BinkD FAQ [2/3]

[Binkd Team]

+ 31 Mar 16:48:43 [40423] call to 2:5000/***@fidonet
31 Mar 16:48:43 [40423] trying 195.209.235.3, port 24554...
31 Mar 16:48:43 [40423] connected to proxy.osu.ru:24554
31 Mar 16:48:44 [40423] Connection rejected by proxy (HTTP/1.0 403
Forbidden)
? 31 Mar 16:48:44 [40423] unable to connect: {13} Permission denied

In such a case you may try to use http tunnelling for instance with the
help of httport (one can take it at http://www.htthost.com/) or you may
find a node receiving BinkP connections at port 443.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


07. How Can BinkD Work via SOCKS-proxy?

It is not a rare case when users go out to the internet from their
corporate LAN exclusively via the proxy server based at the only computer
connected to the internet. Thus BinkD cannot make a direct connection to
the remote node and one must use the proxy server. Proxy servers support
was included in version 0.9.4 and the later ones.

BinkD works with a SOCKS proxy version 4 and 5. The first one does not
demand an authorization (no login and password), the second one demands it
as a rule.

Suppose the connected to the Internet computer has the IP address
192.168.0.1 in its LAN and the SOCKS server at the computer responds on
port 1080. Here is the line in BinkD configuration file necessary for
working via the SOCKS proxy.

1. A SOCKS server without user authorization (no login and password are
demanded):

socks 192.168.0.1:1080

2. A proxy server with user authorization (it is necessary to type login
and password, e.g. login "user", password "password"):

socks 192.168.0.1:1080/user/password


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


08. IP-Point: How Can I Make BinkD to Get My Mail From My Bossnode
(Uplink)?

Make a poll using the command line option -P:

binkd -P1:2/3 binkd.cfg

Usually they want BinkD to exit after the session is finished. One can
use the command line option -p:

binkd -p -P1:2/3 binkd.cfg

If BinkD does not exit for a long time after the session has been
finished then decrease the value of rescan-delay (and sometimes the value
of timeout).

If BinkD works permanently (e.g. as a Windows service) and you want to
get your mail regularly then you need some additional program or a script.
As an example in DOS, Windows or OS/2 it is enough to execute the command:

cd . >> %outbound%\NNNNMMMM.ilo

where NNNN is the hex net number,
MMMM is the hex node number,
%outbound% is the path to the necessary zone outbound.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


09. "start_file_transfer: .: Permission denied" Error

You get the message when BinkD cannot open a file for sending indicated
in some *.?lo file. Most likely the file has a line containing only "."
because the poll has been made by a command of the type

echo . >> xxxxyyyy.flo

you should change it to "cd . >> xxxxyyyy.flo"


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


10. BinkD/win and Dial-up: Dialing-up and Disconnecting Automatically

The problem is to configure the fidonet box in such a way that BinkD
would initiate a telephone call to your Internet provider, get your mail
and disconnect.

The solutions:

1st Solution

Configure automatic connection and timeout in the dial-up connection
properties (idle time before hanging up). It is convinient to use a
non-standard software for dialing-up (Advanced Dialer and others). You
should start BinkD with a command line option -p periodically (and possibly
-Paddress for BinkD to make a poll to the address).

binkd -p -P1:2/3.4 binkd.cfg


2nd Solution

Use the command line option -p and the batch file where first Remote
Access Service (RAS) is started then BinkD is started and after BinkD exits
RAS is stopped.

Two variants, for Windows NT and for Windows 2000:
=== binkdpoll1.cmd
rasdial Connection
binkd -p binkd.cfg
rasdial Connection /disconnect
===

=== binkdpoll2.cmd
net start "remote access service"
net start "remote access auto service"
binkd -p binkd.cfg
net stop "remote access auto service"
net stop "remote access service"
===

3rd Solution (The Best One For Win9x)

Use the command line options -p and -Paddress and control connection
with a non-standard dial-up software (for example dialerp). This solution
is the most reliable one (especially if the modem connection to your
Internet provider is bad) due to the fact that dialerp can start some
indicated programs at setting the connection. Here is the batch file you
should start in the 'Execute' parameter of the dialerp configuration file:

====
binkd -p -P1:2/3.4 binkd.cfg
dialerp BREAK *
====

The question you may now ask: Where can I take dialerp? The answer is:
Ask the author (Alexander Vedjakin, 2:5020/540) or look for it in fileecho
archives and in ftp/http.


In any case you should set a small value for 'rescan-delay' parameter in
the BinkD configuration file. Binkd would exit faster.

=== binkd.cfg
# Outbound rescans period (sec)
rescan-delay 2
===


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


11. I Have Changed BinkD Configuration File On-The-Fly. When Will It Be
Reloaded?

Starting with the version 0.9.1 BinkD could feel that its configuration
file changed. It exited with code 3 if it had been started with option -C.
Modification time was checked after each ingoing session. Here is the batch
file for starting BinkD versions 0.9.1-0.9.3 and 0.9.4-0.9.6/w32:

====
:aaa
binkd -C binkd.cfg
if errorlevel 4 goto end
if errorlevel 3 goto aaa
:end
====

In the versions 0.9.4/unix and /os2-emx (and in these ones only) BinkD
restarts automatically if it is started with -C command line option.
Besides that starting with version 0.9.4 the files included into the
configuration file with the help of 'include' keyword are tested not only
on incoming sessions but also in every 'rescan-delay' seconds.

If you install BinkD 0.9.4/w32 as a Windows NT service you should use it
with -C command line option. Then BinkD re-reads its configuration file.

Before version 0.9.4 changes in the configuration file were not tested if
BinkD was started in client-only mode (-c command line option).

In the unix versions configuration file is re-read on SIGHUP signal
by the command
kill -HUP `cat /var/run/binkd.pid`

In the version 1.0 configuration file is re-read automatically if
changed. Binkd tests on changes at every 'rescan-delay' seconds.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


12. How Can BinkD Work With T-mail/IP?

There is no way to do it. The protocols differ in essence: BinkD uses
BinkP protocol whereas T-mail/IP uses EMSI etc.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


13. Is There At Least One Log Analyzer Under Unix?

There exist many Perl scripts and several win32 binaries. For example here:

binkdstat 0.1 beta4 Christmas version 6.01.2002
Statistics generator for BinkD
(c) Dmitry Sergienko, 2:464/***@fidonet, ***@trifle.net 14.08.2000
http://web.apex.dp.ua/~trooper/binkdstat
http://binkd.grumbler.org/loganalisers/binkdstat-ds.0.1_beta4_Christmas

You can find several different generators at Nick Soveiko's site:
http://www.doe.carleton.ca/~nsoveiko/fido/binkd/statistics_generators/

There also exists BndStat program:
BNDST101.ZIP 34812 14-Aug-01 (AREA:AFTNMISC)
BndStat 1.01. With sources. BinkD statistics generator. Compiled for all
platforms. Included win32 binaries. (C) Dmitry Rusov, 2:5090/94

A set of statistics generators for BinkD and qico under *nix (c) Vasily
Krysin, 2:5054/84: http://deep.perm.ru/files/fido/fustat-0.02.tar.gz

Log analyzer by val khokhlov (perl):
http://www.vk.kiev.ua/create/soft.html#bnkds
http://binkd.grumbler.org/loganalisers/stat-binkd.pl.gz

binkdstat (С) val khokhlov, Dmitry Kolvakh, updated at April 2006
http://www.pstu.ru/~keu/binkdstat.zip
http://binkd.grumbler.org/loganalisers/binkdstat.zip


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


14. BinkD Connects Too Slowly (~20 Seconds) Though I Have a High-Speed
LAN

It is possible that 'backresolv' parameter is on (for logging the remote
host domain name) and DNS is not configured.

The simplest solution is to comment the 'backresolv' out in the
configuration file. Configuring DNS is a more complex solution.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


15. Why Does BinkD Not Understand Command Line Options When I Start It
From inetd?

You should use the program name as the first parameter in inetd.conf (it
may be any string for BinkD), the second and the following parameters
are the command line options (-iqs etc.) and the last parameter is the
configuration file full path:

binkp stream tcp nowait root /usr/fido/binkd binkd -isq /usr/fido/binkd.cfg

If you do not use -q option then you should switch console output off
(comment 'printq', 'percents', 'conlog' out).


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


16. Can One Make a File Request From BinkD?

It's a piece of cake! BinkD supports WAZOO FREQ.

To request files from a remote system it is necessary to create a file
of type nnnnmmmm.REQ and to put it in the outbound directory near *.?ut and
*.?lo files. But *.REQ files do not initiate BinkD to call a link so to
make a FREQ it is necessary to make a poll.

One can configure BinkD for calling an external file request processor
supporting SRIF (FSC-0086) for receiving and handling FREQs in BinkD. Please
read the "!SRIF.TXT" file and the comment to 'exec' in the configuration
file.

Here are the examples of lines in configuration file for DOS-based OS
and for *nix (you should use regular expressions in the latter case for
BinkD to match both upper-case and lower-case letters, e.g. both *.REQ and
*.req):

exec "\\ftn\\allfix\\allfix.exe RP -SRIF *S" *.req

exec "/ftn/bin/tmafreq-srif *S" *.[rR][eE][qQ]

The following file request processors are compatible with BinkD (but
they are not the only ones, any other one supporting SRIF will do):

Allfix by Harms Software Engineering: it is a fileecho processor with
built-in file request processor and it has versions for DOS and OS/2;

ViReq by Michael Haase (2:2432/280): a specialized FREQ processor for
Windows, it is distributed by Michael Massenberg (2:2411/505) via modem,
ISDN and Fido-over-IP.

tmafreq by Maxim Timofeyev <***@mail.tma.spb.ru>: FREQ processor
is created for unix-like OS and ported into Windows. One may obtain tmafreq
from different BBS and FTP with fileecho archives, or may get tmafreq sources
from anonymous CVS :pserver:***@tma.spb.ru:/cvsroot, module "tmafreq".


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


17. How Can I Add BinkD To a Fidonet Box Working With a Modem?

You must configure your modem mailer and tosser for BSO (binkley-style
outbound) mode so that all of them including BinkD would have the same
inbound directories (and also the same outbound directories). For example,
one may put the following line to T-Mail mailer configuration file:

BinkStyle_Pack_For All

If your mailer can work with AMA (arcmail-attach) only you may try to
use fileboxes and/or find programs that can convert your mailer's queue to
BSO or fileboxes. For example, Mail2dir utility allows using fileboxes with
FrontDoor. Such a means disables a possibility of sending your mail to the
same link both by IP and by modem (for instance, when one of the channels
failed). There is another more radical but more flexible way: you may change
your mailer.
See also question 34.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


18. Flags Are Not Created On Receiving a File, Programs Do Not Start

For sure you have a wrong template in the configuration file. You have to
use it this way (the first two lines are for Windows and OS/2, the rest are
for the Unix-like OS):

flag m:\\ftn\\flg\\pntseg.flg m:\\\\ftn\\\\inbound\\\\sec\\\\pntstr*.*
flag m:\\ftn\\flg\\toss.flg *.su? *.mo? *.tu? *.we? *.th? *.fr? *.sa? *.pkt

exec "/usr/local/bin/ftrack -c /fido/conf/ftrack" *.[Pp][Kk][Tt]
flag "/ftn/flg/echo-in" /ftn/inboundsec/*.[Ss][Uu][0-9A-Za-z]
flag "/ftn/flg/echo-in" /ftn/inboundsec/*.[Mm][Oo][0-9A-Za-z]
flag "/ftn/flg/echo-in" /ftn/inboundsec/*.[Tt][Uu][0-9A-Za-z]
flag "/ftn/flg/echo-in" /ftn/inboundsec/*.[Ww][Ee][0-9A-Za-z]
flag "/ftn/flg/echo-in" /ftn/inboundsec/*.[Tt][Hh][0-9A-Za-z]
flag "/ftn/flg/echo-in" /ftn/inboundsec/*.[Ff][Rr][0-9A-Za-z]
flag "/ftn/flg/echo-in" /ftn/inboundsec/*.[Ss][Aa][0-9A-Za-z]
flag "/ftn/flg/fech-in" /ftn/inboundsec/*.[Tt][Ii][Cc]

You must use the full path with four slashes for the file to receive or
the template should start with an asterisk character. You must use two
slashes for the flag file.

You must use the full path because using a filename without path means
the event of receiving the file in the current directory and not in the
inbound directory. If a template begins with "*" then it means "any
directory" (and since all the files are received in one of the inbound
directories it works for both password protected and for unprotected
sessions).

In a UNIX-like OS you should take into account that filenames are case
sensitive. Please use regular expressions in templates.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


19. 'skipmask' Keyword Does Not Work

A filename is compared without path and the comparison is case
sensitive when 'skipmask' is used.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


20. BinkD Under Windows 3.x

Sergey Zharsky (***@usa.net) ported BinkD 0.9.2 and BinkD 0.9.5 for
Windows 3.x. They work using IP stacks Trumpet Winsock ver. 3.0 revision D
and Novell TCP/IP Client for Win 3.11 (see the answer to the question
'BinkD Under DOS', the section "The DOS version has the feature...").

The sources and the binaries:
http://zharik.host.sk/index.php?pages=d&page=d

0.9.2 only:
http://www.doe.carleton.ca/~nsoveiko/fido/binkd/0.9.2/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------


21. Different FTN Domains in BinkD And a Tosser Without 5D Support

Suppose there are two domains (with different zone numbers though it
does not matter). Mail can be successfully sent to the first domain but
not to the second one. This situation may arise if the tosser, the tracker
and the other your FTN programs do not support 5D BSO.

This is a typical BinkD configuration for two FTN domains and 5D
outbound:

domain fidonet c:\\ftn\\outbound\\fidonet 2
domain omeganet c:\\ftn\\outbound\\omeganet 11
address 2:5070/***@fidonet 11:58/***@omeganet

One must configure not the zone of your own address for 'domain'
keyword as one might think but the zone that should not be appended to the
outbound name (i.e. the outbound subdirectory extensions are not processed
for the zone denoted in the 'domain' line).

If your tosser would create bundles for omeganet in the omeganet
directory then you should write as indicated above. But since it does not
work with 5D and it creates the bundles in fidonet.00b then you should
write this way:

domain fidonet c:\\ftn\\outbound\\fidonet 2
domain omeganet c:\\ftn\\outbound\\fidonet 2
address 2:5070/***@fidonet 11:58/***@omeganet

It is obligatory to configure all your addresses with domains. The
outbound directory and the path should be the same everywhere (4D tosser
considers all addresses to belong to one domain).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------


22. How Does "domain ... alias-for ..." In The Configuration File Work?

An alias is taken into consideration when the remote site address is
analyzed.

Example:

[Robert Bashe]

Binkd Team wrote to All on Thursday January 03 2013 at 01:15:

BT> 16. Can One Make a File Request From BinkD?

BT> It's a piece of cake!

IF you are preferably a professional programmer and work with either a Unix or
DOS/Windows system.

However, if you work with OS/2 (as many of us in R24 still do) and have a
Binkley-style mailer such as CantaLoup as your principal interface (for analog
and ISDN), and binkd is simply added on to provide the fast (international)
direct connections, you have a _real_ problem.

You can send a file to someone without a problem. You can also put a file on
hold for a known system to be picked up in a binkd poll - but you can NOT
easily, or often at all, correctly process a file request to binkd.

BT> Allfix by Harms Software Engineering...

... is by far not used by everyone, and...

BT> ViReq by Michael Haase (2:2432/280): a specialized FREQ processor for
BT> Windows...

... is, as mentioned, for Windows.

I've spent altogether several weeks trying to get binkd to work with a) the
external request processor of CantaLoup, my principal mailer, b) Freq-U, a DOS
modification of the Unix request processor by Fred Riccio, and c) VIREQCLP.EXE,
a request processor written by Ulrich Schroeter. Both Fred and Ulrich have
helped me enormously, but in the end only c) was even halfway successful, and
to get it to work I had to practically rewrite my binkd setup. I might add
that, of course, ALL of these request processors have been SRIF based ones.

At this point, I've given up. I have neither the time nor the optimism and
health that would be required to proceed.

My personal opinion of "It's a piece of cake" is given above. At least in the
case of OS/2, it's a technically difficult project requiring considerable
programming skills and is by no means simple to incorporate into a running
system. No way is this simply a "drop-in" thing that can be incorporated merely
by adding a program and including the call for the program in binkd.cfg, which
was my original hope and expectation.

This is, in my opinion, one of the most serious handicaps of binkd for anyone
who uses OS/2, does NOT use Allfix, and receives frequent file reqests - in the
worst case from overseas, where anything but binkd (analog, ISDN) becomes
prohibitively expensive.

I've seen this "piece of cake" stuff so often and have been so amazed that up
to now nobody has called this into question, that I decided to mention the
problem myself. Binkd needs it's own file request program for all the supported
operating systems. The people who have managed to get something running mainly
have had to program it themselves, or have Unix or Windows/DOS systems. That's
just not enough for a mailer as versatile and otherwise useful as binkd.

Cheers, Bob

[Rj Clay]

Robert,

03 Jan 13 11:59, you wrote to Binkd Team:

RB> Binkd Team wrote to All on Thursday January 03 2013 at 01:15:

BT>> 16. Can One Make a File Request From BinkD?

BT>> It's a piece of cake!

RB> IF you are preferably a professional programmer and work with either a
RB> Unix or DOS/Windows system.

RB> However, if you work with OS/2 ....

RB> .... but you can NOT easily, or often at all, correctly process a
RB> file request to binkd.

I'm surprised that someone didn't at least write something simple in
Rexx...


BT>> ViReq by Michael Haase (2:2432/280): a specialized FREQ processor
BT>> for Windows...

RB> ... is, as mentioned, for Windows.

While VIREQ/x (http://ftnapps.sourceforge.net/vireq.html) is not so
specific... I wonder if it's been built/tested recently on OS/2... (It's
been awhile since I did anything with it but it did build on Debian with no
issues...)




Jame

[Stas Degteff]

Hello Rj.

03 Jan 13 09:22, you wrote to Robert Bashe:


RC> While VIREQ/x (http://ftnapps.sourceforge.net/vireq.html) is not so
RC> specific... I wonder if it's been built/tested recently on OS/2...
RC> (It's been awhile since I did anything with it but it did build on
RC> Debian with no issues...)

thanks for information.

compilation of vireq.c produce warning about return type of main().
Patch for vireq.c:
=====
d686 1
a686 1
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
=====

Also I create Makefile:
====
vireq vimkidx: vimkidx.c vireq.c
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -o vireq vireq.c
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -o vimkidx vimkidx.c
====

Stas
Jabber-ID: ***@grumbler.org
GPG key 0x72186DB9 (keyserver: hkp://wwwkeys.eu.pgp.net)
... Golded+, Husky & RNTrack maintainer, Binkd developer&webmaster

[Rj Clay]

Stas,

03 Jan 13 23:04, you wrote to me:

SD> 03 Jan 13 09:22, you wrote to Robert Bashe:

RC>> While VIREQ/x (http://ftnapps.sourceforge.net/vireq.html)

Note that the code repository has been migrated to GIT and is now available;
still need to update that web page for it, though...


SD> compilation of vireq.c produce warning about return type of main().
SD> Patch for vireq.c:
SD> =====
SD> d686 1
SD> a686 1
SD> int main(int argc, char *argv[])
SD> =====

Hmm... That I fixed back when I was working on it and I thought I'd made
what I did public. It wasn't, so I'll need to fix that. (Alhough I've also
started working on it again & figure to put out a v0.12 version...)


SD> Also I create Makefile:
SD> ====
SD> vireq vimkidx: vimkidx.c vireq.c
SD> $(CC) $(CFLAGS) -o vireq vireq.c
SD> $(CC) $(CFLAGS) -o vimkidx vimkidx.c
SD> ====

That's similar to what I used in the original debian packaging for it. Why
I didn't adapt that for a Makefile for the source I don't recall...<g>

I have added it now, in the v0.12 develop branch I started today... (With
thanks to you...)



Jame

[Stas Degteff]

Hello Robert!

03 Jan 13 11:59, you wrote to Binkd Team:

....

RB> You can send a file to someone without a problem. You can also put a
RB> file on hold for a known system to be picked up in a binkd poll - but
RB> you can NOT easily, or often at all, correctly process a file request
RB> to binkd.

BT>> Allfix by Harms Software Engineering...

RB> ... is by far not used by everyone, and...

BT>> ViReq by Michael Haase (2:2432/280): a specialized FREQ processor
BT>> for Windows...

RB> ... is, as mentioned, for Windows.

You skiped useful information. What? You aren't able to read the text
througthfully?
One phrase of skiped text: "any other one supporting SRIF will do"

You may use *any* SRIF compatible file Request Processor. *ANY*. They exists as
compiled binaries, also exists written on Perl (multi-platform) and REXX (OS/2
native). Google in the help.


Stas
Jabber-ID: ***@grumbler.org
GPG key 0x72186DB9 (keyserver: hkp://wwwkeys.eu.pgp.net)

... Golded+, Husky & RNTrack maintainer, Binkd developer&webmaster

[Paul Quinn]

Hi! Stas,

In a message to Robert Bashe you wrote:

SD> You may use *any* SRIF compatible file Request Processor. *ANY*. They
SD> exists as compiled binaries, also exists written on Perl
SD> (multi-platform) and REXX (OS/2 native).

Plus a MS-DOS batch file that I wrote in 2000/2001 (for use in Windows 9x). It
has given good service to binkD, Argus, and now Radius since 2005. FREQ-able
(ha!) as 'srif_req.zip' from this node.

Cheers,
Paul.

... Gort, Klaatu Barada Niktu.

[Robert Bashe]

Stas Degteff wrote to Robert Bashe on Thursday January 03 2013 at 22:40:

SD> You skiped useful information. What? You aren't able to read the text
SD> througthfully? One phrase of skiped text: "any other one supporting
SD> SRIF will do"

SD> You may use *any* SRIF compatible file Request Processor. *ANY*. They
SD> exists as compiled binaries, also exists written on Perl
SD> (multi-platform) and REXX (OS/2 native). Google in the help.

Nice theory, but unfortunately it doesn't work. In the meantime, I've tried the
external request processor of CantaLoup, a DOS program written and ported from
Unix by Fred Riccio (Freq-U) and a modified program set up by Ulrich Schroeter
- all three SRIF compatible.

All in all, we've spent several weeks modifying and trying various thing out to
try to get at least one of these to work. But the best we've ever managed to
achieve was that at least the Magics (only programs with full names plus paths)
could be frequested with Ulrich's file requester - nothing else, even though
the thing had to totally index my filebase (which is already indexed in a form
suitable for Maximus, Cantaloup and Binkley using maxlist by Wilfried
Brinkmann).

I may try again if and when binkd is distributed with it's own request
processor matched to the operating system it runs under, but as for now I've
experienced too many unforseen problems and failures to be very enthusiastic
about spending more weeks of failure and disappointment trying to get a request
processor not written specifically for binkd to _finally_ work properly.

Cheers, Bob

[Stas Degteff]

Hello Robert!

04 Jan 13 07:40, you wrote to me:

SD>> You skiped useful information. What? You aren't able to read the
SD>> text througthfully? One phrase of skiped text: "any other one
SD>> supporting SRIF will do"

SD>> You may use *any* SRIF compatible file Request Processor. *ANY*.
SD>> They exists as compiled binaries, also exists written on Perl
SD>> (multi-platform) and REXX (OS/2 native). Google in the help.

RB> Nice theory, but unfortunately it doesn't work. In the meantime, I've
RB> tried the external request processor of CantaLoup, a DOS program
RB> written and ported from Unix by Fred Riccio (Freq-U) and a modified
RB> program set up by Ulrich Schroeter - all three SRIF compatible.

Really "all three SRIF compatible" and you call these programs with SRIF-file
rigth?

After receiving *.req binkd creates file like "012345678.srf" in the inbound,
this file contain the SRIF parameter-value pairs (look FSC-0086 for details),
and next binkd call a command defined in the config file.
My binkd.conf contain following line:
====
exec "!/fido/scripts/srifreq *S" *.req
====

If you don't insert "!" into command string, binkd run command after session
end - when file request result can't be send to requestor.

("srifreq" are simple SRIF file request processor, that I writed yesterday on
bash scripting language.)



Stas
Jabber-ID: ***@grumbler.org
GPG key 0x72186DB9 (keyserver: hkp://wwwkeys.eu.pgp.net)

... Golded+, Husky & RNTrack maintainer, Binkd developer&webmaster

[Robert Bashe]

Stas Degteff wrote to Robert Bashe on Sunday January 06 2013 at 02:14:

SD> ====
SD> exec "!/fido/scripts/srifreq *S" *.req
SD> ====

SD> If you don't insert "!" into command string, binkd run command after
SD> session end - when file request result can't be send to requestor.

I'm not _that_ green, Stas, even though I'm not a professional programmer, as
many of those dealing with binkd appear to be.

I know that the "!" means and it has always been in the command line.

My hope had been that I could achieve frequest capability with a _minimum_ of
changes to my system, but the more I read, the more I see that this will not be
possible without major changes in the system. And on the principle of "don't
change a running system", I'm not yet to the point that I'm willing to make
major changes if I can avoid that. And I can, since frequests with binkd are so
rare as to be nearly non-existent at my system.

But one thing stays in what I wrote: "A piece of cake" is a massive
simplification that may apply to _some_ systems, but certainly not to all.

Cheers, Bob