





                                BM User Manual



                              Dave Trulli, NN2Z









          1.  What is BM?



          BM is designed to serve as the mail user-interface for the

          KA9Q  TCP/IP  inter-networking package. It provides a full

          set of mail services to the user which allows the  sending

          and receipt of electronic mail.







          2.  BM Installation



          To install BM requires the modification  of  the  supplied

          configuration   files  and  the  creation  of  the  proper

          directory structure.  The following sections describe  the

          file and directory structure used by BM and SMTP.





          2.1  Directory Structure



          \spool\mqueue   This directory  holds  the  outbound  mail

                          jobs  for  SMTP.  Each  job  consists of 2

                          files a xxxx.txt and xxxx.wrk  file  where

                          xxxx  is  a  unique numerical prefix.  The

                          format of the files  are  described  in  a

                          later section.





          \spool\rqueue   This directory is used by  SMTP  for  jobs

                          that   have  been  received  and  will  be

                          processed by a user defined  mail  routing

                          program.    This  directory  is  not  used

                          directly by BM.





          \spool\mail     This  directory   holds   the   individual

                          mailboxes  for  each  user  name  on  your

                          system. The extension .txt is add  to  the

                          user  name  to form the mailbox name. Mail

                          received by the SMTP server is appended to

                          the mailbox file.





          2.2  Configuration Files

































                                 - 2 -







          2.2.1  The\bm.rc file  The \bm.rc file provides  BM  with

          the configuration needed for the operation of the mailer.



          The format for the \bm.rc file is:



               variable <space>  value <newline>





          The following variables are valid in the bm.rc file:





          smtp <mailpath>



          defines the path to the directory containing  the  mailbox

          files.   The  default  directory  is  \spool\mail  on  the

          current drive.





          host <yourhostname>



          Is used to set the local hostname for use  in  the  RFC822

          mail headers. This is a required field.





          user <username>



          Defines the user name of the person who is  sending  mail.

          This is also used as the default mailbox for reading mail.

          On the AMPRNET this is usually set to your call.  There is

          a DOS limit of 8 characters for the user name.





          edit <pathofyoureditor>



          Defines the name of your favorite editor which can be used

          to construct and  edit the text of outgoing messages.  The

          use of edit is optional.





          fullname <yourfullname>



          Is used to provide your full name to the mailer for use in

          the  comment  portion  of "From:" header line.  The use of

          fullname is optional.





































                                     - 3 -







          reply <returnaddress>



          Defines the address where you wish to receive  replies  to

          messages sent.  This option is useful if you are operating

          your pc on a local area network and would like  your  mail

          replies  sent  to  a  more "well known host".  The address

          specified by reply  is  used  to  generate  a  "Reply-To:"

          header  in outbound mail. The "Reply-To:" header overrides

          the "From:" header which is the address normally  used  to

          reply to mail. This field is optional.





          maxlet <numberofmessages>



          defines  the  maximum  number  of  messages  that  can  be

          processed by BM  in one mailbox file. The default value of

          maxlet is 100.





          mbox <filename>



          Specifies the default file  to  be  used  for  the  "save"

          command.  This file is in the same format as a mailbox and

          may later be viewed using the -f option  of  BM.  If  this

          option is not used then the default is set to mbox.





          record <filename>



          If defined a copy of each message sent will  be  saved  in

          <filename>.





          folder <directoryname>



          If defined folder contains  the  path  used  by  the  save

          command.





          screen [bios|direct]



          In the Turboc compiled version  of  BM,  screen  sets  the

          display  output mode to use either direct writes to screen

          memory or the ROM  BIOS.   The  default  is  direct  which

          provides  the  fastest  output  mode.   If you are using a

          windowing system such as Desqview you should set the  mode

          to bios.



          Here is a sample bm.rc file.



























					- 4 -







               host nn2z.ampr

               user nn2z

               fullname Dave Trulli

               # send my replies to the Sun

               reply nn2z@ka9q.bellcore.com

               screen  direct

               edit /bin/vi

               mbox c:/folder/mbox

               record c:/folder/outmail

               folder c:/folder

               maxlet 200







          2.13.1  The\alias file  The alias file provides  an  easy

          way to maintain mailing lists.  An alias can be any string

          of characters not containing the "@" symbol.   The  format

          for the alias file is:



               alias   recip1 recip2 recip3

               <tab>   recip4



          Note that a long list of aliases can be  continued  on  an

          additional   line  by  placing  a  tab  or  space  on  the

          continuation line.



          Some examples aliases are:



               dave    nn2z@nn2z.ampr



               phil    karn@ka9q.bellcore.com



               # mail to local nnj users

               nnj     wb2cop@wb2cop.ampr karn@ka9q.bellcore.com

                       wb0mpq@home.wb0mpq.ampr w2kb@w2kb.ampr 

		       ka2tsm@ka2tsm.ampr



          In  the  above  example,  when  specifying  nnj   as   the

          recipient,  BM  will  expand  the  alias  into the list of

          recipients from the alias file.  At this time an alias may

          not contain any other aliases.





          2.13.2  \spool\mqueue\sequence.seq   The   sequence   file

          maintains  a  message counter which is used by BM and SMTP

          to generate message ids and unique filenames.   This  file

          is created by BM.

































					- 5 -







          2.14  Environment



          The timezone used in mail headers is obtained from the DOS

          environment variable TZ. An example TZ setting is:



               set TZ=EDT4



          It  is  set  in  your  AUTOEXEC.BAT  file.  The  first   3

          characters  are  the  timezone and the fourth character is

          the number of hours from GMT time. If TZ is not  set,  GMT

          is assumed.







          3.  Commands



          All BM commands are single letters  followed  by  optional

          arguments.   The  command  list  has been designed to make

          those familiar with Berkeley mailers comfortable with BM.





          3.1  Main menu commands



          m [userlist]



          The mail command is used to send a message to one or  more

          recipients.  All local recipient names ( those which don't

          contain an '@' ) are checked for possible aliases.  If  no

          arguments   are  supplied  you  will  be  prompted  for  a

          recipient list.  While entering a message  into  the  text

          buffer several commands are available such as: invoking an

          editor, and reading in text from other messages or  files.

          See the section below for a description of these commands.

          To end a message enter a line containing a single period.



          It is important to remember that the input line buffer has

          a  128  character  limit.  You  should format your text by

          entering a carriage return at the end of each line. Typing

          excessively   long  lines  may  cause  data  loss  due  to

          truncation when passing the message through  other  hosts.

          Keeping  lines  less  than  80 characters is always a good

          idea.





          d [msglist]



          Mark messages for deletion.  Messages marked for  deletion

          are  removed  when  exiting  BM  via the q command or when

          changing to an alternate mailbox with the n command.



























					- 6 -







          h



          Display message headers. The message headers  contain  the

          message  number, the status indicating whether it has been

          read or deleted, the sender, size, date, and subject.





          u [msglist]



          Undelete a message that is marked for deletion. The status

          of  a  message  can be determined by looking at the status

          field of the message using the h command.





          n [mailbox]



          Display or change mailbox. The n command with no arguments

          will  display  a  list of mailboxes containing mail. If an

          argument is supplied, then the current mailbox  is  closed

          and a new mailbox is opened.





          !cmd



          Run a DOS command from inside BM. An  error  message  will

          result if there is not enough memory available to load the

          command.





          ?



          Print a help menu for BM commands.





          s [msglist] [file]



          The s command is used to save messages in a  file.  If  no

          filename  is  given  the default from the mbox variable in

          \bm.rc is used.  If no message number is supplied then the

          current  message  is  saved.  The message is stored in the

          same format as a mailbox file with all mail  headers  left

          intact.





          p [msglist]



          The p command is used to send  messages  to  the  printer.

          This  command  uses  the  DOS device PRN for output.  This

          command is equivalent to:



























					- 7 -







                              s [ msglist ] PRN







          w [msglist] file



          The w command is used to save messages in a file. Only the

          message  body  is saved. All mail headers are removed.  If

          no message number is supplied then the current message  is

          saved.





          f [msg]



          The f command is used to forward a mail message to another

          recipient.   If  no message number is supplied the current

          message is used.  The user is prompted for the  recipients

          and  a  subject. The RFC822 header is added to the message

          text while retaining the complete original message in  the

          body.  Also see the ~m command.





          b [msg]



          Bounce a message. Bounce  is  similar  to  forwarding  but

          instead  of  your  user  information,  the original sender

          information  is  maintained.   If  no  message  number  is

          supplied the current message is used.





          r [msg]



          Reply to a message. Reply reads the header information  in

          order  to construct a reply to the sender. The destination

          information is taken  from  the  "From:"  or  the  "Reply-

          To:"header, if included.  If no message number is supplied

          the current message is used.





          msg #



          Entering  a message number from the  header  listing  will

          cause the message text to be displayed.





          l



          List outbound messages.  The job number, the  sender,  and

          the destination for each message is displayed. A status of

          "L" will appear if the SMTP sender has the file locked.

























					- 8 -







          k [msglist]



          Remove an outbound message from the mqueue.  A message can

          be  removed  from  the  send  queue  by specifying the job

          number obtained by the  l  command.   If  the  message  is

          locked  you will be warned that you may be removing a file

          that is currently being sent by SMTP. You  will  asked  if

          this job should still be killed.







          $



          Update the mailbox.  This  command  updates  the  mailbox,

          deleting  messages  marked for deletion and reading in any

          new mail that may have arrived since entering BM.





          x



          Exit to DOS without changing the data in the mailbox.





          q



          Quit to DOS updating the mailbox.





          3.21  Text input commands



          The  following  commands  are  available  while   entering

          message text into the message buffer.



          ~r <filename>  read <filename> into the message buffer.



          ~m <msg #>     read <msg #> into the message buffer.



          ~p             display the text in the message buffer.



          ~e             invoke the editor defined in \bm.rc with  a

                         temporary  file  containing the text in the

                         message buffer.



          ~q             Abort the current message. No data is sent.



          ~~             Insert a single tilda  character  into  the

                         message.



          ~?             Display help menu of tilda escape commands.



























					- 9 -







          4.  Mailer	Operation



          4.1  Command	Line	Options



          BM may be invoked as follows:



               To send mail:

               bm [ -s subject ] recip1 .. .. recipN



               To read mail:

               bm [ -u mailbox | -f file ]



          -s subject     This option sets the subject to the text on

                         the command line.





          -u  mailbox     Specify  which  mailbox  to   read.   This

                         overides the default from the bm.rc.





          -f file        Read  message  from  "file"  instead  of  a

                         mailbox.





          6.  BugReports



          Please send any comments, suggestions or bug reports to:



          Dave Trulli

          Usenet: nn2z@ka9q.bellcore.com

          packet: nn2z@nn2z

          AMPRNET: nn2z@nn2z.ampr [44.64.0.10]





































