🕊️ Join DOVE-Net

This howto explains the steps required for joining the DOVE-Net BBS message network. For Mystic BBS sysops, see this article instead.

If you're using Synchronet BBS Software, your BBS's QWK-ID is configured in SCFG->Message Options->BBS ID for QWK Packets. SCFG is the Synchronet Configuration Utility accessible by running exec/scfg or using the BBS->Configure menu option in the Synchronet Control Panel (Win32 only).

Your QWK-ID should be an abbreviation of your BBS name or have some other personal significance, and must be unique among others on DOVE-Net (see nodes.dat included in dove-net.zip to verify the uniqueness of your QWK-ID).

QWK-IDs are limited to a maximum of eight characters in length, may only contain valid DOS filename characters, and MUST begin with an alphabetic character. QWK-IDs are not case sensitive.

At this point you probably should also set your QWKnet tagline to something that represents (or advertises) your BBS. In Synchronet this is done in SCFG->Networks->QWK->Default Tagline.

Assuming you will be using Vertrauen BBS as your hub, you will need to logon as “New” at telnet://vert.synchro.net (do not use the Web Server) and create your QWKnet account using your BBS's QWK-ID as the user name (even if you already have a regular user account there).

IMPORTANT You must answer (Y)es to the following new user question:

Is this account to be used for QWK Networking (DOVE-Net)?

Remember the password you used to create this account, you'll need it later.

If you ever need to change your password in the future, you can login to Vertrauen with your QWKnet account without being limited to the QWK: prompt by prepending an asterisk '*' onto your user name (QWK-ID) at the login prompt. Then you should be able to use the normal means of changing your account password (i.e. via the User (D)efaults/Configuration menu).

When you get to the QWK: prompt, you need to (C)hange Packet Configuration to match the following (if you're running Synchronet):

[A] Ctrl-A Color Codes           : Leave in
[T] Archive Type                 : zip
[E] Include E-mail Messages      : Un-read Only
[I] Include File Attachments     : Yes
[D] Delete  E-mail Automatically : Yes
[F] Include New Files List       : No
[N] Include Index Files          : No
[C] Include Control Files        : No
[V] Include VOTING.DAT File      : Yes
[H] Include HEADERS.DAT File     : Yes
[Y] Include Messages from You    : No
[Z] Include Time Zone (@TZ)      : No
[P] Include Message Path (@VIA)  : No
[M] Include Message/Reply IDs    : No
[U] Include UTF-8 Characters     : Yes
[X] Extended (QWKE) Packet Format: No

If you are using an older version of Synchronet (or some other BBS software), you may want to exclude (set to “No”) the VOTING.DAT and HEADERS.DAT files. Support for the VOTING.DAT file was added in Synchronet v3.17a (November, 2016). If your BBS sends a REP packet to VERT which includes either of these files (at any time), the respective QWK setting will be automatically turned back on for your QWKnet account.

If your BBS software supports HEADERS.DAT (e.g. Synchronet v3.15 and later), then you do not need to include the QWK “kludges” for Time Zone (@TZ), Message Path (@VIA), and Message/Reply IDs (@MSGID and @REPLY). The HEADERS.DAT also makes the QWKE extensions unnecessary for QWK networking purposes.

If your BBS software does not support Ctrl-A codes, then you'll want to set “Ctrl-A Color Codes” to either Strip or Expand to ANSI.

You may also want to take this opportunity to (S)elect Areas to Scan from the QWK: prompt and set all the DOVE-Net sub-boards to “On”.

It is important that you do NOT use a regular user account for QWK packet transfers.

If you're using Synchronet BBS Software, then you most likely already have the DOVE-Net message areas pre-configured in SCFG->Message Areas->DOVE-Net.

If not, you will need to add them based on the information provided in the DOVE-Net conference list.

Synchronet SCFG->Networks->QWK->Hubs->VERT:

╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║                        VERT QWK Network Hub                        ║
╠════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ │Hub System ID              VERT                                   ║
║ │Enabled                    No                                     ║
║ │Archive Format             ZIP                                    ║
║ │Call-out Command Line      *qnet-ftp %s dove.synchro.net YOURPASS ║
║ │Native Call-out Command    No                                     ║
║ │Call-out Node              1                                      ║
║ │Call-out Days              All                                    ║
║ │Call-out Frequency         4 times a day                          ║
║ │Include Kludge Lines       No                                     ║
║ │Include VOTING.DAT File    Yes                                    ║
║ │Include HEADERS.DAT File   Yes                                    ║
║ │Include UTF-8 Characters   Yes                                    ║
║ │Extended (QWKE) Packets    No                                     ║
║ │Exported Ctrl-A Codes      Leave in                               ║
║ │Advanced Options...                                               ║
║ │Import Conferences...                                             ║
║ │Networked Sub-boards...                                           ║
╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

• Replace YOURPASS with the password you used when creating your QWKnet account.
• Set Enabled to Yes.

Ctrl-A codes should be set to “Leave in” for all.

If you haven't already done so, either:

1. Logon to your Hub (e.g. Vertrauen) via Telnet, RLogin, or SSH and (S)elect Areas to Scan from the QWK: prompt and set all DOVE-Net sub-boards to “On”, or:
2. Logon to your BBS and post a message in each of the DOVE-Net message areas to: “SBBS” with a subject of “ADD” (these are called “QWK control messages”).

If using the Synchronet-Win32 Control Panel, use the BBS->Force Network Call-out menu option and select “VERT”.

If using Unix/Linux, use the following command-line (with correct path):

# touch /sbbs/data/qnet/vert.now

Watch your event log/window for QNET-FTP log messages.

NOTE: Vertrauen limits the size of QWK packets, currently to 10,000 messages per packet, so it might take several call-outs to get all the messages stored in the DOVE-Net conferences on Vertrauen.