MailGate Gateway 1.0


Introduction

by

Icon Systems Ltd
A division of Rabbits Foot Worldwide Enterprises
an ecologically sane wholly owned subsidiary of a
diversified company, Inc.



Table of Contents

Introduction 3
Address Formats. 4
cc:Mail: 4
QBBS/RA 5
Netmail 5
MHS SMF-70 5
Packet Format 6
Requirements: 6
For cc:Mail 6
MHS (SMF-70) 6
FidoNet Netmail 7
MailGate Configuration 7
7
COMMAND LINES 8
8
9
Gating to and from cc:Mail 9
From cc:Mail 9
To cc:Mail 9
Gateway to MHS and others. 10
Sample batch file commands: 10
FidoNet (Netmail) to cc:Mail 10
sample for QBBS to MHS 10
Sample for MHS to NETMAIL 10
License 10
Corporate License 11
Support 11
Registration 11
Limit of Liability 11





Introduction

MailGate is a gateway program designed to convert MHS SMF-70, cc:Mail,
Netmail (FTS-001), FidoNet Packet (.PKT) format, QBBS/RA message base formats
and back.
MailGate can be used as a stand-alone message generator/routing engine.
To use this feature simply tell it what message format to read and
what format to re-write it to.
If you want to use it to generate a message for automated purposes simply
create a text formatted message then run MailGate using the option
key to read the text message and convert to the desired format.
This will work to send automated messages to any of the available formats.
The format of the text message is outlined below under the cc:Mail formatted
message.

Because of the design of the gateway, it can be used in any combination.

FTS-001 - cc:Mail QBBS/RA - cc:Mail
FTS-001 - SMF-70 QBBS/RA - SMF-70
FTS-001 - QBBS/RA QBBS/RA - FTS-001
FTS-001 - Packet QBBS/RA - Packet
FTS-001 - QWK QBBS/RA - QWK
FTS-001 - Text QBBS/RA - Text

SMF-70 - FTS-001 cc:Mail - SMF-70
SMF-70 - QBBS/RA cc:Mail - FTS-001
SMF-70 - cc:Mail cc:Mail - QBBS/RA
SMF-70 - .Packet cc:Mail - .Packet
SMF-70 - QWK cc:Mail - QWK
SMF-70 - Text cc:Mail - Text

QWK - FTS-001 Text - FTS-001
QWK - cc:Mail Text - cc:Mail
QWK - Packet Text - Packet
QWK - SMF-70 Text - SMF-70
QWK - QBBS/RA Text - QBBS/RA
QWK - Text Text - QWK

MailGate supports, MHS SMF-70 mailers, cc:Mail Import/Export format, cc:Mail
Remote, FTS-001 FidoNet Netmail standard, FidoNet .PKT format, QBBS/RA message
base or other programs that do this.
Currently in this pre-release release the file attach facility is not
fully implemented.

It will not work in the following configurations.

cc:Mail - cc:Mail
cc:Mail - SMF-70
Netmail - Netmail

Address Formats.

cc:Mail:

cc:Mail address' are the cc:Mail user name as listed in the cc:mail
directory for the Post Office. "r", "R", "L" or "a" users are supported.
Post Office addressing is also supported.

cc:mail Format (omit ---'s and comments)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: ' start of a new message
To: User Name and address ' Put in the user name for the
From: Username and address ' appropriate destination.
Subject: the subject.
Contents: ' This tells us where the message text begins
This is the body of the message
You can type as much text here as is available
in the mail program you are using to read it with.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To attach a file item to the message add a line after the text as follows
File Item:
This will send the message with the file attached.

File attaches are supported in the following instances.
QBBS/RA - cc:Mail
cc:Mail - QBBS/RA
QBBS/RA - MHS
MHS - QBBS/RA

* There are bugs in this feature and it will not be fully implemented
until the next release use at your own risk.

Messages addresed from cc:Mail to other mail systems can be done
using the PO addressing or FAN addressing.
Simply select the address of the gateway PO and when prompted
enter the address of the destination user.

To: NETMAIL

User Name@Zone:Net/Node.point

This includes the user name and the zone/net/node number seperated
by the @ symbol.

To: MHS

Userid@hostname


To: QBBS

User Name (MsgArea n)
Where n is the QBBS area you want the message to go to.

To: Packet

User Name (AreaName )
Where is the message area name for messages
The default is the NETMAIL area with a destination address of the
origionating system.


To: QWK

Address as you would QBBS/RA

QBBS/RA

Simply enter the name of the user the mail is intended for. If you want to
send a message to a user in an area other than the default, simply place
the area number in parenthesis after the name.

Example:

John User
or
John User (MsgArea 3)


Netmail

Use the user name followed by the Netmail address.

Example:

John User@Zone:Net/Node.Point


MHS SMF-70

Use the userID of the recipient and the hostname that the user resides on.
This feature requires the use of an MHS mailer capable of supporting SMF-70
messages.

Example:

JUser@HOST

This is the simplest format of the To: field in the MHS message.
If the To: field of the SMF-70 message uses this format MailGate will
use information in the address translation file "MHS.ADR" to expand the address.
The next format will not use the .ADR file at all as it is very explicit.
JUser@HOST (John User)
This format will have the To: username expanded to only the "John User"
Alternativley you may include additional information in the to field.

Examples:

JUser@HOST (John User (MsgArea 2))
JUser@HOST (John User (AreaName: UUCP))

Or you may list this information in the MHS.ADR file


JUser@HOST<=>John User (MsgArea 2)
JUser@HOST<=>John User (AreaName: UUCP)


The message will be placed in the "OUT" directory for your HOST as defined
in the MAIL.CFG file.


Packet Format

This is probably the most useful method of converting mail and will be used
by most systems unless you do not have a mail processor.

Simply use the command line for generating .PKT format messages and use the
To: address syntax of

John User@1:143/226.0
or
John User (AREANAME )

both formats are acceptable.

The first format will generate a netmail message addressed to the user John User
at the specified FidoNet Address.

The second option will send a message addressed to John User in the message
area "" This can be used for echomail messages.
The message will be placed in the appropriate area by your mailer.


Text Format

Simply create a text message called "MESSAGE.TXT" in the same
format as the cc:mail message.
Messages converted to text format are stored in the file(s)
Message.nnn where nnn is the sequential number for this run.


Requirements:

For cc:Mail
cc:Mail Import/Export or cc:Mail Remote Import/Export
Future versions will incorporate cc:Mail's VIM API

MHS (SMF-70/1)
requires an MHS gateway that supports SMF-70 message structures.
May also be used in conjunction with any email system which supports
SMF-70.


FidoNet Netmail
A FidoNet Mailer capable of delivering FTS-001 (.MSG) style netmail messages

or

A FidoNet Mailer capable of reading a standard FTS Packet (.PKT)
Binkley, D'Bridge, FrontDoor etc

QBBS/RA support

Remote Access BBS version 1.x or 2.x, QBBS, SuperBBS or any BBS
that supports the Hudson Message base.


MailGate Configuration

MailGate requires that a configuration file be kept in the
current directory. It may contain the following information.
All paths must include a trailing "\".



LOG
What you want to call your log file

NETNODE
Your International FidoNet Addrress.
zone:net/node.pnt number

OFFSET -800
your offset from Greenwich Time

SYSOP
name of the SysOp

PONAME
name of the cc:Mail Post Office for replies

IMPFILE
what you call ccmail file we read

EXPFILE
what you call the file you want import to read

MAILDIR
your FTS-001 netmail directory

QBBSDIR
your QBBS message base directory

TEARLINE
Your tearline

DEFAULTREPLY
Default area to put replies in for QBBS

FROMBOARD REPLYTO
QBBS area to scan and the area to send replies to
if gating from one area to the other.
This over-rides the DEFAULTREPLY parameter if used
to gate qbbs - qbbs mail. Up to 200 areas may be defined.

RATTACH
Directory that is used for QBBS/RA file attachments.

MSGID NO
Include QBBS/RA msgID's as part of the msg text.

EXCLUDE
QBBS/RA user name to exclude. You may exclude up to 50 users

MHSGATEDIR
This is the path to the gates directory of your MHS system.
Example:
c:\mhs\mail\gates\

MHSGATENAME
The name of your HOST as defined in the MHS Admin program.
In the example FIDO.CFG file it is defined as "FIDO"

PACKETDIR
This is the directory that MailGate will place the .PKT files into

AREANAME
The default is NETMAIL if not specified. Address information
overrides this. Adding AREA: to the address field of messages
will send the message to the desired areaname.

PASSWORD <8 chars or less>
This is the password to be added to .PKT messages if you are running
a secure mailer.

COST
The cost in cents to be added to the .PKT messages.

QWKUPLOAD

Directory for new QWK replies, this is where we create the .REP
packets.

QWKDNLOAD

Directory for Downloaded .QWK packets

QWORKDIR

QWK working directory where we place temporary files.



Sample Config File
'
' FidoGate v 1.1 (c) 1993, Icon Systems Ltd.
'
NETNODE 1:123/321.0 Your IFNA address
OFFSET -800 Offset in hours from GMT
LOG FIDO.LOG Name of your log file
PONAME TS-BBS cc:Mail outbound PONAME
HUBPO CCMAIL-SUP cc:Mail inbound/hub PO name
POPASS grumpy Your Post office password
POPATH m:\ccdata cc:Mail database directory
SYSOP Joe User Sysop Name
IMPFILE CCMAIL.IMP Filename to be used for imported ccmail messages
EXPFILE ccmail.EXP Filename to use for exported ccmail messages
MAILDIR d:\db\MESSAGES\ FidoNet Netmail directory
QBBSDIR R:\RA\mail-dir\ QBBS/RA database directory
TEARLINE Put yours here Echomail tearline
DEFAULTREPLY 2 What area to use for default messages
FROMBOARD 1 REPLYTO 2 The following information is used to
FROMBOARD 2 REPLYTO 2 specify if an area is to have all replies sent to a
FROMBOARD 3 REPLYTO 3 different area. This example has all mail from area
FROMBOARD 4 REPLYTO 4 1 and 2 go back to area 2
RATTACH R:\ra\attach\ directory for Remote Access file attaches
MSGID NO Do you want QBBS/RA message ID's exported
EXCLUDE ALL User name to exclude in QBBS exports
EXCLUDE Joe Blow
MHSGATEDIR R:\RA\mail\gates\ MHS Gates directory path
MHSGATENAME FIDO MHS gate name
PACKETDIR D:\DB\files\ Directory top place .PKT files in
PASSWORD REACTR FidoNet message password
COST 10 default cost for messages
AREANAME NETMAIL Default areaname for .PKT messages
QWKBBSID RABBIT QWK mailer ID
QWKUPLOAD E:\QWK\UPLOADS\ Directory for new QWK replies
QWKDNLOAD E:\QWK\DOWNLOAD\ Directory for Download .QWK packets
QWORKDIR E:\QWK\WORKDIR\ QWK working directory



COMMAND LINES
There are three command line options. Each time you run the gateway you
MUST include at least the first two of them.

MailGate -F -C

where -F means "From" and GateTo is where
your want to send the message to.


This is the key that tells us what type of message structure
we are reading.
Valid options are:
C - cc:Mail
N - Netmail
Q - QBBS
M - MHS (SMF-70)
P - Packet
W - QWK
T - Text

This is what we want to gateway our mail to.
Valid keywords are:
NETMAIL
MHS
QBBS
CCMAIL
PACKET
QWK
TEXT


MailGate -FC PACKET

This will read a cc:Mail format message and convert it to FidoNet .PKT
format and place it into the inbound Packet directory of your mailer.


The -C parameter can be followed by the name of an alternate configuration
file name. The default is MAIL.CFG.


Gating to and from cc:Mail

From cc:Mail

1. Set up a "P" post office entry in the cc:Mail directory (FIDO).
Alternativley you may use cc:Remote to import messages to using
Remote Import Export that comes with cc:Remote.

2. If you are using cc:Mails gateway/router program, setup a call list
entry to call this post office at regular intervals.
This batch process should place the ccmail.exp file in a directory accessible
to MailGate.EXE. It should then run the gateway with the following parameters.

Add the following lines to a batch file that is named the first eight
characters of the PO name configured in step 1 (FIDO.BAT).
Refer to the GATELINK parameter in the cc:Mail documentation for more
details.

EXPORT password path @
MailGate -FC

To cc:Mail

MailGate -F CCMAIL
IMPORT PO password path @

This will export any mail from desired source and create a cc:Mail
Importable file . The batch process then runs cc:Mail IMPORT.EXE
and imports the message into the main PO for your cc:Mail users (not the
gateway POName).
Gateway to MHS and others.

The configuration to use MailGate with other mail systems is similiar to the
way we setup the gateway for ccmail except we do not need the Import and export
programs. These are specific to cc:Mail.

Simply create an event on your FidoNet mailer to export the new messages when
they are entered. You can do this with most mailers by trapping an error level
or telling it that when new mail is entered/received that it should exit to
a batch file.

The batch file should do two things.

1. Run MailGate and export the mail messages to the desired type and then
2. Run MailGate in a mode that will check if mail is to go in the
other direction.

Sample batch file commands:

MailGate -F ' to export the message and send
' it to the desired mail system.
MailGate -F ' to read messages coming the
' other direction.
Sample for FidoNet (Netmail) to cc:Mail

MailGate -FC NETMAIL
MailGate -FN CCMAIL

sample for QBBS to MHS

MailGate -FQ MHS
MailGate -FM QBBS

Sample for MHS to NETMAIL

MailGate -FM NETMAIL
MailGate -FN MHS

You get the picture.


Address Translation Files (Optional)

You may set up a translation file for each mail system you plan
on routing mail to. The formats for these files is as follows.

To:<=>New To:
Mike Faul<=>Mike Faul@143/226
Mike Faul<=>SysOp

When using the Gateto keyword on the commandline and when you want to have a
translation file simply name the file .ADR.
For more details see the section for the .ADR file under MHS routing.


License
This product is distributed as SHAREWARE except as outlined below for corporations.
The SHAREWARE fee is $25.00

Corporate License
License is available, please contact the author.

Support
Support is available on Compuserve to 72500,1727 or via FidoNet (preferred) at
1:143/226.0 or to FidoNet via the inetrnet at [email protected]@fidonet.org

Registration
Send all registrations to:

Icon Systems Ltd.
1035 Aster Ave. #2185
Sunnyvale, CA. 94086

Limit of Liability

MailGate is distributed as-is. The author disclaims all warranties,
expressed or implied. The author will assume no liability for damages
either from the direct use of this product or as a consequence of the
use of this product.

MailGate is guaranteed to do nothing more than take up space on your
disk drive, while it attempts to translate messages.