GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO FLAME - RELEASE 1.1
Welcome to the new Net Mail Utilities - now known as FLAME. These are a
marked improvement over (and replace) the previous eSoft net mail utilities.
Among the capabilities of FLAME:
- Full support for topic boards
- Vastly improved speed
- Zone support
- Point support
- Compressed mail support
- Areafix functionality support
- Ability to "age" individual sub-topics
- Full support for "nanny machine" hub operation
- Reduced disk space requirements for TBBS echomail message storage
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LICENSE FOR FLAME SOFTWARE
FLAME 1.1 replaces the eSoft Net Mail Utility programs Version 2.1.
ALL REGISTERED USERS OF THE ESOFT NET MAIL UTILITY PROGRAMS OR TIMS MAY
IMMEDIATELY USE FLAME 1.1 WITHOUT ANY ADDITIONAL CHARGE. The license for
your Net Mail Utility programs (see the Net Mail Utility program or TIMS
manual) applies also to FLAME with the same terms and conditions.
You may obtain a FLAME disk and printed manual by sending your Net Mail
Utility diskette and $25 to eSoft, Inc.
Note: FLAME is copyrighted material and may not be used without payment
of the proper licensing fee to eSoft, Inc. If you have not licensed
the eSoft Net Mail Utilities you are not qualified to use FLAME without
contacting eSoft, Inc. and obtaining a license to do so.
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FILES WHICH ARE IN THIS RELEASE
README.DOC This document.
FLAME.DOC Full documentation for FLAME
SAMPLE.CFG Sample FLAME.CFG file which lists all of the commands
normally required. All commands are commented.
AREASAMP.BBS Sample FLAME format AREAS.BBS file.
ROUTE.CFG Sample commented routing configuration file for FLAME
ADVANCED.CFG Sample file which contains all of the undocumented advanced
configuration FLAME contains with comments. These commands
are not required by most net mail users and are not documented
beyond the comments in this file. They will be documented in
tech notes as required.
FLAME.EXE The FLAME net mail utility program.
FLAMEDIT.EXE The FLAME configuration compiler.
SCANSET.EXE Program to convert your TBBS message base for FLAME.
SCANCLR.EXE Program to clear SCANNED bit in all TBBS messages.
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THE HISTORY OF FLAME
FLAME has been one of the longest projects in eSoft history, and one of the
most delayed. But we feel that the result has been one of the very best
net mail handling programs ever developed.
The eSoft Net Mail Utility programs were originally written in 1986. While
they have been updated since, they have not kept up with the tremendous growth
in both volume and complexity of interactions in FidoNet technology. They
represent "the basics" of FidoNet.
Some years ago Larry Lewis wrote a program known as TMAIL specifically to
handle the more advanced FidoNet capabilities and sold it as a third party
add-on for TBBS/TIMS users.
When it became apparent that the eSoft Net Mail Utilities would require a
large amount of re-work in design to handle the requirements of multi-net
operation, tossing/scanning TBBS topic areas, remote control areafix
operation, multi-zone and routing support, direct compressed packet handling,
etc. eSoft realized that a total new project would be required.
At that point eSoft purchased the rights to TMAIL from Larry Lewis, as well
as the rights to several FidoNet utility programs which were recognized as
"the best" at what they did. We began a project to integrate this technology
into a new net mail utility program which met the eSoft standards for both
performance and capability.
This project has taken far longer, and has been far more expensive than we
ever anticipated, but has at last resulted in the FLAME net mail utilities.
We firmly believe that this is the finest FidoNet mail utility program ever
produced. FLAME has been in beta testing for many months, and is in use at
some of the highest capacity sites in FidoNet.
In fact, due to FLAME's capabilities nearly all of the "backbone" systems of
FidoNet in the U.S. have been able to convert to TIMS/FLAME. This allows them
to take advantage of the superior throughput that TBBS/TIMS in combination
with the newer 28.8k modems can provide. With TIMS ability to handle mail
simultaneously on up to 64 lines, and TBBS ability to drive 28.8k modems to
full speed, they have found that TBBS/TIMS/FLAME can process far more mail in
less time than any other software combination.
So the "FLAME saga" enters its final phase, a product you can finally obtain
and use. Had we known what was ahead, FLAME would probably never have come
into existence. But now it has, and we feel it meets the eSoft standards
for FidoNet capability and is the perfect companion for TIMS. It is certain
that TBBS/TIMS/FLAME is the very best integrated FidoNet technology software
package available today.
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IMPACT OF FLAME ON TBBS MESSAGE BASE
Here are some things you should to know about how FLAME handles messages
in the TBBS message base:
1. FLAME does *NOT* keep message data (SEEN-BY and PATH info). There is
no message history (MSGHIST.BBS) file like TMAIL used, and the SEEN-BY
information is not kept in the message text either; it is disposed of.
The assumption made by FLAME is that once messages are tossed into your
TBBS message base they are considered to be "for local use only." FLAME
knows whether or not a message is "new" by the "scanned" bit in the
message header. FLAME uses that bit, rather than SEEN-BY information,
when scanning out EchoMail. The advantage of this is clear -- you can
potentially save several megabytes of disk space which the older net
mail utilities consumed with the storage of this data in the TBBS
message base and message base backup files.
2. Because FLAME doesn't keep SEEN-BY data, you cannot perform a "rescan"
if you are an EchoMail hub and add a downstream node to your areas
file. Only new messages will be sent to the newly added system.
3. TIMS MOD 8 patches the online TIMS TOSS to set the EchoMail scanned
bit according to FLAME's specifications. Note: This mod is backward
compatible with the older net mail utilities, so you can continue
to use them if you wish after this mod is installed. Once this mod
is installed, the problem the old net mail utilities had of scanning
out large messages that had been truncated by the online tossing
10k message size limit (and causing dupes) will end. Because the
scanned bit is set by TIMS TOSS, such messages will not be rescanned.
NOTE: With FLAME you must use only the keyword TOSS for compatible
real time tossing. DO NOT USE THE /H OPTION ON TIMS TOSS! That
option is ONLY for compatibility with TMAIL and is NOT compatible
with FLAME.
TIMS MOD 8 MUST BE INSTALLED FOR ONLINE TOSSING TO BE FLAME COMPATIBLE!
BE CERTAIN YOU HAVE INSTALLED THE LATEST UPDATE.BIN BEFORE YOU USE
TIMS TOSS WITH FLAME!!
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CONVERTING FROM OLD TBBS NET MAIL UTILITIES
There are several steps involved with conversion. You must follow all the
steps very, VERY carefully for the conversion to work.
STEP A - CONVERT AREAS.BBS FILE
IMPORTANT NOTE: The file AREASAMP.BBS should be carefully reviewed before you
create an areas file. There are a number of "custom" options available to you
which you should consider, and which are NOT documented here, included aging
of individual sub-topics. After you have converted your setup successfully
you should read the FLAME documentation to see if you want to use any of
those new options.
1) The first line of the areas file stays the same. FLAME will ignore it,
BUT IT NEEDS TO BE THERE -- whatever it holds now. Generally, the format is
something like this:
The Short Line - Denver, CO
Leave it alone.
2) Convert "normal" message areas. FLAME does away with the ID tag number
linkage of one line to another in the areas file. In other words, the old way
of connecting logically multiple lines in the areas files is done away with.
The old way:
2 COMM 104/501 104/23
2 "Communications"
Now, things are done all on one line, like this:
Communications COMM 104/501 104/23
The format of a FLAME AREAS.BBS line is:
<board> <echotag> <systems ...>
The <board> parameter can be:
- A TBBS board *NAME* (from CEDIT) -- If there are embedded spaces in
the name, the name must be enclosed in quotes.
- A TBBS *TOPIC BOARD PATH* (derived from CEDIT and the specific
created sub-topics; refer to "Topic Message Boards" in Chapter 3 of
the TBBS manual). This method is, of course, REQUIRED for topic
message areas. As above, use of embedded spaces will require quotes
around the entire path.
- A TBBS board *NUMBER* from CEDIT instead of a TBBS board name.
Here are examples of each method:
"TBBS" TBBS 396/1 11/3 12/12
"sysop/tbbs/tech" TBBSTECH 322/360 107/33 270/101
"comm/win drivers" WIN_DRIVERS 104/501 104/36
11 TRAVEL 12/12 104/1 106/116 138/112
IMPORTANT NOTE. FLAME does not support an areas file entry spanning multiple
lines in the file! DO NOT WRAP LINES, AND DO NOT USE A TEXT EDITOR WHICH
FORCES LINE WRAPPING! The lines can be very, very long, and must be all one
single line. Use an editor that supports long lines.
3) Follow the directions in AREASAMP.BBS for how to set up alternate origin
lines. It is not compatible with the way the netmail utilities handle them.
Alternate origin lines have an asterisk (*) after their ID number in the old
format. They looked like this:
2 C_ECHO 1052/78
2 "C Programming"
2* (1003/98) Foobar International - Denver
The third line, beginning "2*" is an alternate origin line entry. This group
of lines would convert as follows:
; MODE=MYADDRESS 1:1003/98
; ORIGIN=Foobar International - Denver
"C Programming" C_ECHO 1052/78
Note: MODE and ORIGIN commands in the AREAS.BBS file STAY IN EFFECT until
the end of the file or a new MODE or ORIGIN command is encountered.
This may require you to add MODE and/or ORIGIN commands to restore
your "normal" settings between areas listings. See the FLAME.DOC
file for full information on how an AREAS.BBS file is set up if
you encounter difficulty.
4) Convert any "passthrough" EchoMail areas. In the old net mail areas
file they were configured like this:
4P TECH 1052/78 1052/981
FLAME specifies passthrough areas differently. A passthrough line
begins with a pound sign (#) and has the following format:
# <tag> <systems ...>
Thus the above sample old net mail utility passthrough line would become:
# TECH 1052/78 1052/981
Here are some other sample passthrough AREAS.BBS lines:
# SWCOORD 261/662 78/118
# FORSALE 78/118
5) Conversion of the areas file is now complete. Again, FLAME has several
new capabilities you can specify in the AREAS.BBS file beyond what the old
net mail utilities could do. Those are documented in the FLAME.DOC file.
STEP B - CREATE A CONFIGURATION FILE FOR FLAME
IMPORTANT NOTE: Many configuration options are available to you. Refer to
the file SAMPLE.CFG for examples and additional docs.
Use a text editor, and create a FLAME.CFG file. Use the included SAMPLE.CFG
as a base to work from.
At the minimum, you should use the following config verbs:
** node
aka (if applicable)
pointnet (if applicable)
** mail
** outbound
name
** netfile
origin
flame_log
tbbs_limits
archiver definitions
** These config verbs are required. The program will not run without them.
Use other config items as you see fit.
STEP C - COMPILE THE CONFIGURATION
FLAME does not use the original text versions of your files. Rather, you
compile them into binary versions which FLAME uses. To do this, use the
following commands from DOS to compile FLAME.CFG into FLAME.PRM and
AREAS.BBS into AREAS.DAT:
flamedit compile
flame areascvt -v
STEP D - CONVERT TBBS MESSAGE BASE
Run the program SCANSET against your current message base. This will set
the new "scanned" bit in all messages so that no current messages will
inadvertently be scanned out as new.
NOTE: A program, SCANCLR, is also provided. This program CLEARS the
"scanned" bit. It is primarily for diagnostic purposes, and makes FLAME think
that all messages in your TBBS message base are new and need to be scanned
out. Use it with caution! Advanced users who are EchoMail hubs could use
this with customized config files to simulate a rescan for new downstream
nodes, but it's a lot of work to get that net result.
STEP E - CONVERTING YOUR BATCH FILES
This step cannot be easily described as each net mail batch file is quite
different from others. In short, however, you no longer need to run the
several different programs in the net mail utilities or any separate ARCMAIL
or de-compression utility programs. If you have done the above conversions,
you can now just use the command FLAME and all net mail processing will take
place.
NOTE: FLAME operates directly on mail packets and will automatically do all
unarchiving, etc. So you should remove any ARCMAIL or other decompression
steps from your batch files and let FLAME do this processing as required.
For more advanced installations, including those which use "nanny" machine
processing, you should read the FLAME.DOC file to see the equivalent
processing for each step.
In general your batch files will become much simpler with FLAME than they
were with the older net mail utility programs.
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BUGS FIXED IN FLAME VERSION 1.1
1. FLAMEDIT EXPORT created incorrect results for AF_ALIAS when any
alias was defined.
2. FLAMEDIT EXPORT ran AF_FORWARD_LIST fields together if wider than
the sample field widths.
3. Turned the can't create standard board x-ref error message into
a real explanation and advice.
4. The TBBS_Limits high message number (second value) was ignored if
higher than the configured maximum mumber of messages allowed.
5. Areafix requests forwarded to other systems should be from the
SysOp instead of from the program to prevent looping requests.
6. If TBBS SCAN (without PACK) was executed the program reported
that some already sent Net Mail messages were not sent.
7. TBBS SCAN of topics was not scanning new locally entered messages
if TIMS or other programs tossed new messages into the same topic
after the messages were entered.
8. The UNLEAVE routing verb couldn't find any mail to un-leave.
9. Net mail addressed using the "first last@node" was going out
as "first last@".
10. TBBS_Import_File messages with the ENCL modifier needed the
name of the original enclosed file in the message body.
11. Beta 8 #20 caused hangs so has been removed.
12. Quoted TBBS paths in Areas.Bbs with board names beginning with
numbers were interpreted as board number. Any board name
beginning with a number or any topic root board name containing
slashes must be entered using the board number instead of the
board name.
13. Topic roots are recognized without requiring the trailing slash.
14. Areafix response messages showed forward request info instead of
the areaname when requests were forwarded.
15. .PRM -> .TXT export shouldn't do the non-functional Areas_Desc.
16. TBBS mode=NOORIGIN wasn't striping some tear lines ending with
CR/LF pairs and was never stripping origins/tearlines from mail
written to the TBBS_Tims_Toss_File.
17. Net mail from pointnet nodes addressed to any of our NODE or AKA
addresses should not be remapped into 4-D.
18. CR and LF definitions were reversed in the online help module
and made CRLF line terminations come out wrong.
19. AF_Notify_With_List and AF_Notify_With_EchoList should both be
accepted. AF_Notify_With_List is always exported.
20. NEWDATE was only setting the date of toss instead of date and
time.
21. The TBBS_Tims_Toss_File should have NEWDATE processing applied
when written since TIMS TOSS will process the file.
22. Added access for "FLAMEDIT COLOR" to change fullscreen colors.
23. CHANGE, LEAVE, UNLEAVE, and VIEW routing verbs weren't handling
file extensions used for BuSY flag operations. They now operate
on both unique extensions (.O$T) and standard extensions when
executed within a schedule.
24. All routing commands are changed to use the unique extension
(.O$T) only when not in command line single-shot mode.
25. EchoMail being TOSSed from .MSGs assumes SCAN for passthrough
areas without a message path.
26. Incoming EchoMail messages without origin lines were logged as
errors even when tossed.
27. Color_StatsWin settings were ignored. The last defined Color_????
parameter colors (or black on black if none) were used.
28. The on-screen progress display for TBBS LINK of topics without
area tags was ugly.
29. Valid dates in some incoming message headers were mistakenly
declared malformed and replaced with the current date/time.
30. The program gave memory addressing exceptions or hung (depending
on the memory manager unstalled) when tossing EchoMail .MSGs
during the final PACK.
31. Net Mail from points did not show the point number when imported
into the TBBS message base.
32. The report file generated by TBBS REPORT was missing CRs.
33. Rolloff of standard boards without an area tag should show the
board name instead of nothing.
34. Upped the maximum busy nodes with pending mail from 600 to 800.
35. Files imported to standard boards without Areas.DAT entries via
TBBS_Import_File defaulted to WRAP.
36. Local_Msgid didn't have any effect on messages exported from the
TBBS message base.
37. NOLINK was always ignored.
38. The ^AFILENAME: line inserted in NetMail messages exported from
TBBS with enclosed files was bad.
39. The address defined by MODE=MYADDRESS was added to the SEEN-BY
list even when already there.
40. BUSY files were left behind when a packer call failed.
41. DOS shell requests will now return an error status when calling
a program or BATch file that doesn't exist in the current dir or
the path. If the filename being called has a : or \ it is passed
through assuming the caller knows what he/she wants.
42. The number of echomail messages tracked per area for dupe
checking should have been limited to 10000 to keep the per-area
record size below 64K bytes.
43. Compressed_Mail_Max_Bytes didn't start a new archive for a node
if the last archive for that node in the DOS directory wasn't the
last one written.
44. If the TBBS USERLOG had more than 32K users message waiting
chains could get ugly.
45. INTL lines on forwarded areafix requests were built backwards.
46. Maximum_Areas wasn't checked during AREASCVT.
47. If an archive name wasn't found in the first 4k bytes of ?LO
files it was assumed to be a new archive and added to the ?LO.
Large ?LO files ended up with many duplicated entries for the
same archive names.
48. Areafix.Que processing occasionally suffered "unable to reopen"
errors with share loaded.
49. Long areafix reply messages caused a variety of errors like
stack overflow, thousands of messages, and hangs. The program
now stops generating output when it reaches the maximum size.
50. ^aINTL lines in the text of messages were mistaken for the real
thing.
51. Netmail messages addressed to our AKA addresses using ^aINTL
address overrides weren't treated as expected. Empty messages
weren't killed and addresses in packets with a different zone in
the packet header weren't always processed correctly.
52. Full_Screen shouldn't have been listed in configuration files.
53. Private messages were sent out from the TBBS message base to
EchoMail links when MODE=NOPRIVATE was set in AREAS.BBS.
54. Net Mail sent out from the TBBS message base didn't always have
the right zone-matched AKA address in the message header even
when an ^aINTL line was inserted with the zone-matched AKA.
55. Added online documentation for NOBUSY and NOCPD to disable those
features.
56. A warning is displayed at parameter file compile time if a
PointNet is defined with the same network as the primary. This
can cause echomail to be sent out without the primary address in
seen-bys.