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╒════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ │ │ │ ▄█████████████ ████████████ █████ │ │ ████████████████ █████████████ █████ │ │ █████▀ ██████ ▄███████▄ ███████████▄ ▄██████████▄ │ │ █████ ███████ ██████▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ █████▀▀▀▀▀ █████████████ ██████ █████ │ │ █████▄ ▀▀█████ ████████████▀ █████ █████ █████ ▐█████ █████ │ │ ██████ █████ ██████▀▀▀▀▀▀ █████ █████ █████ █████ █████ │ │ ██████▄ █████ ██████ █████▄ █████ █████ ██████ █████ │ │ ▀████████████ ██████████████ ▀████████ █████ █████ ███████████ │ │ ▀▀█████████ █████████████ ▀▀████▀ █████ █████ ██████ │ │ │ ╘════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛ GEcho 1.20/Pro Electronic Mail Processor for the Hudson Message Base (HMB), Joaquim-Andrew-Mats Message Base (JAM) Squish Message Base, PCBoard Message Base, Wildcat! Message Base, and *.MSG Message Base MBUTIL 1.27/Pro Message Base Utility for the Hudson Message Base (HMB), Joaquim-Andrew-Mats Message Base Proposal (JAM) and *.MSG Message Base USER MANUAL Software and documentation written by Gerard J. van der Land Copyright (C) 1990-1995 Gerard J. van der Land All rights reserved M A D E I N H O L L A N D Table of Contents 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1.1 What is GEcho? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1.2 Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1.3 System Hardware and Software Requirements . . . . . . . 6 1.4 License and Disclaimer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2 FidoNet Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.1 Network structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.2 Mail transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 3 GSETUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 3.1 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 3.2 Starting the program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 3.2.1 Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 3.2.2 On-line help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 3.2.3 Specifying groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 3.2.4 Specifying pathnames and filenames . . . . . . . 12 3.3 System data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 3.3.1 Network addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 3.3.2 System users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 3.3.3 Pathnames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 3.3.4 Filenames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 3.3.5 External utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 3.3.6 External utilities options . . . . . . . . . . . 16 3.3.7 Origin lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 3.3.8 AKA matching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 3.4 Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 3.4.1 Global options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 3.4.2 GEcho limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 3.4.3 GEcho options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 3.4.4 Message base options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 3.4.5 Mgr options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 3.4.6 Netmail options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 3.4.7 MBUTIL options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 3.4.8 Log options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 3.4.9 GSETUP colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 3.5 Area manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 3.5.1 Area options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 3.5.2 Purge info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 3.5.3 Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 3.5.4 View mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 3.5.5 Edit mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 3.6 Group manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 3.7 Node manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 3.7.1 Node options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 3.7.2 Uplink settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 3.7.3 View mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 3.7.4 Edit mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 3.8 Pack manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 3.9 Export data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 3.10 Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 3.11 Exit to DOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 3.12 Command line options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 3.13 Convert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 4 GCONVERT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 5 GECHO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 5.1 Scan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 5.2 Toss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 5.3 Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 5.4 Notify . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 5.5 Mgr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 5.6 Pack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 5.7 Kill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 6 MBUTIL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 6.1 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 6.2 Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 6.3 Pack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 6.4 Purge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 6.5 Undelete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 6.6 Convert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 6.7 Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 6.8 Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 6.9 Move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 6.10 Post . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 6.11 Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 6.12 Sort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 7 Hints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 7.1 Using GEcho with D'Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 7.2 Using GEcho with BinkleyTerm . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 8 Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 9 Colors and Errorlevels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 10 Technical Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 1 Introduction 1.1 What is GEcho? GEcho is a very advanced and fast one-pass echomail and netmail processor for use in FidoNet Technology Networks. GEcho supports the JAM, Hudson, Squish, PCBoard, Wildcat! and *.MSG message base formats. GEcho uses the ECHOMAIL.JAM, NETMAIL.JAM, ECHOMAIL.BBS, NETMAIL.BBS and ECHOTOSS.LOG files for quick scanning, simultaneously exports both netmail and echomail, unpacks compressed mail files, tosses and forwards inbound mail, imports netmail, routes and packs outbound netmail, processes and forwards AreaFix requests, and compresses the created outbound mail packets, all in one single pass. GEcho was first released to the beta testers in January 1991. Since then, it has been used and tested by many thousands of users. 4 1.2 Features * Comes with 32-bit DOS, OS/2 and Windows executable. * Support for six widely used message base formats: JAM, Hudson, Squish, PCBoard, WildCat! and *.MSG. * Support for zones, 4D points and pointnets (fakenets). * Support for 9 compression formats: ARC, ARJ, LZH, PAK, RAR, SQZ, UC2, ZIP and ZOO. * Support for external general unpack shell and packet pre- processor utilities. {+} * Support for up to 10000 echomail areas and up to 500 links for each area. * GEcho can easily handle very large message bases and huge amounts of mail. * Forwarded echomail is directly written to outbound packets while tossing. * Smart netmail routing and packing. * Supports the RemoteAccess/FrontDoor Hudson Message Base sharing specifications. * User friendly setup program. GEcho does not require any configuration files used by other software. * Supports XMS, EMS and disk swapping. * Supports OS/2, Windows, Windows 95, DESQview, DESQview/X, TopView and DoubleDOS multitaskers. * Writes log file in FrontDoor, BinkleyTerm, D'Bridge or QuickBBS compatible formats. * Complete message base maintenance using MBUTIL. * Complete, compact, fast, user friendly and reliable. * Very HIGH Quality & Performance, Very LOW Registration Fee! * Good support from the author and support nodes by netmail and in the GECHO_HELP area (available from the FidoNet echomail backbone in North America and Europe). 5 1.3 System Hardware and Software Requirements * An IBM PC, XT, AT or 100% compatible computer with hard disk. * Microsoft MS-DOS or IBM PC-DOS version 3.00 or later. Version 3.30 or later is recommended. GEcho was successfully tested with DOS 3.2 to 6.22, DR DOS 5.0 and 6.0, OS/2 2.x and 3.0, Windows 3.x, Windows 95, QEMM-386 6.0 and 7.0, DESQview, DESQview/X, 4DOS/NDOS, Novell NetWare, Netware Lite and LANtastic on systems equipped with NEC V20, V30, V40, Intel 8086, 8088, 80186, 80286, 80386, i486 and Pentium CPUs. * At least "FILES=20" in your CONFIG.SYS. GEcho can optionally use more than 20 file handles, which requires a higher FILES value. A disk cache (especially one that can buffer disk writes, such as SmartDrive, Norton Cache or HyperDisk) can significantly improve performance, but of course it is not required to use one. If you are not using a disk cache, make sure that CONFIG.SYS contains the line "BUFFERS=30" (or a higher setting) to improve performance and consider enabling GEcho's internal disk buffer for writing to the Hudson message base. * At least 300 kB of RAM available. The amount of RAM needed by GEcho depends on the compression utilities and whether or not you enable swapping, the area cache and duplicate checking. If necessary, GEcho can almost completely swap itself to XMS, EMS or disk when it calls an external utility. The amount of RAM needed by MBUTIL mainly depends on the size of the message bases. * A message editor (FM, TimEd, GoldED) and/or BBS package (RemoteAccess, QuickBBS, SuperBBS, ProBoard, Maximus, PCBoard) that supports the JAM, Hudson, *.MSG, Squish, PCBoard or Wildcat! message base format(s). * At least one of the following compression utilities: PKZIP 2.04g, LHA 2.13, PKPAK 3.61, ARC, ZOO 2.10, PAK 2.51, ARJ 2.30, SQZ v1.08.3, UltraCompressor II or RAR 1.52. * A FidoNet compatible mailer. I use and recommend FrontDoor, the E-mail system by Joaquim H. Homrighausen. However, GEcho can also be used with InterMail, MainDoor, D'Bridge, BinkleyTerm, Portal of Power, Xenia, Dutchie, SEAdog, etc. 6 1.4 License and Disclaimer "GEcho" refers to all executables and documentation as distributed in the compressed file in which the package was released. * GEcho is copyrighted material by Gerard J. van der Land. It may only be used in agreement with the conditions set out in this License agreement. * Although care has been taken to write and test a program that does what this document states, GEcho is provided "as is", without warranty or guarantee of any kind, either expressed or implied, as to the fitness for a particular purpose or quality or performance of this program, except that GEcho will occupy disk space. * In no event shall Gerard J. van der Land be liable to you or anyone else for any damages or cost, including, but not limited to, any lost profits, lost savings or lost income which may result from the use or inability to use GEcho. * Registered versions of GEcho may NOT be distributed to or used by users who are not registered users. * In no way is Gerard J. van der Land obligated to you or anyone else to provide future versions of, or support for GEcho. * Gerard J. van der Land reserves the right not to release future evaluation versions of GEcho, but switch to a commercial "buy before you try" marketing concept instead. * Your use of GEcho is your agreement with this License and Disclaimer and your release of the author from any form of liability or litigation. The access password for GSETUP is: "I AGREE" (without double quotes). 7 2 FidoNet Technology 2.1 Network structure FidoNet is the biggest amateur network in the world. It was started in 1984 by Tom Jennings. Currently more than 37000 nodes worldwide are connected. The network has a hierarchic tree (or star) topology: +------------------------------+----------------------> | | zone 1 zone 2 | | +--------+--------+ +--------+--------+ | | | | | | region region region region region region | | | | | | +--+--+ | +--+--+ +---+---+ | +--+--+ | | | | | | | | | | | net net net net net net net net net net net | +-----+-----+ | | | node node node | +---+---+ | | point point Zones are divided in Regions, which are divided in Nets. The Nets consist of Nodes, which are usually (but not necessarily) Bulletin Board Systems. Each node has a unique address which consists of four parts: Zone, Net, Node and Point, in text form expressed as "Zone:Net/Node.Point". Zone numbers 1 up to and including 6 are used by FidoNet: 1 = North America (United States of America and Canada) 2 = Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States 3 = Oceania (Australia and New Zealand) 4 = Latin America 5 = Africa 6 = Asia There are several other networks that use FidoNet Technology, which occupy higher zone numbers (such as SIGnet, zones 24-29). FidoNet technology can also be used to set up private networks. Many nodes have one or more points. Points are users who get mail from a node (their "boss") in compressed files. That way they can read and write messages off-line, saving time and money. The point address of the boss is 0, but the ".0" is usually omitted from the address. 8 2.2 Mail transportation Electronic mail in a FidoNet Technology Network (FTN) is exchanged using mail packets, which are usually transmitted between two computers by modem or ISDN. The software responsible for this is called a mailer. Mail packet files have the .PKT extension. They can contain one or more messages. There are two types of messages. Netmail goes from one node to another node (either directly or routed through other systems). Echomail is copied to all systems that are connected to a particular area (also called conference). Echomail messages are distributed using a special type of netmail message, where each message starts with "AREA:" followed by the name of the area, in which certain topic(s) are discussed. Packets with echomail are usually transported in compressed files to save time and money. Echomail contains special control information at the end of the text of each message, which consists of four parts: 1) --- GEcho 1.20/Pro 2) * Origin: GEcho Development (2:283/555) 3) SEEN-BY: 283/0 510 512 555 4) ^aPATH: 283/555 512 0 1. The tear line. This optional field can contain the name of the software that first added the echomail control information. 2. The origin line. It contains a short description of the system where the message originated and its node number. GEcho uses it to find the end of a message. Beneath the origin line GEcho searches for the other control information: 3. The SEEN-BY lines. GEcho can optionally use them to find out which systems have already processed ("seen") a message. This can prevent duplicate messages if the topology is incorrect, or if a fully connected polygon is used. SEEN-BY lines are sorted and listed in short form, meaning that the net number is not repeated as long as it is unchanged. To save disk space, GEcho will by default not import SEEN-BY lines to the message base, nor will it use them for duplicate prevention, but both are optional per area. Imported SEEN-BY lines are by default visible, but you can optionally hide them. 4. The PATH lines. They show through which systems a message went, before it reached your system. GEcho will always import them, because this will allow you to figure out what echomail topology is used. This is very important for troubleshooting, such as finding the cause of duplicate messages. Normally you will not see them, because they are hidden. PATH lines are also listed in short form, but they are unsorted, as sorting would defeat their purpose. 9 3 GSETUP 3.1 Installation This manual assumes a setup with the FrontDoor mailer and the RemoteAccess bulletin board system, with the following sample directories: C:\RA\MSGBASE Where the message and user bases are located C:\FD Where GEcho's system data files are located C:\FD\NETMAIL Where netmail messages are stored C:\FD\INBOUND Where incoming files are stored C:\FD\OUTBOUND Where outgoing mail files are stored C:\FD\INPKTS Where inbound mail packets are stored C:\FD\OUTPKTS Where outbound mail packets are temporarily stored C:\ Where the swap file GECHO.SWP can be stored C:\FD Where semaphore files are created and looked for C:\UTIL Where compression utilities are located Of course it is not required to use the same pathnames. It is convenient if the directories which contain executable files are listed in the DOS PATH, so make sure that your AUTOEXEC.BAT contains a line that looks like this: SET PATH=C:\UTIL;C:\FD;C:\RA;C:\DOS This will make sure that programs in those directories can be started from any directory. Put the directories that are used most often first to improve performance. Also add the following line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT to enable the GEcho executables to find their data files: SET GE=C:\FD 3 The "3" is the optional default text color (see page 68). Copy the following files from the compressed distribution file to C:\FD. GSETUP.EXE This is the setup utility, used to create and update the system data files, and export them to various types of text files. GECHO.EXE The main program. It is responsible for inbound mail decompression, netmail and echomail importing, exporting, forwarding, netmail routing and packing, outbound mail compression, and processing remote area maintenance requests. MBUTIL.EXE The message base maintenance utility, responsible for linking, purging, packing, etc. 10 GECHO.DOC The GEcho documentation. The on-line help system (F1) also uses this file. GE_DOC.GEX This is an index file used by the on-line help system. FTSCPROD.GE This file contains the names and capabilities of all programs with an FTSC assigned product code. GCONVERT.EXE The GEcho Conversion Utility, which can convert various types of data files to GEcho's format. 3.2 Starting the program Before GEcho can run, it needs to be configured using the setup utility, GSETUP. When you start GSETUP, it will search for the system data file SETUP.GE in the current directory. If it is not found there, GSETUP will try to find it in the directory pointed to by the GE environment variable. The first time you run GSETUP, it probably cannot locate SETUP.GE, and it will ask you if you want to create it. If you press the space bar, GSETUP will create a new system data file, with example default values for most input fields. The directory where SETUP.GE is found or created is considered the "system path", where a few other data files are stored too: AREAFILE.GE The area database and index file. AREAFILE.GEX GRPFILE.GE The group data base and index file. GRPFILE.GEX NODEFILE.GE The node database and index file. NODEFILE.GEX PACKFILE.GE The pack database. It contains netmail routing and packing information. ECHODUPE.GE The duplicate database. It contains signatures of imported and exported echomail messages. 11 3.2.1 Keys GSETUP uses pop-up menus. You can use the cursor up and down keys or Tab and Shift-Tab keys to move the menu bar up and down. You can select an option or command by pressing Enter. The Esc key will take you back to a previous level. At some places GEcho may ask you if you want to save the changes or discard them. Wherever this is the case, you may press F10 to save any changes unconditionally, i.e., without getting this question. The last line on the screen will contain useful help about the use of the selected function or help on keys that can be used. 3.2.2 On-line help From anywhere in GSETUP you can press F1 to get context sensitive on-line help by showing the appropriate part of GECHO.DOC. You can use the cursor keys to browse up, jump to a certain page with Tab, or search for a certain text with F4. 3.2.3 Specifying groups When you have to select groups, you can press Enter to toggle groups. The '+' key will select all groups, and '-' will unselect all selected groups. 3.2.4 Specifying pathnames and filenames When you have to specify a pathname or filename, you can use environment variables. The format for this is: $[<environment_variable] Example: $[FD]\NETMAIL\ 12 3.3 System data This menu will enable you to enter miscellaneous system information, such as addresses, user names, directories, external utilities, groups, uplinks, etc. 3.3.1 Network addresses You must define your main network address here. You can optionally define up to 31 alternate network addresses (AKAs). It is recommended to use the same order as used in your mailer and BBS configuration. For each address you can specify an area to which netmail for that AKA should be imported. For non-point addresses you can specify a pointnet (fakenet) to strip from the SEEN-BY lines when exporting or forwarding echomail messages, and to remap messages to the AreaMgr. A pointnet is only needed when one of your points has an old "stone age" 2D echomail processor. 3.3.2 System users Here you can specify up to ten system users. SysOp/User name The first user name is the name of the System Operator (SysOp) and is required. Personal mail area Area to which personal echomail for this user should be copied. If you select zero, personal mail for this user will not be copied. {+} Use AKA area If netmail for this user should be treated like all other netmail. This means that netmail will be imported to the area defined for the AKA to which the message is addressed. Netmail area Area to which netmail for this user should be imported. Specifying zero will keep netmail in the netmail path. This field only has meaning if "Use AKA area" is set to No. Access password Password required to access GSETUP. This can only be specified for the SysOp name. {+} 13 3.3.3 Pathnames Here you can specify the pathnames used by GEcho. If you enter a pathname that does not exist, GSETUP will ask if you want to create it. GEcho itself will also try to create missing directories if necessary. Netmail Where incoming and outgoing netmail messages are stored in *.MSG format. Inbound mail Where incoming files are stored by your mailer. Inbound PKTs Where incoming mail packets (.PKT files) should temporarily be stored. You should not set this to a path where the mailer stores inbound files. The current directory is used if this path is not specified. {+} Outbound PKTs Where outgoing mail packets (.QQQ files) should temporarily be stored. Outbound mail Where outgoing compressed mail files should be stored. The "Outbound mail" path cannot be the same as the "Inbound mail" path. When using D'Bridge mailer type, this must be the "Queue" path and cannot be the same as "Outbound PKTs". If you are using multiple GEcho setups, do NOT point the outbound path of one setup to the inbound path of another setup, or mail will get lost! Unchecked mail Mail packets decompressed in and tossed from this path are not checked for origin, destination, password or security violations. This can be useful for packets created by programs such as XRS (which can cause security violations) and RFD or RAID (local origin). It should NOT point to the secure mailer inbound path! Decompression of mail archives from this path is a {+} feature. Hudson base Where Hudson message base files (MSG*.BBS, ECHOMAIL.BBS, NETMAIL.BBS and MBUNLOCK.NOW) are stored. If MSGHDR.BBS or MSGTXT.BBS do not exist, GSETUP will ask if you want to create a new Hudson message base. JAM base Where the JAM message base files (ECHOMAIL.JAM and NETMAIL.JAM) are stored. 14 User base Where the user base files (USERS.BBS, USERSIDX.BBS, NAMEIDX.BBS and LASTREAD.BBS,) are stored. Wildcat! home Where the Wildcat! configuration file MAKEWILD.DAT is stored. It is recommended NOT to store any of the paths above on a RAM disk, because all information stored there will be lost when a power failure occurs and/or the system is rebooted. The only exception can be the "Outbound PKTs" path, provided your RAM disk is large enough, but there is a risk of losing mail. Swapping Path where the swap file GECHO.SWP is stored if you have enabled disk swapping, and XMS/EMS swapping is not enabled, or no or insufficient XMS/EMS memory is available. Up to 350 kB disk space is required. It is recommended to use a RAM disk for this. Semaphore Where semaphore files should be created and looked for by GEcho and your mailer. It is recommended to use a RAM disk for this. 3.3.4 Filenames GEcho log The name and location of the GEcho log file. In the "Log options" menu you can select which type of message should be logged. Mgr log The name and location of the AreaMgr log file. The GEcho log file will be used if blank. MBUTIL log The name and location of the MBUTIL log file. The GEcho log file will be used if blank. Areas file The name and location of the AREAS.BBS style file. Echo toss The name and location of the ECHOTOSS.LOG stye file. This file is used to determine from which Squish and *.MSG areas new echomail should be scanned. DOS4GW.EXE The name and location of the DOS/4GW Protected Mode Run-Time file. This file is required by the 32-bit DOS version. If you don't specify the path, GEcho will search for the specified file in the PATH. 15 3.3.5 External utilities Here you can specify external utilities that can be called to store outbound mail packets in compressed mail files, and to unpack inbound compressed mail files. GEcho recognizes the ARC, ARJ, LZH, PAK, RAR, SQZ, UC2, ZIP and ZOO formats. For each program you can specify the switches and the amount of memory needed to run that program. With F10 you can select the compression utility GEcho should use for nodes not specified in the Node manager (see page 34). If GEcho is unable to determine the compression method, it can call a specified "GUS" program (general unpack shell), such as UMAIL, GUS, POLYXARC or SPAZ. {+} GEcho can also call a specified "PKT" utility, such as a packet scanner, statistics utility, or packet sorter, before each packet that is tossed (in which case @ in the switches field expands to the full path to the packet), or only before tossing the first packet from a decompressed mail file (in which case @ expands to the directory where the packets are located). {+} 3.3.6 External utilities options Swapping method If an external utility requires more memory than is currently available, GEcho can swap itself out of memory prior to calling it, leaving less than 2 kB of GEcho resident. There are 10 possible combinations of XMS, EMS and disk swapping. Each combination is listed in order of preference. If swapping to disk is enabled, GEcho can create the swap file GECHO.SWP in the "Swapping" path if sufficient disk space is available. Decompress extension Range of inbound compressed mail file serial numbers that will be decompressed. Check end of archives If GEcho should check if the end of inbound compressed mail files are valid, to prevent them from being decompressed if they are incomplete or invalid. Run PKT program once If the PKT program should only be run before the first tossed packet of a decompressed mail file. 16 Redirect output If the screen output of external utilities should be made invisible by redirecting it to the NUL device. This may not work with all utilities. 3.3.7 Origin lines Here you can specify up to 20 origin line texts, which can be added to exported echomail by GEcho Scan and MBUTIL Post. Do not include your network address in this line, as that will be added automatically. 3.3.8 AKA matching Here you can specify which Origin AKA should be used as origin address when packing netmail. The Zone:Net specifies the "Pack via" address, and matches all nodes in the specified net. You can match all nodes in a zone by specifying zero for the net number. 17 3.4 Miscellaneous This menu will enable you to select miscellaneous options, such as mailer type, log options, etc. 3.4.1 Global options Mailer type What type of mailer you are using. It affects how outgoing compressed mail files are handled. You can choose FrontDoor (.MSG file attaches, also used by InterMail, MainDoor, SEAdog and Dutchie), BinkleyTerm (.?LO files, also used by Xenia, Portal of Power) or D'Bridge (base-36 filenames in the D'Bridge queue). Semaphore mode Which semaphore mode should be used for netmail rescan, busy flags, etc. If enabled, the mailer will be forced to rescan its netmail directory and rebuild the outbound mail queue if necessary. You can choose FrontDoor, InterMail, D'Bridge, BinkleyTerm or MainDoor. Create busy flags If busy flags should be created in FrontDoor, InterMail, MainDoor or BinkleyTerm semaphore mode. This will prevent the mailer from making an outbound call to a node whose compressed mail file is currently being updated. It may also cause the mailer to abort an incoming call from that node, which is why this is an option. {+} BBS type Which BBS type you are using. You can choose from RemoteAccess 1.11, RemoteAccess 2.00, QuickBBS 2.75 or SuperBBS 1.16. This setting determines how the user base should be handled. It is only used if you use a HMB. If your BBS program is not among the possible choices, select the one that is most compatible with it. Log file style Which log file style should be used. You can choose FrontDoor, BinkleyTerm, QuickBBS or D'Bridge. Run 32-bit version If GEcho should If GEcho should run 32-bit protected mode DOS code on 80386+ systems. You must also specify the DOS4GW.EXE file in the "Filenames" menu. 18 Change tear line If tear lines should be left unchanged, replaced with the default tear line, replaced with a customized tear line, or removed from echomail messages exported from the message base. {+} Tear line Text that GEcho Scan should use for a customized tear line in echomail messages exported from the message base. The text is also used by the MBUTIL Export -ReTear to put on the tear line of outgoing echomail messages in the Hudson message base. {+} 3.4.2 GEcho limits Maximum area records The maximum number of area index records GEcho should reserve memory for. The highest value you can specify is 10000, but it is better not to set it higher than necessary. Maximum node records The maximum number node index records GEcho should reserve memory for. The highest value you can specify is 5000, but it is better not to set it higher than necessary. Maximum connections Group connections The maximum of connected systems per area and group GSETUP Pack should reserve space for. The highest value you can specify is 500, but it is better not to set it higher than necessary. This setting affects the size of AREAFILE.GE and GRPFILE.GE and the number of areas that fit in the area cache. Points can select "1" to save disk space and increase speed. The number of group connection cannot be higher than the number of area connections. Maximum outgoing QQQs The maximum number of outbound packets (QQQs) GEcho should reserve memory for. You should not have to worry about this unless you get a "Max. number of QQQ files reached" error. That could happen if you process huge amounts of mail, have many downlinks and use a small maximum packet size. 19 Maximum file handles The maximum number of DOS file handles GEcho may use. You can set this value higher than the actual number of file handles that is available, in that case GEcho will use as many handles as are available. If GEcho needs to open a packet when it has already used all available file handles, it will close the least recently used packet. Therefore, if "Maximum file handles" about 20 higher than the number of downlinks, GEcho will never have to close one .QQQ file to be able to open another, which can significantly increase the tossing speed. Maximum cache size The maximum size of GEcho's area cache. If disabled, GEcho will only keep one area record in memory at a time. Enabling the cache buffer will increase the tossing speed, because GEcho can keep the most recently used area records in memory, avoiding redundant reads from disk. A bigger buffer will give a higher cache hit ratio. Maximum message size The maximum size a message can have before GEcho truncates it (64-1024 kB). The 16-bit DOS version cannot handle messages larger than 64 kB. Maximum packet size Maximum archive size The maximum size of the created outbound packets and compressed mail files (32-4096 kB). If a packet or archive exceeds the specified size, GEcho will stop appending to it. If you specify zero, the size will be unlimited. The maximum archive size is a {+} feature. 3.4.3 GEcho options Badecho area Area where echomail in unknown areas, security violations and duplicates should be stored. This can be an Hudson board or an area of "Badecho" type specified in the area manager. If you want to use the -TossBad switch (see page 47), you must select a JAM or *.MSG area. You can also specify that bad echomail should not be stored. 20 Dupe database entries The number of messages that you want GEcho to keep track of for duplicate detection. Specifying zero will disable the duplicate detection. On a point system duplicate detection is often not very useful, because duplicates will most likely be detected by the uplink, and a point system does not forward echomail to other nodes anyway. GEcho will run slightly faster without duplicate checking, and you save the disk space occupied by the ECHODUPE.GE database file. Kill duplicates If duplicate received echomail messages should be deleted when tossing, rather than storing them. Check PKT destination If GEcho should check if the destination address of inbound packets is one of your AKAs. If this is enabled, packets that are not for your system and that cannot be forwarded to another system will be renamed to .DST. However, this can give problems with some programs, such as SquishMail 1.0x, which incorrectly put the address of the final destination of routed messages in the packet. SysOp notification If GEcho should write a SysOp notification message when a inbound PKT file is renamed to BAD, DST, LOC or PWD. Enable packet sorting If GEcho should sort packets before tossing them. You can select to sort on Area name, or on Date. Sorting by Date can cause newer message to be sorted in front of older message in international areas where there is a difference in local times. Strip Soft-CRs If Soft-CRs should be stripped from mail exported from the message base. This reduces the size of outbound mail packets and will normally not cause problems. You should disable it in environments where the Soft-CR character (ASCII 141) is used as a printable character, or if it is used for other purposes (such as the 'Composed Character set', as supported by some editors, eg. GoldED). 21 Remove subject junk If "Re:" and "(R)" junk should be removed from the subject of messages that are imported to the message bases while tossing. 3.4.4 Message base options Auto-create bases If this option is enabled, GEcho will automatically create missing message base directories and files. Hudson share mode Specifies how the Hudson Message Base should be opened and shared. If enabled, GEcho and some MBUTIL commands can share access to the message base with other programs. If disabled or if sharing is not available, the HMB will be opened with exclusive access, by opening the message base files in a mode that denies other programs from having write access to the message base files. See page 70 for more information about sharing modes. Write buffering If buffers should be used to write to the Hudson Message Base, rather than writing each message separately. This will increase tossing speed (especially on systems without disk cache), but has a risk of losing messages if the disk is full. MSG compatibility If the Fido (zone and point information) or Opus (binary datestamps) convention should be used for the header of .MSG files. PCBoard format Whether GEcho should be compatible with PCBoard v14.x or v15.x. In v14.x mode, the old .NDX index file format is used, from/by/subject fields are converted to uppercase, extended headers are not used, and FidoNet kludges are not imported. Wildcat! notify Whether GEcho should notify users of your Wildcat! BBS of new mail. 22 3.4.5 Mgr options Keep requests If processed AreaMgr request and sent receipt Keep receipts messages should be kept. By default request messages that were processed without problems are deleted, and the Kill/Sent status is set on the receipt messages. Allow +* If nodes are allowed to use +* to connect to all areas available to them. Allow %COMPRESS If nodes are allowed to use %COMPRESS to change the compression utility used to create compressed mail files for them. Allow %FROM If nodes are allowed to use %FROM to do remote maintenance for other nodes. {+} Allow %NOTIFY OFF If nodes are allowed to use %NOTIFY OFF to disable notify messages. Allow %PAUSE If nodes are allowed to use %PAUSE to temporarily suspend their connected areas. Allow %PWD If nodes are allowed to use %PWD to change their AreaMgr password. Allow %PKTPWD If nodes are allowed to use %PKTPWD to change their packet password. Allow %RESCAN If nodes are allowed to use %RESCAN to rescan new connected areas. Auto-disconnect If 'empty' passthrough areas (with only one link) should be automatically disconnected. The remaining system is considered to be the uplink. This feature will only work if that system has been defined in the Uplink manager. Auto-add nodes If nodes requesting areas in a public group should automatically be added to the node database, with all data (SysOp name, password) as found in the request message to AreaMgr. {+} Public groups Areas in these groups can be connected by all nodes, whether defined in the node database or not. These groups are also used as default groups when entering a new node in the node manager. {+} 23 3.4.6 Netmail options Kill empty msgs If received netmail messages without any text should be deleted when tossing. {+} Expand filenames Expand filenames in the subject field of received file attach messages to full path names when they are unpacked from inbound mail packets while tossing. {+} Return receipts If Return Receipt Requests (RRQ) should be allowed and return receipts created while tossing. {+} Export local mail If netmail addressed to one of your own AKAs should be exported. This may for example be required if you have a utility that only works on *.MSG netmail. {+} Keep netmail If exported netmail messages should be kept in the netmail path, after they have been sent or packed. If disabled, the Kill/Sent status is set on exported netmail. Check user name If and in which file the Import command should check if the user name to which the message is addressed exists on your system. You can disable the check, or choose to check the user file or user index. This does not affect netmail to the system users defined in GSETUP. If set this option to "No, you may want to separate the Toss and Import commands to prevent messages for 'robot' utilities such as AllFix, FileMgr, FileFix, Tick, James, etc., from being imported before they have been processed. You can also specify the names of the utilities you use as system users in GSETUP. Set Pvt on import If the private (privileged) status should be set on all imported netmail messages. Rcvd netmail area Area to which GEcho should move received and sent Sent netmail area netmail messages. If you select zero, received and sent netmail will not be moved. 24 3.4.7 MBUTIL options Auto-renumber MBUTIL Pack will automatically renumber Hudson and *.MSG message bases if the highest existing message number exceeds this value. Maximum days Default number of days to keep old and received Maximum rcvd messages respectively and the maximum number of Maximum msgs messages to keep for Hudson boards not defined in GSETUP. Minimum msgs Default minimum number of messages to keep in areas defined in GSETUP. The Maximum msgs value of an area will override this if it is lower. Del future If non-zero, MBUTIL can delete messages whose date is more than the specified number of days in the future, if enabled in GSETUP or if the -Future switch is used on the Purge command line. This feature will only work if the year of the system date is 1995 or higher. Recovery board Board to which MBUTIL should move messages in invalid boards. File buffer The size of MBUTIL's file I/O buffer. You can change this to optimize performance, or decrease it if MBUTIL runs out of memory. It is recommended to use a small buffer size when using MBUTIL in multitasking environments such as DESQview. 25 3.4.8 Log options Here you can define what categories of messages should be written to the log file. The DEBUG setting allows you to log all messages without losing your customized settings. It will also log a few extra messages that otherwise only appear on the screen, or don't appear at all, such as extended DOS error information. If "GEcho's statistics" is enabled, GEcho will write the following info about the number of processed messages to log file: Echo In: 0 Import: 0 Export: 0 Forward: 0 Out: 0 Net In: 0 Import: 0 Export: 0 Forward: 0 Out: 0 The first line is about echomail, the second about netmail: In Number of the messages that was read (unpacked) from inbound mail packets. Import Number of messages written to the message base. This includes messages for unknown areas, duplicates and security violations. Exported Number of messages that were exported from the message base, destined for other nodes. Forward Number of inbound messages that were forwarded to other nodes. Out Number of messages that were written to outbound mail packets. The following lines are only written to the log file if there is personal mail or there are messages for unknown areas, security violations or duplicates: Personal echomail: 0 Bad Unknown: 0 Security: 0 Duplicate: 0 If messages were tossed, you will also see information about the number of area cache hits, disk reads, a hit ratio and the amount of memory that was allocated for and used by the cache. An area cache hit occurs if an area record GEcho needs is still in the cache memory, or if two consecutive messages are in the same area. 3.4.9 GSETUP colors Here you can select the color set GSETUP should use or customize it with your own colors. It can also be used to calculate the color number that can be specified on the GE environment variable. The "Norton" color set requires an EGA/VGA card, as it uses high intensity background colors. This will result in blinking characters on CGA cards. 26 3.5 Area manager The Area manager is used to create and update the area database, which contains the area configuration. Following is a description of the fields on the screen: Area name The name (or tag) of the echomail area (or conference). Spaces are not allowed, and will automatically be replaced by underscores (_). Comment A short description of the topic of the area. It will also be shown to nodes who request a list of available areas from your system. Area type The type of the area. This can be Echomail, Netmail, Local, Badecho or Personal. Format Specifies how the area is stored. You can choose Hudson, JAM, Squish, *.MSG, PCBoard, Wildcat! or Passthrough. Messages in passthrough areas are not stored on your system, but are only forwarded to nodes in the Connections list. Board Hudson Message Base board number, the base file name or Base name path where messages for this area should be stored. Path This field does not appear if "Passthrough" format has been selected. When Format is set to Wildcat!, you can select a conference defined in Wilcat!. Group Group to which the area belongs. Options Defines various area status options. Purge info Purge information used by MBUTIL to delete old or received messages based on certain criteria. Origin line The origin line that should be added to echomail messages exported from your message base, if they do not already have a tear and origin line. The origin line can be customized for each area, or selected from one of the 20 default origin lines. Origin AKA The AKA that should be used in the origin line and as origin address of outbound packets. If you select a 4D point AKA, the address of the boss will automatically be added to the Connections list. 27 Seen-By Addresses that should be added to the SEEN-BY lines of messages in this area. This is not available if the Origin AKA is a 4D point address. The Origin AKA is always added to the SEEN-BY lines, and does not have to be selected. You should only add AKAs that are useful for other nodes. Connections List of nodes who are connected to the area. The maximum number of entries is configurable (see page 19). If the Origin AKA is a 4D point address, only a boss node can be specified. 3.5.1 Area options Check SB If SEEN-BY lines should be used for duplicate prevention, by not forwarding messages to nodes that are already listed in the SEEN-BY lines. SEEN-BY checking is required to use GEcho in a fully connected polygon topology. Import SB If SEEN-BY lines should be imported to the message base or not. Since this information is not very interesting for the average user, it is not imported by default. Hide SB If SEEN-BY lines should be hidden if imported. This only applies to Hudson and *.MSG areas. Tiny SB If nodes not in the Connections list should be removed from the SEEN-BY lines of forwarded messages. Although this will decrease the size of outbound mail packets, it should be used with care, as it can cause problems. Check if the echomail policy of your network allows Tiny SEEN-BYs. Security If only echomail messages coming from nodes that are in the Connections list and that have Import mail set to Yes, should be accepted in this area. Messages that violate this security will be stored in the Badecho board or path. Check dupes If GEcho should check for duplicate messages in this area. Hidden If this area should be hidden for all nodes, including those that are authorized to connect to it. Visible If this area should appear in the list of available areas for nodes who are not authorized to connect to it, with a minus sign prefixed to it to show that they cannot connect to it. 28 Mandatory If this area should be mandatory, meaning that nodes will not be allowed to disconnect the area. This will override the setting in each Connections list entry. No %PAUSE If nodes should not be allowed to set this area inactive with %PAUSE. Read-Only If new nodes that are added to the Connections list should be set to Export-Only. This will NOT override the setting in each Connections list entry. Allow Pvt If the Private status of echomail messages exported from or imported to the message base should be kept. This does not affect messages that are forwarded to other nodes. Del future If enabled, MBUTIL will delete messages dated in the future. Reply links If MBUTIL should link replies in this area. Disconnected Set to Yes if the area has been disconnected from the uplink, because this area is a passthrough area and there was the only entry remaining in the Connections list. Notified Set to Yes if the SysOp has been notified that the area was disconnected. 3.5.2 Purge info Days old Used by MBUTIL to determine how many days normal and Days rcvd received messages in this area should be kept before they are deleted. If you specify zero, no messages will be delete by age. Max msgs Used by MBUTIL to determine how many messages should be kept in this area. MBUTIL will remove messages (starting with the lowest numbered messages) until there are this many left. If you specify zero, no messages will be deleted by number. 3.5.3 Connections Node address This MUST be the same as the Origin AKA used by the destination node! If those addresses do not match, either Security violations will occur, or all messages from that node will be returned as duplicates, unless Check SB is set to Yes and the node is not a 4D point. 29 SysOp name This shows the name of the SysOp, if the node is defined in the node manager. You can also use this to browse through the nodes and select one. Export mail This specifies if echomail should be exported to and/or Import mail imported from this node. The latter is only checked if Security is enabled for the area. Active Set to No if the node has used %PAUSE to temporary stop sending non-personal mail in this area. This only applies if Export mail is set to Yes. Mandatory If the node is allowed to disconnect the area. Is uplink If the node is the uplink of the area. 3.5.4 View mode In view mode you can walk through the areas with the cursor up/down, left/right or PgUp/PgDn keys. The areas are sorted alphabetically by area name. Pressing Home or Ctrl-PgUp will take you to the first area, pressing End or Ctrl-PgDn will take you to the last area. Enter Edit the current area. Ins Add a new area. GSETUP will select "Hudson" area format with the first available board number, or if all 200 board numbers are in use, select "JAM" format if there are no unused Hudson board numbers available. Del This will mark the area as deleted and remove it from the index file. The area database has to be packed with "GSETUP Pack" to physically remove the area record. GSETUP will ask if you want to delete the message database file. F2 Perform global maintenance on multiple areas. This will allow you to change settings, set or clear area and Connections list options and insert, delete or replace nodes in areas belonging to selected groups. F3 Add a new area and copy data from the current area. F4 Search for an area by name. Only a unique portion needs to be entered. Unless wildcards are used, GSETUP will show the closest match if an exact match cannot be found. 30 F5 Browse area list, to easily select an area. While in the area browser, you can press A-Z to jump to the first area that starts with that letter. Characters Speed search for an area name. While you type characters of the area name, GSETUP will jump to the first area whose name matches the characters of the name you have typed so far. 3.5.5 Edit mode In edit mode you can move between input fields using the cursor up/down or Tab/Shift-Tab keys. Press Enter to edit a field. The following function keys are available: F2 Edit the Connections list. F3 Choose the Origin AKA. F4 Select addresses to add to the SEEN-BY lines. F6 Choose/edit the origin line. F8 Edit the area options. Esc, F9 Save changes and return to view mode. GSETUP will check if you specified an area name, group, board number (unless it is a passthrough area) and if the name is not already in use. If any data is missing or invalid, GSETUP will tell you so and stay in edit mode. F10 Save any changes unconditionally. 31 3.6 Group manager The Group manager is used to create and update the group database, which contains the group configuration. You can define up to 256 groups and their default area settings. The Group manager is almost the same as Area manager. The following fields are different: Name mask If a node is uplink of more than one area, the name mask is used by GEcho when adding unknown area to determine to which group it belongs if this can't be determined from the areas file. You can use wild card characters. Group name The name of the group, which appears in the group browsers and AreaMgr and Notify messages. Board If Format is Hudson, GEcho will use the first unused board number equal or higher than the specified board number. Path If Format is *.MSG, this is directory in which a subdirectory will be created for new areas, otherwise it is directory where new message base files with a unique name will be created. Base If Format is Wildcat!, this is the base name of a conference. GEcho will create new message bases in the same directory with a conference number higher than that of the specified conference. Areas filename File that can be searched to find out if the requested area is available from this uplink, and to obtain the area description. File format The format of the specified Area file. If you select "Random", an area will be considered found no matter where the name of the area was found, as long as it is a whole word. This is recommended for AREAS.BBS style files. Invalid requests can occur if the area name is found in a comment or description. Always If requests should be forwarded to this uplink, even if the area was not found in the Areas file. {+} 32 3.7 Node manager The Node manager is used to create and update the node database, in which you can specify which compression utility to use, select the status of mail files, and give nodes access to certain groups of areas and the remote area manager. Following is a description of the fields on the screen: Node address The network address of the node. SysOp name Name of the system operator or point. GEcho will use this name for the ARCmail file attach messages, so you can easily see for whom they are. It will also be used by the node browser and GEcho Notify. Route via Specifies to which address the outbound compressed mail files for this node should be routed. There are a few situations where this can be useful: - If you are sending echomail to a node in another zone with an echomail processor that is not zone aware, you can everywhere in GSETUP refer to this node as if he is in your own zone, and specify the real address in the other zone in this field. - If you are sending echomail to a point with an echomail processor that is not point aware, you can refer everywhere in GSETUP refer to this point using a pointnet/fakenet address, and specify the real 4D point address here. Of course you should do exactly the opposite if the node or point has zone/point aware echomail processor, but a mailer that is not.. - If the node has a mailer which is not EMSI-capable, and with whom you exchange mail for multiple AKAs. You would then specify one of his AKAs as "Route via" address in all his node manager entries. This has the additional advantage that you do not have to let your mailer route the compressed mail files, and that all packets for this node are stored in one compressed mail file rather than in one for each AKA. Packet password Defines the password that will be stored in outbound packets to this node. 33 Check password If set to Yes, GEcho will require the packet password to be in incoming packets from this node's address, to ensure their authenticity. Therefore you should only enable this for nodes whose software supports this. If set to Auto, GEcho will automatically to this setting to Yes when a packet with a correct password is received from this node. Checking packet passwords is only useful if Security is enabled in each echomail area. If your mailer does not unpack any mail packets, it is recommended to use the mailer session level password as packet password, because you may receive packets created by a mailer, which have the session password in the packet header. AreaMgr password If specified, the node will have access to the remote Area manager in GEcho by addressing messages to "AreaMgr" and with this password in the subject field. Read/write groups Read groups Groups of echomail areas available to this node for reading (and writing). AreaMgr msg status Mail archive status Specifies the status of the AreaMgr messages and receipts mail and mail archive file attaches for this node. They can be either "None", "Crash", "Hold", "Direct", "Crash Direct" or "Hold Direct". Compress extension Range of outbound compressed mail file serial numbers for this node. {+} Compression method Specifies which program should be used to compress the mail packets for this node. If you select "PKT", GEcho will not compress mail packets for this node, but keep them uncompressed in the "Outbound PKTs" path. Beware of this if you use a RAM disk for that path. 34 Days to keep mail Specifies the number of days to keep mail archives. Old archives can be deleted with the 'GEcho Kill' command. It is recommended to use "Daily archives" when using this option. Options Defines various node status options. Uplink settings Defines various settings if the node is an uplink. 3.7.1 Node options Allow rescan If this node is allowed to request a %RESCAN, which means that GEcho will send all messages in new non- passthrough areas which the node just connected to. Remote maintenance If this node is allowed to do remote maintenance for other nodes with the %FROM command. {+} Forward requests If GEcho should forward an AreaMgr request from this node for areas which are not available at your system, to one of the uplinks defined in the Uplink manager. Send notify list If the "GEcho Notify" command should send the SysOp of this node a list with the options that are set for this node and the areas to which the node is connected. ARCmail compatibility If the ARCmail 0.60 file naming convention should be used for out-of-zone mail. This setting cannot be disabled in BinkleyTerm mode. In FrontDoor mode ARCmail file naming compatibility is never used for compressed mail files to 4D points, and it is recommended not to enable this option, unless one of your links has a mailer or mail processor which cannot handle compressed mail files with an unexpected filename. 35 The ARCmail 0.60 file naming convention is based on the numerical difference in net and node numbers, and since the difference between your net and node number and that of a downlink/uplink can be the same in different zones, enabling this option can result in duplicate mail file names. Daily archives If GEcho should create a new archive for every day, even if it has not reached the maximum archive size yet. It is recommended to use this option if you are also using the "Days to keep mail" option. {+} Pack netmail If netmail for this node should be packed. If you specify No, netmail for this node can still be packed, if the node is specified in the Pack manager. {+} Forward packets If GEcho should forward mail packets that are addressed to this node. The only condition is that the packets do not contain the packet password that you have set for the originating system. {+} 3.7.2 Uplink settings AreaFix program Name of the AreaFix compatible program the uplink uses. Password Password necessary to access the uplink's AreaFix. Add '+' prefix Specifies if the AreaFix program requires a prefix '+' to connect to an area. An example of such a program is TosScan 1.00. Unknown areas What should be done with unknown areas received from this node. Default group Default group for added unknown areas received from this node. 36 3.7.3 View mode In view mode you can walk through the nodes with the cursor up/down, left/right or PgUp/PgDn keys. The nodes are sorted by node address. Pressing Home or Ctrl-PgUp will take you to the first node, pressing End or Ctrl-PgDn will take you to the last node. The following function keys are available while viewing: Enter Edit the current node record. Ins This will allow you to add a new node record. Del This will mark the node record as deleted and remove it from the index file. This does NOT disconnect the node from any area! The node database has to be packed with 'GSETUP Pack' to physically remove the node record. F3 Add a new node and copy data from the current node. F4 Search for a node by address. F5 Browse nodes, to easily select one. 3.7.4 Edit mode In edit mode you can move between input fields using the cursor up/down, Tab/Shift-Tab keys. Press Enter to edit a field. The following function keys are available: F2 Toggle mail archive status. F8 Select compression program. Esc, F9 Exit edit mode. If you made any changes, GSETUP will ask you if you want to save them. GSETUP will check if the specified node address already exists. If you entered a duplicate address, GEcho will tell you so and stay in edit mode. F10 Save any changes unconditionally. 37 3.8 Pack manager The Pack manager is used to instruct GEcho how to route and pack netmail messages. The order in which you enter the "Pack via" nodes does not matter, since GEcho will sort the "Routed nodes" information by priority, which is from high to low: 1. Individual node or point, 4D address, e.g. 2:283/555.0 or .2 2. A node and its points, 3D address, e.g. 2:283/555.* 3. All nodes and points in a specific net, e.g. 2:283/* 4. All nodes and points in a specific zone, e.g. 2:* Mail for the "Pack via" nodes will always be packed and is never routed to another node, so GSETUP will consider adding that node to the Routed nodes as redundant. When you specify a "Pack via" node, netmail for points of that node will be routed to that node too. To specify not to route and pack mail for some nodes (exception), route them to your main address or one your AKAs. Example for 2:283/0 Pack via Routed nodes ------------------------------------------------------------------ 2:28/777 1:* 2:* 3:* 4:* 5:* 6:* 2:280/0 2:280/* 2:281/0 2:281/* 2:282/0 2:282/* 2:283/0 2:283/* 2:284/0 2:284/* 2:285/0 2:285/* 2:286/0 2:286/* 2:500/0 2:500/* 2:512/0 2:512/* 38 3.9 Export data The Export function can be used to export miscellaneous configuration data to ASCII text files or view them on screen. Area configuration Export information about all areas in specified groups defined in the Area manager, listed in alphabetical order. Node configuration Export information about all nodes defined in the Node manager. Pack configuration Export information about routing of netmail, defined in the Pack manager. Groups with areas Export list of areas belonging to specified groups. Member Export list of areas to which a specified node is connected. Quick reference Export list of all areas stored in the specified format. Auto-added areas Export list of all areas that were automatically added by GEcho's AreaMgr. Create areas file Export an AREAS.BBS style file, used by some echomail processors and utilities. Create echo list Export echo list, containing the name and comment of areas in the specified groups on each line. Create tag list Export tag list, containing the name (tag) of areas in specified groups on each line. 3.10 Information This screen shows some general information about GEcho, such as copyright, version number, country of origin, compilation date, compiler and assembler name and version. 3.11 Exit to DOS If you select this or press Esc from the main menu, you can exit GSETUP and return to DOS. GSETUP will check if the system data has been changed and ask if you want to save the changes. From anywhere in GSETUP you can press Alt-Z to temporarily shell to DOS. Type 'EXIT' at the DOS prompt to return to GSETUP. 39 3.12 Command line options The first time you run GSETUP, it will usually correctly detect if you have a color or monochrome display, and choose the appropriate color set. If necessary, you can override this with -Color and -Mono. GSETUP can also be used in a batch file to pack the area and node databases by removing deleted area and node records, create new index files, and export echo and tag lists. Commands: Index Creates new area and node database index files (AREAFILE.GEX and NODEFILE.GEX). Pack [-Clean] Removes deleted entries from the area and node databases (AREAFILE.GE and NODEFILE.GE) and creates new index files. Areas [file] Creates an AREAS.BBS style file. Echos [file] Creates an echo list. {+} Tags [file] Creates a tag list. {+} Keys Enter/edit the registration keys. {+} Convert Convert Hudson and *.MSG areas to JAM. Switches: -Color Force GSETUP to use the FrontDoor color set. -Mono Force GSETUP to use the monochrome (black and white) color set. -Clean Remove auto-disconnected areas. -Update Update compression and decompression program settings to the defaults stored in GSETUP. 40 3.13 Convert The Convert command is used to select areas that you want to convert from Hudson or *.MSG to JAM format. The conversion itself is done by the 'MBUTIL Convert' command. GSETUP will show you a list of all Hudson and *.MSG areas (with the exception of the *.MSG area that points to the "Mail" path), sorted by area format and by number of messages in those areas in descending order. If you have a number of *.MSG areas with a lot of messages, it may take a few seconds to count them. The following function keys are available: Space Toggle whether an area should be converted. GSETUP will construct a base name using the JAM base path plus the first 8 characters from the area name, or the first 5 characters before the first dot plus the rest. All characters in the area name that are not allowed in a DOS file name are skipped. If you have not set a JAM base path yet, GSETUP will prompt you to enter one. Enter Edit the Base name of the current area. F2 Set the JAM base path. This path is used to create the base name if you select an area with the Space bar. +/- Select or deselect all areas. If you press '+' to select all areas, it may take a few seconds, because GSETUP has to check that the created base name is not a duplicate and that a base with that name does not already exist. Esc Exit GSETUP. If any areas have been selected, the conversion information will be written to the file JAM_CONV.GE, and you will be asked if you want to run 'MBUTIL Convert'. 41 4 GCONVERT Included in the package is the GCONVERT utility, which can convert an AREAS.BBS file, the TosScan 1.00, FastEcho 1.41 and FMail 0.98 area and node, and IMAIL 1.60 area, node and pack information to GEcho's format. Make sure you have entered all your AKAs in GSETUP before you run GCONVERT. When converting node information from other programs, be sure to check the compression programs, as they most likely need manual adjusting. GCONVERT can update the Area comments using an echolist, a file in "<area> <description>" format. By default only areas without comments area updated, but if you use the -Overwrite switch, GCONVERT will also replace old comments. GCONVERT can also update the Area purge info from the RemoteAccess and QuickBBS message area configuration files. By default only areas without purge info area updated, but if you use the -Overwrite switch, GCONVERT will also replace existing purge info. Finally GCONVERT can convert use the file JAM_CONV.GE produced by GSETUP Convert and used by MBUTIL Convert, to update the converted Hudson areas in MESSAGES.RA (set the Area type to JAM and set the JAM base name). If you run 'GCONVERT' without command line parameters, you'll get the following help screen: --------------------------------------------------------------------- Usage: GCONVERT <option> [-Overwrite] Options: 1 AREAS.BBS ==> AREAFILE.GE 2 FASTECHO.CFG ==> AREAFILE.GE and NODEFILE.GE 3 FMAIL.AR ==> AREAFILE.GE 4 FMAIL.NOD ==> NODEFILE.GE 5 IMAIL.AR ==> AREAFILE.GE 6 IMAIL.ND ==> NODEFILE.GE 7 IMAIL.RO ==> PACKFILE.GE 8 AREAFILE.FD ==> AREAFILE.GE 9 NODEFILE.FD ==> NODEFILE.GE 10 [echolist] ==> AREAFILE.GE (Update Comment) 11 MESSAGES.RA ==> AREAFILE.GE (Update Purge info) 12 MSGDAT.CFG ==> AREAFILE.GE (Update Purge info) 13 JAM_CONV.GE ==> MESSAGES.RA (Update Area type and JAMbase) --------------------------------------------------------------------- 42 5 GECHO GEcho is the actual netmail and echomail processor. If you run 'GEcho' without command line parameters, you'll get the following help screen: --------------------------------------------------------------------- Usage: GEcho <commands> [switches] Commands: Scan Export echomail and netmail Toss Process inbound mail Import Import netmail Mgr Process AreaMgr requests Notify Send notify lists to nodes Pack Route and pack netmail Kill Remove old compressed mail files Run 'GEcho ?' to get information about [switches]. --------------------------------------------------------------------- If you run 'GEcho ?' you'll get the following help screen: --------------------------------------------------------------------- Switches: -Force Force scan of echomail areas -Quick Only scan areas for outgoing mail if necessary -NoMark Do not update High Water Marks -IgnoreMark Ignore High Water Marks -KillDupes Kill duplicate messages -NoDupe Disable duplicate checking -NoForward Disable echomail forwarding -NoMgr Disable AreaMgr processing -NoOutbound Disable outbound mail processing -NoPwd Disable packet password checking -NoSent Do not mark exported echomail as Sent -TossBad Process bad echomail messages -TossDupes Process duplicate echomail messages -No<status> Do not pack netmail with <Intransit|Local> status -<status> Pack netmail with <Crash|Hold|Orphan> status Run 'GEcho' to get information about <commands>. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The commands and switches can all be used simultaneously. The order is not important. Following is an explanation of all commands and switches. 43 5.1 Scan The Scan command exports outgoing echomail and netmail messages entered on your system. If ECHOMAIL.JAM, NETMAIL.JAM, ECHOMAIL.BBS or NETMAIL.BBS exists, their contents are checked and used if valid. If they are not valid, or neither of them exists, GEcho will fall back to a full message base scan. Scan will strip existing line feeds, Soft CRs (optional) and INTL, FMPT, TOPT, SEEN-BY and PATH kludges from echomail messages. A tear and origin line will be added if they do not exist already. For each area you can select one of the 20 origin lines to use or a custom origin line. The text will automatically be truncated to make sure that the origin lines do not exceed the length of 79 characters. GEcho will by default replace an existing tear line with its own. In the registered version this is fully configurable. For *.MSG and JAM areas, GEcho will by default only scan and export message numbers higher than the High Water Mark (which in the case of MSG areas is stored in 1.MSG). For netmail, GEcho will add an INTL kludge for messages to another zone, and will also do so if you have AKAs in more than one zone. GEcho will also decrease the users netmail credit if necessary. If the destination address is one of your AKAs, GEcho will only export the message if the user to whom the message is addressed, is listed in GSETUP, and if that user has a different netmail area number, or no area number at all. Switches: -Force Force scanning of echomail areas, even if ECHOMAIL.JAM or ECHOMAIL.BBS exists. -Quick Only scan areas for outgoing mail if necessary. For JAM and Hudson areas, this means that an scanning outgoing mail is only done if ECHOMAIL.JAM, NETMAIL.JAM, ECHOMAIL.BBS or NETMAIL.BBS exists. This is particularly useful if Scan is used with Toss when tossing incoming mail. -NoDupe Do not add the exported echomail messages to the duplicate database. If they return to your system, they will not be detected as duplicates. -NoOutbound Do not add the created outbound packets to compressed mail files. -NoSent Do not mark exported messages as "Sent". This can cause duplicates, so be careful! 44 -NoMark Do not create or update the High Water Mark after scanning each JAM or *.MSG area. -IgnoreMark Ignore the High Water Mark. If you use this, all messages in each JAM or *.MSG area will be scanned. 45 5.2 Toss The Toss command is used to unpack, import and forward mail from inbound mail packets and compressed mail files. Toss will first unpack any existing mail packets in the secure path, current directory and inbound path. After that, it will decompress compressed mail files in the secure path (only in registered version) and the inbound path one at a time, and process the mail packets. If something goes wrong while decompressing a compressed mail file, already decompressed packets are removed and GEcho continues. When unpacking, GEcho will show: Tossing <packetname> from <address> to <address> (<program> [version], <type>) [(Password)] <packetname>:<packetmessage> ==> <area> GEcho can recognize the following packet header types: Type 2.0 2D Stone age processors Type 2.1 3D ZMail/QMail Type 2+ 4D GEcho/TosScan/FastEcho/FMail/IMAIL/D'Bridge Type 2.2 5D New SEAdog/BinkleyTerm If the packet type is invalid, the packet is renamed to .BAD. Local packets (which appear to come from your system), are renamed to .LOC, packets which are not for your system are renamed to .DST, and packets with a password error are renamed to .PWD. For each area you can select whether you want to import the SEEN-BY lines or not and select Tiny SEEN-BYs, which means that only nodes in your export list will be in the SEEN-BYs of forwarded messages. GEcho can optionally use the SEEN-BY to find out which nodes in the export list have already received the message. Messages in passthrough areas are immediately exported to outbound packets. They are not stored in a directory or in the message base on your system. If echomail was tossed, GEcho will create the file SUMMARY.LOG, which is used by third-party utilities to generate statistics on the message flow. It also creates IMPORT.xxx text files with the names of echomail areas in each message base format in which new mail was tossed. Switches: -NoDupe Do not check for duplicates nor add the tossed echomail messages to the duplicate database. This was added for testing purposes, but you can also use it to reprocess packets that were already tossed if something went wrong, but be very careful with it! 46 -NoForward Do not forward mail tossed from packets to the nodes in the export lists. -NoOutbound Do not add the created outbound mail packets to compressed mail files. -NoPwd Do not check packet passwords. -TossBad Process bad echomail messages. The messages must still contain the FROM: kludge that GEcho inserts when tossing mail to the bad echomail path to be processed. Messages with TYPE: set to "Duplicate" will not be processed. -TossDupes Process duplicate echomail messages in the bad echomail area. This switch can be used with the -TossBad switch to process messages with "TYPE:" to to "Duplicate. 5.3 Import The Import command is used to import netmail from the mail path to the netmail area (if defined). 5.4 Notify The Notify command will send a notification netmail message to selected nodes in the node manager, informing them about the options set for their system and the groups they have access to and the areas that are connected to. You can optionally specify node numbers on the command line after the Notify command. If you do that, notification messages will only be send to the specified nodes. Wild cards are allowed. {+} Example: GEcho Notify 2:* 47 5.5 Mgr The AreaMgr maintenance function allows nodes to connect/disconnect areas in groups to which they are authorized. The AreaMgr is invoked each time GEcho is run, unless the -NoMgr switch is used. Use the "Mgr" command if you want to invoke the AreaMgr without having to run Toss, Scan, Pack or Import. AreaMgr will process messages to "GEcho", "AreaMgr", "AreaFix". "AreaLink", "ConfMgr" and "EchoMgr". The AreaMgr password should be specified on the subject line and should match the password in the node record. In the body of the message to AreaMgr the user can put the following commands: [+]<areaname> Connect an area -<areaname> Disconnect an area %HELP Request this message %LIST Request a list of areas available to you %QUERY Request a list of areas to which you are connected %UNLINKED Request a list of areas to which you are not connected %COMPRESS <method> Change the compression program %COMPRESS ? Request a list of available compression programs %PWD <password> Change your AreaMgr password %PKTPWD <password> Change your packet password %RESCAN Request a rescan of new added areas %PAUSE Temporary disconnect all connected areas %RESUME Reconnect all temporary disconnected areas %NOTIFY <ON|OFF> Enable/disable notify messages %FROM <address> Remote maintenance, must be the first command %RECEIPT <n>, <a> Send copy of receipt to <name> at <address> %NOTE [text] Note for the SysOp, request is not deleted [---] Everything below the tear line is ignored GEcho will also accept the -H, -L, -Q, -R and -U switches on the subject line for %HELP, %LIST, %QUERY, %RESCAN and %UNLINKED respectively. Example: From: gerard van.der.land (2:283/555) To: GEcho (2:283/555) Subj: SECRET ---------------------------------------------------------------------- +GECHO*.* -SYSOPS.?28 %NOTE This is just an example %LIST %PWD SECRET %COMPRESS ZIP 48 5.6 Pack The Pack command is used to route and pack netmail as specified in GSETUP's Pack manager. Pack will ignore messages that have the Hold, Crash or Orphan status. You can use the -Hold, -Crash and -Orphan switches to override this. Pack will also ignore messages with the FIL, FRQ, IMM, XMA, FAX or FPU flag specified on the ^aFLAGS field. Locally entered messages with the DIR (Direct) flag will only be packed directly to the destination, never routed. For each packed message, GEcho will write a line to the log file: <msg#> <origin address> --> <dest address> [via <route address>] To each packed message, GEcho will add the following kludge line: ^aVia <your address> @YYMMDD.HHMMSS GEcho 1.20/Pro GEcho uses AKA matching to choose <your address>. Switches: -Hold Pack netmail with Hold status. -Crash Pack netmail with Crash status. -Orphan Pack netmail with Orphan status (orphan = destination is not in your nodelist). -NoLocal Do not pack netmail with Local status. -NoIntransit Do not pack netmail with In-transit status. 5.7 Kill The Kill command can be used delete old mail archives based on information specified in the Node manager and the date the archive was last written to. This means that this command only works if you use a "Maximum archive size" or "Daily archives". {+} Because this command may take some extra time to process, it is recommended to use it only in your daily maintenance. 49 6 MBUTIL MBUTIL is the message base maintenance utility. Its features are: * Creating new index files, detecting and fixing various damage, problems and errors. * Purging messages by number or date using data from GSETUP or the command line. * Message base packing with automatic or forced overwrite mode and automatic renumbering. * Creating/updating and removing reply chains and cleaning junk from subjects from both Hudson boards and MSG areas. * Undeleting deleted messages in a specified area or all areas. * Posting a text file as a message. * Importing/Exporting *.MSG <==> MSG*.BBS (both netmail and echomail, can update user's netmail credit). * Replacing tear lines in outgoing echomail messages. * Moving all messages in one board to another board. * Sorting unread or all messages by board, post date and time * Reporting inbound & outbound traffic and message base statistics. 50 If you run 'MBUTIL' without parameters, you will get a help screen with main commands: --------------------------------------------------------------------- Usage: MBUTIL <command> [switch] [parameters] Commands: Index Create new index files Link Create/update reply chains and clean subjects Pack Pack and renumber the message base Purge Delete messages according to age or number Undelete Undelete deleted messages Switch: -<JAM|Hudson|MSG> Process JAM/Hudson/MSG areas (default: all) Run 'MBUTIL ?' to get information about other commands. Run 'MBUTIL <command> ?' to get information about [parameters]. --------------------------------------------------------------------- If you run 'MBUTIL ?' you get a help screen with the other commands: --------------------------------------------------------------------- Usage: MBUTIL <command> [parameters] Commands: Convert Convert one or more areas from Hudson or MSG to JAM format Export Export netmail messages and replace tearlines Import Import netmail messages Move Move messages in one board to another board Post Post a file as message in a specified area Report Report inbound/outbound traffic and statistics Sort Sort unread messages by board/date/time Run 'MBUTIL' to get information about other commands. Run 'MBUTIL <command> ?' to get information about [parameters]. --------------------------------------------------------------------- If you run 'MBUTIL <command> ?', or a parameter is missing or invalid, MBUTIL will also show you a help screen or error message. Example: MBUTIL Purge ? 51 6.1 Index The Index command can be used to create new Hudson and JAM index files for one or all areas in case they are damaged or missing. MBUTIL Index [area] [switches] Switches: -Delete Delete messages which are cross-linked in MSGTXT.BBS -Recover Move messages in invalid boards to the recovery board -Renumber Renumber all messages With -Delete you can delete messages that are cross-linked in MSGTXT.BBS (more than one message referring to the same text block or a message referring to a non-existing text block). With -Recover you can move messages with an invalid board number (0 or higher than 200) to the recovery board. If you do not define one, these messages will also be deleted. The -Delete and -Recover switches are also valid for the Pack command (see page 54). If the message numbers really get out of order and/or Pack is unable to renumber the messages (for instance if Pack -Renumber cannot allocate enough memory), you can use Index -Renumber to fix this. This will *NOT* update the LASTREAD pointers, so only use it in extreme emergencies. MBUTIL will ask you to confirm using -Renumber, to prevent the LASTREAD pointers from becoming useless by accident. If you have a large message base but not very much memory available, you should run 'MBUTIL Pack -Renumber' regularly or choose a low auto- renumber value to prevent needing this switch. New index files are also created by Undelete, and if necessary by Move, Pack, Purge and Sort. 52 6.2 Link The Link command can be used to link messages in the same thread in a reply chain that can be followed with the message editor. MBUTIL Link [area] [switches] Switches: -Clean Remove "Re:" and "(R)" junk from subject lines -Force Force linking if import file does not exist -Remove Remove all reply chains If IMPORT.JAM, IMPORT.HMB and IMPORT.SDM are not present in the system path and you did not specify the -Force switch, Link will immediately exit to save time if no mail or only netmail was received. If IMPORT.HMB is present, Link will not use the contents of the link file, but link all messages in all boards. If -Force is not used, MBUTIL will only link JAM and *.MSG areas listed in IMPORT.JAM and IMPORT.SDM. The import files are deleted by the Link command. It is recommended to run 'Link -Clean' each time messages were tossed into the message base. There is no need to relink the message base after Purge or Pack, since those commands will automatically update the reply chains themselves. The -Clean switch will not remove junk from subject lines in JAM areas, but this can optionally be done by GEcho while tossing. 53 6.3 Pack The Pack command can be used to pack the message base files by removing messages that are marked as deleted, and optionally purge and renumber messages. MBUTIL Pack [area] [-Force|-Overwrite] [switches] Switches: -Force Force overwriting of existing Hudson message base files -Overwrite Overwrite existing files only if short of disk space -Backup Keep the original message base files as backup -Renumber Renumber messages and update LASTREAD pointers -Delete Delete cross-linked messages -Recover Move messages in invalid boards to the recovery board -Link Link JAM areas after packing -PackJlr Pack JAM lastread (JLR) files -Purge Delete messages based on information in AREAFILE.GE -Rnx Create index file MBUTIL.RNX with old and new message numbers this can be used by external utilities to update files to the new message numbers. (*.MSG) WARNING: When you pack the message base files, it is no longer possible to retrieve deleted message with Undelete (see page 57). Pack will by default rewrite the message base file and delete the old files if the message base was successfully packed. If you use -Backup, the old message base files are kept. The old index files are not kept, because you can rebuild them with Index (see page 52). By using -Overwrite you can choose to overwrite the existing files if there is not enough disk space to create new files. You can use -Force to force overwriting always, which has the following advantages and disadvantage: + Overwriting requires no free disk space at all. + Overwriting can be much faster since MBUTIL will not rewrite text blocks which do not need to be moved). + Overwriting causes less disk fragmentation, and thus reduces message base access from becoming slow. - Overwriting can be dangerous, because it will damage your message base beyond repair if it is interrupted. MBUTIL will ignore the Break and Ctrl-C keys when overwriting, to prevent you from accidentally interrupting it. The -Force and -Overwrite switches are mutually exclusive. 54 Although MBUTIL will automatically renumber the messages in the Hudson Message Base if the highest message number gets higher than the auto- renumber value defined in GSETUP, I recommend using -Renumber regularly or always (for example by setting "Auto-renumber" to 0). While packing, MBUTIL will update the reply chains and after packing it will update and fix the LASTREAD pointers. If USERS.BBS exists it will also update the 'Highest Message Read' pointers and reformat LASTREAD.BBS if necessary. There is no need to run 'MBUTIL Index' before 'MBUTIL Pack', since Pack does not use or need the index files, and the -Delete and -Recover switches described at the next page can also be used with Pack. The -PackJlr switch can be used to remove lastread pointers that have no matching user in the GSETUP System users or USERS.BBS file from the .JLR files. 55 6.4 Purge The Purge command can be used to delete messages in one or all areas based on criteria specified per area, such as age, received status or maximum number of messages. MBUTIL Purge [area] [switches] Switches: -Msgs <msgs> Delete all except the last <msgs> messages -Days <days> Delete all messages older than <days> days -Rcvd <days> Delete all received messages older than <days> days -All Delete all messages in <area> -Future Delete all messages dated in the future in one or all areas -Unused Delete all messages in unused Hudson boards With -Days, -Msgs and -Rcvd you can override the purge information in AREAFILE.GE for the specified area, or you can use these switches to override the default settings for Hudson areas not in defined AREAFILE.GE when purging all areas. As long as the message base is not packed with "MBUTIL Pack", you can still retrieve deleted messages with 'Undelete', described on page 57. 56 6.5 Undelete The Undelete command can be used to undelete all deleted messages in a single or all JAM and Hudson areas. MBUTIL Undelete [area] [area] Area name or board number (#<board>) of the area in which you want to undelete messages. If you do not specify an area, messages in all JAM and Hudson areas will be undeleted. When messages are deleted, they are marked as deleted and not overwritten or physically removed (that is done by the Pack command, see page 54). This means that you can always Undelete all deleted messages, as long as the message base has not been packed yet. 6.6 Convert The Convert command can be used to convert to convert one or more Hudson or *.MSG area to JAM format. MBUTIL Convert [<area> <basename>] If <area> and <basename> are not specified, MBUTIL will convert all areas in the JAM_CONV.GE file produced by the 'GSETUP Convert' command. 57 6.7 Export The Export command is the opposite of the Import command and can be used to export netmail from any board in the Hudson Message Base to the mailer's netmail path. MBUTIL Export [-All] [-Crash] [-Delete] [-ReTear] -All Send all messages to another zone direct -Crash Send only crash messages to another zone direct -Delete Delete messages in the message base after they have been exported. Normally this is only done for Kill/Sent mail. -ReTear Replace the tear line in Outgoing Echomail messages To qualify for export, a netmail message should not be destined to one of your own addresses. Messages to your own points will always be exported. By default, out of zone netmail is routed via the zone gate (origzone:origzone/destzone), but you can use the -All switch to send all netmail directly or the -Crash switch to send only crash netmail directly. If netmail was entered using a program that sets the cost field in the message header and increments the Pending field in USERS.BBS, MBUTIL will decrement the user's Pending and Credit fields after exporting. Export will update the number of outbound messages per board in the file TRAFFIC.MBU, which is created in your message base directory. Export will also create a new ECHOMAIL.BBS, to make sure your echomail processor (which uses this file to speed up scanning) will never say that the file is invalid because messages were deleted or because you packed the message base. If there is no outgoing echomail, MBUTIL will delete ECHOMAIL.BBS, which can be tested (if not exist ...) in a batch file. If you use the -ReTear switch, MBUTIL will replace the tear lines in outgoing echomail messages with the tear line defined in GSETUP. Export always fixes outgoing echomail without the Local status, to prevent duplicates caused by bugs in old versions of QEcho and FrontDoor 1.99c. There is another usage for the Export command: MBUTIL Export <board> <path> [-Delete] This can be used to export all messages in a message base board to *.MSG format. You should not use this to export netmail! Export will switch back to 'netmail mode' if you specify the netmail board or "NETMAIL". 58 6.8 Import The Import command can be used to import netmail messages from the mailer's Netmail path to a netmail board in the Hudson Message Base. This can also be done by GEcho's Import command. MBUTIL Import [-Delete] [-Rcvd] -Delete Delete the *.MSG files after they have been imported to the message base -Rcvd Import and delete received netmail *.MSG files To qualify for import, a netmail message must be destined for an addresses and user name specified in GSETUP or a user in USERS.BBS file. Messages to "SysOp" will be imported to the first user name specified in GSETUP. By default a message that has already been received in the netmail path is not imported and an imported message is not deleted, but is given the Received status. You can use -Delete to delete messages after import. You can use -Rcvd to import received messages too, but such messages will always be deleted after import. There is another usage for the Import command: MBUTIL Import <path> <board> [-Delete] This can be used to import all Fido standard echomail *.MSG files in a directory to a message base board, for example to convert a *.MSG message base to MSG*.BBS message base format or to import all messages in the directory where your echomail processor stores duplicates or messages for unknown areas. You should not use this to import netmail! Import will switch to netmail mode if you specify the netmail board or "NETMAIL". Examples: MBUTIL Import -Delete Imports netmail in the netmail path to the netmail board MBUTIL Import C:\FD\BADECHO NEWECHO -Delete Moves all *.MSG messages in C:\FD\BADECHO to the area "NEWECHO". 59 6.9 Move The Move command can be used to move all messages in one Hudson board to another Hudson board. MBUTIL Move <from_board> <to_board> The messages are not physically moved or copied, only their board number is changed. They keep the same message numbers and reply chains. Deleted messages will not be moved. Example: MBUTIL Move RA_UTIL #56 Move all messages in the Hudson board in which RA_UTIL is stored to Hudson board 56. 60 6.10 Post The Post can be used to create a message with the contents of a specified file up to 60 kB in the specified area. MBUTIL Post <file> <area> [switches] Switches: -From <from> Default: SysOp name defined in system file -To <to> Default: "All" or "SysOp" -Subject <subject> Default: <file> -Origin <1-20> Default: No tear and origin line -Aka <1-31> Default: Main address -Dest <address> Default: Main address -<status> Status: <Echo|Local|Net|Pvt|Crash|Hold|Kill|File|Frq|Urq> -<flag> Flag: <DIR|IMM|KFS|TFS|CFM|RRQ|FAX|FPU|HUB|ZON> -Delete Delete <file> after posting If you specify an echomail or netmail area, MBUTIL will automatically give the message echomail or netmail status. You can force this with -Echo, -Local or -Net. Messages will by default be public, but you can override this with -Pvt. You can also give messages any of the status and flag values shown above. MBUTIL will not add a tear and origin line by default, but you can add one with the -Origin switch. Use -Aka if you want another address than the main address to be used. With -Dest you can specify the destination address for netmail messages. If <from>, <to>, <subject> or <line> contains spaces, enclose it in double quotes. Examples: MBUTIL Post C:\RELEASE.TXT GECHO_HELP -Subject "GEcho 1.20/Pro release" -Origin 2 MBUTIL Post C:\RELEASE.TXT #29 -Subject C:\FILES\GE_120C.ZIP -Net -Dest .1 -Pvt -File -Crash -Kill MBUTIL Post NUL NETMAIL -From BGFAX -Subject %1 -Pvt -Fax 61 Statuses: Echo Echomail (should be exported) Local Local (should not be exported) Net Netmail (should be exported) Pvt Private Crash Crash Hold Hold for pickup Kill Kill after sent File File attach Frq File request Urq File update request Flags: DIR Direct IMM Immediate KFS Kill file after sent TFS Truncate file after sent CFM Confirmation receipt request RRQ Return receipt request FAX Fax attach FPU Force pickup HUB Hub/host-route ZON Zonegate The Post command has another format if you use the -Test switch: MBUTIL Post <number> <area> -Test [...] MBUTIL will post <number> messages in the specified area for testing purposes. The -Echo and -Net switches will be ignored when posting test messages. 62 6.11 Report The Report command can be used to get some Hudson Message Base statistics and a traffic report. MBUTIL Report [switches] -Traffic Inbound & Outbound traffic report -Stat General message base statistics The traffic information is stored in TRAFFIC.MBU. The outbound traffic is updated by running MBUTIL Export before running GEcho Scan. The inbound traffic is updated by copying MSGINFO.BBS to MSGINFO.MBU before running GEcho Toss and running MBUTIL Import afterwards. 63 6.12 Sort The Sort command can be used to sort all unread messages in the Hudson base by board number and post date and time. MBUTIL Sort [switches] Switches: -All Sort all messages (ignore LASTREAD pointers) -Backup Keep the original MSGHDR.BBS as backup (.BAK) -Force Force sorting if link file does not exist Sorting can have two advantages: + When using combined read mode to read new messages for example, you will not see new messages from different boards mixed up. + It reduces the chance that you read a reply to a message before you read the original message. Usually that is caused by echomail processors that do not sort incoming mail packets, but that does not have to be the case, since a reply can simply have a shorter and/or faster path than the message that was replied to. Whether the use of the Sort command gives desirable results or not very much depends on the time zone in which you live. For example, it *may* not work correctly in Australia. If IMPORT.HMB is not present in the system path and you did not specify the -Force switch, Sort will immediately exit to save time if no mail or only netmail was received. MBUTIL checks if there is enough disk space available. After that it scans LASTREAD.BBS and USERS.BBS (if present) to find the highest message that was read by the users. MBUTIL always assumes that there are messages to sort and starts copying MSGHDR.BBS and creating MSGTOIDX.BBS while scanning MSGHDR.BBS to find out if there are messages to sort and where to start sorting. Sort will not update or reset the reply chains, so you should run 'MBUTIL Link' after you used Sort. You can use -All to sort the entire message base, but this is not recommended for Bulletin Board Systems, as this will not update the lastread pointers. MBUTIL will ask you to confirm using -All, to prevent the LASTREAD pointers from becoming useless by accident. 64 7 Hints 7.1 Using GEcho with D'Bridge Here are some hints on how to use GEcho as external echomail processor with D'Bridge, as received from some D'Bridge users. Choose the following settings using the "Config" menu: Under "Packet/Mail control": Inbound mail handling: External GEcho's netmail directory must be the same as the D'Bridge netmail directory. Do NOT use any other D'Bridge directory for GEcho. After GEcho has been used, D'Bridge should rescan the queue to prevent it from accidentally overwriting netmail, so make sure you enable the D'Bridge semaphore mode. When you let D'Bridge swap to DOS to start GEcho, put the following in the configuration: GEcho <commands> *R 7.2 Using GEcho with BinkleyTerm When you use BinkleyTerm mode you cannot use zone numbers higher than 4096. Mail for the zone of your main address is stored in the normal outbound directory, mail for other zones is stored a directory with the name of the normal outbound directory with the hexadecimal zone number as extension. Some BinkleyTerm-alike systems do not have the point support that BinkleyTerm 2.50 has. If that applies to your mailer as well, you have two options: 1. Do not use 4D destination addresses in the Area manager's Export list or in the Pack manager's "Route To" field. 2. Use 4D destination address, and specify a point's fakenet address in the Node manager's "Route via" field. 65 8 Credits Many thanks to all the registered users and beta testers in the following countries for their contributions: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Macau, Malaysia, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South-Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and United States of America. Thank you for your registration and the time you spent testing the programs, reporting problems, making suggestions. This may be a cliche, but I really could not have done it without you. Listing all of you here would take too much space, but I would especially like to thank the following people: Jim Smoot, Roland Mausolf, Malte Erikson, Jonathan Rapoport, Craig Gibson, Terry Belton, Michele Zunino, John Johnson, John McDowell, Dick Augustsson, Peter Hoste, Ruud de Bruin, Ron Huiskes, Gerard Snoek, Ruedi Kneubuehler, Rolf Taschler, Mick Spice, Jim Nikolich, Andrew Leary, Ronnie Toth, Andreas Birgerson, Jens Fallesen, Mark Prado, Nathan Moschkin, Willem Blink, James Berry, Jan Walraet, Robbert Brown, Steve Winter, Gerrit Mak, Albert Dorrepaal, Jan Frederik Nipshagen, Jeroen Pluimers, Johan Corstjens, Bonno Bloksma, Frans Hagelaars, Theo Frieling, Stuart Henderson, Norbert Versluis, Sander Hage, Donald Heering, Barry Lagerweij, Tonny Lin, Tim Peeters, Alex Woick, Ronald Faber, Evert Bruinsma, Eric Lotgerink, Darryl Gregorash, Edmond Vandermeersch, Kevin Zimmerman, Paul Wijhenke, Lars Laursen, James FitzGibbon, Harry Konstantinou, Manuel Wenger, Eric Carriere, Richard Huber, Gerard van Essen, Roland van der Put, Ryan Murray, Mikael Karlsson, Jens Mueller, Tomasz Kepinski, Marco Miltenburg, Mike Jordan, Robert Ensing, Lee Fisher, Serge Paquin, Special thanks also go to Joaquim H. Homrighausen, Andrew Milner and Mats Wallin. 66 All brand and product names are Copyrighted (C) material, Trademarks (tm) or Registered Trademarks (R) of their respective holders: Fido, FidoNet Tom Jennings, Fido Software FrontDoor, TosScan Joaquim H. Homrighausen, Absolute Solutions RemoteAccess Andrew Milner, Wantree Development GEcho, MBUTIL Gerard J. van der Land TimEd Gerard van Essen GoldED Odinn H. Sorensen PKZIP, PKLITE PKWARE, Inc. LHA Haruyasu Yoshizaki ARJ Robert K. Jung PAK NoGate Consulting RAR Eugene Roshal SQZ Jonas I Hammarberg UltraCompressor II Ad Infinitum Programs the Netherlands ARC, ARCmail, SEAdog Systems Enhancements Associates FastEcho Software Technik Burchhardt FMail Folkert Wijnstra IMAIL Andreas Klein PCBoard Clark Development Company, Inc Wildcat! Mustang Software, Inc. QuickBBS, QEcho Pegasus Software InterMail Peter Stewart, InterZone Software, Inc. BinkleyTerm Bit Bucket Software D'Bridge Chris Irwin Xenia Lentz Software Development QEMM, DESQview Quarterdeck Office Systems, Inc. Microsoft, MS-DOS, Windows Microsoft Corporation IBM, PC-DOS, OS/2 International Business Machines Corp. DR DOS Digital Research Borland C++, Turbo Assembler Borland International, Inc. 67 9 Colors and Errorlevels SET GE=<path> [color] [color] is the optional default text color, which is calculated as follows: <text color> + (16 * <background color>) Colors: 0 = Black 1 = Blue 2 = Green 3 = Cyan 4 = Red 5 = Magenta 6 = Yellow 7 = White Add 8 for highlighted text colors. The default color is 7, white text on a black background. You can also use GSETUP; Miscellaneous; GSETUP Colors; Customized to calculate the color number. Example: SET GE=C:\FD 3 GEcho and MBUTIL return one of the following errorlevels: 255 Disk error or missing configuration data 254 Insufficient memory available 253 Insufficient disk space available 252 Incorrect DOS version 251 System file revision level mismatch 250 Swap error 249 Hudson message base full or incorrect Purge/pack/renumber are needed. 3 Fatal error detected by Borland C++ Start Up Code 0 No errors occurred Note that the ERRORLEVEL keyword in a batch file by default tests if the exit code is greater than or equal to the specified number, and that they should therefore be tested in descending order. The condition "ERRORLEVEL 1" will be true for all errorlevels. 4DOS allows you to specify a "EQ" (equal) condition, for example "ERRORLEVEL EQ 249". 68 10 Technical Notes * The FTSC assigned product code for GEcho is 0x61 (hexadecimal). * GEcho and MBUTIL are fully zone and point (3D/4D) aware. * The mail packets created by GEcho are FTS-1, FTS-4 and FSC-39 revision 4 compatible, using the Type 2+ packet header with Capability Word and Capability Word Validation Copy. The outbound mail packets temporarily have the .QQQ extension. When the outbound mail is processed, each of these files is renamed to .PKT and two NULs are added to the end. If anything should go wrong with compressing, these finishing NULs are removed again, and the packet is renamed back to .QQQ. When GEcho is started again, it will only append mail to existing .QQQ packets if they have only one NUL at the end, to prevent mail from getting lost. * GEcho will recognize Type 2+ (FSC-39 revision 4 and FSC-48 revision 2) and Type 2.2 (FSC-45 revision 1) compatible packet headers. GEcho uses an external file (FTSCPROD.GE) to show the names of the programs that created the inbound packets. This file also allows GEcho to recognize 3D Type 2.1 (ZMail, QMail) or Type 2+ packets created by programs that do not use the Capability Word (TosScan 1.00, D'Bridge 1.30). * Line feeds are always stripped, stripping of Soft CRs is optional. The tosser will find AREA tags that are hidden with ^a, or when they are preceded by one or more ^a lines. Spaces after "AREA:" are ignored. GEcho will unhide hidden AREA tags when tossing messages to the bad echomail path. If there is any other information below the Origin line, GEcho will it ignore (strip) it and not forward it to other nodes. * To detect duplicates, GEcho can store CRC-32 signatures of the header of imported and exported messages in ECHODUPE.GE, and check every inbound echomail message it processes against this list to decide whether it probably is a duplicate message or not. This is NOT 100% reliable, because there is very small chance that messages are mistakenly identified as duplicates. * GEcho and MBUTIL can parse both Fido/Opus and SEAdog style date fields and converts Opus dates to Fido format when exporting messages from a *.MSG echomail area. * GEcho supports the file naming convention introduced in BinkleyTerm 2.50 to support 4D points. 69 * GEcho supports the RemoteAccess/FrontDoor Hudson Message Base sharing specifications. This method is a bit slow, because GEcho has to lock/unlock and read/update MSGINFO.BBS every time something is written to the message base. GEcho also supports the improved sharing method suggested by the author of GEcho. This method allows GEcho to keep the message base locked until the semaphore file MBUNLOCK.NOW is created or touched. This is supported by RemoteAccess 1.11, FrontDoor 2.10 and GoldED 2.40. Do not enable this unless all other your software that uses the message base while GEcho is running supports this! * In FrontDoor semaphore mode GEcho will touch FDRESCAN.NOW and FMRESCAN.NOW and the registered version will check the crc.`n semaphore introduced in FD 2.10. In InterMail semaphore mode GEcho will touch IMRESCAN.NOW and IERESCAN.NOW, and the registered version will use IMRENUM.NOW and X1234567.8yy semaphores introduced in IM 2.22. In D'Bridge semaphore mode GEcho will touch DBRIDGE.RSN and DBRIDGE.NSW and create/update DBRIDGE.ESW. In BinkleyTerm semaphore the registered version of GEcho will check for .BSY files. * GEcho and MBUTIL are written in C (compiled using Borland C++ version 4.02 in large memory model) and assembly language (assembled using Turbo Assembler Version 4.0). The source code is not available. However, a separate Developers Kit called GE_DEV is available for developers who are planning to write a utility that uses GEcho's data files. It contains technical information, data structures and sample source code for ANSI C and Borland Pascal. * File input/output is performed using standard DOS file handle calls, keyboard input is done using the BIOS interrupt 16h. * If a log file ends with an End-Of-File marker (ASCII 26), GEcho and MBUTIL will also append one when closing it. * GEcho automatically detects multitaskers and gives up time slices in RemoteAccess 1.10 sharing mode when GEcho detects that MBUNLOCK.NOW has been touched. Supported are OS/2, Windows, DESqview, TopView and DoubleDOS. * The programs automatically detect the video environment and write directly to the screen or DESQview virtual screen buffer. * The swapper used is EXEC Version 3.3b by Thomas Wagner. It can swap to EMS (LIM 3.0 or higher) and XMS memory, and to disk. * GEcho and MBUTIL support the QuickBBS 2.76 file request netmail status (bit 7). 70 * GEcho supports the following D'Bridge Xmail archive naming convention: For nodes: ?-ZZZNNN.###. For points: ?-POINT.### ? = C (Crash), N (Normal) or H (Hold). ZZZ = zone (in base 36) NNN = network number (in base 36) ### = node/point number (in base 36) However, GEcho will still use "FrontDoor" mode if: - any of the base 36 numbers exceeds 46655 (36^3 - 1). - the point address is not a point of the main address In this case the archive will be stored in the netmail path. 71