The Shelter Family is a set of powerful and easily configurable
WPL-based Mailers which adhere to the WSC standards. Three independant
mailers are available in the Shelter Family of Mailers: Umbrella, Gazebo
and Porticus. Each can be configured and compiled with the included
GenMailer program.
This release archive replaces all previous PORTICUS, GAZEBO and
UMBRELLA releases and diff update archives. The separate archives have
been dispensed for a number of reasons; it reduces nightly archive load on
my system, total size of the SHELTER archive is not much larger than any of
the separate ones, and AmiNet Administration has indicated a desire to
reduce the number of files appearing in the RECENT listing. The change in
the distribution format of SHELTER should help them achieve their goal.
The Xpack utilities and RFS and RFH freq handlers are now also included
in the SHELTER archive, as well as being available separately in comm/fido.
Each Shelter Mailer has a subset of the features of the powerful Roof
Mailer, which has served as the development testbed for all wpl mailers,
for certain XPR's and utilities and for the RexxMsg and WPLRX interfaces as
well as the WPL language itself. Although the Roof Mailer is included in
the distribution, it is an intregal part of the HUGE Roof System and
requires the ROOFLOG and FLOWMGR function hosts for proper operation. It
is provided as a configuration example only.
If you are looking for a Point Mailer, and find that Umbrella is more
than you need, I recommend one of the Melody Mailers: POP, JAZ, ROC, or
RAP. These Point-Only mailers are the smallest and fastest available.
They are available on AmiNet or by FREQ using the magic names:
POP, JAZ, ROC and RAP from either:
fidonet#1:167/104.0 or
fidonet#1:167/151.0.
The Uncommon Features of Shelter Mailers
----------------------------------------
All Shelter Mailers feature a Mailer Status Display, scrolling log and
progress windows as well as an XPR progress window. In addition,
individual windows can display the progress of each poll. All these
windows, except for the Display, may be enabled or disabled during mailer
generation.
All Shelter Mailers feature SeaLink (inbound), DietIFNA, ZedZap, ZedZip
and DirectZap protocols with crash-resistant RESUME and support for both 4D
and 5D outgoing file requests. XPR protocols are used thoughout and are
maintained by the author of the Shelter package. FTS1, Wazoo, EMSI and
UUCP handshakes are supported.
Shelter mailers provide a high level of security, both when dealing with
other mailers and with human callers. Unlike other mailers, when a Shelter
Mailer is properly configured, if is very unlikely that files can be
stolen, or your HD formatted.
Multiple AFTERSESSION and WHENRECD commands allow automatic req, mail and
tic processing. Unlike any other mailers, Shelter Mailers provide separate
commands per file type to be executed either when a file of a certain type
is received/sent or after the session or BOTH. The Cache also allows
Site-specific AFTERSESSION commands to override the GLOBAL ones. Example
aftersession command scripts include utilities to set the filenote of a
received file from the description comment in the sent REQ file, or from
the short description in an AmiNet .README file.
Shelter Mailers also permit both PREDIAL and PRESESS commands if one's
application requires even more control.
The usefulness of the above features is indicated by the fact that they
have now found their way into other mailers under various guises.
All Shelter Mailers are multi-FTN and feature both EMSI and AUTOAKA
WAZOO. AutoAKA causes the mailer's primary address to be set depending
upon the address of the site being called or who is calling. The domain is
automatically set if the remote site does not provide it. When USEAKAS is
set for FTN site, all files for all AKAs configured for the site will be
sent in the same session both under WAZOO and EMSI. Shelter mailers can
both send and process MULTIPLE REQs for each AKA during both EMSI and WAZOO
sessions. The Shelter EMSI implemenation is the most extensive available
on the Amiga and has been proposed in NET_DEV as the basis for extensions
to the EMSI specification.
All Shelter Mailers feature a Site Cache, which allows setting a remote
site's session password, sitename, sysopname, phone number, alternate phone
number. The remote site may be an FTN node, a UUCP site, an Atomic Clock
site or a BBS, FTP or Online Service ( in which case the configured term
program will be spawned upon connect). Other parameters specific to the
type of site may also be set. If your tosser is not domain-aware and the
site sends archives containing bundles for multiple FTNs, the site may be
configured so that these bundles will be sorted by domain for tossing. One
may also configure a particular site so that all mail is sent to configured
AKAs of a site either on inbound, outbound or both. On can also set
handshake (FTS1,WAZOO,EMSI,FAST) to use when calling and what addresses to
present under EMSI when dialing a site. The Cache allows Site-specific
AFTERSESSION commands of the various types to override the GLOBAL ones.
In addition to the Site Cache, the Gazebo and Porticus Mailers also
support either nodelist.library or traplist.library for FTN sessions and
the uucp Passwd and L.sys configs for uucp sessions.
The Shelter Mailer Manager program allows Cache and Manual dialing as
well as an AUTO feature which allows auto-startup and poll of one's BOSS or
echo hub. With Manual dialing, one just specifies site and phone number
and/or line to use. Also included is a POLL feature which will
asyncronously poll all sites with pending mail. POLLs will continue until
a connection is made, with the number of seconds between dial attempts and
the duration of a poll window both being configurable.
Remote addresses can be simply specified, with address expansion being
done based upon your AKA in the domain being called. For example, if one
wanted to call fidonet#1:167/104.0, and one's own primary address is
fidonet#1:167/151.0, one would simply do:
Shelter CALL 104
One can enable individual windows for each poll in progress to keep
abreast of the current status. A poll can be aborted via a Shelter
command, or a Ctl-C in the poll's window. Parameters such as duration of
poll attempt, redial and busy delays are settable on the fly.
Shelter mailers do not use the obsolete and non-secure FLO file format,
but rather the very secure Xferq.library outbound management. However, all
Shelter Mailers do provide functions to convert 4D .FLO files to 5D XferQ
queues and to add any type of file to a site queue. In addition, a VERY
comprehensive set of Queue management tools is available as xpack191.lha.
The author of the Shelter Mailers is also maintaining xferq.library and has
released an update, including source, XQUPD1_9.LHA.
Shelter Mailers also provide for multiple inbound directories for Tossers
which are not domain aware, as well as a NONSECURE inbound for sites not in
Site Cache or nodelist. A separate inbound is provided for HUMAN callers
with Porticus.
GenMailer, the Mailer generator, uses standard AmigaDos command line
templates. Both command line switches and internal options provide extra
control in special situations. A multiple output module format is used so
that one can reconfigure and reload parts of the mailer, such as the site
cache, menus or config, instead of recompiling the whole thing. Utilities
are also provided for changing certain parameters (SCTL) and various menu
options (SEDIT) at any time.
Porticus and Gazebo have been successfully used with the following BBS's:
DLG, Excelsior, Cnet, TransAmiga, Falcon, Contact!
Umbrella Point Mailer
---------------------
The Umbrella Point Mailer is a single line, multi-FTN mailer. It can be
setup to answer the phone, BBS spawning is not supported however. If set
to noanswer, the answer code is not generated. This mailer does not
require a nodelist, as it features both the Site Cache and manual dialing.
It does not support UUCP, CLOCK, FAX or BBS dialing, nor spawning of file
request handlers or BBSs. It can be set to not do flo convert but to queue
flo files only when connected, thereby reducing memory usage.
Gazebo - The Standard Node Mailer
---------------------------------
In addition to the standard Shelter FTN features, Gazebo allows single
BBS spawning, UUCP inbound and outbound calls and setting the system clock
via calls to any Atomic Clock Site with XPRclock.library. It also features
XfreqSH, which allows the use of ANY File Request Handler except RFS and
RFH.
Porticus - Full Service FrontEnd
--------------------------------
Porticus has all the features of the Umbrella and Gazebo Mailers, as well
as all the non-ROOF System dependant features of the ROOF Mailer. Porticus
uses either or both the mailer-only RFH file request functionhost and the
RFS File Request Handler (both included) which provides file requests, both
standard and HRF format update requests, response handling and accounts for
both mailers and human callers.
Porticus is the only wpl mailer featuring a WPLRX interface that allows
the user to add additional capabilities. Many examples are provided.
In addition to the extensive mailer capabilities described above,
Porticus has a full-featured remote user interface for Human callers. This
interface provides functions approaching those of a BBS:
System Bulletins
Multiple level Menus
Multiple BBSs and/or Remote Shell selections
Remote on-line help
Text Information displays
Doors including games and utilities
Auto-Download of Magic Names
Auto-Uploads with file description prompt
Chat with sysop
Messages to/from sysop
Message Base scroller
File Base Browser with command stacking
File Requests with CallBack Verification (with reward)
Automatic FileRequests
Forwarded File requests (to/from OTHER systems)
Passworded Remote CLI
Amiga Empire Game support
User Accounts
Boot a human caller
All these utilities are included in the distribution.
Distribution of merged or modified archives via the SAN fileecho
network is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN.
Permission is hereby granted to redistribute releases and diff updates
via ADS fileecho network.
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