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Text File | 1996-04-04 | 13.5 KB | 284 lines

R E N E M A I L ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Renegade Fidonet Compatible Network Mail Interface Operations Manual Version 1.00 Copyright (C) 1991-1996 by Cott Lang All Rights Reserved. INTRODUCTION _________________________________________________________________ This documentation assumes that you have a working knowledge of Fidonet echomail processing. It is beyond the scope of this documentation to explain the concepts of networking and mail processing. You should refer to your echomail processing system's documentation for more information. Renemail is an interface program that allows Renegade to support Echomail from any network supporting Fidonet standards. Renemail is a very simplistic program at this point in its development. It has only three major functions: o Scanning - Renemail will scan Renegade's Echomail message bases and process outbound messages, translating them into Fidonet compatible *.MSG files for further processing by an echomail processing system and your front-end mailer. o Tossing - Renemail will import *.MSG format messages prepared by your front-end mailer and echomail processing system into the appropriate Renegade message bases. o Purging - Renemail will optionally purge imported or tossed messages from your echomail directories. o Netmail - Renemail will import and export netmail to and from your Email system. Renemail does not have its own configuration. Renemail relies completely on your Renegade Bulletin Board System's configuration for all necessary information. REQUIREMENTS _________________________________________________________________ Renemail is not a stand-alone package. You will need the following additional programs: o The Renegade Bulletin Board System version 1.0 o A front-end mailer. Front end mailers are responsible for answering incoming calls, and the transmission and reception of outbound and inbound mail and files. Some available front- end mailers are: o Frontdoor o BinkleyTerm o SeaDog o D'Bridge o An echomail processing system. The echomail processing system is responsible for processing inbound and outbound mail for Renemail and the front-end mailer to work together. Some commonly used echomail processing systems are: o Confmail o Vpurge o Qmail o SquishMail o TosScan o A groupmail processing system is necessary if you are interested in implementing groupmail with Renegade. Two of the more common systems are: o Group o Gmail INSTALLATION _________________________________________________________________ If you have not already, decompress the Renemail distribution archive onto your hard drive. RENEMAIL.EXE is the only required program in the archive.It can be placed anywhere on your hard drive, and run from anywhere on your system. It is, however, recommended that you place it in your main Renegade directory. When Renemail runs, it needs to be able to locate your system's RENEGADE.DAT file. Renemail will first search the current directory, then it will search your path. If you are not running Renemail from your main Renegade directory, then make sure your main Renegade directory is part of your path. It is strongly recommended that you run Renemail from your main directory and that you NOT have your Renegade main directory in your path statement for security reasons. OPERATION _________________________________________________________________ Renemail has only three major command line options. They are mutually exclusive. Renemail will only perform the first function specified on the command line, regardless of what it is or how many other functions are specified. Syntax: RENEMAIL [FUNCTION] Where [FUNCTION] is one of the following: -S - Scan messages. As explained previously, this scans new messages in Renegade echomail bases and prepares them for outbound processing by your echo or groupmail processor. Do this before any outbound echo/groupmail processing. -T - Toss messages. Also as previously explained, this tosses inbound echo or groupmail messages into the appropriate Renegade message bases. Do this after any inbound echo/groupmail processing. -P - Purge messages. This function deletes all the *.MSG files in all of your echomail directories. This should be used with care as not to delete outbound messages that have not yet been processed by your echomail processor, or inbound messages that have not yet been tossed by Renemail into Renegade message bases. If you are having problems with Renemail NOT deleting all of the *.MSG files, use -P -F which specifies Renemail should NOT use the fast method of purging. Renemail has four additional command line options which are not mutually exclusive: -A - Absolute scan. Normally, Renemail scans only message bases with new outbound messages. This flag indicates that Renemail should scan all echomail bases. * -F - Do not use the fast purge option. On some systems, the normal fast purge does not work corectly. If the purge option does not appear to be deleting the *.MSG files in your echomail directories, use this option. -N - No netmail. This indicates to Renemail that netmail should not be scanned, tossed, or purged during the current mail processing session. -D - Do not delete netmail. This is used in conjunction with the -T (Toss) command, and forces Renemail to update the status bits of imported netmail messages rather than deleting them after being tossed. * -B - Use BIOS video output. This is self explanitory. -O - Only scan/toss the Netmail base -I - Do NOT ignore 1.MSG. Most mail processors use 1.MSG to store data for mail processing. Some don't. If yours does NOT, and you want to import 1.MSG, then use this option. USING THE SYSTEM _________________________________________________________________ As stated before, Renemail has been created to work with other programs to operate correctly. Renemail only translates between Renegade and the echo or groupmail processor of your choice. Because of this, you are responsible for executing the previously mentioned processing system(s) in relation to Renemail. About the only efficient way to perform these tasks is to use batch files. It is recommended that you use one batch file that runs your front-end mailer, Renegade, Renemail, and anything else used in your BBS's daily routine. This batch file should be written in such a way that whenever inbound mail is received, the front-end mailer exits and the echomail processor and Renemail are both executed, in that order. When Renegade signals via ERRORLEVEL that new echo or groupmail has been entered in the message bases, Renemail and the echomail processor should again be run, in that order. Here is an example of what should take place when an incoming echomail packet is received. This example uses Confmail because it is the simplest echomail processor available. The example assumes your main Renegade directory is C:\RENEGADE,and that you are running both programs from there. It also assumes you will be using PKWare's PKUNPAK to unarc incoming Arcmail packets. CD C:\RENEGADE {Change to the main directory } CONFMAIL IMPORT -A PKUNPAK {Execute echomail processor } RENEMAIL -T {Invoke Renemail's TOSS function} RENEMAIL -P {Optionally PURGE echomail dirs } Equally simplistic is the following example of what your batch file should do when it is detected that new echo or groupmail has been entered in Renegade, or whenever you want to process new out- bound mail. Please note that the order in which these two programs are executed is crucial to correct operation. CD C:\RENEGADE {Change to the main directory } RENEMAIL -S {Invoke Renemail's SCAN function} CONFMAIL EXPORT {Execute echomail processor } RENEMAIL -P {Optionally PURGE echomail dirs } The RENEMAIL -P (or PURGE) function is optional,but recommended mainly to save disk space. It will not affect mail processing, as Renemail and your echomail processing system will not process the messages twice. The above example for exporting mail does not have Confmail arcing outgoing packets. This can be added easily using Confmail's -A and -D commands. Using Arcmail is recommended for shorter mail transmission times. If you have trouble with the purging function, try: RENEMAIL -P -F We recommend that the first echo you attempt to pick up is the National Renegade Echo. The author of this program is in there to answer your questions and hear your comments! SHAREWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT _________________________________________________________________ This software and documentation is protected by both United States copyright law and international treaty provisions. Users are granted a limited license to make and use a copy of Renemail for their Renegade Bulletin Board System. You are free to make copies of the software and documentation, however, all materials relating to this license statement, software, documentation, order information, copyright and trademark statements must remain intact as supplied in the original shareware package. You may not distribute, rent, sublicense, integrate or lease the software or the documentation. You may not alter, modify, or adapt the software or documentation, including but not limited to translating, decompiling, reverse assembling, or creating derivative works. The author disclaims all warranties, either express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, with respect to the software and any accompanying written materials. In no event shall the author be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, or other pecuniary loss) arising out of the use of this product, even if the author has been advised of the possibility of such damges. Because some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, the above limitations may not apply to you. CREDITS _________________________________________________________________ All brand and product names referenced in this document are trademarks, registered trademarks, or copyrighted works of their respective holders. Special thanks to all the beta sites throughout the world that helped get Renemail through early beta stages!