Introduction
************

This is the README for `mconv', a package containing a fully functional
Internet BBS, `mbbs', and several utilities such as the file viewer `mview'
and the BBS text editor `mte'.

Terminal based, the features of `mbbs' include:

  * single-keypress menu-driven operation
  * full colour operation with easy to use encoding system
  * user to user messaging facility
  * in-BBS account handling tools

Outside of `mbbs' itself is the BBS text conversion utility `mconv', which
can output to email or web pages or take input from "screen" scrollback
buffers.

As well as running a BBS, this package can be used as a simple overlay on the
Unix filesystem using either `mbbs' or `mview', providing an easy way to
organise and view text files and system logs.

Note that this is NOT a telephone-oriented BBS - it is designed to work on a
multi-user Unix server connected to the Internet or to a LAN.


Documentation
*************

An Info file, manual pages, and an HTML manual are all included in this
distribution.  If you have a web browser such as `lynx' handy, you may view
the file `doc/index.html' to get started.  Alternatively, if you have the
GNU `Info' system you can do `info -f doc/mconv.info' if you prefer.


Installation
************

To install the package, type "sh ./configure", which should generate a
Makefile for your system.  You may then type "make" to build everything, and
next you may optionally become root and do "make install".

Developers note that you can do "sh ./configure --enable-debug" to cause
debugging support to be built in.  You can also do "make index", if you have
Perl, to build an HTML index of all files, functions and TODOs in the source
code.  The index files will be put into the build directory; to start
reading them, begin at `index.html'.

See the file `doc/INSTALL' for more about the `configure' script.

If you want to install the BBS on a multi-user system, read the manual
carefully so that you understand the security implications.  You should also
examine the example BBS files given in the `extra/' directory.

If you have RPM you can do "rpm -ta mconv-1.2.7.tar.gz" or the equivalent
to build a package from this source archive.


Extras
******

There are a few extra bits and pieces in the `extra/' directory, some of
which are not automatically installed.  Have a look at them if you like;
however they are unsupported and the scripts are a little experimental.


Authors
*******

MCONV is copyright (C) 2004 Andrew Wood, and is being distributed under the
terms of the GNU General Public License.  See the file `doc/COPYING'.

You can contact me by email at mconv@ivarch.com.  The `mconv' home page is
at http://mconv.sourceforge.net/.

My thanks go to Andrew Flintham, who supplied the original Monochrome
documentation which was then modified to suit this package, and to Matthew
Slattery <mjs@users.sf.net>, who provided some patches to the code.  Thanks
also go to everyone who helped to test the package and made suggestions.

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