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***** ***** ***** **** **** *** **** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * **** * **** **** ***** ***** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ***** ***** **** * * * ***** * * (tm) RBBSPACK Version 2.51 Written by Jim Oswell and Rod Bowman Copyright (c) 1987, 1988 by Jim Oswell and Rod Bowman for R.A. Software Original Documentation Written by Dennis D'Annunzio Updated Documentation Written by Alan Kaplan Documentation Copyright (c) 1988 by Dennis D'Annunzio and Alan Kaplan All Rights Reserved I. Introduction ........................................ 2 A. Zones ........................................... 2 II. RBBSPACK - The Program .............................. 3 A. Command Line Parameters ......................... 3 1. Mandatory Commands ......................... 5 2. Optional Commands .......................... 5 B. Control File .................................... 5 1. Verbs ...................................... 5 2. Supplemental commands ...................... 7 III. RBBSPACK - Implementation .......................... 8 A. oMMM and NetMail ................................ 9 B. Control File Example ............................ 10 C. Command Line Examples ........................... 11 IV. MISCELLANEOUS ....................................... 12 A. Copyright ....................................... 12 B. Warranty ........................................ 12 C. License ......................................... 12 D. Special Thanks To: .............................. 13 1. Jan Terpstra ............................... 13 2. Andy Jones ................................. 13 3. RBBS-PC Authors ............................ 13 4. The Binkley Trio ........................... 13 E. New in version 2.5 .............................. 13 F. New in version 2.51 ............................. 13 RBBSPACK 2.51 Documentation -- page 2 I. Introduction This section introduces you to RBBSPACK and the multizone environment RBBSPACK was designed to operate in. This document assumes the reader is familiar with the structure of FidoNet and is not designed to be a primer on net-mail or conference mail. A. Zones When electronic mail and conferences were new concepts, there was no need to break up the world into zones. But as FidoNet grew, the standard structure of FidoNet electronic mail addresses needed to be expanded. The governing body of FidoNet, IFNA, decided divide the network into areas known as "zones". A zone was originally conceived to be a large geographic area (usually a continent) that contains it's own regions and networks. Mail was sent between different zones by means of zone "gateways" in each zone. As time went on, large groups of nodes came together and formed new nets. To allow communication between these separate nets within FidoNet, the zone concept was expanded to include nets as zones in addition to geographic regions as zones. The mail between the new nets is also routed through zone gateways. "Zone awareness" is the ability of a program to handle mail addressed to different zones. At the advent of zones, there were few "zone aware" programs, making joining the new nets technically difficult. Mail was often mysteriously lost or mis-routed. BinkleyTerm 2.00, an highly respected and popular mailer, was the first mailer to implement zone awareness. BinkleyTerm 2.00 defined it's own method of tackling the zone address problem. Now all that was needed was a zone aware packer. RBBSPACK, is a zone aware packer that uses the BinkleyTerm definition of zone mail handling. The following documentation will demonstrate the operation and use of RBBSPACK. RBBSPACK 2.51 Documentation -- page 3 II. RBBSPACK - The Program Please read this section first to become familiar with how to use RBBSPACK. Remember that this documentation assumes that the reader is familiar with oMMM and how net/echo messages are processed. A. Command Line Parameters 1. Mandatory commands RBBSPACK has a few, simple command line parameters described below. The command line parameters may be in any case or order on the command line. The information in brackets '[]' is for your reference; brackets should not appear on the command line itself. RBBSPACK has the following command line parameters: -A[your network address] You must include your zone in standard network address format of zone:net/node. Example: -A8:926/1 This example informs RBBSPACK that you are node ONE in net 926 in ZONE 8. -S[schedule tag] This parameter is identical to oMMM's -S. The tag identifier must be a single letter of the alphabet. Example: -SA This example directs RBBSPACK to use the verbs in the control file listed after SCHED A and before the next SCHED verb. Please refer to Section B, Control File, for more information. -P[the path of your hold or outbound area] This parameter points to your DEFAULT outbound directory. Example: -PC:\BINKLEY\OUTBOUND This example directs RBBSPACK that your default outbound directory for the zone you operate in is C:\BINKLEY\OUTBOUND. If you tell BinkleyTerm in the control file that you are in zone 8, then mail for zone 1 in this case would end up in C:\BINKLEY\OUTBOUND.001, RBBSPACK 2.51 Documentation -- page 4 mail for zone two would end up in C:\BINKLEY\OUTBOUND.002, but mail for zone 8 would end up in the default outbound directory listed on the command line, to wit, C:\BINKLEY\OUTBOUND. Please refer to RBBSPACK - Implementation for more information. -C[control file for RBBSPACK] This parameter is to notify RBBSPACK which control file it is to use for routing commands. Example: -CC:\BINKLEY\RBBSPACK.CTL -CRBBSPACK.CTL The first example tells RBBSPACK the complete path and file name for it's control file to use. The second example tells RBBSPACK only the file name, and RBBSPACK will look in the current directory for the file specified. -U[A or P ] This parameter informs RBBSPACK which file compression program is to be used to pack the mail. Example 1: -UA RBBSPACK uses ARCA to pack the mail being processed. Example 2: -UP RBBSPACK uses PKPAK to pack the mail being processed. Whichever program you chose to pack the mail, it must reside in a defined path or in RBBSPACK's current directory. Many people have not used PKPAK to handle mail due to date order problems when tossing the mail. RBBSPACK eliminates this problem by using a date/number archive extension that is supported by all mail handlers. A *.MO2 file is processed prior to a *.TU1, eliminating this problem with using PKPAK as an alternative file compression program. 2. Optional Commands -CC This converts all *.CUT files to *.OUT files in the outbound directory. -CH This converts all *.HUT files to *.OUT files in the outbound directory. RBBSPACK 2.51 Documentation -- page 5 -L[filename.ext] This parameter, if present, directs RBBSPACK to keep a log file. The default is RBBSPACK.LOG in the current directory. You may choose any path and filename by specifing it immediately following the command. Example 1: -L Example 2: -LD:\STRANGE\RECORD.RBS Example 1 directs RBBSPACK to create the log file RBBSPACK.LOG in the current subdirectory. Example 2 would create the log file D:\STRANGE\RECORD.RBS. -LL1 Log Level 1 gives a very verbose log which is usefull for debugging. -N This is the NoChange Switch. It tells RBBSPACK to leave any flow file for a given node undisturbed. If a flow file for the current schedule does not exist, one will be created. ex: If you have a flow file named xxxxxxx.clo and you run RBBSPACK with a ROUTE xxx/xxx, it will change that xxxxxxxx.clo file to xxxxxxxx.hlo. If you have the same xxxxxxxx.clo and you run RBBSPACK with the -n switch, RBBSPACK won't touch the xxxxxxxx.clo file and will create a xxxxxxxx.hlo file. This is a powerful option that should not be used by novices. -V This parameter instructs RBBSPACK to write directly to the video BIOS. The default writes directly to the screen. B. The RBBSPACK Control File RBBSPACK requires a control file with operational instructions. The control file is specified with the -C command line parameter as shown above. 1. Control File Verbs General Rules: Case is NOT important in the control file. Only commands following a SCHED statement are recognized by RBBSPACK. A ZONE statement is usually next to tell RBBSPACK what zone it is RBBSPACK 2.51 Documentation -- page 6 working with. Any line may only contain 255 characters. Whenever you specify a node, it must be in net/node format, leaving out the zone (it was specified in the ZONE verb) and including the net. A control file MUST end with a full carriage return/linefeed. A verb is said to be a 'routing verb', when you intend for first net/node address specified to get the mail for the other net/nodes typed on the line, including the first net/node. It is presumed that the receiving net/node address will continue to distribute the mail from that point. Here is a list of control file verbs supported by RBBSPACK Version 2.51: ROUTE This verb is the only routing verb for RBBSPACK. The first net/node listed following ROUTE will have an archive created with the mail for itself and the net/nodes following it on that line. The archive will then be held for the first net/node listed with an .HLO extension on the flow file. Example: ROUTE 379/0 379/207 135/4 136/24 This directs RBBSPACK to make a flow file to 379/0. The flow file has a .HLO extension and contains the name of the archive which includes all the mail for the nodes listed. HOLD Each net/node listed following the HOLD verb will have an archive created with the mail for that net/node address only. The corresponding flow file will be have an .HLO extension. Example: HOLD 151/1000 151/114 379/202 This directs RBBSPACK to make an archive for 151/1000 with only the mail for 151/1000, an archive for 151/115 with its mail, and an archive for 379/202 with its mail. The resulting flow files will be marked as hold. CSEND This verb works exactly like the verb HOLD except the resulting flow files are marked crash (.CLO extension). Example: SEND 926/204 926/1 This directs RBBSPACK to make an archive to 926/204 with any mail waiting to be packed for 926/204. It then marks the resulting flow file as crash (.CLO extension). RBBSPACK then does the same thing for 926/1. RBBSPACK 2.51 Documentation -- page 7 DSEND This verb works exactly like the verb HOLD and CSEND except the resulting flow files are marked as direct (.DLO extension). Example: DSEND 926/204 926/1 This directs RBBSPACK to make an archive to 926/204 with any mail waiting to be packed for 926/204. It then marks the resulting flow files as direct (.DLO extension). RBBSPACK then does the same thing for 926/1. NSEND This verb works exactly like the verb HOLD, CSEND and DSEND except the resulting flow files are marked as normal (.FLO extension). Example: NSEND 926/204 926/1 This directs RBBSPACK to make an archive to 926/204 with any mail waiting to be packed for 926/204. It then marks the resulting flow files as normal (.FLO extension). RBBSPACK then does the same thing for 926/1. POLL This verb causes RBBSPACK to check whether there is anything going to the net/node on the line (any .FLO, ,DLO, .HLO or .OUT files). If it finds any outbound flow files, it will change the extension to .CLO (crash file attach). If RBBSPACK finds any .OUT files (unarchived mail) for that net/node, it will pack the mail into and archive and either: A) create a flow file with a .CLO extension, or B) append to and existing flow file with a .CLO extension. If RBBSPACK finds nothing addressed to the net/node in the POLL statement, it will create a dummy crash file attach (.CLO). This prompts BinkleyTerm to call the net/node pick up any mail waiting. Example: POLL 926/0 926/210 926/400 This directs RBBSPACK search the current outbound directory for ANY file attaches (flow files) to 926/0, 926/210 and 926/400. If they are found they are changed to crash file attaches. If RBBSPACK finds an .OUT file to any of the specified addresses, it will pack it up and mark it as a crash mail. If NO mail is found, RBBSPACK creates a dummy crash file to prompt BinkleyTerm to dial the specified address. RBBSPACK 2.51 Documentation -- page 8 2. Control file supplemental commands ALL This is an alias DESTINATION NODE that instructs RBBSPACK to carry out the operation requested to all the nodes in the net listed. Example: ROUTE 151/100 151/ALL This directs RBBSPACK to make an archive to 151/100 with all the mail for net 151 and then mark its flow file as hold. [ALL may only be used with ROUTE.] OTHERS This statement is an alias net/node address that may only be used with the ROUTE verb, with only ONE net/node listed in front of it. Any and all .OUT packets remaining in the outbound directory will be packed up and sen to the network address listed. Example: ROUTE 900/1 OTHERS This directs RBBSPACK to make an archive of all of the remaining .OUT files 900/1 and mark the flow file as hold. ZONE You must specify what zone you are working with in the control file before you use any other verb to modify mail. The ZONE statement typically comes directly after a SCHED statement. You must use this statement even if you are not going to have mail with more than one zone destination. PLEASE REFER TO THE BINKLEYTERM DOCUMENTATION TO GET A FULL UNDERSTANDING OF THE ZONE DIRECTORY SCHEMES. Example: SCHED A ZONE 1 HOLD 151/1000 151/0 This is actually a small excerpt from a control file. It tells RBBSPACK that it is in schedule A and dealing with Zone one. That means RBBSPACK defines the 151/1000 and 151/0 addresses as 1:151/1000 and 1:151/0. You must have a new ZONE statement to change zones. RBBSPACK 2.51 Documentation -- page 9 SCHED A schedule is nothing more than a subset of commands within a control file. The schedule will include all commands up to the next SCHED tag. With RBBSPACK, you must have a SCHED at the beginning of the control statements if you want them to be carried out according to the -S parameter on the command line. III. RBBSPACK - IMPLEMENTATION This section describes how to use RBBSPACK. At this time RBBSPACK requires a separate program (oMMM) to scan the netmail directory for netmail and create .OUT files for the different nodes. Your echomail processor must create .OUT files in order to work correctly with RBBSPACK. RBBSPACK will have netmail directory scanning in release 3.0. Until that time, RBBSPACK must run with oMMM to scan for netmail. A. oMMM and NetMail The use of oMMM with RBBSPACK requires you to run oMMM without a schedule tag and with a dummy control file (containing only the comment command, a semi-colon) to scan your netmail. The command line is the same as if you were not using RBBSMAIL. (This leaves you on your own to learn oMMM). oMMM will now only create .OUT files for the individual net/nodes netmail messages. You then run RBBSPACK as the next line in your batch file where it puts the .OUT files in the appropriate outbound directory and manipulates the mail according to the schedule. You must run RBBSPACK after doing any kind of mail scanning (netmail or echomail) to mark it as you want it and to prevent unwanted mail transfers. B. RBBSPACK Control File Example Here is an example of a valid control file for RBBSPACK. It assumes a -PC:\BT\HOLD statement in the command line. Please refer to the Control File Verbs for a description of each line. EXAMPLE CONTROL FILE: SCHED A ZONE 1 ;Use c:\bt\hold.001\ as outbound directory ROUTE 926/204 379/204 ROUTE 379/205 926/205 ROUTE 926/206 379/206 ROUTE 379/207 926/207 ROUTE 109/652 936/1 ROUTE 151/100 151/ALL ZONE 8 ;Use default outbound directory, c:\bt\hold\ ; RBBSPACK knows that ZONE 8 is the default from ; the -A8:926\1 address RBBSPACK 2.51 Documentation -- page 10 ROUTE 900/1 8/0 900/ALL 925/ALL 950/ALL ROUTE 926/209 379/209 ROUTE 926/210 ROUTE 379/202 926/202 ROUTE 109/652 936/1 ZONE 2 ;..\hold.002 is the outbound directory ROUTE 512/10 512/101 998/1 998/ALL ;send mail to Europe ZONE 1 ROUTE 379/201 926/201 379/ALL ZONE 8 ROUTE 900/1 OTHERS ;Send left-overs to Rod Bowman ; SCHED B ZONE 8 POLL 900/1 ; SCHED C ZONE 1 POLL 151/100 ; SCHED D ZONE 2 POLL 512/100 ; SCHED F ZONE 8 HOLD 900/1 ; SCHED G ZONE 8 POLL 8/1 ; C. Command Line Examples Example 1: rbbspack -a8:926/1 -crbbspack.ctl -pc:\bt\hold -ua -sa | | | | | | my zone-----* | | | | | my net/node----* | | | | | | | | control file in ----------* | | | current directory | | | | | | path to my hold or----------------* | | outbound directory | | | | packing utility---------* | (using Arca) | | schedule label------* The above represents the minimum command needed to invoke RBBSPACK. RBBSPACK 2.51 Documentation -- page 11 Example 2: rbbspack -a8:926/1 -cc:\bt\rbbspack.ctl -pc:\bt\hold -ua -sa -l -ll1 -ch -cc | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | control file is in-----------* | | | | c:\bt directory | | | | | | | | create rbbspack.log ------------------------------------------* | | | in current directory | | | | | | use log level 1---------------------------------------------------* | | (very verbose) | | | | convert *.hut files----------------------------------------------------* | to *.out before processing | | convert *.cut files ------------------------------------------------------* to *.out before processing ***NOTE: *.HUT files will be converted first if both switches are present on the command line. The -ll1 switch MUST come after the -l switch on the command line. ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** Example 3: rbbspack -a8:926/1 -crbbspack.ctl -pc:\bt\hold -sa -ua -n -v | | | | do not change any existing flow files-------------------* | that may exist | | | | disable direct screen--------------------* writes (for use with Multilink and Desqview) RBBSPACK 2.51 Documentation -- page 12 IV. MISCELLANEOUS A. Copyright Copyright (c) 1987, 1988 by Jim Oswell and Rod Bowman. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. COMMERCIAL DISTRIBUTION AND/OR USE PROHIBITED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM JIM OSWELL AND/OR ROD BOWMAN IS PROHIBITED. B. Warranty No warranty of ANY kind is given on the operation of this program. You use this program AT YOUR OWN RISK. RBBSPACK was developed and tested on a CLONE XT with 512KB memory and a 20MB fixed disk. This version has been tested with RBBSMAIL 17.1A, ConfMail v3.3, ConfMail v4.0, BinkleyTerm v2.00, running with DOS 3.30. This program was written and compiled with Microsoft QuickBasic 4.0. C. License 1. You may use the program for any commercial of non-commercial purpose. Use it on your company, private of school BBS, feed it to your dog, or use it as a doorstop. I don't care. 2. You may copy and distribute as many copies of this program as you like, provided you do not charge money for the program itself. A small fee (for copying, handling, mailing and the diskette carrying the copy) is allowed, but this amount may not exceed the real costs. (i.e. you may not make a profit out of distributing RBBSPACK). 3. Distribution of modified copies of this program is NOT allowed. 4. If you absolutely insist on spending money for RBBSPACK, DO NOT put a check in the mail to me. Instead, buy your wife, girlfriend, or significant other a nice bunch of flowers or take her out to dinner, to make up for the many, many hours you left her alone while you were playing around with your computer (Dinner is preferred, that way you can call this DINNERWARE). If that idea does not appeal to you, please feel guilty every time you run this program. D. Special Thanks To: This section gives special thanks to all the people that made a difference in this project. 1. Jan Terpstra: Without whom I wouldn't have even started this project, and his great assembly routines that increased the speed and made things much simpler. RBBSPACK 2.51 Documentation -- page 13 2. Andy Jones: Who had the courage to run untested versions on his system to find bugs, and had to rebuild mail several times. 3. RBBS-PC Authors: Tom Mack, Jon Martin, and Ken Goosens for..... ABSOLUTELY THE BEST BULLETIN BOARD SOFTWARE IN THE WORLD! 4. The Binkley Trio: For a zone aware mailer (and an all around great piece of software). E. New in release 2.5 1. Fixed Screen print bug that chopped off first character of second line of archive program. 2. Fixed print routine that reported "xxx/xxx Has a File Already Listed for Transmission" when it really didn't. 3. Fixed Screen print routine so it will work under Desqview and MultiLink. 4. Updated Error trapping routine to reflect code changes. 5. Added checking for DOS version. 6. Added user defineable log file name and the -LL1 verbose listing. 7. Changed all command line parameters eliminating the colon following the command line parameter. 8. Changed SEND to CSEND, added NSEND for normal attaches (.FLO). 9. Added the NoChange Switch. 10. Added a -V switch for Video (either BIOS or direct screen). 11. Added clean-up for 0 length ARCHIVES left over from previous days. 12. Added -CH to convert all *.HUT files to *.OUT files. 13. Added -CC to convert all *.CUT files to *.OUT files. 14. Revised documentation. F. New in release 2.51 1. Added support for DOS 4.0! Send any program bugs or questions to 8:926/1 or 1:379/208. NET BRICKS will be thrown in the dumper! Jim Oswell Rod Bowman and Alan Kaplan E/O/F