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- YaTic v1.00
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- A 5D TIC processor
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- DOS and OS/2 Documentation
-
- Berin Lautenbach 1992-93
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- 3:620/248
- 58:2600/100
- 93:9160/103
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- Introduction 2
- Licensing and all that guff 2
- Configuration 4
- YtConfig 4
- System Info 4
- Domains 6
- System AKAs 7
- Reports 7
- Areas 8
- Editing an Area 9
- Global 11
- Nodes 11
- Import/Export 12
- Text Files 13
- YatMan templates 13
- Report Templates 13
- Running YaTic 14
- Normal Running 14
- Maintenance 15
- Other Switches 15
- Hatch 15
- Area Manger - YatMan 16
- Afterword - Future Directions 17
- Credits and Acknowledgments 17
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- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
- Introduction
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-
- YaTic is a 5D aware TIC processor that I wrote in my spare
- time. I run a lot of points on my system, and thought it would be
- nice to be able to send them some of the WinNet stuff. YaTic fully
- understands 5D addressing, both under a oMMM environment, such as
- Binkley, or a straight *.MSG controlled environment, such as Front
- Door. However, within the TIC files themselves, YaTic will only
- handle 4D addressing, any domain lines found in the file will be
- ignored. This should not be a hassle at this time, since no
- software that I am aware of uses 5D aware addressing (and only a
- few programs, such as AllFix, allow 4D).
-
- Apart from that, it has the following features :
-
- o YatMan - an inbuilt Area Manager
- o Reporting of processed files
- o Easy to use configuration program
- o Terminal Nodes - Nodes that do not get *.TIC files
- o Autoadding of new (unknown) areas from trusted nodes
- o Automatic adding of selected nodes to autoadded areas
- o Passthrough areas
- o Full dupe checking (optional)
- o Full CRC checking (optional)
- o Imports/Exports areas and nodes from/to a standard TIC.CFG
- o Hatch - both command line and interactive
-
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
- Licensing and all that guff
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-
- YaTic is free. That's not to say it's freeware, I still
- retain the copyright, and will not make the source freely
- available. However, if you like the program, and you want to use
- it, do so with my blessing <GRIN>. All I ask is that the
- distribution archive not be messed with in terms of the files
- within it - it may be re-packed using your favourite archiver, but
- the files inside it may not be tampered with.
-
- If you do like it and use it though, I would appreciated a
- postcard from wherever you are. That just keeps me a happy man,
- and much more likely to fix bugs or add features. See below for an
- address.
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- Yatic v1.00 Page : 2
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
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- On the other hand, if it breaks, or it breaks your system, I
- will accept no responsibility. YOU USE YATIC AT YOUR OWN RISK, AND
- I WILL NOT BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANY PROBLEMS THAT MIGHT OCCUR THROUGH
- ITS USE.
-
- That out of the way, if you report any bugs to me, I will try
- and get them fixed for you. The program runs AOK here, but no one
- can be sure how it will run on other systems.
-
- Many thanks to the Beta Testers for all there help :
-
- o Grant Wilson
- o Craig Gibson
- o Harry Konstantinou
- o David Leach
- o Ben Elliston
- o Noel Roberts
- o Colin Lean
- o Paul Marwick
- o Hamish Moffat
-
- The latest version can be file requested from my system using
- the magic name YATIC, and the latest public beta as YT_BETA. For
- any support contact one of the following addresses :
-
- 3:620/248.0@fidonet (Fidonet)
- 58:2600/100.0@intlnet (IntlNet)
-
- 20 Yiman St (Snail Mail)
- Waramanga
- Australia, ACT, 2611
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- I hope you like the program.
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- Yatic v1.00 Page : 3
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
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- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
- Configuration
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-
- Configuration of YaTic is a reasonably straightforward
- procedure, consisting of two steps. The first is to run YtConfig
- in the programs directory, and fill in all the blanks. The second
- is to modify the text files used by YatMan to suit your system.
-
- YtConfig
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-
- YtConfig is the basic configuration program of YaTic. It
- handles all the areas, nodes and general points about your system.
- It's basically self explanatory, with a help line at the bottom of
- the screen to tell you what various options are for. It starts up
- in the main menu, with the following options. Note that for all
- edit screens, the information is saved by hitting Ctrl-Enter.
-
- System Info
- ───────────
-
- The first menu option simply brings up a new menu, used to
- define the necessary information about your system. It has the
- following three sub options :
-
- General
- ───────
-
- Selecting this will bring up a general information screen.
- The options within this are as follows
-
- Binkley : Tells YaTic whether you are using an oMMM environment.
- Under Binkley file attaches are done directly in the outbound
- area. If you select 'N' here, YaTic will use matrix mail
- (*.MSG) to attach new files.
-
- Use Intl : Many systems these days (usually those running more than
- one domain) prefer to ensure that ALL messaged leaving the
- system use the ^AINTL kludge line, rather than just those
- going to another zone. Select 'Y' here to ensure this kludge
- line is always on.
-
- Dupe Checks : Globally turn off all dupe checking. This overrides
- any areas that are checking for dupes. If set to 'Y', YaTic
- goes by the selection for each area as to whether to check for
- dupes within it.
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- Yatic v1.00 Page : 4
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
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- Check CRC : Files usually come with a CRC in their associated TIC
- file. This is used to ensure the integrity of the file when
- it reaches your system. CRC checking takes most of the time
- required to process inbound files, otherwise turning this off
- will not affect things much, but might allow garbled files to
- get passed on.
-
- Delete Requests : Delete YatMan requests once handled. If this is
- set to 'N', YatMan will mark the request as received and
- continue.
- Delete Replies : If this is set, YatMan will mark the replies it
- makes as delete when sent. When this is set to 'N', all
- replies will be kept after they are sent.
-
- Delete TIC files : Only applies to FD systems (i.e. those that use
- a *.MSG style file attach). When this is active, YaTic will
- use two attach messages to send a new file to a system, one
- for the file, and the other for the TIC file (marked as Kill
- File when Sent). This way, you know TIC files are being
- deleted ASAP. On the other hand, when set to 'N', YaTic will
- use one message for both attaches, using less disk space, but
- implying that the TIC files are kept until a maintenance run
- is performed (YATIC /maint).
-
- Default Mail Type : The mail type (Hold, Normal, Crash or Direct)
- to be used on nodes that you do not know. I.e. nodes who send
- YatMan requests, but who are not known on your system. This
- mail type will also be used when a new system is added to the
- node database, either through inserting a new one, or through
- importing a TIC configuration.
-
- Default List Entry : This is a standard FILES.BBS entry string (as
- seen below in the section on the areas database), and is used
- as the default whenever a new area is autocreated, or as the
- default entry when you are adding a new area to the database.
-
- Default List Name : As for above, but for the name of the file.
-
- Directories
- ───────────
-
- This menu defines all the major directories needed under your
- system for YaTic to run properly. All directories should end
- without a slash, i.e. c:\binkley not c:\binkley\. The entries are
- as follows :
-
-
- Matrix Mail : Where your netmail is kept. Used for attaches in a
- FD environment, and for YatMan requests.
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- Inbound Files : Where YaTic should look to find inbound TIC files
- etc.
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- Yatic v1.00 Page : 5
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
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- Out TIC files : Where YaTic should place TIC files on their way out
- of your system. This is also where files in passthru areas
- will be placed until they have been sent to all your
- downlinks. NO FILES SHOULD BE PUT IN THIS DIRECTORY unless by
- YaTic. Any files not known by YaTic will be deleted.
-
- Autoadd Root : YaTic allows defined nodes to create new areas. It
- will set up undefined areas from these nodes with the info
- from the TIC file the new area was found in, and will create a
- directory under the autoadd root with the name of the area.
- Thus if the autoadd root is c:\bbsfiles, and a new area YT_DEV
- comes in from a node that is allowed autoadd, the directory
- c:\bbsfiles\yt_dev will be created (if it does not exist) and
- will be used for the new area.
-
- Dupe Files : The directory where dupe info will be kept. When
- asked to, YaTic keeps a file for each area containing the file
- names of files it has seen. Along side this it keeps the
- CRC's of those files and the date they were seen. (These are
- kept in files made up as area_name.DUP, i.e. YT_DEV.DUP for
- the YT_DEV tic area). You should run YaTic /maint regularly
- to clear this directory out. See the section on maintenance
- for more on this.
-
- Log File : The file all YaTic activities will be logged to. This
- should be a full filename, but should not be opened by any
- other program whilst YaTic is running, since no sharing is
- supported (yet).
-
- Templates
- ─────────
-
- The names (and directories) of the files to be used as
- templates for YatMan can now be specified. They default to the
- names from earlier versions, and in the current directory.
-
- System Unknown : The file to be used as a template when sending a
- reply to a system unknown in your node database.
-
- Password Incorrect : Where to find the template file for the
- password incorrect message.
-
- Help : Template for the message sent to the remote system when they
- ask for help (using the %HELP keyword).
-
- Log
- ───
-
- YaTic allows you to select what it will put in the log. At
- the base level, with nothing else being logged, only fatal errors,
- and the names of the actual TK*.TIC files will be logged, along
- with a line saying a message from a node has been processed by
- YatMan. Apart from that, you can define other bits that will be
- defined, such as the names of actual files coming in, the CRC's of
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- Yatic v1.00 Page : 6
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
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- those files, description etc. By setting the particular box to
- 'Y', YaTic will log it. Setting Debug to 'Y' will turn on ALL
- messages, regardless of there individual setting.
-
- Domains
- ───────
-
- This section is mainly for Binkley users, and is not really
- accessed during normal operation. However, it is used when
- exporting TIC files, and should always be defined.
-
- For Binkley users, there are a number of entries, each broken
- into three parts - zone, domain name and domain directory. For the
- zone, enter your zone for this domain, for the name, enter the
- domain name with no frills. (I.e. fidonet, not fidonet.org). For
- the directory, enter the main directory stub, without any zone
- extension.
-
- The first entry MUST be the main zone under Binkley. Thus for
- zone 3 in fidonet as the main domain, and zone 58 of intlnet, the
- form would look like :
-
- 3 fidonet C:\BINKLEY\OUTBOUND
- 58 intlnet C:\BINKLEY\INTLNET
-
- Note that the intlnet directory does NOT have a zone
- extension.
-
- System AKAs
- ───────────
-
- You should enter all the addresses your system is known by
- here. Full 5D addressing can be used (though it need not be). The
- first entry should be your main address, as this will be the
- address defaulted to when YaTic can not match any other address to
- the outgoing mail/files.
-
- Reports
- ───────
-
- Reports are new in v1.00, and are the YaTic method of
- reporting inbound (or hatched) files that come through your system.
- You can define up to ten report templates, and each file that comes
- in will be checked against each of the these templates as to
- whether it should be reported here. Each template defines an echo
- area to put the message in, and the groups (inbound) that are to be
- reported. YaTic will automatically perform reporting of any
- (successfully processed) files during a normal toss operation.
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- Yatic v1.00 Page : 7
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
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- Upon selecting this menu option, you will be presented with a
- list showing the ten possible templates. Each has four columns
- specifying whether it is active, whether it will also report
- hatches, what echo area it is put into, and lastly, the groups that
- are to be reported using this template. You can select any of
- these 10 templates to edit.
-
- All reports go into packets. I found this to be the most
- convenient system for outputting echo mail, since it removes the
- problems of having to write an interface for all the available mail
- types. You should address the packets to your own system (either
- from your own system, or from a bogus address), and ensure that
- your mail tosser does not check the systems that are sending mail
- in that area.
-
- Selecting one will bring up a new entry screen showing the
- options available for that template. These options are as follows.
-
- Active : If set to 'N', this template will be ignored when
- processing inbound attaches.
-
- Hatches : Should hatches within the given areas also be reported
- here?
-
- To Addr : The address echomail messages (and the associated
- packets) should be addressed. (I would suggest your own
- address, and using an area that is not secure in your mail
- tosser).
-
- From Addr : The address the echomail messages (and packets) should
- be marked as coming from. I use an address that does not
- exist for that area, and an insecure area (within my mail
- tosser). That means I can put messages into the area and have
- them exported to all connected systems without having any mail
- lost or sent to nonexistent systems.
-
- Area : The echomail tag of the area to place the messages in.
-
- To User : Who to address the messages to.
-
- In Groups : Inbound files must come in one of these (inbound)
- groups before they will be reported.
-
- Subject : The subject line of the message containing the report.
-
- Origin : The origin line of the message.
-
- Template : The text file describing the format of the message
- itself. This file is described in much greater detail below,
- and a sample should have come in the archive.
-
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- Yatic v1.00 Page : 8
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
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- Areas
- ─────
-
- YaTic has it's own inbuilt area database that is maintained
- here. It is very similar to that seen in the echo mail processor
- TosScan and later such programs. You can cycle through the areas
- set up using the left and right arrows, along with the home and end
- keys. The following keys will also work :
-
- del : Delete the current area
- ins : Insert a new area
- F1 : Edit the current area
- F2 : Edit the list of systems connected to this area
- F3 : Select AKA to be used for this area. (You will be given a
- menu of defined addresses to choose from.)
- F3 : Go into "global" mode, changing attributes over a set of
- areas, defined by in and out security.
-
- To make jumping to an area easier, the manager will accept
- normal ASCII input, and will use the string selected so far to find
- the best match area. Thus pressing 'BBS' will jump to the area
- BBS_FILES (or the nearest possible match to a string starting with
- 'BBS'.)
-
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- Editing an Area
- ───────────────
-
- Hitting ins or F1 on an area will put you into edit mode.
- This is a TCXL entry form, allowing you to edit most of the fields
- (the list of connected systems is handled later). The fields you
- can edit are as follows :
-
- Area Name : The TIC name (tag) of this area. This is the name
- YaTic will look for in the TIC file associated with a given
- file.
-
- Comment : This is a comment you might want to make about this area.
- The comment will appear in YatMan lists sent to requesting
- systems, so it should explain what the area is.
-
- Directory : The directory into which files for this area will be
- moved.
-
- List Filename : The name of the file that will have the information
- about new files in this area appended to. This is typically
- just FILES.BBS (for RA systems and the like). It can be fully
- pathed, or the name given here will be appended onto the
- directory for this area.
-
- Thus, for an area residing in the directory C:\TIC, we
- could have a list filename of LIST\FILES.BBS, and the new line
- would be appended to the file C:\TIC\LIST\FILES.BBS
-
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- Yatic v1.00 Page : 9
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
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- List Style : This allows you to uniquely specify the line that will
- be added to the List file given above. It is a normal text
- string with control words embedded in it. For Example :
-
- %12NAME% [00] %DESC%
-
- This will give the name of the file just imported, left
- justified in a field of 12 characters, followed by a space,
- followed by [00], a space, and the description of the file.
- if I had written %12!NAME%, I would have got the name of the
- file right justified in a field of 12 characters. Just %NAME%
- would have given the name without any spacing before or after.
- (The line above gives a standard FILES.BBS entry with a two
- digit download counter).
-
- Currently the only other control word known by YaTic is
- %AREA% to give the area name of this area in the files list.
- I have plans to improve the number of elements in this list in
- the near future.
-
- Inbound Group : This is the main security section of YaTic, and is
- a single letter, from 'A' to 'Z'. For a file to be accepted
- from a node in this area, that node MUST have this letter in
- its inbound security area list.
-
- Outbound Group : Similar to above, but it is for node receiving
- files from you. This means you could have to nodes who ONLY
- send files into the area, but never want any. All the nodes
- that receive the files in this area would have this letter,
- but not the two that send files to it.
-
- Passthru : Defines this area as a passthrough area. That means
- that you don't keep files in it. They are simply sent on to
- downlinks who require them, and then deleted. Note that in
- this case the directory argument is ignored. Files will be
- placed in the tic outbound directory, and deleted after all
- downlinks have received them.
-
- Note that for these file to be deleted, yatic /maint MUST
- be run. This checks the TIC files in the outbound, and any
- extraneous files without an attached TIC file will be deleted.
- It is NOT done automatically by tic, so as to speed up normal
- processing.
-
- Allow Replace : This means REPLACES lines are allowed in this area.
- Later versions of TIC allow for updates of files to come in,
- deleting the older version of this file. If you do not want
- updates to work in this area, simply set this to 'N'.
-
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- Yatic v1.00 Page : 10
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- Dupes Age : Dupe lists can tend to get a bit large, and yatic
- /maint is needed to reduce them in size. The sets the number
- of days you will keep dupe information for inbound files. Any
- dupe info older than this number will be deleted on the next
- maintenance run.
-
- Setting this to 0 will ensure that dupes are never packed
- by age in this area.
-
- Dupes Number : Similar to above, but sets the maximum number of
- dupe entries to keep. Any amount greater than this number
- will be reduced by deleting the oldest files when /maint is
- run.
-
- Setting this to 0 will ensure that dupes are never packed
- by number. (Setting both number and age to 0 will ensure that
- dupes are just never packed!).
-
- Check Dupes : This option will turn of dupe checking for this area
- entirely. Note that even if this is 'Y', dupes will not be
- checked for unless the same option in the general
- configuration is also 'Y'.
-
- Global
- ──────
-
- You can also make changes over many areas at a time. Hitting
- F3 will bring you to the global menu. Simply select the option you
- wish to change from this menu, and then the inbound and outbound
- groups an area must belong to be changed. You will find that for
- each option, a new window will pop up asking for related
- information - the information wanted here is discussed in the
- sections above.
-
- Nodes
- ─────
-
- As for areas, nodes are stored in a special database that
- YaTic can access easily. Selecting nodes in the main menu will
- take you to a section similar to that for areas above. Here you
- can move through the nodes as above, deleting or inserting. (You
- will find that if you enter this option with no nodes defined you
- will be placed straight into edit mode of a new node. The same
- goes for areas above).
-
- Unlike areas however, there are no global options on nodes.
- When editing a node, the options are as follows :
-
- Address : The address of this mode. This can be a full 5D address,
- just zone:net/node or zone:net/node.point.
-
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- Yatic v1.00 Page : 11
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- Password : This is the password that YaTic will expect to see in
- TIC files from this node, and will send in TIC files to this
- node. It is also the password to be used in YatMan requests
- (on the subject line).
-
- In Security : The list of inbound security groups belonged to by
- this node. For this node to send you files in an area, he
- must have that areas In Security group in this list.
-
- Out Security : The list of outbound security groups belonged to by
- this node. In order to receive files in a given area, the
- node must have the Out Security for that area in this list.
-
- Auto In Sec : If this node is allowed to Create new areas (see Can
- Create below), this is the In Security that will be given to
- any areas so created.
-
- Auto Out Sec : Similar to above, but corresponds to the outbound
- security of the autoadded areas.
-
- YatMan : Is this node allowed to make YatMan requests? If set to
- 'N' the only way the node will be able to alter his/her
- connected lists is by direct request to the SySop, since
- YatMan will ignore any requests. (In fact it will send back a
- reply saying "I don't know you").
-
- Can Create : This is normally used on your main TIC hub. Sometimes
- this node might send through new areas to you without telling
- you first. If this option is enabled, YaTic will simply add
- the area to it's list of areas, and process the area as
- normal. Any nodes with 'New Areas' set to 'Y' will be
- connected to the area, and the directory for the area will be
- set to your autoadd dir with the area name concatenated on the
- end. You should only allow this option for trusted nodes.
-
- 4D Compatible : Tick does not (at the time of writing) know about
- points as such, and will throw out error messages if it comes
- across seenby lines with points. For downlinks using TIC you
- might want to remove such lines. Setting this to 'Y' will
- mean that TIC files going to this system will be filtered, and
- such lines removed.
-
- Remote Maint : Again this option should only be turned on for VERY
- trusted nodes. It allows such nodes to remove areas. (At a
- later date it will be able to do more). This would be
- primarily used by your uplink when he/she removes an area from
- the system. Sending YatMan a maintenance request at the same
- time will help ensure you have no redundant areas on your
- system.
-
- A request to delete an area is exactly as for a normal
- removal request, except that instead of '-' a '^' is prepended
- to the area name.
-
-
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- Yatic v1.00 Page : 12
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
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- Terminal : Terminal nodes do not resend files to anyone, and do not
- want the TIC file normally associated with echoed files.
- Setting this option to 'Y' will mean that any files sent to
- this system will not be accompanied by the corresponding
- tk*.tic file.
-
- New Areas : If this option is set to 'Y', then this node will
- automatically be hooked up to areas autoadded by other nodes.
-
- Mail Type : This is way of holding mail for this node. It can be
- one of 'H'old, 'N'ormal, 'D'irect, 'C'rash.
-
-
- Import/Export
- ─────────────
-
- YaTic can import information about the areas and connected
- nodes on your system from a TIC.CFG file. NOTE : This option will
- delete your old area list.
-
- It should be noted that by necessity this option is fairly
- limited. All added nodes are given an in/out security of 'A' and
- so are all areas. This means you will have to go through and edit
- these by hand. Also nodes are given the first password that YaTic
- can find in the TIC file, so care should also be taken here.
-
- You will also have to set up other information, such as your
- system addresses and the like, by hand.
-
- As of version 1.00, YaTic will also export a TIC file. It is
- however somewhat primitive, and the control information may have to
- be edited by hand (remembering that YaTic and Tick handle certain
- functions in different manners).
-
-
- Text Files
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-
- YatMan templates
- ────────────────
-
- YaTic uses some additional text files in its configuration.
- These are for YatMan messages. At this time, the following files
- are used. The names and locations of these files can all be
- defined within YTCONFIG :
-
- YATPASS.TXT : Will be sent to a node who sent a request with the
- wrong password.
-
- YATUNKN.TXT : Sent to nodes that do a YatMan request, and who are
- unknown on your system.
-
-
-
-
-
- Yatic v1.00 Page : 13
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- YATHELP.TXT : Sent to any node requesting help from YatMan (using
- the %HELP command in the request message).
-
- These files should be straight text, formatted as you want
- them to appear in the message. For ease of use, you can uses
- embedded control words, similar to those used in the list string.
- Allowable control words are :
-
- %name% : Full name of the requestor.
- %firstname% : First name of the requestor.
- %lastname% : Last name of the requestor.
- %passfailed% : The password that failed (should only be used for
- YATPASS.TXT).
- %address% : The address of the node that sent the request.
-
- Report Templates
- ────────────────
-
- In order for YaTic to report on processed files, it needs a
- template to tell it how to format the information in the message.
- The template is broken into blocks, according to the part of the
- message it is describing. Each block starts with a block
- descriptor (a command beginning with a '\' telling YaTic which
- block this is), and continues until another block starts. Any text
- within the block (after the command line) will be used for that
- part of the message, with control words being translated as for the
- message templates given above. An example template came with the
- distribution archive, under the name REPORT.TPL.
-
- The blocks that can be used are as follows :
-
- \header : Starts of the message. Anything here will be put at the
- start of the report. This might tell people what the messages
- is, or the hours you allow file requests.
-
- \file : This block is put into the message once for every file
- processed. It is used to put the name, description and/or any
- other information you desire. The control words usable are
- listed below.
-
- \break : When the message is getting too long, YaTic will break it
- into parts. This block will be placed at the end of every
- message that makes up the report, but is not the last.
-
- \continuation : Placed at the start of messages that continue a
- report started in previous messages. It might contain
- something as simple as "Continued from previous message".
-
- \trailer : The round up. This block is placed on the end of the
- final message in the report. I use it to tell the reader how
- many bytes of files were processed.
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Yatic v1.00 Page : 14
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- The following control words can be used in the report.
- Formatting is as given for the message templates above :
-
- %name% - Name of the file just processed.
- %desc% - Description of the file just processed.
- %file_size% - Size of the file just processed.
- %area% - Area of the file just processed.
- %area_desc% - Description of the current area.
- %total_size% - Total bytes of all files processed.
-
- Other control words will be added in future versions. Any
- requests, let me know.
-
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
- Running YaTic
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-
- YaTic is run from the command line, and should be run from
- it's own directory. (This will be fixed at a later date to allow
- to run from ANY directory). Running YATIC /? will bring up a help
- screen.
-
- Normal Running
- ──────────────
-
- During a normal run, when you want Yatic to scan for inbound
- tic files and YatMan requests normally, you should run plain YATMAN
- in your batch file. However there may be times when you wish to
- disable YATMAN. This is done by running
-
- YATIC /nomgr
-
- Maintenance
- ───────────
-
- YATIC /maint will run the maintenance required for YaTic.
- This includes packing the dupes files according to the information
- you have provided in the area manager. It will also delete files
- in passthru areas that have been sent to all the downlinks. If you
- do have passthru areas, then /maint should be run at least once a
- week to ensure space on your drive is freed up.
-
- Other Switches
- ──────────────
-
- There are two other switches to help in day to day running of
- YaTic, these are /NOCRC to turn off any CRC checking while
- processing files, and /NODUP to turn off dupe checking. These
- might be useful when something goes wrong with inbound files and a
- re-process is needed.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Yatic v1.00 Page : 15
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Hatch
- ─────
-
- YaTic also allows you to hatch files into an area by creating
- the appropriate TIC file and sending the file to ALL your
- downlinks. To hatch a file, use the command
-
- YATIC /hatch
-
- YaTic will then prompt you for the name of the file to hatch
- (full name, no wildcards allowed) and the area name. It will then
- send the file. At this time YaTic does not support delayed
- releases of files; this will be supported in future versions.
-
- YaTic also now supports command line hatching (mainly for
- batch file processing). The command
-
- YATIC /hatch /?
-
- will bring up a help screen listing the options associated with
- hatch. These are :
-
- /f File name. FULL PATH and name of the file to be hatched. At
- this time, wildcards are not supported.
-
- /a Area name. The area tag of the area for the file to be
- hatched in.
-
- /d A description of the file being hatched. This is in inverted
- commas, and should be kept as short as possible.
-
- /r Replaces. This activates the replaces function in YaTic
- hatch. The file name given will be put with the REPLACES
- keyword in all outbound TIC files. Any receiving system will
- replaces the file given here with the new file (deleting the
- old). This option is generally used for new versions of a
- program.
-
- Thus the command line :
-
- YATIC /hatch /f d:\yat19.arj /a YT_DEV /d "New Yatic" /r yat18.arj
-
- will hatch the file d:\yat19.arj in the area YT_DEV with the
- description New Yatic. The file yat18.arj in the area will be
- replaced with the new version.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Yatic v1.00 Page : 16
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
- Area Manger - YatMan
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-
- YatMan is the remote area manager associated with YaTic. It
- can be used by your downlinks so that they can connect to and
- disconnect from areas without having to worry you about it.
-
- For a downlink to utilize YatMan they simply send a netmail
- message to your system as follows :
-
- FROM : Remote sysops name
- TO : YatMan
- SUBJECT : Password <── This is the password for the node in the
- node manager.
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
- SOFTDIST <── Turn this area on
- WIN_UTIL <── And this
- -BBSFILES <── Turn this area off
- ^win_prog <── Delete this area entirely
- %LIST <── Send a list of possible areas
- %QUERY <── Send a list of connected areas and information.
- %HELP <── Send a list of commands
- ───
-
- This request, if the password in the subject field is correct,
- will turn on the echos SOFTDIST and WIN_UTIL, and turn of BBSFILES.
- Following this it will delete the area win_prog from the YaTic
- database ENTIRELY (assuming the node is allowed to perform remote
- maintenance). It will then send the node a list of all the echos
- it may connect to, with those that it IS connected to marked with a
- '*' on the left. The query option will send the node a list of all
- the areas it is connected to, along with some other information
- about the capabilities of that node, and the help option will send
- a help message, outlining these options.
-
- Anything after the tear line will be ignored.
-
- YaTic will delete any messages it processes and mark the
- replies as Kill/Sent according to the options specified in the
- configuration.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Yatic v1.00 Page : 17
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
- Afterword - Future Directions
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-
- I hope that YaTic is in itself a complete program, and I hope
- you get a lot of use out of it. However, I am planning to add a
- few enhancements to it in the near future :
-
-
- o Improve the area manager. Would like to have the areamanager
- automatically send unlink requests to downlinks when it gets
- told to delete an area.
-
- o It would also be nice to have a system whereby, when a person
- creates a new area, the first TIC file they send will contain
- the area description.
-
- o A file area manager. One of the problems with the TIC system
- is a lot of stuff neither you nor your users ever want to use
- comes through the system. It would be nice for YaTic to see
- how many times a file is downloaded over time, and if it isn't
- enough, move it to another area where you as the SySop can
- deal with it as wished.
-
- o Secondary areas (as per TIC).
-
- o Better import/export options. Ability to export to various
- BBS formats (such as FILES.RA).
-
- o Automatic updating of various database formats being used to
- store file lists for fast updates.
-
-
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
- Credits and Acknowledgments
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-
- The following copyrighted programs were mentioned in the
- document :
-
- o Tosscan Joaquim Homrighausen
- o Tick Barry Geller
- o AllFix Harms Software Engineering
- o Raid George Peace
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Yatic v1.00 Page : 18
- ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-