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1995-06-26
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FMail 1.02
The Fast Echomail Processor
Copyright (C) 1991, 1995 by Folkert J. Wijnstra
All rights reserved
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1 License and disclaimer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3 Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.4 System requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.5 Various notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2 Getting started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.1 Converting config files of other echomail processors 8
3 FSetup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.1 FSetup keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.2 Main menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.3 Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.3.1 General options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.3.2 Message base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.3.3 Mail options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.3.4 Mgr options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.3.5 Personal mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.3.6 Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.3.7 Group names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.3.8 AreaMgr defaults . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.4 System info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.4.1 Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.4.2 Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.4.3 Log files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.4.4 Swapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.4.5 Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.4.6 Decompression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.5 Import/export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.6 Uplink Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.7 Pack Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.8 Node Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.9 Area Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4 FMail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.1 Scan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.2 Toss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.3 Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.4 Pack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.4.1 Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
5 AreaMgr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
6 FTools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
6.1 Delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
6.2 Maint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
6.3 Move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
1
6.4 MsgM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
6.5 Notify . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
6.6 Post . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
6.7 Sort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
6.8 Stat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
6.9 Undelete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
6.10 Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
7 Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
APPENDIX A - Error messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
APPENDIX B - Technical notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
2
1 Introduction
FMail is an echomail and netmail processor for the Hudson and JAM
message bases. FMail has a built-in AreaFix-like function, called
AreaMgr, with new commands like %RESCAN, %ACTIVE and %PASSIVE.
Seven different types of archives are supported. FMail has its
own netmail routing function, called the Pack Manager. With FMail
it is possible to make a copy of all personal mail in a special
directory. Other features of FMail include:
- Capable of handling 4D addresses.
- If needed FMail automatically remaps fakenet addresses to 4D
addresses and vice versa.
- Swaps to disk, EMS or XMS before running an archiving
utility.
- Supports the message base sharing specifications also used by
RemoteAccess and FrontDoor.
- Multiple netmail boards in the message base.
- Optionally sorts and links messages in the message base after
new messages have been imported.
1.1 License and disclaimer
"FMail" refers to the executables and documentation in the
original distribution archive. FMail is copyrighted material by
Folkert J. Wijnstra. It may only be used in agreement with the
conditions set out in this license agreement.
FMail may be freely distributed as long as no files are removed
from the package and the files are not modified in any way, and
as long as no money or any other compensation is asked or
accepted for this package without prior written permission from
the author.
Although care has been taken to write and test a program that
does what this document states, the program is provided as is,
without warranty or guarantee of any kind, either expressed or
implied, as to the quality or performance of this program, except
that it will occupy disk space.
The author, Folkert J. Wijnstra, will not be held liable to you
or anyone for (but not limited to) any direct, indirect,
incidental or consequential damages, including any lost profits,
3
lost savings which may result from the use or inability to use
this program.
Folkert J. Wijnstra is in no way obligated to provide future
versions of, or support for this software.
Your use of the program constitutes your agreement to this
license and disclaimer and your release of the author from any
form of liability or litigation.
1.2 Registration
This release of FMail may be used free of charge for individual
hobby use. It is not allowed to use an unregistered version of
FMail within a commercial environment (i.e. business,
governmental organization, school, foundation, or any other form
of juridical person) longer than an evaluation period of four
weeks.
Registering FMail enables a number of special features (tearline
options). To register FMail, fill out the registration form and
send it to one of the registration sites, preferably by netmail.
See FMAILREG.LZH for more information.
If you want to send me netmail, use crash mail to node 2:283/619
or use normal netmail routing.
IMPORTANT: It is not possible for me to answer all messages I
receive. You can be sure, however, that I will read all messages!
More information about the availability of the FMAIL_HELP
echomail conference can be obtained from the registration and
support sites or me.
Folkert Wijnstra
Ede, The Netherlands
FidoNet 2:283/619
Data/Fax +31-8380-33642 (VFC, V32b, CM, MO, FAX) in Ede,
the Netherlands
4
1.3 Files
FMail, FSetup and FTools create and use a number of files. Except
for the last three files, FMail will create and look for these
files in the directory were FMail is located, even if the current
directory is another one. The files are:
FMAIL.CFG General configuration file.
FMAIL.AR Contains the area configuration used by FMail.
FMAIL.ARD Contains the area configuration defaults used by
FMail.
FMAIL.NOD Contains the node configuration used by FMail.
FMAIL.PCK Contains the netmail routing information used by
FMail's PACK function.
FMAIL.DUP Contains the database with signatures of messages
used by FMail to detect messages that have been
sent to your system before (duplicates). FMail
keeps track of the last 16384 messages.
FMAIL32.DUP The OS/2 version of the duplicate detection file.
It is capable of keeping track of a lot more
dupes (max. 9999*1024).
FMAIL.LOC This file is opened by FMail in the message base
directory to prevent multiple copies of FMail
from operating on the same message base at the
same time. This file will NOT be deleted
afterwards.
MSG*.FML These files are created in the message base
directory when FMail is running in message base
sharing mode. Normally FMail will append these
files to the normal message base files, but it
can happen that this is not possible. FMail will
retry to append them to the normal message base
files the next time it is started.
*.QQQ If FMail could not compress the outgoing .PKT
files, they will be renamed to .QQQ files and
will remain in the Outgoing mail directory. FMail
will retry to compress these .QQQ files the next
time it is started.
*.TMP In some cases (e.g. a crash), it is possible that
TMP files remain in the Outbound mail directory.
In most cases, these files can be deleted without
any problem, because the original mail has not
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been removed yet: the messages will be tossed
again the next time FMAIL TOSS is started.
1.4 System requirements
To use FMail you need an IBM PC, AT, 386, 486 or Pentium or fully
compatible computer with a mono or color card and a harddisk.
Also you need MS-DOS or PC DOS 3.3 or later for the DOS, DOS/386
and DOS/DPMI version or OS/2 2.1 or later for the OS/2 version.
DOS users should have at least FILES=20 in their CONFIG.SYS. Use
a higher value (e.g. FILES=40) if you are using the 'Extra
handles' option.
In order to be able to send and receive mail, you need a mailer
that is compatible with FTSC-0001. For reading and writing mail
you need a message editor or a BBS program that uses the QuickBBS
and/or JAM message base format.
Finally you need one or more of these compression programs:
ARC, ARJ, LHA, PKARC, PKPAK, PKZIP, SQZ or ZOO.
6
1.5 Various notes
* FMail supports up to 16 AKAs. AKAs 11-15 cannot be used for
netmail boards in the message base.
* Enter your AKAs in FSetup in the same order as in FrontDoor's
FDSetup and GoldEd's setup, i.e. if you have AKA 3 in
FrontDoor defined as 2:283/619, you should also define AKA 3
in FSetup as 2:283/619.
* When entering node numbers in FSetup or on the FMail command
line, always use the 4 dimensional address for points, not
the fakenet address.
* Node numbers may be entered in an abbreviated way. FMail or
FSetup will use the main node number to complete the node
number. E.g. if you enter ".1" and the main node number is
defined as 2:283/619, FMail will use 2:283/619.1. Likewise
"1" will be changed into 2:283/1.
* FMail looks for the de-/compression utilities in the
directories that are included in the DOS PATH statement.
* If one or more de-/compression utilities are not available on
your system, you should remove them from FSetup. That way,
they will not be mentioned in the AreaMgr confirmation report
as being available.
* Internally FMail always uses 4 dimensional addresses. If
FMail is handling mail from or to a fakenet address, the
address will be internally converted into the corresponding
4-d address. If necessary, the 4-d address will be converted
back into the fakenet address if that is required by the
receiving system.
As a consequence, all node numbers entered in the node
manager or the area manager should be 4-d addresses !!!
7
2 Getting started
Use the DOS command CD to go to the system directory of your
mailer (e.g. FrontDoor). After you type FSETUP and press the
ENTER key, a menu pops up. If you use a monochrome monitor in
combination with a video adapter with colour capabilities, you
might want to force FSetup not to use any colours. You can do
this by appending /M after the FSetup command.
FMail looks for its configuration files in the same directory as
where the EXE files are stored, even if that is not the current
directory. If you want FMail to look for the configuration files
in another directory, just put that directory in the environment
variable FMAIL. Example: SET FMAIL=C:\FIDO\FMAIL\
You can only start one of the FMail programs (FMAIL.EXE,
FSETUP.EXE and FTOOLS.EXE) at the same time. When you try to
start a second program, this program will display a message that
another FMail program is still running. If the other program has
not stopped after 30 seconds, the program will abort.
2.1 Converting config files of other echomail processors
FSetup has the capability to import the configuration files of a
number of other echomail processors: IMAIL, TosScan and all
programs using an AREAS.BBS file. Before using this capability
however, you first should enter all node numbers you will be
using and include the fakenet numbers you are using, if any. This
way, FMail will automatically convert all fakenet addresses in
the configuration files into 4 dimensional addresses that are be
used by FMail.
IMPORTANT:
1) Always check the imported configuration files.
2) The archiver program to be used will not be converted
correctly in the node manager!
8
3 FSetup
FSetup is the menu oriented setup utility for FMail. First the
keys that can be used to enter information in FSetup are
discussed. The rest of the chapter discusses all menus in FSetup.
3.1 FSetup keys
The following keys can be used in FSetup:
- Move bar to the previous menu entry Up arrow
- Move bar to the next menu entry Down arrow
- Select option at the position of the bar Enter
- Return to the previous menu
(or exit if the current menu is the Main menu) ESC
- Shell to DOS ALT-Z
- Go to a menu item Press the highlighed character
When editing a data field in FSetup, the following options are
available to you:
- Move one position to the left Left arrow
- Move one position to the right Right arrow
- Move to the first position
of the previous word Ctrl-Left arrow
- Move to the first position
of the next word Ctrl-Right arrow
- Move to the first position of the field Home
- Move to the last position of the field End
- Delete the character at the
current position of the cursor Delete
- Delete the character left of the cursor Backspace
- Delete rest of the field Ctrl-End
- Clear the entire field Ctrl-Y
- Accept contents of data field Enter
- Restore original contents of data field ESC
- Toggle insert mode Insert
- Shell to DOS ALT-Z
When editing a group selection window:
- Select all groups Insert
- Deselect all groups Delete
- Toggle an entry The listed character
9
3.2 Main menu
The main menu of FSetup contains seven options:
Miscellaneous Allows you to enter general information about the
message base and how messages should be handled.
You also can specify the compression and
decompression programs the should be used for
your mail.
System info Information about directories, swapping,
compression programs etc. can be entered via the
System info sub menu.
Import/Export With the Import/Export option of FSetup you can
export selected parts of the configuration to a
text file or a printer. Also it is possible to
import area and node configurations of IMAIL and
TosScan.
Uplink Manager The uplink manager contains information about the
systems you receive most of your echomail from.
Areas can be connected and disconnected from
these systems automatically.
Pack Manager The pack manager is used to enter netmail routing
information. This information is used by FMail's
Pack function.
Node Manager The node manager is used to review and update
information about other systems, like the
password for AreaMgr and the node's capability.
Area Manager The area manager is used to enter information
about echo areas that have to be tossed by FMail.
10
3.3 Miscellaneous
The "Miscellaneous" menu contains eight options, which will be
described below.
3.3.1 General options
This option shows a menu that lets you enter general
configuration information:
Sysop Name
Your name. It is used for determining whether or not netmail
should be imported into the message base netmail board and if
a copy of an echomail message should be placed in the
personal mail directory.
FMail key 1
FMail key 2
Enter your FMail registration keys here.
Mailer
The mailer program you are using. Supported mailers are
FrontDoor, InterMail, D'Bridge, Binkley, Portal of Power and
MainDoor.
Busy flags
FMail can create busy flags for FrontDoor and InterMail. It
prevents these mailers from calling systems that you are
compressing mail for at that moment.
BBS program
The BBS program you are using (if any). Supported programs
are RemoteAccess, SuperBBS, QuickBBS and TAG. This info is
only used by the AutoExport function.
Tearline (registered users only)
You can define which type of tearline you would like FMail to
use for your messages. The options range from the standard
FMail tearline to a custom tearline or no tearline at all. If
you want the tearline to be empty or absent, you can tell
FMail to use a Tosser ID (TID) kludge instead.
11
Custom (registered users only)
If you select 'Custom' as the desired tearline type, FMail
will use the tearline you enter here.
ReTear (registered users only)
If FMail should replace an existing tearline. Normally FMail
only retears the message in the PKT file it generates. If you
want FMail to update the message text in the Hudson message
base as well, enable the switch Update text after scan (see
page 13).
3.3.2 Message base
This option shows a menu that lets you control the way the
message base will be handled.
Netmail boards
FMail allows you to use different netmail boards for each of
your AKA's. Information about these netmail areas can be
entered in a sub menu. The information includes:
- A comment that will be used in the areas files that can
be created by FSetup AutoExport feature.
- Hudson message base board number. It is possible to use a
board number for more than one AKA. If you do this, only
the information of the first netmail area that uses a
particular message base board will be used, e.g. by
AutoExport to create the FrontDoor and GoldEd areas files
and by FTools for determining which messages should be
deleted. JAM is not yet supported, but will be in a
coming release.
- Information that can be used by FTools for message base
maintenance purposes.
- Security information to be used in the BBS area file. For
more information about the options available in the BBS
info menu you are referred to the documentation of your
BBS program.
Bad message board
Message base board number of the board in which bad messages
will be stored.
Duplicate message board
Hudson message base board number of the board in which
duplicate messages will be stored.
12
Recovery board
Hudson message base board number of the board to which FTOOLS
MAINT /C should move messages in boards that are not defined
in FSetup. If the Recovery board is not defined, FTOOLS MAINT
/C will delete all messages in undefined boards.
AutoRenumber
FTools Maint will renumber your Hudson message base as soon
as the highest message number in the message base has reached
the AutoRenumber limit.
Import netmail to sysop
If set to "No", messages addressed to your name or to "Sysop"
will not be imported into the Hudson message base. Has no
effect if no netmail board number has been entered.
Remove 'Re:'
Some message editors put "Re:" before the actual subject when
replying to a message. FMail is capable to remove "Re:" from
subject lines.
Remove lf/soft cr
Linefeeds and soft carriage returns are unnecessary in
echomail messages. In order to save some diskspace, you may
want to remove them. It will, however, slow the program down
a bit.
Update text after Scan
Write the text of the message as it will be sent to other
systems back to the message base. This means that the message
in the message base will contain PATH and SEEN-BY
information. Currently only the Hudson message base is
supported. See also Retear (page 12).
Update reply chains
If set to "Yes", all message reply chains will be updated
after messages have been tossed into the message base.
Sort new messages
If set to "Yes", new messages in the message base will be
sorted according to subject and date.
13
Use subject
Apart from date/time also use the subject to sort messages.
Message base sharing
Allows concurrent access of FMail and the BBS software to the
message base. DOS's SHARE should be installed.
Scan always
If set to "Yes", the messages base will always be completely
scanned for outgoing messages. If set to "No" FMail relies on
the files ECHOMAIL.BBS and NETMAIL.BBS to indicate new
messages. If these files are found to be pointing to a
message that does not qualify for export, a complete scan of
the message base will be performed.
Quick toss
If enabled, this option slightly shortens the time needed by
FMail after a packet has been tossed. Normally the message
base files are closed and re-opened between packets, but this
option causes the files not to be closed. Using this option,
might under extreme conditions, slightly increases the risk
of loosing some messages in the message base. For example: in
case of a power failure.
14
3.3.3 Mail options
This option shows you a menu that lets you control certain
aspects of the way FMail handles mail.
Dupe detection
Enables FMail's duplicate message detection system. If a
duplicate message is found, it will be placed into the
duplicate messages directory (if defined).
Ignore MSGID
Normally FMail uses the MSGID of a message (if present) for
duplicate detection purposes. In some cases, this may cause
problems when different messages are having the same MSGID:
one or more of these messages will be marked as duplicates
although they are not. If you are frequently experiencing
these problems, try setting this switch to 'Yes'.
Use EMS (not available/necessary in DPMI version)
Try to use EMS memory to store the signatures of messages in.
This saves about 64 kb of conventional memory.
Max PKT size (kb)
The maximum size of an outgoing PKT file in kilobytes.
Max bundle size (kb)
The maximum size of an outgoing mail bundle (compressed mail
file). The bundle may get a bit bigger than the requested
size. It partly depends on the Max PKT size you entered. You
are advised not to enter a relatively a large number there if
you use Max bundle size.
Kill empty netmail
Kill empty received netmail messages when scanning the
netmail directory. If you enable this option, empty netmails
will not be moved to the Received mail directory.
15
Kill bad ARCmail msg
Kill ARCmail messages of which the attached mail bundle is
missing. Can be used for example to remove file attach
messages of mail bundles that are moved (e.g. by a command in
a batch file) from FMail's outbound directory to the inbound
directory of a point's FMail in a network environment.
ARCmail compatibility
Use ARCmail 0.60 naming convention for out-of-zone mail. Some
other programs require the use of the ARCmail 0.60 naming
convention. Normally this is not necessary. Ask the SysOps of
your uplinks and downlinks if you are not sure.
Extended bundle names
Use 0-Z in stead of only 0-9 for mail bundle name extensions.
Some programs do not recognize bundle name extensions that do
not end on a digit.
Check PKT destination
If this option is enabled, only packets that are addressed to
one of your AKAs (or to one of your points if you are not a
point yourself) will be tossed. Packets addressed to other
nodes will be renamed to files with the file name extension
'.DST'.
Max net msgs
The maximum number of netmail messages allowed in one PKT
file when tossing. If the maximum number is reached, the PKT
file will be renamed to MLB (mail bomb). Normally there is no
need to use this option and should it be set to 0.
Keep exported netmail
Do not set the KILL flag on netmail messages that are
exported from the message base.
Remove netmail kludges
Some echomail processors cannot handle echomail messages
containing netmail kludges (INTL, FMPT, TOPT). If some of
your downlinks use such an echomail processor, you may want
to enable the 'Remove netmail kludges' toggle. PLEASE CHECK
THE ECHOMAIL POLICY OF YOUR NET BEFORE USING THIS OPTION.
16
Set Pvt on import
Set the Private flag on all netmail messages that are
imported into the message base.
3.3.4 Mgr options
For a more extensive explanation of some of the options below see
also paragraph 3.8.
Keep requests
Do not delete AreaMgr requests after they have been
processed.
Keep receipts
Do not set the KILL attribute on receipts created by AreaMgr.
Allow %PASSWORD
Allow nodes to change their AreaMgr passwords through a
message to AreaMgr containing the %PASSWORD command.
Allow %PKTPWD
Allow nodes to change their packet passwords through a
message to AreaMgr containing the %PKTPWD command.
Allow %ACTIVE
Allow nodes to change the status of their systems from active
to passive and back through a message to AreaMgr containing
the %PASSIVE and %ACTIVE commands.
Allow %COMPRESSION
Allows nodes to use %COMPRESSION to change the compression
method used for their mail.
Allow %NOTIFY
Allows nodes to toggle the notify status on or off using the
%NOTIFY command.
Allow %+ALL
Allow nodes to use %+ALL to connect all areas at once.
17
Auto-disconnect
Automatically disconnect passthrough areas with only one link
(export address).
3.3.5 Personal mail
FMail is able to scan all messages being tossed for messages
directed to you personally and store them in a separate
directory.
Pers. mail path
If you enter a directory name here, a copy of each echomail
message that is directed to you (even if it is in a pass-
through area) will be placed in *.MSG format in this
directory. IMPORTANT: this directory should _never_ be the
same as any other directory entered in FSetup.
Topic 1
Topic 2
FMail has the ability to scan the subject lines of messages
it is tossing for up to two keywords. If messages are found
containing one of these keywords, they will be copied to the
personal mail directory. Using FMail's topic scan feature
will slow down the tossing function a bit.
Include netmail
Indicates whether or not personal netmail should also be
copied to the personal mail directory.
New mail warning
If enabled, FMail will send a netmail message to you, each
time personal netmail or echomail messages have been tossed.
Users (registered users only)
Enter up to eight names of users whose mail should be copied
to the Personal mail board too.
3.3.6 Addresses
Your main address and up to ten other addresses that you may use,
can be entered in this window. If the echomail processors of some
of your points do not have Type 2+ capabilities, they will have
to receive their mail using the fakenet method. For each of the
eleven addresses you may enter a fakenet number. You can do this
18
by appending it to your normal 4-d address using a dash '-'. For
example 2:283/619-7619.
3.3.7 Group names
If you are using a lot of different groups, remembering what each
group letter stands for can be rather difficult. The Group names
window lets you enter descriptions for all groups. These
descriptions will be used in the Node Manager, the Area Manager
and in AreaMgr replies.
3.3.8 AreaMgr defaults
To save some time when installing new areas in the Area Manager,
you may enter a number of default settings that will be used for
new areas. Of course, these values may be changed in the Area
Manager, should it be necessary. For more information about the
offered options, you are referred to the chapter about the Area
Manager.
19
3.4 System info
The system info menu is used for various types of information
that are related to the system on which FMail is used.
3.4.1 Miscellaneous
Extra handles (not useful on point systems)
If you have more than about 5 downlinks and you want FMail to
run faster, you should allow FMail to use extra file handles.
You may let FMail use up to 235 extra handles (apart from the
standard 15 handles that are always available to FMail).
ATTENTION: if you are running more than one program at the
same time, please make sure that there are enough handles
left for the other programs. Increase the FILES= value in
CONFIG.SYS if necessary.
Ctrl-Break
If the Ctrl-Break option is enabled, you may stop FMail with
Control-Break when tossing. This also may enlarge the time
available to other programs when running in a multi-tasking
environment.
Buffer size (not available/necessary in the DPMI version)
The size of FMail's internal buffers. Huge buffers require
about 100 kb of free memory, while tiny buffers only take
about 12 kb.
FT buf size (not available/necessary in the DPMI version)
The size of FTools's internal buffers and FMail's buffers for
sorting and updating reply chains.
Monochrome
If enabled, FSetup will not use color, even if a color card
is detected. This may be useful on systems using a monochrome
monitor in combination with a color card.
Color set
FSetup now comes in three flavours: Summer, Winter and
Marine. If you select another color set, it will become
visible the next time you start FSetup.
20
3.4.2 Directories
In the 'Directories' window you can enter eight paths to
directories that will be used for specific files. Unless stated
otherwise, no directory should be used for more than one purpose!
IMPORTANT: Do not use a directory more than once for FMail. Only
Sent mail and Received mail may point to the same directory if
desired.
Message base
The message base path points to the directory where the
message base files are stored. The message base files are
MSGHDR.BBS, MSGIDX.BBS, MSGTOIDX.BBS and MSGTXT.BBS.
When FMail is running in message base sharing mode, it is
possible that also files with the same names as the normal
message base but with extensions .FML are present in the
message base directory. Apart from the file name extension,
this is a normal Hudson message base. When tossing and the
optional sorting has finished, FMail tries to append the FML
files to the normal message base files. This can go wrong for
a number of reasons:
- The message base is locked.
- The resulting message base would be bigger than is
allowed (e.g. the new MSGTXT.BBS would be bigger than 16
Mb). Use FTools to reduce the size of the message base.
- There is not enough disk space available. FMail needs an
amount of free diskspace that is about equal to the
combined size of all FML files.
If appending the FML files to the BBS files goes wrong, FMail
displays the message 'Can't update the message base files'.
FMail will retry to append the FML files to the normal
message base files the next time it is started.
Netmail
The netmail directory contains netmail messages in *.MSG
format. File attach messages will be placed in this
directory.
Incoming mail
The incoming mail directory is the directory where your
mailer stores its received files. Incoming mail bundles will
also be unpacked in this directory.
Sometimes for some reason packets are not tossed by FMail. If
this is the case, the PKT files will be renamed. The file
name extensions of these remaining files indicate the nature
of the problem:
21
PKT If there is not enough free disk space on your harddisk
when a incoming PKT file is being tossed, FMail aborts
and the PKT file remains in the 'Incoming mail'
directory.
QQQ If FMail for some reason cannot compress an outgoing
mailbundle, the file name extension will be changed
from PKT into QQQ. If FMail is run again, it will first
try to compress any packets with the QQQ extension if
found.
SEC The password in this packet did not correspond with the
password for the source node in the node manager.
DST The mail packet is not directed to your main node
number or one of your AKAs.
ERR For some reason, the PKT header could not be read.
Outgoing mail
In the outgoing mail directory FMail will store the mail
bundles it creates for other nodes.
Local PKTs (optional)
If you are using some program that creates PKT files that you
would like to have tossed by FMail, there may be a problem if
you have security enabled in the Area Manager. Placing those
packets in the Local PKTs directory will cause FMail to toss
them, even if security is enabled for that particular
echomail conference.
CAUTION: Be very careful with what PKT files you place in the
Local PKTs directory. It is very easy to create dupes this
way!
Semaphore (optional)
Indicates whether or not FMail should create FDRESCAN.NOW and
FMRESCAN.NOW after netmail has been tossed. If the FD
environment variable has been set, these files will be
created in the directory indicated by this variable.
Otherwise, they will be created in the directory in which
FMail is located.
Sent mail (optional)
Received mail (optional)
If the 'Sent mail' and/or 'Received mail' directories are
defined, FMail will move sent and/or received netmail from
the netmail directory to the appropriate directory: mail that
has been sent, will be moved to the 'Sent mail' directory if
22
defined. Message that have been received by the addressee
will be moved to the 'Received mail' directory. Messages with
special attributes (file attach, in-transit) will never be
moved to either one of these directories. Sent mail and
Received mail may point to the same directory. ATTENTION: the
'Sent mail' and 'Received mail' directories have to be
located on the same drive as the netmail directory.
3.4.3 Log files
Log style
The layout that should be used for the log file. Possible
settings are: FrontDoor, QuickBBS, D'Bridge and Binkley.
Log file name (optional)
If you want a log file to be created, you should enter the
desired path and filename here. IT IS NOT RECOMMENDED TO LET
FMAIL SHARE A LOG FILE WITH ANOTHER PROGRAM THAT MAY RUN
SIMULTANEOUSLY.
Log settings
Various Yes/No switches let you set the specific information
you want to have logged.
AreaMgr log
If you want a separate log file containing information about
AreaMgr requests to be created, you should enter path and
filename here. If left blank, information about AreaMgr
requests will be inserted in the normal log file.
Toss summary
The Toss summary file contains information about the number
of messages tossed into each area, about which nodes sent
those messages and to which nodes those messages were
forwarded.
3.4.4 Swapping (not available in the DPMI and OS/2 versions)
Under some circumstances, there may not be enough memory left to
execute a (de)compression utility. To make sure that there is
enough memory available, you may want to enable swapping. This
means that FMail will temporarily remove itself from memory in
order to make room for the (de)compression utility.
23
There are three types of swapping available. The slowest type is
swapping to disk. FMail will try to swap itself to disk if the
other two methods are not available. These other two methods are
swapping to EMS and swapping to XMS. If both swapping to EMS and
swapping to XMS are enabled, FMail will first try XMS and if that
does not work it will try EMS. If you are running FMail under
DESQview or a similar program, make sure that there is enough EMS
or XMS available to FMail. Under DESQview the amount of EMS/XMS
that is available in a window can be changed via 'Change a
Program'-> 'Maximum Expanded Memory Size'. It should be left
blank or be set to at least 700 kb.
You may set the directory in which the swap file will be located
by entering the path to the desired directory. If left blank, the
swap file will be placed in the directory where FMail is located.
3.4.5 Compression
The programs that are used to compress your outgoing mail bundles
are listed here. FMail can handle seven different types of
archivers: ARC, ZIP, LZH, PAK, ZOO, ARJ and SQZ. First the name
of the program should be listed, followed by optional arguments.
Using the program name with a full path lets FMail find the
requested program faster and prevents problems when there is
another program with the same name in a directory that is
included in the path. Default settings for each program are
automatically created by FSetup when it is run for the first
time.
It is important to add the proper command line switches for the
compression utilities. You must make sure that the programs are
not waiting for additional input such as a response to a Yes/No
prompt.
The archiving utility listed behind "Default" is used for nodes
not listed in the Node Manager.
For each of the compression programs you can enter the minimum
amount of memory that is required to run the program. If the
required amount is available, FMail won't swap itself out of
memory when it start a compression program. If you enter 0, FMail
will always swap itself out of memory (if swapping is enabled).
3.4.6 Decompression
The programs that are used to decompress your incoming mail
bundles are listed here. The Decompression window has a special
entry called GUS. The program that is entered here is called by
FMail when it can't determine the type of the archive. For more
information see section 3.4.5 (Compression).
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3.5 Import/export
All menu options starting with "List" allow you to send
information about parts of your FMail setup to a text file or to
the printer. If you want to send it to the printer, just enter
PRN as the file name.
3.5.1 Import Config
The option "Import config" allows you to import AREAS.BBS,
FOLDER.FD and area and node configuration files of two other
popular echomail processors: IMAIL (version 1.20) and TosScan. In
some cases you have the choice whether to use the area tag or to
use the comment to identify an area in the config file that is
created by FSetup.
A special option is Import RA info. It imports RA security
information into an EXISTING FMail areas file. If you do not
already have an FMail areas file, enter the information manually
in the Area Manager or use one of the other import functions
first. When you start the Import RA info option, the program will
try to find security information in MESSAGES.RA for each area
that is defined in FMail.Ar and insert it in that file.
3.5.2 AutoExport
Normally when a new area is installed, this had to be done in a
number of programs. With FSetup's AutoExport feature this is no
longer necessary. Each update in the Area Manager can result in
an automatic update of AREAS.BBS, FOLDER.FD (FrontDoor),
IMFOLDER.CFG (InterMail), MESSAGES.RA (RemoteAccess), BOARDS.BBS
(SuperBBS), MSGCFG.DAT (QuickBBS) and a file in a format that can
be used by GoldEd. All you have to do is to enter the path to the
directory in which the desired file should appear (the actual
filename should not be added; FSetup will append a standard name
to the path).
IMPORTANT: The AutoUpdate function will overwrite the existing
file, so ALL INFORMATION IN THAT FILE WILL BE LOST. For example,
areas defined in MESSAGES.RA that are not defined in FSetup will
be removed by AutoExport. That is the reason why local areas
should also be defined in FSetup: that way they will be exported
to MESSAGES.RA and other files.
With AREAS.BBS you may include pass-through areas by setting the
switch to 'Yes'.
25
With FOLDER.FD/IMFOLDER.CFG and the BBS area files you may choose
which item should be used: the area tag or the comment field. You
may include the Bad messages board, the Duplicate messages board
and the Recovery board in the BBS areas file by setting the
appropriate switch to 'Yes'. AutoExport will use some standard
settings for these areas: e.g. they will be Local and ReadOnly
and all security levels will be set to 32000.
The GoldEd file AREAS.GLD can be used by GoldEd if you insert the
following line as the last line in your GoldEd configuration
file: INCLUDE AREAS.GLD
In QuickBBS's MSGCFG.DAT the write security information will also
be used for the template security information.
3.6 Uplink Manager
The Uplink Manager is used to enter information about uplinks
that is needed by FMail to connect and disconnect echomail areas.
You can define up to 16 uplinks. The information that is needed
for each uplink will now be explained.
Uplink system
The node number of the uplink.
AreaFix program
The name of the program FMail should direct its request
messages to. If you are not sure, try 'Areafix'. This will
work in most cases.
AreaFix password
The password you use to connect and disconnect echomail areas
on this system.
Add '+' prefix
If FMail should put a '+' in front of the area names it tries
to connect. This is normally not necessary.
Authorized groups
Authorized groups are groups a downlink has to have access to
in order to be allowed to use the Forward Request feature for
this uplink.
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Unconditional
If set to Yes, FMail doesn't check the Areas file listed
below.
Areas file name
Name of the file containing area names that should be checked
by FMail. This file has to located in the same directory
where the FMail executables are located or the directory that
is pointed to by the FMAIL environment variable (if defined).
Areas file type
If set to 'Random', FMail searches the entire file. If 'Areas
file type' is set to '<AREANAME> <DESCRIPTION>' FMail
searches for area names at the beginning of each line only.
Also it then uses the description to fill in the comment
field in the Area Manager.
Origin address
The address that should by used as the origin address of the
request message.
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3.7 Pack Manager
The syntax to be used for Pack Manager entries:
<node> ... [EXCEPT <node> ...] [VIA <node>|HOST]
[/A] [/C] [/H] [/I] [/L] [/O]
The one or more <node> entries before the optional VIA keyword
specify the nodes for which messages should be packed. The '*'
and '?' characters may be used here. '?' may be any digit. '*'
indicates that the rest of the node number may be anything. E.g.
2:283/* specifies all nodes in net 283 in zone 2. 2:283/6?0
specifies nodes 2:283/600, 610, 620, 630 etc. The wildcard '#' is
substituted by digits 0-9 in subsequent evaluations. If the VIA
node is 'HOST', the mail bundles will be sent to the net hosts.
Five switches may be used:
/A Do not process AreaMgr requests
/C Include messages with Crash status. Normally these messages
will not be packed.
/H Include messages with Hold status. Normally these messages
will not be packed.
/O Include orphaned messages. Normally these messages will not
be packed.
/I Only pack messages that are in transit. Normally all
netmail messages destined for other nodes will be packed.
/L Only pack messages that originated on your system. Normally
all netmail messages destined for other nodes will be
packed.
Entries in the Pack Manager are used from top to bottom: the
first entry that applies to a particular message will be used for
that message. An example:
2:282/357 2:282/309 via 2:282/301
2:283/216 via 2:283/203
1:* 2:* 3:* 4:* 5:* 6:* via 2:282/1
This example packs all messages for nodes 2:282/357, 2:282/309
and 2:282/301 and their points that do not have the crash, hold
or orphan status and sends them to node 2:282/301. Messages for
2:283/216 and 2:283/203 are packed and sent to node 2:283/203.
All remaining messages for zones 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 will be sent
to 2:282/1.
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3.8 Node Manager
The node manager is used to store information about the systems
you exchange mail with.
System
The node number of a system. IMPORTANT: This node number
should always be the normal node number i.e. you should NEVER
enter a node number containing a fakenet. If it is necessary
for some of your points that you send them their mail using a
fakenet, you should set their capability to "Stone Age" (see
below) and define a fakenet in the Addresses window.
Sysop Name
Here you may enter the name of the sysop of the remote
system. The name of the sysop will be used in AreaMgr replies
and to determine if a message should be sent to a system if
that system is 'passive'. Only messages directed to the Sysop
will be forwarded to such systems.
Via system
Address where to route mail for this system to. NOTE: the PKT
files will be directed to the original AKA. Only the ARCmail
bundle will be directed to the Via node, if specified.
Use AKA
Which AKA should be used for mail bundles to this system. If
set to AUTO, FMail automatically picks the best-matching AKA.
Groups
The area manager lets you assign a group letter to each echo
area. In the node manager you can enter the letters of the
groups that are available to a particular system.
Write level
If the write level of a system is less than the write level
that is specified with an echo area in the Area Manager, then
this system is not allowed to write messages in this area.
Compression
The Compression toggle can be used to set the type of
archiving program that will be used to compress mail for this
system. A system is able to change this setting using an
AreaMgr request message.
29
Capability
You can tell FMail whether or not the software of the other
system recognizes 4-d addresses (FSC-0039) or only 2-d
addresses by setting the capability switch to "Type 2+" for
4-d or "Stone Age" for 2-d. If you want to send mail to one
of your "Stone Age" points, FMail will automatically try to
use the fakenet method. In most cases setting the capability
of a system to Type 2+ will be fine.
Attach status
You may set the status of the file attach messages for a
system to "None", "Hold", "Crash", "Hold/Direct",
"Crash/Direct" and "Direct". Normally "None" is fine. Please
see the manual of your mailer on how to handle mail bundles.
Active
A system that is not active will not receive echomail for the
connected areas except for messages that are directed to the
SysOp name of that system. A system that has the Active set
to No is still allowed to send echomail for connected areas.
The Active status can be changed by the system through the
%ACTIVE and %PASSIVE commands in a message to AreaMgr.
Notify
Send a notify message to this system when the command 'FTools
Notify [/A] [/N]' is issued.
Pack netmail
If enabled, the Pack Netmail switch causes netmail for this
system to be packed for this system directly. This means,
that mail for this system will not be routed according to the
contents of the Pack Manager.
Forward requests
The Forward request toggle is used to allow systems to use
the Uplink Manager.
Allow rescan
When a system connects a new area through an AreaMgr request,
that system may also request to scan your message base for
messages in that area. You can prevent a system from
rescanning your message base by setting this switch to No.
Rescan does not work with JAM areas yet.
30
Route point
If the system you are editing in the Node Manager is one of
your points, then if you enable this switch, FMail will check
all messages directed to your AKAs to see whether they are
meant for this point (by checking the To: name). If so, the
message will be automatically forwarded.
Rem.maint (+)
Allow this system to perform remote maintenance. A system
that is allowed to perform remote maintenance (e.g. your Co-
SysOp) can connect and disconnect areas on behalf of other
systems. A remote maintenance message has the same syntax as
a normal AreaFix message, but also contains a %FROM command,
followed by the node number for which the remote maintenance
has to be performed. The password that should be used is the
password of the system performing the request, not the
password of the system behind the %FROM keyword.
Tiny SEEN-BYs
If you set the "Tiny SEEN-BYs" switch to "Yes", this system
will receive echo mail messages in which only you and your
downlinks will be listed in the SEEN-BY lines. In normal
situations this switch should be set to "No".
Reformat date
Some echomail utilities create date strings which are not in
accordance with the specifications. Some other echomail
utilities have problems recognizing those date strings. FMail
will send a corrected date string to a system if "Reformat
date" is set to yes.
AreaMgr password
The AreaMgr password is used by a remote system to connect or
disconnect echomail areas. To do this, the remote system has
to send a message to "AreaMgr", "AreaFix" or "FMail" at your
node number. The password should be on the subject line.
Packet password
If you enter an Packet password, FMail will only toss packets
from this system if the listed password is present in the
header of the received packet. The password also will be
placed in the header of each packet created for this system.
The combination of packet password and the Security option in
the Area Manager should make it a bit more difficult to
successfully drop an echomail bomb on your system.
31
Ignore
If you want to put a password in packets you are sending to
another system, but do not want to check packets you receive
from that system for that password, you should toggle the
Ignore switch to Yes.
32
3.9 Area Manager
The area manager is used to tell FMail which echomail conferences
(areas) you are carrying. Use the left and right arrows to walk
through all areas. If you press F5, you will see a list of all
areas you have defined. Here you can walk through all areas by
pressing the up and down arrows. NEW FEATURE: You can use the
left and right arrows to switch between area tag and comment.
Each of the fields of the Area Manager will now be explained in
detail.
Area name
This is the name of the conference. It can be up to 50
characters long. This name is often referred to as the area
tag. It is inserted into every message that your system
exports for an area so that other system's echomail
processors can put the message into the correct area when it
arrives.
Comment
This field is used to give some info about an echomail area
in messages that are returned by AreaMgr. It also appears in
the output of some of the list functions in the Import/export
menu.
JAM MB path
Path of the JAM message base. If you enter a path name here,
FMail will set the Hudson board number to None (if it was not
set to that already).
Board
The "Board" field is used to select the message base board
number in which the messages in this area should be imported.
If you select this option, a window pops up containing all
possible board numbers and the word "None". The board numbers
that are displayed in a dark colour are already used by
another area. If you select the word "None" and the JAM MB
path is left blank, the messages will not be imported into
the message base, but only forwarded to your downlinks (a so
called "Pass-through area"). Any other choice of board number
will cause the JAM MB path field to be blanked. Use the
cursor keys to go to the desired board number and press ENTER
to select.
33
Write level
If the write level of an area is greater than or equal to the
write level that is specified with a system in the Node
Manager, then this system is not allowed to write messages in
this area.
Group
The "Group" field defines which group a conference belongs
to. The valid range for this field is A through Z. It's used
to regulate the availability of conferences to other systems.
You should divide your conferences into a number of
categories. For example, all conferences that only a few
people should be able to access could be put into group S for
Secure while all other conferences are put into G for
General.
Local
If you have local message areas in your message base, you
should enter those areas in FSetup with Local set to Yes.
That way, you can enter message base maintenance information
for that area and make sure, that the boardnumber cannot be
accidentally assigned to another area. Also those areas will
be marked as Local in AutoExported files.
Areafix
Allow your downlinks to connect to and disconnect from this
area by sending messages to AreaFix or FMail. Normally this
switch should be set to Yes.
Active
If the 'Active' switch is off, the area will no longer be
recognized by FMail as a valid echomail area. This switch can
be used to temporarily disable a particular area.
BBS info
Here you may enter the security level and flags and other
information that will be used in the area file of your BBS
program.
Use SeenBy
Normally FMail only uses the address in the packet header to
determine to which systems a message in a particular area
should be forwarded: a message is forwarded to all systems
listed in the export list in the Area Manager. If Use SeenBy
34
is enabled, a message also will not be forwarded to systems
listed in the SEEN-BY lines of that message.
Tiny SeenBy
If set to "Yes", all of your downlinks that are connected to
this area will receive messages in which the SEEN-BY lines
will contain only your downlinks.
Imp. SeenBy
If set to "Yes", SEEN-BY information of messages in this
conference will be imported into the message base.
Security
Only messages from systems that are connected to a particular
conference are accepted by FMail. For example, suppose you
carry an area called FMAIL_HELP and you have enabled Security
for that area. If you receive an echomail message from some
system and that system was not listed in the export list of
FMAIL_HELP, that message will be tossed into the bad messages
board (if defined).
Private
If the "Private" field is set to "Yes", private message are
allowed in this conference. Otherwise, the private bit will
be removed from all messages in this conference.
# Messages
Maximum number of messages in an area. If there are more
messages in an area, they will be deleted as soon as FTools
Maint /d is used.
# Days old
If there are messages in an area that are older than the
number of days that is entered here, they will be deleted as
soon as FTools Maint /d is used.
# Days rcvd
If there are received messages (i.e. messages that have been
read by the person they are addressed to) in an area that are
older than the number of days that is entered here, they will
be deleted as soon as FTools Maint /d is used.
35
Arrival date
Use the date that a message arrived on your system instead of
the date that a message was written when deleting messages
using the # Days. This option does not work with messages
with an extremely long subject line. For these messages the
date that the message was written will be used.
Keep SysOp
Do not remove any message that has not been read by the Sysop
(the user with the first entry in Users.BBS). If this switch
is set to Yes, no message that has not been read by the SysOp
will be deleted, if it should be deleted according to one or
more of the other criteria.
Origin AKA
The origin is the address that will be added to the PATH and
SEEN-BY lines. It will also used in the origin line that will
be appended by FMail if the message that is exported from the
message base does not contain an origin line (NOTE: FMail
will NEVER add tear and/or origin lines to messages that are
received from other systems in case they are missing).
Other AKAs
If you want to add more than one of your AKAs to the SEEN-BY
lines of a message, you should use the "Other AKAs" options
to indicate which AKAs should be added also.
Origin line
If a message that is exported out of the message base does
not contain a origin line, FMail will add one. This added
origin will contain a text string that may be entered here.
Export
The systems connected to the conference are listed in a
window which pops up when you select the option "Connected
systems". IMPORTANT: The node number should always be the
normal node number i.e. you should NEVER enter a node number
containing a fakenet. FMail automatically uses the fakenet if
necessary. The maximum number of systems on the Export list
is 64.
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4 FMail
The actual FMail program has four main commands. They are "Scan",
"Toss", "Import" and "Pack" and will be discussed in detail
below.
4.1 Scan
Scan the message base for outgoing echomail and netmail messages.
Echomail messages will be packed to be sent to other systems.
Netmail messages will be moved to the netmail directory. They may
be packed later by the FMail Pack command discussed below.
The Scan option can be used in combination with three switches:
/E Scan for echomail messages only
/N Scan for netmail messages only
/S Scan the entire message base (ignore ECHOMAIL.BBS and
NETMAIL.BBS)
ATTENTION: FMail's SCAN function does not support netmail
credits.
4.2 Toss
Tosses received mail bundles into the message base and forwards
echomail messages to your downlinks.
If FMail Toss seems to be returning messages to the system they
were coming from, please check if the address listed on the
'Processing...' line when tossing, is the same address as the one
that is listed in the Export list of the echoes concerned.
The /B switch may be added to let FMail check all messages in the
bad messages directory to see whether they are valid echomail
messages or not. This may necessary if you are receiving a new
conference from your uplink but forgot to enter it in the area
manager. Messages that are moved to the message base using the /B
switch will not be sent to your downlinks as this may cause
duplicate messages to be sent into the net.
37
4.3 Import
Imports netmail messages destined for your system into the
message base. A netmail board should be defined in FSetup.
Whether or not messages to the Sysop should be imported can also
be defined in FSetup. Import has no switches.
4.4 Pack
Packs and compresses netmail messages. These messages may be
routed through a specified system or may be sent directly.
The syntax of FMail Pack:
FMail Pack [<node> ... [EXCEPT <node>] [VIA <node>|HOST]
[/A] [/C] [/H] [/I] [/L] [/O] ]
This syntax is the same as the syntax of Pack Manager entries and
is described in section 3.7. If the command line does not contain
any node numbers, the information stored in FSetup's Pack Manager
will be used. Packing messages is not required (but sometimes
useful) in e.g. a FrontDoor environment. It _is_ required in a
Binkley/PoP environment.
4.4.1 Examples
FMail Pack 2:282/301 2:283/203 VIA HOST
Packs mail for nodes 2:282/301 and 2:283/203 and points of
these nodes and sends it to the host of these systems
(2:282/0 and 2:283/0).
FMail Pack 2:282/1.1 /C
Packs mail for point 2:282/1.1 and sends it directly to that
point. Messages with the Crash status will also be packed.
4.5 MGR
FMail Mgr only scans the netmail directory and processes AreaMgr
requests found in that directory.
38
5 AreaMgr
AreaMgr is a built-in function of FMail that allows other systems
to connect or disconnect echomail areas by simply sending a
netmail message.
This netmail message should be addressed to one of your AKAs and
directed to 'AreaMgr' or 'FMail'. For compatibility reasons the
message may also be directed to 'AreaFix', 'AreaLink' or
'EchoMgr'. Instead of the normal subject, a password should be
entered. For each system that will be allowed to send AreaMgr
messages to your, you should create an entry in the node manager
containing a password.
The message body of an AreaMgr request contains the requested
mutations in connected echomail areas. To connect to area
TEST_AREA you just enter that name followed by the ENTER key. To
disconnect from an area, just put a minus '-' before the area
tag.
The format of an AreaLink request:
By: <your name>
To: AreaMgr (<node number of dest node>)
Re: <AreaMgr password>
St: Pvt
---------------------------------------------------------
FMAIL_HELP Connect area FMAIL_HELP
FMAIL_HELP /R Connect area FMAIL_HELP and rescan all
messages in the message base
FMAIL_HELP /R=50 Connect area FMAIL_HELP and rescan at most
50 messages
-FMAIL_HELP Disconnect area FMAIL_HELP
%+ALL Connect all available areas
%-ALL Disconnect all areas
%COMPRESSION ZIP Change the compression method used for your
m a i l t o Z I P ( o r
ARC/ZIP/LZH/PAK/ZOO/ARJ/SQZ)
%PASSWORD ABCDEF Change your AreaMgr password to ABCDEF
(password should be at least 5 characters
and at most 16 characters long)
%PKTPWD QRSTUV Change your packet password to QRSTUV
(password may be at most 8 characters long)
%HELP Request this message
%LIST Request a list of areas available to you
39
%QUERY Request a list of areas for which you are
active
%UNLINKED Request a list of areas to which you are
not connected
%FROM Perform remote maintenance for another
system. The node or point doing remote
maintenance should use his/her own
password. The replies generated by FMail
will be sent to both the system doing
remote maintenance and the system for which
the maintenance is being done.
%RESCAN Request a rescan of all new areas
%RESCAN=50 Request a rescan of at most 50 messages per
area for all new areas
%PASSIVE Temporarily disable all areas. This means
that you won't receive any echo mail unless
it is addressed to you personally (only if
the sysop on this system has entered your
name correctly in the Node Manager). You
will still be allowed to send echo mail to
this system in areas to which you are
connected.
%ACTIVE Make your system active again.
[---] Everything below the tear line is ignored
You can also use the -H, -L, -Q and -U switches on the subject
line.
40
When FMail processes an AreaMgr request message, it will generate
a reply, containing the result of the request. This reply will
look like this:
By: FMail AreaMgr
To: Folkert Wijnstra, FMail Development (2:283/619.1)
Re: FMail AreaMgr status report
St: Pvt Local
-------------------------------------------------------------
FMail AreaMgr status report for 2:283/619 on 2:283/619.1
Result of requested mutations:
- FMAIL_HELP .................................. added
You are not connected to any area
Node status : ACTIVE
Notify : ON
Compression : PKZip.Exe -ex
- available : ARC ZIP LZH PAK ARJ SQZ
Use %HELP in a message to FMail for more information.
41
6 FTools
FTools is the message base maintenance program that comes with
FMail.
FTools is e.g. used to remove old messages from the message base
and the display information about the message base. FTools can be
divided into four parts, which will be discussed below.
ATTENTION: The FTools functions that use the Hudson message base
do NOT allow message base sharing. FTools will not run if either
FMail, FSetup or another copy of FTools is active.
Everywhere below where <board> is mentioned, you may use the area
tag of the area. In some cases it also is allowed to use the
Hudson board number. For the netmail board of the main AKA use
#NETM, for netmail board of for example AKA 5 use #NET5. For the
netmail directory use #NETDIR. For the Bad messages board, the
Recovery board and the Duplicate messages board, you can use
#BAD, #REC and #DUP.
6.1 Delete
To delete all messages in a particular board in the message base,
enter
FTools Delete <board>
6.2 Maint
The most important function of FTools is message base
maintenance. If started without any switches, FTools Maint only
updates the reply chains and recreates the index files.
Additional features are available by using command line switches:
/H Process Hudson base only
/J Process JAM message bases only
/C Recover messages in undefined boards. This means that
messages in message base boards that are not defined in the
Area Manager will be moved to the recovery board, if that
board was defined in FSetup. IMPORTANT: If no recovery board
number was defined, those messages will be deleted! So please
make sure, that your non-echomail boards are also defined in
the Area Manager, with the Active switch set to No.
42
/D Delete messages using the information in the Area Manager.
See section 3.9 for more information about the criteria that
may be used to delete messages.
/N Renumber the message base. All messages in the message base
will be renumbered. First message will become message #1 etc.
/P Pack (remove deleted messages). When a message in the message
base is deleted, the actual message is still present in the
message base. It will only be marked as being deleted. In
order to keep the message base size within reasonable limits,
the message base has to be packet regularly, i.e. deleted
messages are removed from the message base.
/R Remove "Re:" from subject lines. Some editors put "Re:" in
front of the actual subject line, when a reply is written.
This switch allows you to remove it.
/U Undelete deleted messages. Deleted messages cannot be
undeleted after the message base has been packed.
/X Delete messages with bad dates or bad board number.
/B Keep .BAK files. This switch only has effect if it is used in
combination with /P and if the Overwrite mode is not used.
/F Force Overwrite mode. This switch only has effect is used in
combination with /P.
/O Use Overwrite mode if there is not enough disk space
available to create backup files. This switch only has effect
is used in combination with /P.
In most cases the following command can be used:
FTOOLS MAINT /D /P /N /R /O
6.3 Move
To move messages from one board to another board in the message
base, enter
FTools Move <old board> <new board>
6.4 MsgM
In the current version of FTools, the .MSG maintenance function
only contains the renumber function. The syntax is:
FTools MsgM [-net] [-sent] [-rcvd] [-pmail] /N
43
[-net] Netmail directory
[-sent] Sent messages directory
[-rcvd] Received messages directory
[-pmail] Personal mail directory
IMPORTANT: don't renumber the netmail directory while FrontDoor
is active.
6.5 Notify
To send a notify message to all systems in the Node Manager that
have the notify switch set to Yes, enter
Ftools Notify [/A] [/N]
[/A] Send an Area Status report
[/N] Send a Node Status report
To send a notify message to for example 2:283/619, enter
FTools Notify 2:283/619 [/A] [/N]
6.6 Post
The general syntax of the Post command is:
FTools Post <file> <area tag>
[-from xxx] [-to xxx] [-dest xxx] [-subj xxx] [-aka x]
[/C] [/H] [/D] [/K] [/P] [/F] [/E] [/T]
<area tag> can be one of the following:
- The area tag of the desired echomail area.
- #netdir for the Netmail directory.
- #netm for the Netmail board of your main aka.
- #net1-#net10 for the Netmail boards of your akas 1 - 10.
Available options with default value which are used if the
options is omitted:
[-from xxx] From name, default is the SysOp name as defined
in FSetup
[-to xxx] To name, default is 'SysOp'.
[-subj xxx] Subject line, default is the name of that file
that was posted.
[-dest xxx] Node to send the message to (netmail only).
[-aka x] The AKA that should be used as the origin address
(netmail only).
[/C] Crash status (netmail only).
[/H] Hold status (netmail only).
[/D] Direct status (netmail only).
44
[/K] Delete message after sending it.
[/P] Private status.
[/F] File attach (netmail only)
[/E] Erase sent file (file attach only)\n"
[/T] Truncate sent file (file attach only)\n"
Two examples:
To send a file EXAMPLE.TXT as an echomail message in area
FMAIL_HELP, enter:
FTools Post EXAMPLE.TXT FMAIL_HELP -subj "This is an example"
To send a file EXAMPLE.TXT as a netmail message with the file
attached to node 2:283/619, enter
FTools Post EXAMPLE.TXT #netdir -to "Folkert Wijnstra"
-dest 2:283/619 /F
6.7 Sort
To sort messages in the Hudson message base that have not been
read yet, enter
FTools Sort
To sort all messages in the message base, add /A. WARNING: After
sorting the message base with the /A switch, the lastread
pointers will not be valid any more. This switch should NOT be
used on BBS systems.
6.8 Stat
To display message base statistics which also will be written to
the log file, enter
FTools Stat
6.9 Undelete
To undelete all deleted messages in a particular board in the
message base, enter: FTools Undelete <board number>
6.10 Export
To export messages in a particular Hudson board to a text file,
you can use the FTools Export command. The general syntax of the
Export command is:
45
FTools export <board name> <file name> [/D] [/F] [/T] [/S] [/X]
[/P] [/K]
46
7 Credits
The standard version of FMail uses the SPAWNO 3.0 routines by
Ralf Brown to minimize memory use while running archiving
utilities.
This product uses parts of the JAM(mbp) API.
Copyright 1993 Joaquim Homrighausen, Andrew Milner, Mats Birch,
Mats Wallin. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
The following copyrighted programs are mentioned in this manual:
ARC Systems Enhancements Associates
ARJ Robert K. Jung
Binkley Bit Bucket Software
Borland C++ Borland International, Inc.
D'Bridge Chris Irwin
FrontDoor, TosScan Joaquim Homrighausen
GEcho Gerard van der Land
GUS Tri-Systems co.
IBM, PC DOS International Business Machines Corp.
IMAIL Fabiano Fabris
LHA Haruyasu Yoshizaki
MainDoor Francisco Sedano
Microsoft, MS-DOS Microsoft Corporation
PAK NoGate Consulting
PKZIP PKWARE, Inc.
Portal of Power The Portal Team
QEMM, DESQview Quarterdeck Office Systems, Inc.
QuickBBS Pegasus Software
RemoteAccess, RA, RAMSG Andrew Milner
SQZ Jonas I. Hammarberg
SuperBBS SuperBBS group
TAG Robert Numerick & Victor Capton
I would like to thank all of my beta testers for the time they
invested in testing a program that was completely unknown to them
at first.
8 Registration sites
For information about the nearest registration site please see
the FMAILREG.LZH file contained in the FMail distribution
archive.
47
APPENDIX A - Error messages
Below some of FMail's error messages are listed with a brief
explanation.
Bad node in pack list
There was a syntax error in the list of nodes that should be
packed.
Bad VIA node
There was a syntax error in the node number after the
optional VIA keyword.
Can't forward area xxx to a local AKA
You are using one of your own AKAs in the export list of the
listed area. Exporting an area to one of your own AKAs is not
allowed.
Can't lock the message base for update
FMail couldn't lock the message base for update in a
multiline environment. If after several retries this message
doesn't go away, reboot your computer, because some program
may have locked the message base without unlocking it when it
was finished.
Can't read FMAIL.CFG
FMail could not find FMAIL.CFG in the directory where the
currently running executable in located.
Can't send mail to more than 256 nodes in one run
You have used more than 256 different export addresses in the
export lists of your echomail areas.
Can't update the message base files
When running in Message base sharing mode, FMail could not
append the shadow message base (MSG*.FML files) to the actual
message base files. Probable causes are:
- The message base is locked. Try resetting your computer.
- The message base has reached its maximum size. Use FTools
Maint /D /P to reduce its size.
- The highest message number has been reached. Use FTools
Maint /N to renumber the message base.
48
Disk-related error
FMail has a problem reading or writing some file. This might
be caused by a full disk.
ERROR: ....
Please contact the author! In case of the message 'Not enough
file handles available' try using a higher number in the
FILES= command in CONFIG.SYS first.
FMail requires at least DOS 3.3
Some functions of FMail require the presence of DOS 3.3 or
higher. DR DOS should also work.
Highest allowed message number has been reached
The highest allowed message number in the Hudson message base
(32768) has been reached. Use FTools Maint /N to renumber the
message base.
Main nodenumber not defined in FSetup
You should always define the main node number in FSetup;
FMail will not work without one!
Maximum message base size has been reached
The size of the Hudson message base file MSGTXT.BBS has
reached its limit of 16 Mb. Use FTools Maint /D /P to delete
old messages. If you have enabled FMail's multi-line option,
the error message means that MSGTXT.FML has reached the 16 Mb
limit.
Packet is addressed to another node
A PKT file is not addressed to your main node number or to
one of your AKAs.
Packet password security violation
A PKT file contained a wrong password or no password at all,
although a password was set for the source node in the node
manager.
Received password "xxx" from node x:x/x.x, expected "yyy"
A packet from node x:x/x.x contained password xxx, but
password yyy was entered in the Node Manager.
49
Unexpected password "xxx" from node x:x/x.x
A packet from node x:x/x.x contained password xxx, but that
password was not entered in the Node Manager.
Warning: Fakenet not defined but required for AKA x
You are trying to send mail to a point system, which was
configured in the Node Manager as being a "Stone Age" system,
and thus requiring a fakenet number which was not defined.
There are two possible solutions:
- Set the Capability of the point system to Type 2+ if that
system is using an echomail processor that can handle
Type 2+ packets.
- If the echomail processor of the point system can't
handle Type 2+ packets, you have to assign a fakenet
number to the AKA that is used for that particular point.
See paragraph 3.3.6 for more information.
Warning: Node xxx is not defined in the Node Manager
You are trying to send mail to a node which is not listed in
the Node Manager. As a consequence, FMail does not know what
the capability of the remote system is, which compression
program should be used and status the resulting file attach
message should have. If this is the case, FMail will use
default values.
50
APPENDIX B - Technical notes
* The FTSC assigned product code for FMail is 0x81 (129
decimal).
* FMail can handle up to 512 echomail conferences of which up
to 200 may be imported into the Hudson message base. The DPMI
and OS/2 versions of FMail can handle up to 4096 areas.
* FMail can handle up to 256 downlinks.
* FMail supports up to 16 AKAs. AKAs 11-15 cannot be used for
netmail boards in the message base.
* FMail is fully zone and point aware.
* Maximum message size is 45 kb.
* The mail packets created by FMail are FTS-0001, FTS-0004 and
FSC-0039 compatible, using the Type 2+ packet header and the
Capability Word. FMail also recognizes Type 2.2 (FSC-0045)
packet headers.
* If an AREA: tag is preceded by a ^A, it is still recognized
by FMail. Also tags in lower case are recognized.
* SEEN-BY and PATH lines are created and updated and are
optionally used by FMail for duplicate prevention purposes
(the PATH lines are not used by FMail).
* FMail can parse both Fido/Opus and SEAdog style date fields.
* FMail supports the RemoteAccess/FrontDoor Hudson Message Base
sharing specifications.
* FMail was written in C and compiled using Borland C++ Version
3.1. The DPMI version was compiled using Borland C++ Version
4.02 and Borland Powerpack for DOS Version 1.5. The OS/2
version was compiled using Borland C++ for OS/2 1.0.
* File input/output is performed using standard DOS file handle
calls.
* The DOS versions of FMail, FSetup and FTools automatically
detect the video environment and write directly to the screen
or DESQview screen buffer.
51
* FMail returns one of the following errorlevels:
50 Message base is full
5 Possible mail bomb detected
4 Error in configuration files
3 Control-break pressed
2 Insufficient memory available
1 Insufficient disk space available or disk error
0 No errors occurred
52
INDEX
Address . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 18, 19, 27, 29, 34, 36, 37, 44
Area Manager . 7, 10, 19, 22, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33, 34, 37, 42, 43
AreaFix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 26, 31, 34, 39
AreaMgr . . . . . . . 3, 7, 10, 17, 19, 23, 28-31, 33, 38, 39, 41
AutoExport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11, 12, 25, 26
BBS . . . . . . 6, 8, 11, 12, 14, 21, 25, 26, 34, 36, 37, 45, 49
Board number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12, 13, 33, 42, 43, 45
Buffer size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Capability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8, 10, 29, 30, 50, 51
Color set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Compression . . . . . . . . 6, 7, 10, 17, 23, 24, 29, 39, 41, 50
Control-break . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20, 52
Defaults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5, 19
Delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9, 13, 17, 42, 43, 45, 49
Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 10, 21-23
Duplicate messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12, 15, 26, 37, 42
Empty netmail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
EMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 15, 24
Error messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Export . . . . . . . . . . . . 10, 14, 18, 25, 33-37, 45, 46, 48
Export addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
File handles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20, 49
Files
*.QQQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
*.TMP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
FMAIL.AR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
FMAIL.ARD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
FMAIL.CFG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
FMAIL.DUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
FMAIL.LOC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
FMAIL.NOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
FMAIL.PCK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
MSG*.FML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
FMAIL.LOC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
FML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5, 21, 48, 49
FML files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Group names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9, 19, 26, 29
Handles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6, 15, 20, 49
Hudson message base . . . . . . . . . 12, 13, 21, 42, 45, 49, 51
Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8, 10, 13, 16, 25, 33, 37, 38
JAM message base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6, 33
Kludge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23, 45
Mailer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6, 8, 11, 21, 30
Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12, 31, 34, 40, 42, 43
Message base sharing . . . . . . . . . 3, 5, 14, 21, 42, 48, 51
Monochrome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8, 20
53
MSG*.FML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5, 48
MSG*.FML files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
MSGID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Node Manager 7, 8, 10, 19, 22, 24, 29, 31, 34, 39, 40, 44, 49, 50
Notify . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17, 30, 41, 44
Origin line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Pack . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 5, 10, 28, 30, 37, 38, 43, 48
Pack Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 10, 28, 30, 38
Password . . . . . . . . 10, 17, 22, 26, 31, 32, 39, 40, 49, 50
PATH . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 13, 18, 21, 23-25, 33, 36, 51
Personal mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 11, 18, 44
PKT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5, 12, 15, 16, 21, 22, 29, 49
Post . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44, 45
Private . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17, 35, 45
QQQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5, 22
QQQ files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 11, 47
Remote maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31, 40
Reply chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13, 20, 42
Rescan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 30, 39, 40
Security . . . . . . . . . . . . 12, 22, 25, 26, 31, 34, 35, 49
SEEN-BY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13, 31, 35, 36, 51
Sort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13, 14, 45
Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17, 28, 30, 38, 41, 44, 45, 50
Swapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10, 23, 24
Tearline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 11, 12
Technical notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Tiny SEEN-BYs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
TMP files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Undelete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43, 45
Uplink Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10, 26, 30
Via Node . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28, 29, 48
XMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 24
54