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-
- ------------------------------------------------
-
- PlutMap
-
- a powerful outbound address re-mapping utility
-
- by Peter Deane (3:622/401)
-
- Version 1.4 16 November 1994
-
- in GFA BASIC V3.51
-
- ------------------------------------------------
-
-
- ===========
- DESCRIPTION
- ===========
-
-
- PlutMap is a powerful remapping facility for use in outbound directories
- that employ four-dimensional "TrapDoor 1.80+" naming style.
-
- It can be used to remap all mail for AKAs to one address (useful for
- assisting non-EMSI nodes), to re-route file attaches through a hub, and
- even as a basic Crash/Hold/Direct to Normal converter.
-
- Well, the beauty of this program is CHOICE. With its REMAP command you
- can remap any files to a different address, optionally move them to a
- different directory (specifiable for each node configured), and
- optionally add a prefix (eg ^ to delete after sent) to the resultant
- remapped .FLO file entries.
-
- PlutMap requires the traplist.library (ANY version) to be available
- before it can run. Since you'll probably have TrapDoor around on your
- system I don't imagine this will be a problem, as TrapDoor won't run
- without it, either :-)
-
- PlutMap should work on any Amiga under any AmigaDOS operating system
- from 1.2 to 3+. It should run in any memory configuration larger than
- 256k.
-
-
- ===========
- CONFIG FILE
- ===========
-
-
- PlutMap uses a config file. It defaults to MAIL:PlutMap.cfg. If not
- found it will also look for a "PlutMap.cfg" in the current directory.
-
- PlutMap can also be given the name of the config file in the command
- line. The usage in this case is:
-
- PlutMap <ConfigFileName>
-
- If no command line is given, as I say, it will look for PlutMap.cfg in
- the MAIL: and then current directory. If your given config name is
- found, naturally, that will be used. If you specify a config file and
- it cannot be found, an error will occur and execution will stop.
-
- Invalid keywords given in the config file are ignored, incidentally.
- Please be aware of this in case it causes some confusion when setting up
- PlutMap.
-
-
- ===================
- THE "REMAP" COMMAND
- ===================
-
-
- The basic command of the config is the REMAP keyword. The syntax is:
-
-
- REMAP origin-fqfa destination-fqfa [prefix] [directoryname]
-
- or
-
-
- REMAP origin-fqfa destination-fqfa [directoryname] [prefix]
-
-
- Where
-
- origin-fqfa = Fully qualified fido address of input files
- destination-fqfa = Fully qualified fido address of output files
- directoryname = optional directory name to move files to
- prefix = optional special char {one of "^"|"-"|"#"|"~"|"P" }
-
- BOTH addresses must be specified otherwise the remap line is ignored.
- When specifying the FTN address, a trailing point zero is optional. EG
- 3:622/401 and 3:622/401.0 mean the same thing to PlutMap.
-
- Note that the directory name and prefix are both optional, you can have
- none, both or either, and the order you specify does not matter. Since
- a directory name is going to be more than one character, then any
- argument 1 character long is interpreted as a prefix, and in a likewise
- manner any multiple-character argument is regarded as a directory name.
-
- The trailing slash ("/") for a directory name is optional. If the
- destination directory is an assignment or device name, the trailing
- colon (":") IS required. (This applies anywhere you need to specify a
- directory for PlutMap, not just the REMAP command).
-
- PlutMap will read the given "input" address, check for all
- .FLO/.CLO/.DLO/.HLO files for it, and attempt to put all these FLO file
- entries into the destination address's FLO file [Exception: if the
- input and output node numbers are the SAME system, then files in this
- system's .FLO files are not checked, only the .DLO/.HLO/.CLO files are].
-
- If a special control character ("^"|"-"|"#"|"~") ALREADY appears in the
- input .?LO file(s) then that special character will be maintained in the
- output FLO file. If you have specified a directory for this node, then
- dependent on four keywords you can also get PlutMap to move those files
- into another directory. (See CARETMOVE, MINUSMOVE, HASHMOVE, TILDEMOVE
- later in these docs for a description of what these special control
- characters actually mean).
-
- Please note if you have specified a prefix for a node, and a
- special character ALREADY existed in the input file, the prefix you
- specify will NOT be used. Special characters are ALWAYS passed through
- if they are present in the input FLO file (with the added option of
- moving the file).
-
- If no such special character appears, then the incoming FLO file entries
- are processed as per your REMAP commands. If you have specified a
- directory, the files will be moved into it, and if you specify a prefix,
- it will be prepended on to the filename in the output .FLO file.
-
- If no special character appears for the file, it WILL be moved into your
- specified directory regardless of the CARETMOVE, HASMOVE MINUSMOVE and
- TILDEMOVE settings. If you don't want the file moved (for this node
- number) then simply don't add a directory name in the REMAP command.
-
- When PlutMap moves a file it performs a copy and delete, so it can go
- across devices. The disadvantage of this is for a fraction of a second
- you need to have enough drivespace for two copies of the file. When
- moved, the filenote and filedate will be maintained (by use of the CLONE
- option of the copy command) so you can see from the file itself which
- node sent you the file and at what time. (TrapDoor adds this
- information to the filenote when it receives the file).
-
- Naturally PlutMap needs to be able to access a Copy command somewhere in
- your search path (eg the c: directory). While non AmigaDOS Copy
- commands should work fine, I do recommend that PlutMap is able to access
- a standard AmigaDOS version of the command.
-
- If PlutMap should not be able to access files specified at any stage
- (maybe the file doesn't exist, or there is some other disk error) then
- the relevant line will be transferred as-is to the output .FLO file,
- with an appropriate log entry made. This is so another processor might
- be able to fix up the file attach at a later stage. No information is
- ever lost using this method, although the chances are if PlutMap can't
- access the file now, TrapDoor is not going to be able to access it when
- it tries to send them anyway.
-
-
- In versions 1.1+ a brand new option was added to PlutMap - the ability
- to archive up all file attaches routed to a certain node. You would use
- this option if you are passing on large numbers of file attaches to
- certain systems and want to reduce the overhead substantially by sending
- only one large file, rather than lots of small files. This way, only
- one filename handshake has to be sent when Trapdoor sends the file,
- resulting a big saving compared to sending the files individually, with
- filename handshakes occuring for EVERY file.
-
- This option should NOT be used for mail files, only routed file
- attaches. It's particularly useful if your system is (for example)
- passing on a number of BRE files for systems in that networked game. It
- could be used for other things - if you do use it for something else,
- please let me know, I'd be interested.
-
- Naturally, PlutMap is still going to be very useful to you even if you
- never use this option. So if you don't route large numbers of file
- attaches for certain systems, you can safely skip this section of the
- documentation.
-
- To turn this option on, then instead of specifying a ^ - # or ~ as the
- prefix character, use the letter "P". For example:
-
- REMAP 3:999/999 4:999/999 P MAIL:BreFiles
-
- or, naturally:
-
- REMAP 3:999/999 4:999/999 MAIL:BreFiles P
-
- Don't forget that this will only apply to files that don't have a
- special control character in front of them. If you are using TrapToss
- as the tosser, then make sure you specify NODELROUTATTACHES (TrapToss's
- default behaviour), otherwise the file attaches will all get a "-" sign
- added in front of them anyway. This manner of operation will prevent
- echomail for a node being added into these archives, however, (because
- they would have a # in front of them) so you can safely route BRE files
- inside an archive while not affecting normal echomail for that system
- all with the same REMAP command!
-
- When invoked, the P option runs a command on the files (normally an
- archiver - see PACKCOMMAND below) and creates a special archive
- containing all the routed file attaches. The filename of this archive
- is of the format:
- 1234ABCD.Pdd
-
- Where:
-
- 1234ABCD is a unique 8 character hexadecimal timestamp
- . is a dot character (natch!)
- P is always the letter P
- dd is the last two digits of the day number of the year
-
- You should tell the systems you are sending these archives to to look
- for *.P?? as the filename their mail processors need to look for and
- unarchive, especially if they process these files automatically. If
- they process these files manually, it won't be as critical.
-
- Since a unique hex timestamp is generated for each file created this
- way, you shouldn't run PlutMap too frequently, otherwise you'll get a
- large number of THESE files created, and defeat the purpose of doing it!
- I run PlutMap only once a day here and find that's more than adequate.
-
- [I'm open to suggestions for an improvement in this filenaming system,
- please contact me at the addresses at the end of these docs if you can
- provide assistance. Filenames have to follow the 8.3 filenaming system
- because they are almost certainly going to be sent via MSDOS machines].
-
- Instead of passing on a number of (small) file attaches for a system,
- this archive name is added to the output FLO file, and this file is
- sent. If you use the P option, then the archive created ALWAYS gets a
- "-" sign prepended to it (if the archive command was succesfully
- executed at least), so after TrapDoor sends the archive, it will be
- deleted.
-
- If you have specified a directory along with the P option, the archive
- will be created in this directory. If you use the P command alone in
- the REMAP command, the archive will be created in the OUTBOUND directory
- instead.
-
- Still confused? Send me some netmail, and please ask SPECIFIC questions
- (Comments like "I can't get it to run" won't help me help you at all!).
- If you are routing BRE files for other systems or receiving numerous
- file attaches I'd like to know about it, because this method could be
- improved upon, especially if I have intimate knowledge of the actual
- application you'll be using it in.
-
-
- ============================
- OTHER CONFIGURATION COMMANDS
- ============================
-
-
- There are a few other keywords in the config:
-
-
- LOGFILE
- -------
-
- Filename for the log file that PlutMap keeps. This is a standard
- "TrapDoor" format logfile, with the leading prefix character of "R" (for
- Remapper). There is a fair amount of logging, quite useful to let you
- know what actually occured if you're not watching PlutMap run.
-
- Default: Mail:PlutMap.log
-
- Example: LogFile LOG:MiscFido.log
-
-
-
- INBOUND
- -------
-
- Name of TrapDoor's inbound directory. With this (as in all directory
- names) the trailing slash is optional. (IE "Mail:Inbound" is
- funtionally equivalent to "Mail:Inbound/"). If this is an assignment or
- device name however, you MUST add the trailing colon (eg in:) This
- method of having an optional trailing slash applies to the outbound
- keyword as well.
-
- Default: Mail:Inbound
-
- Example: InBound MAIL:Trap/Inwards
-
-
-
- OUTBOUND
- --------
-
- Name of the outbound directory (see above under INBOUND for more info).
-
- Default: Mail:Outbound
-
- Example: OutBound MAIL:Out/
-
-
-
- NOKILL
- ------
-
- This totally overrides EVERY possible deletion of files that may occur
- due to using the "P" archiver option. It takes a filename or partial
- filename as argument, and you can have as many NOKILL statements in your
- config as you like (well, memory permitting, but you'd never go close,
- even with thousands of them listed).
-
- If any file PlutMap routes has ANY occurence of the NOKILL argument in
- it, PlutMap will ensure it's not deleted. It will still be added into
- the archive of file attaches made up for systems, but a copy will be
- left behind. As an example you might like to ensure that nodediffs are
- never deleted despite all other files you send to a node being archived
- and thus deleted when sent. You could do this by using
-
- NOKILL NODE
-
- With that, then if the filename has the letters "NODE" anywhere in it
- (not case sensitive) will still remain in its original location. EG
- NODELIST.L87, NODEDIFF.273, LITNODE.234, etc, etc. I'd advise you to
- not make this too general (ie specify more characters rather than less)
- to avoid it acting on other files you really DO want to delete. EG by
- specifying
-
- NOKILL .
-
- PlutMap would never kill any file that had a "." in it (just about every
- file passing through your system, I imagine). This defeats the purpose!
-
- Note that wildcards are NOT supported in this keyword, only filenames or
- PARTIAL filenames. Partial filenames should be more than adequate,
- however. There is no "default" for this option - the default is to
- treat every file exactly as you specify in the REMAP statements.
-
- Also note that the NOKILL does NOT over-ride a file deletion if the file
- already has a ^ or - sign in front of it in the input .?LO file.
-
-
-
- PACKCOMMAND
- -----------
-
- If you are using the "P" option in the REMAP statements (to archive up
- multiple filenames for a node) this is the command to use to do the
- archiving. NOTE WELL: If you want error checking done on the result of
- this command, you MUST redirect the output from this command into a temp
- file so PlutMap can read it to see if there was an error.
-
- Because of the varying nature of archivers (or other command you may put
- here) YOU have to specify the redirection file in this command to avoid
- placement problems depending on the archiver commands. The redirection
- file must be called "Ram:PlutMap.tmp".
-
- A resultant archivename and file to process (usually to add) will be
- appended to the VERY END of this command for each filename PlutMap finds
- it has to remap.
-
- Default: Null String (ie do nothing)
-
- Examples: PACKCOMMAND Lha >RAM:PlutMap.tmp a
- Examples: PackCommand Zoo >ram:PlutMap.tmp -add
-
- WARNING: If you ARE using the P option, then this keyword is a
- compulsory item, DO NOT leave it out!
-
-
- (NO)____MOVE
- ------------
-
- The next four keywords allow you to selectively turn on and off the file
- moving for remapped files that already have a special character
- prepended to them. For instance, you may like to leave echomail bundles
- in your normal outbound but copy files to be deleted into a certain
- holding directory. You can control what happens to each TYPE of file
- mapped. Note that if you do not specify a directory name for a certain
- node, then the file will be left in the same directory, and entered into
- the resultant FLO file as-is (no moving). So the feature can be turned
- on and off dependent on the node numbers you choose, not only via use of
- these commands.
-
- In other words, one node might have its echomail sent to a separate
- directory (by giving a directory name in the REMAP command) whereas
- another node might have its echomail left in the normal outbound
- directory (by not specifying a directory name), both with HASHMOVE
- turned on. That's flexibility for you!
-
-
-
- (NO)HASHMOVE
- ------------
-
- Whether or not to move around "#" prefixed files. These are normally
- echomail bundles, and will be truncated to zero bytes upon being sent.
- PlutMap will copy the arcmail bundle into the other directory and leave
- behind a truncated file of the same name in the original directory to
- ensure the tosser will generate a new filename next time.
-
- Default: FALSE
- Example: HASHMOVE
-
-
-
- (NO)CARETMOVE
- -------------
-
- Applies to "^" prefixed files, which are destined to be deleted when
- succesfully sent.
-
- Default: TRUE
- Example: CARETMOVE
-
-
-
- (NO)MINUSMOVE
- -------------
-
- Applies to "-" prefixed files, essentially the same as "^" files.
-
- Default: TRUE
- Example: NOMINUSMOVE
-
-
-
- (NO)TILDEMOVE
- -------------
-
- "~" prefixed files are ignored by TrapDoor (flagged as sent) Generally
- you will not want to worry about doing ANYTHING to these ones. However,
- the control is still there, if you can think of some use for it.
-
- Default: FALSE
- Example: NOTILDEMOVE
-
-
-
- ==========
- SAMPLE RUN
- ==========
-
- Here's a commented logfile of a recent run:
-
- R 15 Oct 94 16:31:32 PlutMap V1.25beta opened
-
- (The following system has limited AKAs available
- (FroDo), so I remap OtherNet files to his Fido
- address to assist)
-
- R 15 Oct 94 16:31:34 54.6101.460.0.FLO found (33 bytes)
- R 15 Oct 94 16:31:34 Appending to file: MAIL:Outbound/3.622.413.0.FLO
- R 15 Oct 94 16:31:35 Passed on: 54.6101.460.0.SA0 For: 54:6101/460.0
- R 15 Oct 94 16:31:36 7.500.413.0.FLO found (85 bytes)
- R 15 Oct 94 16:31:37 Appending to file: MAIL:Outbound/3.622.413.0.FLO
- R 15 Oct 94 16:31:38 Passed on: 7.500.413.0.SA0 For: 7:500/413.0
- R 15 Oct 94 16:31:38 Passed on: LIONLIST.J87 For: 7:500/413.0
- R 15 Oct 94 16:31:38 Passed on: TK232143.TIC For: 7:500/413.0
-
- (This system still gets the odd message to his old
- point address, so I remap them to his full node #)
-
- R 15 Oct 94 16:31:40 3.622.401.2.FLO found (31 bytes)
- R 15 Oct 94 16:31:40 Creating new file: MAIL:Outbound/3.622.425.0.FLO
- R 15 Oct 94 16:31:42 Passed on: 3.622.401.2.SA0 For: 3:622/401.2
- R 15 Oct 94 16:32:04 3 input files dealt with
- R 15 Oct 94 16:32:04 PlutMap V1.25beta closed
-
- For a few more practical examples of what PlutMap can do, please see the
- example configuration file. It provides many examples of what the
- program is able to do, and more importantly, WHY you might want to do
- the actions.
-
-
-
- ================
- REVISION HISTORY
- ================
-
-
- Version 1.4 (16-Nov-94)
- -----------------------
-
- Several minor display revisions to back up and print over nodes that
- have NO mail for them. With no mail at all, only 4 lines are used in
- the CLI window. Also, two VERY small window output changes not really
- worth mentioning.
-
-
- Version 1.3 (17-Oct-94)
- -----------------------
- Out of beta mode for another public release. No bugs in V 1.25 have
- been reported by my beta tester, Peter Nicolas (3:711/439), so we're
- long overdue for public release. Apart from two or three minor changes
- to the text display, this is essentially V 1.25 beta
-
- Re-wrote this doc file. It still may be confusing. If you're now
- confused, then take a look at the sample config file in the archive, as
- the examples given there illustrate all the above theory.
-
-
- Version 1.25beta (20-May-94)
- ----------------------------
- (Yep, 2 versions in the 1 day!)
-
- Added the ability to route files from one address to the SAME address.
- In this case it acts as a "normal" file converter. IE all .DLO, .CLO
- and .HLO file entries will be added to that system's .FLO file.
-
- Whilst you can change Netmail PACKETS to any flavour you like with
- TrapToss, it's not possible to alter the flavour of any .?LO files.
- Well PlutMap can now do this for you, turning Hold, Crash and Direct
- files into Normal, for easier handling.
-
-
- Version 1.2beta (20-May-94)
- ---------------------------
- It seems the move to beta mode was well & truly justified :-(
-
- Added VASTLY improved error checking, in case something goes wrong when
- we try to copy files about, or archive files up. If anything fails now,
- the files will NOT be moved, and the ORIGINAL path and filename is
- transferred to the resultant FLO file. This maintains the status quo.
- Previously if there was a disk error, or error in the config, it was
- possible to accidentally lose files PlutMap was attempting to route.
- There's NO possibility of this happening now - this has been extensively
- torture-tested.
-
- BugFix: PlutMap wasn't adding the extra character (#,~,- or ^) in front
- of the filenames if you had specified this in the config and there
- wasn't already one of these characters there! Too much copy and paste
- caused this error :-(
-
- Removed the logging of "Checking for files to..." for every node in the
- config, resulting in faster running, and much shorter logs. Things will
- only be logged now if files are actually extant for the nodes (apart
- from opened and closed, etc)
-
-
- Version 1.1beta (12-Apr-94)
- ---------------------------
- Slipped into beta mode while a few major changes were added.
-
- Added the "P" option to archive up file attaches for certain systems if
- they are receiving a large number of uncompressed file attaches, or
- indeed simply a LARGE number of file attaches (Since LHA stores rather
- than compresses already compressed files, if you use LHA, this improves
- efficiency where a system gets a LOT of files routed to it - rather than
- sending a lot of small files, this results in just one being made)
-
- This was added to greatly improve the mapping of BRE file attaches for
- systems we were routing BRE files for. BRE is a networked game of
- Barron's Realm Elite - a bit like Global War, only played on multiple
- systems. It only runs on MSDOS machines, but at least us Amiga guys can
- route the BRE files for these systems in a far more efficient way than
- BRE itself transfers the files.
-
- Added the NOKILL config option, to ensure that certain files will never
- be deleted (eg nodelists) despite being instructed to add a TrapDoor
- control character in front of the filename in the output FLO file.
-
-
- Version 1.0 (07-Mar-94)
- ------------------------
- Several bugs fixed.
-
- Removed two STOP statements after an error condition (ie "removed debug
- code"). These errors never occured here while testing, sorry!
-
- Resolved problem where a file without a preceeding special character
- would have its first character removed. (The typical symptom of this
- was "Please insert volume "AIL:" in any drive). This was a major
- problem, requesters in event scripts, and all...
-
- To avoid remapped echomail copied into another directory being
- overwritten by further echomail bundles of the same name, PlutMap now
- will not delete moved mail bundles, it will instead leave behind a
- truncated echomail bundle so the tosser will generate a new filename.
- This applies if you have HASHMOVE set and are moving echomail bundles
- into another directory.
-
-
- Version 0.9 (04-Feb-94)
- ------------------------
- First Public Release
-
-
-
- =================
- DISTRIBUTION, ETC
- =================
-
-
- This program is freely distributable, as long as all files (PlutMap,
- PlutMap.cfg, PlutMap.Doc & PlutMap.LST) are included. No profit is
- permitted to be made from its distribution without prior permission of
- the author.
-
- It is still very much a copyrighted program, however.
-
- Have regard for what you paid the author for this software. Any claim
- against the author for ANY damages exceeding this amount will not be
- entertained.
-
- The author can be contacted:
-
- Peter Deane
-
- FidoNet: 3:622/401 Postal: PO Box 228
- GlobalNet: 54:6101/401 Swansea NSW 2281
- AmigaNet: 41:200/401 AUSTRALIA
-
- BBS: from O/S +61-49-72-1647
- (24hrs) from Aust (049) 72-1647
-
- ------------------------------------------------
-
-