Is there a way to do a file request to a bbs system these days with the internet, binkd, and netmail anymore. Like to old days?
Is there a way to do a file request to a bbs system these days with the internet, binkd, and netmail anymore. Like to old days?
@h@bRe@n@b: @h@cFile Request question
@bBy@n@b: @h@cRickV @bto @cAll @bon @cSat Dec 20 2025 09:46:33@n
Is there a way to do a file request to a bbs system these days
with the internet, binkd, and netmail anymore. Like to old days?
Maybe something like that?
https://wiki.synchro.net/module:freqit
but don't ask me how it works =)
http://ftsc.org/docs/fsc-0013.001
Mindsurfer
Thank you. I was really looking to find out how you send a netmail for a file request. It's been a long time since I've done that.
Digital Man wrote to RickV <=-
Re: File Request question
By: RickV to Mindsurfer on Sun Dec 21 2025 06:34 am
Thank you. I was really looking to find out how you send a netmail for a file request. It's been a long time since I've done that.
To send a FidoNet file request netmail from Synchronet, the user needs
to either be a sysop or have the 'F' exemption and then include "FR:<filename>" as the subject of the netmail message they're sending.
Thank you also for the new writeup posted on the Wiki for this. I
tested that this morning, to my system from a "test point" that I have.
It worked properly, but it did result in the file being sent twice,
because there ended up being (2) File Requests (.req) sent, for reasons unknown. The requesting system is also running SBBS, if that matters.
The second file received just over-wrote the first one, in the
"inbound" directory, so no real harm done, but seems off a little.
Here's a log snippet of the transaction, from the system that received
the two requests:
Digital Man wrote to Gamgee <=-
Re: Re: File Request question
By: Gamgee to Digital Man on Mon Dec 22 2025 10:40 am
Thank you also for the new writeup posted on the Wiki for this. I
tested that this morning, to my system from a "test point" that I have.
It worked properly, but it did result in the file being sent twice,
because there ended up being (2) File Requests (.req) sent, for reasons unknown. The requesting system is also running SBBS, if that matters.
The second file received just over-wrote the first one, in the
"inbound" directory, so no real harm done, but seems off a little.
Here's a log snippet of the transaction, from the system that received
the two requests:
The sbbsecho.log messages concerning the file request would likely be
more helpful.
Digital Man wrote to Gamgee <=-
Re: Re: File Request question
By: Gamgee to Digital Man on Mon Dec 22 2025 10:40 am
Thank you also for the new writeup posted on the Wiki for this. I
tested that this morning, to my system from a "test point" that I have. It worked properly, but it did result in the file being sent twice, because there ended up being (2) File Requests (.req) sent, for reasons unknown. The requesting system is also running SBBS, if that matters. The second file received just over-wrote the first one, in the
"inbound" directory, so no real harm done, but seems off a little.
Here's a log snippet of the transaction, from the system that received the two requests:
The sbbsecho.log messages concerning the file request would likely be more helpful.
Okay, here is the snippet from the orignating system (the point) from
that log. It shows only the one file request (00870073.req) being
generated and sent. Not sure where that other .req file came from in
the original (binkit) log that I posted. Also, in case it mattered,
that line complaining about missing 'areas.bbs', I created an empty one
and repeated the test with the same results.
Also, the timestamp
difference between these logs is because the sending system is on UTC
time.
2025-12-22 15:16:16 Could not open Area File (../data/areas.bbs): No such file or directory
2025-12-22 15:16:16 Created NetMail (1.msg) from Preem Palver (1:135/115.7) to sysop (1:135/115), attr: 0981 (PRIVATE, KILLSENT, LOCAL, FREQ), subject: ALLFILES
2025-12-22 15:16:16 BSO file request from Preem Palver (1:135/115.7) to sysop (1:135/115): ALLFILES
2025-12-22 15:16:16 File (../fido/outbound/00870073.req, 0.0KB) for 1:135/115 added to BSO/FLO file: ../fido/outbound/00870073.dlo
2025-12-22 15:16:16 SBBSecho (PID 46223) exiting with error level 0, NetMail(0 imported, 1 exported, 0 packed)
Any clues appreciated, thanks!
Digital Man wrote to Gamgee <=-
Thank you also for the new writeup posted on the Wiki for this. I
tested that this morning, to my system from a "test point" that I have. It worked properly, but it did result in the file being sent twice, because there ended up being (2) File Requests (.req) sent, for reasons unknown. The requesting system is also running SBBS, if that matters. The second file received just over-wrote the first one, in the
"inbound" directory, so no real harm done, but seems off a little.
Here's a log snippet of the transaction, from the system that received the two requests:
The sbbsecho.log messages concerning the file request would likely be more helpful.
Okay, here is the snippet from the orignating system (the point) from
that log. It shows only the one file request (00870073.req) being
generated and sent. Not sure where that other .req file came from in
the original (binkit) log that I posted. Also, in case it mattered,
that line complaining about missing 'areas.bbs', I created an empty one
and repeated the test with the same results.
The "Could not open Area File" error doesn't matter. And the correct
way to suppress that error would be to set echocfg->Paths and Filenames->Area File to a blank string.
2025-12-22 15:16:16 Could not open Area File (../data/areas.bbs): No such file or directory
2025-12-22 15:16:16 Created NetMail (1.msg) from Preem Palver (1:135/115.7) to sysop (1:135/115), attr: 0981 (PRIVATE, KILLSENT, LOCAL, FREQ), subject: ALLFILES
2025-12-22 15:16:16 BSO file request from Preem Palver (1:135/115.7) to sysop (1:135/115): ALLFILES
2025-12-22 15:16:16 File (../fido/outbound/00870073.req, 0.0KB) for 1:135/115 added to BSO/FLO file: ../fido/outbound/00870073.dlo
2025-12-22 15:16:16 SBBSecho (PID 46223) exiting with error level 0, NetMail(0 imported, 1 exported, 0 packed)
Any clues appreciated, thanks!
Not really any yet. So you only see the second .req filename mentioned
in logs on the receiving system?
Digital Man wrote to Gamgee <=-
Re: Re: File Request question
By: Gamgee to Digital Man on Mon Dec 22 2025 10:40 am
Thank you also for the new writeup posted on the Wiki for this. I
tested that this morning, to my system from a "test point" that I have. It worked properly, but it did result in the file being sent twice, because there ended up being (2) File Requests (.req) sent, for reasons unknown. The requesting system is also running SBBS, if that matters. The second file received just over-wrote the first one, in the
"inbound" directory, so no real harm done, but seems off a little.
Here's a log snippet of the transaction, from the system that received the two requests:
The sbbsecho.log messages concerning the file request would likely be more helpful.
Okay, here is the snippet from the orignating system (the point) from
that log. It shows only the one file request (00870073.req) being
generated and sent. Not sure where that other .req file came from in
the original (binkit) log that I posted. Also, in case it mattered,
that line complaining about missing 'areas.bbs', I created an empty one
and repeated the test with the same results. Also, the timestamp
difference between these logs is because the sending system is on UTC
time.
2025-12-22 15:16:16 Could not open Area File (../data/areas.bbs): No such file or directory
2025-12-22 15:16:16 Created NetMail (1.msg) from Preem Palver (1:135/115.7) to sysop (1:135/115), attr: 0981 (PRIVATE, KILLSENT, LOCAL, FREQ), subject: ALLFILES
2025-12-22 15:16:16 BSO file request from Preem Palver (1:135/115.7) to sysop (1:135/115): ALLFILES
2025-12-22 15:16:16 File (../fido/outbound/00870073.req, 0.0KB) for 1:135/115 added to BSO/FLO file: ../fido/outbound/00870073.dlo
2025-12-22 15:16:16 SBBSecho (PID 46223) exiting with error level 0, NetMail(0 imported, 1 exported, 0 packed)
Any clues appreciated, thanks!
DM, this is my second reply to you on this... Just thought of another thing that might be relevant - I did this same FREQ test from my main BBS to several other FidoNet systems, and got the same results (two .req files sent, and the requested file sent back twice from their system. The SBBS build is newer on the "test point" system - master/3fa76bald ; and the main/real BBS is 21980aee6. Both on Linux. Just wanted you to have this info.
It sounds like the REQ file is being included in a file reference flow file (*.*lo). It should not be, see FTS-5005 for details.
Deuce wrote to Gamgee <=-
Re: Re: File Request question
By: Gamgee to Digital Man on Wed Dec 24 2025 07:47 am
DM, this is my second reply to you on this... Just thought of another thing that might be relevant - I did this same FREQ test from my main BBS to several other FidoNet systems, and got the same results (two .req files sent, and the requested file sent back twice from their system. The SBBS build is newer on the "test point" system - master/3fa76bald ; and the main/real BBS is 21980aee6. Both on Linux. Just wanted you to have this info.
It sounds like the REQ file is being included in a file reference flow file (*.*lo). It should not be, see FTS-5005 for details.
Deuce wrote to Gamgee <=-
Re: Re: File Request question
By: Deuce to Gamgee on Wed Dec 24 2025 05:03 pm
It sounds like the REQ file is being included in a file reference flow file (*.*lo). It should not be, see FTS-5005 for details.
Reading the wiki, the oddball way it's describing there, it's important
to note that the .req file is not being created in the outbound dir.
The simplest way to do a FREQ is:
echo filenameiwant.foo >> /sbbs/ftn/outbound/0e32000c.req
If you then want to force a callout:
touch /sbbs/ftn/outbound/0e32000c.dlo
(Or run binkit -l 1:3634/12)
DM, this is my second reply to you on this... Just thought of another thing that might be relevant - I did this same FREQ test from my main BBS to several other FidoNet systems, and got the same results (two .req files sent, and the requested file sent back twice from their system. The SBBS build is newer on the "test point" system - master/3fa76bald ; and the main/real BBS is 21980aee6. Both on Linux. Just wanted you to have this info.
| Sysop: | DaiTengu |
|---|---|
| Location: | Appleton, WI |
| Users: | 1,090 |
| Nodes: | 10 (0 / 10) |
| Uptime: | 61:25:14 |
| Calls: | 13,949 |
| Calls today: | 2 |
| Files: | 187,035 |
| D/L today: |
3,080 files (873M bytes) |
| Messages: | 2,461,354 |