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Text File | 1993-11-21 | 13.0 KB | 319 lines

FARCL - The RBBS Fms ARChive Listing utility version 2.1ß Copyright (c) 1993 by Bob Hampton S3-Technologies BBS Burke, VA (703)451-9509 FARCL 2.1ß Page 2 INTRODUCTION ------------ FARCL was inspired by Michael Walsh's original FMSARC utility for RBBS, which examines a specified RBBS FMS directory, and compares the files listed to the files actually found on the disk. Like FMSARC, it marks the file description in the FMS directory with a leading asterisk (*) for any files not found on the drive, and will produce a changes file which lists all the files that were marked. There are certain differences in the way that FARCL operates, though, and the output it produces. Like Michael, part of my desire for this type of utility is due to lack of available disk space, but I feel there are other factors that make this type of utility handy also. As a user on other BBSes, I don't like having to look through huge directory listings where there are often many different versions of the same file available - I'm usually interested only in the most current version of the file. As a sysop, I could delete these old versions, along with the FMS listing, but that would not solve all my problems. First, it would be tedious work to manually search through the FMS directory and make the changes. Second, deleting the file would allow another user to upload one of the older versions again. My solution has been to archive off all older versions of files, and to keep the FMS listing for them, BUT to change the category code for each file marked as offline. This frees up disk space, and unclutters the normal directory listings. The trick in preventing a user from uploading one of the offline files is to create a "dummy" file of the same name, but containing 0 bytes. FARCL will do this for you by specifying the DOS directory in which to create these "dummy" files in one of the FARCL config file parameters. A QUICK NOTE ------------ This program and its documentation are Freeware. It may be freely copied and distributed, as long as no monies are accepted in exchange. The only exception would be a nominal charge, not to exceed $1.00, in order to cover the costs of duplication. All distributions must include this document. FARCL 2.1ß Page 3 NEW FEATURES IN VERSION 2.1ß ---------------------------- FARCL now works with LARGE file collections, which prev- iously caused "out of memory" errors. INSTALLATION AND OPERATION -------------------------- Installation and setup are very easy. Simply place the file FARCL.EXE in whatever directory you intend to run it from. You will also need a text editor to create a config file, which passes certain parameters to FARCL. The command to execute FARCL is as follows: FARCL <config file> where <config file> is the complete pathname to the FARCL configuration file you wish to use. You do not need to include the drive and directory in the path if both FARCL.EXE and the config file are in the current directory. If no config file is specified on the command line, the default config file FARCL.CFG will be used. The configuration file must conform to the following format: Line Description ---- ------------------------------------------------------ 1 Complete path to FMS directory file to check 2 Character to use as offline mark <optional: default = '*'> 3 New category code given to offline files <optional> 4 Directory to create dummy files in <optional> 5 Complete path to changes file to write 6 Download directory to search . . . <end> " " " " The following is an example of a FARCL config file: C:\RBBS\MASTER.DIR ~ OFL E:\OFL C:\RBBS\CHANGES.TXT D:\PROG D:\UTIL E:\COMM FARCL 2.1ß Page 4 In this case, FARCL will check and update the FMS directory C:\RBBS\MASTER.DIR, and will mark the offline files with a new category code of OFL. It will put a tilde (~) character in position 33 of the line so viewers will know the file is offline. Dummy files will be created in directory E:\OFL for all files that are offline. The download directories it will check are D:\PROG, D:\UTIL, and E:\COMM. Any files found in MASTER.DIR but not found in the download directories will be marked as offline. A list of offline files will be put in C:\RBBS\CHANGES.TXT. NOTE: The offline character, new category code, and the "dummy" file directory are optional, but if not used, a carriage return must be entered for lines 2-4. Do not enter any spaces in the blank lines - just a carriage return! If no character is given for the offline mark, an asterisk (*) will be used by default. A request was made for FARCL to handle FMS directory files in which a sysop has formatted the filenames so that the name and the extension are separated by spaces instead of a dot. In other words, a filename in the FMS directory can now appear in one of three ways as illustrated below: FILE1.ZIP (standard) FILE1 ZIP (formatted) FILE1 .ZIP (dot-formatted) The number of spaces between the file name and the extension is variable, as long as it does not conflict with the remain- der of the line. There must be at least one space or the dot character between the name and the extension. There can be no spaces between the dot (if used) and the file extension. MORE ABOUT "DUMMY" FILES ------------------------ Because RBBS only checks the DOS download directories (and not the FMS files) when a user tries to upload a file, it is possible for users to upload copies of files you have removed and marked offline. In order to be able to prevent users from doing this, I reached a compromise whereby FARCL can create a file of 0-byte length for each file it marks as offline. That way, when a user tries to upload an offline file, RBBS will find a matching filename and prevent the upload. The tradoff is the 32 bytes used on the disk for each 0-byte file that is created. If you wish to utilize this feature (FARCL config line #4), there are several things to consider in deciding how to implement it. First, you must create the DOS directory in which to hold these 0-byte filenames, and add that directory to the list of RBBS download directories (RBBS config parameter 208). FARCL 2.1ß Page 5 Second, you must decide whether or not to add this direc- tory to the list of directories for FARCL to search. FARCL creates a changes file each time you run it, deleting the previous changes file before starting. If you do not add the "dummy" file directory to the FARCL directory list, FARCL will locate all files that are not in the other directories, and will create a master list of all files that are offline. If, however, you decide to put this directory in the list of FARCL directories, FARCL will locate all previously marked files, and will create a list of only the most recently marked files. This may be useful to some sysops, but you must remember to either rename or relocate your previous changes file, if you wish to save that information. LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS ------------------------------------- As of this time, FARCL can handle at most 100 download directories. I do not think that this will be a serious limitation for most sysops. If feedback indicates otherwise, I can increase that amount. Keep those cards and letters coming! Your suggestions are always taken into consideration! Regards, Bob Hampton Sysop: S3-Tech BBS Burke, VA (703) 451-9509 FARCL 2.1ß Page 6 HISTORY: Date Version Released Comments ------- -------- ------------------------------------------ 1.0 09-30-90 First public release. 1.01 10-07-90 Changed default config filename to FARCL.CFG (was improperly left with pre-release name of RBBSARC.CFG). Corrections to documentation. First release to include source code. 1.10 10-15-90 Corrected bug where header line (i.e. - line beginning with "\FMS") was treated as a file and marked as offline. Added user-definable character to be used as offline mark. FARCL now will parse formatted as well as dotted filenames in the directory. 1.20 10-19-90 Added support for chained FMS directories. Thanks to Walter Ames of the Greyhawk BBS - (301) 461-9943. 1.21 10-21-90 Corrected situation where old changes file was not being deleted before creating the new one. 1.22 11-29-90 Corrected bug that occassionally caused FARCL to lose it's position in the FMS file. Corrected documentation to indicate correct usage of chained FMS directories. Thanks to Bruce Marusich of the Street Noise BBS - (301) 601-8710. 1.23 12-05-90 Corrected bug in reading chained FMS directories. A dumb oversight that took two minutes to fix. Thanx to Walter Ames of Greyhawk for pointing this out. 1.30 12-08-90 Added capability to create dummy files so that RBBS could prevent a user from uploading offline files. Thanx to Butch Levy of the Wasteland BBS - (301)864-1132. 1.40 1-05-91 Added attractive display screen. Improved code to handle "dot-formatted" filenames in FMS files. Improved code to parse all FMS header lines correctly 1.41 3-17-92 Corrected recognition of special characters '*' and '=' in first position of filename. Thanx to Rene Thomsin for pointing this one out. 2.1ß 11-18-93 BETA RELEASE. Added ability to handle LARGE collections of files (over 5000). Thanx to John Palazzolo of J.P.'s Place BBS for the gentle prodding that got me off my butt to make this long-awaited change! <G>