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1986-12-02
|
14KB
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385 lines
ARCMAIL
| Version 0.60
NOTICE:
-------
As a courtesy of System Enhancement Associates, there is now
a utility which may be used to ARC and deARC mail packets.
| This utility is ARCmail version 0.60. This is not a fully
supported product, it is available on a "use as is" basis.
We do not promise that we will ever develop this concept
beyond this initial prototype version. But this does not
mean that we will not support this program at all.
* * * * *
FEATURES:
---------
ARCmail is both Fido and SEAdog compatible, and should be
executed from either the Fido or SEAdog root directory. It
can be executed from anywhere if the SEADOG= environment
string has been set.
ARCmail automates the process of packetizing and
depacketizing messages and ARCing and unARCing the packetized
messages.
ARCmail may be executed several times a day to packetize any
additional outgoing messages and to place them into multiple
ARCmail files with unique names; thus allowing you to send
multiple ARCmail files to the same destination on the same
day.
ARCmail generates and ARCs file with unique names between the
sender and receiver.
ARCmail's display output may be redirected to a file for the
purpose of maintaining an ARCmail log.
* * * * *
Creating an ARCed packet:
-------------------------
ARCmail may be used to packetize and compress all messages
destined to one or more nodes as follows:
arcmail to 107/7 132/101
This would cause all mail addressed to either 107/7 or
132/101 to be packetized and archived, with appropriate file
attach messages if necessary.
Thus to use ARCmail with EchoMail, the sender may use the
following:
scanmail run -maxmsgs 2000 -short
arcmail to 107/7 107/16 107/312 100/76 132/101
| ARCmail can also take a list of nodes in a file as follows:
| arcmail to list nodes.lst
| The format of the file is very simple. Each "word" in the
| file is examined to see if it consists of two numbers
| separated by a slash. If it is, then it is considered to be
| a network address to which mail should be archived. If it is
| not, then it is ignored. No error messages are generated.
| Any given address may be listed multiple times in the file
| without harm. This is specifically designed to allow the use
| of an AREAS.BBS file as the list of nodes.
| As an example, a simple way to archive all outgoing echomail
| is to use the following:
| scanmail run -short
| arcmail to list areas.bbs
* * * * *
Processing the ARCed packet:
----------------------------
The receiver may then decompress and depacketize all his/her
messages as follows:
arcmail from 107/312 132/101
Hence the receiver may use the following to process ARCed
EchoMail messages:
arcmail from 107/7 107/16 107/312 100/76 132/101
tossmail run
| It is also permissible, though somewhat more risky, to use
| the keyword "ALL". This tells ARCmail to look for possible
| received ARCmail packets, and to unpacket all which are
| found. An example would be:
| arcmail from all
| ARCmail will abort if it attempts to unpacket something which
| turns out not to be a mail archive.
* * * * *
Detecting unprocessed packets:
------------------------------
ARCmail is capable of detecting received mail archives that
have not yet been unpacked. To see who has sent you ARCmail
that you have not processed, you should use the following:
arcmail from who
The use of improper grammar in this command indicates that
ARCmail is less bright than it could be here. The technique
used to detect unprocessed mail archives is fairly reliable,
but not completely so.
To assist in writing batch files, the "who" option above
causes ARCmail to terminate with an error level equal to the
number of possible mail archives found. For example, if
ARCmail detects three possible mail archives, then it will
terminate with an error level of three.
Detecting created packets:
--------------------------
ARCmail is capable of informing you of what outbound mail
packets you have, and who they were created for. To see what
outbound mail packets exist, type:
arcmail to who
The use of improper grammar here indicates less than total
reliability, as with the "from who" option. All existing
outbound ARCmail packets are shown, regardless of whether or
not they have been sent.
Again, as with the "from who" option, ARCmail will exit with
an error level equal to the number of possible mail archives
| detected which are non-zero in length.
* * * * *
Naming conventions used:
------------------------
The name of the ARC file which contains the ARCed mail
packets is:
xxxxyyyy.wwc
where:
xxxx == Net number of sender minus net number of
receiver, as four hexadecimal digits.
yyyy == Node number of sender minus node number of
receiver, as four hexadecimal digits.
ww == The day of the week on which the mail archive
was created (MO, TU, WE, TH, FR, SA, or SU).
c == The relative ARCmail archive count for that
day, from 1 to 9. ARCmail packets after the
first nine on a given day are placed in
archive number zero.
For example, if 107/312 creates a mail archive for 137/19,
the mail archive name would be calculated as follows:
Net Node
---- ----
Sender 107 312
Receiver -137 -19
=== ===
Difference (decimal) -30 293
Difference (hexadecimal) FFE2 0125
Thus, for the first mail archive created on a Wednesday, the
archive would be named "FFE20125.WE1".
The name of the mail packets generated and stored in a mail
archive is:
ddhhmmss.PKT
where:
dd == Day of month when packet was created
hh == Hour of day when packet was created
mm == Minutes past the hour
ss == Seconds past the minute
These naming conventions are intended to allow mail archives
to queue up, preventing loss of mail in the event that a mail
archive is not sent or processed in a timely fashion.
* * * * *
Automatic cleanup:
------------------
ARCmail always deletes an archive that it unpacks mail from.
In addition, when it is creating a mail archive for another
node, it checks to see if the previous mail archive to that
address has been sent. If so, it deletes the outbound mail
archive and creates a new one. If not, then the additional
outbound mail is added to the previous (pending) archive.
| When ARCmail is asked to archive mail to a node that it has
| no pending mail for, it checks to see if any previous mail
| archive to that node exists and has already been sent. If an
| earlier archive has not yet been sent, then it is left
| untouched. Otherwise, the old mail archive is set to zero
| length so as not to consume disk space (this can be changed
| by the /R switch). The old archive is retained so that
| ARCmail will "remember" the name and number of the last
| archive sent.
ARCmail performs all of the usual cleanup associated with
sending messages. Messages marked as "kill when sent" are
deleted once they have been packed in an archive. Other
messages are marked as "sent" when they are archived. The
act of placing a message in a mail archive is considered the
same as sending the message, regardless of whether the mail
archive is ever sent.
It is not necessary to create a message sending the mail
archive to its destination. ARCmail does this automatically.
* * * * *
Option switches:
----------------
How ARCmail operates may be modified by the use of various
option switches. These switches begin with either a dash or
a slash, and may be placed anywhere on the command line. The
available switches are:
/C Indicates that crash priority messages should
be archived, and causes the attach message (if
created) to be marked crash priority.
/H Causes the attach message (if created) to be
marked "Hold for pickup."
/F Indicates that messages with attached files
should be archived. The attached files will
NOT be archived, and will NOT be sent.
| /R Indicates that mail in archives already sent
| should be retained. Archives already sent are
| normally set to zero length so as not to
| consume disk space. This option overrides
| that.
/G<word> Indicates that ARC should be told to use
archive encryption/decryption using the given
password.
| Note that the /C, /H, /F, and /R switches are only meaningful
for "ARCmail TO". The /G option is meaningful in either
case, but if if a matching encryption password is not used at
both ends of the transfer, then the mail will be forever
lost.
* * * * *
Caveat emptor:
--------------
| ARCmail 0.60 is a prototype of an eventual SEAdog utility,
which is being released as a favor to the FidoNet community.
As such, we accept no responsibility for anything that may or
may not happen as a result of using ARCmail. You are
strictly on your own.
In its present form, ARCmail has several shortcomings. The
most important is that it does not understand routing in any
way. Only those messages which are explicitly addressed to
the destination are packed in the mail archive, and all such
messages are packed regardless of their source.
ARCmail should not be used to generate multiple mail archives
to the same destination more than 10 times per day.
ARCmail requires the use of ARC.EXE which must reside in a
PATHed directory, and which has a minimum storage requirement
of approximately 200K.
We do not promise that we will ever develop this concept
beyond this initial prototype version.
* * * * *
Release History:
----------------
Version 0.29 - 06/04/86 Original version of ARCmail which
was used within Net 107 only.
Version 0.30 - 06/05/86 First version of ARCmail that was
released for use outside of Net 107.
Version 0.31 - 06/13/86 Corrected an error in logic that
prevented ARCmail from unpacking
multiple files received from the
same sender.
Version 0.35 - 06/16/86 Changed the naming scheme for the
ARCmail file to allow the user to
send as many as ten ARCmail files to
the same receiver during the same
day.
Changed the format of the console
status messages to a form more
suitable for creating a log when
redirecting output to a file.
Version 0.36 - 06/17/86 Inserted logic to detect when
COMMAND.COM could not be loaded to
run ARC.
Added seconds to the mail packet
name.
Added the FROM WHO option.
Version 0.40 - 07/25/86 Added logic to add new packets to
pending archives instead of creating
new archives, thus preventing excess
archive proliferation.
Added additional checks for
COMMAND.COM load failure.
Added the TO WHO option.
Version 0.50 - 10/10/86 Added logic to pack and unpack mail
for multiple addresses.
Added the /F and /G switches.
Improved detection of cases where
ARC is not loaded or is unable to
run, and added error recovery code.
Added logic to set error level to
the number of mail archives detected
during a "who".
| Version 0.60 - 12/2/86 Added the /R switch.
| Added the FROM ALL and TO LIST
| functions.