bbs.cfg Reference

This page is for the BBS operator (the sysop). It lists every setting in bbs.cfg, with the values each one takes and what happens when you leave it out. The guides linked from each entry explain how the settings work together.

The file

bbs.cfg is a plain text file in the data directory (the -data option, ./data by default). It holds the settings that belong to this board and this machine: the board's name in a league, its directories, and a few choices each sysop makes alone. The league's rules are in config.json instead. The game never rewrites bbs.cfg, so a reset or a Coordinator's broadcast cannot change it. With no file at all, every setting has its default.

The rules for a line:

• One setting per line: the keyword, then one or more spaces or tabs, then the value. The value is the rest of the line, so it may contain spaces, as a Windows path or a board name can.
• Keywords ignore case.
• A keyword with no value is ignored, and the default stays in place.
• Blank lines are skipped. A line that starts with # or ; is a comment. A comment must be on its own line: text after a value is part of the value.
• A path that is not absolute is read as a path inside the data directory, not inside the directory the BBS starts the door from.
• A setting given twice takes the last value. IncomingFileDir is the exception: every line counts. Link and the per-node form of GameOutbound are given once per node, and for each node the last line counts.
• A keyword the game does not know is ignored. The inter-BBS commands print a warning for it and suggest the nearest keyword: -maint and -full on a league board, -planetary, -ftn-status, -league-check, -league-config, -league-reset and -league-routes.
• The settings older releases used, Inbound, Outbound and the two-field Link <node> <dir>, stop the inter-BBS commands on a league board. They print the lines to use instead. -full only skips the league exchange and lets the caller play. An ftn.cfg file left in the data directory has the same effect.

What a value that cannot be used does depends on the setting. For the settings above the FTN transport sections, the line is ignored and the default stays in place; the inter-BBS commands warn about a Lottery or PirateNews value that is not a switch. For the FTN transport settings, the transport does not run until the line is fixed: packets stay in GameOutbound, the run reports a fault, and what is already in GameInbound is still applied.

Switches

A switch takes yes, true, on or 1 to turn it on, and no, false, off or 0 to turn it off, in any case.

Example

A league board whose mailer is BinkIT on Synchronet:

BoardID          Avalon
BBSName          Avalon BBS
LeagueNumber     900
GameInbound      inbound
GameOutbound     outbound
BulletinDir      bull
Lottery          yes
PirateNews       yes
OnFault          ntfy publish mybbs "$IB_FAULTS"

IncomingFileDir  /sbbs/fido/inbound
Link 1 BSO /sbbs/fido/outbound Normal

Identity and league

BoardID

This board's name. In a league it must be the same as the name the Coordinator put in ibnodes.dat, character for character.

Values: any text.

Default: local.

More: Joining a league.

LeagueNumber

The number of the league this board plays in. The Coordinator chooses it. A packet marked with another league's number is ignored.

Values: a whole number from 1 to 999. Any other value is ignored without a warning, as if the line were missing.

Default: none. A league board then refuses to run -maint, -planetary and -full, and says which line to add. A board that plays alone does not need it.

More: Joining a league.

The game's packet directories

GameInbound

The directory where packets from other boards wait for the planetary step. A bundle of packets found here is unwrapped as well.

Values: a directory.

Default: inbound, inside the data directory.

More: How packets move.

GameOutbound

The directory where the game writes packets for the other boards.

Values:

• GameOutbound DIR — the directory for every board with no line of its own.
• GameOutbound N DIR — the directory for packets whose next hop is node N (1 to 999). Give one line for each neighbor. Only a board that forwards packets for others needs this form.

Default: outbound, inside the data directory, and no per-node lines.

More: A board that hosts others.

Bulletin files

BulletinDir

The directory where the game writes its bulletin files: scores, news and rankings, as .ans, .txt and HTML.

Values: a directory.

Default: none. When the line is missing or has no value, no bulletin files are written.

More: Bulletin Files.

BBSName

What the bulletin web pages call this board.

Values: any text.

Default: the BoardID.

More: The bbs.cfg lines.

BoardURL

The address of this board's own website. The web pages link the board's name to it.

Values: a URL.

Default: none. The board's name is shown as plain text.

More: The bbs.cfg lines.

BulletinURL

The address at which your web server serves BulletinDir. It fills the {{pageurl}} word in the page header.

Values: a URL.

Default: none. {{pageurl}} is left empty.

More: The three files you own.

Lottery and news

Lottery

Whether this board offers the Queen's lottery.

Values: a switch.

Default: yes.

More: Your board's own settings.

PirateNews

Whether pirate raids are reported in the planet news. With no, raids still happen and the raider still gets a report.

Values: a switch.

Default: yes.

More: Your board's own settings.

Fault alarm

OnFault

A command to run after a -maint, -planetary or -full run that meets a league fault it has not reported before.

Values: one command line. On Unix it runs with sh -c, on Windows with cmd /c, so a pipeline works. It gets these environment variables:

• IB_FAULTS — the faults, separated by |. On Unix they are also the first argument.
• IB_BOARD — the BoardID.
• IB_DATA — the data directory.

The command is stopped after 30 seconds. If it fails, the run prints the error and goes on.

Default: none.

More: Being told when the league stops moving.

FTN transport: receiving

The FTN transport settings are read only on a league board. A board whose packets travel another way leaves them all out.

IncomingFileDir

A directory where the mailer puts the files it receives. The transport unwraps the league's packets from it.

Values: a directory. Give one line for each directory the mailer delivers into. The transport reads only the files in the directory itself, so a subdirectory the mailer uses needs its own line.

Default: none. Only GameInbound is read.

More: Inbound settings.

IncomingNetmailDir

The directory where the tosser leaves received .msg netmail. The transport looks there for the messages that announce attached packets.

Values: a directory.

Default: every IncomingFileDir.

More: Inbound settings.

OboxMeshFanout

Whether a broadcast with no address is sent on to the other peers. It applies only to a broadcast that arrives as a plain file, over an Obox or BSO link, not as a netmail attachment.

Values: a switch.

Default: yes.

More: Mesh warning.

FTN transport: sending

OutgoingNetmailDir

The directory where the game writes outgoing .msg netmail for the tosser to pack. Each message has one file attached.

Values: a directory. It must exist.

Default: none. It is required when any peer uses an Attach link, including a peer with no Link line. With neither this nor a Link line, packets stay in GameOutbound.

More: Stored-message attach settings.

AttachDir

The directory where the transport keeps outgoing files for Attach and BSO links until the mailer sends them.

Values: a directory. A short absolute path keeps the netmail subject short.

Default: att, inside the data directory.

More: Keeping attach subjects short.

Mailer

Which mailer carries the netmail. It decides how the netmail asks the mailer to delete the attachment after sending, or turns netmail off.

Values: the original game's seven names, in any case. Only two of them change what the game writes:

Value	What the game writes	Use it for
Binkley	the attachment path starts with ^	BinkIT (Synchronet's mailer) and other Binkley-style setups
FrontDoor, DBridge, InterMail, DBridgeOld, Other	a FLAGS KFS line in the message	any other mailer; all five do the same thing
None	no netmail at all, as in the original	a board with no netmail directory. With no Link line, packets stay in GameOutbound for your own script to move; a peer the transport delivers to needs an Obox or BSO link

Any other value, or None together with a Link ... Attach line, is refused, and the transport does not run until the line is fixed.

Default: the same as Other.

More: Stored-message attach settings.

SubjectPath

How the attachment's path is written in the netmail subject. It applies only to Attach links.

Values:

• Absolute — the full path.
• Basename — the file name alone. Use it only when the mailer looks for attachments in AttachDir by itself.
• anything else — used as the directory part, with the file name added to it. The separator is \ when this value contains one, otherwise /.

Default: Absolute.

More: Keeping attach subjects short.

Bundled

Whether the transport sends its peers ZIP bundles or plain packets. A Raw or Bundled word on a Link line overrides it for that peer.

Values: a switch.

Default: no. Every peer gets plain packets.

More: Plain packets for boards that cannot read a bundle.

FTN transport: per-peer links

Link

How the transport hands packets to one directly connected board.

Values: Link N MODE, where N is the peer's node number (1 to 999) and MODE is one of:

• Attach — a netmail message in OutgoingNetmailDir with the file attached. It takes no directory.
• Obox DIR — the file goes into the peer's own outbox directory.
• BSO DIR [FLAVOR] — the file goes into a Binkley-style outbound. DIR is the outbound for the peer's zone. FLAVOR is Immediate, Continuous (or Crash), Direct, Normal or Hold; the default is Normal.

Raw or Bundled may end any Link line. It overrides Bundled for this peer.

A directory in a Link line must not contain spaces. Give one line for each peer.

Default: a peer with no Link line uses Attach. Once any Link line is present, a broadcast with no address is sent on only to the peers listed.

More: Per-peer links.