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RA-Echo v.1.00
Echomail-Processor for
Remote-Access, QBBS, Maximus
with Frontdoor, Binkley, DBridge.
(c) 1991 Roger Kirchhoff & Stefan Graf
2:245/4@fidonet.org
RA-Echo H.Q. +49-2351-861135
All rights reserved
1. INTRODUCTION
================
RA-Echo is a full 4-d echomail processor for BOTH
the Hudson message base (used by Remote Access, QBBS,
SuperBbs etc.) AND the Opus style *.MSG format (Used
by Opus, Maximus etc.).
Take a look at the features !
2. FEATURES
============
o NETWORK and multiline support with advanced file and
record locking abilities lets you run a multiple node
BBS and process mail while users are online!!!
o FAST !!! Increased SPEED and great performance
o Full 4-D addressing and ZONE support !
o Works with almost any BBS system
o Works with FrontDoor, DBridge and Binkley !
o Advanced Security options for both mail packet
checking and echoarea/node control
o Mixed Message base styles (RA & *.MSG format),
configurable for every echo !
o Conference Support for easy usage in multiple
network environments (Fido, SigNet etc.)
o Automatic creation of new echos with alert messages to
Sysop and in an echo, fully configurable for every
node
o Comfortable FULLSCREEN SETUP program lets you
change your configuration in seconds
o Context sensitive Help System in RA-Echo's
setup program RAESETUP
o Free configurable packer and user definable packers
let you add ANY new packer in the future !!
o Built in Areafix can RESCAN Areas
o Built in FILEFIX request manager with RA's USERS.BBS
and LIMITS.CTL support
o Free configurable Areafix and Filefix messages
o Allows unlimited number of netmail areas in your BBS
for special addresses and usergroups
o Advanced dupe checking
o All mail processing in one run: Import, Export,
Reply-Linking, Areafix and Filefix
o Multiple Logfiles for Areafix, Filefix, Statistics
and many, many more !!! See RA-ECHO.CFG for more...
3. QUICKSTART
==============
Copy all files to your RA-Echo directory
Rename the keyfile to RA-ECHO.KEY
Start RAESETUP
Edit RA-ECHO.CFG to your needs
Enter all echos or import setting from AREAS.BBS, FD or RA
Enter all nodes and switch their echos on
CONFIG.SYS entry: FILES=45
Reboot your System.
That's all :-) !
4. FILES in RA-Echo distribution packet
========================================
RA-ECHO.EXE RA-Echo main program
RA-ECHO.OVR RA-Echo overlay file
RA-E286.EXE RA-Echo for 286/386/486 processors {+}
RA-E286.OVR RA-Echo 286/386/486 overlay file {+}
RA-ECHO.CFG Sample configuration file.
This is a plain ASCII file which contains all
information about your system. You may use any
ASCII editor or the built in editor in RAESETUP
to edit it to your needs.
RAESETUP.EXE RA-Echo full screen SETUP program
RAESETUP.HLP SETUP help file (english)
RAESETUP.GER SETUP help file (german) - rename this to
RAESETUP.HLP, if you want german help
screens.
RAETOFD.LZH Create a FrontDoor 2.01 FOLDER.FD file
with your RA-Echo settings (echos).
RA-ECHO.DOC What you are reading now :-)
{+} registered version only
5. FILES created by RA-Echo and RAESETUP
=========================================
NODE.RAE Node database
AREAS.RAE Echo configuration
CONFNAME.RAE Conference descriptions
LINKS.RAE Reply-Links information
DUPES.RAE Info for dupe checker
LASTEXP.RAE Last exported message in *.MSG directory
RA-E286.EXE and RA-E286.OVR may be renamed to RA-ECHO.*
5.1 Logfiles
-------------
RA-Echo's logfiles may have any name (see RA-ECHO.CFG),
defaults are the following:
RA-ECHO.LOG General information and errors
AREAFIX.LOG All Areafix events
FILEFIX.LOG All Filefix events
STATIST.LOG Import & Export statistics
If you don't declare one of these logfile names those
loggings will be surpressed.
6. SYNTAX AND COMMAND LINE SWITCHES
====================================
RA-ECHO IMPORT <parameter>
RA-ECHO EXPORT <parameter>
RA-ECHO NOTIFY
RA-ECHO QUERY
RA-ECHO FILEQUERY
RA-ECHO AREAFIX
RA-ECHO FILEFIX
RA-ECHO PACK
6.1 PARAMETERS
---------------
6.1.1 IMPORT
Import received mail to the messagebase
and export them to your downlinks
6.1.2 EXPORT
Export new locally entered mail
6.1.3 NOTIFY
Create a notify message for selected
nodes with an actual list of all ordered
echos. More link information can be
added with the notify-message
configuration parameters. You must have
set the Node's 'Send Notify Message'
switch to 'Yes' to let him receive the
message. Same with QUERY and FILEQUERY
commands. You may declare nodes to
receive such a message in the command
line (for example 'RA-ECHO NOTIFY
2:All') and use the wildcards 'All' or
'*' to include nodes.
6.1.4 QUERY
Send a message to selected nodes to
inform them what areas are available
on your system.
6.1.5 FILEQUERY
Create a message to selected nodes with
all file areas available for them (RA
environment only).
6.1.6 AREAFIX
Process Areafix messages only. NO Import
is done! RA-Echo only scans for netmails
addressed to Areafix and processes them.
See AREAFIX section for details.
6.1.7 FILEFIX
Process Filefix messages only. NO IMPORT
is done (see above) !
6.1.8 PACK
Pack netmails. Please read the PACK
NETMAIL section of this manual for more
details.
7. COMMAND LINE SWITCHES
=========================
Use can use several command line switches to toggle some
of RA-Echo's features. '+' switches on and '-' off.
7.1 General Switches
====================
/L+- Reply-Linking of imported messages
Default: /L-
/N+- Network and Multiline support
Default: /N-
/D+- Dupe-Checking
Default: /D+
/Q+- Quick-Scan on EXPORT on/off.
In Quick-Mode only messages after the last exported
message will be exported. Otherwise RA-Echo will
scan the whole message base. In /Q- mode you can be
sure that never a message will remain unexported,
but Quick-Scan mode is *much* faster. If you use
Quick-Scan mode RA-Echo creates a file named
EXPMARK.RAE with the data of the last exported
message. RA-Echo will recognize if you have purged
your base in the meantime and then scan the whole
base no matter if Quick-Scan is enabled.
Default: /Q+
/S+- Save Mode for all filehandling.
On /S+ all files and the message base will be
flushed to disk after every write operation. If
your system crashes all files are saved, but this
will SLOW DOWN RA-Echo VERY MUCH, so usually this
will not be necessary.
Default: /S-
/R+- If RA-Echo writes a netmail to your netmail
directory it will also create a file to force your
mailer to rescan your netmail directory.
This is FDRESCAN.NOW for FrontDoor and DBRIDGE.RSN for
D'Bridge. You can disable this with /R-.
Default: /R+
/A+- Surpress processing of Areafix messages.
On /A- RA-Echo will not process any inbound messages
to Areafix.
Default: /A+
/B+- /B- surpresses processing and importing of Netmail
Default: /B+
/F+- Surpress processing of Filefix Messages
Default: /F+
/G+- Surpress usage of LASTIMP.RAE and LASTEXP.RAE
Default: /G-
/C /C<filename> is the name of the config file that
RA-Echo reads. This makes it possible to operate
with different configurations.
Default: /CRA-ECHO.CFG
/M /M<path> is the Path to filerequest directory.
See the Filefix section for details.
7.2 Security Switches
----------------------
/O+- Security check for inbound Arcmail packets.
If /O- nodes can send arcmail in Areas they are not
qualified for.
Default: /O+
/P+- This is the most important security switch. If a
sender of an arcmail packet is not in your nodefile
RA-Echo will NOT process the packet. You can switch
this check off with /P-. CAUTION: If you do this
anyone will be able to send you arcmail (including
potential arcmail bombs.)
Default: /P+
8. COMMAND LINE EXAMPLES
=========================
RA-ECHO IMPORT /L+ /D-
Import mail with reply linking ON and dupe checking OFF.
RA-ECHO EXPORT /Q-
Export mail from your system and disable Quick-Export.
RA-ECHO NOTIFY
Create a notify netmail for every system in your nodefile
that has set the 'Send Notify Message' in RAESETUP to
'Yes'.
RA-ECHO NOTIFY 245/4
Create a notify netmail only for 245/4
RA-ECHO NOTIFY 245/4.ALL (or RA-ECHO NOTIFY 245/4.*)
Create notify netmail for all points of 245/4
RA-ECHO QUERY 2:*
Create notify netmail for all nodes in zone 2.
All switches are optional.
9. HOW RA-ECHO WORKS
=====================
RA-Echo has been developed to give you the most possible
speed in echomail processing combined with advanced Sysop
control over your mail configuration.
Of course RA-Echo itself could come with more colours,
windows and a lot of screen output to give you as much
information as possible. But that all would have one great
disadvantage: It takes time! On the other hand RA-Echo
comes with a fullscreen setup program that will let you
easily change your setup in seconds. A whole lotta bunch
of online information is available by simply pressing the
F1 Help key to give you every detailed information you
need.
Now, let's take a look at how RA-Echo works. I will try
to explain what happens to let you get a feeling for what
is RA-Echo actually working on.
9.1 IMPORT
----------
If you start RA-Echo with the IMPORT parameter all
arcmail packets get unpacked in order of their date of
creation. First all *.SU? packets, then *.MO? etc.
Echomail get imported into the base and/or directories
and exported to nodes.
RA-Echo shows you the area of the currently processed
message and some addition info:
l Reply link message
s Save message to base
w Write Message (*.MSG)
e Export to node
d Duplicate message found
i Illegal message
Then the netmail directory will be scanned for new
messages to your system which will be imported to the
netmail area with the nodenumber of the message.
9.2 EXPORT
===========
On EXPORT, all new messages entered on your system (which
carry the 'local' bit) will get exported (simple, huh?).
10. PACK
=========
RA-Echo can pack netmail. You can use several keywords
and command line switches to tell RA-Echo where netmail
has to go.
Call RA-Echo with the PACK parameter and a list of the
nodes whose netmail shall get packed, followed by 'VIA'
the node that you want these netmails to be sent to.
You may use the 'All' wildcard for more general
processing.
You may use the following switches to exclude some groups
of netmail from routing:
/NC Crash-Mails will NOT be routed
/NI In-Transit-Mails will NOT be routed
/NL Locally created Mails will not be routed
/NH Mails with Hold-Status will not be routed
Examples:
RA-ECHO PACK 2:ALL VIA 2:245/31 /NC
Send all netmail for zone 2 except crashmail to 2:245/31
RA-ECHO PACK 2:245/4.All
Pack netmails to the points
11. ECHOS
==========
The file AREAS.RAE contains the information about all
echomail areas on your system. Each area has a number
from 1 to 500. The first 200 areas are for the message
base (which can only have a maximum of 200 areas), the
number matches with the board number in RA. The areas
201 to 500 are passthru areas or *.MSG style areas.
Please take a look at RAESETUP's HELP screens for more
information.
12. AREAFIX
============
RA-Echo's Areafix can handle both the original Areafix
(by Greg Dawson) style commands with the switches in the
subject line and Tosscan (by J. Homrighausen) style
commands with % in the messagetext.
Additionally Areafix can rescan areas if you add -R
after the area name.
Example:
By: Klaus Schaefer
To: AREAFIX, MISTER MUSIKER (2:245/4)
Re: password <---- Areafix Password
St: Pvt Crash Kill
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
IBM.GER <---- Add area
FLEA.GER
-SYSOPS.024 <---- Remove area
POINTS.MMM -R <---- Rescan area
%QUERY <---- Ask for available
areas
%LIST <---- List active areas
12.1 Areafix Features
----------------------
Areafix can create unique notify and query messages
using macros for nodename, nodenumber and several other
system parameters. So you can make messages from your
Areafix look very special and add interesting
information for your downlinks (received mails, sent
mails, password etc.).
One special Areafix function I want to mention is the
'holiday' switch. Normally if a node is not in town for
a longer period he has to cancel all echos and order
them again when he's back. Not with RA-Echo's Areafix !
Your downlink can simply write a message to Areafix
with
%PASSIVE
in the message text. Areafix then will switch the
complete node to passive, which means he will get no more
echomail from you. When he is back and wants to continue
receiving echomail he does not have to switch every
single echo on but he may write to Areafix again:
%ACTIVE
and he will receive all echos again like he did before.
Please read sample RA-ECHO.CFG for more information about
Areafix parameters.
13. FILEFIX
============
Now, what is Filefix ?
Filefix is a complete FILE REQUEST MANAGER. Most Filefix
features will only work with Remote Access because they
require RA's configuration files. If your BBS is not a RA
system you can skip the Filefix section in this
documentation.
13.1 Receive Files via Filefix
-------------------------------
Your users or points can send files to your BBS with
an netmail to Filefix.
Filefix moves the File to the correct filearea,
adds the filename & description to FILES.BBS _AND_ will
credit the file to the uploader !
Example - Someone wants to send you new files:
By: Thomas Fanslau
To: FILEFIX, MISTER MUSIKER (2:245/4)
Re: password <---- Areafix Password
St: Pvt Crash Kill
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
SCANV80.ZIP #10 McAfee's virus scanner
JUMP.ZIP #32 Jump action game (VGA)
RA-ECHO.LZH #1 Multi talent Echomail processor ;-)
^ Filename ^ Description (will be added to
FILES.BBS)
^ Number of the filearea where Filefix
shall move the file.
If RA-Echo finds this message it will scan your inbound
directory for this file. Then the filefix command that
you have declared in RA-ECHO.CFG will be executed for this
file (see RA-ECHO.CFG for details). You can execute a
batchfile which will check the incoming file for viruses
or do anything else! It is simply a commandline, a
program or a batch that will be executed for EVERY
incoming file (if the file does not exist anymore after
processing the filefix command, nothing will happen. So
you can move bad files to another directory).
Now the file will be moved to the directory that is
assigned to this area in FILES.RA and the filename,
description and the uploader's name (optionally) will
be added to FILES.BBS.
Then Filefix searches the uploader in your userfile and
will credit the upload to the user (of course only if the
uploader can be found in your userfile).
13.2 Request Files via Filefix
-------------------------------
Why should I use Filefix for incoming file requests ?
Filefix will process any request just the same like a
download attempt on your BBS !
o Users can only request regarding their limits
(LIMITS.CTL and USERS.BBS support)
o Only nodes who are a user on your BBS may request
o Up- and Downloads will be credited
o Full RA security level and flags support
Requesting a file via Filefix is as simple as using
areafix.
Example - Someone wants to request files:
By: Stefan Graf
To: FILEFIX, MISTER MUSIKER (2:245/4)
Re: password <---- Areafix Password
St: Pvt Crash Kill
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
%REQUEST SCANV80.ZIP <---- No Wildcards!
%REQUEST JUMBO.ZIP
%QUERY <---- Ask for a list of all
available fileareas
%LIST #10 <---- Ask for a filelist of
area number 10
Filefix will put the requested files on HOLD for the
node. The caller will get them with his next call.
Another method is to send files immediately. That means
the request has to be processed while the mailers are
connected. For this you have to define a magic request
name in FrontDoor and call a batch file where you let
RA-Echo process the request. Please try the following
example.
Entry in FrontDoor's magic names file:
GIVITOME >E:\FD\TEXTS\FILEFIX.BAT ^-E:\FD\TEMP\*.*
If anyone requests the magic filename GIVITOME FrontDoor
will call FILEFIX.BAT and then send all files located in
E:\FD\TEMP. Now, what does Filefix ? Let's look at our
sample FILEFIX.BAT.
________________________________________________________
CD \RAE
REM First make sure the send directory is empty
KILL E:\FD\TEMP\*.*
REM Now let RA-Echo copy all requested files to the temp
REM directory
RA-E286 FILEFIX /ME:\FD\TEMP
CD \FD
________________________________________________________
Filefix searches the node in your RA userfile. Then it
scans all file areas the node may access for the
requested files and copies them to the temp directory.
FrontDoor then will immediately transfer the requested
files.
The user's record (in RA) will be updated with his
'download'. Filefix can manage all limits, up/download
ratios, flags and access levels you have defined in
LIMITS.CTL and in the user's data, so you don't have to
care about limits etc. - it simply behaves like a
download in RA.
14. AREAFIX and FILEFIX messages
=================================
You can completely define your own answer messages for
Areafix and Filefix. In these messages you can use insert
special control characters that will be replaced when
RA-Echo creates the message (see RA-ECHO.CFG).
In all texts:
&N : Name of node
&F : First name of node
&L : Last name of node
&Y : Your global system address
(NodeAdr = z:n/n.p in RA-ECHO.CFG)
&D : Date in your country style
&T : Time in your country style
In texts for Areafix NOTIFY and QUERY:
&A : Address of receiver node
&E : Number of messages the node has sent
&I : Number of messages the node has received
(you can reset these two nodefile entries
with a the RAERESET program supplied with
RA-Echo)
&S : Sender address for the mail packets
&P : Session password
In Filefix messages:
&R Up/Download Ratio in files
&K Up/Download Ratio in kbytes
&U Number of uploads
&Q Uploads in kbyte
&W Number of downloads
&V Downloads in kbyte
15. NETWORKS AND MULTILINE ENVIRONMENT
=======================================
RA-Echo can run in multiline environments under DesqView
and in Networks such as Novell.
It will detect DesqView and use DesqView's screen
buffers.
If you have SHARE loaded RA-Echo will automatically
switch to NETWORK mode and use special file- and record
locking schemes.
If you use NOVELL or any other network software you have
to use the /N+ switch to force RA-Echo to network mode.
Network mode of course is somewhat slower than
non-network (normal) mode, but RA-Echo is really safe in
a multiline environment.
You can import or export mail while users are online in
your BBS, and we have even tested simultaneous imports
with RA-Echo on more than one line. You don't even have
to think about complicated batches or events, simply use
RA-Echo !
16. LINKS.RAE
==============
If you renumber your message base you have to delete the
file LINKS.RAE which contains the info about reply
linking. RA-Echo will rebuild it the next time you start
it.
17. CONFIG.SYS
===============
We suggest to set FILES to a minimum of 45. RA-Echo holds
the export files for your downlinks open, so if you have
a lot of downlinks more FILES may even be better.
18. ERRORLEVELS
================
1 : ECHOMAIL were imported
2 : Netmails were imported
3 : ECHOMAIL and Netmails were imported
4 : ECHOMAIL were exported
8 : Netmails were exported
12 : ECHOMAIL and Netmails were exported
All Error codes above 90 show a program error.
90 : General program error
91 : Unable to open the base
92 : Unable to create the base
93 : The base is corrupted
94 : Unable to close the base
97 : Not enough memory
98 : Unable to flush files, don't use /S+ parameter!
99 : File locking error (network mode)
240 : Key not found
241 : Overlay Error
254 : Processor > 80286 required
255 : Runtime Error
19. SPECIAL THANKS
===================
We would like to thank our betatesters. Folks, where
would we be without you !
Peter Bankmann
Jona Boettcher
Derek Bumpas
Thomas Dobusch
Paul Ellison
Thomas Fanslau
Martin Hennes
Peter Hermann
Peter Kaszanics
Peter Kretschmann
Jean-Paul Otto
Bernd Rothbrust
Klaus Schaefer
Peter Schmidt
Dieter Soltau
Special thanks to Joaquim Homrighausen for his
FrontDoor mailer and to Andrew Milner for his
Remote Access BBS.
20. DISCLAIMER
===============
RA-Echo is (c) Copyright 1991 by Roger Kirchhoff and
Stefan Graf. You can reach us at 2:245/4@fidonet.org
(RA-Echo H.Q.) +49-2351-861135.
We only guarantee that RA-Echo will occupy disk space.
In no event shall we be liable to you or anyone else
for any damages or costs, including, but not limited
to, any lost profits, lost savings, lost income, lost
information or other incidental or consequential
damages arising out of the use or inability to use
RA-Echo.
If you have any suggestion or bug reports please let us
know. You can reach us on RA-Echo H.Q. Fidonet 2:245/4
BBS +49-2351-861135.