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MsgTrack 3.31 January 1, 1993 USER MANUAL Copyright (c) 1989-1993 Andrew D. Farmer. All rights reserved. License Statement The MsgTrack package is protected by both Canadian copyright law and international treaty provisions. MsgTrack is provided as is, without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. Andrew D. Farmer only guarantees that MsgTrack will occupy disk space. In no event shall Andrew D. Farmer be liable to you or anyone else for any damages, including any lost profits, lost savings or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use this program. All Andrew D. Farmer products are trademarks or registered trademarks of Andrew D. Farmer. ------------------------------------------------------------ The noncommercial version of MsgTrack does not offer as many 'toys' as the commercial version, but it is =not= crippled, nor does it quit working after a period of time. It is fully functional as provided. The noncommercial version is yours to keep. It is not public domain, shareware or freeware, it is simply free of charge. You can use it as long as you do not use it within a commercial environment. It doesn't matter if you are making money by using it or not, if you are using it within commercial walls, you must purchase the commercial version. If you wish to purchase the commercial version, see the file MT_ORDER.EUR (for europeans only) or MT_ORDER.ALL. Both of these files should have been located in the compressed file MT_ORDER.ARJ, within the distribution archive. ------------------------------------------------------------ Chapter 1 Preface 1.1 Archive The program archive, MT330.ARJ, should have included the following files: MT.DOC - User manual. MT.EXE - Main program. MTLOG.EXE - Log analyzer. MTSETUP.EXE - Setup program. MT330.NEW - Release notes. MT_ORDER.ARJ - Order forms for the commercial version. 1.2 System requirements Although it is possible to run MsgTrack on a system with less than the following equipment, the following should be considered the realistic minimum with which you can get by: A 100% IBM BIOS compatible computer system with at least 384K of available RAM. MS-DOS or PC-DOS version 3.20 or greater. 1.3 AFI environment variable MsgTrack will expect to find its configuration data files in the DOS current directory or the directory pointed to by the AFI environment variable. 1.4 AFIOPT environment variable By default MT uses 'smart' (int 21h, function 60h) path resolution code. Under some configurations, this actually returns an unuseable pathspec. Setting AFIOPT=LOTEK_RES tells MT to use 'dumb' or 'lotek' path resolution code (this consists of resolving ambiguous paths to absolute paths, but not doing any internal remapping). 1.5 TZ environment variable MsgTrack uses the TZ environment variable to calculate Universal Coordinated Time (UTC). Examples: TZ=EST05EDT TZ=AEST-10 TZ=GMT00 TZ=UTC0 1.6 Key The commercial version requires a key file for operation. Chapter 2 Setup The setup program, MTSETUP.EXE, is the backbone of MsgTrack. This full screen, menu driven, module is what you use to create and edit MsgTrack's configuration data files. 2.1 Video mode / command line syntax MTSetup will attempt to automatically use the correct video mode for your system, unfortunately some BIOSs return bogus information. For that reason two command line options are available to you: -M will force MTSetup to use Mono video and -C will force MTSetup to use Colour video. Note: MTSetup uses direct screen writes. If it detects DESQview, it will use the DV shadow buffer. 2.2 Errorlevels There are only 2 possible ErrorLevels that MTSetup can exit with. Errorlevel 1 indicates a fatal error and Errorlevel 0 indicates successful completion. 2.3 Menus There are 6 top level (pull down) menus. The settings available on the first 5 will be explained in this section. The 6th top menu, Managers, is explained in section 2.4. 2.3.1 File Copyright This displays program identification and copyright information. It will stay on the screen for 3 seconds, or until a key is pressed. Password If a password is specified, all subsequent attempts to access MTSetup will require that the correct password to be provided. DOS Shell This spawns a command shell using ComSpec. When you type EXIT to return to MTSetup, it will change directories back to where you were when you loaded MTSetup. DOS Shell (cont'd) MTSetup will automatically attempt to swap itself out of memory, when spawning. It will first attempt to swap to EMS, if that fails it will try for a swap to disk and if that also fails, it will spawn without swaping. You can also Shell to DOS by typing ALT-Z at any keyboard input field. Exit/Save This causes MTSetup to quit and exit back to DOS. If you have made changes to your configuration, then you will be asked whether you wish to save the changes. You can also Exit/Save by typing ESC at any top level keyboard input field. 2.3.2 General Address Network Address These are your network addresses (upto 20). Private Network This is your private network number, if any. Domain Matching This is a table of upto 30 domain names that should be mapped to a specific zone number. Sysops These are your names (upto 5). You can also choose whether or not any messages addressed to an alias (names 2-5) should be renamed so that they are to your primary name. Paths NetMail This is the path to your network mail area. BadMail This is the path to your bad mail area. This is where MsgTrack will place bad messages. Inbound This is the path to your mailer's inbound files area. SentMsgs This is the path that you wish MsgTrack to place Sent message into. If not specified, the BadMail path will be used. Paths RcvdMsgs This is the path that you wish MsgTrack to place Received message into. If not specified, the BadMail path will be used. Nodelist This is the path to your nodelist directory. This is where MsgTrack will place, and expect to find, its nodelist index file (NODELIST.MTX). Semaphore This is where MT will look for and place semaphore files, such as the FrontDoor rescan files. Nodelists This is where you enter the names of your raw nodelist files (upto 10). This must include the complete path to the files. If you do not specify a file type (extension) MsgTrack will use the most recent file matching the trunk name. You can also choose whether or not nodes marked 'DOWN' should be included in the compiled index. Log Info Log File This is the path and name of the file that you wish MsgTrack to use for its log. If this is not specified then there will be NO log. Log Data This sub-menu allows you to select what actions you wish to have placed in the log file. Here is a brief run-down of the action types: Fatal Errors are errors causing abortion of MsgTrack. Other Errors are non-fatal errors. Major Actions are items such as "Bounce Return Message sent to xxx/xxx", "NetMail #6 relocated to BadMail #4", "NetMail #5 Deleted". Log Info Log Data Routine Actions are items such as "Tracking, 1:243/1 -> 2:257/102". Message Info lines provide additional information about messages affected by Routine Actions. They contain the To Name, From Name and Subject line of the message being processed. Runtime Status lines list the number of messages that MsgTrack scans in the area and the amount of RAM available for internal buffering. Trivial Messages are items such as 'Renumbering'. Extended Debug logging is only useful to the author. Turning this selection on will not have any effect unless authorized by the author. Log Format This sub-menu allows you to select which of the four available log format types you wish to have used. 2.3.3 Handling Attribute Bits Strip Priority This causes MsgTrack to remove the Crash, Hold and XX2 bits and the DIR, IMM and XMA flags from all passthrough messages. You can make exceptions to this, see section 2.4.3. Strip Attach This causes MsgTrack to remove the Attach bit from all passthrough messages. You can make exceptions to this, see section 2.4.3. Strip Transit This causes MsgTrack to remove the In-Transit bit from all passthrough messages. You can make exceptions to this, see section 2.4.3. Strip Kill This causes MsgTrack to remove the Kill/Sent bit from all passthrough messages. You can make exceptions to this, see section 2.4.3. Attribute Bits Add Private This causes MsgTrack to add the Private bit to all passthrough messages. Strip Freq This causes MsgTrack to remove the FileRequest and UpdateRequest bits from all passthrough messages. Miscellaneous Map DB Flags This causes MsgTrack to translate the redundant flags used by D'Bridge (PVT, CRA, RCV, SNT, FIL, K/S, HLD and FRQ) to the 'standard' attribute bits denoting the same status. Each flag will be striped when trans- lated to an attribute bit. Stop Wild Att This causes MsgTrack to remove the Attach bit from passthrough msgs, if (and only if) the attached filespec includes wildcard characters. Clear Cost This causes MsgTrack to reset the Cost field in the msg header to zero (0) on all passthrough messages. Strip FAX This causes MsgTrack to remove the FAX related flags used by D'Bridge (HIR, COV, SIG, LET) from all pass- through messages. 2.3.4 Actions NodeList Lookup Check NodeList This tells MsgTrack to check through the nodelist index for the Origin and Destination Address on each msg. If the address is not found, the message will not be forwarded. If this is not turned on, none of the other NodeList Lookup functions will be operative. Only My Zone This tells MsgTrack to only confirm the existence of the Zone, not the Net and Node, for addresses outside of your primary Zone. NodeList Lookup Skip Node Level This tells MsgTrack not to check the Node address, only the Zone and Net, for addresses outside of your net. Return Bad Dest This tells MsgTrack to Return messages with unknown destination addresses to the sender. The text for the return message may be specified in BAD_DEST.MTB (in the AFI environment directory). If this file is not present, default text will be used. Warn Bad Orig This tells MsgTrack to warn the recipient if the origin address on the message is unlisted. Hold Bad Orig This tells MsgTrack to move any message with an unknown origin address to BadMail (or, delete it if the following option is used). Kill Failed Msgs This tells MsgTrack to delete messages that failed the Nodelist lookup, instead of moving them to the BadMail area. EchoMail Handler Bounce EchoMail This tells MsgTrack to disallow routed EchoMail. You can make exceptions to this, see section 2.4.3. If this is not turned on, none of the other EchoMail Handler functions will be operative. Return to Sender This tells MsgTrack to Return routed EchoMail messages to the sender. The text for the return message may be specified in ECHOMAIL.MTB (in the AFI environment directory). If this file is not present, default text will be used. Kill Failed Msgs This tells MsgTrack to delete routed EchoMail messages, instead of moving them to the BadMail area. Bad UUCP Handler Bounce Bad UUCP This tells MsgTrack to bounce messages that are addressed to UUCP on your system, but do not contain a valid TO: routing line or are marked as 'Orphan'. This option is only useful to those running a FidoNet<->UUCP gateway. If this is not turned on, none of the other Bad UUCP Handler functions will be operative. Return to Sender This tells MsgTrack to Return bad UUCP messages to the sender. The text for the return message may be specified in BAD_UUCP.MTB (in the AFI environment directory). If this file is not present, default text will be used. Kill Failed Msgs This tells MsgTrack to delete bad UUCP messages, instead of moving them to the BadMail area. Send Copies You may enter a list of upto 5 addresses where you wish messages addressed to you to be copied. MsgTrack treats a message as being addressed to you if it is addressed to one of the names listed under Sysops (see section 2.3.2) at one of your addresses (see section 2.3.2). You may additionally specify whether or not the original message should be deleted after it has been processed by Send Copies. 2.3.5 Miscellaneous Action Settings Bounce Local Msgs This tells MsgTrack to apply all configured 'bounce' tests against locally entered messages (mail to/from your system), as well as to passthrough mail. Action Settings Ignore Zones This tells MsgTrack to ignore Zone numbers during all address lookups. Move Sent Msgs This tells MsgTrack to move msgs marked 'Sent' to the SentMsgs area. Move Rcvd Msgs This tells MsgTrack to move msgs marked 'Rcvd' to the RcvdMsgs area. Gate INTL Mail This tells MsgTrack to Zonegate route any Inter-Zone messages that are not already Zonegated. UnGate INTL Mail This tells MsgTrack to remove Zone- gate routing on Inter-Zone messages. Keep Bounce Msgs This tells MsgTrack not to mark any of the return messages, associated with bouncing mail, as Kill/Sent. FrontDoor Rescan This tells MsgTrack to force FrontDoor (mailer/editor) to rescan the NetMail area if any changes have been made to the contents. Renumber NetMail This tells MsgTrack to renumber the NetMail area. You can also cause multiple areas to be renumbered by using the -R<file> command line option. Full Screen Mode This tells MsgTrack to operate in Full Screen mode, instead of BIOS scroll mode. Force INTL Line This tells MsgTrack to place an INTL line into =all= messages. Process Packets This tells MsgTrack to unpack any mail packets (*.PKT files) that are in your Inbound area. USE THIS WITH CARE! Kill Inbound Freq This tells MsgTrack to delete any message that is addressed to your system and has the File Request or Update Request attribute bit set. Colour Choices Customized This allows you to manually select what colours MsgTrack will use while operating in Full Screen Mode. Colour Choices Default mono set This tells MsgTrack to use its default monochrone colour set while operating in Full Screen Mode. Default colour set This tells MsgTrack to use its default CGA/EGA/VGA colour set while operating in Full Screen Mode. 2.4 Managers The managers allow you to control MsgTrack's powerful Point, Node, Exceptions and Routing handling functions. All four managers will now be explained. 2.4.1 Point Manager The Point Manager is a complete Point management interface. It allows you to specify upto 500 points and fully control what actions will be taken on each. Note that nothing you do in the Point Manager will become permanent until you exit and save your changes. 2.4.1.1 Wildcard macros When entering a name, you may specify an asterix (*) at the end of the name. This will cause a strict match only to be made upto that point in the string, escentially wildcarding the tail end of the string. Example: Using "Andre*" would cause a match with "andrew farmer", "Andre Gagnon" or "Andrea Johnson". 2.4.1.2 Keystroke actions Enter Edit an existing entry. F1 Toggle the active status of the current entry. If the active status is set to no, then the entry will be ignored. F2 Toggle the Mapping method. This can be set to either Point or PvtNet. If set to Point, mail for that point will be addressed using a fully qualified 4-dimensional address. If set to PvtNet, mail for that point will be addressed using a 3- dimensional private network address. F3 Global settings: If 'Map from Pvt Net' is set to yes, then any mail that originates in your private network will be remapped to show a fully qualified 4-dimensional origin address. If 'Files to Points' is set to yes, then mail addressed to your points, that also has the Attach bit set, will have your Inbound path inserted as the 'attach path' for the file. Ins Insert a new entry. Del Delete an existing entry. Esc Exit/Save. 2.4.2 Node Manager The Node Manager is a complete Node management interface. It allows you to specify upto 500 addresses, or user names, whose mail you wish to have readdressed to a different destination. Note that nothing you do in the Node Manager will become permanent until you exit and save your changes. 2.4.2.1 Wildcard macros When entering a name, you may specify an asterix (*) at the end of the name. This will cause a strict match only to be made upto that point in the string, escentially wildcarding the tail end of the string. Example: Using "Andre*" would cause a match with "andrew farmer", "Andre Gagnon" or "Andrea Johnson". 2.4.2.2 Select menu A note about the 'Select' menu that will pop up whenever you hit Enter or Ins. If you select 'UserName' then you will be asked to enter a username followed by the node where that user's mail should be sent. Note that only mail addressed to the specified user AT ONE OF YOUR ADDRESSES will be processed in this case. If you select 'Address' then you will be asked to enter a network address followed by the node where the mail should be readdressed. The default display screen will show an at sign (@) in front of all entries where you have selected 'Address'. 2.4.2.3 Keystroke actions Enter Edit an existing entry. F1 Toggle the active status of the current entry. If the active status is set to no, then the entry will be ignored. Ins Insert a new entry. Del Delete an existing entry. Esc Exit/Save. 2.4.3 Exceptions Manager The Exceptions Manager is a complete Exceptions management interface. It allows you to specify upto 500 addresses (wildcards are allowed, read on) that should be excepted from 'Strip Priority', 'Strip Attach', 'Strip Kill/Transit', and/or 'Bounce EchoMail' actions. Note that nothing you do in the Exceptions Manager will become permanent until you exit and save your changes. 2.4.3.1 Wildcard macros When entering an address, you may specify an asterix (*) in any, or all, address portions (the 4 valid address portions are: Zone, Net, Node and Point). Note that wildcarding will auto-flow in a greater to lesser direction. That means that if you specify an asterix in the Net position, Node and Point will also be wildcarded. For example: Entering 1:243/* will cause any node in Zone 1, Network 243, plus all point under them, to be excepted from the specified actions. This would be displayed on the default screen as 1:243/All.All. Entering 3:*/* will cause any node/point in Zone 3 to be excepted from the specified actions. This would be displayed on the default screen as 3:All/All.All. Entering 1:243/1.* will cause all points of 1:243/1 to be excepted from the specified actions. This would be displayed on the default screen as 1:243/1.All. 2.4.3.2 Keystroke actions Enter Edit an existing entry. F1 Toggle the active status of the current entry. If the active status is set to no, then the entry will be ignored. F2 Select Origination exceptions. These are the actions that the specified address(es) should be excepted from if the message is FROM them. F3 Select Destination exceptions. These are the actions that the specified address(es) should be excepted from if the message is FROM them. Ins Insert a new entry. Del Delete an existing entry. Esc Exit/Save. 2.4.4 Routing Manager The Routing Manager is a complete Routing management interface. It allows you to specify upto 500 addresses (with user names if you wish), whose mail you will not route. You may further select to disallow mail FROM this address/name, mail TO this address/name or go hog wild and disallow mail that is either FROM or TO this address/name. Note that nothing you do in the Routing Manager will become permanent until you exit and save your changes. 2.4.4.1 Wildcard macros When entering an address, you may specify an asterix (*) in any, or all, address portions (the 4 valid address portions are: Zone, Net, Node and Point). Note that wildcarding will auto-flow in a greater to lesser direction. That means that if you specify an asterix in the Net position, Node and Point will also be wildcarded. For example: Entering 1:243/* will cause any node in Zone 1, Network 243, plus all point under them, to be excepted from the specified actions. This would be displayed on the default screen as 1:243/All.All. Entering 3:*/* will cause any node/point in Zone 3 to be excepted from the specified actions. This would be displayed on the default screen as 3:All/All.All. Entering 1:243/1.* will cause all points of 1:243/1 to be excepted from the specified actions. This would be displayed on the default screen as 1:243/1.All. 2.4.4.2 Keystroke actions Enter Edit an existing entry. F1 Toggle the active status of the current entry. If the active status is set to no, then the entry will be ignored. F2 Select your DisAllow value. It may be set to NONE, TO, FROM or BOTH. F3 Global settings: If 'Return to Sender' is set to yes, then any mail that is bounced on a routing violation will be returned to the sender. If 'Kill Failed Msgs' is set to yes, then any mail that is bounced on a routing violation will be deleted, instead of being relocated to the BadMail area. Ins Insert a new entry. Del Delete an existing entry. Esc Exit/Save. Chapter 3 MsgTrack The main program, MT.EXE, is ready to run once you have configured with MTSetup and placed SYSTEM.MT (plus MT.KEY, POINTSYS.MT, NODESYS.MT, EXCEPSYS.MT and ROUTESYS.MT if applicable) into one of the directories where MsgTrack will look for them (see section 1.3). 3.1 Video mode When operating in Full Screen mode, MsgTrack uses direct screen writes. When operating in Scroll mode, MsgTrack writes to the screen using calls to the undocumented BIOS interrupt 29. In both cases output in =not= redirectable. Note: If MsgTrack detects DESQview, any direct screen writes will be done via the DV shadow buffer. 3.2 Command line syntax MsgTrack can be executed without any command line options, but a number of specialized features are available from the command line. Command line switches may be preceded with either a dash (-) or the currently configured DOS switch char (normally a forward slash). Syntax/Usage: MT <optional switches> -? This will cause MsgTrack to display a Syntax/Usage screen, then abort with nothing Done. -A By default, MsgTrack will NEVER process message from ARCmail or Tick on your system. This switch will override that default. -D When used with -P, this will cause the file(s) to be deleted after being posted. -F This will force MsgTrack to compile its NodeList Index, even if no compile is necessary, then abort with nothing else done. -L This will cause MsgTrack to NEVER bounce locally entered messages. -Mdir This will cause MsgTrack to scan the path specified by 'dir', instead of the NetMail area specified in your configuration. -N By default, MsgTrack will will automatically re-compile its NodeList index if it judges that a compile is necessary. Using this switch will 'short circuit' the auto-compile logic, telling MsgTrack to use the existing Index file, even if it is out-of-date. -Pfile This will cause MsgTrack to post the file(s) specified by 'file' as msgs in your NetMail area. 'file' can include wildcards characters. -Q This will cause MsgTrack to run in Quiet mode, providing only minimal screen output. -R<file> This will cause MsgTrack to renumber the NetMail area, then exit with nothing else done. The optional <file> is a raw ASCII text file listing one directory path per line. If this is specified, then MsgTrack will renumber all directories listed therein. -S This causes MsgTrack NOT to include the Subject line in 'Message Info' log enties. -Tlogfile This tells MsgTrack to use the path/filename specified by 'logfile' for its log, instead of the log file specified in your configuration. 3.3 Errorlevels The following is a run-down of the 4 possible ErrorLevels that MsgTrack can exit with: Errorlevel 3 MsgTrack processed some messages. Errorlevel 2 Fatal Error - program abortion. Errorlevel 1 Fatal Error - program abortion. Errorlevel 0 Successful completion. Chapter 4 Log Analyzer The log analyzer, MTLOG.EXE, is a small utility program that will take as input a MsgTrack log (wildcards are valid, so you can process multiple logs in one pass) and output a report file. 4.1 Report The report file consists of 3 sections. The Activity report lists the total number of times a particular action was executed. The From report lists msgs/bytes that were FROM a specific address, no matter what the destination address was. The To report lists msgs/bytes that were TO a specific address, no matter what the origination address was. 4.2 Video mode MTLog uses Standard Output for screen writes. 4.3 Command line syntax MTLog must be executed with two (2) command line options. Syntax/Usage: MTLog [LogFile] [Report] LogFile This is the MT logs(s) you wish to process. Wildcards are valid. Report This is the path/filespec MTLog should write its report file to. Note that MTLog will OVERWRITE any existing file by this name. 4.4 Errorlevels The following are the 2 possible ErrorLevels that MTLog can exit with: Errorlevel 1 Fatal Error - program abortion. Errorlevel 0 Successful completion. Appendix A Program support - Help nodes If you have any questions, concerns or reports of unexpected behavior in the software, the author can be contacted in the following ways: Electronic: FidoNet: 1:243/1 Internet: adf@aficom.ocunix.on.ca Surface: Andrew D. Farmer P.O.Box 11087, Station H Nepean, Ontario K2H 7T8 CANADA Inquiries and questions about installation or operation may also be addressed to the following help nodes: Europe: Noel Bradford Broxbourne, United Kingdom 2:257/102@fidonet Peter Janssens Venray, Netherlands 2:512/1@fidonet North America: Bruce Bodger Tulsa, Oklahoma 1:170/400@fidonet Appendix B Thanks for all the fish... I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the people that helped to make MsgTrack what it is. Over the years they have tested the pants off it, contributed many excellent feature ideas and inspired me to new heights, but above all they are a great bunch of people. Let's give them all a standing ovation. In alphabetical order, they are: John Barton, Bruce Bodger, Noel Bradford, Orlando Castillo, Greg Dawson, David Dodell, Scott Dudley, Tom Hall, Tom Hendricks, Jesse David Hollington, Joaquim Homrighausen, Mark Howard, Dave Hunter, Eric Jacksch, Peter Janssens, Felix Kasza, Bill Kraski, Renald Loignon, Joop Mellaart, Bruce Miller, jim nutt, David Osborne, George Peace, James Smith, Dieter Soltau, John Souvestre, Dan Thomson, Ken Wilson and several others that I have no doubt forgotten to mention (my appologies). Closing comments I have tried to make this documentation as complete as possible, but there are always some small things that slip through the cracks and aren't documented, or aren't documented correctly. I apologize in advance for any such errors that may occur. I hope that you enjoy using MsgTrack and that it provides you with the features you need to keep your netmail flow under control in our increasingly complex environment. MsgTrack is still very much 'in development' and I am always open to feature suggestions, so please feel free to let me know if you have some ideas that would make MsgTrack even better. Andrew D. Farmer Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Friday, January 1, 1993