Last update 01-Mar-2007

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. Fidonet Aka's.

Here you can enter 40 fidonet addresses. These are 5d addresses. Make sure you group the different zone's together, strange things will happen if you don't group them.

1.2. Edit Registration Info.

BBS Name   The name of your BBS
Maildomain Your internet mail domain name (or system host.domain.com 
             if you don't have a maildomain).
Sysop uid  The Unix name of your Sysop account
Sysop Fido The Fidonet name of your Sysop account
Location   The Location of your BBS
OLR id     The packet name for Offline mail downloads.
Comment    A comment line for your BBS
Origin     The default origin line for echomail
Newuser    The default username "bbs" for new users.
My FQDN    My real internet Full Qualified Domain Name.
A note abou the last item, My FQDN. This MUST be the name that is returned with nslookup 1.2.3.4 (use your internet IP adress there) if you have a fixed IP address. Systems that are on a dynamic IP address and use some sort of dyndns service may put that dyndns FQDN in there. Using this will cause the other system to do twice as much dns resolve actions, so use this only when needed. Another note, what you put in here has nothing to do with mail or mail domains, that needs to be in the second option of this screen. The My FQDN field is used by the Internet BBS Chatserver (IBC) to allow bbs systems to build a chat network.

1.3. Edit Global Filenames.

System logfile    The name of the main logfile
Error logfile     The name of the errors logfile
Debug logfile     The name of the debug logfile
Mgr logfile       The name of the area-/filemgr logfile
Default menu      The name of the default main menu
Chat logfile      The name of the logfile for chatting
Welcome logo      The name of the BBS logo ANSI file

1.4. Edit Global Paths

Home dirs         The path to the users home directories
FTP base          The FTP base path, ie. /opt/mbse/ftp/pub
Arealists         The path where area lists and filebone lists are stored
Ext. edit         The full path and filename to the external editor
Rules dir         The path to the directory to store area rules
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

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
Out queue         The outbound queue for temporary files
*.msgs            A netmail directory from where *.msg mails are tossed
                  These are *.msg files can be created by several doors. (Not in use yet)
Bad TIC's         Where bad TIC files are saved
TIC queue         Where TIC files for downlinks are kept
TMail DOS         The T-Mail 8.3 (short) base path (empty = disable)
TMail Win         The T-Mail long filename base path (empty = disable)
If you fill in the DOS path then the DOS path and Unix path are translated to DOS paths in the flo files for outbound mail sessions. You only need this if another mailer uses the outbound that doesn't understand Unix paths. The DOS path is a fake, but it must match the other mailer. 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.

1.5. 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 <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.
Simult. logins    Maximum simultaneous logins allowed, 0 is unlimited, 1 is adviced.
Child priority    Subproces nice priority, 0=high, 15=low CPU load.
Filesystem sync   Call sync before and after execute.
Default language  Default language (English).
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 and the /boot directory if that one is on a separate filesystem. Ext2, ext3, reiserfs, msdos and vfat partitions are checked. The lowest free diskspace found counts. Default is 10 MB.

The Child priority sets the nice value for example zip/unzip, virus scanners etc. Modern fast hardware will do fine with a low setting, older (pre PII) hardware may need 15 to prevent a too heavy CPU load.

The filesystem sync setting is to call sync before and after the execute call, such as when unzip is called. Almost all GNU/Linux systems need this because GNU/Linux uses asynchronous directory changes. Since Linux 2.5.19 it should be possible to mount filesystems synchronous. If this setting is No on asynchronous filesystems mail and files can get corrupted. XxxxBSD systems use synchronous directory updates and don't need this switch. If you don't know what all this is about, leave this to the default setting.

Choice of default language. English is the best choice because that is the only language that is complete in the default installation. In the user setup another language may be used, the language set here is then used as a backup.

1.6. User flag Descriptions.

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

1.7. New users defaults.

Access level      The access level and flags after registration
Cap. Username     Capitalize the username
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       Ask user for his/her home address
Give email        Give new users email access (default is yes)
Ask Screenlen     Ask new users to set their screen length
Do newmail check  Yes/No or Ask new user if for newmail check at logon
Do newfiles check Yes/No or Ask new user if for newfiles check at logon

1.8. Text Colors.

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

Colors setup Colors setup

1.9. Sysop paging

For sysop chat a protocol is used to communicate with the mbtask daemon which has a very simple IRC like chatserver. For sysop/user chat a forced channel with the name #sysop is used.

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
Log Chat          Log the chat conversation
Prompt Chk.       Check at menu prompts for Sysop breaking in
Freeze Time       Freeze users time during chat

1.10. 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
Loc resp          Respond to local created filefind messages
Plus all          Allow filemgr +all command
Notify            Allow filemgr notify=on/off command
Passwd            Allow filemgr/areamgr passwd command
Message           Allow filemgr message=on/off command
Tic on/off        Allow filemgr tic=on/off command
Pause             Allow filemgr pause/resume commands

When you change one of the Allow filemgr settings, you also need to edit the file /opt/mbse/english/macro/filemgr.help to reflect the new settings. Default all these switches are set to Yes.

1.11. Edit Fidonet mail and echomail 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 GNU/Linux and they should run on all GNU/Linux i386 versions. Until now, I still use pktdate because it is necessary.

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
Max pkts.         Maximum Kb. of mail packets before a new one is created.
Max arcs.         Maximum size in Kilobytes of an arcmail file
Keep days         How many day should we keep ARCmail on hold
Echo dupes        Maximum number of entries in the echomail 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 messages after n KBytes (12..60)
Force at          Force split of messages after n KBytes (16..63)
Plus all          Allow areamgr +all command 
Notify            Allow areamgr notify=on/off command
Passwd            Allow areamgr/filemgr passwd command
Pause             Allow areamgr pause/resume commands

When you change one of the Allow areamgr settings, you also need to edit the file /opt/mbse/english/macro/areamgr.help to reflect the new settings. Default all these switches are set to Yes.

A note about the splitting of messages. 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. Splitting is used for newfiles reports and gated news articles to Fidonet.

1.12. Edit Internet mail and news processing.

Email and news is setup here. There are three possible configurations which you can set with 1.12.11:

A 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.
POP3 node         The POP3 node to use, should be localhost
POP3 user@domain  Use user@domain to login in the POP3 server
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
News dupes        The number of entries for the news dupes database.
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
News mode         Newsfeed mode, INN, rnews or UUCP.
Articles          The default maximum newsarticles to fetch per group.
Split at          Gently split newfiles reports after n KBytes (12..60)
Force at          Force split of newfiles reports after n KBytes (16..63)
Control ok        Allow news control messages to be gated
No regate         Don't regate already gated messages

In rnews mode the NNTP entries are replaced by:

Path rnews        The full path and filename to the rnews binary.

In UUCP mode the NNTP entries are replaced by:

UUCP path         The full path to the uucppublic directory.
UUCP node         The UUCP nodename of your ISP.

1.13. Allfiles and Newfiles lists.

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

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

1.14. 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. The setting of TCP/IP flags is important too, this gives the information what this system will do. If you only enter IBN as TCP/IP flags then the system will only call IBN nodes (binkp). The default is XX,CM and TCP/IP systems (internet) should use the XX,CM,IBN,IFC flags. If you cannot do TCP/IP connections, leave TCP/IP "phone" empty. The three TCP/IP fields are used to give your system information via EMSI or binkp to the other nodes.

Mailer logl.      The logging level for mailer sessions
TCP/IP "phone"    The TCP/IP "phone" number (IP address or domain name)
TCP/IP flags      The TCP/IP capability flags for TCP/IP sessions
TCP/IP speed      The TCP/IP linespeed
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 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 MD5            Disable binkp MD5 passwords
Zero Locks OK     Allow zero byte lockfiles from another OS
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

1.15. 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 /var/spool/mbse/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.
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.
Hist. limit       Limit the number of mailhistory.html lines, 0 is unlimited.

1.16. Manager flag Descriptions.

In this menu you can give the 32 area-/filemgr flags a meaningfull description.

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