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Text File | 1993-12-31 | 67.1 KB | 1,668 lines

■■■■■■■■ ■■ ■■■■■■■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ V1.40 ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■ ■■ ■■■■■■ ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ Written by Tobias Burchhardt, (c) 1991-'93 by Software Technik Burchhardt ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ Features at a glance ==================== * Very fast and fully featured TOSSER/SCANNER for Hudson- (aka QBBS), JAM-, Squish-, and Fido/*.MSG-Messagebase * powerful internal AreaFix with 'Forwarding'-feature and automatic unlinking of passive Passthrough-areas (*registered version only*) * Dupe checking with a database of maximum 131000 duperecords * Complete netmail routing and packing, easy handling of multiple HMB netmail-boards. * Networking and multitasking support. Can be simultaneously be used in RemoteAccess- or FrontDoor-multiline-environments. Messagebase will be locked while execution. Read messages while tossing in another task. * Nice Full-screen tossing mode * Complete zone and point support. This applies to inbound as well as outbound mail. * Full ARCmail-security using passwords with 3 security levels and 2 different inbounds. * Complete HMB-messagebase-maintenance-utility with JAM and Fido/*.MSG support included. (* enhanced JAM, Fido/*.MSG and Squish support will be made available later! *) * Full-screen integrated SETUP utility, no need to use an external editor. * Easy to use area grouping with assigned defaults, use defaults for each group in every new area (manually or automatically created). * Automatic area-adding function with optional updating of your BBS Configuration files (RA/QBBS/SBBS/ProBoard or TAG) * Carbon-Copy-function - filter out special messages and copy them to special boards while tossing. * Usage of available EMS and XMS memory for data and file-buffers * Compatible with the FTSC standards FTS-0001 as well as FSC-0039 & FSC-0048 and several others. * Direct screen-writes, DESQview, PCMOS/386 and OS/2 aware, use of ANSI.SYS possible Noncommercial Shareware Notice, Legal Stuff and Disclaimer ========================================================== This is copyrighted software owned by Software Technik Burchhardt. This is NOT public domain or freeware. Software Technik Burchhardt grants you a TEMPORARY license to try this software for EVALUATION purposes ONLY ! You may use this package for an evaluation time of 30 days. After this time you have to register FastEcho or stop using it ! Any other or further use of this software is strictly forbidden and may result in legal action ! To register FastEcho, please refer to LICENSE.DOC and the order forms included in REGISTER.ARJ in this package. This is for NONCOMMERCIAL users only ! Commercial users please contact Software Technik Burchhardt or an official FastEcho/commercial dealer. FastEcho is provided 'as is', without warranty of any kind, neither expressed nor implied. The author only guarantees that FastEcho and the included tools occupy diskspace. In no event will the author be liable to you for any damages, including lost profits, lost savings or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use of this program. All mentioned products and packages are copyrighted by and trademarks of their respective holders. Registered users receive a key file with a unique serial number. These files are copyrighted stuff owned by Software Technik Burchhardt and MUST NOT be distributed, hacked, reengineered etc. If you don't follow these rules, your license expires immediately and legal actions may be started against you. One unique key allows you to run FastEcho on ONE computer at the same time only (One computer runtime license). If you are using the same key on different systems (Sysop-Points for example) you need an extra license (key) for the other system(s) ! This does not apply to multiline systems running FastEcho on the same machine but on several lines. Description =========== FastEcho is one of the fastest tosser/scanner for the Hudson- Messagebase (formerly QBBS-Messagebase) currently available and supports the new JAM messagebase introduced with RemoteAccess 2.00 as well as Squish (introduced with Maximus CBCS) and the old standard *.MSG format. Further, the package contains all features needed to run a point or a node; smart netmail- packing/routing included. Typically every step TOSS, SCAN and PACK is run in one pass, including un-/packing of mail-bundles, importing/exporting of mails and processing of AreaFix-requests. It can be run with FrontDoor, InterMail, D'Bridge, BinkleyTerm and Portal of Power and has currently been tested with FrontDoor 2.02, 2.11, 2.21, D'Bridge 1.5x, InterMail 2.2x, BinkleyTerm 2.5x and Portal of Power 0.61. This documentation is only a simple guide for you to get to know the most important facts about FastEcho. It doesn't contain a complete description of FastEcho and the included tools. If you have any questions about the possibilities of FastEcho, first of all run all programs with '?' - you'll get a usage-screen that will help you in most cases. Further, rely on the context-sensitive-online-HELP provided with FESETUP - simply press F1. System Requirements =================== Soft- & Hardware ---------------- * An IBM PC, XT, AT or compatible, i386/i486 CPU supported * DOS 3.31+ or OS/2 2.x DOS compatibility box * FrontDoor 2.02 or 2.11/nc, FrontDoor 2.20/c, InterMail 2.25+, D'Bridge 1.53+, BinkleyTerm 2.50+ or Portal of Power 0.61+ and optionally RemoteAccess 1.11/2.00, QuickBBS 2.76+, SuperBBS 1.17+, ProBoard 1.31/2.00 or T.A.G. 2.6d+ or any other HMB/JAM/Squish or *.MSG compatible BBS software * A Fido/*.MSG style netmail-directory * A HMB style messagebase * Memory requirements: FastEcho 350kB - 500kB (1kB when swapping) FEUtil upto 500kB FESetup 330kB and more * a FILES=??? in your CONFIG.SYS at least at the number of systems specified in the Node-Manager plus 20 Example: 30 systems specified --> FILES=50 or: the value you define for 'Maximum open .QQQs' plus 20 At least one of these de-/compression utilities: * PKZIP/PKUNZIP 1.10/2.04g * ARJ 2.30/2.41a * LHARC 1.13c/LHa 2.13 * PKPAK/PKUNPAK 3.61 * ARC 6.02 * ZOO 2.10 * PAK 2.51 * SQZ 1.08 Optionally an extractor program that copes with different de-/ compression programs like: * General Unpack Shell GUS 1.61 or later * PolyXarc 2.1a or later For a much better performance on node systems forwarding mails to downlinks it is strongly advised to set the 'Temporary Outbound' path to a RAM disk with at least 1MB storage. FastEcho will create outbound mail-packets on this disk which speeds up the tossing pretty much. The more mail you have to forward, the bigger the RAM disk should be. You shall in no event set this 'Temporary' path to your harddisk as this will typically slow down the tossing speed ! You can further increase performance by setting 'Temporary Inbound' to a disk drive different from the normal 'Outbound'. This way FastEcho will extract the ARCmail bundles to this drive and process them. This can reduce disk accessing time (spent on head seeks) and especially in LAN environments speed up tossing if the normal 'Inbound' was on a network drive and the 'Temporary' is on a local drive. If SHARE is loaded, FastEcho supports Messagebase-Sharing and RemoteAccess-Messagebase-Locking. You can read messages within one task while tossing or scanning in the other task. This may also be called 'Network Mode'. FEUtil and FastEcho automatically detect a i386 or higher CPU and use some optimized routines. If you recognize any problems, you may use "SET FEOPT=NO386" to disable the 386-support. Considerations for registered users with Point-keys (or users of v1.0x) ======================================================================= This version of FastEcho behaves different on Node-systems and on Point-systems. Therefore there are two different kinds of keys available at different prices. All keys created for FastEcho 1.0? are so called 'Point-Keys', they disable the new version's possibility of downlinks and the processing of AreaFix-mails. If you became a node (or already were when registering 1.0? but didn't need the new features at this time) and now NEED the downlink capabilities I suggest the following to work with the new FastEcho until you get a new key: Rename the FASTECHO.KEY to somewhat else, so FastEcho doesn't any longer recognize it and runs as 'Unregistered Evaluation Copy'. Play some time with it and find out on yourself, if it's worth updating your existing 'Point-Key' to a 'Node-Key'. [See REGISTER.ARJ for details on updating an existing key] Note: the fact that you have registered the 1.0? does NOT allow you to use FastEcho as an 'unregistered' copy longer than the evaluation period mentioned in the Shareware Notice !!! Short Installation Guide ======================== If you have worked with tossers like Tosscan, IMail, GEcho etc. I don't think that the installation of FastEcho will be hard to do. You only need a AREAS.BBS [well, it's not really needed, but it will save you a lot of time and work] and the knowledge about your system [paths, addresses etc.]. Simply run FESetup and I guess you'll find it familiar to other software-packages. FESetup can import the some configuration files of IMail 1.21a and 1.35, TosScan 1.00, GEcho 1.01 or FMail 0.94 as well as an AREAS.BBS file for an easy setup. Pressing F1 will give you a context-sensitive help on almost each topic. I suggest to use this feature any time you have problems with the setup. Therefore I didn't include the information given in this help in this document. FESetup ------- Information Gives a short notice about the program Switches Help page about commandline switches Shell to DOS self-explanatory Quit dito System ------ Network addresses Here you place YOUR address(es), the domain(s) and - if you are a point - your Pointnet [aka Fakenet]. User names These are typically the name(s) of the sysop(s) currently using your mailer and/or editor locally. Miscellaneous Some global data FastEcho needs to run. Pathnames Your paths etc. Filenames Define names of some files (logfile etc.) Parameters Some global parameters (duperecords etc.) for FastEcho Advanced Options Several global options for FastEcho ARCmail Options Global options who FastEcho should handle ARCmail bundles FEUtil parameters Several options/parameters for FEUtil Compression Programs Upto 8 different programs for compressing OUTGOING mail-bundles Decompression Programs FastEcho automatically detects the archiver used for compression of inbound mail- bundles. Therefore you have to tell him which decompression program (and command- line) he should run to unpack them. External Programs You can define 2 external programs or batch files which can be run after unpacking of compressed mail or before packing outbound mails. Can be used for some statistic programs analysing .PKT files for example. Group names Here you can assign names for the groups later used in the Area-Manager to make the handling of the areas more easier. Origins These lines will be used, if your editor doesn't include "* Origin:"'s in your out- going echomails. Data ---- Node-Configuration Here you set up all the nodes you are exporting (net-)mails to. For help on the different flags rely on F1 and the documentation of your mailer Group Area Defaults The default settings (see below) which will be used for new areas, either created manually in the Area-Configuration or by Auto-Area-Create. Area-Configuration Here you specify all your areas. Note, that to run FastEcho properly, you have to define ONE area as the 'Badmailboard', otherwise it will fail. To enable dupe- checking, you have to define ONE are as 'Dupeboard'. Carbon-Copies This is one of the unusual features of FastEcho. While tossing it may copy certain mails not only in the normal echo-area, but also in another board. Here you may setup the necessary information AreaFix-Options Several AreaFix options Export ------ AREAS.BBS Export an AREAS.BBS file FASTECHO.SYS Export a human readable copy of the current FastEcho Configuration. Include in Bug- Reports if necessary. ROUTE.FE Export a generic route file for FastEcho Pack -R<file> out of the routing config- uration set up in the Node-Configuration. *Warning*: You may have to modify this ge- neric ROUTE.FE in order to get it to work properly (top-down processing!) Import ------ Echolist Import area comments from an echolist file like FIDONET.NA AREAS.BBS, IMAIL.ND, ... Possibility to import several configuration files when you are switching from another Echomail-Processor to FastEcho. Note that your current configuration will be lost ! Running FASTECHO.EXE ==================== FastEcho does have several commands and commandline-switches. These are listed here: TOSS - Toss Incoming Mail ------------------------- This executes FastEcho's TOSS function. This will search your inbound files directory for mail and toss it into your messagebase(s) - netmail-messages will end up in the netmail-directory, while echomail will be put into the correct messagearea. Mails will be forwarded to the systems linked to the echomail-areas (on node-systems). Should TOSS encounter an ARCmail file from which it cannot extract the mail-packets successfully, it will rename the file to have an extension of .BAD so that you can look at it - the file will not be processed again until you rename it back to .PKT. TOSS will leave with different errorlevels depending on what action was actually performed: 0 - no mails imported 10 - netmail imported 11 - echomail imported 12 - net- & echomail imported This enables you to set up your batch-files according to the errorlevel. Switches -------- -B Retoss Badmail This will force TOSS to search the badmail-board just before tossing incoming mails for messages in the badmail-board which can be retossed (put in simulated inbound .PKTs and be tossed again). -C Make Carbon-Copies This enables the 'Carbon-Copy'-feature. Special mails are not only stored in the normal echomail- area but also in a area you specified in the your setup. Please refer to the online-help of FESetup for further details. -F Don't create File-attach This disables FastEcho to create a new file-attach when it creates new compressed mail bundles. Be aware that without a proper file-attach, FastEcho will create a new ARCmail bundle the next time it runs and will create the last one. So make sure, that your bundle will be processed prior to a new run of FastEcho ! -S temporarily turn off Security checks Run with this switch, FastEcho Toss will not perform any security checks on incoming mail- packets. SCAN - Scan for Outgoing Mail ----------------------------- This enables the echomail SCAN function. The messagebase will be searched for outgoing echomail exporting it to packets. Further, it will scan the messagebase for netmails stored in netmailboards and moves them to your *.MSG netmail-directory for further processing. If not found in the exported message, tearline and origin-line will be added to it in the packet. The un-/registered FastEcho will add its own ^ATID-kludge in the exported mail to show the reader that this mail was scanned by FastEcho. Switches -------- -N Don't use NETMAIL/ECHOMAIL.BBS and .JAM To speed up the SCAN FastEcho uses by default the ECHOMAIL.BBS file normally created by your editor when you write a new message (NETMAIL.BBS for netmails, extension .JAM for messages written in JAM areas). This file contains the numbers of all new written messages. If you - for some purposes - don't want FastEcho to use it, this feature may be disabled. -A Always use NETMAIL/ECHOMAIL.BBS and .JAM This will force FastEcho to SCAN your messagebase only if you've written new messages and your editor created one or more of these files. Otherwise it will just exit without any action. -I Ignore JAM/*.MSG/Squish highwater-marks These 3 messagebase formats allow FastEcho to trace the last message which has been processed in a pre- vious run of SCAN. According to this info FastEcho will only scan newer messages (with higher message- numbers) which have been entered manually or TOSSed meanwhile. This saves quite a lot time. However, in some cases you might want to scan all messages, and by adding this switch FastEcho SCAN will ignore the so-called-highwater-marks and process every message in each messagebase. -F Don't create File-attach [see above] PACK - Pack outgoing netmails ----------------------------- This calls the netmail-packer. This means that the not-yet-sent netmails are packed accordingly to your routing setup with FESetup or to the runtime-parameters you may specify. Only netmails without any 'priority-flags' such as 'Crash', 'Direct' or 'Immediate' will be packed. Further FastEcho will not touch netmails that include a ^aFLAGS kludge in it, except those only containing PVT, K/S or CFM (Private/ Priviledged, Kill/Sent and Confirmation Receipt Request). If you only call FastEcho PACK without any special routing-statements it will use the default routing you set up in the Node-Manager. Otherwise it will perform the routing you specify in the command-line or use the routing information specified in a special route file. Routing Commandline Statements ------------------------------ PACK [-F] [-I] Address [Address] [Address]... [via Address] If you don't specify a 'via' address, the netmails will be packed for each address and one packet will be created for each address. Otherwise all netmails destined to the specified addresses will be packed and routed to the 'via' address. The destination-addresses may be shortened if packing for (your) points - for example 'PACK .3 .4 .5 .6' will pack the netmails for your points. You may specify wildcards '*' & '?' in the destination address-fields. If you do so, the 'via' address is mandatory !!! This wildcarding is more flexible than the wildcarding that may be used in the Node-Manager as it may be used within an address. Valid wildcarded addresses are for example: 2:24* - will pack all mails for region 24 9:492/6??.* - will pack all mails for all 6?? nodes and their points (for example 610, 623.2 etc.). This enables you to per- form a kind of HUB-routing. *:345/* - will pack mails for all nets 345, no matter to which zone they belong Route file commands ------------------- PACK [-F] [-I] -R<filename> The <filename> must point to a ASCII file containing routing statements being compatible with the ROUTE.FD file supported by FrontDoor. The route file is processed top-down - the last command matching a netmails destination address will be used. You may use the same wildcards defined above for pattern matching. Supported are the following verbs/commands: Route-to <destination> <address> [<address> ...] No-Route <address> [<address> ...] Direct <address> [<address> ...] and Except <address> [<address> ...] Each command has to fit in one line, the 'Except' command applies to the previous command. 'Route-to' should be self-explanatory, it will instruct FastEcho to route netmails matching one of the <address> field(s) via the <destination> address. 'No-Route' and 'Direct' cause FastEcho not to route netmail addressed to one of the <address> fields, but pack it directly to this system. The difference between 'No-Route' and 'Direct' is, that 'No-Route' doesn't check the '.point' of the address and there fore packs mails addressed to point systems via their boss node, while 'Direct' will force them to be packed directly for the point- system. Available macros for <address> are: MYZONE - Expands to <zone>:* with <zone> being the zone of your primary network address MYNET - Expands to <zone>:<net>/* (again from primary net- work address address) MYPOINTS - Expands to <zone>:<net>/<node>.* for ALL your net- work addresses LISTED - 'Direct LISTED' will cause netmails to all systems defined in FESetup's Node-Configuration to be packed direct without routing them, included the points of each node listed NOTE: Netmails can only be routed via or to systems listed in the Node-Configuration ! Switches -------- -I - Only pack netmails which have the In-Transit flag set, don't pack 'Local' netmails -F - Don't create File-attach [see above] AFIX - process AreaFix requests ------------------------------- This function scans the netmail-directory for messages addressed to AreaFix, AreaMgr, AreaLink or EchoMgr on your system. With such messages your downlinks can link/unlink themselves to echomail areas and perform several other changes. For an complete listing of all metacommands accepted by FastEcho's AreaFix have a look at the enclosed file 'AREAFIX.HLP' - it also gives hints for your downlinks/points on how to write a mail to AreaFix, it should be defined as 'AreaFix-Helpfile' in your Setup. All commands are processed top-down, so note that the metacommands '%DAYS' and '%MSGS' have to be defined BEFORE the area(s), that actually should be rescanned. Note: the processing of AreaFix request is run automatically after the TOSS function has been completed ! NOTIFY - send link information to your downlinks ------------------------------------------------ This command lets you send link information normally requested via 'AreaFix %INFO' to all or to selected downlinks. Run without any parameter, it will send this info to all systems which have 'Send Notify' turned on. Also, you may specify the single systems which should receive this info by giving their address on the commandline like: FastEcho Notify 2:245/31 1:2607/302 Further, you may abbreviate the system's addresses - valid abbreviations are ('*' and '?' are allowed wildcards): .1 send to your Point .1 31 send to node 31 in the network of your primary matrix-address 245/31 same as above 2:* send to all systems in zone 2 HELP - send help information to your downlinks ---------------------------------------------- This command is closely related to the NOTIFY command, except that it performs a 'AreaFix %HELP'. It accepts the same parameters as NOTIFY. STAT - generate echomail statistics ----------------------------------- This starts the statistical function of FastEcho. Every TOSS or SCAN a database will be updated containing the number of tossed or scanned messages on each board and the number of mails sent to and received from each system in the Node-Configuration. This function creates a human readable statistics from this database. The statistics will be added to the file specified in FESetup unless you call it with the -O option to overwrite the file. By default FastEcho STAT will leave the database untouched after generation, so any new TOSS or SCAN after STAT will add the new data. If run with the -R - switch, FastEcho will reset the database after execution, so the next STAT will only show the statistics after the last STAT -R. This enables you for example to generate weekly or monthly statistics rather than a overall statistics that will be generated without resetting the database. With -RS you can kill the records of the amount of mails sent to and received from each system [second part of statistics]. Be aware that the -R switch resets the data of ALL areas, even if you've used the -G switch as well. You can further only list areas belonging to groups in the statistics. With STAT -G<groups> you can tell FastEcho which areas it should list. This also applies to the list of systems - only systems will be listed that have access to one of the listed groups. Example: FASTECHO STAT -GABJMZ will list all areas belonging to groups A, B, J, M and Z and the systems that have access one or more of these areas. The database is stored in FASTECHO.DAT. Running FESETUP.EXE =================== FESetup accepts several commandline-switches - run with '?' it displays: ╒══════════════════════════════════════════════════╡Usage╞═╕ │ │ │ You may call FESETUP.EXE using following switches: │ │ │ │ -C : Color display [with Snow-Checking on CGA] │ │ -A : Use alternative colors │ │ -M : Monochrome display │ │ -B : access screen via Bios [very slow] │ │ │ │ -IE<file> : Import Echolist <file> │ │ -O : Overwrite existing descriptions [-IE only] │ │ │ │ -XA : eXport AREAS.BBS │ │ -XS : eXport FASTECHO.SYS [FastEcho configuration] │ │ │ ╘══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛ Running FEUTIL.EXE ================== FEUtil is a Utility that helps you to maintain your messagebase. It has built-in help-screens for all commands available with '?'. All functions support the Hudson-Messagebase (HMB), the main functions further process JAM and Fido/*.MSG areas. This will be enhanced as well as support for Squish will be added in the near future. You can select processing of the different messagebase formats by add- ing '-HMB', '-JAM' or '-FIDO' switches to the commandline. These switches may be combined ('FEUtil Link -Fido -Jam' for example). By default, FEUtil will process all formats in one run, provided that you have set up areas in every format at all. Following commands are available. The switches may be shortened ! Index ----- FEUtil Index The Index command can be used to create the following indexfiles out of MSGHDR.BBS: MSGIDX.BBS This file contains the messagenumber and -board of each record in the messagebase MSGTOIDX.BBS This file contains the names of the addressees of each record in the messagebase MSGINFO.BBS This file contains global information about your messagebase regarding the number of messages (on each board, totally, highest/lowest message etc.) Note that these indexfiles are also created by the Pack, Sort and Purge commands, so normally this command is not needed. For JAM areas it recreates the .JDX file out of the info found in the .JHR file Purge ----- FEUtil Purge [-Delete] The Purge command is used to delete messages based on criterions specified in the Area-Manager of FESetup. These criterions may be set on per-area-basis or per default. Note: the JAM reply-link information gets lost during processing ! Switches: -D or -Delete Delete all messages in unknown boards Pack ---- FEUtil Pack [-Force] [-Overwrite] [-Renumber] [-Delete] The Pack command allows to compress the messagebase-files by removing deleted messages and/or removing crosslinked messages. FEUtil Pack without -Overwrite or -Force will create new messagebase- files and delete the old upon error-free execution. The -Force switch causes the files to be overwritten, which has some advantages and dis- advantages: - no free disk-space needed - less fragmentation ! possible total loss of data if interrupted while execution The -Overwrite switch will cause FEUtil to only overwrite the message- basefiles if short of disk-space. Without these switches FEUtil will quit without packing if not enough disk-space is available, they are only active for HMB. You can set up an environment variable named FEUTMP to point to a directory where the JAM pack function will store its temp- orary files. FEUtil will automatically renumber if the highest messagenumber is higher than what you defined for 'AutoRenumber' in FESetup rather than always renumber with -Renumber (HMB only). Note: * Fido/*.MSG areas will only be processed (= renumbered) if you specify the -Renumber switch! * JAM reply-link information gets lost during processing. You have to rebuild them with 'FEUtil Link' afterwards. Switches: -F or -Force Force overwriting of the existing messagebase- files -O or -Overwrite Overwrite existing files only if short of disk- space -R or -Renumber Renumber messages and update LASTREAD pointers (may be done by AutoRenumber) -D or -Delete Delete messages crosslinked in MSGTXT.BBS Link ---- FEUtil Link [-Ignore] [-Force] The Link command can link messages with the same subject to a reply-chain that can be followed with your message-editor. FEUtil will always create new chains rather than linking new messages to existing chains like other programs do. It will remove 'Re:', '(R)' and familiar junks from the subjects (HMB and Fido/*.MSG only). Switches: -I or -Ignore Ignore IMPORT.XYZ, IMPORT.JAM or IMPORT.SDM and process all HMB, JAM and/or Fido/*.MSG areas -F or -Force Only process HMB, JAM or Fido/*.MSG areas if IMPORT.XYZ, IMPORT.JAM or IMPORT.SDM are found. Link only the areas found in the IMPORT.xxx file. Sort ---- FEUTIL Sort [-Backup] [-Ignore] [-Force] The Sort command allows to sort all unread messages by boardnumber and date and time of posting. FEUtil will remove all reply chains while sorting, so you should run 'FEUtil Link' each time you used Sort (all messagebase formats). Switches: -B or -Backup Keep the original MSGHDR.BBS as backup (.BAK) -I or -Ignore Ignore IMPORT.JAM and/or IMPORT.SDM and process all JAM and/or Fido/*.MSG messagebases -F or -Force Only process JAM and/or Fido/*.MSG messagebases if IMPORT.JAM and/or IMPORT.SDM are found. Sort only the messagebases of the areas found in the IMPORT.xxx file Undelete -------- FEUtil Undelete [Board] The Undelete command allows you to undelete messages that are currently deleted by FEUtil Purge or your message-editor. The undelete may either be performed on the whole messagebase or on a special area. If specified, Board may be the area-name ('FDECHO.GER' for example) or the HMB-board-number preceded by a '#' (e.g. '#121'). If not specified, the whole messagebase will be searched for deleted messages. Beware that FEUtil can't undelete messages after the messagebase has been PACKed right before, because FEUtil PACK removes all deleted messages ! Import ------ FEUtil Import [-Incl file] [-Excl file] This function imports netmails addressed to your system from the *.MSG netmail-directory into your HMB netmailboards you defined in the Area- Manager. You may define different netmailboards for your different akas (be setting 'Use Aka' for each area) - the mail will get imported to the correct board. Note: if you have set up more than one netmailboard for the same aka, FEutil will choose the board with the lowest Read security level. Besides from the possibility to exclude the names of the 'Users' and 'Sysops' defined in FESetup, you can 'include' and 'exclude' mails addressed to special users by using the '-Incl' and '-Excl' files. These files may either be plain text files with one user name each line (case- insensitive) or QBBS- or RA2-compatible 'USERS.BBS' files used/created by your BBS software. If '-Incl' is used, only mails to one of the users specified in this file will be imported. Mails *not* to one of the users will be ignored and left in your *.MSG netmail. If '-Excl' is used, mails to users listed in this file will not be imported, even if they are listed in the '-Incl' list as the exclude- check is run AFTER the include-check. Post ---- FEUtil Post <File> <Board> [-From Name] [-To Name] [-Subj Line] [-Flags <flags>] [-Addr <address>] [-Delete] This function lets you send the contents of an ASCII file as an echomail or netmail message. It creates a new message in the given board, optionally containing the values of From, To and Subj in the header and the contents of the file as message text. You can use DOS wildcards for <file> to post more than one file in a single run. If you post a netmail, you have to use -Addr to specify the addressee's netmail matrix address and can use -Flags to specify different netmail flags. Defaults (if not given at commandline) for the header are: From: first user defined under 'User names' in FESetup OR "SysOp" if not defined To: "All" Subj: filename To enter values containing more than one word you have to set these words in double-quotes. Otherwise FEUtil won't accept them and return an error. Example: FEUtil Post c:\dummy #10 -To "All OS/2 freaks" Board may either be the area-name ('SHAREWRE' for example) or the HMB board-number preceded by a '#' (e.g. '#122'). Valid <flags> are: Pvt, Crash, File, Kill, Hold, Dir, Imm, Del, Trunc, CFM and RRQ. Multiple flags can be added with a '+' ('Pvt+Crash'). If you call POST with the -Delete, it will erase the posted <file> after successfully processing it. Move ---- FEUtil Move <Board1> <Board2> The move functions moves all messages from Board1 to Board2. Like before, the board may either be the area-name or the HMB-board-number preceded by a '#'. Check ----- FEUtil Check [-Delete] This functions checks your complete Hudson messagebase for any errors and optionally deletes all mails that are found to be bad and/or rebuilds your index files (MSGIDX.BBS, MSGTOIDX.BBS and MSGINFO.BBS). If '-Delete' is NOT specified, it will simply tell you what is wrong (or 'No error' if everything is allright) and then return an Errorlevel of 111. Environment Variables ===================== Following environment variables are used by FastEcho if specified: FD If you specify FrontDoor as Mailer and Auto-Area-Create adds a new area, if not set, FastEcho will search the current directory for FrontDoor's configuration files. IM same as above, but for InterMail DB see above, but for D'Bridge FE Points to the directory of your FastEcho configuration, where FastEcho-related files are expected/created FEUTMP Points to the directory which will be used by FEUtil Pack when processing JAM areas for temporary files. If not specified, the current directory will be used. FEOPT This variable may be used for special runtime-parameters Usage: SET FEOPT=flag,flag,... Following flags are available: USEBIOS use BIOS-calls when printing to screen rather than direct screen- writes USEANSI use ANSI driver when printing to screen rather than direct screen- writes (uses BIOS as well) NO386 This disables the 386-support in FastEcho/FEUtil NOEMS don't use EMS for memory expansion NOXMS don't use XMS for memory expansion NOAFIX don't process AreaFix-mails after tossing NOPACK don't pack outbound mail - leave it as .QQQ in outbound directory. (will be processed the next time you run FastEcho) NODUPES temporarily don't perform dupe- checking NOEXPORT don't forward mails to downlinks while tossing NOSEENBY disable the checking of SEEN-BYs and therefore the dupe-detection on this basis, mails will get exported even if the system is already listed in the SEEN-BYs NOMSGID Don't use MSGID for dupechecking, calculate a header checksum instead NOAUTOFAIL Prevents FastEcho from automatic failure when a sharing violation occurs RDEBUG Log routing debug information when using a route file (FastEcho Pack -R<file>) STRIPTEAR strip the complete tearline. The message will only have a "* Origin" without leading '---' PACKONE Tells FastEcho to only call the compression programs with ONE .PKT each time instead of calling them with as many as possible. This does not apply to compression programs with a 'List' prefix set up. Note: You may also enter these flags on the command line when calling FastEcho preceeded by a slash '/'. Example: FastEcho TOSS -C /NODUPES /NOAFIX HMBLOCK Specify the period of time in which FastEcho TOSS should check the MBUNLOCK.NOW semaphore (when sharing the HMB) Usage: SET HMBLOCK=XX <XX seconds> Instructs FastEcho to check this semaphore every XX seconds and temporarily unlock the Hudson-messagebase if desired. If not set, FastEcho will check for this file before processing a new inbound packet. For better per- formance don't set it to less than 10 seconds! Errorlevels =========== Errorlevel Meaning ----------------------------------------------------------- 0 Nothing to do/no errors 1 Packed/scanned net-/echomail 3 Registration key failure 10 Imported netmail 11 Imported echomail 12 Imported echo- & netmail 245 Can't extract archive (disk full) 246 Interrupted by user 247 Can't write netmail file 248 Can't write messagebase files 249 Can't create .PKT file 250 Wrong switch 251 Size mismatch 252 Can't lock messagebase 253 Exceeding Hudson messagebase limits 254 Not enough memory 255 General error Semaphore Files =============== File Purpose ----------------------------------------------------------- NEWAREAS.FE FastEcho TOSS has added new areas to the FastEcho setup PACKHMB.FE FastEcho TOSS has encountered that your Hudson messagebase is going off limits. Check this in your batch files to allow automatic maintenance of your messagebase Note: Both files will be created in the FastEcho system directory (the directory FASTECHO.CFG is read from) ! MBUNLOCK.NOW FastEcho TOSS will check for this file in the messagebase directory and will temporarily unlock the HMB it was found/updated Note: The following files will only be created/updated if you have specified the 'Semaphore' directory in FESetup/System Data ! FDRESCAN.NOW, Will be updated/created if new net- FMRESCAN.NOW mails (file-attaches e.g.) have been created and 'Force Mailer Rescan' turned on in FrontDoor environments IMRESCAN.NOW, same as above, but for InterMail IERESCAN.NOW environments DBRIDGE.RSN same as above, but for D'Bridge environments DBRIDGE.NMW will be created when new netmail has been received by FastEcho TOSS DBRIDGE.EMW will be created when new echomail has been tossed by FastEcho. It contains the group letters of the areas with new echomail Files created or used by FastEcho ================================= File Purpose ----------------------------------------------------------- FASTECHO.CFG Configuration file FASTECHO.DAT Statistical data file FASTECHO.DUP Dupe-database FTSCPROD.FE List of all products with a FTSC product code (shown when processing the inbound mail .PKTs) IMPORT.XYZ Contains a list of all HMB areas to which messages were imported the last time TOSS ran IMPORT.JAM same as above for JAM areas IMPORT.SQ same as above for Squish areas IMPORT.SDM same as above for Fido/*.MSG areas Note: These IMPORT.xxx files will be used (and deleted afterwards) by several FEUtil functions ! FastEcho TOSS appends its data if it already contains data ! NOLINK.FE, If one (or more) of these files is NOPURGE.FE, present in a Fido/*.MSG directory, NOPACK.FE FEUtil will not process them if the respective function is invoked. Batchfiles ========== Here is an example how to run FastEcho and FEUtil in batch-mode: :START [...] rem --- Packmail --- :SCANNER fastecho scan goto start rem --- Unpackmail --- :UNPACKBAD fastecho toss -b -c goto AFTERTOSS :UNPACKMAIL fastecho toss -C :AFTERTOSS if errorlevel 12 goto ECHOMAIL if errorlevel 11 goto ECHOMAIL if errorlevel 10 goto ONLYNET if errorlevel 0 goto ONLYNET :ECHOMAIL feutil sort -b feutil link -i :ONLYNET newscan N -PL -F -R -X -SN itrack goto start rem --- PackNetmail ---- :PACKNETMAIL itrack rem Pack mails for points fastecho pack .1 .2 .3 .4 .5 .6 .7 .11 rem Default routing fastecho pack -rROUTE.FE goto START rem --- Messagebase-maintenance --- :MAINTAIN feutil Purge feutil Pack -Force -Delete goto START Help Systems, Registration Sites, Support ========================================= If you want to register FastEcho or want to obtain nearer information about FastEcho please refer to following Help Systems: Headquarters: Software Technik Burchhardt Mittelkamp 18 D-45731 Waltrop Germany Tel. ++49-2309-77597 (voice/answering machine) ++49-2309-77019 (data) ++49-2309-77499 (data) Email: 2:243/5039@fidonet (Tobias Burchhardt) or 2:2445/400@fidonet, early '94 2:245/39@fidoclassic 9:492/6050@virnet 27:1331/701.20@signet.ftn 254:2300/1@hdsnet or via InterNet: tobi@hds.rmi.de Help & Registration BeNeLux: RCE Macaré Postbus 5711 3008 AS Rotterdam Holland Email: 2:285/501@fidonet (Rob Macare) 9:310/301@virnet 27:1331/1@signet.ftn Help & Registration Spain/Portugal: Atlantis BBS Apartado Postal 3.097 18080 Granada Spain Email: 2:385/801@fidonet (Alfredo Sanchez) 9:341/101@virnet Help & Registration Canada: Alex Stuart 2759 Belmont Ave. Victoria, B.C. Canada V8R 4A9 Email: 1:340/30@fidonet Registration United States of America: Ed Meloan 1110 Terrace Circle Drive North Augusta, SC 29841-4349 USA Email: 1:360/1@fidonet Help & Register United Kingdom: David Ekins 286 Elm Road Upper Marham KINGS LYNN Norfolk PE33 9NQ Email: 2:2501/311@fidonet Help & Register Italy: Marco Piazza Viale Angeloni n.241 47023 Cesena (FO) Italy Email: 2:332/319@fidonet Help & Register Isreal: Rudy's Place BBS PO BOX 8394 Rishon Le-Zion, 7525 Isreal Email: 2:403/138@fidonet (Nemrod Kedem) Help & Register Brazil (and South America): Mauricio Andrade Caixa Postal 330 Salvador, Bahia CEP 40001-970 Brazil Email: 4:80/4@fidonet (Mauricio Andrade) Help & Register Australia/New Zealand: Online-Tronics International Pty. Ltd. P.O. Box 191 Petersham NSW 2049 Sydney, Australia Email: 3:712/607@fidonet (Christian Kraus) For further information regarding registration, please refer to the enclosed LICENSE.DOC and the registration forms in REGISTER.ARJ ! Support Sites ------------- These sites always have the latest version of FastEcho available for download or file-request, can provide help for setting up FastEcho and will try to help when you have problems with FastEcho. Bob R. The Anonymous BBS 1:154/40 +1-414-251-2580 Joseph Gaspard ROBOCOP BBS 1:202/911 +1-619-299-0351 Ken Maskall The Breeze Inn 1:2607/302 +1-215-559-0553 Scott J Miller Programmer's Haven 1 1:2607/103 +1-215-797-9378 Alex Stuart Quantum Leap BBS 1:340/30 +1-604-595-4407 Allan Christiansen The Ranger BBS 2:230/178 +45-62-206914 Tobias Burchhardt WayForward BBS 2:243/5039 +49-2309-77019 Rob Macare Maasstad BBS 2:285/501 +31-10-4862184 Marco Piazza Spectrum 2:332/319 +39-547-611271 Alfredo Sanchez Atlantis BBS 2:345/801 +34-58-123848 Nemrod Kedem Rudy's Place 2:403/138 +972-3-9667562 Christian Kraus Ontron Australia BBS 3:712/607 +61-2-564-2172 Mauricio Andrade FastEcho Support 4:80/4 +55-71-244-8764 Kuan-yu Chen FastEcho Support Asia 6:6/107 +886-2-255-0214 Further watch out for the international FidoNet help conference FE_HELP which is currently available on the U.S. backbone and in Zone 2. If you have problems to get this area contact either Tobias Burchhardt or Ken Maskall or one of your nearest support sites. For german-speaking FidoNet members the help conference FASTECHO.GER is available in Regions 24, 30 and 31. For users in Region 28 please refer to FASTECHO.028. SigNet members please watch out for SIG.PUB.FASTECHO ! All FastEcho public releases and FastEcho related utilities are hatched into a fileecho named FASTECHO, for details on that topic please contact your nearest support site or betatester. Thanks ====== I would like to thank all people that contributed to the development of FastEcho with excellent ideas and bug reports. Special thanks to: Genesis, Queen, YES, Faith No More, Red Hot Chili Peppers, De La Soul, Foreigner, Toto, Blues Brothers Band, Clawfinger, Pro-Pain, Rage against the machine, Van Halen, The Police, Metallica, Spin Doctors, White Zombies, Soul Asylum, Suicidal Tendencies, Ugly Kid Joe, Pearl Jam and finally Guns'n'Roses for their great music. Thanks to all the people who registered FastEcho 1.0X, 1.2X or 1.30/g and made it possible for me to keep on developing. Thanks to the the beta crew: Europe: Alberto Vidal, Allan Christiansen, Alon Gingold, Andre Boogaards, Andreas Neuhaus, Andreas Walter, Aris Ferrara, Arjen Schouten, Arne Handtmann, Axel Cordt, Bernd Hinkmann, Carlos Hermida, Carsten Schroeder, Christian Mueller, Daniel Zeilmann, David Ekins, Dirk Astrath, Eduardo Jacob, Efraim Bayarri, Egons Bush, Erik Wachtmeester, Eyal Zach, Frank Albuschat, Frank Altenburg, Frank Lachmann, Frederico Diaz Lopez, Gareth Lewin, Gerard van Essen, Gerrit Mak, Gody Keijzer, Guenter Lepenat, Hans Siemons, Heinz Schneider, Hostas Red, Hugo Landsman, Jan Boelsma, Jens Freitag, Jens Mueller, Joerg Gutzke, Joerg Michael, John Crossno, Jon Greaves, Joop Mellaart, Jose Miguel Rodriguez, Juan Cienfuegos, Juan Ignacio Rodriguez, Juan J. Achutegui, Juan Millaruelo, Jupp Demary, Kees Visser, Klaus Ditze, Klaus Harms, Luigi Trovato, Maik Voege, Manfred Pegam, Manolo Vidal, Marco Piazza, Markus Ebel, Markus Schmidt, Michael Kramm, Mike Hartmann, Nemrod Kedem, Nick Parker, Noel Bradford, Orlando Castillo, Oskar Azanza, Pedro Navarro, Peter Farwig, Peter Hampf, Peter Janssens, Peter van der Linde, Rainer Cremer, Ramon Martinez, Raymond Dijkxhoorn, Reinier De Groot, Rob Macare, Robert Maiwald, Roeland Jansen, Ron van der Nagel, Sikko Stienstra, Stefan Schuessler, Sven Mueller, Thomas Schaetzer, Thorsten Frische, Thorsten Rossner, Torsten Vollmer, Ugo Ugetti, Uriel Segal, Volker Astrath, Volker Imre, Werner Niedermeier, Wim Bonis North-America: Alex Stuart, Andrew Farmer, Ben Hamilton, Bob R., Bruce Bodger, Charles Buchanan, Ed Dobie, Ed Meloan, George Bird, Hugh Bell, Jay Desio, Jim Louvau, Joe McElmeel, Jonathan Hulley-Miller, Joseph Gaspard, Ken Hacker, Ken Maskall, Mark Howard, Mark Lewis, Mark Moran, Matt Montgomery, Max Vonderhorst, Mike Ehlert, Paul Harney, Paul Williams, Paula Pautler, Scott J Miller, Todd Punderson, Walt Lane South-America: Araken Salamene, Carlos Strauch, Ivan Martinez, Mauricio Andrade Austrialia: Christian Kraus, Lloyd Bayley Asia: Kuan-yu Chen, Marty Wang, Meng-Chi Luo Sorry if I forgot one ! :-) [Write a netmail in this case] Technical Notes =============== * The FTSC product-code for FastEcho is 0xAF (hex), 175 (dec). * FastEcho can handle up to 200 systems and 992 areas. * FastEcho can process echomail messages up to 64kB, depending on the settings in FESetup/Advanced Options/Messagebuffer. * The mail-packets created by FastEcho are compatible to FTS-0001, FTS-0004 and FSC-0039, using the Type 2+ packet-header and supporting the Capability Word. FastEcho will also recognize incoming FSC-0048 and FSC-0045 (Type 2.2) mail-packets. * Linefeeds are always stripped when processing mails, soft CR's are treated as normal, valid characters. * SEEN-BY lines and ^APATH kludges are created and updated. * SEEN-BY is used for duplicate prevention - if a system is already listed in the SEEN-BY of an incoming message, FastEcho will not forward that message to this system. [This does NOT apply to point-systems as the SEEN-BY are 2D only !] * FastEcho can parse both Fido/Opus- and SEAdog-style date-fields, it generates SEAdog-style date-fields when exporting echomail. * FastEcho supports the RemoteAccess/FrontDoor Hudson-messagebase sharing specifications and sharing of JAM and Squish messagebases. * The dupechecking algorithm checks the ^MSGID kludge if available and a header checksum if not. In order to store the maximum 131000 records in while tossing/scanning it needs 512kB of EMS or XMS memory. * Outbound mail-packets generated by FastEcho have a .QQQ extension. To compress them, FastEcho renames them to .PKT and adds 2 <NUL> bytes at the end of the packets. If any error occurs while running the archiver, FastEcho will rename them back to .QQQ, so the may be compressed in a further run of FastEcho. * For a better performance, unlike other echomail processors, FastEcho keeps the outbound mail-packets open while processing. Therefore to run without error you must give FastEcho at least that many FILES=??? that are needed to have the packets for every system defined in the Node-Manager simultaneously open. * FastEcho supports the 4D addressing which BinkleyTerm 2.50+ and Portal of Power 0.61+ offers for points. * FastEcho supports the '.BSY' files created by BinkleyTerm 2.50+ in multiline-environments and will not compress mail for a system currently online. * FastEcho supports the crc.`nn semaphore files FrontDoor 2.20/c creates in multiline-environments and will not compress mail for a system currently online. * FastEcho supports the Xnnnnnnn.nll semaphore files created by InterMail 2.25 for checking if a system is currently online. * FastEcho supports the RemoteAccess-Messagebase-Locking technique as proposed in RALCK003.DOC by Andrew Milner including the support for MBUNLOCK.NOW (supported by GoldEd 2.40+, RemoteAccess 2.00, FM 2.20). * Before calling an external de-/compression utility, FastEcho checks if the archive file is currently locked/opened by another task and will skip it to prevent Share Violations when the utility tries to access the file and doesn't have a proper exception handler. * FastEcho was written in C++ (compiled with Borland C++ Version 3.1) and assembly language (Turbo Assembler Version 3.1). * File-IO is performed using standard DOS filehandle functions. The PSP filehandle table is expanded to 230 entries. * All programs automatically detect DESQview and write to its screen buffer. They further detect OS/2 2.x as well as PCMOS/386 and give up time-slices in these environments if possible (when waiting for messagebase (un-)locking for example). * The configuration file of FastEcho may be used with GoldED 2.41 or later using the "AREAFILE FastEcho <path>" keyword and with timEd alpha 10 or later using the "FastEchoCFG <file+path>" keyword. * The structures for 'C' and 'Pascal' of FASTECHO.CFG are available as FECFG130.ARJ (or magic filename FECFG). * The swapping routines used are provided by Thomas Wagner (EXEC 3.3) and allow EMS-, XMS- and disk-swapping. * FESetup makes intensive use of the TesSeRact CLX User Interface TCXL Version 5.52.06 copyrighted by Innovative Data Concepts. * FastEcho uses the JAM(mbp) API - Copyright 1993 Joaquim Homrighausen, Andrew Milner, Mats Birch, Mats Wallin. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. * FastEcho's "Squish" [trademark of Scott J. Dudley] support makes uses the original MsgAPI (c) Copyright by Scott J. Dudley. [EOF]