Aminet 4/Aminet 4 - November 1994.iso/aminet/comm/mail/amigaelm_v4.lha/other/alt-sys-amiga-uucp.faq

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From: [e-mail] (Marc SCHAEFER (Monthly posting))
Newsgroups: alt.sys.amiga.uucp,news.answers
Subject: alt.sys.amiga.uucp Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - Newcomers please read
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Summary: AmigaUUCP installation, utilities and common problems.
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Archive-name: amiga/AmigaUUCP-FAQ


                   AMIGA-UUCP-FAQ Version 1.11 [Posting 12]
                MONTHLY POSTING, last update 02 May 1993
        This FAQ is posted monthly (28th of month at 21:00 CED)

                author: Marc SCHAEFER, <[e-mail]>
                Bugs, typos, ideas to <[e-mail]>
            ("ch" stands for Switzerland)

    NOTE: Since this FAQ is getting bigger and bigger, I'm thinking splitting
    it or removing some parts from it. Especially Kai proposed to split it into
    two parts, one informative one on AUUCP history, and one being the real FAQ.
    Any more suggestions ?

    NOTE: The primary goal for this FAQ is to prevent questions from
    looping over and over. If you have new and interesting material, post
    it to alt.sys.amiga.uucp with "Addition to FAQ" somewhere in the
    subject. I will add it for the next "release". You may also send any
    ideas, changes, flames, typos to the address [e-mail].
    They will be incorporated in the next release with your name in the
    CHANGES section as a reward :-)

    NOTE TO UUCP-BEGINNERS: Please take some of your time and READ the UUCP
    documentation. Most of the questions posted on a.s.a.u are related to
    manual pages. This FAQ contains also some information on common problems
    and utilities. Don't forget to get the FAQS from news.announce.newusers.
    You may also read UUMAN:Standards (for UUCP internals) and UUMAN:how2usenet.


    CHANGES FROM ORIGINAL MATT DILLON'S FAQ ARE NOTED WITH A (*).

    To skip to a topic, search for the roman numeral surrounded by
    parenthesis.  For example, (I).

(*) 0.      Changes from last posting
(*) I.        Introduction to alt.sys.amiga.uucp[.patches]
    II.     Introduction to AmigaUUCP
(*) III.    Principal utilities
    IV.     Constructing mail addresses
    V.        Using DCRON
    VI.     US domain clarification
(*) VII.    Common problems (new, please submit things to go in here).
    VIII.   Using SENDMAIL directly.
(*) IX.     Other UUCP utilities.
(*) X.      How to get UUCP stuff ?
(*) XI.     Other UUCP implementations for AmigaOS.
(*) XII.    Unresolved topics.


(0)                 RECENT CHANGES TO THIS FILE

    Changes since 28-May-93 are listed below [Last posting was posting 10]

    NONE

(I)                 INTRODUCTION TO ALT.SYS.AMIGA.UUCP[.PATCHES]

    (1) Configuration

    ALT.SYS.AMIGA.UUCP and ALT.SYS.AMIGA.UUCP.PATCHES are two newsgroups
    dedicated to the UUCP system for the Amiga microcomputer, AmigaUUCP.
    Both news groups are gatewayed to two mailing lists containing
    additional recipients who would otherwise not have access to the ALT
    groups.  That is, posting to an alt group will automatically relay to
    the appropriate mailing list, and mailing to the mailing will
    automatically relay to the alt group.

    If you do not have ALT group access and are not on the mailing list,
    and would like to be on the mailing list, send your request to:

    [e-mail]     and/or
    [e-mail]

    To get off the mailing list, you can send your request to either
    address.  I manually read this alias.  Note that you must provide a
    proper return address as part of your signature if you are a UUCP node
    so I can properly format your return address.  If you are on the
    internet (i.e. have a fully domained address), it isn't a problem.

    TO POST ARTICLES VIA THE MAILING LIST, send email containing your
    posting to either of the following two addresses:

    [e-mail]
    [e-mail]

    Sending email to either address causes it to be automatically posted to
    the alt.sys.amiga.uucp[.patches] newsgroup.   You do not have to be on
    the mailing list to be able to post via the list.


    (2) Usage Of

    The purpose of alt.sys.amiga.uucp is to convey the bulk of any
    discussion relating to AmigaUUCP.  Discussion, bug reports, questions,
    etc...

    The purpose of alt.sys.amiga.uucp.patches is for the posting of any
    source code, scripts, or binaries relating to AmigaUUCP.  Full
    distributions will NEVER be sent over alt.sys.amiga.uucp.patches.
    Anybody may post to alt.sys.amiga.uucp.patches and, in fact, it is best
    that any code you wish to submit to be merged into the master
    distribution that I keep be submitted to this newsgroup instead of to
    me personally.

    This will allow anybody to pick off the code and immediately implement
    it on their own system without waiting for the next master distribution.

    I will also use alt.sys.amiga.uucp.patches to post updates to the
    current master distribution, generally small to medium sized SHAR
    or uuencoded LHARC files.  I personally would like to get a system
    together so multiple-source postings can be archived in a text form
    instead of a uuencoded form because all netnews is compressed anyway,
    and compressing uuencoded lharc files generally makes the result larger
    than the original instead of smaller.

    (3) BUG / ENHANCEMENT REPORTS

    [Note that the following text author is considered to be the
    current UUCP source maintainer which seems to be Michael B. Smith,
    [e-mail]]

    The alt.sys.amiga.uucp and alt.sys.amiga.uucp.patches groups are fed
    through a filter when they reach my machine, and any bug or enhancement
    reports of a specific format will be automatically extracted and
    appended to my TODO file.

    To issue a bug report or enhancement request, use the following format:

    ##B unique-id

    <bug report goes here>

    ##

    Note that there are TWO '#'s. ##B stands for a bug report, ##E stands
    for an enhancement request.  WARNING!  The ##'s must begin a line, you
    CANNOT PRECEDE ## WITH WHITESPACE.    Doing so will result in the filter
    passing the report by.  For example, the ##B/## lines in the example
    above, not being flush with the left margin, will be ignored by my
    filter program.

    The unique-id should be a unique identifier for your bug report, for
    example, I might use '##B dillon.23'.  Do NOT encode the date in
    the unique ID because my filter program will automatically extract
    the Date: and From: fields from the news message header.  I will
    use the ID when refering to previous bug reports rather than posting
    the whole bug report.

    (4) This FAQ sheet

    If you have information you think would be useful on this FAQ sheet,
    please submit it to me personally ([e-mail]).


(II)                INTRODUCTION TO AmigaUUCP

    This section consists of a brief introduction to AmigaUUCP.  It is not
    meant to describe installation of the distribution.  Installation of
    the distribution is more involved and best served by the instructions
    that come with the distribution.

    AmigaUUCP was originally derived from GNU-UUCP and UUPC (was UUPC
    derived from GNU?  I dunno).  This was several years ago.  It
    eventually fell into William Loftus's hands who molded it into a
    workable system for the Amiga.  From there, about a year later, it fell
    into my hands and has since remained.

    What little GNU/UUPC code remains is in uucico, and even that is
    rapidly disappearing.  AmigaUUCP is now almost entirely made up of code
    written after the original port to the Amiga.  At this point, there is
    no comparison at all between the older GNU/UUPC stuff and the state of
    the art AmigaUUCP distribution.

    AmigaUUCP is a public domain project, though not properly in the public
    domain because all authors involved have maintained copyrights on the
    code.  legally, this may not mean much, but it does give us a sense of
    security and more control over what is done with the code.    Be that as
    it may, the entire distribution, source and all, is available to
    anybody who wants it.   There are about a dozen principal authors and a
    few dozen contributors, not to mention the hundreds of people who have
    sent in helpful suggestions and bug reportrs.

    What is AmigaUUCP?    Well, if you are reading this article then you have
    some idea how EMAIL and NETNEWS works ... AmigaUUCP is a set of
    utilities and documentation to implement an EMAIL/NETNEWS link directly
    on your amiga.  All you need to do is find what is known as a 'feed'
    site who is willing to give you a UUCP connection, and, of course, a
    modem with which to communicate with that feed.


(III)               PRINCIPAL UTILITIES

    AmigaUUCP is made up of a plethora of utilities.  Many of the utilities
    mimic their UNIX counterparts but it should be noted that none are
    really based on actual UNIX C code except for those sections still
    existing from the original GNU/UUPC port.

    Only the major utilities are listed below:

    UUCico

    UUCico is the workhorse of the system.    It calls your feed site
    via the modem and transfers both outgoing and incoming mail and
    news.    This mail and news will have been previously stored by
    you or your feed site.

    It has been updated a lot, mainly for reliability reasons. Last
    version is uucico_sd3.lha.

    Getty

    Getty handles incoming calls. It allows remote login (interactive
    and uucico logins).

    Sendmail/RMail

    Sendmail/RMail is the workhorse of the MAIL subsystem.    The two
    utilities are actually the same executable just renamed and I
    will refer to them collectively as 'sendmail' from now on.

    Sendmail handles incoming mail, breaking it apart and sending it
    to the appropriate mailbox, or re-queueing it if it is simply
    passing through your system to another system down the line.
    Sendmail deals with any aliases you might have defined and also
    with any domains you have defined for routing email.

    Sendmail also handles, under the aegis of 'rmail', all incoming
    mail.

    RNews

    RNews handles all incoming news, including local news you send
    out.  It breaks apart compressed batches and creates an individual
    file for each article in the UUNEWS: directory.  It also creates
    a directory for each newsgroup.

    BatchNews

    Batchnews compresses and batches any news you have sent posted into
    a single batch file, making its transfer to your feed that much
    more efficient.  Read the Newssetup.doc in the distribution for
    more information on how to set up news.

    DMail
    DMail is the amiga's mail shell.  It scans your mail box and
    presents mail in an orderly fashion, allowing you to reply to
    the mail and do other operations.

    DNews
    DNews is the amiga's news reader.  It is not quite as sophisticated
    as RN but is getting there.  It sports an intuition windowing
    system to make it easy to scan through news.

    UUcp
    UUcp (the command) can be used to copy files from your local system
    to some of your neighbours. Note that the way it is implemented on
    the AmigaUUCP system is a little different than in Unix. In Unix, as
    soon as the uucp command has been executed, a copy of the implied file
    is done in a data file in the spool directory. Then uucico copies it
    to the other unix system that extracts the file from the data file.
    In AmigaUUCP, if sending the file is only read while UUCico is online,
    and that explains why if you UUCP a file which path is NOT authorized in
    the UULIB:Security file, there will be an error while online. This prevents
    the ability to forward the file to another host. However most of the time
    in UNIX, uucp is very restricted. AmigaUUCP does not allow directory-deep
    file send.
    For sending to a far site, BMS is more convenient.


(IV)                        CONSTRUCTING MAIL ADDRESSES

    (1) GENERAL

    Unfortunately, the internet mail system is made up of a huge number
    of nearly incompatible networks.  Mail addresses are constructed
    with various types of punctuation that mean various things .. indeed,
    some punctuation means one thing in one domain and another in another
    domain.  I have found that the absolute best way to construct a mail
    address is either with the '@' format or with a '!' path.

    If your feed is a 'smart' host, any fully domained mail address can
    be replied to with simply:

    [e-mail]....domain

    [e-mail]

    Any address with dots in it is called a fully domained address.
    Unfortunately, there are a few exceptions... any address ending
    with .UUCP is *NOT* I repeat, *NOT* a domained address... it's
    a hack that some sendmails will add to properly route the mail
    internally.  This hack generally extends to the From: field of
    an email message, and AmigaUUCP will do this, but not being a
    domain,  you cannot SPECIFY a .UUCP trailer in the To: address.
    For example, my UUCP address is:

    uunet.uu.net!overload

    Note that there is NO .UUCP specification tacked on to overload.
    Note also that when you specify your UUCP address in your
    signature you should start with a fully domained machine name,
    *not* one ending with .UUCP.

    On other fronts, some unexperienced administrators will give their
    machines a full domain name without properly registering it.  If
    you have not registered your domain with the proper authorities,
    DO NOT GIVE YOUR MACHINE A FULL DOMAIN.

    For example, when I first connected to my feed, which is uunet, I did
    not have a .US domain and so my machine name was simply 'overload'.
    After I registered in the .US domain I changed my machine name to its
    registered equivalent, 'overload.Berkeley.CA.US'.

    (2) BANG PATHS

    Nearly all the systems on the internet accept what are known as
    bang paths.  There are only a few exceptions.  One of the design
    decisions for AmigaUUCP was to convert all addresses into bang
    paths before sending them out.  There have been one or two sites
    (so far) that have been unable to run AmigaUUCP because the feed
    they picked was running news software so old it did not recognize
    bang paths.  To those sites I say: find a different feed, AmigaUUCP
    would become extremely messy were I to implement UNIX sendmail style
    address parsing.

    A bang path work by specifying the exact path your mail is to go along,
    in the following format:

    first_machine!machine!machine!users_machine!user

    Any machine name in the path may be a fully domained name.    If you have
    a smart feed it will be able to optimize the path accordingly.  For
    example, the bang path to me would normally be:

    uunet.uu.net!overload!dillon

    If your feed has a STUPID mailer, it may be necessary to use a bang
    path to get *past* your feed to a nearby site that has a SMART
    mailer.  For example, lets say your feed is named 'fubar' and has
    a dumb mailer.  Let us also say that the feed has a UUCP connection
    to 'harvard' which just happens to have a smart mailer.  To get your
    message to me you might use:

    fubar!harvard!uunet.uu.net!overload!dillon

    your feed may or may not accept harvard's fully domained name, which is
    harvard.harvard.edu, it depends on how stupid your feed's mail system
    is.   If it does, it makes more sense to use:

    fubar!harvard.harvard.edu!uunet.uu.net!overload!dillon

    (3) INTERNET DOMAINS VERSES UUCP MAP ENTRIES

    The internet domain system is based on domain servers, real time
    servers residing on known machines that know all the machines in a
    particular domain and how to get to them.  When you send mail through
    an internet machine, like this (assuming you have a UUCP connection
    to UUNET):

    uunet!caps.ibm.com!user

    uunet (actually uunet.uu.net) will talk to the domain server for the
    .COM domain to find caps.ibm.com (a name I made up).

    UUCP works differently.  While the internet is a real time network,
    UUCP is a batch network.  UUCP has what is known as a MAP entry for
    every UUCP site that submits one.  If you are a new UUCP site just
    connected to your feed, you should send a MAP entry to the appropriate
    administrator.  A MAP entry is *NOT* a domain entry.

    The UUCP MAPS are used by machines on the USENET to find other machines
    on the USENET without the aid of domains.    Not all machines on the
    USENET use MAPS to find some destination.  uunet.uu.net does, so here
    is an example.  I can send email from overload to (again, a made up
    name):

    uunet.uu.net!fubar!user

    Even if uunet does not talk directly to fubar.. assuming fubar has
    a MAP entry.  uunet will search its maps to find the best path to
    reach fubar, and then route the mail accordingly.  The actual route
    that uunet constructs might be:    mcsun!gab!fubar!user

    If your feed is a machine that does NOT use maps, then you must
    specify an explicit bang path to get past your feed to a site
    that does.    For example, lets say your feed is named 'char00'
    and has a dumb mailer, but connects to harvard.harvard.edu via
    UUCP.  You want to email me.  you can do it in two ways:

    char00!harvard!uunet.uu.net!overload!dillon.

            or

    char00!harvard!overload.Berkeley.CA.US!dillon

    But, since your mailer is dumb, you would not be able to use:

    char00!overload.Berkeley.CA.US!dillon

    If, on the otherhand, char00 is a SMART USENET mailer that uses the
    USENET MAPS (but still isn't on the internet itself), you can use:

    char00!overload!dillon

    Finally, if char00 is on the INTERNET, you can use:

    char00!overload.Berkeley.CA.US!dillon


    (4) WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS - BOUNCED EMAIL

    email will bounce for a variety of reasons.  The fact that the
    global email system is made up of so many different types of mail
    systems causes lots of havoc... in many cases a system will munge
    the path you attempt to send email through by misinterpreting it
    or by attempting to 'optimize' it.

    When all else fails, and your attempt to reply to a piece of email
    bounces, you may have to construct the return address by hand. Several
    possibilities come to mind.  You want to use the 'h' command from dmail
    to look at the actual mail headers (use dmail's help command to get
    full info on the header command).

    You want to look at both the original message that was sent to you,
    and the headers of your BOUNCED reply.

  -------- SAMPLE OF ORIGINAL MESSAGE  -------

    From uunet!SASK.USask.CA!telepro!oliphant Fri, 28 Dec 90 13:04:57 PST
    Received: by overload.Berkeley.CA.US (V1.07/Amiga)
        id AA00000; Fri, 28 Dec 90 13:04:57 PST
    Received: from sask.usask.ca by uunet.UU.NET (5.61/1.14) with SMTP
        id AA22874; Fri, 28 Dec 90 01:30:48 -0500
    Received: from herald.USask.Ca by SASK.USask.CA with PMDF#10255; Fri, 28 Dec
    1990 00:30 CST
    Received: by herald.USask.Ca (5.57/GLH-1.0); Fri, 28 Dec 90 00:30:06 -0600 id
    AA01058 for [e-mail]
    Received: by telepro.UUCP (1.05D/Amiga) id AA04612; Thu, 27 Dec 90 21:25:00 CST
    Date: Thu, 27 Dec 90 21:25:00 CST
    Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
    X-Envelope-To: [e-mail]
    From: uunet!SASK.USask.CA!telepro!oliphant (Mike Oliphant)
    To: [e-mail]
    Subject: Mailing list

    Please add me to amiga-uucp-patches.

    Thanks.

    --
    Mike Oliphant        UUCP: alberta!herald!telepro!oliphant
                Internet: [e-mail]

  -------- ADDRESS I SENT MY RESPONSE TO ------

    uunet!SASK.USask.CA!telepro!oliphant

  -------- SAMPLE OF BOUNCE THAT CAME BACK TO ME -------

    From uunet!sask.usask.ca!postmaster Mon, 31 Dec 90 01:02:30 PST
    Received: by overload.Berkeley.CA.US (V1.07/Amiga)
        id AA00000; Mon, 31 Dec 90 01:02:30 PST
    Received: from sask.usask.ca by uunet.UU.NET (5.61/1.14) with SMTP
        id AA13985; Sat, 29 Dec 90 17:18:48 -0500
    Date: Sat, 29 Dec 1990 16:18 CST
    Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
    X-Envelope-To: overload![e-mail]
    From: PMDF Mail Server <uunet!sask.usask.ca!Postmaster>
    To: overload!dillon
    Subject: Undeliverable mail: local delivery failure

    The message could not be delivered to:

    Addressee: telepro!oliphant
    Reason:
    %MAIL-E-LOGLINK, error creating network link to node TELEPRO
    -SYSTEM-F-NOSUCHNODE, remote node is unknown

  -------- END OF SAMPLE HEADERS --------------------

    So, why did my response fail?  First, I have to tell you something
    about mail headers:     Except for Received: headers, intervening
    systems can and will turn the standard headers into mush.  That is,
    the 'From ' encapsulation, the From: header, the To: header, even
    the Reply-To: header might be modified by an intervening system.

    There are only two things that are not mushed.  They are the Received:
    headers and the mail message itself - which might contain the sender's
    signature at the end.  This is a good reason to always put your email
    address in your signature, and always base it at a known internet node
    so anybody can figure out how to get back to you.

    A Received: header is PREPENDED by *EVERY* site a piece of email goes
    through, and is NEVER modified by any other site.  These headers tell
    you *exactly* how the mail was routed.

    If you look at the original message, you will note that one of
    the machines, probably SASK.USask.CA, modified the From: line in
    an attempt to optimize it:

    From: uunet!SASK.USask.CA!telepro!oliphant (Mike Oliphant)

    Note that, by the From: line, SASK.USask.CA talks directly to
    telepro.  The 'From ' encapsulation was also modified, and there is
    no Reply-To: header.

    When I sent my reply to SASK using From:, the mail bounced because
    SASK was unable to find telepro ... if you look at the Received:
    lines you can see why ... because telepro talked to Herald before
    getting to Sask.  It is amusing because SASK is probably the node
    that ripped out Herald's name in the From: and 'From ' lines in
    the first place.

    Also, take a look at Mike's signature line:

    Mike Oliphant        UUCP: alberta!herald!telepro!oliphant
                Internet: [e-mail]

    Interesting, eh?  The Internet: address is actually wrong (sorry Mike!)
    using .UUCP is not legal because it is not a proper domain.  However,
    if you forward through an internet host that also uses the UUCP MAPS,
    and assuming mike is in the maps, the address *will* work.

    It's the first address that confirms our fears... mike shows telepro
    talking to herald.    This combined with the knowledge we gained from
    the Received: lines tells us that the path:

    SASK.USask.CA!herald!telepro!oliphant

    Will work as a return address.  When in doubt, trace the Received:
    headers to determine the return path.

    Sometimes a UUCP MAP entry will be incorrect, in which case using
    the Received: headers will be the ONLY way to reply to a message.

    There are some situations which are impossible to reply to ... if
    a message goes through a broken node that allows it to be propogated
    one way but not the other, even using the headers will not work.

    Also, some sites will attempt to optimize the path you specified.  If
    SASK.USask.CA were to optimize the path:

    SASK.USask.CA!herald!telepro!oliphant

    To

    SASK.USask.CA!telepro!oliphant

    Before processing, the mail could fail due to SASK.USask.CA breaking
    itself.  There are many nodes, especially gateways between networks,
    that are broken in this manner and there will be times when you will
    not be able to reply at all.


(V)                        USING DCRON

    Many AmigaUUCP users leave their machines on 24 hours a day. With the
    advent of 2.0, and assuming the serial.device gets fixed, you can
    conceivably run your Amiga 24 hours a day under a heavy load for weeks
    without a crash.

    DCron is a program that runs in the background and executes other
    programs at intervals defined in S:CRONTAB.  It is quite flexible..
    you can run a program or script at specific times of day, every X
    minutes, only on certain days of the week, or even only in certain
    months!  I will not discuss the actual format, that can be looked
    up in UUMAN:DCron.

    There are two reasons to run DCron:

    (1) Maintenance.

    (2) Automatic polling.  If you call a system on a regular basis and
    want to automate the process, you can run UUCico from DCron at
    specific times of the day.

    First maintenance.    Programs like UUCico, Getty, DCron itself, and
    sendmail generate log files which, if left alone, would eventually fill
    up your disk.  Also, if you are receiving NEWS, you need to delete
    expired articles.  Due to the volume of news, not deleting old articles
    can fill up your HD very quickly.

    The TRIMFILES utility trims log files to a specified number of lines,
    default 100.  I normally run TRIMFILES on the various log files
    once a day early in the morning.  The S:CRONTAB entry I use is:

    # trim log files at 3:01 A.M.
    1 3 * * *      uucp:c/trimfile tmp:dcron.log uu:spool/logfile getty:logfile

    Note that the file paths will be somewhat different for your system.

    Second, keeping your UUNEWS: directory reasonable.    The TRIMNEWS
    utility will handle this.  TRIMNEWS scans your UULIB:Newsgroups file
    for the list of newsgroups, then scans each news group deleting
    articles over N days old, where N is specified in the Newsgroups file.
    A sample NewsGroups file might be:

    comp.sys.amiga        7
    comp.sys.amiga.tech     7
    comp.sys.amiga.programmer    7
    comp.sys.amiga.announce    7
    alt.sys.amiga.uucp        14
    alt.sys.amiga.uucp.patches    30

    Which essentially tells TRIMNEWS to delete all articles in
    comp.sys.amiga.* over 7 days old (7 days from reception), to delete all
    articles in alt.sys.amiga.uucp over 14 days old, and to delete all
    articles in alt.sys.amiga.uucp.patches over 30 days old.

    I normally run TRIMNEWS in the morning too, my S:CRONTAB file has:

    # run TRIMNEWS at 3:06 A.M.
    6  3 * * *       uucp:c/trimnews

    ---

    DCRON is also useful to control the modem configuration.  You can run
    the Getty utility from DCron to turn off the modem speaker while you
    are asleep.   I use DCRON for other things as well, such as to
    automatically revise UUNET's amiga-uucp[-patchces] mailing list
    whenever I make a local change, and to backup my hard disk.  I also use
    it to post this sheet once a month.


(VI)                       .US DOMAIN CLARIFICATION

    This is a clarification to the information on registering in a
    .US domain.  It turns out that you can register in the .US
    domain even if your 'feed' node is NOT on the internet.  What
    you need to do is find some node that IS on the internet that
    is willing to be an MX FORWARDER to your machine (via a path).
    This might prove difficult, but it is possible.


(VII)                       COMMON PROBLEMS

    1. AS225 TCP/IP PACKAGE

    Apparently there is a line in the startup:

        inet:c/config >env:user -v user

    Which screws up DMail due to the \n appended to the ENV: variable
    (not supposed to be a newline).  Fixed for 1.14.  Work around is
    to use, under 2.0:

        setenv user `inet:c/config -v user`

    2. Batch news, yes but how ? [Autobatch entry in UULIB:Config]

    if you add the config line (UULIB:CONFIG) "autobatch autobatch",
    news article will be compressed separately at each posting. You
    will end up with a lot of files in UUSPOOL:, decreasing
    throughoutput. However if you don't post a lot of articles, this
    can be interesting (you don't need to deal with DCRON or nasty
    uucico options.)

    If you only poll another site, it would perhaps be more efficient
    to use the pre-batching capability of uucico (uucico -b). This
    will batch all posted articles in one file (if possible) and then
    call the specified host.

    If you have downsites (if you feed other sites that calls you), you
    could also set up a "BatchNews" entry in S:Crontab (if you use
    DCRON) to pre-batch news before calling hours. Don't specify -b in
    UULIB:Passwd, because then the other uucico would have to wait (and
    possibly time-out) while online paying taxes.

    The only situation you want to add the "Autobatch autobatch" config
    line to UULIB:CONFIG is when you don't know a lot about DCRON, you
    don't post a lot of articles and you don't have sites that you feed.

    More information, see UUMAN:Batchnews, UUMAN:UUCICO, UUMAN:CONFIG.

    3. RNews uses hardlinks. How to prevent it ?

    Under the 2.0 operating system, RNews uses hardlinks to prevent
    cross-posted article to use n times the space on the harddisk.
    However, some utilities do not like very well hardlinks. It is then
    possible to disable hardlinks with the following change to
    UULIB:Config:

        RNEWS    UUCP:C/RNEWS -h

    WARNING! Hardlinks to directories are buggy with ALL releases of
    the Operating System (V37-V39). Harlinks to files are also buggy
    under OFS and DCFS. Hardlinks should be turned off if not under
    FFS as shown above.

    4. The UULIB:SEQ field.

    The UULIB:SEQ fields is used to assign unique id's to files in the
    spool directory and to messages/articles sent out. Note that some
    news and mail systems (not AmigaUUCP) uses the ID's to prevent
    newsloops/mailloops. If you clear (or restore from a backup) the
    UULIB:SEQ, you should set it to a high value (or more than the last
    number it was) so your message are not getting filtered.

    5. UUencode problems.

    If you edit a mail and insert an uuencoded file, you may have
    problems if the editor changes spaces to tabs. With DME, you simply
    set this option to off ("savetabs off"). If you don't the file
    won't uu-decodable.
    By the way the syntax for uuencode, if you want to uuencode file
    "test.lha" is something like

        uuencode <test.lha >test.lha.uu test.lha

    The "test.lha.uu" file is the one to insert in your mail/news.
    Some NEWS utilities allow automatic posting of binaries (GRN).

    6. UUCICO G protocol.

    UUCico 1.16a and 1.15c implement also a "G" protocol besides the
    normal "g" protocol: If you poll one of these UNIX sites which
    support the 'G' protocol you have to force your own uucico to first
    try to use 'G' instead of 'g' when asking for the supported
    protocolls at connection startup.  To do this, poll with

        $ uupoll ... "-u -pG" ...       or
        $ uucico ... -pG      ...

    There are a LOT more infos in the UUCP.internal FAQ, especially
    about other UUCP protocols.

    7. Trimnews

    New trimnews have been implemented, last is version 04, which supports
    new OS2.04 ExAll() calls which diminush the risk of a partition being
    trashed when deleting articles. It also offers trimming by hours rather
    than day and ALL trimming. It can be found on FTP/BMS/UUCP/FSP sites.

    8. Multiple UUCICOs

    A lot of changes have been made on native UUCICO, and most of them
    in an uncontrolled way. When you specify a UUCICO version, you should
    also give the size of the file. The last UUCICO is something like
    57524 bytes long (1.16.23.sd.2)


    VERSION TABLE

    Version    Size    By            Infos

    (**** to be filled ****)



(VIII)                    USING SENDMAIL DIRECTLY

    In many cases you will want to have scripts run from dcron to send
    automated postings, mailings, or do other automated tasks such as
    backups.  Usually bookeeping is made a lot easier if you have these
    script files send you local mail containing the results of their
    actions (such as log files or a success/failure message).

    The easiest way to send a message to yourself from a script is to
    use the sendmail program.  Please refer to the manual page for more
    information.  Essentially there are two ways to do this depending on
    the type of message you want to send:

    If you wish to send a simple message to yourself and include some
    sort of generated log file which is not formatted mail (i.e. has
    no headers), you can specify various headers through options to
    sendmail and also include the -raw option.

    sendmail -raw -f cron -t dillon -s "backups completed" <t:logfile

    On the otherhand, if you have some sort of monthly posting, such as
    this FAQ sheet, and want to send it automatically, and the file IS
    formatted mail (has normal mail headers such as 'From:' and 'To:' and
    'Subject:') you can use the following:

    sendmail <mail_file

    Since the headers are in the file, no other command line options are
    necessary, though you can effectively ADD additional recipients through
    appropriate command line options.

(IX)                    OTHER UUCP UTILITIES.

    1. Other crons.

    There are to my knowledge 3 crons available:
    DCRON
    AmiCron (fish disk)
    CyberCron (later fish disk)
        This one is 2.0 only and has special features like "at" command,
        and resembles a lot the UNIX cron.
    TPTCron from the DLG Pro package (however has been released for public use)

    2. Logging in remotely.

    Since 1.15, the following method can be used to log in remotely. It is
    very stable and allows for custom AmigaShell scripts.

    You NEED LIBS:fifo.library & L:fifo-handler (latest version if
    possible, some versions do not work with Getty. It is available, with
    source, on overload.Berkeley.CA.US as BMS:PUB/fifo37.4). I use version
    37.3, length 4260, and fifo-handler length 7432. Note that it is
    possible that more than one version 37.3 exists, that's why I added the
    length). Note that fifo-handler, although it is a DOS handler, *cannot*
    be mounted. You have to RUN it. Eg in your S:user-startup (or
    S:Startup-Sequence under 1.3) you have to add

    RUN <NIL: >NIL: L:Fifo-Handler

    Now you have two possibilities:

    a) You want an user with full shell access.
    Set up the following line in your UULIB:Passwd file:
       sysop,sysop_password,1,1,(Sysop Shell Login),RAM:,*

    Drawback: The Ctrl-C and Ctrl-D signals are not passed. By the way,
    More does not work (FIFO: does not support DISK_INFO Console packet
    used by More to retrieve window information). However most commands
    do work. Requesters will be disabled automagically by getty.


    b) You want to launch a script. Note that Getty will not pass Ctrl-C and Ctrl-D,
    as in a). In this case this is an advantage.
    Set up the following line in UULIB:Passwd
        guest,*,2,2,(Guest login),RAM:,*Guest-Startup

    This is a guest login without password. In S:Guest-Startup you may
    have the following lines. It won't be stoppable and if it fails
    there won't be any requesters, and the script won't return to a
    shell.

        Echo "Welcome on as a guest"
        Type MY_DATA:Information
        EndCLI

    You may well also create a complete menu system with options.

    Note that the old method using a Newshell AUX: cannot be used anymore
    due to Getty new method of locking the serial port. If you do you will
    get errors.

    See also "AuxSupport".

    3. AXSH

    AXsh is a multiuser shell with built-in protections. It can be
    used with UUCP. Users may then send/receive mail & news. Current
    version is 1.30, which works only under OS2.04 and above. It can
    be used with WB 2.1 for localization. It is shareware, mail to
    [e-mail] for more information. See included information
    how to install it with UUCP.

    4. Archiving newsgroups.

    Archiving newsgroups can be automatically done with the following
    steps:

    a) Edit S:CronTab and add the following lines. This will launch a
    script at 00:30 each day.

        30 00 * * * UUArchive-Newsgroups

    b) Edit UULIB:Sys and add

# dummy node(s) for archiving news, will never be batched since not in L.Sys
uuarchive:alt.sys.amiga.alphanet,alphanet.*

    c) Create S:UUArchive-Newsgroups. Note you need an TRASH: assign to
    some temporary directory. We use LHA as an archiver. We could also
    first join the article and then LHA them (it would be more
    efficient).

--- cut here ---
Echo "UUArchive-Newsgroups(4)"
; What follows to prevent forgetting articles.
; Convert "." format to "/" format (1.16D)
; Does not prevent from being launched twice, however.

CD UUNEWS:

; ALPHANET newsgroups
IF EXISTS UUSPOOL:BATCH/UUArchive
  Delete TRASH:#?UUArchive
  Rename UUSPOOL:BATCH/UUArchive TRASH:_UUArchive      ; Needed for batchnews multitasking.
  ConvertNewsgroup TRASH:_UUArchive TRASH:UUArchive
  LhA -iTRASH:UUArchive a ARCHIVES:Newsgroups/ALPHANET_NEWSGROUPS
EndIF
--- cut here ---

    d) Create S:ConvertNewsgroup which converts "." syntax to "/" syntax
    as used in UUCP V1.16d and above. Note we use SED (Stream Editor).
    It can be found on fish disks. Probably the use of the Amiga stream
    editor "edit" would be possible.

--- cut here ---
.key source,dest
.bra {
.ket }

Sed < {source} > {dest} -fS:Sed-Newsgroup-Script
--- cut here

    e) Create S:Sed-Newsgroup-Script, which is the SED macro itself

--- cut here ---
y%.%/%
--- cut here ---

    5a. MAIL to NEWS Gateway.

    It is very easy to set up a (working but ugly) Mail to News gateway.
    For example you want all mail to user "alphanet-general" to be posted
    automatically on alphanet.general. Simply add the following lines to
    your UULIB:aliases file :

    alphanet-general: "|postnews -R UULIB:alphanet-general-refs"

    Also create the "UULIB:alphanet-general-refs file on the following
    skeleton:

    Newsgroups: alphanet.general
    Distribution: alphanet
    Sender: [e-mail] (Mail to News gateway)

    This will work easily, but is not always of a pretty sight.

    5b. NEWS to MAIL Gateway

    CNEWS users may want to use newsgate/mailgate, posted to .patches some
    time ago (available at litamiga /pub/amiga/uucp, or at alphanet). Contact
    the author, [e-mail], if you have problems locating a copy.
    AmigaUUCP 1.16D users should find Newsgate.lha on litamiga.epfl.ch
    /pub/amiga/uucp directory, or contact its author [e-mail].

    6. Mail Vacation programs.

    A mail vacation program is a program that replies automatically to
    received mail while you are absent. I know of two versions that are
    available at litamiga, and were posted a while ago on a.s.a.u.patches.
    Look for MailVacation.lha & vacation.lha.
    A new vacation program "mwm_vacation.lha", done by Mike Meyer, is
    also available (just posted on .patches with the "vacation.lha" name)

    Authors: MailReflect.Rexx, [e-mail] (Christian Balzer)
             ARexx.Reflector, [e-mail] (Friedrich Gentner)
             vacation.rexx, [e-mail] (Heiner Kordewiner)

    7. UUPoll

    UUPoll is a polling server. It supports the following features:
     -  controls the execution of a UUCICO child as the parent part
     -  checks for correct hostname and polling-time violation
     -  controls abortion of UUCICO due to a precalculated restriction time
     -  operates dependendly on status of last session
     -  operates dependendly on (specific) pending work
     -  controls dialup retries due to busy line or other UUCICO failures
     -  controls abortions due to user interupts
     -  can be disabled through a job control feature for crontab interventions
     -  can abort a startup due to or break an already running UUCICO process
     -  can give information about polling times and host status
     -  can setup your modem before start of a polling session
     -  can spawn UUCICO with additional options
     -  can spawn own user command after a (successful) session
     -  full UUCP logfile support similar to UUCICO
     -  can run under full runtime debugging with variable debug level

    Author: UUPoll R0.68, [e-mail] (Ralf S. Engelschall)

    8. UUTraf

    UUTraf sums up all xferstat entries of your UUCICO connections and
    calculates a statistic chart.  It can also pack the original log entries
    into a shorter form which will be also understand by UUTRAF when
    scanning the xferstat.  Basically resembles the UNIX version, but gives
    more information.  Requires UUCICO Release 1.13n, 1.15c or 1.16a.

    Author: UUTraf R0.15, [e-mail] (Ralf S. Engelschall)

    9. UUAcct

    UUAcct resembles UUTraf, but gives more accounting-related information
    (such as last call from node x)

    Author: UUACCT 1.3, [e-mail] (Kai 'wusel' Siering)

    10. Elm

    Elm is a more user friendly mailreader, based on its unix equivalent.
    Last version is 1.19. Shareware  $US10. Supports MIME.

    Author: ELM 1.15beta, [e-mail] (Andreas M. Krichwitz)

    11. GRN

    GRN is a fully intutionized Newsreader. Works well on flicker-free
    systems. 2.0 only. By Mike Schwartz, latest releases by Michael B.
    Smith. It supports NNTP also, on top of Commodore's AS225, or by
    itself.

    12. BMS

    BMS stands for Batch Mail Server. It allows to either request files
    from another node which has BMS installed, or to create a BMS node
    which will process file requests from other nodes. By Matt Dillon.

    13. BSMTP (Batch Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)

    Normal mail pieces ready for sending via UUCP are stored each in 3
    files. One local control file, and two data files (mail is not batched)
    Moreover, mail is not compressed. If you send a lot of mail, the
    overhead and the fact mail is not compressed may slow down your
    connection. You may then choose to go for BSMTP. BSMTP is an
    additionnal layer on the UUCP system. You continue writing independant
    files in the UUSPOOL: directory. At a specified (DCRON) time, you run
    the BSMTP batcher for a specified site, and this will create one
    batched and compressed file to send to the specified site. Batched
    means that data all is in one single file.
    NOTE: The other site MUST have set up his BSMTP system correctly. Ask
    also for the type of compression (compress-14, compress-16, freeze,
    none). Best is freeze.


    To my knowledge there are two packages available (litamiga):
       - A set of ARexx script + modified UUXQT
       - C executables.

    Authors:
    BSMTP 0.14 [e-mail] (Ralf S. Engelschall)
    BSMTP-ARexx: [e-mail] (Georg Sassen)

    14. AVM

    AVM's last version is 1.3.2 and is available on amiga.physik.unizh.ch
    Author: [e-mail] (Gavin Stark).

    15. UUXQT L:Commands

    A special version of the UUXQT executable is available. It allows the
    launching of more commands than the usual UUXQT. Launchable commands
    are configurable. This can be used for special needs (BSMTP, ...).
    Couldn't find the author name.

    16. MIME [Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions]

    Mime is at this time a mail standard. Amiga packages include
    "metamail-2.3" available by ftp on amiga.physik.unizh.ch mirrors. It is
    an extension to standard mail message, allowing to pass enhanced text,
    graphics, audio, and more, in a standardized and interoperable manner.
    It's far more than just ASCII text. The only News system that is
    supposed to include something similar is the NeXT NewsGrazer which
    uses RTF (rich text format). GRn and GMail will probably support MIME
    in some future releases. The metamail-2.4 port for the Amiga (by Johan
    Widin) requires a suite of other programs as well (as most Amiga MIME
    implementation will) to convert the text and graphics formats to things
    that can be displayed on the Amiga (GIF, TIFF, TeX, etc.)

    17. XStat

    XStat is a traffic analyser for UUCP connections. It allows not only
    reporting usual figures, but also may be used to calculate real phone
    costs based on user-settable rates. It works however only under 2.0.
    Available on Fish 714 (with Modula-2 source). A newer version was
    distributed on April (1.12).

    Author: Juergen Weinelt, [e-mail]

    18. AuxSupport

    In order to log in remotely, you may also use the AuxSupport.lzh package
    (posted a while back) which uses a special aux handler which will work
    with getty. It also does pass control C,D etc... and includes emacs that
    works over aux, and AZ (an XPRZmodem util) that allows interactive zmodem
    transfers while logged in. With this method you do not need fifolibrary
    nor fifo-handler.

    Drawback: the sd-aux-handler currently does not work with multi serial
    line cards, and the newshell command must be done via script that also
    invokes a wait process to prevent getty from getting back on port until
    shell exits (examples supplied in archive).

    Author: Steve Drew, [e-mail]

    19. Remote-WShell

    Could allow you to use WShell remotely. Seems to be based on AuxSupport.
    Incorporates TNews to read news. I have not registered to WShell so I
    couldn't test it.

    20. ANN

    Newsreader. Very configurable. Similar to Unix's nn.
    Author: Walther Mildenberger ([e-mail])

    21. TIN
    TIN is a UNIX newsreader ported to AmigaOS by Mark Tomlinson ([e-mail])

    22. WPL
    WPL is a telecomunications interpreted
    language, in many ways similar to AREXX.  It is a grouping of shared
    libraries, with the main libraries being 'wpl.library' for the main
    interpreter, 'xferq.library' for address parsing/handling and the
    outbound list, xpr*.library(xprfts.library, xprzedzap.library,etc) for
    actual file transfers, and a number of new libraries 'yet to be
    written' that will allow third party authors to add commands to this
    language (In much the same way as RXLib'd libraries work for AREXX,
    only much faster).

    For more information, join the following mailing lists.

   [e-mail]   - For the WPL language developers,
             people writing support utilities or language extensions,
             protocol authors, language beta testers.

   [e-mail]  - For the users of WPL based
              mailers, the GUI users, etc.  This conference will remain
              as non-technical as we possibly can, and is the place
              where WPL programmers can support their software.


(X)                    HOW TO GET UUCP STUFF.

    1. UUCP Patches FTP sites.

    The litamiga.epfl.ch:/pub/amiga/uucp directory is expected to contain
    all stuff posted in alt.sys.amiga.uucp.patches. Please allow some
    delay from the time things are posted on alt.sys.amiga.uucp.patches to
    the time they are available on litamiga. [128.178.151.32]
    The litamiga FSP daemon is on disun3.epfl.ch at port 9999.
    There is also an IRC client called ALPHABot.

    Aminet: The amiga.physik.unizh.ch mirrors (of which litamiga is) also
    have most of UUCP stuff. (/pub/aminet/comm/uucp)

    2. Public UUCP sites.

    Site name:     alphanet.ch
    Login:         public
    Phone number:  [phone]    (changed)
    Country:       Switzerland
    Modem norms:   up to V32bis MNP/V42bis
    Calling hours: 24 hour a day. However access is only assured from 21h-22h00 CED (GMT+2)
    Contents-file: UUPUB:CONTENTS.LHA [LhA compressed] [for uucp UUPUB: is equivalent to ~/]
    Notes:         You better change your sitename (in UULIB:Config) to public.
                   Has 50 megabytes of software, and archives everything from
                   alt.sys.amiga.uucp.patches.
                   First login please get ~/TREE.LHA.
    Date of entry: Sun, 21 March 1993 21:40:00 MET

    Site name:     hactar.hanse.de
    Login:         nuucp
    Password:      nuucp
    Phone number:  [phone]
    Country:       West Germany
    Modem norms:   up to V32bis MNP/V42bis
    Calling hours: 21:00-10:00 UTC
    Contents-file: UUPUB:Contents(.Z|.F|.lha)
    Notes:         Get `~/$readme.1st` the first time you call. Running BMS
                   and a mailserver, [e-mail]
    Date of entry: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 23:51:39 +0200

    3. BMS sites

    Generally the file to get is BMS:PUB/FILES.

    Site address: overload.Berkeley.CA.US
    Restrictions: None known.
    Notes:        UUCP sources and binaries

    Site address: hactar.hanse.de
    Restrictions: None (yet). But make SURE you ARE reachable before getting
                  large files !!
    Notes:        UUCP sources and binaries. AmigaUUCP Plus. Refer to BMS:pub/Files

    Site address: anaconda.bloomington.in.us
    Restrictions: None
    Notes:        60 MB of files, BBS is [phone] (V32bis/V42bis) (Fido also)

    Site address: brunz.Santa-Cruz.CA.US
    Restrictions: None known.
    Notes:        None

    Site address: haadav.boston.ma.us
    Restrictions: None known.
    Notes:        2400 baud connection. Please limit your requests.

    Site address: moose.cs.indiana.edu!dolmen
    Restrictions: None known.
    Notes:        None

    Site address: uunet.uu.net!decvax!ftlcpu
    Restrictions: None known.
    Notes:        UUCP Patches.

    Site address: seq.uncwil.edu!marin
    Restrictions: None known.
    Notes:        Contains UUCP sources and binaries for AmigaOS, MacOS, and MS-DOS.

    Site address: dacami.cmhnet.org
    Restrictions: None known.
    Notes:        ???

    Site address: alphanet.ch    ### CURRENTLY NOT AVAILABLE ###
    Restrictions: Please do not ask for huge files or think about donating :-)
    Notes:        More than 50 MB online. Files to get are UUPUB:CONTENTS.LHA
                  and UUPUB:TREE.LHA. Manager is [e-mail]

    Site address: mirkwood.cam.org
    Restrictions: None known.
    Notes:        BETTY server. (see paragraph 4)

    NOTE THE PARAGRAPH 4 FOR BETTY !

    4. BETTY

    Betty is an automatic "archie"-like system for BMS servers. It maintains
    a list of known BMS sites and their files. You can even request a server's
    list or find a program on a server via this method.

    Betty maintains a database that lists all the files available on
    some BMS sites.  To consult the Betty database, you send a mail
    message to the server describing what you are looking for.  The
    server will reply your message with the results of the query.
    Here is an example:

        To: [e-mail]
        Subject:

        prog commodity
        quit

    And the reply would contain:

        From: [e-mail]
        To: [e-mail]
        Subject: Betty

        [ ... ]

        Matches on deepthot.cary.nc.us:
        File:DOS2.0/
            FBLANK.LZH            26509 28-Sep-91 01:52:44 : SCN BLNK USING FRACTALS - COMMODITY

        Matches on mirkwood.cam.org:
        PUB:utilities/system/workbench/
            KCommodity.lha       218914 14-Jun-92 11:17:58

        [ ... ]

    Betty understands a number of commands.  To get the HELP file,
    send a mail message to "[e-mail]" with the word
    "help" in the subject line.  You may contact the maintainer
    of Betty at "[e-mail]".

    5. FSP sites

    Try disun3.epfl.ch at port 9999, in subdirectory uucp.

    6. Mailservers for getting the UUCP FAQ (this FAQ)

        mail to               [e-mail]
        request format        xsend auucp_faq.txt

        bms to                caron.ati.com
        request               files:auucp_faq.txt


(XI)                    OTHER UUCP IMPLEMENTATIONS FOR AMIGAOS.

    This sections lists known UUCP implementations for AmigaOS:

    1. AmigaUUCP, by Matt Dillon and others.

    2. AmigaUUCP+, originally written by Ingo Feulner, loosely based
    on AmigaUUCP V1.06 and CNEWS. Its news-system can handle an active
    file, control messages and dupes.

    However,  Ingo  has  moved  to  NeXT,  so he abandoned this project.
    Its last version  was  1.02.  This project has been taken over by
    Kai 'wusel' Siering <[e-mail]>, using the CNews port
    of Frank 'Crash' Edwards (instead of the older one used as the base
    for AmigaUUCP+), this version is called 'wCNews'.

    Along with modified uucico-stuff (subdirectory support) it has been
    posted to .patches in mid-february 1993.

    There  is also a rewrite of the uucico by Andrew Kopp
    ([e-mail]). Henning Schmiedehausen do plan a new release
    of the AmigaUUCP+ for '92, but this is not absolutely certain.

    AmigaUUCP+ is available via ftp from ftp.uni-erlangen.de
    (131.188.1.43) along with the sources and binaries of AmigaUUCP 1.16.

    A bug fixed version of the AmigaUUCP+ sendmail (sendmail1.02i21) also
    exists.




(XII)                    UNRESOLVED TOPICS.

    - UUCICO list
    - UUFS ?
    - Fido <-> UUCP gateways
    - Who maintains the asau mailing list ?


EOF = END OF FAQ :-)