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- <TITLE>The DXSpider Administration Manual v1.47: Filtering (New Style v1.45 and later)</TITLE>
+ <TITLE>The DXSpider Administration Manual v1.50: Mail</TITLE>
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-<H2><A NAME="s3">3. Filtering (New Style v1.45 and later)</A></H2>
+<H2><A NAME="s3">3. Mail</A></H2>
-<H2><A NAME="ss3.1">3.1 General filter rules</A>
+<P>DXSpider deals seamlessly with standard AK1A type mail. It supports both
+personal and bulletin mail and the sysop has additional commands to ensure
+that mail gets to where it is meant. DXSpider will send mail almost
+immediately, assuming that the target is on line. However, only one
+mail message is dealt with at any one time. If a mail message is already
+being sent or recieved, then the new message will be queued until it has
+finished.
+<P>The cluster mail is automatically deleted after 30 days unless the sysop
+sets the "keep" flag using the <EM>msg</EM> command.
+<P>
+<H2><A NAME="ss3.1">3.1 Personal mail</A>
</H2>
-<P>Upto v1.44 it was not possible for the user to set their own filters. From
-v1.45 though that has all changed. It is now possible to set filters for just
-about anything you wish. If you have just updated from an older version of
-DXSpider you will need to update your new filters. You do not need to do
-anything with your old filters, they will be renamed as you update.
+<P>Personal mail is sent using the <EM>sp</EM> command. This is actually the
+default method of sending mail and so a simple <EM>s</EM> for send will do.
+A full list of the send commands and options is in the <EM>command set</EM>
+section, so I will not duplicate them here.
<P>
-<P>There are 3 basic commands involved in setting and manipulating filters. These
-are <EM>accept</EM>, <EM>reject</EM> and <EM>clear</EM>. First we will look
-generally at filtering. There are a number of things you can filter in the
-DXSpider system. They all use the same general mechanism.
-<P>
-<P>In general terms you can create a 'reject' or an 'accept' filter which can have
-up to 10 lines in it. You do this using, for example ...
-<P>
-<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
-<PRE>
-
-accept/spots .....
-reject/spots .....
-</PRE>
-</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
-<P>where ..... are the specific commands for that type of filter. There are filters
-for spots, wwv, announce, wcy and (for sysops) connects. See each different
-accept or reject command reference for more details.
-<P>There is also a command to clear out one or more lines in a filter. They are ...
-<P>
-<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
-<PRE>
-clear/spots 1
-clear/spots all
-</PRE>
-</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
-<P>There is clear/xxxx command for each type of filter.
-<P>
-<P>and you can check that your filters have worked by the command ...
-<P>
-<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
-<PRE>
-
-show/filter
-</PRE>
-</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
-<P>
-<P>For now we are going to use spots for the examples, but you can apply the same
-principles to all types of filter.
-<P>
-<H2><A NAME="ss3.2">3.2 Types of filter</A>
+<H2><A NAME="ss3.2">3.2 Bulletin mail</A>
</H2>
-<P>There are two main types of filter, <EM>accept</EM> or <EM>reject</EM>. You
-can use either to achieve the result you want dependent on your own preference
-and which is more simple to do. It is pointless writing 8 lines of reject
-filters when 1 accept filter would do the same thing! Each filter has 10
-lines (of any length) which are tried in order. If a line matches then the
-action you have specified is taken (ie reject means ignore it and accept
-means take it)
-<P>
-<P>If you specify reject filters, then any lines that arrive that match the filter
-will be dumped but all else will be accepted. If you use an accept filter,
-then ONLY the lines in the filter will be accepted and all else will be dumped.
-For example if you have a single line <EM>accept</EM> filter ...
-<P>
-<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
-<PRE>
-accept/spots on vhf and (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16)
-</PRE>
-</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
-<P>then you will <EM>ONLY</EM> get VHF spots <EM>from</EM> or <EM>to</EM> CQ zones
-14, 15 and 16.
+<P>Bulletin mail is sent by using the <EM>sb</EM> command. This is one of the
+most common mistakes users make when sending mail. They send a bulletin
+mail with <EM>s</EM> or <EM>sp</EM> instead of <EM>sb</EM> and of course
+the message never leaves the cluster. This can be rectified by the sysop
+by using the <EM>msg</EM> command.
<P>
-<P>If you set a reject filter like this ...
+<P>Bulletin addresses can be set using the Forward.pl file.
<P>
-<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
-<PRE>
-reject/spots on hf/cw
-</PRE>
-</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
-<P>Then you will get everything <EM>EXCEPT</EM> HF CW spots. You could make this
-single filter even more flexible. For example, if you are interested in IOTA
-and will work it even on CW even though normally you are not interested in
-CW, then you could say ...
-<P>
-<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
-<PRE>
-reject/spots on hf/cw and not info iota
-</PRE>
-</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
-<P>But in that case you might only be interested in iota and say:-
-<P>
-<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
-<PRE>
-accept/spots not on hf/cw or info iota
-</PRE>
-</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
-<P>which achieves exactly the same thing. You should choose one or the other
-until you are comfortable with the way it works. You can mix them if you
-wish (actually you can have an accept AND a reject on the same line) but
-don't attempt this until you are sure you know what you are doing!
-<P>
-<P>You can arrange your filter lines into logical units, either for your own
-understanding or simply convenience. Here is an example ...
+<H2><A NAME="ss3.3">3.3 Forward.pl</A>
+</H2>
+
+<P>DXSpider receives all and any mail sent to it without any alterations needed
+in files. Because personal and bulletin mail are treated differently, there
+is no need for a list of accepted bulletin addresses. It is necessary, however,
+to tell the program which links accept which bulletins. For example, it is
+pointless sending bulletins addresses to "UK" to any links other than UK
+ones. The file that does this is called forward.pl and lives in /spider/msg.
+At default, like other spider files it is named forward.pl.issue. Rename it
+to forward.pl and edit the file to match your requirements.
+The format is below ...
<P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
<PRE>
-reject/spots 1 on hf/cw
-reject/spots 2 on 50000/1400000 not (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16)
+#
+# this is an example message forwarding file for the system
+#
+# The format of each line is as follows
+#
+# type to/from/at pattern action destinations
+# P/B/F T/F/A regex I/F [ call [, call ...] ]
+#
+# type: P - private, B - bulletin (msg), F - file (ak1a bull)
+# to/from/at: T - to field, F - from field, A - home bbs, O - origin
+# pattern: a perl regex on the field requested
+# action: I - ignore, F - forward
+# destinations: a reference to an array containing node callsigns
+#
+# if it is non-private and isn't in here then it won't get forwarded
+#
+# Currently only type B msgs are affected by this code.
+#
+# The list is read from the top down, the first pattern that matches
+# causes the action to be taken.
+#
+# The pattern can be undef or 0 in which case it will always be selected
+# for the action specified
+#
+# If the BBS list is undef or 0 and the action is 'F' (and it matches the
+# pattern) then it will always be forwarded to every node that doesn't have
+# it (I strongly recommend you don't use this unless you REALLY mean it, if
+# you allow a new link with this on EVERY bull will be forwarded immediately
+# on first connection)
+#
+
+package DXMsg;
+
+@forward = (
+'B', 'T', 'LOCAL', 'F', [ qw(GB7MBC) ],
+'B', 'T', 'ALL', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
+'B', 'T', 'UK', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX) ],
+'B', 'T', 'QSL', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
+'B', 'T', 'QSLINF', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
+'B', 'T', 'DX', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
+'B', 'T', 'DXINFO', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
+'B', 'T', 'DXNEWS', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
+'B', 'T', 'DXQSL', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
+'B', 'T', 'SYSOP', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX) ],
+'B', 'T', '50MHZ', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
+);
</PRE>
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
-<P>What this does is to ignore all HF CW spots and also rejects any spots on VHF
-which don't either originate or spot someone in Europe.
+<P>Simply insert a bulletin address and state in the brackets where you wish
+that mail to go. For example, you can see here that mail sent to "UK" will
+only be sent to the UK links and not to PA4AB-14.
<P>
-<P>This is an example where you would use a line number (1 and 2 in this case), if
-you leave the digit out, the system assumes '1'. Digits '0'-'9' are available.
-This make it easier to see just what filters you have set. It also makes it
-more simple to remove individual filters, during a contest for example.
+<P>To force the cluster to reread the file use load/forward
<P>
-<P>You will notice in the above example that the second line has brackets. Look
-at the line logically. You can see there are 2 separate sections to it. We
-are saying reject spots that are VHF or above <EM>APART</EM> from those in
-zones 14, 15 and 16 (either spotted there or originated there). If you did
-not have the brackets to separate the 2 sections, then Spider would read it
-logically from the front and see a different expression entirely ...
+<P>NB: If a user tries to send mail to a bulletin address that does not exist
+in this file, they will get an error.
<P>
-<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
-<PRE>
-(on 50000/1400000 and by_zone 14,15,16) or call_zone 14,15,16
-</PRE>
-</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
-<P>The simple way to remember this is, if you use OR - use brackets. Whilst we are
-here CASE is not important. 'And BY_Zone' is just the same as 'and by_zone'.
-<P>As mentioned earlier, setting several filters can be more flexible than
-simply setting one complex one. Doing it in this way means that if you want
-to alter your filter you can just redefine or remove one or more lines of it or
-one line. For example ...
+<H2><A NAME="ss3.4">3.4 The msg command</A>
+</H2>
+
+<P>The <EM>msg</EM> command is a very powerful and flexible tool for the
+sysop. It allows the sysop to alter to and from fields and make other
+changes to manage the cluster mail.
+<P>Here is a full list of the various options ...
<P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
<PRE>
-reject/spots 1 on hf/ssb
+ MSG TO <msgno> <call> - change TO callsign to <call>
+ MSG FRom <msgno> <call> - change FROM callsign to <call>
+ MSG PRrivate <msgno> - set private flag
+ MSG NOPRrivate <msgno> - unset private flag
+ MSG RR <msgno> - set RR flag
+ MSG NORR <msgno> - unset RR flag
+ MSG KEep <msgno> - set the keep flag (message won't be deleted ever)
+ MSG NOKEep <msgno> - unset the keep flag
+ MSG SUbject <msgno> <new> - change the subject to <new>
+ MSG WAittime <msgno> - remove any waiting time for this message
+ MSG NOREad <msgno> - mark message as unread
+ MSG REad <msgno> - mark message as read
+ MSG QUeue - queue any outstanding bulletins
+ MSG QUeue 1 - queue any outstanding private messages
</PRE>
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
-<P>would redefine our earlier example, or
+<P>These commands are simply typed from within the cluster as the sysop user.
<P>
-<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
-<PRE>
-clear/spots 1
-</PRE>
-</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
-<P>To remove all the filter lines in the spot filter ...
+<H2><A NAME="ss3.5">3.5 Message status</A>
+</H2>
+
+<P>You can check on a message from within the cluster by using the command
+<EM>stat/msg</EM>. This will give you additional information on the
+message number including which nodes have received it, which node it
+was received from and when etc. Here is an example of the output of
+the command ...
<P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
<PRE>
-clear/spots all
+G0VGS de GB7MBC 28-Jan-2001 1308Z >
+stat/msg 6869
+ From: GB7DJK
+ Msg Time: 26-Jan-2001 1302Z
+ Msgno: 6869
+ Origin: GB7DJK
+ Size: 8012
+ Subject: AMSAT 2line KEPS 01025.AMSAT
+ To: UK
+Got it Nodes: GB7BAA, GB7ADX
+ Private: 0
+Read Confirm: 0
+ Times read: 0
+G0VGS de GB7MBC 28-Jan-2001 1308Z >
</PRE>
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>
-<H2><A NAME="ss3.3">3.3 Filter options</A>
+<H2><A NAME="ss3.6">3.6 Filtering mail</A>
</H2>
-<P>You can filter in several different ways. The options are listed in the
-various helpfiles for accept, reject and filter.
+<P>This is described in the section on <EM>Other filters</EM> so I will not
+duplicate it here.
<P>
-<H2><A NAME="ss3.4">3.4 Default filters</A>
+<H2><A NAME="ss3.7">3.7 Distribution lists</A>
</H2>
-<P>Sometimes all that is needed is a general rule for node connects. This can
-be done with a node_default filter. This rule will always be followed, even
-if the link is isolated, unless another filter is set specifically. Default
-rules can be set for nodes and users. They can be set for spots, announces,
-WWV and WCY. They can also be used for hops. An example might look like
-this ...
+<P>Distribution lists are simply a list of users to send certain types of
+mail to. An example of this is mail you only wish to send to other
+sysops. In /spider/msg there is a directory called <EM>distro</EM>. You
+put any distibution lists in here. For example, here is a file called
+SYSOP.pl that caters for the UK sysops.
<P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
<PRE>
-accept/spot node_default by_zone 14,15,16,20,33
-set/hops node_default spot 50
+qw(GB7TLH GB7DJK GB7DXM GB7CDX GB7BPQ GB7DXN GB7MBC GB7MBC-6 GB7MDX
+ GB7NDX GB7SDX GB7TDX GB7UDX GB7YDX GB7ADX GB7BAA GB7DXA GB7DXH
+ GB7DXK GB7DXI GB7DXS)
</PRE>
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
-<P>This filter is for spots only, you could set others for announce, WWV and WCY.
-This filter would work for ALL nodes unless a specific filter is written to
-override it for a particular node. You can also set a user_default should
-you require. It is important to note that default filters should be
-considered to be "connected". By this I mean that should you override the
-default filter for spots, you need to add a rule for the hops for spots also.
-<P>
-<H2><A NAME="ss3.5">3.5 Advanced filtering</A>
+<P>Any mail sent to "sysop" would only be sent to the callsigns in this list.
+<P>
+<H2><A NAME="ss3.8">3.8 BBS interface</A>
</H2>
-<P>Once you are happy with the results you get, you may like to experiment.
-<P>
-<P>The previous example that filters hf/cw spots and accepts vhf/uhf spots from EU
-can be written with a mixed filter, for example ...
-<P>
-<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
-<PRE>
-rej/spot on hf/cw
-acc/spot on 0/30000
-acc/spot 2 on 50000/1400000 and (by_zone 14,15,16 or call_zone 14,15,16)
-</PRE>
-</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
-<P>Note that the first filter has not been specified with a number. This will
-automatically be assumed to be number 1. In this case, we have said <EM>reject all
-HF spots in the CW section of the bands but accept all others at HF. Also
-accept anything in VHF and above spotted in or by operators in the zones
-14, 15 and 16</EM>. Each filter slot actually has a 'reject' slot and
-an 'accept' slot. The reject slot is executed BEFORE the accept slot.
-<P>
-<P>It was mentioned earlier that after a reject test that doesn't match, the default
-for following tests is 'accept', the reverse is true for 'accept'. In the example
-what happens is that the reject is executed first, any non hf/cw spot is passed
-to the accept line, which lets through everything else on HF. The next filter line
-lets through just VHF/UHF spots from EU.
-<P>
+<P>Spider provides a simple BBS interface. No input is required from the sysop
+of the cluster at all. The BBS simply sets the cluster as a BBS and pushes
+any required mail to the cluster. No mail can flow from Spider to the BBS,
+the interface is one-way.
+<P>
+<P>Please be careful not to flood the cluster network with unnecessary mail.
+Make sure you only send mail to the clusters that want it by using the
+Forward.pl file very carefully.
<P>
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