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- VUUCP
- VUUCP.EXE Command Line Usage
- VCONFIG Set-Up for VUUCP
- Setting Up Email on Your BBS
- Setting Up Internet Newsgroups on Your BBS
- Redirecting Internet Email to a Public Message Base
- Setting Up Downstream Connections
- How Do I Get My ISP to Recognize Downstream Sites
- The Rules for Email Routing
- The Rules for Newsgroups Refeed
- Hosting Internet Mailing Lists
- Setting Up VUUCP for Use With Virtual Internet Survivor Kit
- Advanced Options
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VUUCP.EXE is the UUCP network software provided with
Virtual Advanced software. It allows for UUCP type network
operations with the world-wide Internet. It might even be used
to connect to alternative and/or private UUCP type networks.
VUUCP is complete -- there is no other mailer or software
needed, and set-up couldn't be simpler. VUUCP will even let
your site be a UUCP server to other sites.
Virtual Advanced features an extremely sophisticated
version of VUUCP.EXE which can gate email between the Internet
and the other networks, gate newsgroups between the Internet
and other networks, and can even toss (unpack) mail in
the background, so it doesn't tie up a serial port/modem.
With VUUCP, it's easy to gate email and messages:
Internet <--> VirtualNET-type
Internet <--> FIDOnet (messages only)
Internet <--> QWK type net (messages only)
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Note that <ch> refers to Virtual Advanced Channel Number,
and that if the NETWORKID= is omitted, NETWORKID=9 is assumed.
VUUCP <ch> /U NETWORKID=9
Update any outgoing mail. Automatically called by VME as needed.
VUUCP <ch> /R NETWORKID=9
Pull in data received by remote.
(Automatically run when data is received after a net call.)
VUUCP <ch> /D<full system name> NETWORKID=9
Dial into the specified system.
VUUCP <ch> /A NETWORKID=9
Used to handle an incoming UUCP call-in. Use of this option
requires script programming.
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When setting up a UUCP based network using VCONFIG, you
will be given the following choices:
1) System Address:
This is where you enter your full Internet address.
(Example: mybbs.myhost.com)
2) Spool Directory:
This setting specifies the directory to be used by this network for
storage of outgoing mail, and temporary storage for incoming data.
(Example: C:\SPOOL)
Directories will be created beneath this directory automatically,
on an as-needed basis.
3) Max Receive Packet
This sets the maximum size for UUCP data packets to be received
by your system. You should always set this value to 2048.
4) Allow Newsgroup Refeed
If you plan on refeeding newsgroups to downstream sites,
then this setting must be set to Yes.
If you don't plan on refeeding newsgroups to downstream sites,
then tossing is optimized by setting this parameter to No.
5) Strip RFC822 Header Data
If set to Yes, then RFC822 Header Data will automatically
be stripped from messages before they are written to your
Virtual Advanced databases (email/message areas).
If set to No, then the header data is left intact.
This setting does not affect email or messages being
rerouted or refed to other sites.
6) Suffix Address Solution
This setting should always be left at "Not Used" unless you
are specifically directed to put something here by your
UUCP provider *and* your UUCP provider is another
Virtual Advanced BBS running VUUCP 3.00 or higher.
D) Edit Remote List
This choice lets you edit the list of systems you are connected to.
Many of you will only have one system in this list -- this one
system being your Internet Service Provider. However, you
may have up to 200 systems listed in your remote list. IMPORTANT
NOTE: The very first system listed in the remote list must
be your main hub for Internet email -- usually your main ISP.
There are 5 settings for each remote system you connect with:
1) System Address
The full Internet address of the remote system.
2) Phone Number
The data phone number, as it needs to be dialed, to call this system.
3) Wait-For #1
Send #1
4) Wait-For #2
Send #2
Typically this sequence is used to complete the "Login:" part
(Wait-For #1/Send #1) and "Password:" part (Wait-For #2/Send #2)
of the login process during an outgoing net call to a UNIX-based
host.
If you connect to a UNIX or Waffle-based UUCP site, you'll need the
"Wait-For" and "Send" fields to "login" to the remote site when you
place a net call, sort of like a regular user.
The difference is that UNIX will detect your account as being a
systems mail account, and will automatically start-up the UUCP
mail session as soon as you're logged in.
(Your account login ID and password are provided to you by your
Internet Service Provider, and are not related to your Internet
system address. Provider's require logins/passwords to prevent
unauthorized use of your systems mail account, and to facilitate
billing.)
Example:
Wait-For #1: ogin:
Send #1: mybbs
Wait-For #2: word:
Send #2: mybbspw
Waits for the word "ogin:" (as in "Login:" or "login:") and then
sends "mybbs" plus a carriage return. Then, waits for the word
"word:" (as in "Password:" or "password:") and then sends "mybbspw"
plus a carriage return.
NOTE: The above login provisions will be sufficient for the vast
majority of the users of this software. If you need something
more complex to login to your Internet/UNIX host, an optional
login "macro" capability is provided. See section ADVANCED
OPTIONS for more information.
5) Knows *Us* As:
When you call into an Internet site to pickup your mail, after
the login/password sequence, your system must identify itself
to the host. Some systems require the full Internet address
(eg "mybbs.win.net"). Most systems, particularly UNIX ones,
want to see only the first part of our name up to the first
period, maximum 7 characters, eg "mybbs.win.net" -> "mybbs".
This field, therefore, controls how *your* system identifies
itself to this particular remote system during a net callout
to the remote system.
By default, VCONFIG will try to "guess" the proper data to put
into this field whenever you add a new remote system to the remote
system list. VCONFIG should guess correctly about 90% of the time.
The important thing to remember is that different UUCP hosts are
going to have different requirements for logging into the system
and then for system identification during the actual network
identification handshake.
You should try the VCONFIG-supplied default for this field.
However, if you receive the message:
"You are unknown to me"
during a net-callout, this might be an indication that you need
to fiddle with this field. (It could also be an indication that your
service provider hasn't set-up your UUCP mail account yet!)
The important thing to remember is that different UUCP hosts are
going to have different requirements for logging into the system
and then for system identification during the actual network
identification handshake.
If in doubt, contact your service provider; they should be able
to tell you what is proper to enter for this field.
6) News Server Alias:
This field is very important! Often times, the system name
of your Internet Service Provider's news server is different than
their main name. For example, a provider might have you calling
into isp.net, but the news server computer is actually called
something else such as news.isp.net. Also, some providers don't
even run a news server on premises but rather they "job it out"
to someone else.
If you look at a Newsgroup posting, at the top of the message
in the header data, you'll see a line that starts out "Path:" and on
the line will be a list of systems such as:
Path: news.alt.net!news1.alt.net!news.u.washington.edu
In the above example, "news.alt.net" is the News Server
Alias we are interested in. If this were the Path: line
received, then news.alt.net would be the proper News Server
Alias to configure in this field.
IF IN DOUBT, TRY TO RETRIEVE A LIMITED NUMBER OF MESSAGES
FROM YOUR PROVIDER, AND EXAMINE THE PATH: FIELDS. THE
FIRST SYSTEM LISTED IN THE PATH: LINE IS WHAT MUST
GO IN THIS FIELD. FAILURE TO DO THIS PROPERLY WILL CAUSE YOUR
SITE TO RELOOP ALL RECEIVED MESSAGES BACK ONTO THE INTERNET,
WHERE THEY WILL LIKELY BE THROWN AWAY BY YOUR ISP BEFORE
THEY DO ANY REAL HARM.
If the system being set up here is another Virtual Advanced
system running VUUCP 3.00 or higher, then this field can
be left blank, because for Virtual Advanced/VUUCP, the sites'
main address is always the same as the sites' news server address.
7) Options:
(a) Default News Server
Setting this to Yes indicates that this site is
your only upstream source for Newsgroup postings.
By enabling this setting, you do not need to include
this site in NEWSFEED.LST.
If you get your news from multiple upstream sources,
then you must set this field to No.
(b) Automatic Dialout Option
This controls how VME automatically dials this site
for UUCP-type network calls. The possibilities are:
Disabled - No Automatic Polling
Daily/LD - Long Distance, Once Per Day
Daily/Local - Local Call, Once Per Day
Hourly/Local - Local Call, Once Per Hour
Note that "Long Distance" implies that dialouts should occur
only during cheap long distance periods, such as 11 pm to
7 am. Local calls, on the other hand, are permitted at any
time of day, however only once per day or per hour as set by
the sysop.
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There is nothing extra you need to do, beyond the initial
VUUCP set-up described above, to be able to send and receive
Internet Email. There is nothing further you must do to be
able to GATE email to other networks, either.
Each user, though, must send an initial email to
"fire up" their Internet email handle. In other words, the
first time someone sends mail through VUUCP, a unique
handle is generated for them so that return replies will
find them. It is recommended that they send mail to:
mailid@your.address
where your.address is replaced by your actual Internet address.
This mail will be loop-ed back to your BBS without going out
over the Internet, but will accomplish the task of assigning
the user a unique handle.
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Newsgroups can be quickly and easily set-up using the
included VMB utility program. Make sure you have ASCII file
NEWSGRP.9 installed in your DATA directory for VMB to function
properly. NEWSGRP.9 is the file containinng the newsgroup
listings.
An alternative method to newsgroup set-up is to use
VCONFIG to manually set-up/edit each database entry. In this
case, you would use the DATABASE CONFIGURATION portion of
VCONFIG to display/edit a DATABASE CONFIGURATION ENTRY. At
this point, selecting the field "(G) Networks Configuration"
would let you manually do what VMB does automatically.
A typical newsgroup name looks like:
alt.bbs
biz.comp.hardware
comp.sys.ibm-pc
To GATE an Internet newsgroup, you merely set-up its
DATABASE COFIGURATION ENTRY to show that the field
"(G) Networks Configuration" shows multiple networks --
Internet, and the other network(s) you want to GATE to/from.
For example, you might see:
Internet=alt.bbs
VirtualNET=100000
This means that this particular message base is a gateway
between Internet's alt.bbs newsgroup, and VirtualNET's
message sub number 100000.
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From time to time, it may become necessary to redirect
email to a certain userid on your system to a public message
base instead of to the email database. You must use VCONFIG
to manually set up this feature. (See the section previous
SETTING UP INTERNET NEWSGROUPS for more info on manually
editing Database Network Configuration.) A typical configuration
entry in this case might be:
specialdata,virtual.win.net
Email addressed to user "specialdata" will instead be directed
to the message base. Replies posted to the message base by BBS
users will be sent to the host specified ("virtual.win.net").
Our example would send the new posts (replies) to
specialdata@virtual.win.net.
Tip: If you desire that no replies be sent, then set the host
part to none, example:
specialdata,none
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Once you are comfortable with VUUCP networking with
your ISP(s) (your upstream connections) sending and receiving
email and newsgroups on your BBS, you may decide to offer
the service to other sites (your downstream connections).
In order to host other sites for email, your site
must have either a registered domain name (ex: yoursite.com)
of its own, or hang off the registered domain of your Internet
Service Provider (ex: yoursite.isp.com).
For purposes of a simple example, let us assume you have a
registered domain name of "yoursite.com" and that you want
to carry two downstream connections:
joesbbs.yoursite.com
ourowndomain.com
joesbbs.yoursite.com is an example of hanging a site off of
your own domain name. This is where you have control to assign
systems names, based on your domain. The only limitation is
that the first part of the address (up to the first period)
is limited to 7 characters or less, and all names must be
unique (ie no two systems can have the same first 7 characters
in their system name).
ourdomamain.com is an example of a site you feed which has its
own domain name.
For another example, let's assume your site is hanging off your
provider's domain, with an address of "yoursite.isp.com" and you
want to carry two downstream connections. This is how it might
be done:
joesbbs.yoursite.isp.com
ourowndomain.com
You may have up to 200 systems in the remote list. With one
of those used for your ISP, that means you can set-up up to
199 downstream connections.
The procedure for adding a new downstream connection is as
follows:
(1)
Following the directions presented earlier in this doc, you must
use VCONFIG to add them to your remote list. They must NOT be
listed first in the list -- that is where the entry for your ISP goes.
Note the "Short Name" assigned to the site by VCONFIG on the screen.
(2)
If they will be calling your BBS to transfer mail, create a user
account for them on the BBS, using the "Short Name" as the Handle.
Edit the account so that the User Flag "U" is Turned ON.
Make sure to set an appropriate password.
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Internet Service Providers control the routing of
email by use of MX records. MX is short for Mail eXchange.
In order for mail destined for downstream sites to be
routed to you, you must inform your provider to alter
your MX record to include the addresses of sites who
will be getting their email from you.
Typically, this is accomplished by sending email to
user "hostmaster" at your ISP. Once the mail is being routed
to your site, VUUCP will then re-route it as necessary to the
destination address via the rules of email routing.
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When mail comes in from any source, VUUCP will use
the following rules to determine which system to pass the
mail to next in order for the mail arrive at its proper
destination:
1. Direct Match
The system addresses in the remote list are checked against
the "TO" information. The first site to match exactly
gets the mail.
For example, mail to anyuser@joesbbs.yoursite.com would be
routed to joesbbs.yoursite.com for delivery. Mail to
anyuser@ourowndomain.com would be routed to ourowndomain.com
for delivery.
2. Subdomain Match
The system addresses in the remote list are checked against
the "TO" information. The first site to match by domain
gets the mail.
For example, mail to anyuser@anysite.joesbbs.yoursite.com would
be routed to joesbbs.yoursite.com for delivery. Mail to
anyuser@anysite.ourowndomain.com would be routed to
ourowndomain.com for delivery.
3. Routed To ISP (First System In Remote List)
Any message not routable by Method 1 or Method 2 is
routed to your main provider for further routing.
NOTE: The very first system listed in the remote list must
be your main hub for Internet email -- usually your main ISP.
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Newsgroup refeed is governed by a control file you
set-up in your Spool Directory called NEWSFEED.LST.
NEWSFEED.LST is an ASCII text file in the format:
<newsgroup> <system address> <system address> ... <system address>
Example:
rec.humor.funny joesbbs.yoursite.com
You may put in as many entries as you like to cover as many
newsgroups as needed. Initially, you need only to enter
in the newsgroup name on a line by itself.
Example:
rec.humor.funny
alt.test
alt.bbs
If you've selected a system as your Default News Server (remote
list configuration option described in an earlier section),
it should NOT be listed at all in NEWSFEED.LST.
The Default News Server is automatically assumed as connected to
all newsgroups. This also includes newsgroups which you have on
your BBS that aren't listed in NEWSFEED.LST -- so the messages
posted by BBS users will be posted back upstream as appropriate.
If you've not selected a system as your Default News Server
(remote list configuration option described in an earlier section),
then it should be listed in NEWSFEED.LST.
Once the initial set of lines is put in, your downstream
feeds can add/drop themselves from the file automatically
without bothering you. To do this they must send email
to user "newsfeed" at your site, and in the text of the
message, put in subscribe and/or signoff commands:
subscribe alt.bbs
subscribe alt.test
signoff rec.humor.funny
The only sites allowed to alter NEWSFEED.LST are systems
that are configured in the remote list -- in other words,
your upstream/downstream connections.
Newsgroup refeed is also governed by the "Path:" line of the
incoming message. A message will not be fed to a site whose
name already appears in the Path: line. In additon to checking
the Path: line against the remote site's Main System Address,
checking is also performed against the News Server Alias field.
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Internet Mailing Lists are like a way of hosting a
special-interest discussion without the pain of creating
a newsgroup. Email posted to the list are sent to all
members on the list. Any member of the list can post
to the list -- unless you set it up to be a read-only
list. Anyone on the Internet can subscribe to your mail
list. Anyone on your BBS can host the mail list.
Mail List refeed is governed by a control file you set-up in
your Spool Directory called LISTSERV.LST. LISTSERV.LST is an
ASCII text file in the format:
<listname> <email address> <email address> ... <email address>
Example:
VADV-L rdegraaf@virtualc.com rdegraaf@virtual.win.net
You may put in as many entries as you like and host as many
mail lists as desired. Initially, you need only to enter in
the mail list name plus your email address on a line by itself.
Example:
VADV-L rdegraaf@virtualc.com
Note: The first user on the list is considered the mail-list owner.
Putting -R as the last two characters of the list name make the list
a read-only list, where only the owner of the list can make postings.
Example:
VADV-R rdegraaf@virtualc.com
Once the initial set of data is put in, users all over the world
can add/drop themselves from the file automatically without
bothering you. To do this they must send email to user "listserv"
at your site, and in the text of the message, put in subscribe
and/or signoff commands:
subscribe VADV-R
subscribe VADV-L
signoff OLDLIST
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When used with VISK, VUUCP functions only to toss the
outgoing and incoming mail and news. The UUCP transfer mechanism
is not used, and instead SMTP & POP3 are used to handle the email,
with NNTP handling newsgroups.
Configuration of VUUCP is the same as usual; you
will need to configure a dialing-entry for the Internet
site that you will use for your SMTP/POP3/NNTP services,
however, instead of entering a phone number, you will
enter in directory path information.
Note that either VUUCP UUCP -or- VISK SMTP/POP3/NNTP
can be used to tie your site to your Main Internet Service
Provider, with all other connections to other systems upstream
and downstream being VUUCP UUCP.
For more detailed instructions, please consult the VISK
documentation.
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The features described hereafter are optional, and unneeded
in most cases.
* Setting Up A TWIT.LST File
It is possible to have VUUCP optionally pre-screen your email
and newsgroup postings, to prevent annoying or irrelevant
data from taking up space on your hard drive.
The ASCII text file, TWIT.LST, is where you can configure
the pre-screening capabilities of VUUCP. TWIT.LST should
be created in the Virtual Advanced DATA Directory. Each
line of the text file is one entry, and you may put in up
to 50 entries.
An entry might be a senders address (email), or a word or
phrase in the subject line (newsgroups).
Email:
For email, you can screen by the address of the SENDER.
You may screen out specific user addresses:
joeuser@somesite.com
And even mask off entire sites:
*@junkmailer.com
SENDERs who have been screen out will have their mail
returned to them, rejected.
Newsgroups:
Newsgroup postings can be screened by the SUBJECT line.
You might use this feature to help screen out the many
"Fast CASH" and "GET RICH" postings which now blanket
the Internet daily.
Example entries might look like this:
fast cash
cash fast
get rich
make money
fa$t
ca$h
Newsgroup postings which are killed by SUBJECT content
are simply thrown away into the proverbial bit bucket.
An example TWIT.LST file might look like:
joeuser@somesite.com
*@junkmailer.com
fast cash
cash fast
get rich
make money
fa$t
ca$h
* Extended Login Macro Script
If you need more versatility to login to your Internet
Service Provider you must create a text file called MACRO.TXT
in the storage directory for that particular system. For example,
suppose your Spool directory is set to C:\SPOOL, and your
host is myhost.myprovider.com. The directory where you would
place MACRO.TXT is C:\SPOOL\MYHOST (a directory VUUCP
has automatically created for you already, assuming you've run
VUUCP at least once since configuration.)
The format of the MACRO.TXT file ASCII text with one commmand
per line. Allowable commands are SEND, WAIT, and WAITFOR, and
they use the following syntax:
SEND <string to transmit>
Examples:
SEND ThisString
SEND Hello{
The SEND command automatically replaces the "{" character with
a carriage return.
WAIT <number of seconds>
Examples:
WAIT 2
WAIT 4
Waits the number of seconds specified.
WAITFOR <waitfor string>,<send string>
Examples:
WAITFOR prompt:,myname
WAITFOR ogin:,mysystem
With WAITFOR, the string to be sent will have a carriage return
automatically appended at the end.
When the last line of MACRO.TXT has been executed, VUUCP proceeds
to the built-in Waitfor/Send pairs unless you've disabled them.
* VUUCP /R command line option
This function might be used to "import" standard Internet
Message Format mesages received via a different source/method
into the BBS. In other words, you'd copy the files you wanted
to import into your SPOOL\TMP directory, and simply execute:
VUUCP 1 /R NETWORKID=9
VME 1 /TOSS
* Using VUUCP to import messages received via Planet Connect
A special command line option has been added to make importing
Internet newsfeeds received via Planet Connect as simple as possible.
The Planet Connect software delivers to you a file with the
name PCUSENET.xxx where xxx is a sequence number. Simply copy
the received PCUSENET.xxx file to your VUUCP SPOOL directory,
and from your main directory execute:
VUUCP 1 /PC NETWORKID=9
IMPORTANT: The PCUSENET.xxx file is a 2.04g ZIP format file,
and VUUCP will call upon PKUNZIP.EXE to unzip it for you
automatically. Make sure you have an accessable 2.04g version
(or newer) PKUNZIP.EXE!
* Troubleshooting
Still not able to make it work? Try adding either of the
following lines to your DATA\NET.9 file. This is an ASCII
file which contains your Internet main configuration information.
You can edit this file with MSDOS EDIT or similar text editor
or word processor in PLAIN TEXT mode.
First try:
debuglevel=2
And if that doesn't give enough information, try:
debuglevel=3
Both will adversely affect program performance, but you will
get more information in the VUUCP.LOG file for study in solving
your problem. These lines should, of course, be removed
once you've solved the problem.
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Copyright © 2024 Steve Winn. All rights reserved.
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