@(#)How to collect and send mail and news with uqwk and SOUP. Date: Oct 1994. Author: Jos den Bekker ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Make sure you can run uqwk (at least version 1.8) on your host. If you want an interactive method, use the "grabber" script and follow the instructions. Make sure to upload your reply file first. N.B.: A "script" is an ASCII file that must be made executable first on a Unix machine. Type "chmod +x " on the command line. Alternatively, you might want to use scripts that can be run in the background, or even while you're not logged in at all (using "at" and/or "crontab" - type "man at" and "man crontab" for more information). Or you may not want to use scripts at all. The following are step-by-step methods for collecting and sending mail and news with or without the use of scripts. WARNING! These scripts assume you have access to /tmp on your Unix host and it is also assumed that your reply file is called "reply.zip". If you do not have access to /tmp on your Unix host (very unlikely), or if you prefer to use another name for your reply file, you will have to customize the scripts accordingly. A. Collecting news only. Create a subdirectory $HOME/poll and use the scripts "soupnews" and "download" to collect and download (with zmodem) news. Or type the following on the command line (flags between parenthesis are optional): 1. cd (to make sure you are in $HOME) 2. uqwk -m +n (+x) +L -B0 3. zip news AREAS *.MSG (or "zip -mb /tmp news AREAS *.MSG" if you want the AREAS and *.MSG files to be removed immediately) 4. rm AREAS *.MSG (or see 3) The packet "news.zip" is then ready for downloading. B. Collecting mail only. Create a subdirectory $HOME/poll and use the scripts "soupmail" and "download" to collect and download (with zmodem) mail. Or type the following on the command line: 1. cd (to make sure you are in $HOME) 2. uqwk +L -B0 3. zip mail AREAS *.MSG (or "zip -mb /tmp mail AREAS *.MSG" if you want the AREAS and *.MSG files to be removed immediately) 4. rm AREAS *.MSG (or see 3) The packet "mail.zip" is then ready for downloading. C. Collecting news and mail together. Create a subdirectory $HOME/poll and use the scripts "soup" and "download" to collect and download (with zmodem) mail and news in two packets called "news$date.zip" and "mail$date.zip". Or type the following on the command line (flags between parenthesis are optional): 1. cd (to make sure you are in $HOME) 2. uqwk +n (+x) +L -B0 3. zip soup AREAS *.MSG (or "zip -mb /tmp soup AREAS *.MSG" if you want the AREAS and *.MSG files to be removed immediately) 4. rm AREAS *.MSG (or see 3) The packet "soup.zip" (containing both mail and news) is then ready for downloading. D. Sending a reply packet. Create a subdirectory $HOME/poll, upload your zipped-up reply packet to this directory and use the script "soupput" to send your reply and follow-up. Or upload the zipped-up reply packet to your home directory and type the following on the command line: 1. cd (to make sure you are in $HOME) 2. unzip -U 3. uqwk -m -RREPLIES -B0 4. rm (or rename) E. Collecting both mail and news and sending a reply packet ("polling"). Create a subdirectory $HOME/poll, upload your zipped-up reply packet to this directory and use the script "soup" to send your reply and follow-up and collect mail and news ready for downloading. Use the script "download" to download (with zmodem). Or upload the zipped-up reply packet to your home directory and type the following on the command line: 1. cd (to make sure you are in $HOME) 2. unzip -U 3. uqwk +n (+x) +L -RREPLIES -B0 4. zip soup AREAS *.MSG (or "zip -mb /tmp soup AREAS *.MSG" if you want the AREAS and *.MSG files to be removed immediately) 4. rm AREAS *.MSG (or see 3) The packet "soup.zip" (containing both mail and news) is then ready for downloading. For more information read the offline-reader FAQ, posted weekly on alt.usenet.offline-reader.