Hello Linda,

13 Nov 99 19:33, Linda Proulx wrote to David Randall:

 DR>> Front Door has both a mailer component and a terminal.  You can
 DR>> choose to use either or both.

 LP> But how can one run a fr5ont door without a BBS?

Very easily. Launching a BBS is really a secondary function of a front door
program, whose primary purpose is typically exchanging (Fido)mail. Every front 
door type program I've looked at can be configured as a mail only node. The
difference is in the program's response when the calling end *isn't*
negotiating a mail exchange. If configured for BBS operation, the front end
will usually exit, signalling a separate program, the BBS, to run. If
configured for mail only, the front end will just refuse and terminate the
non-mail connection and recycle, ready for the next call. Front Door, for
example, will exit on an errorlevel, which can then be checked in the batch
file driving it to branch to the section that executes the BBS. If configured
for mail only, it just refuses the connection and doesn't exit.

As for the mail side of things, you just use a mailbase that's not directly a
part of a BBS program. Myself, I've usually (and presently) use squish
messagebases. The first time I operated as a point, I was using Front Door as
a front end (DOS), both with and without a BBS as part of the mix. Played with 
TriBBS for a little while but never officially set anything up. Original setup 
was Front Door, Squish, and GoldEd. TriBBS was a temporary thing in the middle 
of that period, totally separate from the mail system.

Presently, I'm operating as a point with neither a front end nor a BBS. Just a 
messagebase, an editor, and a handful of REXX scripts tying it all together
with internet email attachments as a transport.


Kenneth (kabrams@us.hsanet.net)

--- GoldED/2 2.50+