Who's able to give me some pointers in hatching files using Mystic. One of Paul's videos might be helpful, though I'm likely to have some odd questions, as I won't know if I have any issues until I make the attempt, and the things that trip me up tend to be unusual, seemingly "simple" ones.

I did try looking up TIC file formats on google, and got a heap of fragmented information. Any search about hatching files just leads one to Allfix, which is not where I am going either. :/
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Paul (or evover else has experience). Can you please outline the steps involved in hatching a file to a file echo on a Mystic system. I have all of my file echoes defined, but still unsure on how to get files hatched into them.

I know Paul mentioned it had to be done "manually", but there wasn't enough information for me to work out how to proceed from there.

Thanks. :)


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On 09/05/16, Vk3jed said the following...

Paul (or evover else has experience). Can you please outline the steps involved in hatching a file to a file echo on a Mystic system. I have
all of my file echoes defined, but still unsure on how to get files hatched into them.

i use allfix in dosbox

I know Paul mentioned it had to be done "manually", but there wasn't enough information for me to work out how to proceed from there.

you have to have a .tic file and the file to go with it but since i use
allfix it copies the files to each persons filebox i have setup in those node info in my cfg

|08 .|05ú|13ù|15Dr|07e|08am Ma|07st|15er|13ù|05ú|08.
|08 øù|05ú|13ùø |13øù|05ú|08ùø
|11 DoRE|03!|11ACiDiC|03!|11Demonic |08[|15dreamland|09.|15darktech|09.|15org|08]

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A31 (Windows)
* Origin: |08--[|15!|07dreamland BBS dreamland.darktech.org (21:1/163)

On 09/05/16, Vk3jed pondered and said...

Paul (or evover else has experience). Can you please outline the steps involved in hatching a file to a file echo on a Mystic system. I have
all of my file echoes defined, but still unsure on how to get files hatched into them.

Yep it's on my TODO list for the coming days. Stand by caller.

Best, Paul

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dream master wrote to Vk3jed <=-

i use allfix in dosbox

Hmm, I'm on a Pi, so DOSbox is an option, otherwise Qemu.

I know Paul mentioned it had to be done "manually", but there wasn't enough information for me to work out how to proceed from there.

you have to have a .tic file and the file to go with it but since i use allfix it copies the files to each persons filebox i have setup in
those node info in my cfg

Hmm, so that had to be changed every time I add a node? I'm running a hub for a net.


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Avon wrote to Vk3jed <=-

Yep it's on my TODO list for the coming days. Stand by caller.

Looking forward to it. This is one where a combination of a video, as well as supporting text wcould work well together. :)


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Well, my first effort failed. Here's the .tic I used.

Area VK_INFO
Origin 432:1/2
From 432:1/2
Replaces VKRADIO.ZIP
File VKRADIO.ZIP
Size 8921
Path 432:1/2 FRI SEP 30 10:52:27 2016 UTC+1000
Seenby 432:1/2
PW <password>

And here's the logs

mystic@lemaker /mystic $ tail -n 50 logs/mutil.log
+ Sep 30 00:52:27 Process: Toss FDN/TIC Files
+ Sep 30 00:52:27 Tossing 30105041.tic
+ Sep 30 00:52:27 File VKRADIO.ZIP Area VK_INFO From 432:1/2
! Sep 30 00:52:28 Skip create area; datafiles exist
+ Sep 30 00:52:28 Tossing 30105227.tic
+ Sep 30 00:52:28 File VKRADIO.ZIP Area VK_INFO From 432:1/2
! Sep 30 00:52:28 Skip create area; datafiles exist
+ Sep 30 00:52:28 Results: 0 imported, 0 tossed, 0 bad in 0.12s
+ Sep 30 00:52:28 Process: Importing EchoMail

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Re: Hatching files
By: Vk3jed to Avon on Fri Sep 30 2016 10:55 am

Well, my first effort failed. Here's the .tic I used.

Area VK_INFO
Origin 432:1/2
From 432:1/2
Replaces VKRADIO.ZIP
File VKRADIO.ZIP
Size 8921
Path 432:1/2 FRI SEP 30 10:52:27 2016 UTC+1000
Seenby 432:1/2
PW <password>

I don't see a Crc line. I know it's a PITA but a crc line is needed in tic files.

+ Sep 30 00:52:28 File VKRADIO.ZIP Area VK_INFO From 432:1/2
! Sep 30 00:52:28 Skip create area; datafiles exist

Well, that was unexpected.. :)

Does mystic/mutil know about the node you are receiving this file from?

... Do you dream about the moonlight on the Wabash?
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On 09/29/16, Al pondered and said...

I don't see a Crc line. I know it's a PITA but a crc line is needed in
tic files.

No they don't. Not while I have been doing it anyways :)

Does mystic/mutil know about the node you are receiving this file from?

My question also.. and is it linked to the filebase?

Best, Paul

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A31 (Windows)
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On 09/30/16, Vk3jed pondered and said...

Area VK_INFO
Origin 432:1/2
From 432:1/2
Replaces VKRADIO.ZIP
File VKRADIO.ZIP
Size 8921
Path 432:1/2 FRI SEP 30 10:52:27 2016 UTC+1000
Seenby 432:1/2
PW <password>

There needs to be a Seenby for the node you are sending this to. So it comes from /2 and is addressed to /3 ?? The password would be for /3

Best, Paul

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A31 (Windows)
* Origin: Agency BBS | telnet://agency.bbs.geek.nz (21:1/101)

Friday September 30 2016 15:35, you wrote to me:

I don't see a Crc line. I know it's a PITA but a crc line is
needed in tic files.

No they don't. Not while I have been doing it anyways :)

Mystic will import the tic without a crc line, and in fact I have deleted the crc line in a few cases where it was incorrect and mystic was tossing the file to the bad area.

But it would be better in the larger ftn world when you don't know what software will be tossing the tic if it has a Crc line.

In the case of HTick I need to add a crc line to tics that arrive without it, get the needed crc value from the log and add it to the tic and toss it again to get that file moving along to links.

Thankfully that doesn't happen often. :)

... All wiyht. Rho sritched mg kegtops awound?
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Avon wrote to Vk3jed <=-

Area VK_INFO
Origin 432:1/2
From 432:1/2
Replaces VKRADIO.ZIP
File VKRADIO.ZIP
Size 8921
Path 432:1/2 FRI SEP 30 10:52:27 2016 UTC+1000
Seenby 432:1/2
PW <password>

There needs to be a Seenby for the node you are sending this to. So it comes from /2 and is addressed to /3 ?? The password would be for /3

Sorted, hopefully I haven't broken anything. ;)


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Avon wrote to Al <=-

I don't see a Crc line. I know it's a PITA but a crc line is needed in
tic files.

No they don't. Not while I have been doing it anyways :)

Mine didn't either. :)

Does mystic/mutil know about the node you are receiving this file from?

Yeah I discovered that by trial and error. ;)

My question also.. and is it linked to the filebase?

Turned out I had a borked filebase configuration.


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Al wrote to Avon <=-

Mystic will import the tic without a crc line, and in fact I have
deleted the crc line in a few cases where it was incorrect and mystic
was tossing the file to the bad area.

Yep, I can confirm this, having successfully tossed a file. :)

But it would be better in the larger ftn world when you don't know what software will be tossing the tic if it has a Crc line.

Yep. Would be useful to be able to add.

In the case of HTick I need to add a crc line to tics that arrive
without it, get the needed crc value from the log and add it to the tic and toss it again to get that file moving along to links.

Thankfully that doesn't happen often. :)

Yeah, bit of a pain.


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Re: Re: Hatching files
By: Vk3jed to Al on Fri Sep 30 2016 01:53 pm

Yep, I can confirm this, having successfully tossed a file. :)

Well that's the most important part.. :)

But it would be better in the larger ftn world when you don't know
what software will be tossing the tic if it has a Crc line.

Yep. Would be useful to be able to add.

I asked this question in the FIDO_UTIL area and got this reply from Ben Ritchey..

Does anyone know of a utility to get the CRC of a file? A node is
creating tic files by hand, or a script I guess and we need the CRC
value of the file to put in the tic.

http://cmech.dynip.com/filebase.bbs/bfds/horst32.zip

See crc32 pgm within (DOS/Wins) ... also see CRC32.TXT

There is a crc32.com in there that will do what need done but it is a dos executible. I don't know if you script could run that. Probably not I suppose. I wonder about bash internals. I wonder if there is a bash way to get the crc. I don't know off hand but I know who to ask.

... Backup? I've never had troub**&{[} 3$$ERROR
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Re: Re: Hatching files
By: Vk3jed to Al on Fri Sep 30 2016 01:53 pm

Yep, I can confirm this, having successfully tossed a file. :)

Can you show us the tic that you successfully tossed? Dream Master has been looking at ways to hatch files in DoRENET as well so he may be able to do it this way too (if he wants).

... Given my druthers, I'd druther not.
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Al wrote to Vk3jed <=-

Yep, I can confirm this, having successfully tossed a file. :)

Well that's the most important part.. :)

:-)

But it would be better in the larger ftn world when you don't know
what software will be tossing the tic if it has a Crc line.

Yep. Would be useful to be able to add.

I asked this question in the FIDO_UTIL area and got this reply from Ben Ritchey..

Does anyone know of a utility to get the CRC of a file? A node is
creating tic files by hand, or a script I guess and we need the CRC
value of the file to put in the tic.

For to mention the Linux part. :D

http://cmech.dynip.com/filebase.bbs/bfds/horst32.zip

Thanks, although DOS, I did take a look out of curiosity.

See crc32 pgm within (DOS/Wins) ... also see CRC32.TXT

There is a crc32.com in there that will do what need done but it is a
dos executible. I don't know if you script could run that. Probably not
I suppose. I wonder about bash internals. I wonder if there is a bash
way to get the crc. I don't know off hand but I know who to ask.

Pity there's no source to that program. Running a DOS executable under Raspian and parsing the output will be just a bit tricky! :) I don't know if DOSBox or some other emulator can be used as a "wrapper" for a DOS binary, to make it behave like a native Linux binary (more or less).


The spec document has what looks like Pascal code to calculate the CRC, worst case scenario is to relearn Pascal and write my own. Not beyond the realms of possibility, but will take a while. I'm certainly more fluent in Pascal (if rather rusty) than C. :)
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Al wrote to Vk3jed <=-

@MSGID: <57EE0322.787.fsx_mys@freeway.apana.org.au>
@TZ: 41a4
Re: Re: Hatching files
By: Vk3jed to Al on Fri Sep 30 2016 01:53 pm

Yep, I can confirm this, having successfully tossed a file. :)

Can you show us the tic that you successfully tossed? Dream Master has been looking at ways to hatch files in DoRENET as well so he may be
able to do it this way too (if he wants).

The one I posted in here to Avon worked, once I fixed up my file exhoes on Mystic. I had my configuration arse about. :-)


... there can only be one way of life, and it works :)
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Al wrote to vk3jed <=-

Can you show us the tic that you successfully tossed? Dream Master has been looking at ways to hatch files in DoRENET as well so he may be
able to do it this way too (if he wants).

Once it's complete, I'll upload my file hatching script to Avon's BBS for distribution. TBD:

1. Calculate valid checksums for files.

2. Make script more generic. I'll probably use environment variables for the FTN addresses and the tosser command, to be set by a wrapper script.

3. More robust error handling. I like to make stuff I distribute as "idiot proof" as possible.

Also debating whether to make it Mystic specific or more generic. I suspect once the CRC issue is solved, it should be fairly generic.

Stay tuned. :)


... We have normality, I repeat, we have normality. (Whatever that is.)
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On 10/01/16, Tony Langdon pondered and said...

Once it's complete, I'll upload my file hatching script to Avon's BBS for distribution. TBD:

I'd be happy to. I am also pondering if we should not experiment a bit and
see if you can hatch out your Network infopack to the rest of fsxNet from
your system. In the case of infopacks and nodelists I'd be happy to try and test that out. You let me know when you want to give it a crack.

Best, Paul

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Avon wrote to Tony Langdon <=-

I'd be happy to. I am also pondering if we should not experiment a bit
and see if you can hatch out your Network infopack to the rest of
fsxNet from your system. In the case of infopacks and nodelists I'd be happy to try and test that out. You let me know when you want to give
it a crack.

I'll have to "generalise" my script first (addresses are currently hard coded, though it's fairly trivial to swith to using environment variables). Also, since you maintain the nodelist, what address do you want me to use as the source and origin for the tic?


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Hello all. Just wondering if anyone can help me with hatching files as they come in. I'm looking to automatically unzip the nodelists and copy them to
my nodelist directory then run the mutil to compile them. Also I have a
daily weather that I would like to unzip to my http directory so I can view
the images in my browser.

Thanks
Stephen aka Phantom Nomad

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A36 2017/12/03 (Linux/64)
* Origin: The Bit Bucket (21:2/143)

Hello all. Just wondering if anyone can help me with hatching files as they come in. I'm looking to automatically unzip the nodelists and copy them to my nodelist directory then run the mutil to compile them. Also

In the case of Mystic, it will do all of that for you. The typical flow
of how this works is:

When you receive a new nodelist it will be put into its appropriate file base by processing the TIC file. You would configure MUTIL's nodelist compiler to look at those directories for each nodelist you want to include, and thats it.

The next time you run MUTIL it will look in all of the configured places for nodelists, figure out which nodelists are the most recent, and then it will unzip them and create a master nodelist that Mystic will use.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A37 2017/12/17 (Windows/32)
* Origin: Sector 7 [Mystic BBS WHQ] (21:1/108)

When you receive a new nodelist it will be put into its appropriate file base by processing the TIC file. You would configure MUTIL's nodelist compiler to look at those directories for each nodelist you want to include, and thats it.

That makes sense. Wasn't sure if it would automagically unzip the files.
When playing with the setup I had already unzipped them in to that directory.

What about hatching other files? I would like to unzip the daily weather and have it put in to my www directory so I can view satellite maps and such when they come in.

Thanks for the help.
Phantom Nomad

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A36 2017/12/03 (Linux/64)
* Origin: The Bit Bucket (21:2/143)

That makes sense. Wasn't sure if it would automagically unzip the
files. When playing with the setup I had already unzipped them in to
that directory.

Yep it will unzip or unrar or unlha etc depending on the format. You don't have to do any steps yourself! :)

What about hatching other files? I would like to unzip the daily
weather and have it put in to my www directory so I can view satellite maps and such when they come in.

Unfortunately, you'd have to make something to do this on your own in your script that runs things or create an event to check once a day and put it in the proper place. Does the daily weather have the same filename each day?

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A37 2017/12/20 (Windows/32)
* Origin: Sector 7 [Mystic BBS WHQ] (21:1/108)