******************************************************************************
** Opus - Computer Based Communications System **
** Conversion Manual **
** **
** Copyright (C) 1986, 1989, 1990, 1991 Wynn Wagner III **
******************************************************************************

A Product of the Opus Covert Action Committee
and
The Not Ready for Mainframe Players
Chico and Elsewhere


Opus 1.14 to Opus 1.70 Conversion


The files you should have before starting:

OTEC_170.ZIP Contains: OTEC_170.TXT Technical information
about Opus 1.70. Line-by-
line explanation of CTL
file, menus and OECs.

OEXE_170.ZIP Contains: OPUS.EXE The main program.
ENGLISH.ZIP Language files.
LASTSEC.DOC Last second feature.


OMMM_170.ZIP Contains: OMMM.DOC Documentation for oMMM,
the Opus Matrix Mail
Masher.
OMMM.CFG A sample configuration
file for OMMM.EXE
OMMM.EXE The program.
OMMM286.EXE An executable for people
who have 80286+ proces-
sors.
ROUTE.CTL A sample routing control
file.
READ.ME Small read.me file.

OFAM098B.ZIP Contains: OPUS-FAM.EXE File maintenance program
for all versions of Opus.
OPUS-FAM.DOC Documents for Opus-Fam.
WHATSNEW.091 Upgrade notices.
OPUS-FAM.CFG Sample configuration
file.

OMAKE173.ZIP Contains: This file and others.



Opus 1.14 to Opus 1.70 Conversion



What to do:

1. Read ALL of this document.

2. Print it out for reference as you go through the setup.

3. Print out the Opus 1.70 technical manual for reference.

4. Read ALL the documents you've printed out.

5. Make a temporary directory on a drive for you to work in while
you're doing the conversion so you don't lose your Opus 1.14
setup.

6. Read the section of this document on FILES.BBS and take care of
any editing or changes you want to make before proceeding.

7. Copy your Opus 1.14 PRM file into your temporary directory.

8. Rename your PRM file so it won't conflict with your Opus 1.14 PRM
file.

9. Run the program CONVERT.EXE and follow it. Skip to step 22.

OR

9a. Run CAYENNE.EXE against your PRM file with verbose on. (-v)

10. Archive your old language directory for your language and menu
files. Unzip the language files in ENGLISH.ZIP to this new
directory.

11. Edit the new CTL file. Refer to this document and the sample the
Opus Technical Reference for explanations about the new options
that have been added to Opus 1.70.

12. Copy the new help files to wherever you've put them in the CTL
file.

13. Start running NACL.EXE to generate your new PRM file, System
files, Indexes and menu files.

14. Move the new PRM file to your Opus directory.

15. Type in this line at the DOS prompt:

Set Opus=C:\Opus\BBS.PRM

(Or whatever you call your new PRM file and wherever it is.)



Opus 1.14 to Opus 1.70 Conversion


16. After re-reading the section about FILES.BBS and FILESBBS.DAT,
edit your current FILES.BBS files if you want to. Especially
notice the use of '>' to mark where to insert new files, alter-
native paths for files and the use of Area 0.

17. Run CONFILE.EXE to generate your FILESBBS.* database.

18. Unzip the files FILTER.EXE, USERNDX.EXE and MAKELRED.EXE from the
archive UTILS.ZIP to the directory where you keep USER.DAT.

19. Run USERNDX.EXE to generate a USER.NDX file. Opus will ALWAYS
want to use this file. The command line for USERNDX.EXE is:
USERNDX Drive:\Path\USER.Dat
USERNDX C:\Opus\User.Dat

20. Run MAKELRED.EXE to generate the files in your message areas that
store user Last Message Read counters. The command line for
MAKELRED.EXE is:
MAKELRED UserFile Sysmsg.Dat
MAKELRED C:\Opus\User.Dat C:\System\Sysmsg.Dat

21. Run FILTER.EXE to delete the old Last Message Read markers from
USER.DAT. The "virgin" user file will be saved as USER.OLD.
Simply run it as:
FILTER USER.DAT

22. Copy OPUS.EXE to your Opus directory.

23. Copy your old NERF.BAT to a new name and edit it to reflect the
new name for your PRM file and the new housekeeping programs.
Especially notice the change to the O_RENUM command line to tell
it which version of Opus you are using, the use of PTIC.EXE, and
OFARE.EXE.

24. Edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to include:

SET OPUS=C:\Opus\BBS.PRM << Your PRM file name here!

This tells the maintenance programs where to find your PRM file
to automatically read it.

25. Carefully read through your new CTL file and make any changes you
feel you'd like to try. Especially notice the new menu options
and turn them on when and where appropriate. Then run NACL.EXE
again to create an updated PRM file.

26. Unpack any of the new help files that you need to add after
editing your CTL file. They can be found in the file HELP.ZIP.

27. Reboot your computer and let it go.



Opus 1.14 to Opus 1.70 Conversion


Files that are history/ignored by Opus 1.70:

SYSTEM*.DAT
USER.IDX
MSGNAME.DAT
FILENAME.DAT
FILES.BBS
ECHO.CTL

Files that are new:

SYSMSG.DAT Contains all the information about all your message
areas, including echo information.

NAME.MDX Index file for area names in message areas.

AREA.MDX Area number index for message areas.

ECHO.MDX Echo name index for message areas.

LREAD.DAT Stored in each message area. Keeps track of the user's
last message read and highest message read for that
area.

SYSFILE.DAT Contains all the information about your file areas.

NAME.FDX Name index for file areas.

AREA.FDX Area number index for file areas.

LFILE.DAT Stored in each file area to keep track of the last time
the user has actually been in this file area.

FILESBBS.DAT Contains the information about what files, descriptions
and comments are in all your file areas.

FILESBBS.ADX Index of where each area starts in FILESBBS.DAT

FILESBBS.NDX Index of all the file names you have online.

USER.NDX B+tree index of your USER.DAT file.



Opus 1.14 to Opus 1.70 Conversion



Files that can be shared with Opus 1.14:

USER.DAT
SCHED.DAT
NODELIST.DAT
NODELIST.IDX
*.MSG
RULES.BBS
All your help/OEC/barricade files.

Files that will conflict with the Opus 1.14 versions:
(Be sure to save these!)

BBS.PRM
ENGLISH.USL (And ALL other language files!)
ENGLISH.SYL
ENGLISH.MNU
COMMON.DAT




Opus 1.14 to Opus 1.70 Conversion



FILESBBS Database:

The FILESBBS database is a single file that includes all the files
listings for all areas. This offers a number of advantages:

Expanded information in the file listing.
Who uploaded the file.
How many times the file has been downloaded.
Both the file's date and the time/date it was uploaded.
Descriptions can be up to 1k long.
Full path to files that are not in the default directory.

Opus will "wrap" descriptions that are longer than a single line.

Each file can have its own privilege and locks.

If a user is in the wrong area trying to download a file, Opus
will jump to the "right" area to make the download automatically.

New files can be inserted at some arbitrary point in each area.

Files that are in area zero are considered to be in all areas.
Opus will not have to make any jumps to find them.

A single file area can be made up from files from different
directories and drives.

Before running CONFILE.EXE edit your FILES.BBS files to take advantage
of the new capabilities.

If you want new files as they are added to your files list to be added
on the first screen, put a ">" at the beginning of the point where you
want new files inserted.

If you want to have files listed that are not in the current direc-
tory, include the path to the file(s) you want to add. For example:

D:\files\DOS\PKZ110.EXE Latest version of PKZIP/PKUNZIP!

PKZ110.EXE would be available in this file area, and be listed, even
though the default directory is D:\msdos\.

For area 0 files, just list the full paths and file names. Do not
include descriptions, they won't be displayed anywhere. This was
worked out before putting in the ability to jump to areas was put in.

CONFILE.EXE will create the FILESBBS.DAT, FILESBBS.NDX and FILESBBS.-
ADX files in your SYSTEM directory.



Opus 1.14 to Opus 1.70 Conversion



EVENT CHANGES:

None really. Just the addition of a NO_REQUEST flag. This is not
the same as the TAKE_REQ flag, it affects making outbound calls
based on the presence of your requests waiting to go out. For
example, during your Zone Mail Hour most FidoNet systems will not
accept file requests. Now you can tell Opus not to try to place
calls that have requests attached to them, instead they're held
on until this flag is off. With OEVENT you can toggle this on and
off with the '\' or '|' keys in 'Z' events.


UTILITY CHANGES:

These are the programs and versions that work with Opus 1.70:


OEVENT81.ZIP Knows about NO_REQ flags
OREN120.ZIP Include "-2" on the command line!
OMAIL_41.ZIP Does interzone stuff. Special request flags.
OFAM85B.ZIP Edit the FILESBBS.DAT files.
OFUTIL4B.ZIP Automatic FILESBBS maintenance.
UNCON.ZIP Regurgitates FILES.BBS from FILESBBS.DAT.
OUFM129.ZIP Opus User Editor.
OPFM105.ZIP Opus PRM Editor.
FIXTOSS1.ZIP Removes duplicate entries in ECHOTOSS.LOG.
OPTLT_02.ZIP OPMED Translation files.

Many of these files will be included in your gamma kit. The others can
be requested. 1:119/5.0 will have them if no one else, but I expect
3:711/401, 2:20/10, 1:106/2000 will also have most of them.


Changes to your batch file:
---------------------------

For the new renum program you need to add the "-2" to tell it what
version of Opus is in use.

Be sure you include the change to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file shown at the
beginning of this file to tell utilities where your PRM file is
located.

For automatic FILESBBS database maintenance you need to include
PTIC.EXE BEFORE TICK.EXE in your batch file. And at some point in the
day, run OFARE.EXE to re-build FILESBBS.DAT. If you've got programs
that need FILES.BBS in each area remember to run UNCON.EXE before to
re-generate FILES.BBS.