+<sect>Mail
+
+<P>
+DXSpider deals seamlessly with standard AK1A type mail. It supports both
+personal and bulletin mail and the sysop has additional commands to ensure
+that mail gets to where it is meant. DXSpider will send mail almost
+immediately, assuming that the target is on line. However, only one
+mail message is dealt with at any one time. If a mail message is already
+being sent or recieved, then the new message will be queued until it has
+finished.
+
+The cluster mail is automatically deleted after 30 days unless the sysop
+sets the "keep" flag using the <em>msg</em> command.
+
+<sect1>Personal mail
+
+<P>
+Personal mail is sent using the <em>sp</em> command. This is actually the
+default method of sending mail and so a simple <em>s</em> for send will do.
+A full list of the send commands and options is in the <em>command set</em>
+section, so I will not duplicate them here.
+
+<sect1>Bulletin mail
+
+<P>
+Bulletin mail is sent by using the <em>sb</em> command. This is one of the
+most common mistakes users make when sending mail. They send a bulletin
+mail with <em>s</em> or <em>sp</em> instead of <em>sb</em> and of course
+the message never leaves the cluster. This can be rectified by the sysop
+by using the <em>msg</em> command.
+
+<P>Bulletin addresses can be set using the Forward.pl file.
+
+<sect1>Forward.pl
+
+<P>
+DXSpider receives all and any mail sent to it without any alterations needed
+in files. Because personal and bulletin mail are treated differently, there
+is no need for a list of accepted bulletin addresses. It is necessary, however,
+to tell the program which links accept which bulletins. For example, it is
+pointless sending bulletins addresses to "UK" to any links other than UK
+ones. The file that does this is called forward.pl and lives in /spider/msg.
+At default, like other spider files it is named forward.pl.issue. Rename it
+to forward.pl and edit the file to match your requirements.
+The format is below ...
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+#
+# this is an example message forwarding file for the system
+#
+# The format of each line is as follows
+#
+# type to/from/at pattern action destinations
+# P/B/F T/F/A regex I/F [ call [, call ...] ]
+#
+# type: P - private, B - bulletin (msg), F - file (ak1a bull)
+# to/from/at: T - to field, F - from field, A - home bbs, O - origin
+# pattern: a perl regex on the field requested
+# action: I - ignore, F - forward
+# destinations: a reference to an array containing node callsigns
+#
+# if it is non-private and isn't in here then it won't get forwarded
+#
+# Currently only type B msgs are affected by this code.
+#
+# The list is read from the top down, the first pattern that matches
+# causes the action to be taken.
+#
+# The pattern can be undef or 0 in which case it will always be selected
+# for the action specified
+#
+# If the BBS list is undef or 0 and the action is 'F' (and it matches the
+# pattern) then it will always be forwarded to every node that doesn't have
+# it (I strongly recommend you don't use this unless you REALLY mean it, if
+# you allow a new link with this on EVERY bull will be forwarded immediately
+# on first connection)
+#
+
+package DXMsg;
+
+@forward = (
+'B', 'T', 'LOCAL', 'F', [ qw(GB7MBC) ],
+'B', 'T', 'ALL', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
+'B', 'T', 'UK', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX) ],
+'B', 'T', 'QSL', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
+'B', 'T', 'QSLINF', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
+'B', 'T', 'DX', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
+'B', 'T', 'DXINFO', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
+'B', 'T', 'DXNEWS', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
+'B', 'T', 'DXQSL', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
+'B', 'T', 'SYSOP', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX) ],
+'B', 'T', '50MHZ', 'F', [ qw(GB7BAA GB7ADX PA4AB-14) ],
+);
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+Simply insert a bulletin address and state in the brackets where you wish
+that mail to go. For example, you can see here that mail sent to "UK" will
+only be sent to the UK links and not to PA4AB-14.
+
+<P>
+To force the cluster to reread the file use load/forward
+
+
+<sect1>The msg command
+
+<P>
+The <em>msg</em> command is a very powerful and flexible tool for the
+sysop. It allows the sysop to alter to and from fields and make other
+changes to manage the cluster mail.
+
+Here is a full list of the various options ...
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+ MSG TO <msgno> <call> - change TO callsign to <call>
+ MSG FRom <msgno> <call> - change FROM callsign to <call>
+ MSG PRrivate <msgno> - set private flag
+ MSG NOPRrivate <msgno> - unset private flag
+ MSG RR <msgno> - set RR flag
+ MSG NORR <msgno> - unset RR flag
+ MSG KEep <msgno> - set the keep flag (message won't be deleted ever)
+ MSG NOKEep <msgno> - unset the keep flag
+ MSG SUbject <msgno> <new> - change the subject to <new>
+ MSG WAittime <msgno> - remove any waiting time for this message
+ MSG NOREad <msgno> - mark message as unread
+ MSG REad <msgno> - mark message as read
+ MSG QUeue - queue any outstanding bulletins
+ MSG QUeue 1 - queue any outstanding private messages
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+These commands are simply typed from within the cluster as the sysop user.
+
+<sect1>Message status
+
+<P>
+You can check on a message from within the cluster by using the command
+<em>stat/msg</em>. This will give you additional information on the
+message number including which nodes have received it, which node it
+was received from and when etc. Here is an example of the output of
+the command ...
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+G0VGS de GB7MBC 28-Jan-2001 1308Z >
+stat/msg 6869
+ From: GB7DJK
+ Msg Time: 26-Jan-2001 1302Z
+ Msgno: 6869
+ Origin: GB7DJK
+ Size: 8012
+ Subject: AMSAT 2line KEPS 01025.AMSAT
+ To: UK
+Got it Nodes: GB7BAA, GB7ADX
+ Private: 0
+Read Confirm: 0
+ Times read: 0
+G0VGS de GB7MBC 28-Jan-2001 1308Z >
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+<sect1>Filtering mail
+
+<P>
+This is described in the section on <em>Other filters</em> so I will not
+duplicate it here.
+
+<sect1>Distribution lists
+
+<P>
+Distribution lists are simply a list of users to send certain types of
+mail to. An example of this is mail you only wish to send to other
+sysops. In /spider/msg there is a directory called <em>distro</em>. You
+put any distibution lists in here. For example, here is a file called
+SYSOP.pl that caters for the UK sysops.
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+qw(GB7TLH GB7DJK GB7DXM GB7CDX GB7BPQ GB7DXN GB7MBC GB7MBC-6 GB7MDX
+ GB7NDX GB7SDX GB7TDX GB7UDX GB7YDX GB7ADX GB7BAA GB7DXA GB7DXH
+ GB7DXK GB7DXI GB7DXS)
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+Any mail sent to "sysop" would only be sent to the callsigns in this list.
+
+<sect1>BBS interface
+
+<P>
+Spider provides a simple BBS interface. No input is required from the sysop
+of the cluster at all. The BBS simply sets the cluster as a BBS and pushes
+any required mail to the cluster. No mail can flow from Spider to the BBS,
+the interface is one-way.
+
+<P>
+Please be careful not to flood the cluster network with unnecessary mail.
+Make sure you only send mail to the clusters that want it by using the
+Forward.pl file very carefully.
+
+<sect>Databases
+
+<P>
+Spider allows the creation of local or remote databases. It supports
+chained databases, allowing several different databases to be scanned
+with one simple command. Importing of databases is limited at present
+to the standard AK1A databases such as OBLAST and the DB0SDX QSL
+database but will expand with time.
+
+<sect1>Creating databases
+
+<P>
+Creating a database could not be more simple. All the commands are
+sent from the cluster prompt as the <em>sysop</em> user.
+
+To create a database you use the command <em>dbcreate</em>. It can
+be used in 3 different ways like so ..
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+dbcreate <name>
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+To simply create a database locally, you just tell the command the
+name of the database. This does not create the actual database, it
+simply defines it to say that it exists.
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+dbcreate <name> chain <name> [<name>...]
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+This creates a chained database entry. The first database will be
+scanned, then the second, the third etc...
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+dbcreate <name> remote <name>
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+This creates a remote entry. the first name field is the database
+name at the remote node, then the remote switch, then the actual
+node_call of the remote node, for example...
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+dbcreate buckmaster remote gb7dxc
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+Remote databases cannot be chained, however, the last database in a
+chain can be a remote database.
+
+<sect1>Importing databases
+
+<P>
+The only databases that Spider can currently import are the standard
+AK1A databases such as OBLAST or the DB0SDX qsl and address database.
+This will be added to with time.
+
+To import such a database, first put the file somewhere useful like /tmp
+and then issue the following command ...
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+dbimport oblast /tmp/OBLAST.FUL
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+This will update the existing local oblast database or create it if
+it does not exist.
+
+<sect1>Checking available databases
+
+<P>
+Once a database is created, you will want to check that it has been
+added. To do this use the <em>dbavail</em> command. This will
+output the available databases. For example ...
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+dbavail
+DB Name Location Chain
+qsl Local
+buck GB7ADX
+hftest GB7DXM
+G0VGS de GB7MBC 3-Feb-2001 1925Z >
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+<sect1>Looking up databases
+
+<P>
+To look for information in a defined database, simply use the <em>dbshow</em>
+command, for example ...
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+dbshow buckmaster G0YLM
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+will show the information for the callsign G0YLM from the buckmaster
+database if it exists. To make things more standard for the users
+you can add an entry in the Aliases file so that it looks like a standard
+<em>show</em> command like this ...
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+'^sh\w*/buc', 'dbshow buckmaster', 'dbshow',
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+Now you can simply use show/buckmaster or an abreviation.
+
+<sect1>Removing databases
+
+<P>
+To delete an existing database you use the <em>dbremove</em> command.
+For example ...
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+dbremove oblast
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+would remove the oblast database and its associated datafile from the
+system. There are no warnings or recovery possible from this command.
+If you remove a database it ceases to exist and would have to be created
+from scratch if you still required it.
+