Subj : Questions about nodelist and Binkd...
To   : Richard Menedetter
From : Robert Bashe
Date : Sat Sep 03 2016 01:39 pm

Richard Menedetter wrote to Allen Prunty on Saturday September 03 2016 at 
10:42:

AP>> Please forgive as I'm more confused the more I read.... which file do
AP>> I need to use with binkd to make it call out nodes in the nodelist
AP>> that I may have netmail for...

AP>> Furthermore how to I put it in the binkd.cfg file?  Totally lost and
AP>> confused on this one.

RM> I thought we already discussed this once ...

RM> You need to convert the nodelist to a format that binkd can use. I use
RM> nl2binkd for that. Then you include the result in binkd: include
RM> /usr/local/etc/binkd.inc

That is NOT enough. I also use a nodelist converter, but the result does NOT 
include passwords.

In my binkd.cfg, I have a line reading:

include \\fido\\bin\\binkd\\binkdnod.txt

I do not use drive letters, as you see, but this works fine on my OS/2 machine. 
Note the double backslashes. These are required to produce a single backslash, 
as binkd was ported from a *nix system.

And binkdnod.txt is the binkd nodelist derived from the current nodelist. It 
includes entries such as:

Node 1:138/393@fidonet  bbs.ezvsn.com   -

Note the dash at the end of the line. That's where the password should be. And 
actually, the line should read:

Node 1:138/393@fidonet  bbs.ezvsn.com   -  -

The final (optional) dash in this case specifies the "flavour" with which 
messages should be sent. I only rarely use this, since messages are sent 
"normal" by default and this means binkd will automatically send them as soon 
as they are in the outbound.

The above line is located BEFORE my private entries in binkd.cfg which include 
passwqords, since ther LATER entries in binkd.cfg overwrite any earlier 
entries.

An example of a line at the END of binkd.cfg (with with word "PASSWORD" instead 
of the real password) is:

# Fred Riccio
node 1:132/174 asok.dtdns.net PASSWORD -

which corresponds to the entry in binkdnod.txt:

Node 1:132/174@fidonet  asok.dtdns.net  -

and overwrites that entry with the entry containing the password. The ORDER of 
the entries is important: later entries always overwrite earlier ones. Sorry to 
Fred if using him as an example irritates him, but I haven't included anything 
that isn't in the nodelist.

If you have NO passworded links, you can naturally use the binkd nodelist 
derived from the regular nodelist just as it is. Just use the INCLUDE statement 
to make sure binkd sees the list.

But make sure you either define links at the END of binkd.cfg OR (if you use no 
passwords) use an include file with the binkd nodelist. Otherweise binkd will 
do nothing at all. It will just sit there, waiting to be told what to do.

One further thing: you start binkd and allow it to run continuously. I start it 
(under OS/2) with a CMD file:

binkd.cmd:
/* Call BinkD */

/* define paths for REXX script */

bd='\fido\bin\binkd'

curdir=directory()  /* save current directory */

newdir=directory(bd) /* go to binkd directory */
/* binkd '\fido\bin\binkd\binkd.cfg' */
binkd '\fido\bin\binkd\binkd.cfg'

call directory curdir /* return to original directory */

This REXX script works fine under OS/2, and could probably also be used under 
Windows if you install Regina REXX (freeware: just Google for it), which I also 
use when calling REXX functions from a networked Windows computer. Some small 
modifications are sometimes necessary when converting OS/2 REXX scripts into 
Regina REXX scripts, but that may not be necessary in your case.

Hopes this helps. Just for the record, I had trouble setting up binkd the first 
time, too.

Cheers, Bob

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