Category : Communication (modem) tools and utilities
Archive   : LIB232.ZIP
Filename : MAIL.DOC

 
Output of file : MAIL.DOC contained in archive : LIB232.ZIP





MAIL.DOC Copyright (C) 1990 Liberation Enterprises.
Liberator Quick Set Up for Mail Doors


This document was designed to allow you to automate your mail runs as
quickly as possible, and it covers Qmail v2-4, MarkMail, and MegaMail-
type door set up. Items covered are (very briefly) how to get started
in The Liberator with Command and Configuration Files, what items need
setting up for automating mail runs, most of the common problems and
their remedies, and some specific information on MegaMail-type doors,
setting up for Multiple Mail doors on the same board, and Qmail v4 doors
using the SET command. If all goes well, you'll have it done in less
than 15 minutes.

To simplify things, it is assumed that you have Telix set up properly,
and have already downloaded a mail packet manually from whichever door
you're using. If not, dig into your reader documentation first, or the
larger Liberator manual for door/reader set up information. None of
these items are explained here (other than unusual items, specific to
automated runs), and it is assumed you are familiar with your reader and
the Mail Door itself. If not, you probably will not be able to automate
your runs very successfully... and 15 minutes could easily turn into
frustrating hours.

In order for The Liberator to get your mail from ANY door, you must
first set up what is called a 'BBS Configuration File'. To do so,
please start The Liberator now using the LIBERATE command from DOS, or
LIBERATE from Telix. From the main menu, select 'C'reate (if
it's your first startup, Create is selected automatically... after a
File Check and some other things... follow along and ad lib). If
prompted for a 'Configuration' to use, hit .

You should now be looking at a screen which allows entry of your name,
and some other info about the BBS. If not, hit until you exit the
program (to Telix terminal mode), and start over...

Type 1 and hit to select 'Name used on PCBoard', type in your
name and hit again. Select item 2, and enter the Telix
directory entry number(s) of the BBS you want to call. If you don't
know the entry numbers, hit and your directory will be displayed
(hit to exit the directory once you note the entry #'s). If more
than one entry is to be specified, separate each with a space.

*IMPORTANT*: You must enter something in the 'Linked script' item of
any Telix directory entries you use The Liberator with. If the Linked
script item is left blank, Telix will pause after connecting, and the
opening question on the board will slip by the tracking routines. I
usually enter PCBOARD.SLC in this directory item, but you can enter any
character at all, and Telix will then bypass the pause after connecting.
As well, your PCBoard password must be placed in each directory entry,
near the bottom. Telix passes this password to The Liberator once a
connection is established. If The Liberator aborts due to no password,
check all entries defined.

If the board you call has more than one language available, enter the




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number used on the BBS to select 'English' in item 7 (if there is a
'Standard PCBoard prompts' language #, use it instead). If you must
join a conference to access the Mail Door, enter the proper conference #
(or NAME if available) in item 9. Next, enter the Mail Door's number
(or NAME) in item 10.
The rest of the items on this screen can be looked up in the larger
manual if desired. Most are usually fine at their defaults, but if you
run into problems, look into the manual (or experiment... most items are
fairly self-explanatory).

Note the reminder at the bottom of the screen, then hit to
'Change screens' and move to screen 4 - the Mail Door set up screen.

Item 1, 'Packet ID' is different on each board, and you can find the
packet or node ID by looking at the packet I mentioned at the opening of
this document... you must have manually downloaded a packet first in
order to get the proper ID. The ID is found in the base part of the
filename. If the packet is named THEBBS.QWK, the ID you must enter is
THEBBS.

Item 2 must be set to whatever type of door you are setting up for.
Select item 2, and you'll get a menu of the types available. After you
select the proper type, the prompts are automatically adjusted to the
DEFAULT prompts used in that type of door (MegaMail type doors don't
require prompts at all). This doesn't mean that the prompts will
actually match... because your Sysop may have re-defined the prompts.
However, if the prompts are still at their defaults, they will work, and
you won't have to worry about configuring prompts.
If The Liberator 'hangs' at a certain prompt, the most likely cause is
that it has been redefined in the door and is not matching what is
defined here in the Configuration. In Qmail v4 doors, The Liberator
uses the 'Extended prompts for scripting' which cannot be redefined.
See the section on configuring prompts in LIBERATE.DOC for more info on
setting up prompts, if necessary.

Assuming you have the door's default protocol set up as Zmodem, you
won't have to worry about configuring protocols. If did set up a
different protocol in the door, select items 6 and 7, and enter the
proper protocol from the menu. Leave the 'Door protocol letter' set to
'N' to use your door default. Different up/download protocols are
currently only available in the Qmail v3/4 doors, and information on why
and how you would want to define separate protocols can be found in
LIBERATE.DOC.

The SET / NET items are specific to the Qmail v4 door, and are explained
below under 'Qmail v4 setup'.

Items 10-12 must be set to the same directories your Offine Reader has
been set up for. If you have your reader set up to create your replies
file in the C:\REP directory, then you must also define this directory
in item 10, or The Liberator will not be able to locate your reply
packets. Likewise with the message packet directory, according to where
your reader looks for these files. The *filenames* are not needed, as




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The Liberator constructs the proper filename using the 'Packet ID' and
'Mail System' type. For example, if you set the Packet ID to "RMPCB",
and the door type to Qmail v4, and your reply packet directory to
C:\MSG\, then The Liberator will look for a file called C:\MSG\RMPCB.REP
(REP being the proper file extension for Qmail). If you set up for a
MegaMail door, the extension .UL will be substituted for .REP, and so
forth (the filenames are constructed internally at run-time, and are not
displayed on this screen). The Liberator maintains your packets, both
message and reply, and will rename and/or delete older packets before
new ones come in, or after they go out. Items 4 and 5 control the
number of backup packets you wish to keep on hand. It is recommended
you keep these items set to 1 or more.

That's it for the BBS Configuration, so hit at the 'Enter =
Save' prompt, then enter a name to save it under. A good choice for a
name is the Packet ID, since it will help remind you which board/ID the
Configuration is set up for.

You are then taken to the 'Command File Editor' which is where you
define: a) the board to call (the Configuration File to use) and b) the
jobs you want done on that board. For our purposes, set items 8 and 9
both to 'Yes' by selecting each and entering 'Y'. You may also want to
select 'Disconnect' and have The Liberator 'Exit to DOS' when it
completes. Select item 14 and enter 'E' to do so.
This allows whatever batch file that called The Liberator to continue
processing when the Command File completes, and may be used to start
your Offline Reader, by placing the appropriate command in the batch
file you use to start The Liberator. See the LIBERATE.BAT file for more
information.

That's it for this Command File, so hit then type a name to save
the file under... The name you enter will be displayed on the main menu,
so make sure you enter a name that will remind you what the job does.
For example, you may want to call it 'BBSMAIL', where BBS is an
abbreviation of the board's name.

Once the file is saved, you are taken to the main menu, and can try it
out by entering the number beside the name. If the board you call is a
relatively 'standard' PCBoard, and your Sysop hasn't redefined any
prompts, everything should go off without a hitch (The Liberator also
automatically supports ProLogon). A few common problems are discussed
below, if you do run into a snag. If you are setting up for multiple
doors on the same board, or for different SET's of a Qmail v4 door, you
can use the 'E'dit option to clone the job/Configuration you just
Created. Select Edit from the main menu, enter the job's entry number,
then from the 'Command File Editor' select item 1 and hit to
load the Configuration for editing. Make any changes, such as the new
'Packet ID' and/or SET number, then simply save the Configuration under
a different name. (Hit to save the file, then type in a new
name before hitting again... you might change the name BBS to
BBS-2, etc). When you return to the Command File Editor, the new name
will be placed in item 1 for you, and you should then hit and
save the Command File under a different name also.




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Setting up jobs (Command Files) separately from the Configuration Files
may seem like a lot of trouble, but there is method behind the madness.
By isolating the Configurations from the jobs, you can set up many jobs
which all use the same Configuration. Each time you 'Create' a new job
from the main menu, you will be asked which BBS Configuration you wish
to use, and you may select the same Configuration over and over, as long
as you want the job to run on the same board (and with the same Packet
ID, and other info). For example, you might have 10 different Command
Files for one BBS... each one doing a different combination of tasks,
but all using the same Configuration: one for downloading files, one for
mail, one for mail and downloads, one for mail and uploads... etc.

You will immediately see the advantage of having separate Command and
Configuration Files if your Sysop redefines something on the board, and
you must change your Liberator setup (i.e. if a door number, or prompt
changes). Only the Configuration File will need changing, and all your
Command Files (of which there are usually about 10 times as many for
each board) can remain unmodified, since they don't contain any
information about the BBS other than the name of the Configuration File!
If this is a little unclear, you'll get the idea when the time comes,
and will be glad you don't have to edit 15 files every time a change is
made on the board.


Problems/Remedies
-----------------

The FIRST thing to check whenever any type of problem occurs is the
Usage Log (defined in each Configuration, but defaults to LIBERATE.USE).
The Liberator stamps many status/error messages in this file which are
not displayed on the screen. Many problems can be solved by looking at
this file. Below some common problems are outlined as questions, with
the solution following:

It doesn't maintain the mail packets, and/or keeps cancelling the job?
Check your Mail Door type, message/reply packet directories, and Packet
ID on Configuration screen 4, and make sure everything is set up
properly. If you define any of this improperly, The Liberator will not
be able to locate your packets, and the packet maintenance will not take
place, and/or the Mail Door activity may be automatically cancelled.
See the Usage Log first, as it may show you what The Liberator IS
looking for, according to what you set up.

Why doesn't it dial when I select a job? Your modem is forcing on the
'Carrier Detect', which means it's telling The Liberator you're
connected when you really aren't... The Liberator skips dialing since
it thinks you are already online (you can start The Liberator online, at
any of the eight 'key' prompts). See the file TELIX.DOC that
accompanied The Liberator for a remedy. It's usually easy to fix once
you know what you're looking for.

Can't connect properly after dialing? Almost surely a Telix/modem setup
problem. See the Telix documentation and your modem manual until you




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can connect manually (using ). All The Liberator does is hit
for you and select the proper entry numbers. Control is then
turned over to Telix completely, until after the connection is
established.

Won't logon properly... gets stuck at a certain prompt? The first thing
to try is a 'Response Delay' which is set on Configuration screen 1.
(Select 'Edit' then hit and enter the proper number to edit a
Configuration). Sometimes The Liberator answers questions faster than
the board can accept them, and a response delay of 5 (half-second) or 10
(1 second) usually solves this. If not, in all probability, your Sysop
has re-defined the prompt, and The Liberator comes out of the box to
look for the default prompts. Take note of the prompt on the BBS, then
Edit your Configuration, and hit or to page
through the Configuration screens. PCBoard prompts are defined on
screen 2, Pro Utilities prompts on screen 3, and Mail Door prompts on
screen 4 (only available in a Mail Door is defined on screen 1).

Once inside the Mail Door, it gets stuck at the 'Press a key' prompt?
Turn Expert mode on, and the prompt will not be displayed.

Even though the prompts match, it isn't sending any commands to the
door? In the Qmail v3/4 doors, there is a C)onfiguration OPTion which
'flushes the buffer'... which means that if The Liberator answers a
question too fast (stored in the door's 'buffer'), the door ignores it
and clears the buffer assuming it was line noise. Toggle the buffer
flushing OPTion OFF (you may also want to toggle ON 'Delaying extended
prompts for 1 second' as it assures the buffer is already cleared before
The Liberator receives the prompt). If in a MarkMail door, or older
Qmail door, try setting a 'Response delay' of, say 5 or 10, in your
Liberator Configuration File for that BBS.

Why does it send my reply packet 3 times?! In Qmail/MarkMail doors, The
Liberator looks for the 'Successful Upload' prompt, and if it doesn't
show up after the transfer completes, it assumes the upload was bad, and
tries again, up to 3 times total. This feature may save your session
one day, but it requires that the proper prompts be defined. Take note
of what message the door sends after a successful up/download, and
define it properly in your BBS Configuration.

Why does it try to download mail, even when there is none!!? You
probably have 'Repeat' downloading turned on in your Command File,
and/or the 'No Mail Found' prompt (screen 4) is not matching what the
board is sending. Repeat downloading can be useful when you fall behind
and must get more than one packet... but it only quits once the prompt
for 'No new messages' is found. If this isn't the problem, you may have
Repeat downloading turned on in the door itself. Qmail v3/4 doors offer
this feature, but it should be OFF for Liberator runs. If you wish to
use Repeat downloading, define it in your Command Files by selecting
'Mail download' (item 9) and entering an 'r'.

Telix's file transfer window comes up, but the file doesn't get
transferred? Wrong protocol defined either in the door or in your




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Configuration. Both The Liberator and the door must be set up for the
same protocol. See Configuration screen *4* to change The Liberator's
Mail Door protocols... the protocols on screen 1 are for PCBoard
transfers only and the ones on screen 3 for ProDoor transfers only.


Net/MegaMail/PCRelay Info
-------------------------

The Liberator uses completely separate routines to handle these doors,
since they operate quite differently from Qmail/MarkMail. All The
Liberator does, is first construct the proper filenames, using the
information provided on the Mail Door setup screen, as follows:

Message (incoming) packet - .
Reply (outgoing) packet - .

For NetMail, is OUT and is IN
for MegaMail is UL and is DL
for PCRelay is RLY and is RLY
but is substituted as IN for the message (incoming) packet.

If the proper reply file is not found, the door activity is
automatically cancelled before dialing. In these doors, you cannot
download without first uploading a packet, so The Liberator cancels both
if your reply packet is not found. Before dialing, message (incoming)
packet maintenance takes place, as usual, if a packet is found.

Once in the door, The Liberator looks for the name of the outgoing
packet, then sends your reply file. It then looks for the name of the
incoming file, and receives it to the directory defined in the BBS
Configuration as the 'Message packet directory'. When the session
completes, if the upload was successful (judged by whether you received
a packet or not), your reply file is renamed and/or deleted in the
after-session packet maintenance.


Multiple Mail Door Setup
------------------------

To have The Liberator download mail from multiple doors on the same BBS,
you must define a separate Configuration for each door, defining the
door's number (or name if available) and the proper Packet ID, along
with the other usual information. Each door's Packet ID can be
determined by performing a manual download.

Once you get all the door #'s/Packet ID's, use 'Create' from the main
menu to get started, set everything up in the Configuration, save it
using the Packet ID for a name, then save a Command File (make sure you
set the Mail upload/download items to Yes) using the same name. Repeat
this for each door, but rather than re-Creating a new set each time,
select 'Edit' for the second setup, and simply change the info in the
first CFG to match the second door (i.e. the door number and Packet ID).




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All the other info should remain the same, since it's being executed on
the same BBS.

When finished, save CFG #2 under a *different* name, and The Liberator
will create a new Configuration using that name (effectively cloning and
editing them all at once). After the first setup, all you should have
to change for each subsequent door is the Mail Door number, and Packet
ID for each Configuration--just don't forget to enter a *different* name
when saving the secondary files, or you'll overwrite your original!
[Note that the Configuration is accessible from the Command File screen
by selecting item 1, and hitting .]

Once the necessary files are created, 'Add' them to the Master and run
the Master by selecting 0 from the main menu. The jobs will all be
carried out, from door to door, without disconnecting! See the section
'Using the Master' in LIBERATE.DOC for more information.


Qmail v4 setup
--------------

Define the proper door number (door name preferred if available... e.g.
QMAIL4) on Configuration screen 1, then hit to move to the
Qmail screen. There, set the proper Packet ID according to the SET you
have in mind. If configuring for SET 1, the usual Packet ID is used
(for example, BBSID). If configuring for SET 2, a number will usually
follow the packet ID (BBSID2), and so on. Define the SET number (e.g.
1, 2, 3, etc.), and a default NETwork if desired (optional) in item 9.
For more information on SET and NET, view the help available in the
door. Of course your protocols/directories must be set according to how
you have the door and your Offline Reader configured. The v4 Qmail door
has a C)onfiguration OPTion to send the SESSION.TXT file, so there's no
need to define a pack command. The extended prompts are used, and The
Liberator makes sure they are turned on each time it opens the door by
sending the PROMPTS command.

If using multiple SET's, you must set up a Command/Configuration File
for each SET, making sure to define the proper Packet ID and SET # in
each Configuration. Note that you needn't Create the CFG from scratch
each time... simply 'E'dit the last SET's Configuration, change the SET
# and Packet ID, then save the Configuration under a different name
(e.g. BBS-1.CFG, BBS-2.CFG, etc). Set up a job for each Configuration,
then Add them to the Master, and it will carry out the different SET's,
including packet maintenance, without leaving the door or disconnecting.


  3 Responses to “Category : Communication (modem) tools and utilities
Archive   : LIB232.ZIP
Filename : MAIL.DOC

  1. Very nice! Thank you for this wonderful archive. I wonder why I found it only now. Long live the BBS file archives!

  2. This is so awesome! 😀 I’d be cool if you could download an entire archive of this at once, though.

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