+                                     MX_BULL 1                              An MX SITE transport .                                 March 14, 1991  L MX_BULL is a transport between MX and BULLETIN, a VMS bulletin board programL by Mark London at MIT.  It is designed to be called as an MX SITE transport,N letting MX write messages into BULLETIN folders as they are processed, instead: of routing the messages to MAIL.MAI files for each folder.  5 The following files make up the MX_BULL distribution:   <    BUILD_MX_BULL.COM		Command procedure to build MX_BULL.EXE,    MX_BULL.C			VAX C source code for MX_BULL    MX_BULL.TXT			This file8    MX_BULL_SITE_DELIVER.COM	SITE_DELIVER.COM for MX_BULL   The current version is 01-001.     WHAT IS BULLETIN?  ----------------- J BULLETIN is a VMS bulletin board written by Mark London at MIT that allowsJ multiple users to access a common message base.  Messages are divided intoL folders, which work much like VMS Mail folders.  Using MX_BULL, messages canJ be routed from Internet/Bitnet mailing lists directly to BULLETIN folders,L allowing all (or some) users on a system to access the mailing lists withoutF individual subscriptions.  This can cut down on the number of incomingM Bitnet/Internet mail messages significantly, since only one copy of a message  need be sent to a site.   K BULLETIN can be found on a number of the DECUS VAX SIG tapes, including the G Fall 1990 tapes.  It can also be retrieved by sending a mail message to H BULLETIN@NERUS.PFC.MIT.EDU.  The body of the message must contain one of the following commands:   1         SEND ALL        Sends all bulletin files. 1         SEND filename   Sends the specified file. =         BUGS            Sends a list of the latest bug fixes. >         HELP or INFO    Sends a brief description of BULLETIN.     BUILDING MX_BULL.EXE --------------------O MX_BULL is written in VAX C and can be compiled by executing BUILD_MX_BULL.COM.   G MX_BULL must be linked with the BULLETIN object library, BULL.OLB.  The K build procedure for MX_BULL expects the logical BULL_SOURCE to point to the G BULLETIN library.  You must define this logical (or edit the .COM file)  before building MX_BULL.     INSTALLING MX_BULL ------------------0 To install MX_BULL, perform the following steps:  @ 1.  Using MCP, define a path named BULLETIN as a SITE transport:  ! 	MCP> DEFINE PATH "BULLETIN" SITE   L 2.  Using MCP, define a rewrite rule early in the list (this should actually;     be done using CONFIG.MCP so that the order is correct):   E 	MCP> DEFINE REWRITE_RULE "<{folder}@BULLETIN>" "<{folder}@BULLETIN>"   C 3.  If you don't have a SITE transport already defined, simply copy 8     MX_BULL_SITE_DELIVER.COM to MX_EXE:SITE_DELIVER.COM.  M     If you do have a SITE transport defined, you'll need to merge the MX_BULL 4     stuff into the existing MX_EXE:SITE_DELIVER.COM.  H 4.  Reset the MX routers by using MCP RESET/ALL, or shutting down MX and     restarting it.  K Once these steps have been completed, MX_BULL is set up to begin delivering  messages to BULLETIN.      ROUTING MESSAGES TO BULLETIN ----------------------------= Messages are routed to BULLETIN folders by addressing mail to G MX%"folder@BULLETIN", where "folder" is the name of the target BULLETIN J folder.  For example, the following commands would send a message from VMS: Mail to the BULLETIN folder GENERAL (on the local system):   	$ MAIL  	MAIL> SEND  	To:     MX%"GENERAL@BULLETIN" 	Subj:   This is a test....  	.....  K The message is sent to the MX router, which in turn sends it to the MX SITE ; agent, since the @BULLETIN path was defined as a SITE path.   I To facilitate the automatic delivery of messages to BULLETIN folders, you D should set up forwarding addresses for each of the BULLETIN folders:  9 	MAIL> SET FORWARD/USER=GENERAL MX%"""GENERAL@BULLETIN""" 9 	MAIL> SET FORWARD/USER=MX-LIST MX%"""MX-LIST@BULLETIN"""   G Mail addressed to GENERAL or MX-LIST will automatically be forwarded to  BULLETIN via MX_BULL.   N To subscribe to a Bitnet/Internet mailing list and have the messages deliveredL to BULLETIN, use MX's MLFAKE to send a subscription request on behalf of the< BULLETIN folder.  For example, the user to specify would be:   	MLFAKE/USER=MX-LIST ....   K (Alternatively, you could create a dummy account named MX-LIST (or whatever M the list name is) that exists only long enough to send the request via MAIL.)   N Once added to the lists, incoming mail addressed to MX-LIST will get forwardedN to MX%"MX-LIST@BULLETIN", which will invoke MX_BULL.  For example, an incoming: message to my local BULLETIN folder would be addressed to:   	MX-LIST@WKUVX1.bitnet  N Since I have MX-LIST forwarded to MX%"MX-LIST@BULLETIN", the message is routed to the BULLETIN folder.   J To try to illustrate the process, assume the node is WKUVX1.bitnet.  We'veO subscribed a fake local user, INFO-VAX, to the MX mailing list; mail forwarding M has been set up for INFO-VAX to send it to MX%"INFO-VAX@BULLETIN".  When mail M arrives addressed to INFO-VAX@WKUVX1.BITNET, the MX Router passes the message A to the Local agent, which discovers that the mail is forwarded to K MX%"INFO-VAX@BULLETIN".  The message is then sent back to the Router, which J finds that BULLETIN is defined as a SITE path, so the message is passed to& MX->SITE, which in turn calls MX_BULL.      MX_BULL ACCOUNTING AND DEBUGGING  --------------------------------J MX_BULL accounting is enabled with the system logical MX_BULLETIN_ACCNTNG:  + 	$ DEFINE/SYS/EXEC MX_BULLETIN_ACCNTNG TRUE   G This will cause MX_BULL to create MX_SITE_DIR:MX_BULLETIN_ACC.DAT.  The L logical MX_BULLETIN_ACC can be defined system-wide to change the name of the file:   D 	$ DEFINE/SYS/EXEC MX_BULLETIN_ACC LOCALDISK:[DIR]MX_BULL.ACCOUNTING  E To generate debugging logs in MX_SITE_DIR:, define the system logical  MX_SITE_DEBUG.     ERRORS WRITING TO BULLETIN --------------------------J By default, MX_BULL_SITE_DELIVER.COM always returns success to the MX SITEL agent.  This was done to avoid bouncing network mail back to a mailing list.L In order to be notified in case of problems writing the message to BULLETIN,D you can define a system logical MX_BULLETIN_POSTMASTER to be a local0 username to receive failed MX_BULL transactions:  4 	$ DEFINE/SYS/EXEC MX_BULLETIN_POSTMASTER GOATHUNTER  G If BULLETIN returns an error, MX_BULL will forward the message (via the + callable VMS Mail interface) to GOATHUNTER.      BULLETIN AND "From:" ADDRESSES ------------------------------O If you use the return address supplied by the MX SITE agent, the return address = for BULLETIN messages will look something like the following:   . 	From: MX%"@WKUVX1.BITNET:I-AMIGA@UBVM.BITNET"  N By default, MX_BULL_SITE_DELIVER.COM is set up to ignore the sender's address.L If you want to use the MX SITE-supplied address, simply modify the following! line in MX_BULL_SITE_DELIVER.COM:   < 	$ USE_SITE_FROM = 0	!Change to 1 to use MX sender's address  L If the sender's address is ignored (again, the default), MX_BULL will searchJ the RFC822 headers in the message for the "From:" line.  It then pulls outJ the sender's address in a format suitable for using the RESPOND command inH BULLETIN.  This lets users easily RESPOND to the sender of a message, or" POST a message to the list itself.  M Note: MX_BULL just uses the address it's given.  Some addresses are gatewayed M to death, leaving a bad address on the "From:" line.  This frequently happens > with messages coming via UUCP through Internet to Bitnet, etc.     AUTHOR INFORMATION ------------------ MX_BULL was written by:   , 	Hunter Goatley, VMS Systems Programmer, WKU  ! 	E-mail: goathunter@wkuvx1.bitnet  	Voice:	502-745-5251  ' 	U.S. Mail:	Academic Computing, STH 226  			Western Kentucky University 			Bowling Green, KY 42101