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██╗ ██╗ ██╗ ██╗ ██╗ ██╗ ██╗ ████████╗ ██████╗ ███████╗ ███████╗ ██╗ ██║ ██║ ██║ ██║ ██║ ██║ ██║ ╚══██╔══╝ ██╔═══██╗ ██╔════╝ ██╔════╝ ██║ ██║ █╗ ██║ ██║ █╗ ██║ ██║ ██║ ██║ ██║ ██║ ██║ ███████╗ ███████╗ ██║ ██║███╗██║ ██║███╗██║ ██║ ╚██╗ ██╔╝ ██║ ██║ ██║ ╚════██║ ╚════██║ ╚═╝ ╚███╔███╔╝ ╚███╔███╔╝ ██║ ╚████╔╝ ██║ ╚██████╔╝ ███████║ ███████║ ██╗ ╚══╝╚══╝ ╚══╝╚══╝ ╚═╝ ╚═══╝ ╚═╝ ╚═════╝ ╚══════╝ ╚══════╝ ╚═╝ ============================================================================= WWIVToss! The Complete WWIV/Fido Gateway Program! ============================================================================= WWIVTOSS 1.38 WWIV/Fido Mail Tosser/Translator User Manual Software and Documentation written by Craig Dooley Copyright (c) 1996, 1997 by Craig Dooley All Rights Reserved Table of Contents 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1 What is WWIVToss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3 System Hardware and Software Requirements . . . . . . . . 1.4 License and Disclaimer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5 Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.6 Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Fidonet Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 Network Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 Mail Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 WWIV Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1 Network Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Mail Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1 Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3 WWIV Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.1 Fake Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.2 Adding Subs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4 WSETUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.1 System Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.1.1 Site Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.1.2 Network Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.1.3 Path Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.1.4 Archiver Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.1.5 Area Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.1.6 Area Uplink Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.2 Miscellaneous Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.3 Area Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.4 Node Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.5 Route Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.6 Translation Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.7 Export Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5 Upgrading from WFIDO/WWIVGATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Running WWIVTOSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1 Importing (/I) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 Exporting (/O) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3 Pack (/P) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4 Scan Bad (/B) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.5 Debug (/D) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.6 Multiple Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.7 Calling WWIVToss from your Mailer . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.8 AreaFix Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Features of WWIVToss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . =============== 1 Introduction =============== 1.1 What is WWIVToss? WWIVToss is Fidonet Mail Tosser that is designed specifically to work with the WWIV BBS Software. Previous programs that allowed a WWIV sysop to participate in Fidonet required a mail tosser to take the incoming fidonet packet, analyze it, and either place each message in a separate directory corresponding with the echo (sub) that it belonged to, or place the bundle as an outgoing packet to a fake point off of the system. Then, a translator program was run on that packet to convert the fidonet format messages to WWIV format, and placed the translated messages in either a P*.NET or LOCAL.NET. After all that, the WWIV Network Software takes the net file, processes it, and places the messages in the WWIV Message bases. WWIVToss combines all three of those steps into 1 single step. It takes the incoming Fidonet packet, analyzes it, translates it, and writes the translated mail and messages directly to the WWIV Message Bases. The WWIV Network software is not involved AT ALL during the message import process! In addition, WWIVToss is a full-featured Fidonet Mail Tosser, allowing you to hub to other systems if you so desire. WWIVToss is relatively easy to setup and use. It correctly strips out special WWIV codes (unless overridden), correctly handles the TO: line, and is fully FTSC (Fidonet Technical Standards Committee) compliant. It's also pretty darn fast! WWIVToss currently creates outgoing packets of the type 2+ (FSC-0039.004). WWIVToss will also completely and effectively gate email between WWIV Technology Networks and Fidonet Technology networks, allowing, for the first time, Fidonet systems to email any WWIV Network system. WWIVToss relies heavily on work done by Shay Walters, with his FourDog program, the predecessor to all WWIV/Fido interfaces, Kevin Carpenter and his WWIVGate program - the program that essentially set the standard and was purchased by WWIV Software Services for distribution as WFIDO, and GECHO, the excellent Fidonet Mail Tosser written by Gerard Van der Land. WWIVTOSS has been packaged using the -AV features of PKZIP. When you unarchive the packet, you should see a -AV after each file, and the following message at the end: Authentic files Verified #KLK427 The Trading Post [SOUTH] BBS If you don't, or you get a message stating that the authenticity verification has failed, then you have a corrupted or tampered-with archive, and you need to obtain a fresh copy. 1.2 Features ■ Writes directly to the WWIV Message Areas, bypassing the need To Run NETWORK2.EXE!!!!! ■ Complete Compliance with Fidonet Technical Standards Committee Standards. (FTSC-001, FTSC-004, FTSC-009) ■ Multiple Fido Technology Network Aware ■ Support for multiple compression formats! (ARC, ARJ, LZH, PAK, SQZ, ZIP, ZOO, RAR) ■ Unlimited Areas! ■ Netmail routing and packing ■ Easy to setup and install ■ Low registration fee ■ Sysop-only Crash Setting Override from WWIV ■ Support for Fidonet 4-d addresses (Zone:Net/Node.Point) ■ Ability to echo areas to up to 20 nodes ■ Ability to set an area as PASS-THROUGH ■ Areafix capabilities for Hubbing ■ Option to automatically add areas to the database if a message comes in for an area that is not currently defined. ■ WWIV/Fido Email gating ■ Return of invalidly addressed email on both WWIV and Fido sides ■ Ability to automatically clean up networks when mail has been imported. ■ Support for alphanumeric subtypes! ■ Storage of unknown or bad messages for human intervention with notification of sysop. ■ Compatible with Front Door/Intermail/BinkleyTerm Limited D'Bridge support. If anyone is using a mailer OTHER than Front Door, Intermail, or BinkleyTerm, please get in touch with me. ■ Semaphore touching to force Front Door and Intermail to rescan the message areas after WWIVToss completion. ■ Aliasing of handles for re-directing or ignoring. See section 6 for details. ■ WTINST program will read in current WFIDO/WWIVGATE configurations and setup up WWIVTOSS data files from it! ■ Ability to export configuration data to ASCII text files! ■ Incoming/Outgoing Character Translation Tables ■ WWIV Centering, WWIV Color, High ASCII, and BBS Tag Strip/Keep On a per echo basis! ■ Autodetection of Compression on incoming packets! ■ FSC-0035 Compliance! ■ Starting with WWIV 4.25, WWIVToss will use a hidden internal TO: line instead of the normal WWIV RE: line, thus you can modify that line without worrying that it'll mess up your outgoing Fidonet messages! ■ Easy to setup and install and highly configurable! ■ Logging of incoming/outgoing messages to WWIVTOSS.LOG! ■ Logging of incoming/outgoing traffic to NET.LOG! ■ Low registration fee ($20.00) 1.3 System Hardware and Software Requirements * An IBM PC, XT, AT or 100% compatible with hard disk. * Microsoft MS-DOS or IBM PC-DOS version 3.00 or later. Version 3.30 or later is preferred. WWIVToss has been tested with DOS 6.22, Windows 3.11 (DOS Session), OS/2 WARP 3.0 (DOS Session), OS/2 WARP CONNECT 3.0 (DOS Session), OS/2 WARP 4.0 (DOS Session), Windows 95 (Dos Session), and NDOS 8.0. It *should* work with no problem under other operating systems, but has not currently been tested under those systems as of yet. * At least "FILES=20" in your CONFIG.SYS. A disk cache (especially one that can buffer disk writes, such as Norton Cache or HyperDisk) can improve performance, but of course it is not required. * At least 300 KB of RAM available. * At least one of the following compression utilities: PKZIP 1.1, LHA 2.13, PKPAK 3.61, ARC, ZOO 2.00, PAK 2.51, ARJ 2.00 or SQZ v1.08.3. * A FidoNet compatible mailer. I use and recommend FrontDoor, the e-mail system distributed by Advanced Engineering sarl. However, WWIVToss can also be used with InterMail and Binkleyterm. Additional mailers will have support added by request. 1.4 License and Warranty 1.4.1 Copyright Notice WWIVToss software and its accompanying documentation are protected by both United States copyright law and international treaty provisions. You must treat this software just like a book, except that you may copy it onto a computer to be used and you may make archival copies of the software for the sole purpose of backing up the software and protecting your investment from loss. 1.4.2 Warranty WWIVToss is provided as is, without warranty, either expressed or implied. The author specifically disclaims all other warranties, expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. 1.4.3 Shareware Concepts WWIVToss is not, nor has ever been, Public Domain or "Freeware." WWIVToss is marketed as "Shareware." Shareware is a "try it before you buy it" approach to software marketing. 1.4.4 License Agreement Users are granted a limited license to use the unregistered version of WWIVToss for an evaluation period not to exceed forty-five (45) days. Any other use of WWIVToss, or use past the evaluation period requires registration. Users may freely copy and distribute WWIVToss, provided that no fee is charged, and that the WWIVToss archive contains unmodified copies of the original files as produced by the author. No part of WWIVToss may be modified, altered, reverse engineered, sold, or distributed without prior written permission from the author. This license and warranty statement shall be construed, interpreted and governed by the laws of the State of South Carolina and any action hereunder shall be brought only in South Carolina. If any provision is found void, invalid or unenforceable, it will not affect the validity of the balance of this license and warranty statement which shall remain valid and enforceable according to its terms. If any remedy hereunder is determined to have failed of its essential purpose, all limitations of liability and exclusion of damages set forth herein shall remain in full force and effect. All rights not specifically granted in this statement are reserved by Craig Dooley. 1.5 Registration Registering WWIVToss entitles you to use the product after the initial evaluation period. Registered WWIVToss users will receive a unique serial number which will disable the shareware message. Notification of software updates and product support is available via the WWIVToss Support Sub, WWIVnet SubType WTOSS. Please note that WWIVToss is *NOT* crippled in any way. It is fully functional. Unregistered copies of WWIVToss will have a nag message built in, and will send you regular reminders to register the software. I'm replying on your honesty to register this program. WWIVToss represents a *lot* of hard work and time, and the least you can do is register it if you plan to continue using it. WWIVToss registration is $20.00 (US currency). To register WWIVToss, complete the form contained in the file REGISTER.FRM and send it, along with check or money order to the following address: Craig Dooley 2112 Mary Hill Drive Columbia, S.C. 29210 RE: WWIVTOSS Registration The author may be contacted by using any of the network addresses found at the end of this document. 1.6 Trademarks WWIVToss is a trademark of Craig Dooley. WWIV is a trademark of Wayne Bell (c) 1988-1997 IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corp. Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. ===================== 2 Fidonet Technology ===================== 2.1 Network Structure FidoNet is the biggest amateur network in the world. It was started in 1984 by Tom Jennings. Currently more than 30000 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 SIGnet, zones 24-29). Many nodes have one or more points. A point is a user who gets mail from a node (its "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. 2.2 Mail transportation Electronic mail in a FidoNet Technology Network (FTN) is exchanged using mail packets, which are usually transmitted between two computers by modem. The software responsible for this is called a mailer. The files have the .PKT extension and they can contain one or more messages. There are two types of messages. Netmail goes from one node to another node (either directly or routed through other systems). Echomail is copied to all systems which are connected to a particular area (also called conference). The messages are distributed using a special kind of netmail messages, where each message starts with "AREA:" followed by the name of the area, in which certain topic(s) are discussed. Packets with echomail are usually transported in compressed files to save time and money. For more information on Fidonet technology and structuring, please refer to the Fidonet Technical Standards Committee archive of accepted and proposed standards. ================== 3 WWIV Technology ================== 3.1 Network Structure A WWIV network is basically a loose confederation of WWIV BBS systems that use the WWIVnet (or compatible) software. The software does not limit the connection structure, so the member sysops can connect to anyone they wish (subject to the rules of their network). For ease of administration, the network may be split up into Groups, each with their own coordinator. Node numbers are an unsigned short int, so that nodes may be assigned a value from 1 to 65535. The lists of nodes are distributed in two sets of files: BBSLIST.xxx and CONNECT.xxx. There are two different ways of handling these files. The old way has just one BBSLIST.NET and one CONNECT.NET file. The CONNECT.NET file assigns costs to each connection for each system. Some smaller networks still use this setup. The new way, implemented in 1990, uses several BBSLIST and CONNECT files with extensions indicating group number (e.g. Group 1's files would be BBSLIST.1 and CONNECT.1). BBSLIST.0 contains a list of Group numbers, and CONNECT.0 contains inter-Group connections. It is important that any non-WWIV systems be able to support both setups if they wish to connect to a WWIV network. 3.2 Mail Transportation Like all BBS networks, the primary purpose is to exchange private mail and public posts between BBSes. The passing of files in binary form, however, is not supported by the WWIVnet software, though there are some third party programs such as Tolkien's PACKSCAN which can handle files. All messages also have a maximum size limit of 32k. The basic WWIVnet software distributed in NETxx.ZIP by WSS consists of four programs: NETWORK.EXE, NETWORK1.EXE, NETWORK2.EXE and NETWORK3.EXE. Any alternative software for interfacing with WWIV should follow the same structure. NETWORK.EXE handles connections between systems. On the sending end of the connection, NETWORK.EXE calls out to another system, chosen from the CALLOUT.NET file on that system. The answering system activates NETWORK.EXE when it detects a network call. Once they're talking, they make any mail packet transfers needed. NETWORK1.EXE is the first of the two mail tossers. This one takes the incoming packet received by NETWORK.EXE and distributes the messages within to their rightful places. Local mail goes into LOCAL.NET, while mail passing through to other systems is tossed into packet files for the next hop. NETWORK2.EXE tosses the local messages in LOCAL.NET. Most are messages for email or local subboards, but there are also network updates, sub REQuests, software "pings," and other special purpose message types. It also has the ability to call on third-party preprocessors for special handling of certain types of messages. NETWORK3.EXE processes all the network updates that come in. This helps determine what routing off-system mail will take. Each WWIV network also has its own special encoding and decoding programs for handling of updates and network mail from the Network Coordinator and Group Coordinators. These are the DEmmm.EXE files (mmm corresponding to the message type). The DEmmm.EXE cannot be replaced, so any NETWORK2.EXE replacement must be able to recognize the need for calling the appropriate DEmmm.EXE. For more information on WWIV Network technology and structuring, please refer to the WWIVNet Technical Documentation written by Wayne Heyward. =============== 4 Installation =============== This section discusses ONLY the installation and setup of WWIVToss, and the configuration of the WWIV Software to work in conjunction with WWIVToss. It does NOT address the setup and operation of any Front End program. Such information is beyond the scope of this documentation. Please note that in most instances, "Fidonet" is interchangeable with any Fido Technology Network. WWIVToss is multiple-FTN compatible, so you can have as many fido-technology networks as you are willing to carry. If you are already running Fidonet on your system, and are merely upgrading to the WWIVToss program, then you may wish to skip to section 4.4, which deals with the WSETUP program itself. 4.1 Directories WWIVTOSS.EXE and WSETUP.EXE must reside in your main WWIV directory. You will need to know the path to your Fidonet inbound and outbound directories, as well as your Fidonet mail directory. In addition, you will need to have a directory for temporary storage of outbound packets, a directory for storage of bad or unknown messages, and a temporary directory. The temporary directory can be a RAM drive. 4.2 Files WWIVToss comes with 2 program files: WSETUP.EXE, which is the WWIVTOSS setup and configuration program, and WWIVTOSS.EXE, which is the mail tosser program. WWIVToss will create 5 data files: WWIVTOSS.DAT, AREAS.DAT, DOMAINS.DAT, XLAT.DAT, and NODES.DAT. These are binary files, so you should not attempt to edit them yourself. If they become corrupt, simply delete them and run WSETUP again to re-create them. It is reccomended that you back up these 5 files on a regular basis, especially if you handle a large number of areas. In addition, WWIVToss reads (does not write) WWIV's CONFIG.DAT, STATUS.DAT, NETWORKS.DAT, and USER.LST. The later is ONLY accessed for purposes of attaching real names to outgoing messages and determining the recipient of incoming mail. 2 other files that WWIVTOSS may use: AREAFIX.HLP and SKIPMAIL.LST. Both of these files will go in your mail WWIV directory. AREAFIX.HLP is a help message sent out to someone using AREAFIX. This is a normal textfile that you can edit if you so desire. If you don't plan to hub to other systems, or don't plan to allow downlinks to Areafix you, then you don't have to worry about this file. SKIPMAIL.LST is also a text file and is used for the purpose of redirecting email. See section 6 for details. WWIVToss will send out a regular SSM to me informing me that WWIVToss is in use. This SSM contains the following information: BBS Name Sysop Real Name Main Fido Address WWIVToss Version # Date WWIVToss Installed WWIV Network Node That Notification Came From. WWIV Network Name that Notification Came On. At no point will any other information be sent to me. 4.3 WWIV Setup Setting up WWIV to handle Fidonet mail is fairly complex if you aren't familiar with WWIV and how it works. If you are familiar, then it's fairly easy. In either case, it's fairly straightforward. The essentials of the setup are: You create a network called "Fidonet". This network contains 2 nodes. 1 node will be your BBS system. The other node will be the rest of the world, and is generally referred to as the "fake" node. Messages written on your system will be packed up in a packet to go to the other node ("The rest of the world"), which WWIVToss will pick up and handle. Subs are setup as normal, with the "fake" node as the host. See the file 'SETUP.DOC' for the quick, down, and dirty setup to get your WWIV BBS ready for Fidonet echos. 4.3.1 Fake Network As mentioned above, running WWIVToss generally requires that you create a "fake" network with the name of Fidonet. Included with the WWIVTOSS package is a file called FIDO.ZIP, which contains the essentials of the fake network: BBSLIST.1, CONNECT.1, and CALLOUT.NET. Feel free to change the node number around. Remember that 1 node must be your system, and 1 node must be the "fake" node. The "fake" node is the one that will be listed in CALLOUT.NET. To set it up with WWIV, go into INIT and choose option 'N' (Networks). You will want to A)dd a network. It is advised that you add the network at the end of your existing networks to lessen the chances of messing up existing data files and subs. Once at the Add screen, set the network type to 'Fidonet'. The name of the network will be Fidonet (or whatever Fido-type network you are installing. The name is irrelevent to the operation of WWIVTOSS, and WWIVToss will handle multiple Fido-type networks.) The node number will be the node that you designated as your own in the network data files. Make sure to set the path of the network to reflect where your data files are located. *** Important Note: As of this writing (WWIV Ver. 4.24a and Net Ver 36), there are some bugs in the way the WWIV Software works. If you want to gate a sub on Fidonet, you MUST either turn OFF Network Validation, or set the network type in INIT to WWIVNET. For some reason, the network2 software does NOT set the "Net Val" flag on incoming Fidonet messages. And if the sub is set for Network Validation and the network type is Fidonet, messages will NOT be gated across to non-Fidonet networks. Therefore, if you want to gate a Fidonet echo to WWIV or vice-versa, you MUST either set Network Validation to NO or set the network type to WWIVNet. I am in the process of talking to Wayne and getting this changed. *** Once that is done, exit INIT and run NETWORK3 on that network, with the 'Y' parameter. This will analyze the network, create any necessary additional data files, and will send you email with the results of the analysis. Load up the BBS and read the network email. If you get a message about a "DE???.EXE Not Found - Contact your GC", ignore it, as the DE*.EXE files are not used by WWIVToss. If you get any other errors, you will need to check your setup and read the WWIV Network docs to help you determine what is wrong. Explicit help on this matter is beyond the scope of this documentation. Once you have successfully analyzed the network and all is fine, then you are setup network-wise, and can move on to setting up your subs. 4.3.2 Adding Subs In Fidonet terminology, subs are referred to as ECHOS, because of the method of distribution. It is important that you remember that echos = subs so as to not get too confused. This section will only discuss how to add echos to the WWIV database. Information on how to subscribe to echos and receive them from your Fidonet connect is beyond the scope of this document. Contact your local Fidonet Coordinator and/or hub for this information. Adding Fidonet echos is essentially the same as adding WWIV Subs. A listing of availible Fidonet echos can be obtained from your local Fidonet coordinator and/or your hub, and will typcially be in a file named either BACKBONE.NA or FIDONET.NA. It is reccomended that you print out a copy of the file to use as a reference. Each echo that you bring in will need to have a WWIV Subtype to it. This subtype may be numeric or alphanumeric. An alphanumeric subtype is defined as one whose first character is a letter. Whatever subtype you use must be unique to that sub on that particular network. In other words, you can have 2 subtype 12345 as long as they are on different networks. WWIV standard is to use your node number as a reference. If your node number is 8315, then your first sub would be subtype 8315, the second would be 18315, the third 28315, etc., making sure to keep under the 65535 limit. However, this is not required...you can start with 1 and move up, or start with 3456 and move down...however you want. Just make sure to write down what subtype goes with what echo. Likewise, you can use any AlphaNumeric subtype. Alphanumeric subtypes are limited to 7 characters. Load up WWIV and go into BOARDEDIT. Insert a sub at whatever location you desire. Most options will be entirely up to you, save for a few. Under option J, Networks, you want to A)dd a network. Choose Fidonet for the network. Under subtype, type in the subtype that you have assigned to that echo. When the system asks if you are the host, say 'N'. When it asks who the host is, enter the "fake" node number. When it asks if you want to auto-request or send email to the host, answer 'N'. If you answer yes, WWIVToss will merely ignore the requests. That's all there is to it. The other options (name, filename, AR, etc) are entirely up to you. Be aware that most, if not all Fidonet echos, require real names and will get pretty anal on you if you posts using a handle. Don't worry about setting the ANON: setting to real name, because WWIVToss will handle that completly, allowing you to set individual echos as Realname or Alias in the WSETUP program. Net validation is entirely up to you. You may wish to set it so that you can make sure that any posts from your system won't offend any rules of the echo, or you can trust that your users aren't going to be too bad and will use good judgement. It is reccomended that you thoroughly read and review the Fidonet policy statement, currently known as POLICY4. This explains the Fidonet structure, policy, and definitions of excessively annoying behavior. 4.4 WSETUP The WSETUP program handles the setup and configuration of WWIVTOSS. There are several standard keys used to navigate the menus: Menus with lightbars are navigated by the up/down arrow keys. Enter will choose the highlighted option. Hot keys for menu items are highlighted in Red. Pressing [ESC] will back you out of the menu. Pressing [ESC] at the first menu will exit the program and save the data files. Pressing Shift-F10 at any point in WSETUP will shell you to DOS. Type EXIT to return to WSETUP. Data entry fields are navigated by either the arrow keys or (preferably) the enter key. All fields are assumed to be in "update" mode. You can use these keys to edit the fields: Key Action --- ------ LeftArrow cursor left RightArrow cursor right UpArrow cursor up DownArrow cursor down Enter process field Ctrl-Enter process all fields Home beginning of field End end of field line / end of field Ins toggle field insert mode Del delete character at cursor BackSpace delete character left Ctrl-R restore field to original contents Esc abort data entry Some fields are not selectable at the same time as others because of the type of field. If you cannot access a field by moving to it, then you will have to press [ENTER] on the last field, or [CTRL-ENTER] from any field to process the fields and move to the next section. If you press [ESC], you are aborting the entry and will move back to the menu. WSETUP includes some occasional beeps to call your attention to something. If for some reason you DON'T want to hear these beeps, start WSETUP with the /Q parameter. 4.4.1 System Data Menu This is the first selection off of the Main Menu, and contains the basic information setup for WWIVToss. 4.4.1.1 Site Info BBS Name : This is the name of your BBS EXACTLY as it is written in INIT. This must be an exact match, because the registration key is keyed to this. Sysop Name: Your real name. This will be used on outgoing messages in the Areafix handling portion of WWIVToss. Location: Your City and State. Password: This is an optional password to control access to WSETUP. If you don't want a password, leave blank. Password is Case-SENSITIVE. Origin Line: This is the default origin line used on messages. Each echo allows you to specify an origin line for it. If you don't specify one, then this origin line will be used. Do NOT put your fidonet address in the origin line - WWIVToss will automaticaly add it for you. When you change this line, any echo that was using the default origin line will be changed to reflect this origin line. Logfile: Path and filename to a log file. If you don't want to have a log file, leave blank. Reg. Key: This is where you input your WWIVToss registration key. This key is specific to your BBS name as listed in INIT and under "BBS NAME" above. If you have registered WWIVToss, and it doesn't accept your code as valid, check your BBS Name in INIT and in "BBS NAME" with the name listed on the Regkey form, and check to make sure that you have entered your registration key correctly. If none of these solves the problem, please contact me immediately. 4.4.1.2 Network Addresses This is where you tell WWIVToss your Fidonet addresses, WWIV net number, and "fake" WWIV node for that network. It is not necessary to list your AKAs in any order. Under "Address", you will put your full 4d Fidonet address. Under "Fake WWIV Node", put the FAKE WWIV Node number for that network. Do not put your node number as listed in INIT! Under WWIV Net Number, put the number of the network as defined in INIT MINUS 1! I.E. The first network listed in INIT is network number 1. To list that network here, it would be as network 0. "Domain" is the Network Name. This is an optional field, and this is the only place (currently) where it is in use. The purpose of this field is just additional information so you can keep your network addresses straight while in WSETUP. 4.4.1.3 Path Names This is where you setup to the directories that WWIVToss needed to know about. Trailing slashes are required for WWIVToss to operate correctly. If you leave one off, WSETUP will add it for you. Reference your Mailer setup for the locations of some of these pathnames. Inbound Path: Path to inbound files. Where your mailer puts incoming files and packets. If you use GECHO, this is the same as INBOUND MAIL. If you use BinkleyTerm, this is the same as the NETFILE Keyword. Outbound Path: Path to outbound files. Where your mailer looks for files and packets to go out to other node. If you use GECHO, this is the same as OUTBOUND MAIL. If you use BinkleyTerm, this is the same as the HOLD keyword. Outbound Temp: Path to a temporary directory for outbound file processing. This is where the tosser will put files temporarily until it is ready to pack them up. If you are using GECHO, this is the path known as OUTBOUND PKTS. Netmail Path: Path to incoming netmail. Where your mailer puts incoming/outgoing netmail messages. Temp Dir: Path to a temporary directory for miscellaneous processing. A RAM disk will work just fine here. Bad Echo: A directory where WWIVToss will put any inbound messages that it cannot handle for some reason (No area defined, invalid address, etc). They will be stored as *.MSG files, and can be re-processed by running WWIVToss with the /B switch. 4.4.1.4 Archiver Setup This is a listing of the archivers supported by WWIVTOSS. You can edit any of them by moving the cursor over the one you wish to edit and pressing <ENTER>, or you can simply press the number of the archiver you want. You can edit the filename and switches for both archiving and unarchiving. Pressing [SPACE] over an archiver name in the listing sets that archiver as the default archiver...i.e. if WWIVTOSS can't tell immediately where the archived packet came from, or if the node isn't listed, it will use the default archiver that you select. Any archiver that you plan to use must be located in your path. There have been reports of the archiver listing "disappearing" from the menu. When you choose the Archiver Setup screen, you only get a blank screen. If this happens to you, run the included utility, INITARC.EXE, to re-initialize the archiver listing. 4.4.1.5 Area Groups This allows you to set up group names. Group names are optionally used to "conference" various areas together. I typically use groups to separate echos by network. This makes it easier to use the global options in AreaManager to set various options. This also comes into play when a downlink is AREAFIXing echos...the groups determine what areas a downlink has access to. 4.4.1.6 Area Uplink Manager This feature is not availible yet. 4.4.2 Miscellaneous Options Under this category are various options that will enable you to better control how WWIVToss handles various aspects of your mail and messages. Crash Mode: Default Crash status of mail and packets. If set to 0, ALL mail will be routed through the system designated as your route. If set to 1, then all mail will be routed except for mail destined for systems which are a part of your net. That mail will be set to Crash. If set to 2, then ALL mail will be set to Crash. Direct Mode: Default Direct status of mail and packets. If set to 0, the Direct flag will NOT be set on any messages. If set to 1, then only mail going to nodes in your zone and net will have the Direct flag set. If set to 2, all outgoing mail will have the Direct flag set. Center: Retain centering created by WWIV centering codes. Delete Sent: Set to 'Y' if you want messages that have been SENT to be deleted from your outbound directories. Import Rec'd: Set to 'Y' if you want incoming messages that have the RECEIVED flag set to be imported into WWIV. If you read mail from your mailer, then the RECEIVED flag will be set, and the mail will not be imported into WWIV unless you have this set to 'Y'. Use Areafix: Set to 'Y' if you want to use the internal AreaFix capabilities. Skip Mail: Set to 'Y' if you want WWIVToss to NOT import email messages. Cleanup Net: Set to 'Y' if you want WWIVToss to automatically run NETWORK2.EXE on your Fido networks after processing. It will only run NETWORK2.EXE if there is a LOCAL.NET file in that network directory. This feature is now defunct as WWIVTOSS no longer writes to a network packet, but rather writes directly to the WWIV Data Files! Mailer: The Spacebar toggles a listing of various mailers. This is to help determine how WWIVToss will handle outbound packets and file attaches. If your specific mailer is not listed, find one that closely resembles yours in flavour and operation. Set Immediate: Turning this on sets the IMMEDIATE flag on outgoing messages. If you are having a problem with crash messages NOT going out crash, then you can try setting this to 'Y' to make it go out immediately. Auto Add Area: Turning this toggle on tells WWIVTOSS to automatically add areas to Area Manager if a message comes in for an area that does not exist. You will recieve a short message about the area, and it will be set with a subtype of -1. Further messages for this echo will be tossed to the Bad Echo directory. You will need to go to Area Manager to set the necessary variables for this echo. Log Passthru: This toggle determines if WWIVTOSS is to log messages that are passing through your system and destined for another. i.e. if you are hubbing several people, then as WWIVTOSS is scanning the incoming packets for messages destined for you, it will also be packing up those messages which also go to other systems. This toggle writes to the log the area name and who the message is destined for. If you carry a lot of traffic for a lot of nodes, this can really cause your log file to grow huge in size. Pass High ASCII: Toggling this to 'Y' allows high ASCII characters to go out in Netmail. Note: Echomail ASCII settings are controled in Area Setup. Route Mail?: This option allows you to disable mail routing and allow your mailer to fully control how mail is routed. The default setting for this is 'Y'. Keep Log X Days?: This option allows you to have WWIVToss automatically purge your log of old entries. Set this value to the number in days that you want WWIVToss to keep the log. In other words, setting it to 7 will cause WWIVToss to remove all entries in the log that are older than 7 days. Set this value to 0 to disable log purging. Colorize TO: Line: This option enables you to have the TO: line on incoming messages colorized and placed in the standard WWIV message header information format. Note, however, that there will be some blank line between the header and the TO: line - this is because of WWIV's programming, and not WWIVTOSS. Initial Quotes : Turning this option on forces WWIVToss to add the author's initials before the > on outgoing messages. Fidonet users tend to be rather anal about that feature, so I added it to shut them up. Note, this feature will ONLY work on outgoing MESSAGES (not Email!), only if you have the network type set to FIDONET, and only if you use the standard > as your leading quote character. 4.4.3 Area Manager This is where you set up your echos so that WWIVToss knows how to handle them. If you receive echoes that are NOT listed in here, then they will be sent to the Bad Echo directory and not be processed. Please note: Area Manager does NOT check WWIV to see that you've got the subtype defined in there! Name: Echo Name as listed with Fidonet Comment: Description of this echo. For your benefit only. Directory: Directory that individual messages for this area should be written to. This option is only used when the area TYPE is set to 2 - Write to *.MSG Files. Type: Determines how WWIVTOSS should treat this area. A type of 0 means that the area is PASSTHRU only, and no messages on this area will be imported to the BBS. A type of 1 means that the area will have all messages imported to the WWIV BBS. A type of 2 means that messages will NOT be imported to the BBS, but will be written as individual .MSG files in the specified directory, so they can be read from within your mailer. To choose the type, press the number that corresponds to the appropriate type. Group: Group that this echo belongs to. (A-J). Optional. Subtype: WWIV Subtype for this echo. Should match with one in BOARDEDIT. Can be either numeric or alphanumeric. If you set the subtype to 0, then the area will be considered a PASSTHRU, meaning that messages for that area will only get passed on to other nodes listed in your EXPORT list for this area. WWIVTOSS will NOT attempt to import those messages to the BBS. A Subtype of -1 means that the area was automatically added by WWIVToss, and that it needs your attention to set it up. Messages coming in for an echo with a subtype of -1 will be tossed to the Bad Echo directory. CAUTION: If you use a subtype of 0, no copy of the messages in that area will remain on your hard drive. You will NOT be able to go back and pick up the older messages! This is mainly an option for people operating as hub systems. Netnum: WWIV Network Number (as listed in INIT) (MINUS 1!!!) for this echo. Use Trans.: Enables/disables the use of character translation tables for this echo. See section 4.4.6 for more information. Use Alias: If this echo allows the use of Aliases. WWIV Color: If WWIV Color Codes can be used. High ASCII: If High ASCII (128-255) should be passed. If No, high ASCII codes are replaced with a space. Keep BBS Tag: If WWIV Taglines (BBS Taglines) are to be kept. If set to 'N' (default), WWIVToss will delete all WWIV BBS taglines that it detects by the \004# preceeding the line. If the # is 0, WWIVToss will remove the line no matter what the setting. If set to 'Y', WWIVToss will keep the tagline and treat it as part of the message. Valid. Incoming: This option allows you to set incoming messages as requiring net validation before they go out to various gateways. When this option is set to 'Y' *AND* the sub is set to Val. Network in BOARDEDIT, then incoming messages from Fidonet will have the "Not Network Validated" flag set, thus requiring validation before they go out. If the option is set to 'N' and the sub is set to Val. Network in BOARDEDIT, then only messages coming in via gateways will require validation - Incoming Fidonet messages will not need validation, and will go out immediately. Origin: Origin line for this echo. If left blank, the default origin line will be used. Do NOT put your Fido address in here! Export: Nodes to export this echo to. Use the Left/Right arrows to cycle through the areas. Press [ENTER] to edit the area. To jump to an area, press the first letter of the area name. Subsequent presses of that letter will cycle through all areas that start with that letter. Pressing [ESC] takes you back to the main menu. Press [DEL] to delete the current Area. Press [INS] to add an area. Areas will be sorted alphabetically upon leaving Area Manager. Press 'HOME' to go to the first entry, 'END' to go to the last. When editing an area, the Export field will not be processed until you have finished with all other areas. In the 'Export To Nodes' window, use the area keys to move around, and 'ENTER' to edit. 'Delete' will delete the highlighted node. Pressing F2 from the main area screen (not editing) will allow you to globally edit several options. These options are: Group Identifier Use Alias Use WWIV Color Allow High ASCII Keep BBS Tag Change WWIV Network Number Change Origin Edit Export Nodes (Add, Delete, Edit) 4.4.4 Node Manager This is the section where you tell WWIVTOSS how to handle mail for other systems. Each system that you connect to should be listed in here, and the relevent information entered. Address: Address of the node to define. Sysop: Sysop's name of this node. Packet PW: Password to use on packets to this node. Leave blank to disable. WARNING! Make sure that you have discussed this security feature with your connect, or you may screw things up! ** Not Currently Implemented! ** Areafix PW: Password for this node to use with Areafix. Allowed Groups: Echo groups that this area is allowed to access using AREAFIX. The groups are A-J. Toggle them by pressing the letter. [ENTER] completes the data entry. Warning - if all areas are turned off, then the node will NOT be able to do anything with AREAFIX. Archive Stat: How packets for this node should be sent. HOLD, CRASH, or NONE. If you send mail to this node, the mail will be sent out using these settings, overriding any mail routing. Use <SPACEBAR> to cycle through, and ENTER to accept. Compression: How packets going to/from this node should be compressed. Up/Down arrow keys to move highlight, ENTER to accept. Or, press the number of the desired archiver. Use the Left/Right arrow keys to cycle through the node. Press [ENTER] to edit the area. Press [DEL] to delete the current Node. Press [INS] to add an Node. Nodes will be sorted numerically upon leaving Node Manager. Press 'HOME' to go to the first entry, 'END' to go to the last. 4.4.5 Route Manager The menu controls how mail will be routed. Mail routing is done in a very simplified manner. The Route-To address is the Fidonet address that you will route mail TO. Zone is the zone that covers what gets routed to this node. Currently, WWIVToss only allows you to route ALL mail from 1 zone through 1 system. 4.4.6 Translation Tables This section allow you to set up character translation tables. You can tell WWIVToss that when it sees a certain character (ASCII 33-255) that it should substitute a user-defined character. i.e. You can tell WWIVToss that every time is encounters a '■' in a message, it should replace it with a '▓'. There are different translation tables for incoming and outgoing messages. These character translation tables only work on Echos, and only those echos with the 'Translate Table' option set to 'Y'. Characters availible for translation are only those whose ASCII code is greater that 32. To use the translation tables, choose the character that you wish to replace and type it in. For non-alphanumeric characters, use the alt-### code on the keypad. You will then be able to type in the character that you wish to replace it with. Changed characters will show up on the list in red. Pressing [ESC] leaves the translation table, and you are prompted if you want to save the changes or not. 4.4.7 Export Manager This menu lets you export information to an ASCII text file. You can export the contents of Node Manager, Area Manager, A listing of Area Groups and Names, a straight listing of echos (with or without WWIV Subtype included), and a listing of echoes sorted by WWIV Subtype. 4.5 Upgrading from WFIDO/WWIVGATE If you've been running WFIDO/WWIVGATE, then you know most of what's going on. You also know that you've probably got a lot of echos and you don't feel like trying to re-type all of that information in. Included with the WWIVTOSS archive is a zipfile called WTINST.ZIP. In this file is the WTINST program. This program will prompt you for the FULL path (path AND filename) of your WWIV.INI and your WFIDO.DAT (or equivalent). It will read those files in, and transfer as much information as possible from those 2 files to the WWIVTOSS Data files that it will create. Not a lot will be transferred from WWIV.INI, as WFIDO/WWIVGATE relied on global settings, whereas WWIVTOSS uses area-specific variables. WFIDO.DAT (or it's equivalent) will yield the most data. WTINST will be able to read your network data (Fido addresses, "fake" nodes, and WWIV network numbers) as well as your area setup information. You will still need to go through and fine tune things, as well as adding some information that WWIVTOSS needs...but at least you don't have to manually enter all of your areas. And with the 'Global Options' availible in Area Manager, it will be fairly easy to upgrade. Some things to remember. There is no need for your mail tosser (Gecho, Squish, or whatever) anymore. There is also no need for any kind of "point" setup to import Fidonet messages. Be sure and read these docs thoroughly and carefully to see all of the features availible, as well as the new and better way of handling WWIV/Fido interfacing. =================== 5 Running WWIVTOSS =================== As mentioned above, WWIVToss should be run from your main WWIV directory. It needs to be here to find all of the necessary data files. 5.1 Importing (/I) To import messages from Fidonet into WWIV, run WWIVTOSS /I. This will check the inbound file directory for compressed packets. It will then uncompress these packets using the appropriate unarchiver (assuming it can tell from the filename where the packet came from) or the default unarchiver, if the originating system is unknown. If WWIVTOSS cannot unarchive the packet, it will rename it to *.BAD and let you know that you need to check on it. WWIVToss will then read each packet, 1 message at a time, and determine where the message will go. For messages destined for other systems, it will write the message to a packet in the outbound temp directory. For messages destined for your system, it will translate the Fido message to WWIV and write the message to temporary file called LOCAL.$$$. Once processing is finished, WWIVTOSS will go through the network directories and rename LOCAL.$$$ to LOCAL.NET. This prevents the system from colliding if one node runs WWIVTOSS and the other runs the WWIV Network software. WWIVTOSS will process ALL incoming packets, regardless of the FTN. The archived and unarchived inbound packets will be removed. After all packets have been processed, WWIVToss will pack up any OUTGOING packets that were created by the import process. The /I switch can be used with /O, /P, and /D. 5.2 Exporting (/O) To export messages from WWIV to Fidonet, run WWIVTOSS /O. WWIVToss will then look for outbound packets in ALL of the appropriate WWIV network directories. It is looking for a file named SXXXX.NET, where XXXX is the "fake" WWIV Node number. It will ONLY process those packets in defined (in WSETUP) networks. Once WWIVToss has found an outbound packet, it will read in each message and translate it from WWIV style to Fidonet style, and pack it up in the appropriate outgoing packet. Once the outgoing WWIV packets are processed and removed, WWIVToss will pack the outbound packets into compressed (if defined in WSETUP) packets for the appropriate nodes and will create file attach messages. The /O switch can be used with /I, /P, and /D. It is unnecessary to use it with the /P. 5.3 Pack (/P) If you just want to pack up any outgoing temporary packets, run WWIVTOSS /P. This is generally unnecessary, as WWIVTOSS assumes that the /P switch has been used when processing outgoing messages, or when inbound messages are getting passed to other Fidonet nodes. The /P switch can be used with the /I, /O, and /D switches. 5.4 Scan Bad (/B) WWIVToss places messages that it does not know how to handle in the Bad Echo directory. It may have encountered an area that is not listed in AREAS.DAT, or a grunged header, or inbound mail for an unknown person. You can run WWIVTOSS /B to re-scan the messages in the Bad Echo area. It will go through each individual message and attempt to import it again. Any messages that it cannot handle will be left in the Bad Echo directory. The /B switch can only be used with /D. 5.5 Debug (/D) Running WWIVToss with the /D switch will process additional information if you wish to watch what WWIVToss is doing. Use of this switch will slow processing down some, and will result in an overflow of information to your screen. It is reccommended that you redirect output to a file if you wish to use the /D switch. Using /D1 will display the message contents as well. The /D switch can be used with any other switch. 5.6 Multiple Switches As mentioned above, several of the switches can be used together. The /I and /O switches can be used together to import and export messages all at once. WWIVToss will always Import before it Exports. The /P switch is assumed whenever /O is used, or when /I is used and some imported messages are being passed on to other Fidonet systems. The /D switch can be used with ALL switches, to aid in debugging. The /B switch is solely useable with the /D switch. 5.7 Calling WWIVToss from your mailer There are several ways to call WWIVToss. Most likly, your mailer will have an option to exit after receiving mail. In your RUN.BAT file (or whatever batch file you use to run your system), you will want to have a section that is run whenever mail is received. In that section, simply have the line WWIVTOSS /I /O And WWIVToss will process incoming messages, then outgoing messages. In addition, you will want to have a check at the top of your batch file which looks in each WWIV "Fidonet" network directory for an outgoing packet (S<FAKENODE>.NET). If one is detected, then you will want to go to your WWIV directory and run WWIVTOSS /O to process the outgoing mail. The details are up to you. If you are setting up WWIV and Fido for the first time, then I reccomend that you get SHOE.TXT, which is a text file on how to set things up. I will be more than happy to help anyone who is interested in hooking their BBS up to Fidonet - I keep most of my configuration files online at my BBS. 5.8 Areafix Support WWIVToss will enable you to serve as a Fidonet hub system as well as bring Fidonet into your WWIV BBS. Each Area has a section for "Export Nodes" to list those systems that you send messages on that echo to. You can either manually add and delete nodes in the Area Manager window, or nodes (aka "downlinks") can manage their own hookups using AREAFIX. Each node has an AreaFix password setup in Node Manager. To use AREAFIX, the sysop of the downlink should send mail to your system, addressed to 'AREAFIX'. The subject (title) line should contain their password. The body of the message will contain various command words, depending on what they want to do. %HELP - Will send the contents of the 'AREAFIX.HLP' file, found in your main WWIV directory. You may edit this file as you see fit. %LIST - Sends a list of all Areas that you carry that are availible to that downlink. %QUERY - Sends a list of all areas that a node is connected to that downlink. %UNLINKED - Sends a list of all areas that a node is NOT connected to that downlink. %COMPRESSION <TYPE> - Changes the standard compression for this downlink. TYPE is the 3-letter abbreviation for the Compression type. Valid types supported by WWIVTOSS are: PKT, ARC, ARJ, LZH, PAK, ZIP, ZOO, SQZ, and RAR. Do not use the <>. %PASSWORD <NEW PASSWORD> - Changes the areafix password for this downlink. NEW PASSWORD is the new password to be used. Note, the new password will be in effect IMMEDIATELY upon being changed. Do not use the <>. %+ALL - Turns on ALL availible areas for this downlink. %-ALL - Turns off ALL availible areas for this downlink. +<ECHONAME> - Turns on the specified echo for this downlink. Do not use the <>. -<ECHONAME> - Turns off the specified echo for this downlink. Do not use the <>. All commands are processed in the order in which they are received. All commands which activate or list an echo will check to see if the node has access to that group before doing so. ======================= 6 Features of WWIVToss ======================= There are several features of WWIVToss that aren't readily apparent, but that need to be discussed. The first is email addressing. Email From WWIV To Fido ======================= To send e-mail from your WWIV system to a Fidonet system, you and your users need to use the format: USER NAME (FIDONET NODE) @<FAKENODE) In other words, if you want to send me email via Fidonet, and your fidonet "fake" WWIV Node is @5555, then you would address it as: Craig Dooley (1:376/126) @5555 And choose "Fidonet" if WWIV gives you a selection of networks. For people on a WWIV Based network that your system is on to send email through your gateway, they would address it as: FIDONET USERNAME (FIDONET NODE) AT <FAKE NODE> @<network node> In other words, if Wayne Bell (1@1.WWIVNet) wanted to send Fidonet mail to me through Byte's system (1@1350.WWIVNet), he would address it as: FIDONET Craig Dooley (1:376/126) AT 5555 @1530 Assuming that Byte's "fake" node for Fidonet was @5555. This also assumes that you are running Net35 or higher. Email WWIV from Fido ==================== Obviously, for a Fidonet system to email a user on your system, they need to merely address mail like they normally would. WWIVToss will check for incoming email addressed to real name AND handles. For a Fidonet system to send Fidonet mail through your gateway, they need to do some strange addressing to take advantage of WWIV's gateing abilities. The mail must be addressed as: ``USERNAME`` #@node.network and sent to your fidonet node. The USERNAME is the handle of the person that they are emailing, and it *MUST* be enclosed in double `. Notice that these are ` (0x60) and not '(0x27). There is a BIG difference. # is the user number of the person, node is their network node, and network is the network. For example. If George Baker on Fidonet wanted to email Wayne Bell on WWIVNet through my gateway, he would address the mail as: ``RANDOM`` 1@1.WWIVNET @1:376/126 This will work for any network that the gateway system is on. This means that Fidonet people will be able to auto-reply to gated messages and email! Overriding the Crashmail setting ================================ There may come a time when you want to send email to someone, and you want it to go out crash even though, based on your normal settings, the mail would get routed. Rather than go through the process of shelling to DOS, loading WSETUP, changing the Crash mail setting, going back to the BBS, writing the message, processing it, and resetting the crash bit, you can simply put an '*' as the first character in the name. i.e. if you wanted to send mail to me, and you wanted it Crash when it would normally be routed, you would address it to: *Craig Dooley (1:376/126) @<fakenode> WWIVToss, when processing the mail, would see the '*', remove it, and send the mail (and ONLY that mail) as crash. This feature will ONLY work for user number 1. When WWIVToss sees the '*' as the first character, it checks to see who sent it. If user #1 sent it, it processes it as crash. If someone else sent it, it ignores it and processes it as a normal email. Aliasing/Skipping Mail ====================== WWIVTOSS has the option of either ignoring mail to certain users (i.e. not importing) or directing mail addressed to certain user name to different accounts on your BBS (i.e. You can put variations of your real name in the file and have all messages addressed to any of those permutations sent to your account.) To enable this feature, you need to create a file in your WWIV directory called SKIPMAIL.LST. This is a straight ASCII text file, and there is no limit to the number of lines. Each line is of the format: USER_NAME USERNUM Where USER_NAME is the name that WWIVTOSS needs to look for. Note: All spaces in the name MUST be replaced by underlines. i.e. My name, Craig Dooley, would be listed in the file as CRAIG_DOOLEY. Case does not matter. USERNUM is the number of the user to send the message to. If you want to ignore mail to this user, then use 0 as the usernum. Note that there MUST be at least 1 space between USER_NAME and USERNUM! Miscellaneous Features ====================== When a bad message or email is received, WWIVToss will notify the sysop via SSM. If mail comes in that in undeliverable for any reason (no such name, the user has been deleted, or incorrect addressing), the mail, along with an explanation, will be bounced back to the originator of the email. One thing about WWIVToss that may cause you a problem: Quoting. If you have your quote identifier set to a high-ASCII character such as '»', then WWIVToss will strip it out completely when exporting messages on echos that have high-ASCII set to NO. You can either set HIGH_ASCII on for each echo, and risk the wrath of some moderator for letting high ASCII codes go out over the network, or you can change your Quote Identifier to something whose ASCII code is less than 128. (i.e. >, which is 62. ========== 7 Support ========== WWIVTOSS is guaranteed solely to take up space on your hard drive. It works for me, it worked for the beta testers, and it should work for you. If it doesn't, the odds are likely that you set something up wrong. I will do everything that I can to help you out. I can't guarantee that I can fix your problems, nor can I guarantee that I will always be around to offer support. However, if it is within my capabilities, I will do what I can. If you have any comments or suggestions on things that need to be added, or if you discover any errors/glitches, please let me know. I am more than open to suggestions and comments. Support can be found on the WWIVToss Support Sub. Subtype: WTOSS Host: @6100.WWIVNet @8315.Icenet, Terranet, SierraLink @8304.TFALINK @18315.WWIVLink @350.Filenet Fidonet Echo WWIVTOSS - Hopefully Coming Soon to the Fidonet Backbone! I can be reached at: 1@6100 WWIVNet 1@8315 Icenet, Terranet, Apex, SierraLink 1@8315 GlobalNet 1@1 Dreamnet 1@18315 WWIVLink 1@8304 TFALink 1@8300 FiitaNet 1:376/126 Fidonet 1@350 Filenet morgul@worldnet.att.net Internet The latest version of WWIVToss can be FREQ'd from my system (1:376/126) by using the magic name of WWIVTOSS. There are a large number of helpful Fidonet related files availible on my BBS, as well as one of the largest WWIV Support collections in existence. Feel free to call and see what's availible. The Trading Post [SOUTH] - (803) 731-0690 Auto-Sysop Validation. ========== 8 Credits ========== "Fidonet Technology" Chapter taken from the documentation for the GECHO Mail tosser. Written by Gerard Van Der Land. Used by permission. "WWIV Technology" Chapter taken from the WWIV Net Technical Docs. Written by Wayne Heyward. Used by permission. This product uses the SPAWNO routines by Ralf Brown to minimize memory use while shelling to DOS and running other programs. Thanks go to: Kevin Carpenter, for his WWIVGATE program, that I relied on. Shay Walters, for his Fourdog program, which I relied on. The guys in Fidonet Net 376, for their patience while I constantly tested the program. Specific thanks to David Hamiter (1:376/140), George Baker (1:376/178), Kevin Parris (1:376/130), and Daniel Morgan (1:376/194). Frank Reid, for offering some solutions to a few sticky bits of coding, as well as providing me with the WWIVGATE 1.0 source code, and passing on some messages from other people with answers to some of my questions. Lawrence C. Bensiger, for giving me code and tips on getting WWIVToss to write directly to the WWIV Message Bases. Without his help, lord only knows how long this feature would have taken! The Beta Testers: Ford 1@1266.WWIVNet 1:202/409@fidonet Hobbit 1@4295.WWIVNet 1:260/715@fidonet David Jones 1@4161.WWIVNet 1:230/62@fidonet Byte 1@1350.WWIVNet 1:103/105@fidonet Wayne Bell, for writing WWIV. My Boss, for not knowing what I was doing on company time <G> And last, but certainly not least, my wife Norma for letting me bounce my thoughts on problems off of her. She may not have understood all that I was talking about, but she listened and let me talk things out. She also didn't get mad at all the hours I spent in front of my computer working on the program. Love you, Norma! ============================================================================== End of WWIVTOSS.DOC Copyright (c) 1996-97 by Craig Dooley All Rights Reserved. No section of this document may be used elsewhere without the express written permission of Craig Dooley.