Last update 21-Jan-2002

 

MBSE BBS Setup - Mail Setup -> Mail Areas.

Introduction.

Mail areas have fixed area numbers, just like file areas. But if you want you can move areas. Some offline readers don't like changing the area numbers. All areas can be of the following types: local, netmail, echomail and news. If you gate news and echomail in the same area, then select echomail if this area is a Fidonet area, select news if this area is a Usenet news area.

There is a global setup tool, if you are in the main message area setup screen then you can choose the Global command. This will allow you to do bulk changes on areas selected by the mail groups. Options are delete connection, add new connection, replace connection, change connection status, change days old for purge, change maximum messages for purge, change user security, change aka to use, change origin line, change netmail reply board and delete message area.

 

Message Area Setup.

Area Name   The description of the area.
Area Tag    The echomail area tag.
Newsgroup   The newsgroup name if you are gating this area.
Moderator   Leave this blank for now!
JAM base    The path and name of the JAM message base without extension.
Origin      The origin line to add to echomail messages.
Fido Aka    The Fidonet aka for this area.
QWK name    The name of the area for OffLine Readers.
Group       The name of the echomail group.
Distrib.    Leave this blank for now!
Area Type   Local, Netmail, Echomail or News.
Msg Kinds   Private/Public, Private, Public, Read Only, FTN moderated, Usenet Moderated
FTN chars   FTN characterset, not in use yet, defaults to IBMPC 2
RFC chars   RFC characterset, not in use yet, defaults tp LATIN-1 2
Days Old    The maximum age of the messages before purging.
Max. Msgs   The maximum messages in this area.
Articles    The maximum news headers to fetch.
Netreply    Netmail reply area if this is echomail.
Active      If this area is active.
User Del.   Users may delete their own messages.
Read Sec.   The security level to read messages.
Write Sec.  The security level to write messages.
Sysop Sec.  The security level to do sysop actions.
Aliases     Allow the use of an Alias.
Random org  Create random origin lines (Oneliner database).
Quotes      Add a random quote under new messages (Oneliner database).
Mandatory   If this area is mandatory for downlinks.
UnSecure    Don't check link address during toss (Dangerous!).
OLR Default Switch area default on for OLR users.
OLR Forced  Area is always on for OLR users.
Connections This will take you to the screen to edit up and downlinks.

 

Edit connection

Aka         The network address.
Send to     Export mail to this node.
Recv from   Import mail form this node.
Pause       The node is temporary disconnected.
Excluded    The node is disconnected by the sysop.
Delete      Delete this connection.

A note about the excluded switch. This can be used to disconnect a node from the area by moderator request. AreaMgr requests from that node for this area are not processed anymore, he cannot disconnect this area and reconnect. If you want to prevent a node to connect the area while he is not connected, you should manually connect the node and then set the Excluded flag to yes. However, the status of this flag is reported to the node in the notify messages, so this action is not invisible.

 

Global Commands.

From menu 9.2 you can enter the global commands menu. In this menu you can:

  1. Delete connection
  2. Add new connection
  3. Replace connection
  4. Change connection status
  5. Change days old
  6. Change max. messages
  7. Change max. articles
  8. Change security
  9. Change aka to use
  10. Change origin line
  11. Change netmail reply
  12. Delete message area
After you have selected the action you want and added the items to do, you will see a screen were you can select message area groups. You can then tag one or more groups and press enter when you are done. Then you have one chance to perform the actions or to bail out. All areas matching in that group are affected by your changes. If you are not happy with the result, don't save the database and no harm is done. The file mbsetup.log shows all affected areas.

 

Automatic area creation.

If you want to use the automatic area creation you have to define a fictitious area tagged 'DEFAULT' with the options you want for new areas like this: 

 1.  Area Name Area autocreada:
 2.  FTN area  DEFAULT
 3.  Newsgroup
 4.  Moderator
 5.  JAM base  /var/spool/mbse/mail/
 6.  Origin    Parolas BBX. Por fin.
 7.  Fido Aka  0:0/0@                                      22. Sysop Sec.   100
 8.  QWK name                      15. Days Old    40      23. Aliases      No
 9.  Group     AUTOCREADAS         16. Max. Msgs   1000    24. Quotes       No
 10. Distrib.                      17. Netreply    0       25. Mandatory    No
 11. Area Type Echomail            18. Active      Yes     26. UnSecure     No
 12. Msg Kinds Public              19. User Del.   Yes     27. OLR Default  No
 13. FTN chars IBMPC 2             20. Read Sec.   5       28. OLR Forced   No
 14. RFC chars LATIN-1 2           21. Write Sec.  5       29. Connections
The FTN area's Tag must be 'DEFAULT' exactly. Connections will be left blank. Fill the remaining options with your defaults for the new areas. If Fido AKA has not been filled in, the best fitting AKA according to the origin of the message will be used from the configuration.

Areas will be created as is laid out in this template, the tag of a new area will be added to the name and base path, the new tag will be placed in the tag and qwk name (truncating it if needed). Only the node from which the new area is received will be added in connections.

You will need to change the setup, menu 18, item 2, to change the command 'mbfido tic toss'. Add the -a parameter if you want the automatic creation of areas to work when importing received mail. So the commandline would be like /opt/mbse/bin/mbfido tic toss web -a -quiet.

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