A node polling my Argus system with traffic to send is being refused by my system when trying to do so.

Any ideas why and if it's something I or they should change in Argus to fix?

^ 16-Oct-2019 21:14:09 CONNECT From 121.208.17.161 #24558
16-Oct-2019 21:14:09 EMSI data receive
= 16-Oct-2019 21:14:09 Station : Alterant Game Server
= 16-Oct-2019 21:14:09 Address : 10:1/2 10:2/0 21:3/106 618:510/2 618:510/3 : 16-Oct-2019 21:14:09 SysOp : Deon George from Parkdale, VIC AU
: 16-Oct-2019 21:14:09 Number : -Unpublished-
: 16-Oct-2019 21:14:09 Flags : 600,CM,TCP,IFC,TEL,VMP,BND
: 16-Oct-2019 21:14:09 Mailer : Argus/3.210/0
: 16-Oct-2019 21:14:09 EMSI Addon : XDATETIME [Wed, 16 Oct 2019 08:13:56
+1100]
= 16-Oct-2019 21:14:09 Time : 16-Oct-2019 19:13:56
16-Oct-2019 21:14:09 Password-protected session (auth=plain)
16-Oct-2019 21:14:09 Nothing for them
16-Oct-2019 21:14:09 EMSI data send
16-Oct-2019 21:14:10 Handshake time - 1 seconds
16-Oct-2019 21:14:10 Establishing Hydra transfer protocol
[ 16-Oct-2019 21:14:10 Hyd: Other's AppInfo="Argus,3.210,"
[ 16-Oct-2019 21:14:10 Hyd: Other's HydraRev=01-Dec-1992, flags: ASC,UUE,C32
16-Oct-2019 21:14:10 SEND: End of batch
! 16-Oct-2019 21:14:10 Invalid file name
16-Oct-2019 21:14:10 Refusing '/mailer/outbound.015/5da6d127.pkt'
16-Oct-2019 21:14:11 RECE: End of batch
16-Oct-2019 21:14:11 Hydra transfer protocol complete
16-Oct-2019 21:14:11 SEND: End of batch
16-Oct-2019 21:14:11 RECE: End of batch
16-Oct-2019 21:14:11 Hydra transfer protocol complete
* 16-Oct-2019 21:14:12 Session completed successfully
16-Oct-2019 21:14:12 End

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/03 (Windows/32)
* Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (3:770/100)

Re: Refused Connection
By: Paul Hayton to All on Thu Oct 17 2019 21:28:45

! 16-Oct-2019 21:14:10 Invalid file name
16-Oct-2019 21:14:10 Refusing '/mailer/outbound.015/5da6d127.pkt'

i note that it says "filename"... to me, that does not include the path...

maybe try using another protocol instead of hydra and see if it is a protocol error?

in any case, the local path of the mail file should never be sent to the remote... ever...


)\/(ark
--- SBBSecho 3.09-Linux
* Origin: SouthEast Star Mail HUB - SESTAR (1:3634/12)

On 17.10.2019 21.28, Paul Hayton wrote:

! 16-Oct-2019 21:14:10 Invalid file name
  16-Oct-2019 21:14:10 Refusing '/mailer/outbound.015/5da6d127.pkt'

In native Windows software there should not be "/"'s in file names, only "\"'s

'Tommi

---
* Origin: smapinntpd/linux @ nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/360)

On 17.10.2019 7.15, mark lewis - Paul Hayton :

i note that it says "filename"... to me, that does not include the
path...

A good note.

There is no drive letter. Maybe that is the reason why Argus fails?

'Tommi

---
* Origin: smapinntpd/linux @ nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/360)

On 17.10.2019 7.15, mark lewis - Paul Hayton :

 PH> ! 16-Oct-2019 21:14:10 Invalid file name
 PH>   16-Oct-2019 21:14:10 Refusing '/mailer/outbound.015/5da6d127.pkt'

i note that it says "filename"... to me, that does not include the path...

And one more note. In windows world that is not path, that is a long file name. :) Hydra is able to send long file names as well as dos 8.3 names.

maybe try using another protocol instead of hydra and see if it is a

protocol error?

So this might help.

'Tommi

---
* Origin: smapinntpd/linux @ nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/360)

Re: Refused Connection
By: Tommi Koivula to mark lewis on Thu Oct 17 2019 15:29:04

i note that it says "filename"... to me, that does not include the
path...

A good note.

thanks :)

There is no drive letter. Maybe that is the reason why Argus fails?

no drive letter means it comes off the current drive...

paul, has a connection with this system worked in the past or is this the first attempt at connecting between your systems?


)\/(ark
--- SBBSecho 3.09-Linux
* Origin: SouthEast Star Mail HUB - SESTAR (1:3634/12)

On Thu, 17 Oct 2019 10:54:24 -0400 mark lewis wrote:

> There is no drive letter. Maybe that is the reason why Argus fails?

no drive letter means it comes off the current drive...

Sure, but some bad windows programming may assume that there is a drive letter in the beginning of the path. :)

Just a thought.

'Tommi

---
* Origin: nntps://fidonews.mine.nu - Lake Ylo - Finland (2:221/6.0)

Re: Refused Connection
By: mark lewis to Tommi Koivula on Thu Oct 17 2019 10:54 am

paul, has a connection with this system worked in the past or is this the

first

attempt at connecting between your systems?

So it has in the past. (I'm the connection Paul is refering to).

This is Argus -> Argus - whats recently changed is the tosser - and thus the format of the ?LO files. (The packets are still going to the same path they were previously).

I dont recall what the format was previously (it was Ezycom), but now that SBBS is tossing the mail, the interpretation of the ?LO files is incorrect by Argus.

(My) Argus is quite happily sending to an upstream SBBS, but fails when sending to an upstream Argus.

SBBS is configured to toss mail in the outbound C:/mailer/outbound (I've also tried C:\mailer\outbound - but the format of the ?LO file is ^C:/mailer/outbound...)

Argus is configured for the outbound has \mailer\outbound (and its installed on C:)

If I drop the "C:" from the SBBS config - argus interprets the outgoing packet as C:\mailer\outbound/mailer/outbound.015/xxxx.pkt (and thus is invalid and doesnt send). (The format of the ?LO is ^/mailer/outbound.015/xxxx.pkt)

If I leave the "C:" in the SBBS config - argus happily attempts to transfer the files (it knows about it, reports the size, etc) - and sends happily to another SBBS - but to another Argus, the remote refuses. (In this case the remote is Paul). (And in this case the format of the ?LO file is ^C:/mailer/outbound.015/xxx.pkt)

My work around is to get SBBS to toss the mail into an outbox, and have that outbox configured in Argus.

I'm not sure who is "at fault"? I would suggest Argus - it shouldnt be sending to the remote the name of the file as /mailer/outbound.015/xxx.pkt right? it should just say here is packet xxx.pkt and the remote saves it with whatever name it wants, in whatever path it is configured?
...ëîåã

... Some men are discovered; others are found out.
--- SBBSecho 3.10-Linux
* Origin: Alterant | An SBBS in Docker on Pi! (3:633/509)

On 18 Oct 2019 at 09:34a, Deon George pondered and said...

So it has in the past. (I'm the connection Paul is refering to).

This is Argus -> Argus - whats recently changed is the tosser - and thus the format of the ?LO files. (The packets are still going to the same
path they were previously).

Thanks Deon for fleshing out the info/details.

I confess I'm at a loss to know what more I can do at my end.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/03 (Windows/32)
* Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (3:770/100)

On 2019 Oct 18 09:34:06, you wrote to me:

paul, has a connection with this system worked in the past or is this
the first attempt at connecting between your systems?

So it has in the past. (I'm the connection Paul is refering to).

yup :)

This is Argus -> Argus - whats recently changed is the tosser - and
thus the format of the ?LO files. (The packets are still going to the
same path they were previously).

the FLO files' format should not have changed... my binkd and sbbs' binkit both work just fine with sbbsecho's ?lo files...

the path HAS to be in the ?LO files so the mailer knows where to look for the file...

you might consider to tcpdump a transaction from sbbs -> binkd and one from sbbs -> argus and seeing if the path in the ?LO file is actually transmitted...

I dont recall what the format was previously (it was Ezycom), but now
that SBBS is tossing the mail, the interpretation of the ?LO files is incorrect by Argus.

perhaps you have or can grab the argus source code and take a look?

(My) Argus is quite happily sending to an upstream SBBS, but fails
when sending to an upstream Argus.

what does the argus ?LO files look like? you should tcpdump capture that, too...

SBBS is configured to toss mail in the outbound C:/mailer/outbound
(I've also tried C:\mailer\outbound - but the format of the ?LO file
is ^C:/mailer/outbound...)

because the direction of the slash doesn't matter to modern software... IIRC, argus/radius/taurus don't care... i've run them all in the past when i had a working winwhatever setup... somewhere around here i also have the source code to each of them... it is delphi and i don't do delphi so i need to port it to freepascal/lazarus which, when i tried, needed some more work on the conversion translator... that was at least 5+ years ago when the rough idea was to port them to linux as well as to freepascal/lazarus...

Argus is configured for the outbound has \mailer\outbound (and its installed on C:)

that's fine...

If I drop the "C:" from the SBBS config - argus interprets the
outgoing packet as C:\mailer\outbound/mailer/outbound.015/xxxx.pkt
(and thus is invalid and doesnt send). (The format of the ?LO is ^/mailer/outbound.015/xxxx.pkt)

yeah... that's a slight bug, IMHO... but we know how it wants things so we do it that way...

If I leave the "C:" in the SBBS config - argus happily attempts to transfer the files (it knows about it, reports the size, etc) - and
sends happily to another SBBS - but to another Argus, the remote
refuses. (In this case the remote is Paul). (And in this case the
format of the ?LO file is ^C:/mailer/outbound.015/xxx.pkt)

yeah... the problem is that that local path should not be being transferred... the remote side has no need to know anything about your local paths...

My work around is to get SBBS to toss the mail into an outbox, and
have that outbox configured in Argus.

that'll work, too... painful but works...

I'm not sure who is "at fault"? I would suggest Argus - it shouldnt be sending to the remote the name of the file as

/mailer/outbound.015/xxx.pkt

right? it should just say here is packet xxx.pkt and the remote saves it with whatever name it wants, in whatever path it is configured?

right... so something (argus) is not stripping out the path from the transmitted information...

did you see my other post about using a different protocol than hydra? the fault could be in there... tell your argus to use something other than hydra and see what happens...

FWIW: argus was the first in the "ART" family... then came radius... it is a drop-in replacement and fixes numerous bugs while adding a few features... taurus is the latest one... it is a drop-in replacement for argus and radius... it also fixes bugs and brings even more features...

you don't say what version of argus you are running but a newer one might have a fix for this bug... perhaps it would be an idea to try radius and/or taurus, too...

)\/(ark

Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
... Habs. Doan Touch! Too hut! - Neekha
---
* Origin: (1:3634/12.73)

Re: Refused Connection
By: mark lewis to Deon George on Thu Oct 17 2019 07:13 pm

yeah... the problem is that that local path should not be being

transferred... the remote side has no need to know anything about your local paths...

Thats what I thought too...

did you see my other post about using a different protocol than hydra?

the fault could be in there... tell your argus to use something other than hydra and see what happens...

yes, I did - I just read that - havent tried it, might be an option. I might try this Taurus that you mention first though...

FWIW: argus was the first in the "ART" family... then came radius... it

is a drop-in replacement and fixes numerous bugs while adding a few features... taurus is the latest one... it is a drop-in

replacement for argus and radius...
it also fixes bugs and brings even more features...

you don't say what version of argus you are running but a newer one might

have a fix for this bug... perhaps it would be an idea to try radius and/or taurus, too...

So, I'm running on Windows 7 - 32 bit (in a VMware VM). Nothing special about this install - I'm not a windows person (and this config is only so I can play with dos doors and sbbs in windows). The install of Windows is pretty much vanilla windows from the ISO - updates disabled (but has SP1) - and BBS software. (Their may be 1 or two other things on there - git, pgp, nomachine - but thats it, I dont use it day to day...)

I'm running Argus, as obtained from SF - Help -> About says 3.210 March 26, 2001.

I've tried pulling Radius - which I too obtained from SF (4011 and 4010 files from memory) - expanded the zip files in a directory - but Radius does not start, no visuals, no icons, nothing.

Its doing something - because the directory becomes busy (stopping me from deleting it) - unless I log off and on again (dont recall if I looked at task manager to see what).

I recall the first time I tried it, after a long time - a window popped up with just ?????? as text (I'm guessing it was rendering russion, but since no language is installed, it gets question marks). I had two buttons to push, and pushed the default one, but nothing. Thereafter, I cannot get that window to pop up to try the other button.

I've even copied the Argus config files (I read that in a readme somewhere) - but still nothing. I gave up a deleted it. (The only upside was the help worked, which doesnt in Argus.)

I'd be happy to give Tarius a crack - I did know of it, so if you have a ready link please share :) otherwise I'll go a googling...
...ëîåã

... Ebius tagline. This is a moebius tagline. This is a mo ...
--- SBBSecho 3.10-Linux
* Origin: Alterant | An SBBS in Docker on Pi! (3:633/509)

Hi Deon.

18 Oct 19 11:17:28, you wrote to mark lewis:

I recall the first time I tried it, after a long time - a window popped

up

with just ?????? as text (I'm guessing it was rendering russion, but

since

no language is installed, it gets question marks). I had two buttons

It defaults to russian. But you can edit radius.ini / taurus.ini file. Just set "language=0"

I have Taurus running at 2:221/360 (rbb.bbs.fi) in ports 60177 and 60179 if someone wants to try. :)

'Tommi

---
* Origin: IPv6 Point at [2001:470:1f15:cb0:2:221:1:1] (2:221/1.1)

On 18 Oct 2019 at 11:17a, Deon George pondered and said...

I'd be happy to give Tarius a crack - I did know of it, so if you have a ready link please share :) otherwise I'll go a googling...

I'm wondering if I should try to shift to this also?

Is it windows software only or something that works on Linux do you know?

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/03 (Windows/32)
* Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (3:770/100)

Hi Paul.

18 Oct 19 20:47:30, you wrote to Deon George:

On 18 Oct 2019 at 11:17a, Deon George pondered and said...

I'd be happy to give Tarius a crack - I did know of it, so if you have a
ready link please share :) otherwise I'll go a googling...

I'm wondering if I should try to shift to this also?

Is it windows software only or something that works on Linux do you know?

It is pure Win32 software.

The website where I got my copy is not there anymore. :(

bakhvaloff.ru/Download/Taurus/

But I have these files

Tau.160223.1842.7z
Rad.131024.1739.7z

They should be available for freq at 2:221/1

'Tommi

---
* Origin: IPv6 Point at [2001:470:1f15:cb0:2:221:1:1] (2:221/1.1)

Re: Refused Connection
By: mark lewis to Deon George on Thu Oct 17 2019 07:13 pm

If I drop the "C:" from the SBBS config - argus interprets the
outgoing packet as C:\mailer\outbound/mailer/outbound.015/xxxx.pkt
(and thus is invalid and doesnt send). (The format of the ?LO is ^/mailer/outbound.015/xxxx.pkt)

yeah... that's a slight bug, IMHO... but we know how it wants things so

we do it that way...

So I got hold or Taurus - and it exibits the same problem... however...

If I leave the "C:" in the SBBS config - argus happily attempts to transfer the files (it knows about it, reports the size, etc) - and
sends happily to another SBBS - but to another Argus, the remote
refuses. (In this case the remote is Paul). (And in this case the
format of the ?LO file is ^C:/mailer/outbound.015/xxx.pkt)

It seems Argus didnt reject my mail when I sent it with Taurus. Just waiting on hubs to do their thing to see that it actually was processed on Pauls. ...ëîåã
--- SBBSecho 3.10-Linux
* Origin: Alterant | An SBBS in Docker on Pi! (3:633/509)

Hi! Deon,

On 18 Oct 19 22:21, you wrote to mark lewis:

If I leave the "C:" in the SBBS config - argus happily attempts
to transfer the files (it knows about it, reports the size, etc)
- and sends happily to another SBBS - but to another Argus, the
remote refuses. (In this case the remote is Paul). (And in this
case the format of the ?LO file is
^C:/mailer/outbound.015/xxx.pkt)

I hesitated in replying as I no longer use Radius and I haven't checked SBBS yet. But... if SBBSecho knows about 'file boxes' then so does Radius & Taurus.
I forget what Argus used to do since, for me, that was over 15 years ago.

Can/have you tried a file box? (Also, I suggest you avoid Hydra as it never performed well for me.)

Cheers,
Paul.

... If it jams, force it. If it breaks, it needed replacing anyway...
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20130515
* Origin: Quinn's Rock - Live from Paul's Xubuntu desktop! (3:640/1384)

Re: Refused Connection
By: Paul Quinn to Deon George on Fri Oct 18 2019 09:56 pm

I hesitated in replying as I no longer use Radius and I haven't checked

SBBS yet. But... if SBBSecho knows about 'file boxes' then so does Radius & Taurus.

I forget what Argus used to do since, for me, that was over 15 years ago. Can/have you tried a file box? (Also, I suggest you avoid Hydra as it

never performed well for me.)

So yes Argus does support fileboxes - and this is a working workaround.

I just updated to Taurus - and it correctly communicates with the remote (by not sending the path I guess - the remote Argus accepts my packet).

I havent noticed any issues with Hydra so far - its run for a week or so and seems to work well...
...ëîåã

... If you can't learn to do it well, learn to enjoy doing it badly.
--- SBBSecho 3.10-Linux
* Origin: Alterant | An SBBS in Docker on Pi! (3:633/509)

Hi! Deon,

On 19 Oct 19 08:46, you wrote to me:

So yes Argus does support fileboxes - and this is a working
workaround.

:) I keep trying to justify to myself to use file boxes in my old Radius, against an otherwise total Linux config. I can't. Two binkD jobs do it well at present. I just miss Radius, which I was still learning to use even after more than a decade.

I just updated to Taurus - and it correctly communicates with the
remote (by not sending the path I guess - the remote Argus accepts my packet).

Fingers-crossed that it continues for you. The outline history of these mailers is: Radius was a project to fix Argus; and, Taurus was a private experiment based on Radius.

There is a commercial package (based on Taurus) called Trapgate that has divorced Fidonet, in effect, aimed at the web-based BBS market.

I havent noticed any issues with Hydra so far - its run for a week or
so and seems to work well...

Okay. I used to have a NOHYD override active for at least one downlink. It might have been his maiier's problem (an old MBSE, IIRC).

Good luck.

Cheers,
Paul.

... Expert: ex=out of, spurt=a drip under pressure.
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.4.7
* Origin: Paul's other Linux ghizmo - a little more mobile (3:640/1384.125)

19 Oct 19 08:46, you wrote to Paul Quinn:

I havent noticed any issues with Hydra so far - its run for a week or so

and

seems to work well...

I was using Hydra in Xenia Mailer very long time ago, but I don't remember any problems.

There still is Xenia/2 waiting for calls at 2:221/360. (ITN:32) :)

'Tommi

--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20180707
* Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6)