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1990-02-21
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OverMail v0.82
Netmail Utilities for RBBS-PC
02-10-90
by Tom Collins
Documentation by Michael Huggins
Latest Versions
---------------
The latest version of all of the OverMail programs is available on
the Fisherman's Cove BBS, 1-301-343-1102, under the name OVERMAIL.ZIP.
If you'd like to file request them, the magic name OVERMAIL will always
get you the latest version.
As of this release, the latest software versions are:
F2RC.EXE ........ v0.82
R2FC.EXE ........ v0.82
RENUM311.EXE .... v3.11
PIP.EXE ......... v1.20
What they Are
-------------
The OverMail series of programs are utilities that, along with a
few other programs, allow you to link your RBBS-PC bulletin board into
the FidoNet or other compatible mail networks. OverMail works with
RBBS-PC v17.2A or higher versions. Four programs are supplied which
manipulate your RBBS-PC message bases and convert messages to and from
the FidoNet message format. One utility converts from RBBS to FidoNet
format and one converts from FidoNet to RBBS. In addition, message
base packing and renumbering utilities are also supplied which will
work on local message bases as well as FidoNet message bases.
Here's how the system works: your RBBS-PC system is set up with a
front-end "mailer," which communicates with other FidoNet systems.
Mail is passed back and forth between systems in the form of "packets,"
which may be archived. When a packet is received on your system, it is
placed by the mailer in a special disk directory, called your "inbound"
directory. Special mail programs, like CONFMAIL and QMail, process
these packets and convert them into a series of "message files" on your
disk, with filenames like "2.MSG." The OverMail importing program,
F2RC (Fido-to-RBBS-Converter) processes these "*.MSG" files and imports
them into your RBBS "xxxM.DEF" conference message files. Here, your
users can read and reply to these messages.
If a user on your system enters a new message in one of the RBBS
message bases, the OverMail program R2FC (RBBS-to-Fido-Converter)
senses this, and exports the message into the *.MSG format, where it'll
be packetized and sent to other systems by your mailer. A renumbering
program, RENUM311, is supplied to keep your message bases numbered
properly. In addition, a message base packing program, PIP (Pack-in-
Place) is included in the package for your local message bases to
eliminate deleted messages.
History
-------
The first versions of OverMail began development several years ago
on a BBS called the OverBoard, run by Tom Collins. Though the
OverBoard is history, the OverMail programs have lived on, and become
successively more refined and speedy. Through the years, several
Maryland RBBS-PC sysops have run the programs multiple times daily and
found bugs, made suggestions, and the like. Without these sysops'
help, OverMail would not be around today.
Features
--------
o Speed
Importing and exporting speeds are limited by the disk drive of the
host computer. On a 12 MHz AT, messages can be imported at about
75/min or exported at about 100/min. When no new messages need to be
imported or exported, OverMail can scan approx 50 message bases per
minute.
o Ease of Use
All four of the OverMail programs are configured by a single
configuration file, which can be created with any text editor.
o No Message Corruption
The original FidoNet *.MSG files can be recreated at will, exactly as
they first appeared on disk. This is useful for systems that serve as
links between multiple other systems.
o Quality of Import and Export
Imported messages are copied to the RBBS message base with a minimum of
"trash" retained. Multiple "Re:"s in message subjects, trailing spaces
on lines, and occurances of "Joe Blow @ 278/987.0" are removed during
import. In addition, line wrapping is handled as smoothly as possible
in all cases.
o Netmail Capability
OverMail can process direct network mail as well as echomail. Messages
can be sent to single system with various message flags set. File
requests and attaches are possible with OverMail.
o Message Base Resizing
OverMail will automatically adjust the size of your RBBS message bases
to accomodate any incoming mail. In addition, it will automatically
delete old messages based on number.
o Mail Waiting Bit
OverMail automatically sets RBBS' mail waiting bit for users in
conferences.
Getting Set Up
--------------
To set up OverMail, you'll need a working front-end mailer on your
system. Some of the common front-end mailers are BinkleyTerm,
FrontDoor, and D'Bridge. Your system should be able to exchange mail
with other FidoNet systems, and be able to convert received packets
into FidoNet *.MSG files and vice-versa. An excellent program for this
task is QMail. Other programs which accomplish the same functionality
of QMail are CONFMAIL and oMMM. Refer to the documentation for these
programs for information on how to set them up.
Once the mailer and processing software is set up, you should have
separate disk directories for each of the FidoNet conferences that you
plan to carry, as well as an inbound and outbound directory. The
separate disk directories are where QMail (or CONFMAIL) will send the
*.MSGs for that conference. Also, you should have RBBS conference
messages and users files for each of the FidoNet conferences.
Next, you need to set up the OverMail configuration file. The
configuration file is used by all four of the OverMail programs. You
can name the configuration file whatever you want. We'll use the name
OverMail.CFG. In OverMail.CFG you will need to put the following:
Line 1: Your name.
Line 2: Your secret RBBS passwords.
Line 3: Your network node address, as Net/Node.
Line 4: Your default system origin line. See "origin lines," below.
Line 5+: One line per mail area that you carry. These lines must
contain exactly 5 commas. The lines should be in the
following format:
Area Name,Messages File,Users File,Max #,Fido Path,Options
where,
Area Name = Name of the Area on your system.
Messages File = Name of the RBBS-PC xxxM.DEF messages file.
Users File = Name of the RBBS-PC xxxU.DEF users file.
Max # = Number of messages to retain in that area.
Fido Path = Full path to where the *.MSG files for that conference
are sent when unpacked.
Options = Some combination of the following letters:
M Matrix or Netmail area. This forces F2RC to show the system
that originated the message in the message body, and tells
R2FC to export the messages differently. These are not echo
mail messages and must be treated differently. If you use
this option and are letting users use a netmail area then
you must explian to them how to write the message. The
first line of the message must have the destination
net/node number in it. (see below for details)
D Delete private messages rather than export them. This is
handy if users are writing messages to the sysop in public
echo's.
P Publicize private messages. (default) All messages are made
public before exporting them.
K Keep private messages private. You probably want to use
this option on your matrix mail area.
A Allow deleted messages to stay deleted. By default, if F2RC
finds a message that's been imported and is deleted, it
will un-delete it. The A option allows it to stay deleted.
F FrontDoor mode. Normally, after F2RC imports a *.MSG it
deletes the *.MSG from disk. If you're using the FrontDoor
mailer program, this isn't desirable in your netmail area,
as packets get sent using File Attach messages. If the
*.MSG gets deleted, FrontDoor won't have anything to send.
This option forces F2RC to keep the *.MSGs on disk.
In this mode F2RC and R2FC divide messages into two
categories:
1. Messages only used for file attaches. These messages
are identified by the KILL and FILE attributes being set on
the message, as well as a message origin of your system.
2. Normal matrix (netmail) message. Anything not in
category 1.
Messages in category 1 are ignored, while those in category
2 are imported. The Max # parameter that you specify in
the OverMail configuration file for this area applies to
category 1 messages only. Messages in the second category
are transient, and will be automatically killed by your
mail handler after the message is sent.
Two side effects occur due to this setup:
1. F2RC has to scan all of the *.MSGs in an area for every
run. This causes it to slow down to about 1 second/10
messages on an XT.
2. RENUM311 will often leave "holes" in the message numbers
for this area. An area with no category 1 messages won't
have any holes.
If you're using FrontDoor mode, the following two things
will screw up last-message-read indicators, and should be
avoided:
a) Using a separate renumbering utility on the *.MSGs
b) Deleting the last category 2 message by hand.
Typically, no options are used for echomail areas, and "MK" is
used as matrix mail options.
Within the configuration file you cannot have any blank lines. You
can use a semicolon (;) to designate a comment line, but it must be the
first character on the line.
An example OverMail.CFG is supplied in this archive.
Once OverMail.CFG is set up, you need to set up your mailer to run
the OverMail programs. Sample batch files and configurations are
supplied for FrontDoor and BinkleyTerm. See FDBATS.ZIP and BTBATS.ZIP,
in this archive.
Origin Lines
------------
OverMail, by default, uses the origin line in OverMail.CFG. If
you'd like to have a different one for each conference on your system,
create a file called ORIGIN in each *.MSG Path. In this file, put the
origin line that you want for that conference. R2FC will read this
file as it exports each message from your system.
Rescanning
----------
Occasionally, you may need to get the FidoNet *.MSGs back on disk.
This could happen, for example, if you start sending an echo conference
to a new node and would like to send him all of the old messages in
that conference. OverMail provides a way to do this, called
rescanning. To rescan all of the message areas, add the parameter
"/Rescan" to the R2FC command line. An example is:
R2FC OverMail.CFG /Rescan
Single Area Processing
----------------------
Any of the OverMail programs can be forced to only process a single
message area. To do this, add "/A" (without the quotes) to the command
line, immediately followed by the area NAME. Here's an example to get
R2FC to rescan only a single area:
R2FC OverMail.CFG /Rescan /ATREK
To renumber the main messages area only, you might execute:
RENUM311 OverMail.CFG /AMain
Matrix Messaging
----------------
If you are planning to use a matrix area here are some helpful
hints. It's a good idea to make your matrix area a sub-board and only
allow messages there. (Read your RBBS-PC manual for details on setting
up a sub-board) Have the main menu for this area only include the
commands necessary for messaging. To send a matrix message, enter the
following on the FIRST line of the message:
destination net/node <options>
<options>
PVT or PRIVATE
CRASH
KILL
RECEIPT
ATTACH: (path\filename)
REQUEST: (filename)
PVT = receiver only gets the mail. It's not a
public message.
CRASH = Send message as soon as possible.
KILL = Kill (delete) the message when sent.
RECEIPT = Acknowledgement of delivery.
ATTACH: (path\filename) = File attach. Means you
wish to send a file with the letter. Include the
complete path and file name of the file you wish
to attach.
REQUEST: = The file you want to receive from the
net/node you are sending the letter to.
Example:
+--- column 1 (first character on the line)
v
261/1041 Crash Pvt Attach: c:\rbbs\files\echolist.zip
The file MATRIXW.DEF is supplied so you can remember the options.
It's suggested that the user see this WELCOME file whenever he/she
joins the matrix conference/sub-board.
Multi-Network Systems
---------------------
Often, systems will be in multiple networks, and your system may
have several different addresses in multiple "zones." If your system
is set up this way, then you must have a different configuration file
for each network. Suppose you belong to FidoNet in the USA which would
make your ZONE number "1" and you also belong to RBBSNET which would
make your ZONE number "8". That would also mean you most likely carry
echo's from each network. To keep your system from sending mail with a
net/node number that doesn't make sense you should have a configuration
file for each network, with a unique address for each. F2RC and R2FC
will then run multiple times, once for each network.
ErrorLevels
-----------
R2FC exits with an errorlevel of 2 if anything was exported, 1 if there
was a disk error, or 0 otherwise.
F2RC exits with an errorlevel of 1 for a disk error, or 0 otherwise.
Local Message Bases
-------------------
You can use OverMail to renumber and pack your local (not to be
exported to other systems) message bases, too, such as your main RBBS-
PC main message base. Other messages bases, like sub-boards, can also
be handled by OverMail. You can put them in your config file so that
they can be renumbered and packed on a regualr basis. This will
decrease the amout of hard disk space used by the message bases. It
also reduces the amount of work required to maintain your system. To
use OverMail on your local message bases, add them to OverMail.CFG. Put
nothing in the "Fido Path" field and they'll just be packed and
renumbered.
Programs were written by
Tom Collins
Documentation butchered by
Michael Huggins
1:261/1041 FIDOnet
8:936/101 RBBS-net
1-301-343-1102 BBs
1-301-357-4629 Voice