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P C B G a t e v 2 . 0 A Fido Type 2 to PCBoard Message Base Converter by Tom Wilson (C)Copyright CDC Software Development 1 What is PCBGate? PCBGate is a Fidonet type 2, to PCBoard v12.x+ message base converter. It will read a Fidonet message base, and convert it to a PCBoard message base. Conversely, it will scan a PCBoard message base and produce Fido Standard compatible messages. First of all, let's get the legal crap out of the way. Legal Crap PCBGate is free to anyone who wishes to use it, provided they abide by the following restrictions: - The code, documentation, or any other part of PCBGate may not be modified. - Credits pertaining to the original author remain. - No fees be charged for the use or sale of PCBGate. That's it.... Terminology To avoid confusion, the following are the terminologies that will be used throughout this document: FIDO (Fidonet) I use this as a generic term. PCBGate will operate under any echomail network compatible with Fido Type 2 messaging standards as outlined in the Fido technical specifications. This includes Alternet, IMEX, EGGNet, etc. etc. QNET By Qnet I refer to any PCBoard compatible echomail network. This includes CanConfmail, Smartnet, Interlink, etc. etc. ARC (Archive) I guess I'll have to say this. I use the term ARC for representational purposes only, and not for financial or statutory gain. <sigh> Some E-Mail networks may use different compression methods such as Zip, LHARC, ZOO, etc. ARC is used as a generic term for a compressed file. 2 QMail (Qwikmail) By QMail I refer to Mark (Sparky) Herring's FINE line of PCBoard compatible echomail programs and utilities. This is not to be confused with the Fido compatible Qmail echomail processor. Confmail Confmail is another excellent echomail utility designed for Fido compatible networks. There are others available, such as Qmail, which should not be confused with the above Qmail. QNET (QNET.EXE) QNET.EXE is Mark Herrings utility for tossing and scanning Qmail echomail packets. PCBoard I am of course referring to Clark Development Company's PCBoard BBS Software, an excellent product. Cross Conferencing This is where you send a conference from one network, into another. For example, sending the Fidonet TECH base into a Qnet network as a completely independent base in Qnet. Merge Conferencing This is where you MERGE say, the Fidonet TECH base and the Qnet TECH base. It can produce a mess, but can be quite productive if used properly. 3 Overview How does PCBGate work? Good question. PCBGate is composed of 2 main programs, which have command line parameters for operation: PCBGATE.EXE TOFIDO - Convert a PCBoard message base to Fido format. TOPCB - Convert a Fido message base to PCBoard format. MANUAL - Manually process selected areas either way. GATECFG.EXE CONFIG - Configure which conferences to process. SET - Set last message read markers. Once PCBGate is configured properly, the above commands will process your mail in whichever direction you like. Last message read markers are kept track of to ensure old messages in the PCBoard base(s) don't get out. 4 Setup and Configuration The easiest way to do this is in steps. PCBGate isn't that difficult, as long as you know generally what's going on with your echomail bases and utilities. If you're going to get tricky and cross or merge conferences, I'll cover that a bit later to make things easier. Below, we'll configure a simple mail system; bringing Fido mail into a PCBoard system. 1 - Copy the files from the distribution archive to any old directory. For this example I'll use D:\GATE. 2 - You should have a list of paths to your PCBoard message bases handy for this. Type: PCBGATE CONFIG PCBGate will create 3 files, PCBGATE.CFG, which holds your paths and other information pertaining to message bases, PCBGATE.LMR, which holds the last message read values for each conference, and SYSOP.DAT, which holds the sysop name. Next you'll get a screen full of 100 blank areas. Each of these can hold 1 conference for conversion. The prompt at the bottom of the screen will ask you for an area to edit. Choose #1, and I'll explain each of these prompts in detail below. - AREA NAME This is the proper name of the echomail area as used by your Fido network. Every echomail base in a Fido network has an area name to make itself unique, such as TECH, BASIC, PKWARE, etc., such as those in Confmail's AREAS.BBS file. - MSGS Filename This is the filename of your PCBoard message base. Usually, it's called MSGS, however I myself rename the message base names to reflect the base, such as TECH, U-IBM, etc etc. Note that this is the base name ONLY, and NOT the path! - MSGS Pathname This is the path to your PCBoard message base. Do NOT include the filename of the message base! You did that above. If you don't include a trailing backslash, one will be added. 5 - Fido Pathname This is the path to your Fido message directory, or where you want Fido messages read from, and left when created by PCBGate. Typically, it's the same as above, and you'll notice it defaults to what you entered above. You can specify any legal pathname here. - Send Private? If set to "N", this tells PCBGate not to send private mail from either the PCBoard or Fido message base. Private mail is typically not used in an echomail system, but some may want to allow private mail. - PCB Echo On? This option can be extremely complicated. It basicly determines if you want to Cross or Merge conference. If you're not gating between networks, leave this option set to "N"!!! If set to "Y", it will write all messages to the PCBoard base with the echo bit on, and you risk losing mail. Be careful with this one! If you are Cross Conferencing, read further on and refer to the section on Cross Conferencing. - Echohost Net/Echohost Node These 2 fields should contain the net and node number of the Fido system you get your mail from, or who you send your replies to. If in doubt, use your main echomail feed's number. - Your Net/Your Node This is....need I explain? - Kill Imported? If set to "Y", this option will delete any Fido messages in the directory specified for this conference, AFTER they've been imported to PCBoard. 6 - PCB Pack Command This is the command used to pack your PCBoard message bases. For this, I HIGHLY recommend Sam Smith's ProPack utility. If this option is configured incorrectly, it can cause unexpected results, so read carefully: I use the following in this field: PROPACK $B$ 500 /RDUKL1N15 The first part is of course, the Propack command. The next, "$B$", represents the PCBoard message base name. The last 2 parts are command options for Propack. Basicly, after PCBGate imports Fido messages, it will execute the above command, with what you have as defined as "MSGS Filename" in the place of "$B$". So lets say you specified "MSGS" in the "MSGS Pathname" field. When executed, PROPACK $B$ 500 /RDUKL1N15 becomes, PROPACK MSGS 500 /RDUKL1N15 The "MSGS Pathname" field will be included as well, and your base will be packed automaticly. YOU MUST PACK YOUR MESSAGE BASES AFTER IMPORTING FIDO MAIL!!!! If you choose not to have PCBGate do this for you, enter "NO" in this field, and the bases will not be packed by PCBGate. You can then perhaps run a batch file of your own afterwards. - Erase .BAK? Although Propack has an option for doing so, this will delete the .BAK backup file produced by the message base packer. If you use Propacks /K option, specify "N" here. Otherwise, PCBGate will crash. If you use a packer that leaves a .BAK file, specify "Y" and it'll be killed after the base has been packed. That's it, for one area. Go through and configure any other areas you want to process in the same manner. One thing I noticed, is typing in the same stuff for perhaps 50+ areas can be rather tedious. You'll notice at the bottom of the screen it says: 0 - Edit Defaults 7 If you enter 0 for an area, you'll get the same screen as above. Typically, your pack command for example, will be the same for all areas. This may be the case for your node numbers and any other information above. Fill in what you would like to use as defaults. When done, press ESCape, and you'll then be asked for the first and last areas to set these defaults in. So if you specify areas 1-50 for example, the information you entered will be set in each of those areas as defaults when you edit them. This makes life a bit easier for those carrying many areas. 3 - Now that you have your areas defined, drop to DOS with the ESCape key, and execute: GATECFG SET Again, you'll get the same screen of 100 areas. Choose your first area. Here is where you set the high message read markers for your PCBoard base. When you choose an area to set, you'll be shown the highest message number in the base, and the number of messages in the base. You can then set this number to any you please. Why? Lets say there's 1000 messages in the base. If you set the high message read to 0, the first time you process your PCBoard base to Fido format, it'll process ALL 1000 messages. You might want to do this, but if you only want to top 100 messages sent out first run, set it to 900. From here on in these markers will be maintained by PCBGate, but you can change them anytime. Make sure all your defined areas are set to your liking, and press ESCape to exit. 4 - That's it! You're ready to start using PCBGate. However, I HIGHLY recommend you read the following sections on the operation of the program, as you can create quite the mess if you do things improperly. 8 PCBGate - Operation PCBGate operation is farily simple. You can process mail in one of 2 directions. To convert your PCBoard bases to Fido messages, execute the command: PCBGATE TOFIDO PCBGate will then read its configuration, and attack each area defined one by one. It'll show you how many messages it has left to go, the current message header, base name, etc. etc. Once complete, you'll have directories full of Fido mail. NOTE!!! READ THIS! At this point you'd run something like Confmail to process those messages into outbound mail for transmission to your echo host or wherever. Once this is done, YOU STILL HAVE FIDO MESSAGES LYING AROUND! Next TOFIDO process, these will be overwritten, and you could end up with a mess. It's highly recommended that you run a batch file to kill off these old messages after you're finished with them. Especially, 1.MSG, as it contains the high message read marker for your Fido echomail processor, and new mail in the next process may be ignored. A sample TOFIDO process may involve the following: 1 - Run PCBGATE TOFIDO 2 - Run Confmail (or whatever) 3 - Kill off old Fido messages just processed You do as you like for your own purposes, but for a PCBoard system exporting mail the above is typical. At any time during the process, ESCape may be pressed to abort. In this case, the last message read marker is updated to the current message at the ESCape press, and all generated Fido messages are left as they are. 9 PCBGate - Operation The other direction is about as easy. To import Fido mail to your PCBoard bases, execute the command: PCBGATE TOPCB As before, PCBGate will read your configuration files and head for the first base. It looks for any *.MSG files in the specified directory, and if they exist, they are read in one by one, and written to your PCBoard base. The same status information is shown as with a TOFIDO process. When an area is complete, the Fido messages just read are killed off, (if specified in CONFIG) and the next area is processed. When all areas are processed, PCBGate then packs all your PCBoard bases. How extensive the pack is, depends on the options specified in CONFIG. If you specified NO for base packing, this step is skipped. Again, ESCape can be pressed at any time to abort this process. Fido messages for the current area are left alone. No special procedures need be followed for this operation, as it basicly looks after itself in all respects if you allow it to. The only thing you'll need to do is pack your bases if you specified PCBGate not to. PCBGate - Manual Processing What if you want to process only selected areas? I accounted for that as well. Execute the command: PCBGATE MANUAL This will present a screen with the numbers 1-100, and it'll ask you for an area to select. If you select area 1, an "X" will appear below 1 to show it selected. If you wish to DE-select a selected area, enter that area number again and the "X" will toggle off. The only problem is the area names aren't displayed. Press F2 any time at this point, and a screen like the one in GATECFG will list your defined areas. Once you've selected the areas to process, press F1 to continue, and you'll be asked which process you want to execute, TOFIDO or TOPCB. Either process will be executed exactly as they would be with either previous process. 10 PCBGate - PCBGATE.LOG So that you know what PCBGate's been doing behind your back, it generates a log file and reports everything it does. A sample entry looks like so: -----------Processing TOFIDO: 11-20-1989 ---------------- 11-20-1989 01:05:20 HD_CDROM: 104 messages processed. 11-20-1989 01:05:42 HST : 5 messages processed. 11-20-1989 01:06:54 DTP : 15 messages processed. 11-20-1989 01:09:16 VENDOR : 35 messages processed. 11-20-1989 01:21:48 IBM : 161 messages processed. 11-20-1989 01:23:42 BUYSELL : 27 messages processed. 11-20-1989 01:24:41 NETWORKS: 14 messages processed. 11-20-1989 01:25:23 SPREADSH: 10 messages processed. 11-20-1989 01:33:59 AMIGA : 148 messages processed. 11-20-1989 01:35:16 MIDI : 24 messages processed. 11-20-1989 01:36:39 TECH : 17 messages processed. ---------- End Processing: 11-20-1989------------------- You can tell exactly how long it took to process each area, as well as the number of messages processed. Other Files PCBGate maintains 2 other files: PCBGATE.CFG This file contains the information you entered in CONFIG, namely your pathnames, node numbers, etc. etc. PCBGATE.LMR This file contains all the last message read pointers for all 100 areas. DO NOT at ANY time, edit these files by hand. They are maintaned by PCBGate, and can be edited using GATECFG.EXE. You risk blowing the whole works, as neither of these files are in an "editable" form. 11 PCBGate - Cross Networking As mentioned before, PCBGate can Cross Network. Meaning, it gives one network the ability to share a conference with another. This can get EXTREMELY complicated, so please bear with me, and I'll try and explain from step 1. First, a bit about how PCBGate operates under normal conditions like that which has been explained in the above document so far. We'll assume the "PCB Echo On?" option in CONFIG is set to "N". When a TOPCB process is done, Fido messages are written to a PCBoard base with the echo bit OFF. Now, lets say the highest message in the TECH base is 100, and you import 10 Fido messages. The high message marker says 100. Next TOFIDO process, PCBGate will look at message 101, find the echo bit OFF (as specified) and ignore it. That's how it's supposed to work, as you don't want the 10 messages you just imported to PCBoard, sent back into your Fido network again. THAT we don't want. You should have your PCBoard message base configured as ECHO, that way any messages entered on your system will be written with the echo bit ON, and PCBGate will sent them through to your Fido network. That we DO want. Take the above situation, except with the echo option in PCBGate CONFIG set to "Y". EEEK!! Your Fido messages will be sent BACK INTO YOUR FIDO NETWORK!!! Duplicate city! PCBGate isn't that dumb. Note this: If you set the "PCB Echo On?" option to "Y", when PCBGate does a TOPCB process, it'll set the high message read marker for that base EVEN with the highest message in that base. So let's say TECH has 100 messages, and you import 10 Fido messages with Echo ON. PCBGate automaticly sets the high message read marker to 110 at the end of that process, so that the next time you run a TOFIDO process, it'll start at message 111 (if it exists). This way they don't get sent out again. So why do this at all? Let's think PCBoard networks for a minute. Utilities like Mark Herring's QNET.EXE will not export a message unless the echo bit is set ON. So we want imported Fido mail set to ON, so that they'll Gate through into your Qnet network. Also, we don't want them sent BACK into your Fido network, so the last message read marker is set even with the highest message number. So you MUST be careful, not only how this bit is set, but how you process your mail when it is set. This I'll explain next. 12 PCBGate - Cross Networking Operations If you don't do things in a specific order, you're going to lose mail from either your Fido network, Qnet network, or those entered on your system. If you Cross Network, follow this typical procedure. 1 - Run PCBGATE TOFIDO. This will process any mail entered on your system, or brought in by your Qnet utility into your Fido network. 2 - Run Confmail or whatever, and get that new mail the hell out. After, kill off the old Fido messages so they don't cause problems later. 3 - Toss any incoming Fido packets with Confmail or whatever. 4 - Run PCBGATE TOPCB, and get this mail into your PCBoard system. 5 - Run QNET.EXE or whatever, and get that new mail out to your PCBoard network. 6 - Go to step 1. This may not seem important, but think for a minute. Lets say you have 2 new messages in TECH, entered on your system, and you run a TOPCB process. Fido messages get imported with echo ON, and PCBGate sets the high message read to the highest message number (110 lets say). Now you run a TOFIDO process. PCBGate is going to start at message 111. That's what we want, but due to the order in which these processes were executed, the mail your users entered never got passed into your Fido network (oops!). See what I mean? Use common logic in following which process you should do when, and take any conditions into consideration. The above is the way I run a Qnet/Alternet Gate, and it works just fine. ** Just remember this: PCBGate will export a message to a Fido network ONLY if the echo attribute is set to ON. If PCBGate is configured to set the PCBoard echo bit on, it will make the last message read equal to the highest number in the base, after a TOPCB process. 13 PCBGate - Supplemental Utilities There are a couple of utilities supplied with PCBGate to make certain things a bit easier. They are described as follows: MSGSSTAT.EXE This program is handy for checking your paths and message base integrities. Simply run it in your PCBGate directory. It'll read PCBGATE.CFG, and verify the integrity of each PCBoard message base. It will also produce a log file, MSGSSTAT.LOG, which reports which base has how many messages, etc. etc. Any areas you specify with echo ON, will appear in square brackets. ECHOSET.EXE This utility will set the echo attribute in ALL messages in a PCBoard base, ON or OFF, as specified. To use, ECHOSET must be run from the directory where the PCBoard base resides that you want to process. It's command syntax is: ECHOSET <basename> <ON/OFF> So if you want to set all messages to ECHO in the UNIX base for example, change to that directory and type: ECHOSET UNIX ON or ECHOSET MSGS ON Echoset runs like lightning, so it won't keep you waiting long. Even with thousands of messages in a base it only takes a few seconds. 15TO20.EXE/LMRCNV.EXE These are conversion programs for those who are running versions of PCBGate EARLIER than v2.0. Refer to the file UPDATE20.DOC for instructions, included in the distribution file. 14 PCBGate - Support If you have problems, or have any questions in relation to PCBGate, feel free to contact me at the numbers below. If you're looking for updates, you can get download access to any newer versions on your first call. Most of my time now will be devoted to producing CrossNet, as it will make PCBGate more or less obsoloete. I'll of course support the product, and fix any bugs, etc. But as far as any major revisions go, I'll be putting anything in that manner into CrossNet. CrossNet will also be available as a free product as soon as it's suitable for release. Please note that I am not a member of Fidonet at this time, and therefore replying to netmail is more or less impossible. Thanks for trying PCBGate, I hope it works as well for you as it does for me. Tom Wilson Canadian Data Communications (416)-432-1631/(416)-432-3212 (IMEX 89:485/4 - 89:80/10) 2400 baud, 24 hours 15