Last update 11-Sep-2000

# MBSE BBS Setup - Global Setup

In this setup you can edit all global settings for MBSE BBS. All sections will be discussed below.

### 1.1. Edit Registration Info.

    System name       The name of your BBS
    Domain name       Your internet domain name (or a fake name if you have
                      no direct connection).
    Sysop uid         The Unix name of your Sysop account
    Sysop Fido        The Fidonet name of your Sysop account
    Location          The Location of your BBS
    QWK/Bluewave      The packet name for Offline mail downloads.
    Omed id.          Not in use
    Comment           A comment line for your BBS
    Origin line       The default origin line for echomail
    Startup uid       The default username "bbs"

### 1.2. Edit Global Filenames.

    System logfile    The name of the main logfile
    Error logfile     The name of the errors logfile
    Default menu      The name of the default main menu
    Default language  The name of the default language
    Chat logfile      The name of the logfile for chatting
    Welcome logo      The name of the BBS logo ANSI file

### 1.3. Edit Global Paths

    BBS Menus         The path to the default menus
    Txtfiles          The path to the default ANSI and ASCII textfiles
    Home dirs         The path to the users home directories
    Nodelists         The path to the nodelist directory
    Inbound           The unprotected fidonet inbound
    Prot inb.         The (password) protected fidonet inbound
    Outbound          The outbound for the main aka
    Bad TIC's         Where bad TIC files are saved
    TIC queue         Where TIC files for downlinks are kept
    Magic's           Where the magic filerequests are kept
    DOS path          The DOS drive and path
    Unix path         The Translated DOS path in real
    LeaveCase         Leave outbound .flo filenames as is, No forces to uppercase

The DOS path and Unix path are translated for in and outbound mail sessions, so the outside world will be happy. The DOS path is a fake, you can put anything you like in there, but "C:\OUT" is a good choice. Note that the TIC queue must be somewere in the Unix path, otherwise it is impossible to create a DOS path from the path to the TIC files in that directory. To set this up correctly is also important if you use other mailers as well, for example binkd, or even a DOS binkly-style mailer running from a network. All those mailer must "see" the same file attaches in the .flo files. If you leave the DOS path empty, no translation will be performed and the Unix paths will be stored in the .flo files.

### 1.4. Edit BBS Configuration

    Private system    Set to true when only pre-registered users are allowed
    Exclude Sysop     True is Sysop will be invisible
    Show connect      Show connection info at logon
    Ask protocols     Ask protocol before each up/download
    Sysop level       The Sysop security level
    Password Length   The minimum password length, should be 6.
    Password Char.    The password hiding character
    Idle timeout      The idle timeout in minutes
    Login Enters      Maximum times for only enter
    Login Attempts    Maximum login attempts
    Homedir Quota     Maximum size in MBytes for each user
    Location length   The minimum length of the location (3 in Holland!)
    Show new msgarea  Show new available message areas at logon (for OLR users)
    OLR Max. msgs.    Maximum messages to download, 0 is no limit.
    OLR Newfile days  The maximum age for newfiles in the OLR packet
    OLR Max Filereq   Maximum filerequests allowed for OLR users
    BBS Log Level     What will be logged or not the BBS program
    Utils Log Level   What will be logged or not for utilities
    Utils slowly      Should utilities release timeslices
    CrashMail level   Minimum level to allow sending netmail crash
    FileAttach level  Minimum level to allow attach files to netmail
    Min diskspace MB  At which low diskspace level utilities should stop working.

The minimum diskspace setting is to prevent that files get corrupted if your filesystem is full. All drives are checked except CD-roms and floppies. Ext2, msdos and vfat partitions are checked. The lowest free diskspace found counts. Default is 10 MB.

### 1.5. New users defaults.

    Access level      The access level and flags after registration
    Cap. Username     Capitalize the username
    Ask ANSI          Ask for ANSI screen (default is yes)
    Ask Sex           Ask for Male/Female
    Ask Voicephone    Ask for voice phonenumber
    Ask Dataphone     Ask for data phonenumber
    Telephone scan    Scan for duplicate numbers
    Ask Handle        Ask for handle (nickname)
    Ask Birth date    Ask for birthdate (needed for checks)
    Ask Location      Ask for users location
    Ask Hot-Keys      Ask for hot-keyed menus (default is yes)
    One word names    Allow one word names
    Ask address       Not implemented
    Give email        Give new users email access (default is yes)

### 1.6. Text Colors.

Several prompts use different colors. They can be changed with the following menu.

### 1.7. Next User Door.

This is a "message to nextuser" door I found in RapidBBS. It allows a user to write a message to the next BBS user.

    Text file         The textfile to display
    Quote             The prompt to show

### 1.8. Safe cracker door.

This is a door I found in RapidBBS, it is a simple number guessing game.

    Digit 1           The first digit to guess
    Digit 2           The second digit to guess
    Digit 3           The third digit to guess
    Max trys          The maximum number of trys per day
    Max numb          The highest number to guess
    Num gen           Automatic number generation
    Prize             The prize to win
    Welcome           The welcome file to display
    Opened            The file to display to the winner

### 1.9. Time Bank Door.

This is the timebank door I found in RapidBBS. It allows a user to deposit time or download kilobytes on his bank account so when he needs it for big downloads he can use his savings for extra large downloads. Anyway, I haven't figured this one out completly for myself, so the meaning of all these settings are not well explained right now.

    Time balance      Maximum time balance
    Max time withdraw Maximum time to withdraw
    Max time deposit  Maximum time to deposit
    Kb. balance       Maximum Kilobytes balance
    Max Kb. withdraw  Maximum Kilobytes to withdraw
    Max Kb. deposit   Maximum Kilobytes to deposit
    Users time ratio  Time ratio
    Users Kb. ratio   Kilobytes ratio

### 1.10. Sysop paging

For sysop chat we use a program that will connect to the users tty. This is not a nice solution because it will not work over a network, but at least it works.

    Ext. chat         External chat program, not in use!
    Chat device       The device where the sysop is called (beeped)
    Call script       For future use
    Page length       The length of a page in seconds
    Page times        Maximum number of times a user may page the sysop
    Sysop area        Message from user to Sysop area number
    Ask reason        Ask reason for chat, this will be logged
    Use Extern        Use external chat
    Log Chat          Log the chat conversation
    Prompt Chk.       Check at menu prompts for Sysop breaking in
    Freeze Time       Freeze users time during chat
    Sunday..Saturday  The times the Sysop is normal available

### 1.11. Flag Descriptions.

In this menu you can give the 32 users flags a meaningfull description.

### 1.12. Fileecho Processing.

A note, when you change the number of Systems or Groups, the databases affected will be updated automatic.

    Keep days         How long TIC files should be kept on hold
    Hatch pwd         The internal hatch password. Make this weird.
    Drv space         The minimal free space on your disk in kilobytes
    Systems           The maximum number of connected nodes
    Groups            The maximum number of fileecho groups
    Max. dupes        The maximum number of entries in dupe database
    Keep date         Keep original filedate
    Keep netm         Keep sent netmails
    Res future        Reset dates in the future
    Loc resp          Respond to local created filefind messages
    Repl ext          Replace filename extension with .* before filesearch
    Plus all          Allow filemgr +all command
    Notify            Allow filemgr notify=on/off command
    Passwd            Allow filemgr passwd command
    Message           Allow filemgr message=on/off command
    Tic on/off        Allow filemgr tic=on/off command
    Pause             Allow filemgr pause/resume commands

### 1.13. Edit mail and news processing.

Note that the first 2 mailboards must also exist in the normal mail areas if you want to see what is in them. Here they are defined for quick access of the tosser. For the Max. systems and groups see 1.12. If you use MBSE BBS together with a DOS based BBS (using DOSEMU or mars netware emulator), you can set the behaviour of the outbound to 4d. addressing instead of 5d. This option may dissapear in the future.
Another option is present, this is the pktdate option. This is the full path and filename to an external program that can inspect and correct the mail .pkt files. Originally I put this in to run pktname of Tobias Ernst of 2:2476/418 to fix y2k problems in the incoming mail. At this time most y2k fixes are build in, but in case you need it it's there. To make it clear; the y2ktools written by Tobias are static compiled for Linux and they should run on all Linux i386 versions. Until now, I still use pktdate because it is necessary.
Email is setup here as well. There are three possible configurations which you can set with 1.13.8:

- No ISP. If you don't have any connection to the internet use this setting. Email will come from the UUCP gate and will be send out via the UUCP gate. Users have email addresses like user@f2802.m280.z2.fidonet.org Note, the username is their Unix name.
- Dial ISP. If you dial the internet regulary or are connected with a cable modem without a valid DNS (Nameserver) entry you should use this mode. Email will be sent via your local SMTP port, then through your own sendmail (or whatever you use). When you are connected to the internet the mail will be sent to your ISP's mailer. In your sendmail you should define the mailer of your ISP as Smarthost. Incoming email will still come from the UUCP gate. Users have email addresses like user@f2802.m280.z2.fidonet.org Note, the username is their Unix name.
- Perm ISP. If you are permanent connected to the internet either with a static or dynamic IP address use this option. You need to register a DNS name for your system, if you don't you won't be able to receive email from the internet and must use the previous Dial mode. If you have a dynamic IP address you can still get a DNS name from for example dynip.com Incoming email will come directly from the internet, but if someone sends email via the UUCP gate it is also accepted. Users have email addresses like user@yourbbs.domain.org. Note, the username is their Unix name.

Another word of wisdom from my side, configuration of the internet, ppp, sendmail etc. is not discussed here, see the HOWTO's and other documentation that exists at www.linuxdoc.org, it's all there.

    Badboard          The path and filename of the bad messages
    Dupeboard         The path and filename of the duplicate messages
    Pktdate           Full path and filename of a .pkt preprocessor
    POP3 node         The POP3 node to use, should be localhost
    SMTP node         The SMTP node to use, should be localhost
    NNTP node         The NNTP node to use, should be localhost
    NNTP m.r.         If the NNTP server needs the Mode Reader command
    NNTP user         The username for the NNTP server if needed
    NNTP pass         The password for the NNTP server if needed
    Email aka         The Fidonet aka to use for the fidonet.org UUCP gate
    UUCP aka          The default Fidonet UUCP gate, 2:292/875@fidonet
    Emailmode         The email mode, discussed above
    Max pkts.         Maximum Kb. of mail packets before a new one is created.
    Max arcs.         Maximum size in Kilobytes of an arcmail file
    Days on hold      How many day should we keep ARCmail on hold
    Max dupes         Maximum number of entries in the dupe database
    Reject old        Reject echomail messages older then n days
    Max msgs          Default maximum number of messages in each area
    Days old          Default number of days old to keep messages
    Max systems       Maximum number of nodes to connect to echomail
    Max groups        Maximum number of echomail groups
    4d address        Use 4d. addressing (not needed you only use MBSE BBS)
    Split at          Gently split newfiles reports after n KBytes (12..60)
    Force at          Force split of newfiles reports after n KBytes (16..63)

A note about the splitting of newfiles reports. Some tossers can't handle messages greater than 16 KBytes, these tossers are rare these days. Most tossers can handle messages of 32 KBytes. To set these values on the safe side set "Split at" to 27 and "Force at" to 31. This means that a long newfile report will be split after 27 KBytes when a new group of files should start in the report. If it can't find that point because a large number of files is in the group that is just being processed, the message split will be forced right after the file that passes the 31 KBytes limit. I use values of 1 KBytes below maximum for overhead such as SEEN-BY and PATH lines. Values larger then 32 KBytes is not a good idea, recent tests in May 1999 have shown that your messages will not reach all systems if they are larger then 32 KBytes.

### 1.14. Allfiles and Newfiles lists.

These are the settings that affect the generation of newfiles and allfiles reports.

    Ftp base          The root of the public download area (.../ftp)
    New days          The number of days old files are "newfiles"
    Security          The highest security level to include files in the reports
    Groups            The number of newfile groups the newfiles database can hold

### 1.15. Fidonet Aka's.

Here you can enter 40 fidonet addresses. These are 5d addresses.

### 1.16. Mailer Setup.

Note that you can't disable FTS-0001 sessions as that is a mandatory session protocol in Fidonet. There are 40 phonenumber translations present, this is for countries with lots of telephone operators with all kind of prefixes for carrier select functions.

    Mailer logl.      The logging level for mailer sessions
    Default phone     The default phonenumber for EMSI sessions
    TCP/IP flags      The TCP/IP capability flags for TCP/IP sessions
    Default speed     The default speed for EMSI sessions
    Timeout reset     The timout for normal modem commands
    Timeout connect   The timeout for waiting for connect
    Dial delay        The maximum delay between calls, minimum is 10 seconds.
    No Filerquests    Disable filerequests
    No callout        Disable callout
    No hold mail      Send "hold" mail if we make the call
    No pickup all     Exchange mail for one aka only
    No EMSI session   Disable EMSI
    No YooHoo/2U2     Disable FTS-0006 sessions
    No Zmodem         Disable zmodem protocol
    No Zedzap         Disable zedzap protocol
    No Hydra          Disable Hydra protocol
    No TCP/IP         Disable TCP/IP protocol
    Phonetrans 1..40  Maximum 40 phone number translations
    Max. files        Maximum files to request, 0 is unlimited
    Max. MBytes       Maximum MBytes to request, 0 is unlimited

### 1.17. FTPD Settings.

A new program is mbftpd. This is a replacement for the normal ftp server for Linux with special futures for MBSE BBS. This is not working yet so don't use it. Setting it up is adviced.

    Base path         The ftp base directory (ie. /SYS/usr/ftp).
    Upload pth        Incoming files (ie. /SYS/usr/ftp/incoming).
    Banner msg        The banner file to display before login.
    Path filter       The legal character in upload filenames.
    Path msg          Message to display if illegal characters in upload.
    Email addr        Your email address.
    Shutdown          Shutdown message if FTP server is closed.
    Readme login      Readme to display after login.
    Readme cwd*       Readme to display after chdir.
    Msg login         Welcome message after login.
    Msg cwd*          Message to display in directory.
    Userslimit        Maximum FTP users allowed.
    Loginfails        Maximum login failures.
    Compress          If compress command is allowed.
    Tar               If tar command is allowed.
    Mkdir ok          If users may create directories.
    Log commands      Log user commands.
    Anonymous         If anonymous login is allowed.
    User mbse         If user mbse is allowed. Dangerous!

### 1.18. Edit HTML pages setup.

Here you setup the HTML pages that can be created with the mbfile web command. These are HTML pages of your download areas and indexes of all areas. If there are pictures in these areas thumbnails are created if you have the convert command available. The document root is the same as defined in your web server. The link to ftp must be created from that directory to your ftp base directory. To do that become root, cd to the document root and type ln -s /SYS/usr/ftp files In this case the link is called files. Note that all download areas are accesible, there is no user authentication yet available.

    Docs root         The path to the httpd documents root.
    Link to ftp       The link to the ftp directory.
    URL name          The URL of your webserver.
    Charset           The default character set, ISO-8859-1.
    Table color       The tables background color.
    Header color      The tables header background color.
    Author name       The author name you want in the HTTP headers.
    Convert command   The graphics convert command. (ImageMagick needed).
    Files/page        The number of files to display per web page.
    Icon Home         The name of the Home icon file.
    Text Home         The text to display for Home.
    Icon Back         The name of the Back icon file.
    Text Back         The text to display for Back.
    Icon Prev.        The name of the Previous page icon file.
    Text Prev.        The text to display for Previous page.
    Icon Next         The name of the Next page icon file.
    Text Next         The text to display for Next page.

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