ftp.wwiv.com/ftp.wwiv.com.zip/ftp.wwiv.com/pub/INTERNET/VUU101.ZIP/VUUCP.TXT

Text File | 1993-04-17 | 12KB | 311 lines

                          VUUAccess

                  A VUUCP Replacement Tool
                        Developed by
                      Mitchel F. Ludwig

                      Version 1.01

New Features in v1.01 :

   - Added support for "" in Waffle static file.
   - Fixed bug in static file parsing which ignored last
     line of static file.
   - Added better handling of RMAIL/RNEWS with bad header
     info.
     Bad header info is now logged to the .log file, but the
     processing of information will continue.
   - Added better handling of messages which exceed the limit
     VBBS imposes.  Now, messages of > 32K are logged as such
     and skipped.  Processing continues.
   - Tracking of mail.  Mail messages are logged, in their
     entirity, to the .log file.  Remember to clean it up, on
     an active system, it will get big quick.

Registration :

    As of the 1.01 release of the VUUAccess code,  I am  now
taking registration info for the software.  Registration  is
$25.00 US, and for that you get, basically, nothing.  Except
for  the work I've  done, the easy  documentation, the quick
and helpful  support, and  the nasty looks from my wife, you
get nothing.   Honestly though, I'm all for shareware, and I
think VUUAccess is a very useful package.   Just like I feel
anyone  using  Waffle  to  transport UUCP  should be using a
registered copy of their software, you should register this.
    Once registered,  sysops  will receive notification,  by
mail,  of any updates to the  VUUAccess code.  Additionally,
I will accept any reasonable  requests for enhancements, bug
fixes, documentation work,  whatever, from registered users.
Also,  the nifty part,  registered users will get access  to
an anonymous login  to my system,  from which  they will  be
able to  download the  latest  and greatest  VUUAccess code.
Please send the following information, along with your check
to my address (at the bottom of this document).

   Full Name        :
   Street Address   :
   City, St, Zip    :
   UUCP System Name :
   Your account on  :
   VBBS Node #      :
   VBBS Handle      :


The System :

      First  off,  let me state my kudos to  Roland  for  an
excellent package in VBBS.  I've never met the man, but  his
determination  and  drive have been of benefit  to  us  all.
Kissing  up  finished, let me state that,  while  the  VUUCP
package  provided for VBBS is usable, it's  no  picnic.   To
that end, begins my story...
     About two years ago, I started using VBBS.  Up to then,
I had run both a Waffle BBS, as well as a public access UNIX
system.   When  I  moved to VBBS, I looked at  the  original
VUUCP.  Although it worked, it was anything but useful.   It
was  difficult to manage, and frequently didn't work at all.
At that point, I started using Waffle as a door from my VBBS
system, and began to look for alternatives.
      It  took  me about two months to decided  that,  if  I
wanted  my USENET news/mail directed into VBBS, I was  going
to have to do it myself.  Took me two years to get around to
it.  Thus was born VUUAccess.

   Please note.  This software is currently in BETA test.  I
don't guarentee anything.  It's clean, as far as I can tell,
but you never know.
   Those who take the software are encouraged to let me know
what the deal is. I'd appreciate any comments you might have
on how to improve it.  Also, if you find it useful, and  you
are going to use it, a $25.00 donation is requested.     Not
required, mind you, but requested.  You can send it to me at
the address below.




Installation :

      Installation of VUUAccess is about as easy as it gets.
Merely  place  the  VUUCP.EXE  program  in  your  root  VBBS
directory, and your installed.  It is assumed that  you  are
already  running Waffle, using the 1.64 release  or  better.
There  are  no  configuration programs, no install  scripts,
nothing.   All  you need to do is define a  few  environment
variables, and you are off.  They are :

          WAFFLE  :   This is the default Waffle environment
          variable.  It should point to the static file  for
          your Waffle system.

          TEMP  :    This should point to a directory  where
          temporary files can be worked on.

          VBBS  :    This points to the VBBS home directory.
          It should be an explicit drive and path.

          VBBSID  :  This is your VBBS node number.  If  you
          have  a registered number, place it here.  If not,
          use  whatever is in your network configuration for
          VBBS (usually 0).

          SIG  :           This points to the file that  you
          want appended to the end of all outgoing mail  and
          news.   Much like the VBBS taglines, it should  be
          something  that  describes your  system.   If  you
          don't  want  one,  you can leave this  environment
          variable unassigned.

      That's  all there is to it.  VUUAccess is now set  up.
All  you need to do on the VBBS end to make it active is set
up  Network  type  9  in the VCONFIG  package.   Enter  your
network node name, and you are ready to fly.

      To  test  the  system, and see if it is  working,  try
mailing  from  VBBS to an existing account  on  your  Waffle
system.  From VBBS, send mail, using the correct network, to
the account on the Waffle system.   For example, if you have
an  account  named  root  on your  Waffle  system,  mail  to
root@youraddress, where youraddress is the USENET address of
your  machine.   After leaving the VBBS  session,  VUUAccess
should  send the mail to your Waffle system.  Log  into  the
Waffle system, and check to make sure that it is there.  You
should have received mail from username.usernum@youraddress,
where  username the name entered in the last name  field  on
your VBBS system, usernum is the account number you have  on
VBBS, and youraddress is your network address.  Once this is
working, you can move on.  If any problems occur, check  the
Waffle  error  logs  for  the type of  problem  encountered.
Common problems include :

          Incorrectly setting up environment variables.

          No path to Waffle bin directory.

          Bad Waffle static file setup.





Configuring Mail :

      To  set up the ability to receive mail, run the  VUUCP
package  using  the  /P  option.  This  will  generate  user
aliases for your system.  When it is done running, check the
alias  file for your Waffle system.  For each user  on  your
system, you should see a line similar to:

    username.usernum | vuucp /E NETWORKID=9 username.usernum

      This information tells Waffle that when mail comes  in
for  username.usernum,  to pass it  to  the  VUUCP  program.
Based  on  the  Network type and destination address,  VUUCP
will mail the incoming mail to the correct VBBS address.

      Once  this had been completed, try mailing from Waffle
to  VBBS.  From waffle, send mail to your VBBS address as it
is  displayed in the aliases file.  You should see the VUUCP
banner as the program routes the mail to VBBS.  Now log into
VBBS.   The mail tosser should mail a number of messages  to
various  users.   These include both your test  message,  as
well  as welcome messages from VUUCP to the new USENET users
on  your  system.  Once this is completed, log in  and  read
mail.   You  should have two messages from the USENET.   One
should  be  a  welcome  message, the other  your  mail  from
Waffle.   If  this is not occurring, check the Waffle  error
files.




Configuring News :

      Assuming  the  correct installation of  VUUAccess  for
mail, installation for news support is infinitely easy.  The
administrator need only add the newsgroups to  Vconfig  that
he/she  wished to make available to users into a  sub  area,
and off he/she goes.

      In order to pass news to VBBS, it is necessary that  a
line be added to whatever batch file will be used to poll  a
host  machine on the USENET network.  For example,  using  a
batch file named poll.bat, the file could look like :

          UUXQT
          BATCH
          UUCICO -s all
          UUXQT
          c:\vbbs\VUUCP /n NETWORKID=9
          expire

     In short, this does the following :

          UUXQT :   Runs the Waffle UUXQT program to process
          any incoming mail/news that may still be there.

          BATCH :   Will create batches of news for outgoing
          processing.

          UUCICO :  Will poll any system in your L.sys file.

          UUXQT  :    Process  any news/mail  that  came  in
          during the uucico session.

          VUUCP  :    Execute VUUCP, and read into VBBS  any
          new incoming news.

          EXPIRE  :   Run a third party (also available  for
          download) expire program to clean up old news.


      Any  incoming  news which also has  an  entry  in  the
network subs list for your VBBS system will be read  in  and
passed to VBBS as a new post.
ALIASES.SYS File :

      If there exist on your system any aliases you wish  to
keep  at  all  times,  you may place a file  in  the  system
directory  of  your Waffle system called aliases.sys.   This
file will be appended to the aliases file each time VUUCP is
executed  with  the /P option.  Use this file  for  aliasing
accounts like root into your VBBS system.



External Events :

      To correctly process information in VUUCP, a number of
external  events  need  to be set up.   At  a  minimum,  the
following  events should be placed in your  external  events
list in Vconfig.

     c:\vbbs\VUUCP /P NETWORKID=network_number

           This  tells  VUUCP to create the alias  file  for
Waffle  at  a specified time of each day.  This  should  run
once per day, usually in the evening or early morning.

     c:\waffle\bin\POLL.bat

           This tells VBBS to call Waffle to poll out  to  a
host  system.  This can occur any number of times  during  a
day, but should occur at least once per day.



Logging of Information :

      The  VUUCP  log is located in the VBBS data directory.
Any  pertinent  information is logged here.  This  includes,
but is not limited to, mail and news traffic to and from the
VBBS system.
VUUCP Execution parameters :

      The  VUUCP  package  is  called  using  the  following
conventions :

          VUUCP /option NETWORKID=network_number [user].

      When  executing VUUCP, a number of calling  parameters
may be passed.  They are :

          /U  :  Any outgoing news/mail will be passed  from
          the VBBS system to rnews or rmail.

          /P  :  Build alias file.  This will build an alias
          file  by  combining any VBBS accounts into  USENET
          accounts, as well as including any aliases in your
          aliases.sys file.  Additionally, new USENET  users
          will   have  mailed  to  them  a  welcome  message
          explaining a little bit about the USENET.

          /E  :  Pass  incoming mail from USENET to  a  VBBS
          account.

          /N : Process incoming news from USENET into VBBS.




   For more information, or to download VUUAccess, call :

                   The Starship Bistromath
                        908-940-1012
                        24hrs v.32bis

                        or mail me at

                        1@9083 (VNet)
                [e-mail] (USENET)
              [e-mail] (USENET)


               Snail Mail :

               Mitchel F. Ludwig
               105 Lindsey Court
               Franklin Park, NJ 08823