Fidonet Zone 1

Please send corrections, additions to me at 1:261/38 or janis@filegate.net

This document is not meant to replace sysop.gui, but to complement it.

1. How Do I Install BBBS under DOS/Windows/OS/2?

To install bbbs for the first time,  make a directory named bbbs, and then change to that directory (cd \bbbs, etc.).

Extract the archive, run "bcfg4 0", and remember to press F1 at any time if you are unsure what to put in a particular field.

After you press F1, hit enter on any highlighted word to take you to that subject.

Take your time! Go through each screen and check out it's purpose.
Pressing F1 on each field as you go is good idea, because bbbs has so many features and many tips are buried in the documention :)

Some examples of running bcfg4 the first time:

[C:\] MD BBBS
[C:\] CD C:\BBBS
[C:\BBBS] BCFG4.EXE 0

to enter the sysop name and bbbs name and other settings.

After you complete entering information in BCFG4.EXE 0, exit and save the configuration, and then run BBBS 0 to establish user '0' as the SysOp of this bbs.

2. How Do I Install BBBS under Linux?

Type the following commands to do so:
 

[root@yourdomain home] adduser bbbs

then type:

[root@yourdomain home] passwd bbbs

to set this user's password in /etc/passwd.

Modifying some hardware permissions if your using a modem:

If you will be using a modem to dial out, then the Linux version also needs user bbbs to own the device
it will use to call out (modem):

crw------- 1 bbs tty 4, 65 Feb 16 16:04 ttyS1

How you do this will depend on your distribution of linux.   Later Mandrake versions require you to change
the permissions of the file /dev/tts/1 for port 0 (comparable to com1 under dos):

dir /dev/ttyS1
lr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 5 Jan 16 14:22 /dev/ttyS1 -> tts/1

chown bbs.tty /dev/tts/1
crw-rw---- 1 bbs tty 4, 65 Jan 16 19:23 /dev/tts/1

As user root , move the BBBS archive or tar file to the /home/  directory.

Change the permissions of the archive to be owned by user bbbs:
 

[root@yourdomain home]$ chown bbs.bbs  /home/bbbs_li.tgz

Switch to user bbbs with the su command:
 

[root@yourdomain bbbs]$ su - bbbs
[bbbs@yourdomain bbbs]_

Now as user bbbs,    go back to the /home/  directory where you put the bbbs archive:
 

[bbbs@yourdomain bbbs]$ cd ..
[bbbs@yourdomain home]_

If it's a gzip tar file,  you can type:
 

[bbbs@yourdomain home]$ tar xvzf filename.tar.gz _

If it's a tar file, you can type:
 

[bbbs@yourdomain home]$ tar xf filename.tar

Change back to the bbbs directory again:

                  [bbbs@yourdomain home] cd /home/bbbs
 

To see the path as it is currently set, type:

[bbbs@yourdomain home]echo $PATH

The path shown will be something similar to this, depending on your distribution:
/usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin

To change the path to include bbbs, you can type this:

bbs@yourdomain bbbs]$ PATH=$PATH:/home/bbbs:.;export PATH

Now, as user bbbs,  you need to fill out some information  in the bbbs config.  Type:

[bbbs@yourdomain home]bcfg4 0

or

[bbbs@yourdomain home]./bcfg4 0

if you don't have the path set.
 

When you run "bcfg4 0",  press F1 for context-sensitive help at any time if you are unsure what to put in a particular field.
After you press F1, hit enter on any highlighted word to take you to that subject.

Take your time! Go through each screen and check out it's purpose.

Pressing F1 on each field as you go is good idea, because bbbs has so many features and many tips are buried in the documention :)
 

There are two main sections in bcfg4, Global and Local.   You should go through each selection under both of these sections.
As you are going through  bcfg4, remember that anything you set up in the Global section
will be used for _all_ of your nodes.  Anything that you want to set up for one particular node is generally
set up in the Local sections of bcfg4.
 

When you are done with bcfg4 0,  press the Escape key until you reach the menu.  Press enter on [Exit and Save]

Finally, you need to set an account on the BBS as the SysOp.  To do this, type:

 ./bbbs 0

to establish user '0' as the sysop.

3. How do I set up Fidonet:

Most of the fields in the GLOBAL:->FIDONET section are self-explanatory.. Your main node number should be the first one listed whenever asked. In the FIDONET:->GENERAL screen, you can put the string ^[1-6] to say that for this node, aka's should be used for zones 1-6, etc. or for whatever zones you need to match.

Node number               AKA matching
0: 1:261/38.0            0: ^[1-6]
1: 1:261/100.0           1: ^[1-6]

4. Adding Message echos:

News ................this is news from the bbbs system to the sysop
Post Office .........this is a private message area used for the sysop, and
                     for comments to the sysop.
Main Board ..........this is a local message area where users and the sysop
                     can post.

How do I Add Echomail Message areas

Add them manually one at a time, in bcfg4's GLOBAL:->CONFS by going to that screen and pressing
 

u

to add an unnamed entry.

Press your arrow down to get to that newly entered Unnamed area and then press

<enter>

on the 'unnamed' entry to fill out the fields for that echo area's entry.

For example:

.----------------------------+ Conference Browser +|MI------------ X00 News
||MI--P--------- X00 Post Office
||-I------------ X00 Main Board
||-------------- X00 [Unnamed] <enter>

Or:

You can add echomail areas from a list of echos all at once (fidonet.na type file). On my system, I ran this once for each "network" or groups of message echos. To add echos from a list echos, put the file that contains the tag names and descriptions in your bbbs directory. Then go into

GLOBAL:->CONFS: and press F5.

You will see a template that you need to fill out. Each one of the echos in the list will have the attributes of the field entries in that template (Fido export: perhaps your uplink and other nodes who want all new echos, Import/Export: the character set you want to use with all your echos, etc.).

5. Adding bad EchoMail areas from your uplink)

In External.bbb find or add a [badecho] section:

[badecho]
;uplink area {aka_list} {in_char out_char origin} group {area_prefix} export
1:140/1 . 1:261/38 ISO ISO 0 X FIDO: 1:2600/290 2:34/999 2:263/950 2:280/1027
[- 1 -   ][2][- 3 -]     [-  4 - ]     [5][6][7] [ -8- - - - - ]

In order, the above represents:

[1] authorized-uplink
[2] . means any-tag-name
[3] my aka(s)
[4] character-set (two fields for import/export) like ISO ISO [5] Origin # to use
[6) group
[7) prefix for bbs display
[8) include-these-nodes-in-export-list

To then add echomail areas that are in your 'bad' directory, first make sure that either all nodes are taken down (kill processnumber under linux), or put semiphore files in your bbbs/work directory to prevent users from loging in

bbbsd.noc       If exists, bbbsd rejects incoming connections.  The file
                can contain a one line description that will be shown to the
                user.
bbbs.noc        If exists, BBBS will reject incoming callers.  This is a
                useful semaphore to use during maintenance functions that users
                should not be on the BBS during.

6. How do I add File Echos and Local File Areas:

• BBS user access
• Paricular nodes (if you choose to do so)
• Uplinks and Downlinks via fido tick technology
• Allowing access for uplinks and downlinks using group symbols

File areas that you would like to limit on each node are listed in the filedirn.00? files (where ? is the node number) so that users of these nodes will only see the contents of that nodes' filedirn.00? file.

If you intend for all nodes to show the same file areas, you can create a filedirg.000 with all file areas listed and @w:fsysop @r:all permissions, and then also create FILEDIRN.00? files which only list the /tmp directory for each node.

The file areas defined in the filedirg.000 file will be shown to your users on all nodes on the bbs if you give each area read access.

[======FILEDIRG.000=============================================]
/    /home/ftp/pub @w:fsysop @r:all Root directory
/incoming     /home/bbbs/pub/incoming/ @rw:all New Uploads
/pdn     /home/ftp/pub/pdn/ @w:fsysop @r:all [PDN] Programmers Distribution Network
/pdn/pdnai    /home/ftp/pub/pdn/pdnai/ @w:fsysop @r:all AI (artificial intelligence)
[=======End Filedirg.000===========================================]

7. How Do I Add Bad tick areas?

ls /home/ftp/pub/*/* -d -1 > filedirs
and then edit the file filedirs.

In DOS or OS/2 or Windows, you could do something similar with dir C:\bbbs\pub >> filedirs

With a good editor that lets you use macros, it won't take terribly long to create the file area definitions.

Here's the example for using the [badtick] from the documentation:

; For areas that originate from 2:210/27: do not generate areas starting with ; the string "BBBS". Generate all the rest, with the origin aka 2:222/0, ; assign to file-echo group C and add the V (visible) flag. Make the root ; directory /newtic and export files to 2:22/10 and 2:222/151.666, then give ; echos the default description of "New Fido Echo":

2:210/27 ^BBBS -
2:210/27 . 2:222/0 C V newtic 2:22/10 2:222/151.666 /New Fido Echo

In other words, the first field is your node number. The second is regexp defining areas to include or not include; the first line says don't include any areas with "BBBS" in them, the second line says do add "all the rest" because of it's position after the 'Not bbbs' line.

As you can see, this doesn't let you specify a physical location (starting directory) and use existing areas.

8. How do I set up Multiple Nodes?

You configure each of the nodes you will be using for dialup or telnet, or TCPIP in the _local_ sections as opposed to the_global_ sections. The Global sections are settings which will be used for _all_ nodes, while the local sections are only used for the specific node you are defining when you run bcfg4.exe [nodenumber].

So, as an example, if you have purchased the 7 node version and you want to run:
 

Node 1:               dialup (landline with modem)
node Node 2-7: telnet/Binkp nodes

Then type
 

bcfg4.exe 1

Fill in the modem information for node 1 since this node is a dialup (modem) line. The modem information for Node 1 is configured in the Local->MODEM->?? sections since these setting will only for node 1.

For telnet nodes run bcfg4.exe x, where x is the node number you want to configure as a telnet node.

You can make any node you like a telnet node by calling up bcfg4.exe [nodenumber] but for this example we'll use nodes 2-5 for telnet nodes.

In each configuration of bcfg4.exe [nodenumber] go to:

LOCAL:->GENERAL:->FD's DOBBS.BAT ___________ field and type the word "telnet" without the quotes.

for example:
 

[Local:->General:]
Logfile: /home/bbbs/main/log2
Spy file: spy2
FD's DOBBS.BAT: telnet__
[...]

Next, go to

 
LOCAL:->TOGGLES:-> [X] Slow protocols

Finally, to configure a node as a TCPIP node for our example (node 7) to dial out to one of your downlink's binkp node:

type:
 

bcfg4.exe 7

Make sure LOCAL:->GENERAL:-FD's DOBBS.BAT ________
field is _blank_ (empty)
 

[Local:->General:]
Logfile: /home/bbbs/main/log7
Spy file: spy7
FD's DOBBS.BAT: _______
[...] [Local:->General:]

How do I get various Daemons/Services running?

Linux Daemons

=====cut here======
#/bin/sh
cd /home/bbbs
./bbbsd 3 7 telnetd:23 httpd:8080 ftpd:2121 rawd:24555:binkp "quiet" "fork" "uid:"bbs &
# The above line should be on one line :)
====cut here and save with the filename of your choice=======

In the example above, the call to bbbsd defines nodes 3 through 7 as telnet nodes.

On my system node 1 is on my dialup modem line, and I use node 2 for my TCPIP node therefore nodes 1 and 2 are not included in the bbbsd command line.

Under Linux, you can make the shell script executible with the command:

chmod a+x filename

Windows (services) and OS/2 Daemons

======cut here=======
cd \bbbs
c:\bbbs\bbbsd.exe 1 7 ftpd:21 telnetd:23 httpd:80 rawd:200:binkp quiet smtpd:25
======cut here=======

This batch file or cmd file is calling bbbsd with nodes 1 through 7 being telnet,www, and binkp nodes.

To see other notes concerning Windows or OS/2 and BBBS or BBBSD, type 'bag.exe sysop.gui', and then press S to search, finally type OS/2 or WINDOWS and you will see the relevant pages.

How Do I Set HTTP as HTTPS?

What I have is the following:

./bbbsd 2 7 telnetd:23 httpd:81 httpd:443:ssl rawd:24554:binkp "quiet" "uid:bbbs"

Thank you to Russ Johnson for the above!

11. How do I send Outgoing Traffic?

For _outgoing_ traffic, you essentially have 2 types:

1. smtp (e-mail traffic)
2. TCPIP (which sends _out_ via binkp, rawd, telnet protocols)

Outgoing Traffic: SMTP:

[nodes]
; node spass apass ppass tpass gr st pa route
; ------------ -------- -------- -------- -------- ---- -- -- -------------------
1:140/1       passd  passwd passwd passwd XFG H  2   1:*    bob@somedomain.com

The above routes all netmail traffic for Zone 1 to 1:140/1 via an e-mail address.

To send out smtp traffic, you run the bbbs.exe command:
 

BBBS.EXE BSMTP R [host]

When you do this, the netmail for Z1 for instance, will be sent to the host you specify. If you have file areas going to this node, they will also be sent via smtp as uuencoded messages. 

Outgoing Traffic: Binkp

Binkp traffic that is to go 'out' is done by starting a node of BBBS with the TCPIP keyword (instead of a modem, for instance).

Set up and configure a node for TCPIP, similar to the telnet node, but leave the [FD's  DOBBS.BAT]  field blank as below:

Then put that node up using the TCPIP keyword:
 

[ piece of a script that calls TCPIP nodes for linux]

cd /home/bbbs
./bbbs 2 2 TCPIP
[...]

For WINDOWS or OS/2, the script would be similar:
 

rem path to bbbs directory
c:
cd  \bbbs
bbbs.exe 2 2 TCPIP
[...]

You use the modem flags in the BCFG4->LOCAL->MODEM->DIAL fields to dial binkp and telnet systems.

ATR will dial a binkp system.
ATD will dial a telnet system.

You can set your LOCAL->MODEM->DIAL field with each of these, so that bbbs will use the proper dial string for specific types of calls.  Here's an example:
 

The flags you use in the Dial regexp match should match the strings you use in the remap section of external bbb for nodes you connect to.  In external.bbb, find the node_remap section.  Put an entry in for the node
you want to call using the correct flag, like BND for Binkp, as above.

[node_remap]
,1:135/364.0,Sunshine_State_Net,Fernandina_Beach_FL,Timothy_Cornett,ds69bbs.com,300,CM,BND

To configure and use a node for _outgoing_ traffic you write a script or batch file using the TCPIP (must be uppercase) keyword.

Make sure you do not use one of the nodes you have set up as an Incoming bbbsd node as in the line above.

 Use a node that you have not included in the bbbsd daemon script. In this example below, node 2, which is not used in the above bbbsd script above, is used for TCPIP.
 

========cut here====================
#!/bin/sh
TZ=EDT4
export TZ
# runppp.sh following thanks to Warren Hrach <smile> while :
do
cd /home/bbbs
./bbbs 1 2 TCPIP
RC=$?
echo BBBS RC: $RC
if [ $RC = 137 ]; then
exit
fi
# set this errorlevel in Global: FidoNet: Sessions: Mail errorlevel if [ $RC = 11 ];
then nohup /home/bbbs/mailin.sh &
fi
# set this errorlevel in Global: FidoNet: Sessions: User mail errl. if [ $RC = 12 ];
then nohup /home/bbbs/mailout.sh &
fi
if [ $RC = 0 ]; then
exit
fi
reset
done
======================cut here===================

To send traffic to an ftp downlink, you set up two files, one a data file that contains the name of the site you calling, your username and password on that site, and then commands to perform once you are connected.

Example:
 

=======Data file for node 1:140/1========== nwstar.com
username
password
cd inbound
put 1:140/1
cd ..
cd outbound
getdel *
quit
========End Date file for node 1:140/1=====

Once you've got the data file written, you construct another script or batch file to actually call BFTP and perform the commands in the data file:
 

========Script to call BFTP====
bbbs bom ch 1:140/3 -H
bbbs bftp callbob.dat /home/bbbs/inbound
======end script to call BFTP=========

Bftp is run with the name of the data file you've written and the path to your inbound directory, as you can see in the above script.
 
 
 
 

12. How Do I mark Netmail with different flavors/actions?

These are the flags that bbbs uses to indicate different flavors/actions of Netmail:

           '!' Crash
           '-' Hold
           '?' Receipt Request
           '>' File Attach
           '<' File Request
           '*' Immediate
           '/' KillSent

(NETMAIL:0) Read Command (? for menu): e

             Send message to: Janis Kracht
          Subject of message: !*1:261/38 Crash/Immediate flavor

(NETMAIL:0) Read Command (? for menu): e

             Send message to: Janis Kracht
          Subject of message: >1:261/38 /home/bbbs/work/testfile.zip

(NETMAIL:0) Read Command (? for menu): e

             Send message to: Janis Kracht
          Subject of message: <1:261/38 FILES.NEW

13. Sample Scripts

A Script for a dialup node: Again, thanks to Warren Hrach's Howto.bbbs:
 

========cut here============run1.sh============
#!/bin/sh
# Run node 1. Modified by Janis Kracht Jan. 21, 1999.
while :
do

cd /home/bbbs
./bbbs 1 1 /dev/modem
RC=$?
echo BBBS RC: $RC

if [ $RC = 137 ]; then

exit
fi

# set this errorlevel in Global: FidoNet: Sessions: Mail errorlevel

if [ $RC = 11 ];
then nohup /home/bbbs/mailin.sh &
fi

# set this errorlevel in Global: FidoNet: Sessions: User mail errorlevel
 

if [ $RC = 12 ];

then nohup /home/bbbs/mailout.sh & fi

if [ $RC = 40 ];

then nohup /home/bbbs/bbbs bnc 1 & fi

if [ $RC = 60 ];
then nohup /home/bbbs/callmartin.sh & fi

if [ $RC = 70 ];
then nohup /home/bbbs/mkfilelist &
fi

if [ $RC = 0 ]; then

exit
fi

reset

done
========cut here===========end of run1.sh============
 
 

Usage: BBBS [x] {node}                       Start BBBS COMx for node (0=local)
       BBBS [command]                        See below for commands:

BCONF        Show conference status                      BMT       Message track
BSTAT        Show statistics list                              BDATE     Update birthday list
BTXT2BBS  Convert text file to message              BNMSG     Send node message
BBBS2TXT  Convert message to text file              BNC       Compile nodelist(s)
BMSG           Import/export FidoNet mail              BHATCH    Send TICK file
BOGUS         Import/export FidoNet mail               BPC       Pack conference
BNDIFF       Update NODELIST from NODEDIFF      BPUS      Pack users
BTICK         Process incoming TICK files              BSETPACK  Pack set file
BOK             Make OKFILE.TXT for FrontDoor   BFILSORT  Sort filedirs
BFILEIDX  Make index file for filedirs       BOM    Outbound Manager
BLIST         Make ASCII-version of filelist     BAADD     Add/take money
BNEWF      Make ASCII-version of new files    BKILL     Kill users
BLINKFIX  Update link's datestamps                BWHO      Who's on
BNNTP        Exchange news with NNTP servers    BTIME     Check your clock
BSMTP       Exchange email with SMTP server    BFTP      Batch-FTP
BMKILL      Kill/list messages with criterias       BPOP      Receive mail from POP3
BCSTAT      Conference statistics                     BRSA      Generate new BZLL RSA
BFSTAT      File statistics                               BPURGE    Remove old files
BUUCP         Import/export UUCP spool           BFAG      Filelist -> AmigaGuide
 

You create a file  with the site's ip address or domain,  your username and password for ftp access.  You then include ftp commands  to access different directories (like cd, for example).  You can use bftp's getdel command to pick up waiting mail, and delete it from the remote site when you've finished downloading it. You also can use bftp's put command to upload traffic specifically for a node as in the callmartin.dat file below.
 

======cut here========callmartin.dat===========
209.251.106.777
username
password
cd out
getdel *
cd ..
cd in
put 1:232/16
quit
===========cut here====end callmar.dat=============

Callmartin.sh sets a flag to make sure only one 'process' is running, then tells bbbs to remove hold status for this nodes traffic
(if  Hold status isn't removed, the traffic will not be sent), and then calls the callmartin.dat file with the bftp command.

===========cut here=========callmartin.sh=======
#!/bin/sh
cd /home/bbbs/
if [ -f loginmar.bsy ]; then
exit 0
fi
touch loginmar.bsy
./bbbs bom ch 1:232/16 -H
./bbbs bftp callmartin.dat /home/bbbs/inbound > /dev/null 2>&1 rm -f loginmar.bsy
========cut here===========end callmartin.sh======

BBBS has a number of built-in commands that I use a lot.  The mkfilelist script can be used to make some bulletins, a newfiles list, and an allfiles list:

=============cut here=======mkfilelist=====
#!/bin/sh
cd /home/bbbs
du -hc -X out.txt /home/ftp/pub > /home/bbbs/menus/bull5 ./bbbs bfstat > /home/bbbs/menus/bull8
./bbbs bfileidx
./bbbs blist files.lst
./bbbs bnewf files.new
zip -jkl files.zip files.lst
zip -jkl newfile.zip files.new
unzip -o newfile.zip FILES.NEW
mv files.zip /home/ftp/pub/info
mv FILES.NEW /home/ftp/pub/info
rm newfile.zip
===========cut here====end mkfilelist=========

To Update the nodelist, I use this script:

 

First, get the day/week number for this Friday:

num=`date +%j --date=Friday`

pick=`expr substr $num 2 3`
cp /home/ftp/pub/nodediff/nodediff.a$pick    /home/bbbs/nodelist
cd /home/bbbs
./bbbs bndiff
rm /home/bbbs/nodelist/nodediff.$pick
./bbbs bnc