Telegard Bulletin Board Software, v3.10
REFERENCE: File Section Documentation
Copyright (C) 1998 by Tim Strike
All Rights Reserved.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 Telegard 3.10 File System
1.1 New File Section
1.2 The FA2FB and FB2FA Utilities
2.0 Frequently Asked Questions
2.1 Do I need to use these utilities?
2.2 What are the advantages?
2.3 What are the disadvantages?
2.4 Can I delete my 3.02 *.FB* files?
2.5 How do I use these utilities?
3.0 List of utilities
3.1 Unlisted Utilities
3.2 Legacy File System Utilities
3.3 Telegard 3.10 File System Utilities
4.0 Contacting the author
1.0 TELEGARD 3.10 FILE SYSTEM
1.1 The New File Section
Telegard 3.09.g1 introduced a new format file section.
This new file section is not compatible with the previous
3.02 release. However, this new file section provides many
things that 3.02 does not:
1) Faster, more efficient searching and indexing
2) Smaller file storage
3) Truly variable length file descriptions
4) > 32,000 files
5) Same name files in different areas
However, these improvements do not come without a cost. The
cost is that your old file section utilities do not work.
Did we leave you hanging? No. As a development team, we
don't believe in blindly forcing everyone to upgrade
without providing alternatives and solutions.
1.2 The FA2FB and FB2FA Utilities
We have provided a set of utilities which will convert your
file section BACK to the original 3.02 format, allow you to
run all of your legacy utilities, and then convert your
file section (or updated areas) BACK to the 3.09.g1 format.
Is this a kludge? No. It's a solution to allow you to
continue using some of the utilities that you would like to
run until their authors can update the utilities--it is our
way of providing temporary backward compatibility [and it's
a good thing]. Once those authors have updated their
utilities, you no longer need to run FA2FB and FB2FA!
(We will stop supporting FA2FB and FB2FA as we move toward
the final release; those legacy utilities that are not
updated will simply not be compatible with Telegard 3.10).
2.0 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
2.1 Do I need to run the utilities?
No, you don't.
If you aren't using any legacy 3.02 utilities, or are
willing to do without them for a while, then you do not
need to use the FA2FB and FB2FA utilities. In fact, I would
prefer that everyone switch to the new file section
permanently, but some people aren't willing to give up
their old utilities just yet.
2.2 What are the advantages?
The advantage is that you can maintain backward
compatibility to your legacy utilities until they are
properly updated (i.e. we didn't break every single file
utility with this release--at least not yet<g>).
2.3 What are the disadvantages?
To convert b/w *.FA and *.FB on the fly, you need to keep
both sets of data files. This could be a huge waste of
space on your system, depending on the size of the file
section you carry. In addition, the conversion takes some
time on larger file areas.
2.4 Can I delete my 3.02 *.FB* files?
If you no longer need them, yes. If you intend on using
the FA2FB and FB2FA utilities, then it is suggested that
you keep them since it'll make the conversion faster (see
next section). If you choose to delete them b/w the
utilities, then they will have to be completely regenerated.
2.5 How do I use the utilities?
You use the utilities by moving all of your file section
utilities into one section in your nightly maintenance
batch file (or otherwise), and then adding the commands to
run FA2FB and FB2FA:
FA2FB -date
... old 3.02 file utilities here ...
FB2FA -date
... 3.10 file section utilities here ...
So what exactly does -date do? What it does is that it
looks at the date of the .FA* and .FB* files, and if
nothing has been updated, then nothing has changed and it
leaves the area without converting it. It speeds up
processing of the conversion.
3.0 LIST OF UTILITIES
3.1 Unlisted Utilities
Utilities which are not listed have not been confirmed as
either compatible or incompatible. You will have to make
that determination based on the utility documentation; if
it makes no mention of Telegard 3.10 file structures, then
it is not likely 3.10 compatible.
As you make this determination, please let us know so we
can update this listing.
3.2 Legacy File System Utilities
The following utilities use the 3.02 file structures. If
you find other utilities which only work with the 3.02 file
section, please let me know:
ALLFIX 5.11 Allfix file processor Harald Harms
BLUEWAVE 3.11 Bluewave Mail Door George Hatchew
TGWAVE 1.12 TGWave Bluewave/QWK Door Lars Hellsten
3.3 Telegard 3.10 File System Utilities
FDTG 3.10 FD->TG Download Counter Tim Strike
4.0 CONTACTING THE AUTHOR
The author of this document can be contacted as follows:
Echomail: Tim Strike, TG_SUPPORT (fidonet)
Netmail: Tim Strike @ 1:259/423 (fidonet)
Internet Email: tim@telegard.net