aaareadme.1st

Note:  Source code is in BULLETIN.ZOO.  Use ZOO to extract files if needed.

The following are instructions for creating and installing the BULLETIN
utility. None of the command procedures included here are sophisticated, so it
is likely that several modifications will have to be made by the installer.
The installer should enable all privileges before installation.

One of the main uses of BULLETIN, besides storage of messages that are manually
entered by users, is storage of messages from network mailing lists.  This is
done by using the BBOARD feature, which is enabled using the SET BBOARD command
inside BULLETIN.  The alternative method is for mail messages to be written
directly by a mailing program by calling internal BULLETIN routines.  Such a
a program has been written for the popular mail utility PMDF.  If you wish to
do so for another utility, read the text file WRITEMSG.TXT.  I would be glad to
include any such programs with my distribution if you think such a program
would be of use to other users.

1) CREATE.COM
   This will compile and link the BULLETIN sources. Also, there are several
   INCLUDE files for the fortran sources (.INC files). BULLETIN will create it's
   data files in the directory pointed to by the logical name BULL_DIR.  If you
   elect not to use this definition, BULLFILES.INC should be modified.
   Note that after this procedure compiles the sources, it puts the objects
   into an object library, and then deletes all the OBJ files in the directory.

   NOTE 1: If you elect to have folders with the BBOARD feature that receives
   messages from outside networks, you may have to modify the subroutine
   which executes the RESPOND command.  That command sends messages to either
   the originator of the message or the mailing list associated with the
   folder.  These routines assume that one can simply use the VMS MAIL
   utility to do so.

   NOTE 2: The maximum number of folders for this distribution is 96 folders.
   If you wish to increase this, modify BULLUSER.INC and recompile the sources.
   When the new executable is run, it will create a new BULLUSER.DAT data file
   and rename the old one to BULLUSER.OLD.  You cannot reduce the number of
   folders.

   BULLETIN will work for both V4 & V5.  However, you will have to reassemble
   ALLMACS.MAR if you are upgrading from V5, i.e.
		$ MAC ALLMACS
		$ LIB BULL ALLMACS
		$ DELETE ALLMACS.OBJ;
		$ @BULLETIN.LNK
		$ COPY BULLETIN.EXE BULL_DIR:
		$ RUN SYS$SYSTEM:INSTALL
		BULL_DIR:BULLETIN/REPLACE

2) INSTALL.COM
   The following procedure copies the executable image to SYS$SYSTEM and
   installs it with certain privileges.  It also installs the necessary
   help files in SYS$HELP.  (BULLETIN help file is installed into the
   system help library HELPLIB.HLB.  If you don't wish this done, delete
   or modify the appropriate line in the procedure.  Also, the help
   library for the BULLETIN program, BULL.HLB, can be moved to a different
   directory other than SYS$HELP.  If this is done, the system logical name
   BULL_HELP should be defined to be the directory where the library is
   to be found.)

3) LOGIN.COM
   This contains the commands that should be executed at login time
   by SYS$MANAGER:SYLOGIN.COM.  It defines the BULLETIN commands.
   It also executes the command BULLETIN/LOGIN in order to notify
   the user of new messages.  NOTE: If you wish the utility to be a
   different name than BULLETIN, you should modify this procedure.
   The prompt which the utility uses is named after image executable.
   If you want messages displayed upon logging in starting from
   oldest to newest (rather than newest to oldest), add /REVERSE to
   the BULLETIN/LOGIN command.  Note that users with the DISMAIL
   flag setting in the authorization file will not be notified of
   new messages.  See help on the SET LOGIN command within the BULLETIN
   utility for more information on this.  Also, please note that when
   a brand new user to the system logins, to avoid overwhelming the new
   user with lots of messages, only PERMANENT SYSTEM messages are displayed.

   If you want SYSTEM messages, i.e. messages which are displayed in full
   when logging in, to be continually displayed for a period of time rather
   than just once, you should add the /SYSTEM= qualifier.  This is documented
   in BULLETIN.HLP, although there it is referred to only with respect to
   a user wanting to review system messages.  It can be added with /LOGIN.

4) BULLSTART.COM
   This procedure contains the commands that should be executed after
   a system startup.  It should be executed by SYS$MANAGER:SYSTARTUP.COM.
   It installs the BULLETIN utility with correct privileges.  It also
   includes the command BULLETIN/STARTUP.  This starts up a detached process
   with the name BULLCP.  It periodically check for expire messages, cleanup
   empty space in files, and converts BBOARD mail to messages.  It also allows
   other DECNET nodes to share it's folders.  If you don't want this feature
   and don't plan on having multiple folders or make use of BBOARD, you could
   eliminate this command if you like.  However, it is highly recommended that
   you create this process to avoid extra overhead when users login.  NOTE:
   BULLCP normally is created so it is owned by the DECNET account.  If that
   account does not exist, BULLCP will be owned by the account that issues
   the BULLETIN/START command.  In that case, access via other DECNET nodes
   will not be available.

   If you are installing BULLETIN on a cluster and plan to have the bulletin
   files be shared between all of the cluster nodes, you only need to have
   this process running on one node. On all other nodes, the system logical
   name BULL_BULLCP should be defined (to anything you want) so as to notify
   BULLETIN that BULLCP is running. (On the local node where BULLCP is running,
   this logical name is automatically defined.)

   The use of the MARK command to mark messages require that a file be
   created for each user which saves the marked info.  That file file is
   stored in the directory pointed to by the logical name BULL_MARK.  You can
   either let users who want to use this command define it themselves, or
   you can define it for them, i.e. DEFINE/SYSTEM BULL_MARK SYS$LOGIN.

5) INSTRUCT.COM
   This procedure adds 2 permanent messages which give a very brief
   description about the BULLETIN utility, and how to turn off optional
   prompting of non-system messages (via SET NOREADNEW).

6) BOARD_SPECIAL.COM
   This command procedure describes and illustrates how to use the
   SET BBOARD/SPECIAL feature.  This feature allows the use of BBOARD
   where the input does not come from VMS MAIL.  For example, this could
   be used in the case where mail from a non-DEC network is not stored
   in the VMS MAIL.  Another example is BOARD_DIGEST.COM.  This file
   takes mail messages from "digest" type mailing lists and splits them
   into separate BULLETIN messages for easier reading.

   To use this feature, place the special command procedure into the
   bulletin file directory using the name BOARD_SPECIAL.COM.  If you want
   to have several different special procedure, you should name the command
   procedure after the username specified by the SET BBOARD command.

7) INSTALL_REMOTE.COM
   This procedure, in conjunction with REMOTE.COM and DCLREMOTE.COM allows
   a user to install new versions of BULLETIN on several DECNET nodes from
   a single node, rather than having to login to each node.  This is
   especially useful when a new version modifies the format of one of the
   data file.  Older versions of BULLETIN will not run with newer formats
   and will either issue error statements when run, or may cause major
   problems by attempting to change the files back to the old format.
   (NOTE: Don't attempt to use this if different nodes are running
   different versions of VMS, i.e. V4 and V5, as they require different
   linked executables.)

8) MASTER.COM
   If you are using PMDF, and want to use the BBOARD option, a set of
   routines are included which will allow PMDF to write message directly
   into folders, which is a much more effecient way of doing it than
   the normal BBOARD method of using VMS MAIL.  Read PMDF.TXT for how
   to do this.

9) BULLETIN.COM
   If one wants BULLETIN to be able to send messages to other DECNET
   node's GENERAL folder, but wants to avoid running the process created
   by BULLETIN/STARTUP on this node, another method exists.  This is the
   "older" (and slower) method.  BULLETIN.COM must be put in each node's
   DECNET default user's directory (usually [DECNET]).  Once this is done,
   the /NODE qualifier for the ADD & DELETE commands can be used.
   NOTE:  Privileged functions such as /SYSTEM will work on other nodes
   if you have an account on the other node with appropriate privileges.
   You will be prompted for the password for the account on the remote node.