AmigaTick.DOC - Documentation for AmigaTick v0.50b by Russel Miranda Update: 13-May-1990 Yes, most sysops in Fidonet have seen it, it starts like this... |^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^| | | | AMIGA_SOFTWARE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM | | Purpose/Rules Dated: 04/06/90 | | | | o What is it? | | - The official Amiga software/files distribution | | system. | | | | o The purpose? | | - To provide a means of distributing and announcing | | the release of Amiga Shareware/Freeware | | programs/files, that are not normally distributable | | through the SDS, to nodes interested in Amiga only | | files. | | | |vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv| And we've all said to ourselves, "Sounds great! But how do I become a part of it, and echo files?" Well, my fellow sysops, here is how: ****************************************************************************** AmigaTick v0.50b - by Russel Miranda ****************************************************************************** Continuing the mission to bring (hopefully) quality programs to the Paragon (and not so paragon)/Amiga world, AmigaTick is a close functional equivalent of the Tick (see Acknowledgements) program of the MS-DOS world. (Say that again in English!) Ok, AmigaTick lets you echo files from system to system, by doing the same thing Tick does. AmigaTick works best with a Paragon BBS system, but should work with another system that uses the same type of files (NNNNnnnn.FLO, NNNNnnnn.xUT). (Sounds great! How do I use it?) Ok, lets take a look: 1. Setup a. AmigaTick needs a config file! AmigaTick's config file is named (surprisingly enough) TICK.CFG The TICK.CFG file is usually located on the logical device PARAGON:. This can be changed through the use of the -C command line option. See section 2.a for more information on execution and the format of command line options. The format of this TICK.CFG file is: [HERE ] PW CHECK_CRC [IN ] [OUT ] [BAD ] ; AREA PATH [FILEAREA ] TO TO ; (As many as needed) Items in square braces "[]" are optional, depending upon environment. See breakdown below. Items in "greater than" and "less than" symbols "<>" are not literal, but should be replaced by appropriate data. Lines are >NOT< case sensitive, and may be preceded or followed by whitespace. Blank lines and sections of lines following a semicolon ";" will be treated as comments and ignored. HERE This line tells AmigaTick your system's address. It is optional for those systems using Paragon, if it does not appear, it will get this information from ParCon. For systems NOT running Paragon, this should be the first non-comment line of the config file, or results will be unpredictable. PW One of these lines must appear for each system you plan to send or recieve echos from. This line sets up a password that should be in the .TIC file recieved FROM this system, and will also be placed inside of any .TIC file going OUT to this system. If files are recieved from a system without a password, or with a bad password, they will be tossed into the BAD directory. CHECK_CRC This line is optional, and turns on the CRC check on incomming files. If a CRC of the file does not match the number stored in the associated .TIC file, the file will be tossed into the BAD directory. IN This is the path of the directory in which AmigaTick should be able to find the .TIC files, and the files they are associated with. If this line is not present, it will default to: PARAGON:IN/ which is the normal inbound directory for Paragon systems. OUT This is the path of the directory in which AmigaTick should place the outbound files, associated .TIC files, .FLO files, and .xUT files. If this line is not present, it will default to: PARAGON:OUT/ which is the normal outbound directory for Paragon systems. BAD This is the path of the directory in which AmigaTick should toss bad files. A "bad file" is one that: a) Is for an unknown area. b) Is not password protected. c) Has a bad password. d) Fails the CRC test with CHECK_CRC on. If this line is not present, it will default to: PARAGON:BAD/ which is NOT normal, because Paragon has no normal bad directory. Please take note that this MUST exist, and results are highly unpredictable if it does not. AREA This line starts an "area block." An area block is a group of lines associated with one file echo area. An area block is terminated by the occurance of another area line. Tag Name should be the correct file echo tag name. PATH This line defines where files for this area should be moved. This line should exist for each area block, and the directory path must be valid. FILEAREA This line is optional, and is for Paragon systems only. This line defines which file area inbound files should be added to. If this line is present, the PATH line (see above) must point to the correct directory for this file area. TO These lines define what other system(s) are to receive this file echo from you. There may be any number of them (memory permitting), including zero. b. The CALL.CTL file. The CALL.CTL file tells AmigaTick what type of poll packet to make for each system receiving a file. For those sysops running Paragon, the format is identical to Paragon's, and in fact, it is the same file. It must (like the previous file) appear within the logical device PARAGON: unless you have redefined the config file path with the -C switch (see 2.a). For those of you not running Paragon, the format is: [HOLD|CRASH|POLL] - is the address. - is either the first 3 characters of a day of the week or the word ALL signifying every day. More than one day may be present. - is the type of mail. Sample: 268/106 ALL POLL ; Always poll 268/106 268/302 MON WED FRI HOLD ; Hold on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 268/302 TUE THU SAT SUN CRASH ; and CrashMail on the other days. c. Advice. Once again, MAKE SURE ALL DIRECTORIES THAT ARE EXPECTED DO IN FACT EXIST!!!! I say this again because it is very important. Also note that all paths must end in a slash "/" or a colon ":". If in doubt, check the sample... included in the archive (released thru ADS) should be a sample CALL.CTL file. 2. Execution a. The command line. AmigaTick has the following command line format: AMIGATICK [-n] [-c] The -n option should be used if you are not running it with a Paragon system. If it is not present, AmigaTick will expect to find ParCon running and active. The -c option tells AmigaTick where to find the TICK.CFG configuration file. If it is not present, AmigaTick will assume that the file is in the PARAGON: logical device. must be a valid AmigaDos path, and consequently MUST END IN A COLON (:) OR A SLASH (/)! b. What it does. After reading in all the config information, AmigaTick scans the inbound directory for .TIC files. If it finds one, it immediately unpacks all the information contained in it. It then copies the file to the correct directory, and removes it from the inbound directory. If it is to be added to a Paragon file area, this is done. Then, AmigaTick (through use of magic) determines which systems (if any) are to receive the file. It copies the file to the outbound directory, generates a new .TIC for each system, and adds the file and the associated .TIC to the correct .FLO. The original .TIC is deleted, and the process starts over again at the top, looping until no more .TIC's are found in the inbound directory. Universal Disclaimer (one size fits all): This software is guaranteed to (if left in its original unaltered form) take up space on your disk. It has no other waranty or guarantee of any type. The author does not take any responsibility for the results of the use or misuse of this software. The entire risk as to the results and performance of this software is assumed by the user. The author is not responsible for any damage including loss of any data or information which may be lost or rendered inaccurate. (In short, although I have never had a bad experience with this software, if you have one, it's your problem. I will feel sincerely sorry, and do my best to correct the defect [if one is found], but I can't be held responsible. This is known [in most circles] as CYA. However, if you can prove to me that this program exists on a disk, is unaltered, and yet you can still store as much on the disk as before [meaning it takes up no storage space], I will refund the entire $0.00 you paid! 8^] ) Acknowledgements and Thank You's: The first and foremost acknowledgement must go to Barry Geller. He (for those of you not knowledgable of the MS-DOS world) was the author of the TICK program on which this is based. He seemed like a nice guy, and answered my questions promptly in NetMail. Thanx for your help, Barry, I hope this is acceptable to you! Remember, imitation is the sincerest form of flatery (or something like that!) The second must go to Jon Radoff, Eric Drewry, and Inner Circle Software. Without them, and Paragon (which is a trademark of Inner Circle Software), I would not be IN FidoNet, and of course, not be writing these programs. How'd I do Jon? The next thank you must go to Steve Peoples and Roger Walker. These were my "front-line" test sites for AmigaTick, and secondary thanks must go to Frank Dixon, co-coordinator (neat word, eh?) of the ADS, and most likely the recipient of the beta .TIC files. Thanks also to Paul Gooch and Oliver Smith. Paul was a late-arrival beta site, and Oliver aided me with some very helpful source to create the Paragon time/date stamps, which I needed to have the files automaticly added to a file area. Can't wait to see AMUL, Oliver! Remember to release all this great stuff in ADSPARAG! I hope you are remembering to strive for efficiency and robustness! The fourth acknowledgement goes to Lattice, Inc. I used their fine C compiler to create this program, and as usual I was quite pleased with it. One purchase I will never regret! The last (but perhaps most important) thank-you goes to Commodore-Amiga, for the Amiga. How else could I possibly edit source, while compiling, with users on the BBS? Single-tasking, just say NO! (Guess I have to acknowlege Steve Peoples again, since I just stole that from his logoff text!) Author's notes on distribution: I hope you all enjoy this program. It is freely distributable, but there is no need to upload it to any system connected to the ADS. Latest major revisions will be automaticly hatched into the ADS by yours truely. There is no fee for it's usage (I'd feel lousey asking for money when the original idea is Barry Geller's), although you may feel free to send me anything (money, disks, computers, cars, boats, planes, winning lottery tickets, etc..) at the address listed below, drop me a post card, NetMail me, or call up and leave a message on my BBS. It may be included in any collection of software as long as no fee is charged above that needed to cover costs of duplication, materials. It may not be included in any other type of software package without permission from the author. It may not be distributed in modified form! If any modification is THAT important, let me know and I'll incorportate it into the next release version! At the very least, make a "patch" program and include it in the archive (making very clear it is yours, what it does, why it's needed.) Distributing modified versions leads to: A) Me feeling you stole my program. 8-( B) People getting confused over which is which. Let's prevent that from happening, OK? Thanks! Well, there you have it... that's how you can all get into the act with the ADS and AMIGANET file echos. Use this program as much as possible, help support your long distance phone company! 8-] (ducking!) The author (Russel Miranda) may be reached in any of the following ways: Postal service: Russel Miranda RR 1 Box 284 Bushkill, Pa. 18324 (USA) NetMail or direct BBS call: The Enterprise BBS FIDO (1:268/106) (717)588-7636 ============================================================================== Highlights - What's new without reading the above long doc file... ============================================================================== v0.28b Update: ============================================================================== Stupid error, causes Tick to choke on CRC's above 0x7FFFFFF - Fixed. Geez, think I should be able to tell unsigned longs from longs by now, don't ya? ============================================================================== v0.50b Update: ============================================================================== OK, I have it copying the bad .TIC's to the BAD directory now, and placing the name of the associated file on the comment line. If something happens, all you have to do is fix the problem, move those files back to the IN directory, and then re-run AmigaTick. For those of you who don't use Paragon, you will be happy to learn that it is no longer required to have a PARAGON: directory, as you can now tell AmigaTick where to look for the config file, by using the -C option. For example: 1.> AmigaTick -N -CS: would force AmigaTick to look in the S: directory (notice S: follows with NO SPACE after the -C). Does anyone out there have an example of a "PRE-RELEASE" type line? I want to add this feature just so it is fully "Tick" compatible. If you have an example of a pre-release .TIC file, please send it to me via NetMail. ============================================================================== ********************************************* *** EOD - End of Documentation - at last! *** *********************************************