• Outgoing netmail/echomail with linux

    From Adept@21:1/158 to All on Sun May 24 23:31:48 2020
    I've swapped my Mystic BBS from Windows to Linux (and from local to in cloud, due to a variety of issues), and things mostly work correctly, including incoming echomail.

    However, I'm struggling with outgoing echomail and netmail. The logs seem to
    be fine, the message base says, "Local Sent", but they're clearly not going out. Or getting tossed at some point.

    Anyone have experience with Mystic on Linux who can give me some ideas on
    what to try next? (I can probably give more useful set of details, but I'm having difficultly figuring out what details would be of note.)

    I'm also having issues with Python, where it doesn't seem to do anything,
    after getting around a different error message, but I think I'll leave that issue for the future.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/02 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: The Quantum Wormhole, Ramsgate, UK. bbs.erb.pw (21:1/158)
  • From Gluon@21:1/151 to Adept on Mon May 25 00:35:08 2020
    On 24 May 2020, Adept said the following...

    I've swapped my Mystic BBS from Windows to Linux (and from local to in cloud, due to a variety of issues), and things mostly work correctly, including incoming echomail.

    However, I'm struggling with outgoing echomail and netmail. The logs
    seem to be fine, the message base says, "Local Sent", but they're
    clearly not going out. Or getting tossed at some point.

    Anyone have experience with Mystic on Linux who can give me some ideas on what to try next? (I can probably give more useful set of details, but
    I'm having difficultly figuring out what details would be of note.)

    Have you set your node export type to crash instead of hold or other?

    I've just joined fsxNet today using Linux as well and that was the culprit of my test messages not getting out.

    I take this opportunity to say sorry about the two extra test messages that I posted earlier on. :)

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Raspberry Pi/32)
    * Origin: Geek Sphere BBS (21:1/151)
  • From Adept@21:1/158 to Gluon on Mon May 25 01:44:40 2020
    Have you set your node export type to crash instead of hold or other?

    Good idea, though, perhaps sadly, my node export type was already set to
    crash.

    Any other ideas?

    Mind you, maybe this isn't on my end, and it's just that, because my board
    was down for a while, something got switched off. Dunno.

    Regardless, thanks for the possibility.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/02 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: The Quantum Wormhole, Ramsgate, UK. bbs.erb.pw (21:1/158)
  • From Warpslide@21:3/110 to Adept on Sun May 24 21:47:40 2020
    On 24 May 2020, Adept said the following...

    Good idea, though, perhaps sadly, my node export type was already set to crash.

    Any other ideas?

    What do you see in your echomail\out directory?

    .J.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Windows/32)
    * Origin: Northern Realms BBS | bbs.nrbbs.net | Binbrook, ON (21:3/110)
  • From Al@21:4/106 to Adept on Sun May 24 20:00:10 2020
    Hello Adept,

    Anyone have experience with Mystic on Linux who can give me some ideas
    on what to try next? (I can probably give more useful set of details,
    but I'm having difficultly figuring out what details would be of
    note.)

    ne thing to check is that you have zip installed. This is what happens when zip isn't installed.

    I'm also having issues with Python, where it doesn't seem to do
    anything, after getting around a different error message, but I think
    I'll leave that issue for the future.

    I'm having trouble here to and I don't know what the problem is or what the solution will be.

    Ttyl :-),
    Al

    --- GoldED+/LNX
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (21:4/106)
  • From Vk3jed@21:1/109 to Adept on Mon May 25 13:29:00 2020
    On 05-24-20 19:31, Adept wrote to All <=-

    I've swapped my Mystic BBS from Windows to Linux (and from local to in cloud, due to a variety of issues), and things mostly work correctly, including incoming echomail.

    However, I'm struggling with outgoing echomail and netmail. The logs
    seem to be fine, the message base says, "Local Sent", but they're
    clearly not going out. Or getting tossed at some point.

    Hmmm, I've never had an issue under Linux. However, note that under Linux, you need to either have your mystic directory in the $PATH variable or preface any call to an executable with "./". E.g. ./mutil export.ini I'd check your events first. This is probably the one that catches many out.

    Anyone have experience with Mystic on Linux who can give me some ideas
    on what to try next? (I can probably give more useful set of details,
    but I'm having difficultly figuring out what details would be of note.)

    What happens when you run mutil manually? e.g. ./mutil export.ini (or whatever the .ini you are using for exporting mail is).

    I'm also having issues with Python, where it doesn't seem to do
    anything, after getting around a different error message, but I think
    I'll leave that issue for the future.

    I haven't really done much with Python and Mystic.


    ... Oh, I almost forgot . . . It's absolutley VITAL to insta
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  • From Adept@21:1/158 to Warpslide on Mon May 25 08:18:35 2020
    What do you see in your echomail\out directory?

    fidonet.001 and primary directories.
    00da02bc.clo in the fidonet directory,
    00020064.clo in the primary directory ^/mystic/echomail/out/fidonet.001/0000006e.fr0
    ...in the first file (when using cat) ^/mystic/echomail/out/primary/00000008.sa0 ^/mystic/echomail/out/primary/00000008.sa1 ^/mystic/echomail/out/primary/00000008.su0 ^/mystic/echomail/out/primary/00000008.th0 ^/mystic/echomail/out/primary/00000008.fr0
    ...in the second.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/02 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: The Quantum Wormhole, Ramsgate, UK. bbs.erb.pw (21:1/158)
  • From Adept@21:2/108 to Al on Mon May 25 07:20:25 2020
    ☼ne thing to check is that you have zip installed. This is what happens when zip isn't installed.

    ...and zip wasn't installed, so that very well may have been it. I apologize
    in advance if this is a dupe, but I'll send a response from the quantum wormhole, too.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Storm BBS (21:2/108)
  • From Adept@21:1/158 to Al on Mon May 25 08:22:20 2020
    ☼ne thing to check is that you have zip installed. This is what happens when zip isn't installed.

    I sent a response from Storm BBS, so hopefully that gets through, as zip was, indeed, not installed. Thanks!

    I'm having trouble here to and I don't know what the problem is or what the solution will be.

    I guess I'm glad that I'm not the only one to run into the issue, but sad
    that you haven't found a solution.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/02 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: The Quantum Wormhole, Ramsgate, UK. bbs.erb.pw (21:1/158)
  • From Adept@21:1/158 to Vk3jed on Mon May 25 08:32:02 2020
    Linux, you need to either have your mystic directory in the $PATH
    variable or preface any call to an executable with "./". E.g. ./mutil export.ini I'd check your events first. This is probably the one that catches many out.

    ...that explains something that I've not known, or otherwise forgot, with
    when to use the ./, so thank you for that.

    I do think that the ./ is included in all the appropriate spots, but will
    check more thoroughly if the installing-zip thing doesn't work. I'm inclined
    to think that "local sent" wouldn't have popped up in that case, though. But
    am not sure, of course.

    What happens when you run mutil manually? e.g. ./mutil export.ini (or whatever the .ini you are using for exporting mail is).

    Result DONE, 0 echo, 0 net, 0 skipped. But the log of an earlier response
    does have Results: 1 echo, 0 net, 0 skipped, and looks pretty normal. So
    maybe it works and all, though I swear the logs weren't appreciably
    different.

    I had worked through an earlier problem because of the lack of unzip, because the errors were obvious enough, but not so with zip, evidently.

    I haven't really done much with Python and Mystic.

    I probably wouldn't care too much but for some thematic things I had done previously that don't currently work.

    Though it's still nice for addons that other people have added.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/02 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: The Quantum Wormhole, Ramsgate, UK. bbs.erb.pw (21:1/158)
  • From Adept@21:1/158 to Adept on Mon May 25 08:33:33 2020
    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Storm BBS (21:2/108)

    Yay! Thanks, everyone, and especially Al with the solution.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/02 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: The Quantum Wormhole, Ramsgate, UK. bbs.erb.pw (21:1/158)
  • From Avon@21:1/101 to Adept on Mon May 25 19:44:10 2020
    On 24 May 2020 at 07:31p, Adept pondered and said...

    However, I'm struggling with outgoing echomail and netmail. The logs
    seem to be fine, the message base says, "Local Sent", but they're
    clearly not going out. Or getting tossed at some point.

    Anyone have experience with Mystic on Linux who can give me some ideas on what to try next? (I can probably give more useful set of details, but
    I'm having difficultly figuring out what details would be of note.)

    I may be a bit late to this one.

    I use this in my mailout.ini

    [ExportEchoMail]

    ; Do not export messages from users currently online
    skip_online = false

    I also have the following set in Mystic -CFG > Config > Message Base Settings

    Create Semaphore │ MsgPost

    That combo usually sees items shift quickly.

    Also check you have ZIP installed else you will be seemingly creating a compressed packet to be sent but in fact not doing so.

    Best, Paul

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/04/20 (Windows/32)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From Vk3jed@21:1/109 to Adept on Mon May 25 18:38:00 2020
    On 05-25-20 04:32, Adept wrote to Vk3jed <=-

    Linux, you need to either have your mystic directory in the $PATH
    variable or preface any call to an executable with "./". E.g. ./mutil export.ini I'd check your events first. This is probably the one that catches many out.

    ...that explains something that I've not known, or otherwise forgot,
    with when to use the ./, so thank you for that.

    It's required in Linux, but not DOS because DOS always implicity includes .\ in its PATH variable, but in Linux, ./ is not implicit, so if you want to run an executable file in the current directory, you need the ./ . You _could_ put ./ into $PATH, but it's not recommended.

    Result DONE, 0 echo, 0 net, 0 skipped. But the log of an earlier
    response does have Results: 1 echo, 0 net, 0 skipped, and looks pretty normal. So maybe it works and all, though I swear the logs weren't appreciably different.

    The test is whether mail is actually flowing. :)

    I had worked through an earlier problem because of the lack of unzip, because the errors were obvious enough, but not so with zip, evidently.

    Yeah, zip and unzip can bite you, if you're not aware of that. I usually install them anyway.

    I haven't really done much with Python and Mystic.

    I probably wouldn't care too much but for some thematic things I had
    done previously that don't currently work.

    Though it's still nice for addons that other people have added.

    Yeah, good to make sure it's working. :)


    ... The number you have dailed...Nine-one-one...has been changed.
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  • From Vk3jed@21:1/109 to Adept on Mon May 25 20:32:00 2020
    On 05-25-20 03:20, Adept wrote to Al <=-

    ☼ne thing to check is that you have zip installed. This is what happens when zip isn't installed.

    ...and zip wasn't installed, so that very well may have been it. I apologize in advance if this is a dupe, but I'll send a response from
    the quantum wormhole, too.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Storm BBS (21:2/108)

    Well, that one worked. I think zip was your problem. :)


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  • From Vk3jed@21:1/109 to Adept on Mon May 25 20:32:00 2020
    On 05-25-20 04:22, Adept wrote to Al <=-

    ☼ne thing to check is that you have zip installed. This is what happens when zip isn't installed.

    I sent a response from Storm BBS, so hopefully that gets through, as
    zip was, indeed, not installed. Thanks!

    Yep, saw that message and replied. :)


    ... Xerox your life. If you lose it, you'll still have a copy.
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  • From Warpslide@21:3/110 to Avon on Mon May 25 13:03:47 2020
    On 25 May 2020, Avon said the following...

    Also check you have ZIP installed else you will be seemingly creating a compressed packet to be sent but in fact not doing so.

    This seems to hang a lot of people up, myself included when I was first
    getting set up.

    The logs don't seem to show an error if the archiver is missing. I'm
    wondering if it'd be possible to have that added, or maybe when you run
    mystic -cfg it can check to see whether zip & unzip are located in the mystic directory or somewhere in the path.

    I know you're not the author, just throwing the idea out there.

    .J.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Windows/32)
    * Origin: Northern Realms BBS | bbs.nrbbs.net | Binbrook, ON (21:3/110)
  • From Gluon@21:1/151 to Warpslide on Mon May 25 18:27:30 2020
    On 25 May 2020, Warpslide said the following...

    On 25 May 2020, Avon said the following...

    Also check you have ZIP installed else you will be seemingly creating compressed packet to be sent but in fact not doing so.

    This seems to hang a lot of people up, myself included when I was first getting set up.

    The logs don't seem to show an error if the archiver is missing. I'm wondering if it'd be possible to have that added, or maybe when you run mystic -cfg it can check to see whether zip & unzip are located in the mystic directory or somewhere in the path.

    I'm an experienced Unix/Linux sysadmin and it caught me up as well. Most mainstream Linux distros come with unzip pre-installed but not zip, which is
    a separate package you need to install through the package manager.

    The problem is indeed how obfuscated the issue is. AFAIK there's no explicit check to see whether zip is installed, nor there is an error message logged. Instead you realise it is missing indirectly by noticing messages aren't
    being packaged, nor coming out.

    If Mystic were to be packaged as a Linux package, then this would be easily
    and seamlessly solved by declaring both zip and unzip as package
    dependencies. However, as a standalone software, the only solution is in fact having the code itself checking/warning explicitly about those two. Obviously this is not something critical, but would help a lot of people, so I like
    your idea of discussing it.

    Vasco Costa AKA Gluon

    Gopher hole: gopher://gopher.geeksphere.tk/

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Raspberry Pi/32)
    * Origin: Geek Sphere BBS (21:1/151)
  • From Adept@21:2/108 to Avon on Mon May 25 23:18:02 2020
    I may be a bit late to this one.

    Also check you have ZIP installed else you will be seemingly creating a compressed packet to be sent but in fact not doing so.

    Well thanks for coming up with the correct answer anyway (And I'll probably poke around the settings to see if there's anything else of note to be played with, now that I have a known-good setup.)

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Storm BBS (21:2/108)
  • From Adept@21:2/108 to Vk3jed on Mon May 25 23:31:09 2020
    Yeah, zip and unzip can bite you, if you're not aware of that. I usually install them anyway.

    I found it odd - I don't have a whole lot of experience with starting up bare bones linux things, and kinda assumed that zip and unzip would be standard features rather than something that I installed.

    But there's probably good reason not to include it.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Storm BBS (21:2/108)
  • From Avon@21:1/101 to Warpslide on Tue May 26 13:04:33 2020
    On 25 May 2020 at 09:03a, Warpslide pondered and said...

    This seems to hang a lot of people up, myself included when I was first getting set up.

    Yep

    wondering if it'd be possible to have that added, or maybe when you run mystic -cfg it can check to see whether zip & unzip are located in the mystic directory or somewhere in the path.
    I know you're not the author, just throwing the idea out there.

    I think that's a good idea too.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/04/20 (Windows/32)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From Avon@21:1/101 to Adept on Tue May 26 13:19:41 2020
    On 25 May 2020 at 07:18p, Adept pondered and said...

    Well thanks for coming up with the correct answer anyway (And I'll probably poke around the settings to see if there's anything else of
    note to be played with, now that I have a known-good setup.)

    No probs, that's the only issue I find when replying to echomail that's some days old by the time I catch up the original poster has about 3-4 replies already with an answer.. :)

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/04/20 (Windows/32)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From Adept@21:2/108 to Avon on Tue May 26 06:43:27 2020
    No probs, that's the only issue I find when replying to echomail that's some days old by the time I catch up the original poster has about 3-4 replies already with an answer.. :)

    Better three than none. :)

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Storm BBS (21:2/108)
  • From Vk3jed@21:1/109 to Adept on Wed May 27 00:48:00 2020
    On 05-25-20 19:31, Adept wrote to Vk3jed <=-

    Yeah, zip and unzip can bite you, if you're not aware of that. I usually install them anyway.

    I found it odd - I don't have a whole lot of experience with starting
    up bare bones linux things, and kinda assumed that zip and unzip would
    be standard features rather than something that I installed.

    But there's probably good reason not to include it.

    It's one of those things you just have to watch out for. :)


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  • From Vk3jed@21:1/109 to Gluon on Wed May 27 01:15:00 2020
    On 05-25-20 14:27, Gluon wrote to Warpslide <=-


    The problem is indeed how obfuscated the issue is. AFAIK there's no explicit check to see whether zip is installed, nor there is an error message logged. Instead you realise it is missing indirectly by
    noticing messages aren't being packaged, nor coming out.

    I think that's the bigger problem - not getting a clear error message that zip is not installed.

    If Mystic were to be packaged as a Linux package, then this would be easily and seamlessly solved by declaring both zip and unzip as package dependencies. However, as a standalone software, the only solution is
    in fact having the code itself checking/warning explicitly about those two. Obviously this is not something critical, but would help a lot of people, so I like your idea of discussing it.

    Even just an clear error message yo point one in the right direction.


    ... Of course I'm sane... The voices said so...
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  • From Alpha@21:4/158 to Vk3jed on Mon May 25 13:25:13 2020
    ☼ne thing to check is that you have zip installed. This is what happe when zip isn't installed.

    ...and zip wasn't installed, so that very well may have been it. I apologize in advance if this is a dupe, but I'll send a response from the quantum wormhole, too.

    This happens so often, to so many sysops (myself included), it would be great if Mystic could through some sort of error or warning in the log, or during install, startup, etc. The way it does when Cryptlib isn't installed...


    |14▐ |07Alpha
    |14▄▌ |13Card & Claw BBS
    |06▐ |05cardandclaw.com:8888

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/04/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Card & Claw BBS (21:4/158)
  • From Adept@21:2/108 to Vk3jed on Tue May 26 23:28:11 2020
    I think that's the bigger problem - not getting a clear error message
    that zip is not installed.

    After catching up with messages and seeing other people running into the same issue, yeah, I suppose I'd second that. Even if it seems like something I might've entirely avoided if I had approached things differently.

    Not that I'd feign to impose upon g00r00's time, especially since my Pascal skills are nonexistant, thus it's fairly unlikely my coding skills would help even if the project were open source and I had the time and internet access
    to figure things out.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Storm BBS (21:2/108)
  • From Vk3jed@21:1/109 to Alpha on Thu May 28 00:24:00 2020
    On 05-25-20 09:25, Alpha wrote to Vk3jed <=-

    This happens so often, to so many sysops (myself included), it would be great if Mystic could through some sort of error or warning in the log,
    or during install, startup, etc. The way it does when Cryptlib isn't installed...

    Yes, or at least queue packets somewhere, that can be zipped later, when the problem is fixed, or even not export mail at all and simply issue an error message and quit.


    ... The universe is. It is mankind that attaches meaning to it.
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  • From Vk3jed@21:1/109 to Adept on Thu May 28 00:25:00 2020
    On 05-26-20 19:28, Adept wrote to Vk3jed <=-

    After catching up with messages and seeing other people running into
    the same issue, yeah, I suppose I'd second that. Even if it seems like something I might've entirely avoided if I had approached things differently.

    It might remove a support headache for g00r00 (and the community). :)


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