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XAreaFix Sysop Manual Version 1.0 USER MANUAL Software and documentation written by Bart Schraa Copyright © 1992-1994 Bart Schraa XEcho Development All rights reserved Developed with SAS/C 6.51 Development System © copyright 1988-1993 SAS Institute All information in this documentation is subject to change without prior notice 1. Introduction This is XAreaFix, an AreaFix/Tick/Hatch/FileFix utility for Xenolink Professional Bulletin Board System v1.90 . It's the most complete one currently available on the Commodore Amiga ®. XAreaFix is continiously being udergoing development. XAreaFix combines the best of all available comparable software on any platform. With the help of XAreaFix remote sysops are able to attach or detach message-echoes as well as file-echoes. This means that the nodes you feed can make changes to their feed without disturbing you! They are even able to connect area's at your uplink(s), but only if you allow them to of course. They can even change passwords, archiver, and even more from remote without your interference. With the build-in Tick function you're able to process incoming tick files and with the also build-in hatch function you're even able to hatch (send) files yourself. With the build-in Filefix function users are able to search through your filebase through an echomail area. For further explanation read the chapter about FileFix. 2. Features * superlative reliability * especially written for AmigaDOS Release 2 and above * Uses Commodore's (GUI) Installer program for easy installation * Uses SAS/C 6.51 instruction scheduler for increased performance on the 68040 * fully reentrant, that means that you can make it resident without a hassle. * integrates Areafix, Tick and Hatch into one program. * AreaFix mode : almost anything can be changed from remote by your feeds. * Tick mode : all tickfiles can be processed quite easily and fast. * Hatch mode : allows hatching of files as simple as possible, you're even able to hatch whole directories at once. * FileFix mode : searches through you filebase for matching filenames. * controlled by a powerful configuration file * full support for 4D addresses. * different logfiles for AreaFix/FileFix and Tick/Hatch operations. * high quality performance * external status program to view XAreaFix's operations * uses ReadArgs() for parsing of commandline and config lines 3. System Hardware and Software Requirements * Commodore Amiga ® * AmigaDOS Release 2 or higher * Xenolink Professional Bulletin Board System 1.90 or higher 4. Politics 4.1. Distribution In a nutshell, XAreaFix may be distributed freely as long as the following restrictions are met: The distributor agrees to cease distributing the programs and data involved if requested to do so by the author. The distributor may only distribute an unmodified copy of the original program, with all the supplied documentation and copyright notices intact. For more details, see the chapter called "License". 4.2. Support The latest version of XAreaFix (with all its associated tools) is always available for filerequest from FidoNet node 2:285/312, "Echo BBS Dordrecht" under the magic filename "XAREAFIX". If you have any suggestions, bug reports etc., feel free to contact the author of XAreaFix at the address below. Bart Schraa 2:285/312.0@fidonet bart@xecho.wlink.nl 4.3. License * This license applies to the product called "XAreaFix", a program for the Amiga computer, published by Bart Schraa under the concepts of FreeWare, and the accompanying documentation, example files and anything else that comes with the original distribution. The terms "Program" and "XAreaFix" below, refer to this product. The licensee is addressed as "you". * You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the programs' executable code and documentation as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish only the original, unmodified programs, with all copyright notices and disclaimers of warranty intact and including all the accompanying documentation, example files and anything else that came with the original. * You may not copy and/or distribute these programs without the accompanying documentation and other additional files that came with the original. You may not copy and/or distribute modified versions of these programs. * You may not copy, modify, sublicense, distribute or transfer the programs except as expressly provided under this license. Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense, distribute or transfer the programs is void, and will automatically terminate your rights to use the programs under this license. However, parties who have received copies, or rights to use copies, from you under this license will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance. * By copying, distributing and/or using the programs you indicate your acceptance of this license to do so, and all its terms and conditions. * Each time you redistribute the programs, the recipient automatically receives a license from the original licensor to copy, distribute and/or use the programs subject to these terms and conditions. You may not impose any further restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein. * You may not disassemble, decompile, re-source or otherwise reverse engineer the programs. * You agree to cease distributing the programs and data involved if requested to do so by the authors. * You may charge a fee to recover distribution costs. The fee for diskette distribution may not be more than the cost to obtain a public domain diskette from Fred Fish. 4.4. No Warranty THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAMS, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAMS "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAMS IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAMS PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION. IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAMS AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAMS (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAMS TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. 4.5. Disclaimer No warranty, either express or implied, is made with respect to the fitness of XAreaFix. Bart Schraa (referred to as "the author"), reserves the right to not develop any future versions of XAreaFix. The author will try to make a good faith attempt at correcting any problems if any are discovered, but is in no way required, nor bound to correct them. The author neither assumes nor accepts any responsibility for the use or misuse of these programs. He also will not be held liable for damages due to loss of profit or any other damages arising out of the use, or inability to use these programs. Bart Schraa will not be liable for any damage arising from the failure of these programs to perform as described, or any destruction of other programs or data residing on a system attempting to run the programs. While I know of no damaging errors, the user of these programs uses it at his or her own risk. 5.1. ReadArgs() explained Release 2.0 introduced standard command line parsing. The ReadArgs() routine is the heart of this feature. Each option should be a full descriptive name (for example "QUICK" and not "Q"). Each option can be prepended by an abbreviation of the form 'abbrev=option' ("Q=Quick"). The argtemplate options are delimited by commas. Each option can also be followed by modifiers that specify characteristics of individual options. The valid modifiers are: * /S - Switch this is considered as a boolean variable, and will be set if the option name appears in the command line. The entry is the boolean (0 for not set, non-zero for set). * /K - Keyword this means that the option will not be filled unless the keyword appears. For example if the template is "Name/K", then unless "Name=<string>" or "Name <string>" appears in the command line, Name will not be filled. * /N - Number this parameter is considered to be a decimal number, and will be converted by ReadArgs(). If a number specified is invalid, ReadArgs() will fail. * /T - Toggle similar to a switch (/S) but causes the boolean value to toggle. * /A - Required this keyword tells ReadArgs() to fail if this option is not specified in the command line. * /F - Rest of line if this is specified, the entire rest of the line is taken as the parameter for the option, even if other keywords appear in it. * /M - Multiple this means the option will take any number of arguments, returning them as an array of pointers. Any arguments not considered to be part of another option will be added to this option. Only one /M should appear in a template. Example: for a template "Dir/M,All/S" the command line "foo bar all qwe" will set the boolean "all", and return an array consisting of "foo", "bar", and "qwe". There is an interaction between /M parameters and /A parameters. If there are unfilled /A after parsing ReadArgs() will grab strings from the end of a previous /M parameter list to fill the /A's. This is used for things like Copy("From/A/M,To/A"). 6. FidoNet Technology 6.1. Network structure FidoNet is the largest amateur network in the world. It was started in 1984 by Tom Jennings. Currently more than 20000 nodes worldwide are connected. The network has a hierarchic tree (or star) topology: +------------------------------+----------------------> | | zone 1 zone 2 | | +--------+--------+ +--------+--------+ | | | | | | region region region region region region | | | | | | +--+--+ | +--+--+ +---+---+ | +--+--+ | | | | | | | | | | | net net net net net net net net net net net | +-----+-----+ | | | node node node | +---+---+ | | point point Zones are divided in Regions, which are divided in Nets. The Nets consist of Nodes, which are usually (but not necessarily) Bulletin Board Systems. Each node has a unique address which consists of four parts: Zone, Net, Node and Point, in text form expressed as "zone:net/node.point". Zone numbers 1 up to and including 6 are used by FidoNet: 1 = North America (United States of America and Canada) 2 = Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States 3 = Oceania (Australia and New Zealand) 4 = Latin America 5 = Africa 6 = Asia There are several other networks that use FidoNet Technology and which occupy higher zone numbers (such as NLA, zone 14). Many nodes have one or more points. A point is a user who gets mail from a node (it's "boss") in compressed files. That way they can read and write messages offline, saving time and money. The point address of the boss is 0, but the ".0" is usually omitted from the address. 7.1. File Echos Explained File Echos work much the same as echomail conferences. File Echos are defined by an ECHOtag, which is an 12 character string. Files are accompanied by a TIC file. The first two characters of a TIC file say something about which program created it. The next 6 characters are usually part of a Unix time stamp. XAreaFix generates XA??????.TIC files. Each TIC file contains information about the accompanied file. Here is a sample TIC file: Area XENOL Origin 2:285/312 From 2:285/312 File XAF096.LHA Replaces XAF095.LHA Desc XAreaFix 0.96, many new features and bugfixes Crc FE5B85F3 Created by XAreaFix 0.96, © 1992-1994, Bart Schraa, XEcho Development. Path 2:285/312 760999629 Fri Feb 11 19:47:09 1994 GMT Seenby 2:253/167 Seenby 2:285/312 Seenby 2:285/819 Seenby 14:101/0 Seenby 14:101/208 Pw GREAT As you can see, the TIC file contains the name of file echo, the origin, where the file was 'hatched' (ie. put into) the file echo. Whom the file came from, in this case the originating system. The TIC file specifies which file this particular one should replace. Obviously the file and its description are in included, plus the path that this file has followed to get to it's destination. The TIC file also includes a list of people who have 'seen' the file. This list of addresses is used to prevent the possiblity that a system receives the same file from more than one system. The last line contains a password for that system. Each time the file is echoed to another system, another path line is added. XAreaFix uses a UNIX time stamp along with time and date in the normal format. The time zone is also added to the path line. 7.2. TIC file commands Following is a description of what each TIC command does. Area The file echo area name. Desc The description of the file. Some other programs may add more than one description line to the TIC file. Origin The network address of the system that hatched this file. From The system that sent the file to your system. To This field indicates who the TIC file for. This field is not important for XAreaFix. This field is included so that you can tell which TIC file is supposed to go where. Crc The 32-Bit CRC of the file. This field is used to check the integrity of the file. You can put CRC checking on/off in the config file. Replaces The file specification that this new file should replace. Created This command is used to add information about which program created this TIC file. Path This extra line is added by each system that has processed this file. This line contains the unix date, and a normal time and date stamp. It also contains the address of each system that this file has passed on its journey to your system. Seenby This line indicates that the corresponding system has 'seen' the associated file. XAreaFix will not forward files to any system in the seenby listing. Pw The password for this particular system. If the password is missing or incorrect, then XAreaFix will refuse to import the file. 8.1. Installation To install XAreaFix, you must create a directory called XAreaFix in the XCONFIG: assign. Copy all the provided configuration files to it, and change them to fit your needs. You should place XAreaFix somewhere in your paths. Read the part about the configuration files carefully and then change them. Once you've changed your configuration files to your needs, and you think that's ok, type 'XAreaFix VIEW CONFIG' what you'll see is a listing of the configuration file. 'XAreaFix VIEW AREAS' will give you a listing of all fidonet and fileecho type areas (the areas.config and fileareas.config). It's much quicker if you re-direct the output to a file (in ram: is preferred). XAreaFix will almost test anything in the configuration file and will report if there's something wrong, of course there can't be checked for everything. XAreaFix uses ReadAgrs() for the most powerful error-checking. You can use the provided Installer script to install the package in the directories needed or some other if you want to. 8.2. Upgrading When you upgrade from version 0.89 or below you will have to alter the provided configuration files to your needs. I am sorry that I do not provide a converting utility, but there has been so many changes that it would take me too much time to write such a utility. 9.1. AreaFix functions for remote use When a remote system wants to write to AreaFix he must specify his password on the subject line. These are the commands currently supported (there will be more), they have to be preceeded by a '%' like '%LIST: * LIST : List of all available area's. * QUERY : List of all connected area's. * UNLINKED : List of all available but not connected area's. * AVAIL : List all area's at your uplink(s). * +ALL : Connect all available area's. * -ALL : Disconnect all connected area's. * HELP : Send help file. * PAUSE : Disconnects all active area's and saves them to a temporary file for later use * RESUME : (re)Connects all area's listed in the temporary file saved by the 'PAUSE' command. * FROM <address> : Changes the address used as origin address into <address> which is used to process the areafix message. * COMPRESS <arc> : changes archiver in systems.config to <arc>; 'COMPRESS ?' will list all possible archivers at your system * PASSWORD <password> : will change the areafix password to <password> in the XAreaFix.config * LINKPW <password> : will change the linkup password to <password> in the systems.config * TICKPW <password> : will change the tick password to <password> in the XAreaFix.config * TICKMSG <YES/NO> : will change TickSend to (NO)TICKSEND in the XAreaFix.config * SEND <YES/NO> : will change Send to (NO)SEND in the XAreaFix.config NOTE: All commands are available from the subject line also (except (+/-)ALL and FROM): LIST : -L QUERY : -Q UNLINKED : -U HELP : -H PAUSE : -P RESUME : -R AVAIL : -A In the message body text the remote system can write something like: XENOLINK_SYSOP +XENOLINK_INFO -XENOLINK_UTIL %UNLINKED NLA* The originating message must look something like: From : Bart Schraa 2:285/312.1 To : XAreaFix 2:285/312 Subject : SECRET -------------------------------------- XENOLINK_SYSOP +XENOLINK_INFO -XENOLINK_UTIL %UNLINKED NLA* --- This will result in a message like: From : XAreaFix 2:285/312 To : Bart Schraa 2:285/312.1 Subject : Auto Reply -------------------------------------- TagName Action ------------------------ ------------ XENOLINK_SYSOP connected. XENOLINK_INFO connected. XENOLINK_UTIL disconnected. NLA_SYSOP connected NLA_TEST connected Unlinked message area's : TagName Description ------------------------ ------------------------------------------------- XENOLINK_UTIL_NL Nederlandse utility support XENOLINK_UTIL Intenational utility support Generated by XAreaFix 0.96, (c) 1992-1994 Bart Schraa, XEcho Development. Switches in front of the commands or tagnames that are valid are: * % a command to be processed by XAreaFix * + Connect an area for the requesting system * - Disconnect an area for the requesting system * (Nothing) is the same as the '+' Wildcards are supported in the same way as AmigaDOS handles them. So NLA* will connect all area's that begin with NLA. 10. XAreaFix's command line There are several keywords which can be used from a commandline, each of them are intended for you to make the use as easy as possible. * SEND/S Sends out messages with a UNLINKED and QUERY list * SCAN/S Scans a messagebase for new messages addressed to one of the aliases * CONNECT/S Connects a system to a group or an specific area * TICK/S Processes incoming tic files * HATCH/S Hatches a file * COMMAND/S Processes a command * VIEW/K Views the configuration file or the (file)areas.config or a specific area or a specific node * SORT/K Sorts (file)areas.config on tagnames and/or addresses. * FFIX/S Searches a messagebase for filefix messages If you type any of these keywords only at the commandline, a help text will be displayed. 10.1. SEND mode Sends out messages with QUERY and UNLINKED lists of every system listed in the XAreaFix.Cfg with the SEND keyword set. You can execute this from your cron and have it done e.g. every week. A QUERY list is a list with areas that are already connected for a certain system. A UNLINKED list is a list with areas that are not connected for a certain system. An example for the usage is: XAreaFix SEND SECTION 4 XAreaFix will save the messages it's sending in messagebase 4. 10.2. SCAN mode Scans a message base for messages addressed to XAreaFix and the aliasses set in the configuration file. If a message has been processed the original message is set to "received" and will not be processed a second time. If the option DEL or DELETEAFTERSCAN is used the message to XAreaFix will be deleted when processed. An example for normal usage is: XAreaFix SCAN SECTION "2 3 4" DELETEAFTERSCAN XAreaFix will scan sections 2, 3 and 4 for messages to be processed, and deletes them after they've been processed. 10.3. CONNECT mode Adds or removes certain areas for a specified nodes. This can be done by specifying a group of areas (as defined in the XAreaFix.config) or by using the tagname. Some examples are: 1) XAreaFix CONNECT NODE 2:285/312 TAGNAME XENOLINK_SYSOP SECTION 3 ADD 2) XAreaFix CONNECT NODE 2:285/312 GROUP 10 SECTION 3 ADD 3) XAreaFix CONNECT NODE 2:285/312 TAGNAME XENOLINK_* SECTION 3 REMOVE ad 1) Adds 2:285/312 to the areas.config for the area 'XENOLINK_SYSOP' and sends a notifying message to that node in base 3. Leaving out the Section keyword will force XAreaFix not to send a message. ad 2) Adds 2:285/312 to the areas.config for all areas with a Group access of '10' and sends a message to that node in base 3. Leaving out the Section keyword will force XAreaFix not to send a message. ad 3) Removes 2:285/312 from the areas.config for the area(s) that match 'XENOLINK_*' and sends a message to that node in base 3. Leaving out the Section keyword will force XAreaFix not to send a message. 10.4. TICK mode XAreaFix processes all incoming tick files; uploads them to the appropriate file section, and sends them to connected system(s). When you specify the A(nnounce) keyword, it also sends an announcement in the specified messagearea in the fileareas.config. With TAGNAME you can specify which file-echo's it should process, default is all areas, which also takes (of course) wildcards. 10.5. HATCH mode XAreaFix will hatch the file in a certain file-echo, which you can specify on the commandline. The specified file-echo has to be in your fileareas.config of course, otherwise how should it know which systems it has to send the files to :-). It can also send a announcing message to the system that receives a file, as well as running a command/script e.g. to announce that the file is hatched. If you want it can upload the file to your filecatalogue as well. You can specify a file it should replace at the connected systems, e.g. to replace older versions of the hatched file. 10.6. FFIX mode 10.6.1. General Echomail is one form of the type of mail that is tranfered between all the different systems in a given network. Systems pick up, or send mail on a regular bases, usually daily. XAreaFix makes use of this established network, to help people find files on other BBS systems all over the region or country, depending on the size of the network. XAreaFix works by scanning through your message base for messages to the name 'XAreaFix' (without quotes) or any of the aliassed set by the configuration file. It will process these messages, and look on your BBS system for any files matching the filespecs asked for. If XAreaFix finds any matches, it will generate a reply, containing a list of the files found, and some basic information about your system, including the phone number, all this you can specify in the configuration file. The replies will be packed by your echomail processor, and sent throughout the rest of the network. Each BBS system will then have a copy of the reply that XAreaFix created. If the user who initially wrote the request logs into one of the connected systems, he will be able to read the reply, and he will then be able to decide whether the reported files are what he was looking for. The structure of a message to XAreaFix is very simple. The message must be addressed to XAreaFix or one of the aliasses. The subject line contains the filename or pattern to be searched for. For example, in the following message, Bart Schraa is looking for the latest version of XAreaFix. From : Bart Schraa To : XAreaFix Subj : XAF*.LHA ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The body of the message does not have to contain any text, however, most editors will require that you write something, or else the message will be aborted. XAreaFix does not read the text in the message. 10.6.2. Searching for Files and Creating Replies Within the configuration file, you are able to specify which file areas XAreaFix is *not* allowed to scan. XAreaFix will only report files that it finds in your file areas (which of course are not listed in the excluded sections. XAreaFix will confirm that the file actually exists for the file catalogue(s). Here is a sample of a reply generated by XAreaFix: From : XAreaFix To : Bart Schraa Subj : Found files matching ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Found file(s) matching pattern 'XAF*.LHA'. Section : 11 (Xenolink Support) FileName : XAF096.LHA Length : 99534 Upload Date : 06-Feb-94 Description : XAreaFix 0.96, the areafix/tick/hatch/filefix program for Xenolink BBS 1.90 and up --------------------------------------------------------------------- Found at : Echo BBS Dordrecht, Xenolink Support Site BeNeLux Location : Dordrecht Telephone : 31-(0)78-180305 Sysop : Bart Schraa Nodenrs : 2:285/312@fidonet.org, 14:100/100@nlanet Usenet : bart@xecho.wlink.nl (XEcho Development) Bps : 300-14400, ZYX 16k8 + 19k2 --------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Xenolink 1.0 Z.4w10, XAreaFix 0.96 * Origin: A4000/68040/6MB, GPFax, Xenolink Z.4 .... (2:285/312) Replies contain plenty of information to help the BBS user, or SysOp find and retrieve the file. 10.7. COMMAND mode XAreaFix can also be run in command mode, in this mode, it'll process the command that is specified with the TAGNAME option as if it did when receiving this from the remote system in a netmail message. You won't have to precede the commands with the '%' character, but the command keywords that are being recognised are case-sensitive. Leaving out the SECTION keyword will force XAreaFix to *not* send a message to the specified node. The following commands are being understood: * LIST : List of all available area's. * QUERY : List of all connected area's. * UNLINKED : List of all available but not connected area's. * AVAIL : List all area's at your uplink(s). * +ALL : Connect all available area's. * -ALL : Disconnect all connected area's. * HELP : Send help file. * PAUSE : Disconnects all active area's and saves them to a temporary file for later use * RESUME : (re)Connects all area's listed in the temporary file saved by the 'PAUSE' command. * FROM <address> : Changes the address used as origin address into <address> which is used to process the areafix message. * COMPRESS <arc> : changes archiver in systems.config to <arc>; 'COMPRESS ?' will list all possible archivers at your system * PASSWORD <password> : will change the areafix password to <password> in the XAreaFix.config * LINKPW <password> : will change the linkup password to <password> in the systems.config * TICKPW <password> : will change the tick password to <password> in the XAreaFix.config * TICKMSG <YES/NO> : will change TickSend to (NO)TICKSEND in the XAreaFix.config * SEND <YES/NO> : will change Send to (NO)SEND in the XAreaFix.config 10.8. VIEW mode In VIEW mode you're able to view most of the config files XAreaFix uses. This can be very helpful when you are having problems, but unable to trace them. There are four ways of calling the VIEW mode: * XAreaFix VIEW AREAS * XAreaFix VIEW CONFIG * XAreaFix VIEW <Zone:net/node[.point]> * XAreaFix VIEW TAG_NAME 10.8.1. VIEW AREAS In this mode you can look at a list of all area's, normal echomail as well as file-echo's, per area the nodes will be sorted to ease the viewing. 10.8.2. VIEW CONFIG This mode lets you having a look at all config settings. This mode is especially useful for checking the config for settings or tracing errors. 10.8.3. VIEW <Zone:net/node[.point]> If you want to see to which area's a specific node is connected too, you will find this mode very useful. 10.8.4. VIEW TAG_NAME This will list all the systems connected to the specific area. Viewing in this mode is will sort the systems before it's listing them. 10.9. SORT mode This mode will let you sort the (file)areas.config, there are three ways of doing this: * XAreaFix SORT AREAS * XAreaFix SORT ADDRESS * XAreaFix SORT ALL 10.9.1. SORT AREAS When you use this only the areas, normal message areas as well as the passthrough areas as well as the file-echos are sorted. 10.9.2. SORT ADDRESS This mode will only sort the addresses per message and file areas. It will not sort the tagnames of the areas. 10.9.3. SORT ALL This mode will sort both the addresses per area, as well as the areas themselves. This will give you a better and easier overview of your (file)areas and connected feeds. 11. XAreaFix in use with AmigaDOS scripts There are several ways to use XAreaFix in AmigaDOS scripts, with those scripts you are able to XAreaFix's flexibilty with even more ease. Included are some more basic scripts, when you do have some yourself, please send them to me, I will include them in a future release of XAreaFix. 11.1. Hatching whole directories with XAreaFix This script will hatch all files in the supplied directory with a datestamp after the date supplied. It uses the filecomment as description of the file. ;*************************************************** ; ; HatchDir Dir/A,TagName/A,Date/A ; ; Hatches a whole directory at once script, but only files after the ; supplied date. ; ;© 1994 XEcho Development, by Bart Schraa ; ;*************************************************** .key Dir/a,TagName/a,date/a .bra { .ket } ; output list to a temporary file list {Dir} files lformat "XAreaFix HATCH t={TagName} f=%N p=%P s=7 d=%C" quick since {date} >t:hatch.script ; ; execute the script generated above if exists t:hatch.script execute t:hatch.script delete t:hatch.script endif ;*************************************************** 11.2. Using XAreaFix in the inbound and outbound mail scripts This script will call XAreaFix to scan the supplied areas for messages addressed to XAreaFix, or one of the aliases. It also runs XAreaFix in FileFix mode, to detect any messages addressed to XAreaFix. After that it'll call XAreaFix to process any incoming *.tic files. ;**************************************************** ;* * ;* Xenolink 1.90 InboundMail script * ;* * ;* © 1994, XEcho Development, by Bart Schraa * ;* * ;**************************************************** ; ; backup all matching files to a temporary directory ; copy xin:*.(FR*|SA*|SU*|MO*|TU*|WE*|TH*|PKT|TIC) xin:tmp/ ; ; call MP to unpack new mailpackets ; Mp nochkillegal sortseenbys keepseenbys unpack ; ; call XAreaFix to scan your netmail areas for new messages ; in SCAN mode ; XAreaFix SCAN S="3 4 5 7 1000" ; ; call XAreaFix to scan message sections (echomail) for new messages ; addressed to XAreaFix for FileFix mode ; XAreaFix FFIX S="100 101 102" ; ; call MP to scan sections with new messages and send those to the systems ; Mp sortseenbys send ; ;*************************************************** This script will call XAreaFix in FileFix mode and process any incoming *.tic files. ;**************************************************** ;* * ;* Xenolink 1.90 OutboundMail script * ;* * ;* © 1994, XEcho Development, by Bart Schraa * ;* * ;**************************************************** ; ; backup all matching files to a temporary directory ; copy xin:*.(FR*|SA*|SU*|MO*|TU*|WE*|TH*|PKT|TIC) xin:tmp/ ; ; call MP to unpack new mailpackets ; Mp nochkillegal sortseenbys keepseenbys unpack ; ; call XAreaFix to scan your netmail areas for new messages ; XAreaFix SCAN S="3 4 5 7 1000" ; ; call XAreaFix to scan message sections (echomail) for new messages ; addressed to XAreaFix for FileFix mode ; XAreaFix FFIX S="100 101 102" ; ; call MP to scan sections with new messages and send those to the systems ; Mp sortseenbys send ; ;*************************************************** The following script will run XAreaFix in FileFix mode after a user has logged off. ;**************************************************** ;* * ;* Xenolink 1.90 LogOut script * ;* * ;* © 1994, XEcho Development, by Bart Schraa * ;* * ;**************************************************** ; ; call XAreaFix to scan message sections (echomail) for new messages ; addressed to XAreaFix for FileFix mode ; XAreaFix FFIX S="100 101 102" ; ; call MP to scan sections with new messages and send those to the systems ; Mp sortseenbys send ; ;*************************************************** 12. Configuration files 12.1. XAreafix.config XAreaFix uses his own configuration file to control all it's "processes". Below here I've listed all keywords current supported by XAreaFix from the configuration file. This file MUST be placed in the directory "XCONFIG:XAREAFIX", therefore you'll have to create a directory "XAREAFIX" in the XCONFIG: assign. The configuration file itself must be called 'XAreaFix.config. The keywords are printed in capitals. 12.1.1. ALIAS Specifies a alias for XAreaFix, when XAreaFix finds a message to one of the aliasses, it'll start processing the message. Only memory limited, but a maximum name of 39 characters. TEMPLATE : ALIAS/K/A EXAMPLE : ALIAS "Xenolink AreaFix" 12.1.2. ADDRESS Here you can specify to which address(es) messages to XAreaFix can be directed. XAreaFix will only process the message when the destination address of the to be processed message is one of these. Only memory limited. TEMPLATE : ADDRESS/K/A EXAMPLE : ADDRESS 2:285/312.0 12.1.3. LEVEL Here you can specify the group(s) that can be accessed by that level, the maximum of levels is only memory limited; you also can use ranges like '10-20'. TEMPLATE : LEVEL/K/A,GROUP/F/A EXAMPLE : LEVEL XENOLINK 10,20-25,40-45 12.1.4. PASS Here you can specify the systems you allow to make use of XAreaFix in the areafix/tick/hatch mode. TEMPLATE : NODE/A,AREAFIX_PW/A,LEVEL/A,A_SEND/A,ORIGNODE/A,TICK_PW/A,TICK_SEND/A,MAILTYPE/A NODE : fidonetaddress of the system to be defined AREAFIX_PW : Password for messages destined for XAreaFix LEVEL : put here the level you want to give to this system A_SEND : switch for sending messages in the SEND mode, when the system wants to receive those messages put here SEND otherwise put here NOSEND ORIGNODE : address to be used as originating address for replies from XAreaFix TICK_PW : the password to be used in *.TIC files for this system TICK_SEND : switch for sending netmails accompanioning *.TIC files for this system. Put TICKSEND here if this node wants those messages, otherwise put NOTICKSEND here. MAILTYPE : defines the type of netmails/FLO files should be used for this system. * HOLD : generates netmails of type *.HUT and uses *.HLO files * CRASH : generates netmails of type *.CUT and uses *.CLO files * NORMAL : generates netmails of type *.DUT and uses *.FLO files EXAMPLE : PASS 2:285/312.2 TEST XENOLINK SEND 2:285/312.0 TICKTEST NOTICKSEND HOLD 12.1.5. PROTECT Here you can specify all area's which you would like to give a seperate protection, you'll have to specify each area seperate; wildcards are not supported. TEMPLATE : PROTECT/K/A,GROUP/A/N,DESC/F/A EXAMPLE : PROTECT XENOLINK_DEV 200 Xenolink Developers Echomail conference 12.1.6. DEFAULTGROUP Protects all areas that are not protected with the PROTECT keyword with this group value. TEMPLATE : DEFAULTGROUP/K/A/N EXAMPLE : DEFAULTGROUP 250 12.1.7. INPUT This will set the path and name for the file XAreaFix reads to handle the message areas, which normally will be your areas.config. TEMPLATE : INPUT/K/A EXAMPLE : INPUT XFidonet:Areas.config 12.1.8. OUTPUT This will set the path and name for the file XAreaFix writes to handle the message areas, which normally will be your areas.config. TEMPLATE : OUTPUT/K/A EXAMPLE : OUTPUT XFidonet:Areas.config 12.1.9. HELPFILE Here you can put the name of the file you want XAreaFix to send when a system requests for help. You can use the supplied helpfile for this purpose. TEMPLATE : HELPFILE/K/A EXAMPLE : HELPFILE XCONFIG:XAreaFix/XAreaFix.User 12.1.10. TICKINPUT Here you must put the name of the file which keeps track of your fileecho areas. This file is used as input for XAreaFix. TEMPLATE : TICKINPUT/K/A EXAMPLE : TICKINPUT XCONFIG:XAreaFix/fileareas.config 12.1.11. TICKOUTPUT Here you must put the name of the file which keeps track of your fileecho areas. This file is used as output for XAreaFix. TEMPLATE : TICKOUTPUT/K/A EXAMPLE : TICKOUTPUT XCONFIG:XAreaFix/fileareas.config 12.1.12. TICKMSG This is used as input file for messages send with *.TIC files, there are several Text Control Sequences (TCS) you can use within the text. These are the currently support TCS's: * ^F From address * ^O Origin Address * ^A Tagname of the area * ^D Description * ^N Filename * ^C CRC value * ^s Size in bytes * ^S Size in KBytes * ^t First name of attending sysop * ^T Full name of attending sysop TEMPLATE : TICKMSG/K/A EXAMPLE : TICKMSG XConfig:XAreaFix/msg.txt 12.1.13. GMTOFFSET Offset for correcting for timezones, for Central Europe this will be -1. This is needed for putting the correct UNIX timestamp into the *.TIC file. TEMPLATE : GMTOFFSET/K/N/A EXAMPLE : GMTOFFSET -1 12.1.14. CHECKCRC Should XAreaFix Check CRC's on incoming *.TIC files? If you do not want XAreaFix to check the CRC, then you should leave out this keyword out of the configuration file. TEMPLATE : CHECKCRC/S EXAMPLE : CHECKCRC 12.1.15. DEFAULTSECTION Sets the default section XAreaFix has to use when it processes incoming *.TIC files which are not listed in your fileareas.config. TEMPLATE : DEFAULTSECTION/K/N/A EXAMPLE : DEFAULTSECTION 18 12.1.16. BADSECTION Sets the section in which *.TIC files should go if there is something wrong with the incoming *.TIC file, e.g. bad password or a bad crc. TEMPLATE : BADSECTION/K/N/A EXAMPLE : BADSECTION 10 12.1.17. BADDIR This is the directory where bad files should be moved to. Be sure there is enough space available, currently there is no support for checking this in XAreaFix. TEMPLATE : BADDIR/K/A EXAMPLE : BADDIR dh1:upload/ 12.1.18. REPLACEDIR This is the directory where files should be moved to which have been replaced by XAreaFix. Be sure there is enough space available, currently there is no support for checking this in XAreaFix. TEMPLATE : REPLACEDIR/K/A EXAMPLE : REPLACEDIR dh1:upload/ 12.1.19. VALIDATE Should the uploaded file be validated or not? When you do not want that XAreaFix validates the files directly then leave this keyword out of the configuration file. TEMPLATE : VALIDATE/S EXAMPLE : VALIDATE 12.1.20. LOGLEVEL This sets the level of logging, used levels are : * SHORT only nescesarry things are logged * EXTENDED some more info is logged * VERBOSE as much info as possible is logged, use this to debug, this is the "old" log level of versions prior to XAreaFix 0.88. TEMPLATE : LOGLEVEL/K/A/N EXAMPLE : LOGLEVEL 1 12.1.21. DELETEUPONRECEIVE This sets the DeleteUponReceive flag for outgoing netmails. Default is to not set the DeleteUponReceive flag, so if you do not want XAreaFix to use this flag, leave it out of the configuration file. TEMPLATE : DELETEUPONRECEIVE/S EXAMPLE : DELETEUPONRECEIVE 12.1.22. BADFILEUPLOAD When you use this keyword bad files will be uploaded to the file catalogue. In order to use this correct, BADDIR should be a directory of the section which is set by BADSECTION. When you do not want XAreaFix to upload those files, leave the keyword out of the configuration file. TEMPLATE : BADFILEUPLOAD/S EXAMPLE : BADFILEUPLOAD 12.1.23. STORETICKOUTDIR This is the directory where XAreaFix will store the outbound XA*.TIC files. This si done because of the fact that when you do have a lot of outgoing XA*.TIC files, it will last quite a while before XMailer has scanned your outgoing mail directory when there are quite a lot of files in it. So usually this will be set to another directory then your outgoing mail directory (which usually will be XOUT:). TEMPLATE : STORETICKOUTDIR/K/A EXAMPLE : STORETICKOUTDIR XOUT:Tic/ 12.1.24. FLOPREFIX This character is used to put in the FLO type file, whether it's a real FLO, HLO or even CLO files. Normally this should be set to '^', default it will be set to a '^'. This prefix is only used for the generated XA*.TIC files, this does *not* affect the file to be send. TEMPLATE : FLOPREFIX/K/A EXAMPLE : FLOPREFIX ^ 12.1.25. ALLOWFORWARDING If you put this in the configuration file, systems are able to send areafix messages that will be forwarded to your uplink. These areas are protected by the FORWARD keyword. If you want this feature to be turned off then you should leave this keyword out of the configuration file. TEMPLATE : ALLOWFORWARDING/S EXAMPLE : ALLOWFORWARDING 12.1.26. REPLACEALWAYS This will force XAreaFix to replace a file that matches the filename that is being processed. For example if you receive a file that is called TEST.LHA and you already have a file on-line that is called TEST.LHA, it will be replaced by the incoming one, regardless if that name is in the replace line in the *.TIC file. If you leave this keyword out of the configuration file, XAreaFix will only replace files defined by the 'Replace' line in the *.TIC file. TEMPLATE : REPLACEALWAYS/S EXAMPLE : REPLACEALWAYS 12.1.27. PROTECTFIX Here you can specify the fileareas not be scanned when XAreaFix is running in filefix mode. There are always fileareas on your BBS that do not have opened for all users. This is the way to keep them out of the filescan. Ranges are also allowed here. TEMPLATE : PROTECTFIX/F/K/A EXAMPLE : PROTECTFIX 10,17,30,1000-1140 12.1.28. FIXHEADER This is de text that is put at the end of the message which is posted when XAreaFix has found files in the FileFix mode. You can use it to put some information about your BBS in the message. A '|' will be replaced by a CRLF in the messagetext. TEMPLATE : FIXHEADER/K/A/F EXAMPLE : FIXHEADER |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|Found at : Echo BBS Dordrecht, Xenolink Support Site BeNeLux|Location : Dordrecht|Telephone : 31-(0)78-180305|Sysop : Bart Schraa|Nodenrs : 2:285/312@fidonet.org, 14:100/100@nlanet|Usenet : bart@xecho.wlink.nl (XEcho Development)|Bps : 300-14400, ZYX 16k8 + 19k2|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|| 12.2. Fileareas.config The template of the fileareas.config is: AREA ADDRESSLIST FILEAREA OUTPUT MSGCMD VALIDATE NODE ... * AREA this is the tagname to be used for that area * ADDRESSLIST here you can put all addresses you want to be listed in the seenby lines in the outgoing *.tic files * FILEAREA this is the number of the filesection the incoming files should be uploaded to * OUTPUT here you'll have to put the temporary output file and the to be used messagetext. Here also you can use some TCS's which are: * ^A * ^O * ^N * ^D * ^s * ^S * MSGCMD here you can put a commandline which will for example post the text as a message in a messagesection. * VALIDATE this tells XAreaFix to validate the file during uploading to your filecatalogues, use NOVALIDATE if you NOT want that XAreaFix validates the file * NODE put here all your up/downlinks which should receive your files or from which you receive the files EXAMPLE : AREA XENOG ADDRESSLIST 2:285/312.0 FILEAREA 17 OUTPUT t:files.txt Area : ^A.\nOrig : ^O.\nName : ^N.\nDesc : ^D.\nSize : ^s Bytes.\n-------------------\n MSGCMD xenolink:utilities-extern/junkmail -f "Bart Schraa" -t All -s "Processed file(s)" -m 0 -i t:files.txt -b 108 VALIDATE NODE 2:253/167.0 NODE 2:280/208.0 13. XAreaFixStatus XAreaFixStatus opens a status window when XAreaFix is running. It'll only open a window when XAreaFix is running in TICK, HATCH, SCAN, SEND and COMMAND mode. You should start this in your startup script for Xenolink. You can always stop it by using CTRL-C or sending a break to it by the BREAK command of AmigaDOS. 13.1. Usage XAreaFixStatus A=MAXAREAFIX/K,T=MAXTICK/K,D=CLOSEDELAY/K o MAXAREAFIX defines the maximum of nodes listed in the Areafix listview gadget. Default are 10 entries shown (if available). o MAXTICK defines the maximum of nodes listed in the Tick listview gadget. Default are 10 entries shown (if available). o CLOSEDELAY defines the number of ticks (1 second is 50 ticks) XAreaFixStatus should wait before closing the window. Default there is *no* delay. 14. XAreaFixWriter XAreaFixWriter posts messages in the supplied msgsection; these messages are created from a textfile. This utility is especially created for use with XAreaFix, but can (of course) be used for other purposes too. 14.1 Usage XAreaFixWriter F=FROM/K/A,T=TO/K/A,M=MSGSECTION/K/A,I=INPUTFILE/K/A,S=SUBJECT/K/F/A o FROM the name of the originator of the message o TO the name of the recipient o MSGSECTION the number of the msgsection the message has to be posted in o INPUTFILE the name of the textfile which has to be included within the message o SUBJECT the subject of the message NOTE: this has to be the *last* keyword in the commandline since the rest of the line is taken as subject 15. Literature * Amiga ROM Kernel Reference Manual 3rd edition, Includes and Autodocs * Amiga ROM Kernel Reference Manual 3rd edition, Libraries * Amiga ROM Kernel Reference Manual 3rd edition, Devices * Amiga User Interface Style guide * The AmigaDOS Manual 3rd edition * SAS/C Development System Library Reference (6.50) * The C programming language, second edition (Kernigan & Ritchie) 16. Acknowledgements I want to thank everyone who made suggestions, sent bugreports, or has done whatever to get XAreaFix as it is now. The following people I want to thank especially: * Commodore Amiga ®, for creating a great computer (Amiga 4000/040) * Jonathan Forbes, for creating the best BBS program ever * SAS Institute, for creating a great development system (SAS/C ® 6.51) * ASDG Inc., for creating a great editor (Cygnus Editor Professional 3.5) * Inovatronics Inc., for creating an even greater editor (The Edge 1.704) * Alan Bland for the initial source to junkmail * Martin Wasley for porting the junkmail source to Xenolink 1.90 compatability Betatesters : Leo Elsinga, Jorn Bang-Andersen, Martin Wasley, Tom De Ruyter and Andrew Pick. 17. Bugreports Bug reports suggetions and other remarks can be posted in XENOLINK_UTIL, netmailed to 2:285/312 "Bart Schraa", or e-mailed to bart@xecho.wlink.nl. Please be sure to include the exact commandline how you run XAreaFix and the message text used. The more details I get the more likely I am to solve your problem or find the bug. 18. History 0.92 * fixed many bugs, such as replacing files and the bug with no connected nodes in the fileareas.config 0.93 * recompiled with SAS/C 6.50 with the Instruction Scheduler * added forward support, this allows your downlinks to request area's at your uplink, the area will be added as passthrough area. * changed 'PASSIVE' to 'PAUSE' * changed 'ACTIVE' to 'RESUME' (and -a -> -r) * added 'AVAIL' (-a) command, to view area's that can be requested from your uplink(s), as listed with the FORWARD keyword in the XAreaFix.cfg. * added FROM command to change the from address * added Wildcard support, so now you can use e.g. XENO* to connect all area's that match XENO*, eg. XENOLINK_UTIL, XENOLINK_SUPPORT. It supports the AmigaDOS wildcard functions. * change template of the filearea's, there is now the MSGCMD in stead of the MSGAREA, here you can place the command to send messages to announce new files received * recompiled and made changes to comply to z4.w9 . * remove TICKANNMSG from your xareafix.cfg * updated the manual a bit, major parts still have to done however. 0.94 * wrote a new program XAreaFixStatus, this opens a window with two listview gadgets, one for tick processing and one for areafix processing. Read the supplied "manual" for the correct usage of it. * fixed some little bugs * added support for a new program called XAreaFixStatus 0.95 NOTE: be sure to back up your old config, since version 0.95 XAreaFix will write the config if something has been changed. All your own comments will be lost. * fixed SEND bug when XAreaFix was running in background * added new commands: * %COMPRESS '%COMPRESS ?' will list all possible archivers at your system * %PASSWORD '%PASSWORD <password>' will change the areafix password to <password> in the XAreaFix.config * %LINKPW '%LINKPW <password>' will change the linkup password to <password> in the systems.config * %TICKPW '%TICKPW <password>' will change the tick password to <password> in the XAreaFix.config * %TICKMSG '%TICKMSG <YES/NO>' will change TickSend to (NO)TICKSEND in the XAreaFix.config * %SEND '%SEND <YES/NO>' will change Send to (NO)SEND in the XAreaFix.config * changed the SECTION keyword on the commandline, you are now able to scan multiple messagesection in one go, e.g.: XAreaFix SCAN s="3 4 5" NOTE: The sections have to be within quotes!!! Only when you want only one section to be scanned you don't have to use them * Rename the XAreaFix.cfg to XAreaFix.config, I have done this to keep up to Z.4's configuration filenames. * now use ReadArgs() for almost all lineparsing in the config file * LEVEL now uses no longer the comma's, remove them between the groups e.g.: LEVEL 10 10 20 30 40 50 in stead of: LEVEL 10 10,20,30,40,50 * LEVEL now uses strings as levelname, so you can use this now: LEVEL XENOLINK 10 20 30 40 50 in stead of: LEVEL 10 10 20 30 40 50 up to 15 characters are allowed. * Improved error checking enormously while reading the configuration file, XAreaFix will now say in which line it has found an error. * Be sure that the description when hatching a file is the last option on the commandline, since everything after D=DESCRIPTION will be taken as description for the to be hatched file. * added new keyword 'STORETICKOUTDIR' for a directory where XAreaFix will store the *.TIC files 0.96 * added filefix support, look at the config lines for more information for setting it up * now support ranges for numbers in the LEVEL and PROTECTFIX lines * recompiled with SAS/C 6.51 * changed template for %LINKPW '%LINKPW <oldpassword> <newpassword>' will change the linkup password to <newpassword> in the systems.config, but only if the <oldpassword> matches the one in the systems.config. * changed the reading/writing of the LEVEL and FIXPROTECT line, you are now able to use ranges, e.g. 10-12 will mean 10,11 and 12. You are also allowed to put a ',' (comma) between the sections. * fixed some other minor bugs 1.0 * Released for Xenolink 1.90 * fixed some small bugs * created Installer script for easy installation