
Appendix D: Acknowledgements ...................................... 17
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technique Computer Systems - TNET.DOC Page 1
Introduction
------------
One of the more interesting and useful applications for BBS
communications is the ability for one Bulletin Board System to exchange
public messages and electronic mail with other systems. These networks
can be small and private, such as a link between BBSs belonging to
branch offices of a corporation, or they can be large public networks
allowing many hobby systems to share messages locally, regionally, or
even world-wide.
Several standards for network mail have evolved, each with their own
advantages and limitations. The oldest and most widespread networking
system for personal computers is probably Fido mail. Another system is
PCRelay(tm). A third option, and the one we have chosen to adopt with
TNet, is based on Mark "Sparky" Herring's Qmail or QWK/REP system.
This system allows BBS callers to download, read and reply to messages
offline through a mail door. It also allows BBSs to exchange mail with
each other in a similar fashion, using the same mail door plus a
utility for exporting and importing message packets from their own
systems.
TNet allows you, the sysop, to exchange mail with any host system using
a QWK-compatible mail door capable of producing "net status" mail
packets. TNet extracts outgoing mail from your BBS message base and
creates a reply packet that you upload to your host's mail door. You
then download a "net status" message packet from your host, and import
the new mail into your BBS message base with TNet.
When properly set up and organized, this process can take place as a
scheduled event within your BBS, and requires relatively little
maintenance or intervention on your part.
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Technique Computer Systems - TNET.DOC Page 2
TNet Distribution
-----------------
TNet is offered to you as a fully-functional program, in order that you
can properly evaluate its features and functions. The differences
between the Evaluation Version and Registered Version are minor and do
not affect program operation. The unregistered version of TNet
identifies itself as such in taglines, and these taglines may not be
turned off or disabled.
You are encouraged to use TNet for up to 30 days to determine if it
meets your needs. After that time, you are expected to register and
pay for the program. You may not use TNet in a business or
institutional environment without registering it, and each registered
copy of TNet is licensed for use at a SINGLE site only. Site licenses
and special pricing for multiple copies are available (please contact
Technique Computer Systems for details).
You are encouraged to distribute the Demonstration Version of TNet,
providing that all the files in the original archive are present and
are not tampered with or altered in any way. The file TNET21.ZIP is
packed using PKZIP Authenticity Verification -- if any of the files
within the archive do not produce the Technique Computer Systems
"Authentic Files Verified" message, please contact us for a fresh copy.
To order TNet, print out the order form (ORDRFORM.DOC) and send it with
your payment to:
Technique Computer Systems
#110 - 1841 Oak Bay Avenue
Victoria, BC
V8R 1C4
CANADA
We accept Canadian cheques, US checks, postal money orders, and VISA or
Mastercard orders (please note that all credit card orders are charged
in Canadian funds!).
Phone orders (VISA/MC) - VOICE (604) 598-2141
BBS (604) 598-1546
FAX (604) 598-4318
Once we have received and processed your order, your TNet registration
information will be available for download from our support BBS. The
opening screens on the BBS will explain how to pick up the information.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technique Computer Systems - TNET.DOC Page 3
Hardware and Software Requirements
----------------------------------
TNet does not have any special hardware requirements beyond what is
needed to setup and run your BBS software -- its only specific
requirement is sufficient free disk space and memory to unpack and
process incoming mail packets. It has been tested on a variety of
single-line and multi-line systems using LANtastic, Novell and
DESQview.
To run TNet 2.1, you will need one of the following type of BBS
software:
- Wildcat 2.x
- Wildcat 3.x
- MajorBBS 5.10 or later
- Any other type of BBS software with "UTI" drivers
If you intend to operate as a network host, supplying network mail to
nodes calling your BBS, you will need a QWK mail door that is capable
of generating "net-status" packets. Currently, Qmail, Markmail, and
Rosemail for PCBoard and Tomcat for Wildcat are the only mail doors
that generate proper network packets.
You will need a plain ASCII text editor to create and maintain
configuration files, and, of course, a communications program so you
can exchange mail with your host. If you are connecting with a PCBoard
host, we recommend and use Robocomm -- this Shareware program by Dan
Parsons is simple to set up, reliable, and designed specifically for
making QWK mail transfers. Any communications program with a scripting
language can be used as well for doing automated mail transfers. You
will need PKZIP and PKUNZIP in your path (or whichever archiver your
host's mail door uses to generate packets).
Common sense dictates that you make regularly-scheduled backups of your
system. While we've made every effort to test our software in a
variety of environments and configurations, accidents can happen and
you could be faced with hours of work re-installing and re-configuring
your system should something go wrong. If you lose your datafiles and
you don't have a backup, there's really not much we can do to help --
either to diagnose the problem or to fix it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technique Computer Systems - TNET.DOC Page 4
Setting up TNet
---------------
TNet uses a plain ASCII text file for its configuration information.
It uses a set of keywords and options for defining conference numbers,
paths to message packets, taglines, public/private mail, high message
pointers, etc. The name of this file must match the "packet name"
generated by your host's mail door (i.e. to process BIGBBS.QWK packets,
you need a configuration file named BIGBBS.CFG).
The following is a brief explanation of the keywords available in
TNet's configuration file. Keywords marked [R] must be present in the
CFG file; all others are optional and have suitable default values.
TNet will ignore all lines beginning with a semicolon. Each keyword
must be on a separate line. Spaces and indents make the configuration
files easier for humans to read, but are ignored by TNet. A more
detailed explanation, with an example of a configuration file, will
follow this brief list.
SYSTEM [R] - Type of your BBS system
WORK - Work directory used by TNet
QWKDIR - Directory to find QWK packets
REPDIR - Directory to place REP packets
LOGFILE - Name of log file
PACKER - Specify command lines for packer/unpacker
APPEND - Append exported messages onto existing REP packet
ATFILTER - Filter "@-variables"
VERBOSE - Verbose log file entries
TTAG - Include "TNet 2.1" in tagline
TCAN - "Trashcan" - specify user to exclude
PRIVNAME - User for which private messages are always exported
TRANSLATE - Translate names, see below for more information
IMPORTTAG - Tagline definition for imported messages
EXPORTTAG - Tagline definition for exported messages
CONF [R] - Your local conference identifier
HUBNUM [R] - Your hub's conference number for above conference
PRIVATE - Allow private messages in this conference
TAG - Tagline letter for this conference
NEXTMSG [R] - Next message number to be exported by TNet
TNet looks for two configuration files when it starts up - TNET.CFG and
[HUBNAME].CFG where [HUBNAME] is the hub identifier specified on the
TNet command line. Any options in [HUBNAME].CFG will override the
corresponding option in TNET.CFG. This is useful if you call more than
one hub for network mail - the general options can all be stored in
TNET.CFG while the BBS-specific conference configuration information
can be stored in individual hub configuration files.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technique Computer Systems - TNET.DOC Page 5
Details of TNet's Configuration File
------------------------------------
The following sections describe each of the available configuration
options in detail.
SYSTEM - This option must be set to one of the following values:
WILDCAT2, WILDCAT3, MAJORBBS, or UTI1. This tells TNet
what kind of BBS software you are running.
WORK - This specifies the directory where TNet will place its work
files. Make sure there are no files in this directory that
you want to keep, because they will all be deleted as part
of normal operation!
QWKDIR - This specifies the directory where TNet will look to find
QWK packets. This will generally be the same as the
directory where your communications program places
downloaded files.
REPDIR - This specifies the directory where TNet will place REP
files to be uploaded. Make sure your communications
program looks in this place when uploading files.
LOGFILE - This specifies the file name where TNet will place a log of
all network operations. This file is never deleted by
TNet, so you will want to make sure you either delete or
archive this file periodically, as it can grow quite large
especially with the verbose logging option.
PACKER - This specifies to TNet what the command lines are for
packing and unpacking mail packets. Normally this should
be left as is, unless you have a good reason for changing
it.
APPEND - When this option is set to Y, TNet will always append newly
exported messages on to the end of an existing REP packet.
When set to N, TNet will always start a fresh REP packet
whenever it exports mail, even if one already exists.
ATFILTER - When this option is set to Y, TNet will remove all
@-variables of the form @STRING@, remove PCBoard @X color
codes, and translate the "escape" character used in ANSI
control strings to ` (reverse quote). PCBoard, Wildcat,
and other BBS software use @-variables as substitution
variables. Since they don't make sense when used in a
network environment, we recommend leaving this option as Y.
VERBOSE - When this option is set to Y, TNet will detail the To,
From, and Subject lines of each message in the log file.
Otherwise, just the conference summary totals are placed in
the log file.
TTAG - Normally TNet identifies itself in all taglines appended by
TNet. When this option is set to N, the registered version
of TNet will suppress the "TNet 2.1" part of the tagline.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technique Computer Systems - TNET.DOC Page 6
TCAN - You can specify names of certain users whose messages you
do not want imported or exported by TNet. Messages both To
and From such users will not be moved. Note that return
receipts generated by the BBS software (if applicable) will
never be exported into the network.
PRIVNAME - If you have set a particular conference to No private
messages, but still want private messages from certain
users to be exported, you can use this option to specify
their names. Messages from users listed in the PRIVNAME
section will always be exported regardless of the PRIVATE
setting in the conference definition.
TRANSLATE - TNet has the ability to translate user names on imported
messages, exported messages, or both. There are five forms
of translates:
TRANSLATE = <localname>,<hubname>
This option will translate all occurrences of
<localname> in exported messages to <hubname>, and all
occurrences of <hubname> in imported messages to
<localname>.
IMPTRANS = <localname>,<hubname>
This option will translate all occurrences of <hubname>
to <localname> in imported messages ONLY.
EXPTRANS = <localname>,<hubname>
This option will translate all occurrences of
<localname> to <hubname> in exported messages ONLY.
LOCSYSOP = <yourname>
This is the same as TRANSLATE = SYSOP,<yourname>
Use this option ONLY if you use the name SYSOP on your
BBS instead of your real name.
HUBSYSOP = <hubsysopname>
This is the same as TRANSLATE = <hubsysopname>,SYSOP
Use this option ONLY if your hub sysop uses the name
SYSOP instead of their real name.
IMPORTTAG - Since your hub's QWK mail door may not "tag" outgoing
messages with their origin tagline, TNet must tag them
during import to identify their source. This option is
used to specify a tagline letter and tagline text for
imported messages. For example:
IMPORTTAG = T, Your Hub BBS Name and Phone Number
identifies tagline type T as the above tagline text. Then
for each conference which specifies tagline type T, the
above tagline text will be placed at the bottom of imported
messages if necessary.
EXPORTTAG - This is the tagline definition for exported messages. The
tagline letter and tagline text are specified in the same
way as in the IMPORTTAG option. In this case, the tagline
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technique Computer Systems - TNET.DOC Page 7
text should identify your BBS name and number so that
outgoing messages can be properly identified.
CONF - This is the conference identifier to which the following
four options will apply. Depending on your BBS software
type, different types of values will be used here:
Wildcat 2.x - A through Z, plus 26 through 255 if
Tomcat's extended folders are being
used
Wildcat 3.x - 0 through 999
MajorBBS - A valid SIG name (ie. /Hello).
UTI - Whatever the UTI drivers expect for a
conference identifier. See your UTI
driver documentation for more
details.
HUBNUM - This is the hub conference number which corresponds to the
above conference. Note that if your hub is a Wildcat 2.x
system using Tomcat, then A through Z are accepted as
substitutes for 0 through 25.
PRIVATE - This yes/no option indicates whether or not private
messages in this conference are exported by TNet. Note
that if a message is from a user specified in the PRIVNAME
section, it will always be exported regardless of this
setting.
TAG - This is the tagline letter for this conference. See the
description of the IMPORTTAG and EXPORTTAG options for more
information.
NEXTMSG - This is the next message number to be exported by TNet.
This option is automatically maintained by TNet and should
not be changed under normal circumstances.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technique Computer Systems - TNET.DOC Page 8
The following is a sample TNet configuration file:
SYSTEM = WILDCAT3
WORK = E:\WORK
QWKDIR = C:\QWK
REPDIR = C:\REP
LOGFILE = TNET.LOG
PACKER = PKZIP -es ! , PKUNZIP -o !
APPEND = Y
ATFILTER = Y
VERBOSE = N
TTAG = Y
TCAN = BOTHERSOME USER
PRIVNAME = GREG HEWGILL
IMPORTTAG = T , Hub BBS Name and Phone Number
EXPORTTAG = T , Your BBS Name and Phone Number
CONF = 5
HUBNUM = 62
PRIVATE = Y
TAG = T
NEXTMSG = 0
CONF = 6
HUBNUM = 66
PRIVATE = N
TAG = T
NEXTMSG = 0
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Technique Computer Systems - TNET.DOC Page 9
Software Specific Notes
-----------------------
The following sections contain special information concerning
particular BBS types when used with TNet.
Wildcat 2.x
-----------
TNet should be run from one of the node home directories. If you are
running a multi-line version of Wildcat, make SURE that you do not run
TNet with the same node number as another Wildcat node that is already
up on another workstation! Similarly, if you are running DESQview or
other multitasker, TNet must be run while one of your regular Wildcat
nodes is down. If you are running single-line Wildcat under DESQview,
you MUST bring down Wildcat before running TNet! Failure to do so will
corrupt your Wildcat databases.
Conference identifiers in Wildcat 2.x are A through Z. If you are
running Tomcat and are using its extended folders option, the
additional folders are numbered 26 through 255.
Wildcat 3.x
-----------
TNet should be run from your Wildcat home directory (the one that
contains MAKEWILD.DAT). It must be run with a unique WCNODEID=
setting, or you will defeat the file locking mechanism and corrupt your
Wildcat databases. If you are running the single line version under
DESQview, you MUST bring down Wildcat before running TNet. If you are
using the Autonode feature, TNet will find a free node number to use.
Conference identifiers in Wildcat 3.x are numbered 0 through 999 (or
whatever is the maximum number of conferences you have set in
Makewild).
MajorBBS
--------
TNet should be run from your main MajorBBS directory (the one that
contains all your .DAT files). It must also be able to find
MAJORMSG.MSG in order to determine what the maximum size of your SIG
messages is (it does this by looking up the OUTBSZ option in
MAJORMSG.MSG). Of course, Btrieve must be loaded before running TNet.
Conference identifiers in MajorBBS are your SIG names. When specifying
SIG names, the leading slash is not necessary and case is not
significant. For example,
CONF = /Hello
CONF = /hello
and CONF = HELLO
will all properly match the SIG /Hello.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technique Computer Systems - TNET.DOC Page 10
Other BBS Software with UTI Drivers
-----------------------------------
If you are running some other type of BBS software and have Revision
One UTI drivers (RLY*.EXE), then TNet will be able to work with your
BBS software. You will need to specify SYSTEM = UTI1 in your TNet
configuration file. You must run TNet from the same directory in which
the UTI drivers should be run (see the documentation for the UTI
drivers to find out which directory this should be).
Conference identifiers must be whatever the UTI drivers expect. For
example, the RBBS UTIs expect the path and filename of a conference
file. This is what should be specified on the TNet configuration
CONF= line.
Please note that we cannot provide support for you if your UTI drivers
are not working correctly. To find out whether your UTI drivers are
working, change to the directory from which you are running TNet and
type
RLYEXPRT <conference> 1 TEST.DAT
where <conference> is a conference identifier required by your UTI
drivers. When this is complete, be sure that the file TEST.DAT
contains some of your BBS messages. If TEST.DAT does not exist or does
not contain any messages, we cannot help you if TNet does not work.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technique Computer Systems - TNET.DOC Page 11
Running TNet
------------
TNet can be run manually from DOS, or from a batch file. Its command
line format is the same in either case:
TNET [EXPORT|IMPORT|HIGH] [hubname]
EXPORT - This command will tell TNet to extract all new mail from your
message database and place it in a [hubname].REP packet to be
uploaded to your hub.
IMPORT - This command will tell TNet to extract a QWK packet and insert
all the messages in it into your message database.
HIGH - This command will tell TNet to set the message number in each
conference listed in the .CFG file to the highest message
number in the corresponding conference on the BBS. Some BBS
software allows you to "renumber" the message base so messages
are numbered sequentially starting with 1. If you renumber
your message base, you must use the HIGH command to tell TNet
to reset all message pointers to the highest message in each
conference, since the numbers will have changed. Just
remember to do one last export before renumbering, as no
messages will be exported immediately after running HIGH!
Processing mail, step by step
-----------------------------
1. Export new local mail. Prepare a [hubname].REP packet ready to
upload to your host by running:
TNET EXPORT [hubname]
TNet will call the config file matching the hubname. Do not add the
.CFG extension to the hub name.
TNet will then log its activity to the console and to the log file
specified in [hubname].CFG. TNet will create [hubname].REP in the
directory specified in the config file. It should be the directory
in which Robocomm or your communications script expects to find the
.REP file.
2. Collect new mail from your host. Call your hub, enter the mail
door, upload your .REP packet, and then download a .QWK packet.
Please remember to rename or delete the .REP packet after it has
successfully been uploaded so you don't upload it again.
3. Import new incoming mail. Import the newly downloaded messages into
your BBS by calling TNet with the following parameters:
TNET IMPORT [hubname]
TNet will extract and index the .QWK packet you just received, and
insert the messages into your database. A full report will appear
on the local console and will also be logged to a disk file.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technique Computer Systems - TNET.DOC Page 12
Network Sysop Message Support
-----------------------------
TNet supports "network sysop" messages. These are messages that will
appear as a personal message to each sysop on a network.
If, when importing a message, the message has a subject that begins
with !NS! and the message is to ALL or NETWORK SYSOP, then the message
will be posted to the sysop in addition to being posted normally.
Depending on the BBS type, "posted to the sysop" will mean different
things.
If, when importing a message, the message has a subject that begins
with !NS! but the message is NOT to ALL, then the subject is changed to
start with (NS). This is so that, as replies to an !NS! message drift
back up the network, their subjects are modified from !NS! to (NS).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technique Computer Systems - TNET.DOC Page 13
Appendix A: Error Messages
--------------------------
Fatal errors will display a bright white flashing error message on the
screen, pause for five seconds, and exit to DOS with errorlevel 1.
TNet will also create or append to TNET.ERR with a message showing the
date, time, and a description of the error.
Fatal errors most commonly result from a non-net status or missing .QWK
packet, insufficient RAM or disk space, inability to find PKZIP/PKUNZIP
in the path, a serious disk I/O error, or severe database
corruption.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technique Computer Systems - TNET.DOC Page 14
Appendix B: Message Networks Supporting TNet
--------------------------------------------
There are many public message networks available to choose from if you
would like to join a network. The following is a short list of some
major worldwide networks and their main hubs and BBS phone numbers:
ILink Executive Network ... Andy Keeves ...... (914) 667-4684
Microsellar ......... Mark Rapp ........ (201) 239-1346
U'NI-Net The Ledge ........... Joe Sheppard ..... (818) 352-3620
Rose Media .......... Vic Kass ......... (416) 733-2285
Intelec Intelec ............. Cliff Watkins .... (516) 867-4448
Wildnet North Georgia ....... Johnnie Yother ... (404) 226-4388
Throbnet Heart Throb BBS (adult) ................ (908) 381-5682
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technique Computer Systems - TNET.DOC Page 15
Appendix C: Disclaimer
----------------------
You use this program (just like any other one) at your own risk, so be
careful. Read the documentation, follow instructions, and make
backups. We can't guarantee that this program will work with every
possible combination of hardware and software out there in the real
world (or that it will work at all, for that matter). While we have
done our best to produce a well-written, bug-free program, oversights
and omissions can happen.
No software program (not even DOS) is completely safe from bugs,
glitches, and "stupid user tricks". We cannot be responsible for any
damages which might occur as a result of using TNet. We cannot
guarantee it will be "safe" or "harmless" in all possible applications,
and any lost time, data, hardware, or software you incur as a result of
using TNet is your responsibility alone. If this disclaimer isn't good
enough for you, don't use TNet.
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Technique Computer Systems - TNET.DOC Page 16
Appendix D: Acknowledgements
----------------------------
Thanks to all of those who have helped directly and indirectly with the
development of TNet: in particular, Rick Kunz of the now defunct
Poverty Rock PCBoard in Seattle, WA. Without Rick's good humor,
saintly patience and hard work, this project would never have gotten
off the ground.
The following people, in no particular order, deserve an honorable
mention for their participation in this project:
Allen Dietz Tom McElvy
Walter Scott Bill Nolan
Keith Birch Jimmy Pearson
Art Hill Bob Hogan
Jerry Houston Cliff Watkins
Klaus Lamort Paul Waldinger
Rob Morrow Joe Sheppard
Skip Guyer Robert Vostreys
Dan Boss
Please DO NOT sell, transfer, or give away copies of the registered
version of TNet. That's piracy and it's not fair. If you want to
re-sell or transfer your license to use TNet, please contact us for
information FIRST.
- Qmail, Qdeluxe and Deluxe² are trademarks of Mark "Sparky" Herring.
- MarkMail is a trademark of Mark Turner.
- EZ-Reader is a trademark of Thumper Technologies and Eric Cockrell.
- Wildcat! is a trademark of Mustang Software, Inc.
- MajorBBS is a trademark of Galacticomm, Inc.
- PCBoard is a trademark of Clark Development Corporation.
- PKZIP is a trademark of Phil Katz and PKWare.
- Novell is a trademark of Novell.
- LANtastic is a trademark of Artisoft.
- DESQview is a trademark of Quarterdeck Office Systems.
- Turbo Pascal is a trademark of Borland International.
- MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft.
- PC-DOS, PC, XT, AT and PS/2 are all trademarks of IBM Corporation.
This program, its documentation and support files are all (c) Copyright
1990-91 by Greg Hewgill and Technique Computer Systems. You may make a
reasonable number of backup copies of this program, and you may freely
distribute the Demonstration Version of TNet in its original, unaltered
archive(s). Please don't add or remove files within the archive
itself, but you may, if you wish, insert a ZIP comment of your own to
advertise your BBS. You probably will anyway, so we might as well give
you permission to do so up front. Please DON'T put files of your own,
including BBS ads, inside the archive.
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Technique Computer Systems - TNET.DOC Page 17