Table of Contents

Use BinkD with Synchronet and SBBSecho

Instructions on using BinkD (FidoNet/TCP/IP mailer) with Synchronet and SBBSecho by Deuce.

Variables

Ok, let's just run through them then... I'll use the following:

Variable Purpose
bP Your binkd path (Mine is /usr/bbs/sbbs/fido)
sP Synchronet installation directory (e.g. /usr/bbs/sbbs)
fZ your Fidonet Zone (1 for north america)
fA Your complete fidonet address (ie: 1:140/17)
SysN your BBS name (e.g. FreeBSD Synchronet)
SL Your BBS location (e.g. Yorkton, Sk)
SN Sysop name (e.g. Stephen Hurd)
HfA Your hub's FidoNet address (e.g. 1:140/1)
HiA Your hub's internet address
PASS The password for the hub

Note, IONs are listed as 300bps in the nodeinfo.

binkd.cfg

The BinkD configuration file (a.k.a. binkd.conf). 

domain fidonet bP/outbound fZ
domain fido alias-for fidonet
domain fidonet.org alias-for fidonet
address fA@fidonet
sysname "SysN"
location "SL"
sysop "SN"
nodeinfo 300,TCP,BINKP
connect-timeout 60
try 10
hold 600
send-if-pwd
log bP/binkd.log
loglevel 4
percents
printq
backresolv
inbound bP/inbsecure
inbound-nonsecure bP/inbound  
temp-inbound bP/incomplete
minfree 2048
minfree-nonsecure 2048
kill-dup-partial-files
kill-old-partial-files 86400
kill-old-bsy 43200
flag /usr/bbs/sbbs/data/fidoin.now *.pkt *.PKT
flag /usr/bbs/sbbs/data/fidoin.now *.su? *.mo? *.tu? *.we? *.th? *.fr? *.sa? *.SU? *.MO? *.TU? *.WE? *.TH? *.FR? *.SA?
prescan
node HfA@fidonet -md HiA PASS

Tip: Use forward-slashes (/) in file names and paths in your binkd.cfg file (even on Windows) rather than backslashes (\).

Tip: Use root-domain binkp.net in your binkd.cfg file to enable IP address look-ups from a FidoNet node number (e.g. FidoNet address 1:103/705 can be resolved to an IP address using the hostname f705.n103.z1.binkp.net). This used to be possible using the domains fidonet.net and fidonet.org, but not currently (use binkp.net instead).

NOTE: If root-domain is used, it applies to all FTNs listed. This is not proper if you are in more than one FTN because all f.n.z DNS lookups will go to this domain no matter what FTN they are. In the case of binkp.net, it only knows fidonet. Each FTN that provides DNS lookups for f.n.z format need their own DNS lookup host specified. So you should use the newer format of binkd's domain lines which place the DNS lookup host at the end of the line. At this time, there are only four FTNs that provide f.n.z DNS lookups. For all others, do not put anything in the “DNS lookup host” field of the domain lines. When using this form of domain line, be sure to remove or comment out any root-domain line you may have.

eg: 

  #domain FTN      outbound dir  zone  DNS lookup host
  domain  fidonet  bP/outbound   fZ    binkp.net
  domain  fsxnet   bP/outbound   fZ    fsxnet.nz
  domain  scinet   bP/outbound   fZ    scinet-ftn.org
  domain  vkradio  bP/outbound   fZ    ftn.vkradio.com

SBBSecho

FIXME - This howto show old sbbsecho config settings (must be update to new sbbsecho.ini format)

Here's my sbbsecho.cfg file with the same replacements as above: 

NOTIFY 1
SECURE_ECHOMAIL
FUZZY_ZONE
FLO_MAILER
KILL_EMPTY
LOG 0FFFFFFF
INBOUND bP/inbound/
SECURE_INBOUND bP/inbsecure/
OUTBOUND bP/outbound/
ARCSIZE 0
PKTSIZE 0
PKTPWD ALL PASS
PACKER ZIP 0 504B
  PACK /usr/local/bin/zip %f %s
  UNPACK /usr/local/bin/unzip -j %f -d %s
END
USEPACKER  ZIP ALL
AREAFIX    ALL PASS
ROUTE_TO   HfA ALL

Multiple Zones

That's all fine and dandy if Fido is the only FTN network you're on... but what if you're a member of more than one (a.k.a. “othernets”). Well, things get a teensy bit more complicated. We'll need a couple more replacements.

Variable Purpose
xA Your complete othernet address (e.g.: 777:777/52)
HxA Your x-league hub's FTN address (e.g.: 777:777/0)
HxiA Your x-league hub's internet address
xPASS The password for the othernet hub

Moreover, we'll have to explicitly route all FidoNet stuff by zone to your fidonet hub. The DEFAULT ZONE does not change per network with sbbsecho... it is what's set up as the zone for your first FTN address. The following lines are added to the previous example binkd.cfg file: 

domain othernet bP/outbound fZ
address xA@othernet
node HxA@othernet -md HxiA xPASS

And the corresponding sbbsecho.cfg looks like this: 

NOTIFY 1
SECURE_ECHOMAIL
FUZZY_ZONE
FLO_MAILER
KILL_EMPTY
LOG 0FFFFFFF
INBOUND bP/inbound/
SECURE_INBOUND bP/inbsecure/
OUTBOUND bP/outbound/
ARCSIZE 0
PKTSIZE 0
PKTPWD 1:ALL PASS
PKTPWD 2:ALL PASS
PKTPWD 3:ALL PASS
PKTPWD 4:ALL PASS
PKTPWD 5:ALL PASS
PKTPWD 6:ALL PASS
PKTPWD 777:ALL xPASS
PACKER ZIP 0 504B
  PACK /usr/local/bin/zip %f %s
  UNPACK /usr/local/bin/unzip -j %f -d %s
END
USEPACKER  ZIP 1:ALL
USEPACKER  ZIP 2:ALL
USEPACKER  ZIP 3:ALL
USEPACKER  ZIP 4:ALL
USEPACKER  ZIP 5:ALL
USEPACKER  ZIP 6:ALL
USEPACKER  ZIP 777:ALL
AREAFIX    1:ALL PASS
AREAFIX    2:ALL PASS
AREAFIX    3:ALL PASS
AREAFIX    4:ALL PASS
AREAFIX    5:ALL PASS
AREAFIX    6:ALL PASS
AREAFIX    777:ALL xPASS
ROUTE_TO   HfA 1:ALL
ROUTE_TO   HfA 2:ALL
ROUTE_TO   HfA 3:ALL
ROUTE_TO   HfA 4:ALL
ROUTE_TO   HfA 5:ALL
ROUTE_TO   HfA 6:ALL
ROUTE_TO   HxA 777:ALL

See Also