1 <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN">
4 <META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="SGML-Tools 1.0.9">
5 <TITLE>The DXSpider Administration Manual v1.48: Mail</TITLE>
6 <LINK HREF="adminmanual-4.html" REL=next>
7 <LINK HREF="adminmanual-2.html" REL=previous>
8 <LINK HREF="adminmanual.html#toc3" REL=contents>
9 <link rel=stylesheet href="style.css" type="text/css" title="default stylesheet">
12 <A HREF="adminmanual-4.html">Next</A>
13 <A HREF="adminmanual-2.html">Previous</A>
14 <A HREF="adminmanual.html#toc3">Contents</A>
16 <H2><A NAME="s3">3. Mail</A></H2>
18 <P>DXSpider deals seamlessly with standard AK1A type mail. It supports both
19 personal and bulletin mail and the sysop has additional commands to ensure
20 that mail gets to where it is meant. DXSpider will send mail almost
21 immediately, assuming that the target is on line. However, only one
22 mail message is dealt with at any one time. If a mail message is already
23 being sent or recieved, then the new message will be queued until it has
25 <P>The cluster mail is automatically deleted after 30 days unless the sysop
26 sets the "keep" flag using the <EM>msg</EM> command.
28 <H2><A NAME="ss3.1">3.1 Personal mail</A>
31 <P>Personal mail is sent using the <EM>sp</EM> command. This is actually the
32 default method of sending mail and so a simple <EM>s</EM> for send will do.
33 A full list of the send commands and options is in the <EM>command set</EM>
34 section, so I will not duplicate them here.
36 <H2><A NAME="ss3.2">3.2 Bulletin mail</A>
39 <P>Bulletin mail is sent by using the <EM>sb</EM> command. This is one of the
40 most common mistakes users make when sending mail. They send a bulletin
41 mail with <EM>s</EM> or <EM>sp</EM> instead of <EM>sb</EM> and of course
42 the message never leaves the cluster. This can be rectified by the sysop
43 by using the <EM>msg</EM> command.
45 <P>Bulletin addresses can be set using the Forward.pl file.
47 <H2><A NAME="ss3.3">3.3 Forward.pl</A>
50 <P>DXSpider receives all and any mail sent to it without any alterations needed
51 in files. Because personal and bulletin mail are treated differently, there
52 is no need for a list of accepted bulletin addresses. It is necessary, however,
53 to tell the program which links accept which bulletins. For example, it is
54 pointless sending bulletins addresses to "UK" to any links other than UK
55 ones. The file that does this is called forward.pl and lives in /spider/msg.
56 At default, like other spider files it is named forward.pl.issue. Rename it
57 to forward.pl and edit the file to match your requirements.
58 The format is below ...
63 # this is an example message forwarding file for the system
65 # The format of each line is as follows
67 # type to/from/at pattern action destinations
68 # P/B/F T/F/A regex I/F [ call [, call ...] ]
70 # type: P - private, B - bulletin (msg), F - file (ak1a bull)
71 # to/from/at: T - to field, F - from field, A - home bbs, O - origin
72 # pattern: a perl regex on the field requested
73 # action: I - ignore, F - forward
74 # destinations: a reference to an array containing node callsigns
76 # if it is non-private and isn't in here then it won't get forwarded
78 # Currently only type B msgs are affected by this code.
80 # The list is read from the top down, the first pattern that matches
81 # causes the action to be taken.
83 # The pattern can be undef or 0 in which case it will always be selected
84 # for the action specified
86 # If the BBS list is undef or 0 and the action is 'F' (and it matches the
87 # pattern) then it will always be forwarded to every node that doesn't have
88 # it (I strongly recommend you don't use this unless you REALLY mean it, if
89 # you allow a new link with this on EVERY bull will be forwarded immediately
90 # on first connection)
96 'B', 'T', 'LOCAL', 'F', [ qw(GB7MBC) ],
97 'B', 'T', 'ALL', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
98 'B', 'T', 'UK', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX) ],
99 'B', 'T', 'QSL', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
100 'B', 'T', 'QSLINF', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
101 'B', 'T', 'DX', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
102 'B', 'T', 'DXINFO', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
103 'B', 'T', 'DXNEWS', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
104 'B', 'T', 'DXQSL', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
105 'B', 'T', 'SYSOP', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX) ],
106 'B', 'T', '50MHZ', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
110 <P>Simply insert a bulletin address and state in the brackets where you wish
111 that mail to go. For example, you can see here that mail sent to "UK" will
112 only be sent to the UK links and not to PA4AB-14.
114 <P>To force the cluster to reread the file use load/forward
117 <H2><A NAME="ss3.4">3.4 The msg command</A>
120 <P>The <EM>msg</EM> command is a very powerful and flexible tool for the
121 sysop. It allows the sysop to alter to and from fields and make other
122 changes to manage the cluster mail.
123 <P>Here is a full list of the various options ...
127 MSG TO <msgno> <call> - change TO callsign to <call>
128 MSG FRom <msgno> <call> - change FROM callsign to <call>
129 MSG PRrivate <msgno> - set private flag
130 MSG NOPRrivate <msgno> - unset private flag
131 MSG RR <msgno> - set RR flag
132 MSG NORR <msgno> - unset RR flag
133 MSG KEep <msgno> - set the keep flag (message won't be deleted ever)
134 MSG NOKEep <msgno> - unset the keep flag
135 MSG SUbject <msgno> <new> - change the subject to <new>
136 MSG WAittime <msgno> - remove any waiting time for this message
137 MSG NOREad <msgno> - mark message as unread
138 MSG REad <msgno> - mark message as read
139 MSG QUeue - queue any outstanding bulletins
140 MSG QUeue 1 - queue any outstanding private messages
143 <P>These commands are simply typed from within the cluster as the sysop user.
145 <H2><A NAME="ss3.5">3.5 Message status</A>
148 <P>You can check on a message from within the cluster by using the command
149 <EM>stat/msg</EM>. This will give you additional information on the
150 message number including which nodes have received it, which node it
151 was received from and when etc. Here is an example of the output of
156 G0VGS de GB7MBC 28-Jan-2001 1308Z >
159 Msg Time: 26-Jan-2001 1302Z
163 Subject: AMSAT 2line KEPS 01025.AMSAT
165 Got it Nodes: GB7BAA, GB7ADX
169 G0VGS de GB7MBC 28-Jan-2001 1308Z >
173 <H2><A NAME="ss3.6">3.6 Filtering mail</A>
176 <P>This is described in the section on <EM>Other filters</EM> so I will not
179 <H2><A NAME="ss3.7">3.7 Distribution lists</A>
182 <P>Distribution lists are simply a list of users to send certain types of
183 mail to. An example of this is mail you only wish to send to other
184 sysops. In /spider/msg there is a directory called <EM>distro</EM>. You
185 put any distibution lists in here. For example, here is a file called
186 SYSOP.pl that caters for the UK sysops.
190 qw(GB7TLH GB7DJK GB7DXM GB7CDX GB7BPQ GB7DXN GB7MBC GB7MBC-6 GB7MDX
191 GB7NDX GB7SDX GB7TDX GB7UDX GB7YDX GB7ADX GB7BAA GB7DXA GB7DXH
192 GB7DXK GB7DXI GB7DXS)
195 <P>Any mail sent to "sysop" would only be sent to the callsigns in this list.
197 <H2><A NAME="ss3.8">3.8 BBS interface</A>
200 <P>Spider provides a simple BBS interface. No input is required from the sysop
201 of the cluster at all. The BBS simply sets the cluster as a BBS and pushes
202 any required mail to the cluster. No mail can flow from Spider to the BBS,
203 the interface is one-way.
205 <P>Please be careful not to flood the cluster network with unnecessary mail.
206 Make sure you only send mail to the clusters that want it by using the
207 Forward.pl file very carefully.
210 <A HREF="adminmanual-4.html">Next</A>
211 <A HREF="adminmanual-2.html">Previous</A>
212 <A HREF="adminmanual.html#toc3">Contents</A>