Bob,
To start off with, if you don't have time to help me with this, I totally understand and will stop bothering you.
I've just had an idea -
1. To send mail: All I will do on the VMS side is set up a FIDO% handler that simply writes the message it receives verbatim into a directory. I will then periodically poll this directory via FTP from my main Fido box, run some quick Python scripts to mangle it into Fidonet format and dump it into the appropriate place for my mailer etc to move it onwards.
2. To receive mail: I will configure my mailer on the Fido box to mangle the message (using a Python script again) into something that is easy to import into VMS mail, upload it via FTP to the VMS box where a periodic script looks for these messages and inserts them into MAIL using the published routines that I found in help.
It's part 1 that I have no idea where to get started, as the documentation in HELP doesn't seem to offer any clues on how to build this library that ties into VMSMAIL. Any pointers / code would be tremendously gratefully received.
Sampsa
On 1 Jul 2009, at 18:58, bob at jfcl.com wrote:
Got any documentation for this API?
$ help mail_routines
It's also in the gray (or orange) wall, of course.
Ideally I'd want to somehow "hook" into the MAIL application in the
All I can say is that there's a documented path for doing this - there's
\nothing special about SMTP in this regard. It's called a "foreign transport
protocol" or something like that. You need to write a library with
the appropriate entry points (this is where the documentation comes in
handy), call it FIDO_MAILSHR, and install it. If you do the right
stuff, VMSMAIL will recognize the FIDO%"..." address and call your
library. Couldn't be easier :-)
BOb
On Wed, 1 Jul 2009, Sampsa Laine wrote:
I will take a look at this mail_routines documentation - it's not immediately obvious to me how to write the library with the relevant entry points. As others seem to point out it's rather undocumented - you wouldn't have any old code lying around would you Bob? :)
I'd recommend asking such questions on comp.os.vms rather than here. Better
to hit a much wider audience.
Zane
Hmm, looks doable. I think my skillset might be more targeted towards the Ultrix path, and we could use an emulated PDP-11 Ultrix on HECnet right?
I will take a look at this mail_routines documentation - it's not immediately obvious to me how to write the library with the relevant entry points. As others seem to point out it's rather undocumented - you wouldn't have any old code lying around would you Bob? :)
Sampsa
On 1 Jul 2009, at 18:58, bob at jfcl.com wrote:
Got any documentation for this API?
$ help mail_routines
It's also in the gray (or orange) wall, of course.
Ideally I'd want to somehow "hook" into the MAIL application in the
All I can say is that there's a documented path for doing this - there's
\nothing special about SMTP in this regard. It's called a "foreign transport
protocol" or something like that. You need to write a library with
the appropriate entry points (this is where the documentation comes in
handy), call it FIDO_MAILSHR, and install it. If you do the right
stuff, VMSMAIL will recognize the FIDO%"..." address and call your
library. Couldn't be easier :-)
BOb
Speaking of PMDF, I'd really like to get my hobbyist-hands on that. I've looked at Process Software's website but was unable to find a link for hobbyists for anything other than Multinet (which I run on MISER).
If you go to http://www.process.com/openvms/hobbyist.html and click on "[License Terms and PAKs]", one of the products you can select (after you agree to the license) is PMDF.
--Marc
Wow. nifty. Will need to check it out sometime :)
All of your guys talk is making me itch to get some of my Alphas /
VAXen running and up on the net
On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 12:56 PM, Sampsa Laine<sampsa at mac.com> wrote:
Way ahead of you my friend, log in as user B4BBS of CHIMPY and you get
directed to my bulletin board, called B4BBS.
It's even got a working Fidonet feed!
Oh and ANSI backgammon. I LOVE ANSI backgammon.
Sampsa
On 1 Jul 2009, at 17:41, Joshua Benedetto wrote:
Dial in you say? hmmmmm time for some old school BBS :)
On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 11:32 AM, Sampsa Laine<sampsa at mac.com> wrote:
Oh and I'll be moving house soon, upgrading my DSL line to a bonded 40
meg
down / 3 meg up dealie. This will give me two spare BT lines that we
could
use for some kind of dial up retro goodness - I'm open to suggestions...
Sampsa
On 1 Jul 2009, at 16:22, Sampsa Laine wrote:
Which I assume is a good thing?
BTW, I'm toying with hacking together a Fidonet - HECnet gateway. How
easy
is it to get mail in and out of VMS mail using say DCL?
Sampsa
On 1 Jul 2009, at 16:21, Bob Armstrong wrote:
Or am I misunderstanding something?
There are multiple routes now between Johnny's world and the Multinet
world...
Bob
On Wed, 1 Jul 2009, Marc Chametzky wrote:
In all seriousness, I think it'd be easier to write a PMDF channel program and interface it through the PMDF Internet e-mail software (available for hobbyists from Process Software). At least that interface is documented with examples. :-)
Speaking of PMDF, I'd really like to get my hobbyist-hands on that. I've looked at Process Software's website but was unable to find a link for hobbyists for anything other than Multinet (which I run on MISER).
If nothing else, I'd like PMDF for the updated version of PINE it contains. ;)
Anyone have a pointer/link?
Fred
---
For a list of all the ways technology has failed to improve
the quality of life, please press three.
A. Kahn
Yes, that's what I was thinking. I don't know how to do it, never
having been that deep into Sendmail. I assume something like this was
used in the early days of worldwide email, when DEC had a gateway
(gatekeeper.dec.com) which mapped the internal Mail-11 system onto
Usenet and other external email machinery.
paul
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE [mailto:owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE] On
Behalf Of Sampsa Laine
Sent: Wednesday, July 01, 2009 1:15 PM
To: hecnet at Update.UU.SE
Subject: Re: [HECnet] Zaphod down for a few days
Actually, what would be the proposed configuration using Sendmail, am
I right in thinking something along the lines of:
- Ultrix running on a SIMH VAX (or even a real one if I ever get
one)
- DECNET stack on Ultrix
- Sendmail configured to accept Mail-11 (I saw there were some
pre-
made scripts for this)
- Sendmail also configured to accept Fido stuff (also available)
Hmmm. This could work. Could be amusing to set up as well.
Samosa
On 1 Jul 2009, at 17:56, Paul Koning wrote:
Coulnd't you use Sendmail to do this? It seems to have all the
necessary gateway machinery. It probably doesn't run on VMS but it
would on Ultrix, so that could be the gateway to the Mail11
protocol.
paul
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE [mailto:owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE]
On
Behalf Of Sampsa Laine
Sent: Wednesday, July 01, 2009 12:53 PM
To: hecnet at Update.UU.SE
Subject: Re: [HECnet] Zaphod down for a few days
Got any documentation for this API?
Ideally I'd want to somehow "hook" into the MAIL application in the
same way as TCP/IP does, i.e. to send an smtp message you prepend
SMTP
% to the recipient, I would love to be able to use an address like:
FIDO%"John Q Public at 1:123/4.5"
How painful would this be to do (the hooking into the MAIL part and
parsing, I'll worry about the Fidonet encodings etc myself)?
Sampsa
On 1 Jul 2009, at 16:35, Bob Armstrong wrote:
How easy is it to get mail in and out of VMS mail using say DCL?
Sending is pretty easy, but reading it would require you to do
some
parsing (which, of course, can be done).
But there is an API for VMS mail and it'd be easier to write a
program to
do it instead (unless you really want to prove that you can do it
in
DCL)...
Bob
Sampsa Laine wrote:
Got any documentation for this API?
Ideally I'd want to somehow "hook" into the MAIL application in the same way as TCP/IP does, i.e. to send an smtp message you prepend SMTP% to the recipient, I would love to be able to use an address like:
FIDO%"John Q Public at 1:123/4.5"
The Callable MAIL API is, IMO, not for the faint-hearted. In any case, the foreign mail interface (that allows for XYZ% addressing) isn't documented. Examples can be found in some old mail software that came with source, which I can no longer remember. Even so, it's still unpleasant.
In all seriousness, I think it'd be easier to write a PMDF channel program and interface it through the PMDF Internet e-mail software (available for hobbyists from Process Software). At least that interface is documented with examples. :-)
--Marc
Got any documentation for this API?
$ help mail_routines
It's also in the gray (or orange) wall, of course.
Ideally I'd want to somehow "hook" into the MAIL application in the
All I can say is that there's a documented path for doing this - there's
\nothing special about SMTP in this regard. It's called a "foreign transport
protocol" or something like that. You need to write a library with
the appropriate entry points (this is where the documentation comes in
handy), call it FIDO_MAILSHR, and install it. If you do the right
stuff, VMSMAIL will recognize the FIDO%"..." address and call your
library. Couldn't be easier :-)
BOb
Actually, what would be the proposed configuration using Sendmail, am I right in thinking something along the lines of:
- Ultrix running on a SIMH VAX (or even a real one if I ever get one)
- DECNET stack on Ultrix
- Sendmail configured to accept Mail-11 (I saw there were some pre-made scripts for this)
- Sendmail also configured to accept Fido stuff (also available)
Hmmm. This could work. Could be amusing to set up as well.
Samosa
On 1 Jul 2009, at 17:56, Paul Koning wrote:
Coulnd't you use Sendmail to do this? It seems to have all the
necessary gateway machinery. It probably doesn't run on VMS but it
would on Ultrix, so that could be the gateway to the Mail11 protocol.
paul
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE [mailto:owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE] On
Behalf Of Sampsa Laine
Sent: Wednesday, July 01, 2009 12:53 PM
To: hecnet at Update.UU.SE
Subject: Re: [HECnet] Zaphod down for a few days
Got any documentation for this API?
Ideally I'd want to somehow "hook" into the MAIL application in the
same way as TCP/IP does, i.e. to send an smtp message you prepend SMTP
% to the recipient, I would love to be able to use an address like:
FIDO%"John Q Public at 1:123/4.5"
How painful would this be to do (the hooking into the MAIL part and
parsing, I'll worry about the Fidonet encodings etc myself)?
Sampsa
On 1 Jul 2009, at 16:35, Bob Armstrong wrote:
How easy is it to get mail in and out of VMS mail using say DCL?
Sending is pretty easy, but reading it would require you to do some
parsing (which, of course, can be done).
But there is an API for VMS mail and it'd be easier to write a
program to
do it instead (unless you really want to prove that you can do it in
DCL)...
Bob
