WWIVnet Config on Linux

Overview of Setup

Setting up WWIVnet and subscribing to Subs isn't hard, but there are a few gotchas; mostly due to filename inconsistencies and having to use DOSEMU for some of the tools (NET37 and PPP)

STEP #1 - Get a WWIVnet Node Number assigned by filling out [wwivnet] and emailing it to Eli. You will need the Node Number for several steps in this setup. Please don't bother to try configuring things ahead of time; it will just cause issues during setup.

Where Stuff Goes
This is some layout info so you have a handle on where everything belongs. We will build up the associated structure as we go along. The items in bold are the ones specific to WWIVnet.

• ${WWIV_DIR}
  • .dosemurc
  • .fetchmailrc
  • .procmailrc
  • .wwivrc
  • in.nodemgr
  • network
  • network1 (link to network)
  • network2 (link to network)
  • network3 (link to network)
  • data
  • wwivnet
    • inbound
      • new
    • inbound-processed
    • mqueue
    • sent
  • bin
    • processmail.sh
    • inbound.sh
    • outbound.sh
    • callout.py
  • .dosemu
    • drive_c
      • autoexec.bat
      • network.bat
      • network1.bat
      • network2.bat
      • network3.bat
      • inbound.bat
      • outbound.bat

basic mail processing workflow
Inbound
fetchmail -> procmail -> ${WWIVNET_DIR}/inbound/new (procmail uses Maildir format)
inbound.sh -> loops over ${WWIVNET_DIR}/inbound/new -> uudecode -> dosemu inbound.bat

outbound
dosemu outbound.bat -> creates outgoing Snn.net -> calls network.bat
network.bat -> puts uuencoded -> ${WWIVNET_DIR}/mqueue
callout.py -> emails UUE packets and moves to -> ${WWIVNET_DIR}/sent

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Installing Binaries

1. We will have a conflict with the Windows binaries, so install.sh moves them all to win-bins
2. Install NET37.ZIP binaries
   • unzip NET37.ZIP in ${WWIV_DIR}
   • mv NETWORK.EXE to NETWORK0.EXE (it's going to be replaced by the one from PPP)
3. Install PPP15B99.ZIP) binaries
   • We actually use only two binaries from the PPP project: NETWORK.EXE and UU.EXE.
   • Extract the files from PPP15B99.ZIP to ${WWIV_DIR}
     • unzip PPP15B99.ZIP NETWORK.EXE UU.EXE
4. Configure net.ini for PPP

Most of the net.ini file actually isn't used for anything. All we are doing is giving just enough info to bundle the messages. All you really need are the [FILENET] and [GENERAL] sections. here is a sample minimal net.ini file:

[FILENET]
[GENERAL]
FWDNAME = userid
FWDDOM = bbs.domain.name

What you will notice is just the forwarding name and domain; The FILENET section isn't used at all, but still must exist or PPP fails. NOTE: FWDNAME and FWDDOM are arbitrary These don't actually mean anything in the context of WWIVnet, since they aren't actually used to deliver the messages. It's just nice to have something meaningful-looking in the header for when things break and you are trying to troubleshoot.

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Configuring WWIVnet

WWIVnet under dosemu
Since we need to run the NET37/PPP binaries under dosemu, we will get the dosemu parts going first. For a detailed explanation of how to set up DOSEMU (in particular, the relationship between shell scripts and batch files), check out [DOSEMU common settings] first. We are going to talk about only the specifics of DOSEMU in the context of WWIVnet in this section. We assume you already have DOSEMU running successfully (have your .dosemurc configured and have manually run dosemu).

dosemu config

1. extract dosemu_batchfiles.tgz in your dosemu C: drive (e.g, ~/.dosemu/drive_c)
2. edit files to suit your system
   • make sure paths match your setup (e.g, in batch files)
   • edit network.bat and change NODENUMBER to your node number

network scripts
We have a common network shell script that can be used to reference multiple DOS batch files in dosemu. The core script looks like this and should be placed in your base WWIV directory saved as network (not network.sh):

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

#!/bin/bash # # network[123] # # This sets the pathname separator in networks.bat before calling the appropriate # DOS batch file with dosemu. If we don't, the DOS version of the NETXX scripts # get confused because they can't find the path. Once it's done processing, we # set it back so the linux binaries don't have the same problem. # # Symptoms that the path separator is wrong include the header in WWIVnet messages # missing node location info and show up as Unknown. # Grab all our wwiv location info source ~/.wwivrc # Keep things like control-C from dropping out of the shell script trap "echo" SIGHUP SIGINT SIGTERM sed -i 's/\//\\/g' ${WWIVDATA_DIR}/networks.dat #This one throws away error messages sent to STDERR, but still shows most activity dosemu -dumb -quiet -E $(basename ${0}).bat 2>/dev/null # You may want to uncomment the below line and comment the above one if you # want to make the output as quiet as possible. #dosemu -dumb -quiet -E $(basename ${0}).bat >/dev/null 2>&1 sed -i 's/\\/\//g' ${WWIVDATA_DIR}/networks.dat

make it executable (chmod 755 network)

symbolic links to network should also be created for network1 network2 and network3

ln -s network network1
ln -s network network2
ln -s network network3

What this allows is for when calls to the WWIVnet binaries happens from the BBS, it has someplace to go (i.e., run DOS binaries).

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Configuring WWIVnet details and directories

1. edit ${WWIV_DIR}/.wwivrc and change WWIVNET_NODE=yournodenumber to your node number (e.g., If your node is 90, then the variable should be WWIVNET_NODE=90).
2. create ${WWIV_DIR}/wwivnet
3. get network info files wwivnet.zip and extract into ${WWIV_DIR}/wwivnet
4. create ${WWIV_DIR}/wwivnet/CALLOUT.NET: Make a DOS-formatted file with a single line containing the @1 node (it's the only active node relaying messages, atm).
5. use init to set up network info (select "N")
   • Network type : WWIVnet
   • Network name : WWIVnet
   • Node number : <your node number>
   • Data Directory : wwivnet/
6. run network (the shell script) - Now that all the WWIVNet config bits are in place, we can run the network.exe via dosemu and it will set up the majority of the directory structure under ${WWIV_DIR}/wwivnet for us.
7. make the inbound-processed directory
   • mkdir ${WWIV_DIR}/wwivnet/inbound-processed

We should now have all our directories in place. The main ones for mail processing are
${WWIV_DIR} - your bbs userid's home dir for the .*rc files. The network* shell scripts go here as well
${WWIV_DIR}/bin - location for most of the non-wwiv utility scripts
${WWIVNET_DIR}/mqueue - where PPP puts outgoing
${WWIVNET_DIR}/inbound/new - where we will have fetch+proc put new incoming
${WWIVNET_DIR}/inbound-processed - where stuff gets moved to when processed

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Getting mail config
We use fetchmail+procmail to pull WWIVnet messages from 1@1. You will need the following:
1. .fetchmailrc configured with your username and password for the POP3 server at 1@1 (skulls.wwivbbs.com)
2. .procmailrc in the wwiv base configured to dump a copy of the messages

Of these two, .procmailrc is already set up for you by the install.sh to dump to the PPP inbound, and the only change you need to make for .fetchmailrc is to add your credentials. for example, the poll line:

poll skulls.wwivbbs.com with proto POP3
user 'youruserid' there with password 'yourpassword' is 'wwiv' here

replace youruserid with your login and yourpassword with your password.
NOTE This is NOT your login to the Skulls and Crossbones BBS, it's the separate id/password you got from Eli for the SMTP server.

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Sending mail config
there isn't much of anything special to do for sending mail; all the pieces you need are already in place if you have done everything above. Sending a message in the BBS will cause the system to prepare outbound mail when you log out.

The only thing you can edit if you want is ${WWIV_DIR}/bin/callout.py. Change the line:
tn.write("MAIL FROM: bbsname@skulls.wwivbbs.com\n")
to reflect your SMTP login name. This isn't necessary, but it may help with troubleshooting.

callout.py - is used to send WWIVnet messages to 1@1 right now. It basically
takes the place of a full-fledged MTA like postfix for sending mail.
It currently assumes python 2.x, so if your system is python 3.x, you will have to make sure you are calling callout.py with the right version of python.

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Putting it all together

And finally, we have three scripts to handle inbound/outbound mail that do some checking and preprocessing to manage the details. These are all in the ${WWIV_DIR}/bin directory.

inbound.sh - calls fetchmail, processes all the inbound files and inserts them into the BBS
outbound.sh - looks for all the output files from the BBS, converts them into the appropriate format, and sends them out via callout.py
processmail.sh - a wrapper for inbound.sh and outbound.sh to make it easy to schedule WWIVnet checks via cron. How often you schedule mail checks is entirely up to you, but every 15 minutes or so is probably more than sufficient.

At this point, WWIVnet should be working well enough to handle sending mail between systems. If you are still having issues, you will need to resolve them before moving on to Message Subs. Look for help in the irc channel if you are stuck.

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Subscribing to Message Subs

This is abbreviated information (and some gotchas for Linux). Please see the Full WWIV Docs for detailed information on setting up subs if this isn't enough info.

Now that we've gotten through all of the setup and tested with some netmail, it's time to actually add some subs. The first thing you need to do is look at your ${WWIV_DIR}/wwivnet/SUBS.LST to see all the available WWIVnet subs. For example, a few of the core subs are:

1 1 R WWIVNET Sysop Area
GENCHAT 1 R WWIVNET General Chat
WWIVDEV 1 R WWIV Development
WWIVNET 1 R WWIV Networking

The important bit is the first and second field. This is the "Subtype" and host that you will enter in //BE. Typically, you will just use the Subtype as the Filename, too (it just makes it easier to keep track). In order to add a WWIVnet sub, you will use option "J" in the edit section to set up the Net parameters for the sub. Here's an example:

A) Name       : WWIVNET General Chat
B) Filename   : genchat
C) Key        : None.
D) Read SL    : 10
E) Post SL    : 20
F) Anony      : No
G) Min. Age   : 0
H) Max Msgs   : 1000
I) AR         : None.
J) Net info   : Not networked.
K) Storage typ: 2
L) Val network: No
M) Req ANSI   : No
N) Disable tag: No
O) Description: None.

(Q=Quit) Which (A-O,[=Prev,]=Next) : J

What sub type? GENCHAT
Will you be hosting the sub? No

Which system (number) is the host? 1

Attempt automated add request? Yes

Automated add request sent to @1

Note that in the example, the sub type is "GENCHAT" and the Host is "1"

NOTE
When putting in a filename (option B), use all lowercase. There is an issue where dosemu and WWIV get disagreeable about filename case. If you don't follow this, you will be dealing with the "Gotchas" section below and doing hard links (you really want to avoid this if possible).

After you finish adding a new sub and the automated request is generated, it will take some time for the request to make it to the host node and for it to auto-subscribe your node. Assuming your net tossing is working, the BBS will attempt to run network1 when you log out. Once it has generated the necessary files, it will be sent as part of the callout process listed above. If you have already gotten it working for normal user netmail, this should "just work."

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Gotchas

NOTE You should not need this section unless you ignored the warning about using lowercase filenames.

Now for some gotchas... the main one is an issue with filename mismatches. Sub files are in two places; the dat files are in ${WWIV_DIR}/data and the message contents are in ${WWIV_DIR}/msgs. Because of how PPP and DOSemu work, there is a conflict with the msgs/*dat files. You will need to create links between the files. You can get ahead of the issue by doing in the following:

1. cd ${WWIV_DIR}/msgs
2. touch lower.lower filename (e.g, touch genchat.dat)
3. link UPPER.lower to lower.lower (e.g., ln -P genchat.dat GENCHAT.dat)

That will prep the dat file to be accessible by both the bbs and the DOS-based tools (this will eventually be fixed). One symptom of this will be missing information in the message header:

Msg: [1/2] WWIVNET General Chat
Subj: Re: Seasonal...
Name:
Date:
From: aliens' abode! [910-473-INET]
Loc:  Unknown prefix code (910) 

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The Nitty-Gritty

This is information about exactly what the Network*.exe files are doing. You don't need to understand this to install WWIVnet, but it can be useful info.

The processing of the net files comes from page 38 of
NET37TEC.DOC. Essentially what the steps are after the procmail
rule picks up the files are:
1. Convert network.dat's path separator with sed
2. uudecode the incoming file to SNN.NET, where NN is your node #
where the file ultimately needs to end up is your wwivnet
directory. Another gotcha is filename case (again).
NETWORK1.EXE can't see the file if it's lowercase.
3. dosemu NETWORK3.EXE to analyze the packets. This should create
the P.EXE file from the SNN.NET file.
3. After the P.EXE file is created (and converted to uppercase),
process it with NETWORK2.EXE
4. Convert network.dat's path separator back with sed. This
conversion is really dependent on how the network.dat file is being
processed. If it's in dosemu, the separator needs to be \, if it's
linux, it needs to be /. Example of how this affects you: if the separator is
a /, then the NETXX EXE files can't find the path and fail on processing; if the
separator is a \, then parts of your message info (like where the message came from)
will be missing.