**************************************************************** * * * Before you run the Wildcat! program, first run the * * configuration program MAKEWILD to set up your data files. * * If you are upgrading from a previous version of Wildcat! * * you should follow the directions in the Upgrade section * * * **************************************************************** Version 4.10 of Wildcat! BBS incorporates many new features and changes. For a detailed description of new features, please refer to the Version 4.10 Addendum booklet, shipped with this update. This file contains information that became available after the manual was printed. Please review it carefully. UPGRADING FROM WILDCAT 4.0 TO 4.10 ONLY ======================================= Version 4.01 and 4.10 have a minor structure difference in the conference flags from version 4.0, and we have provided a program called CHKCONF that will check and update these flags if necessary. You only need to run this program if you are upgrading from version 4.0 to version 4.10 -- if you have already run it for the 4.01 upgrade, you do NOT need to run it again. To run CHKCONF, change to your Wildcat! home directory (normally C:\WILDCAT) and type CHKCONF [Enter] Allow up to a few minutes for this program to complete its operation. It will report successful completion when it is done. Wildcat! 4 Sysop Guide, 7/1/94 printing only. --------------------------------------------- - page 384 contains an incorrect filename for the batch file used to import descriptions from uploads. The correct filename is FILEDESC.BAT (not descfile.bat), and is listed incorrectly in the discussion and the example text. - page 504 contains two descriptions for the FILEDESC.BAT file, one immediately following the other. Only the second is correct. Please remove the first description given for the FILEDESC.BAT file. - page 261 indicates that the @CALLID@ variable can be imported to a user record using the questionnaire facility. This is incorrect (at this time). The variable can be displayed and is placed in the activity log. Later printings of this manual correct these errors. The 11/1/94 printing of the Wildcat! Sysop Guide has full information on using wcPACK while the system is running. This information was inadvertently omitted from previous versions of this readme file. Here is an overview of wcPACK operation: wcPACK Message management tool When to use wcPACK Wildcat!'s message files require only minimal maintenance about once a week or so, to purge old and deleted mail from the message files and keep them from growing too large. The program wcPACK comes in two versions: a "real mode" version for 8088 and higher PCS, called WCPACK.EXE, and a "protected mode" version for 80286 and higher PCs known as WCPACKX.EXE. The protected mode version is able to use all the available memory on your system for fastest possible operation. wcPACK is designed to help you manage your message files. You can run this program from the DOS prompt, or from a batch file during a system event. Special considerations for multi-line operation wcPACK can be run with other nodes up for most operations, provided that it has its own unique Node ID. You can also run it when nodes are down or in maintenance mode. However, since Conference 0 is used for system-generated messages as well as caller messages, wcPACK will not pack confernce 0 unless all nodes are down. Also, you cannot renumber messages unless all nodes are down, because wcPACK needs to access the user database as well as the message files for this function. You can use the /S "set timeout" command line switch to set a maximum number of minutes to wait for a conference to become available for packing. wcPACK creates lock files for the conferences you ask it to pack, and checks every few seconds to see if all users are out of the conference before it begins packing. When a conference is locked, Wildcat! displays a message to the caller that the conference is currently unavailable. Synchronizing mail tossing and mail packing Mail tossing by wcGATE, wcMAIL and wcECHO can take place during message packing, even when wcPACK is processing an echomail conference at the same time one of the other programs is tossing mail into it. The mail tosser will create a temporary directory under your WILDCAT home directory called MSGLOCK, and creates temporary message files into which it imports messages. When wcPACK releases the message data file, you will need to merge the temporary message tossing file back into the freshly-packed message data file. When message tossing has completed, use the /N command line switch in wcPACK to update message data files with the new messages. Command line options Like most other Wildcat! utility programs, wcPACK displays a list of command line options when you type WCPACK /? [ENTER} Here is a list of wcPACK command line options: Switch Operation /A Process all conferences /B Create renumber backup files /C:[name] Configuration file for automatic packing /D ### Delete messages older than ### days /E Kill private received messages /I Display rebuild statistics /K:##### Keep ##### messages /L Last messages read repair mode /N Toss saved messages to system /R Renumber and pack specified conferences /S:### Set wcPACK timeout in minutes /T Kill received file attachments Examples Deleting messages by number wcPACK will trim the size of the message data file by deleting old mail. For instance, if you want to trim message conferences 1 through 5 and keep only the newest 500 messages in each one, use a command line like this: WCPACK /K:500 1-5 [Enter] or WCPACK /K:500 [Enter] Deleting messages by days old Another way to use wcPACK is to delete messages based on age. If you want messages in conferences 1, 2 and 3 to have a lifespan of 30 days, try the following command line: WCPACK /D:30 1-3 [Enter] Saving your commands in a configuration file Instead of typing the command line each time, you can save your command lines in a configuration file. wcPACK will process each command in order. The configuration file can have any name you want. Here is an example of a wcPACK configuration file that performs several operations: 1 Pack conference 1 2 Pack conference 2 30-40 /t Pack conferences 30-40, and delete received attachments. /R 0 Pack and renumber conference 0 Load the configuration file like this: WCPACK /C:FILENAME.CFG Renumbering Wildcat! can store a maximum of 65520 message numbers in each conference area before the message file fills up — at that point Wildcat! can't add any more records to the message file and will report an error. If, for example, the range of message numbers in a conference goes from 62531 to 64362, you can reset the starting and ending message numbers from 1 again by renumbering the messages. The Renumber command switch is /R. Safety backup mode during renumber Ordinary message packing procedures rarely cause problems, since the affected message data file can easily be rebuilt using wcREPAIR. Renumbering, however, also affects your user database files ALLUSERS.DAT and .IX, and USERCONF.DAT. You should not renumber your message data files until there is a clear need to do so. Daily or weekly renumbering increases the likelihood that a system error could corrupt your user and message data files. A power failure or disk error during renumbering can cause serious data corruption. We strongly recommend making a backup of your user data files before renumbering. wcPACK has some additional command line options you can use during message renumbering that will create backup files during the operation, and report errors or inconsistencies when the renumbering has been completed. Both options require sufficient additional disk space for the backup files. /B — Create renumber backup files When wcPACK renumbers messages, it must also reset the high message number for each user record, in each conference. To do this, wcPACK creates a temporary file as it renumbers messages with the name of the message data file and the extension .REB, and uses this temporary file to update the user file. /L — Restore user message pointers from .REB files If for some reason wcPACK is unable to complete the process, one or more .REB files will be left on the disk. You can restart the user record update without having to go through the entire renumbering process by using the /L command line switch. wcPACK will clean up its temporary files when it successfully completes the job. Recovering from a system crash If a system error or power failure interrupts wcPACK, some temporary files may be left behind that can prevent callers from accessing certain conferences. To recover from a system crash, follow this procedure: Change to the MSGLOCK directory below your WILDCAT home directory, and delete all the .LCK files. Run wcREPAIR on any message data files that were being packed or renumbered at the time your system went down. If you were renumbering, run wcREPAIR on your user data file as well. If you used the /B command line switch when renumbering, your callers' message pointers for each conference will be stored in temporary files ending in .REB. Start wcPACK again with the /L command line switch to update the callers' high message pointers properly. Wildcat! 4.10 fixes ------------------- - Questionnaires now use @LOGOFF@ correctly. - Fixed a problem with turning on the capture file in a wcCODE app. - Wildcat! will now lower DTR when it is in auto answer mode, for improved support of X.25 and other systems. - You can now only kill message attachments that are yours or if you are a Sysop. - Fixed a problem with overwriting files when uploading into an area. - Wildcat! now notes the conference number in the error log when it can no longer add messages to a conference. - Fixed a problem with marking files using stack commands that would only mark the first file. - Wildcat! allowed users to do non-stop file listings past their time limit. Fixed. - Fixed a problem with doing a previous on an IFSEC command in a text file. - Fixed a problem with uploading a file and there are duplicate files, if you were prompted for a list and hit Q to quit Wildcat! would go ahead and process the upload. - Fixed a problem with the full screen editor making the edit window too large when a user in RIP mode had his lines per page set high. - Internal Zmodem now sends the batch information if the caller is using GSZ. - Wildcat! sometimes reported file attachment successful even when there was a problem. Fixed. - Wildcat! counted blank entries in a group list when sending group mail. Fixed. - Fixed a problem with NODEINFO sometimes getting locked and not letting go. - Fixed a problem with Wildcat! showing a user as being the 9999th caller and logging the caller as 9998. - Fixed a problem with Wildcat! reporting an error when you attached a file to a message that had a previous attachment deleted. - Wildcat now copies the file attachments when you send group mail, this prevents the problem of one user deleting the attachment and no one else begin able to get it. - Fixed a problem with RIPscrip incorrectly counting lines ending in a \. - Message reading prompt now handles stacked commands. - Changed the command for sending a menu file so that if the user chooses a command to send a menu file it is sent regardless of their security setting - Fixed the problem with some prompts not being erased when using a display file for certain prompts. - Wildcat! now allows you to enter messages without a subject in an Interment E-mail conference. - Fixed problem with some wcCODE files not specifying the home Wildcat! path. - Found and fixed the problem with changing a user's security profiles and then Wildcat! setting their time left to a high number. - Fixed a problem with user pages getting a garbage character at the end of the page. - Added a time stamp to the routines that log modem errors. - Wildcat! sometimes reported an error opening LANGDESC.DAT file. Fixed. - Fixed a problem with the double file listings that would cause some files to put an extra space in the display. - When Wildcat got within 5 minutes of a soft event it would start checking the event file continuously, causing unnecessary file access on LANtastic systems. Wildcat! now checks every 30 seconds if a soft event is scheduled to go off in 5 minutes or less. - Changed some of the prompt handling code to deal with long path import files. - Fixed a problem with Wildcat! showing the wrong ratio when a user is over their KByte ratio. - Fixed a problem with conferences not being available and Wildcat! not cleaning up the display. - Fixed the problem with read/scanning messages backwards and the last read pointer being set. - Fixed Wildcat! so that if you lockout the DEFAULT user it does not set that flag when a new user logs in. - When typing in filenames for downloads, if you got the first file and not the second and then the third, Wildcat! would put one file in the mark list twice. Fixed. - Fixed Wildcat! so that when printing a message no longer sends LF after the form feed. - Fixed the routine that displays CONFLSTn.BBS and FILELSTn.BBS so that it will send them regardless of the users expert level. - Fixed a problem with marking files and then uploading where Wildcat! would lose the marked files. - When specifying a file area to list in MAKEMENU, Wildcat! defaulted to a single line display. Fixed. - Two line file listings no longer split the descriptions at the wrong location and break up words, also if a file does not have extended info, the description will not be chopped for the Info flag. - When jumping to a user record from the Sysop/file menu Wildcat! sometimes lost the user's access (or just lost the user). Fixed. - Fixed a problem with upgrading a user's security in chat and their time on-line getting set out of whack. - Fixed the problem with Wildcat! not sending a POSTRIP.RIP when it was a RIP version of PRESRCH did not exist. - Fixed a problem with Snoop mode not being set from MAKEMENU. - Fixed the Write to user in file info so that if the user does not leave a message no note is added to the activity log. - Fixed QUESDATE and QUESCLOSE to show POSTRIP.RIP in rip mode. - Fixed a problem with message thread that would sometimes drop the node to DOS. - Fixed problem with menu system allowing menu access even if the caller does not have menu access. - Found a problem that would cause #100 errors in NODEINFO or CONFDESC after a user came back from a door or DOS shell. - If you had access to a menu through a secondary profile and then shelled to DOS (or a door) you would lose your access. Fixed. - When you entered a number of filenames and then uploaded, Wildcat! would stop with a continue prompt. - Found and fixed a problem with users being allowed overwrite access even when they have all overwrite options turned off. - Found and fixed the problem with Dynamic Rip Menus getting the font size incorrect if you used RIPterm. - Fixed a problem with LOGON1 and LOGON2 WCX files not being executed if you terminate on your doors. - Found and fixed the problem with a user being logged out twice in the activity logs. - Fixed a problem with killing messages always killing messages in conference 0 no matter what conference your are joined to. - Fixed a problem with monthly events wrapping over to the next year and hanging the system. - Fixed a problem when giving a user a secondary profile it would report the Sysops name and not the user's. - Fixed a problem with No Network setting losing file handles in doors. - In some situations the capture file would not close, and lost file handles. Fixed. - Fixed a problem with users logging in with a #255 character in their name. - Fixed a problem with Wildcat! hitting a CD ROM changer even if the device was in the drive table. - Fixed the problem with names like 'OS/2' not being inserted in the search index. Changed the following prompts: Prompt #125 ANSI: @0E@[@0F@~6@0E@]~@0B@Last~message~read~~~~@0E@:~@0E@@SUB1@ RIP: ^B|c0B|@9I4N@SUB1@ Prompt #126 ANSI: @0E@Edit~command~[@0F@1..6@0E@]?~ Prompt #241 ANSI: @0E@[@0F@~5@0E@]~@0B@Packer~format~~~~~~~@0E@:~@0F@@SUB1@~@0E@ [@0F@11@0E@]~@0B@Show~script~commands~~@0E@:~@0F@@SUB2@ Prompt #242 ANSI: @0E@[@0F@~6@0E@]~@0B@Export~private~mail~@0E@:~@0F@@SUB1@ RIP: ^B|c0B|@5M3R@SUB1@ Prompt #245 ANSI: @0E@Edit~[@0F@1..11@0E@],~[@0F@H@0E@]elp?~ Prompt #331 ANSI: @0E@Record~#:~@0B@@SUB1@~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~@0E@Group:~@0B@@SUB2@ Prompt #349 ANSI: @0E@[@0F@G@0E@]roup,~[@0F@S@0E@]earch,~[@0F@N@0E@]ext,~ [@0F@F@0E@]ind,~[@0F@R@0E@]ead,~ Prompt #350 ANSI: [@0F@M@0E@]atch,~[@0F@D@0E@]elete,~[@0F@P@0E@]rev,~ [@0F@J@0E@]ump,~[@0F@V@0E@]iew,~[@0F@C@0E@]opy, Prompt #351 ANSI: ~[@0F@U@0E@]ser,~ Prompt #352 ANSI: [@0F@Q@0E@]uit,~[@0F@1-25@0E@]~?~ Prompt #720 (RIP) RIP: ^B|Y00000100|1B00000201EU020F000F080300000F07000000| 1UEQ88H88O2B00<>Stop<>S^M Prompt #930 (RIP) RIP: ^B|1B00000201EU020F000F080300000F07000000| 1U6C7H8A7X2900<>QUIT<>Q^M Prompt #1081 (RIP) RIP: <Write~Author<>W^M Prompt #1200 (RIP) RIP: ^B|1B00000201EQ020F000F080300000F07000000| 1U7888AA8O2D00<>Update<>U^M|1UAK88DM8O1W00<>Delete<>D^M Prompt #1201 (RIP) RIP: ^B|1B00000201EQ020F000F080300000F07000000| 1UDW88GY8O2B00<>Sysop<>S^M Prompt #1202 (RIP) RIP: Prompt #1217 ANSI: [@0F@L@0E@]ist~file~areas,~[@0F@H@0E@]elp,~[@0F@Q@0E@]uit,~ [@0F@ENTER~=~All~file~areas@0E@]?~ Prompt #1281 ANSI: @SUB1@~is~currently~offline. RIP: @SUB1@~is~currently~offline. Prompt #1282 ANSI: Would~you~like~to~make~the~file~available~at~a~ later~time@YNDEF@?~ RIP: Would~you~like~to~make~the~file~available~at~a~ later~time@YNDEF@?~ Prompt #1331 ANSI: @0E@List~[@0F@a@0E@]ll~areas,~[@0F@L@0E@]ist,~[@0F@H@0E@]elp,~ [@0F@Q@0E@]uit,[@0F@ENTER~=~Start@0E@]?~ RIP: <