Adds per-(user, board) HWM for the QuickBBS-family multi-board
formats. The same physical Hudson/GoldBase base file set holds
ALL boards (1..200 for Hudson, 1..500 for GoldBase) in one
LASTREAD.BBS / LASTREAD.DAT file, indexed by user number with
one word slot per board. Caller has to provide both pieces of
context before HWM operations make sense:
- base.MapUser('NetReader', 60001) - pick a numeric user ID
- base.Board := 5 - which board this scan is for
src/ma.api.pas:
- New TMessageBase.Board property (longint, default 0).
- Single-area formats (JAM, Squish) ignore it.
- Multi-board formats return -1 from GetHWM when Board <= 0.
src/formats/ma.fmt.hudson.pas:
- New HudsonLastRead record matching QuickBBS LASTREAD.BBS layout.
- TJamBase pattern: FLrStream lazy + EnsureLrStream +
GetLastRead(user, board) + SetLastRead(user, board, msgnum).
- SetLastRead extends file with zeros to reach the user slot,
matching QuickBBS convention.
- Uses fpOpen on Unix (same FPC auto-flock workaround as Squish).
src/formats/ma.fmt.goldbase.pas:
- Same shape, GoldBaseLastRead with GOLDBASE_MAX_BOARDS (500)
slots, file is LASTREAD.DAT.
Both .uni adapters wire DoSupportsHWM/DoGetHWMById/DoSetHWMById
to the new native methods, gating on Board > 0.
tests/test_hwm.pas: 3 new tests covering Hudson + GoldBase:
- TestHudsonRequiresMapUserAndBoard verifies -1 returns when
MapUser missing, Board missing, or both.
- TestHudsonSetGetPersistence covers two users on two boards
with cross-session persistence.
- TestGoldBaseSetGet covers a high board number (250) to
exercise the wider GOLDBASE_MAX_BOARDS range.
Updated docs/architecture.md HWM coverage map: Hudson and
GoldBase moved from deferred to native. EzyCom still deferred
(per-area layout differs); Wildcat/PCBoard still -1.
Suite: 40/40 across 9 programs (test_hwm now 11/11).
NetReader and similar consumers can now register tossers as
high-numbered users (60000+) and walk per-board HWM the way
Allfix has historically done. Tossers coexist with human BBS
users in the same LASTREAD file (different user slots).
Documents the HWM API in architecture.md and surfaces it in
README.md's feature list. Includes the auto-bump pattern, the
multi-tenant convention (each tosser registers as a named user
in the same lastread file), and the per-format coverage map.
Coverage decisions for 0.3.x:
JAM -- native (.JLR) [shipped 0.3.0]
Squish -- native (.SQL) [shipped 0.3.1]
MSG / PKT -- spec has no HWM, returns -1 [structural]
PCBoard -- USERS file too entangled, deferred
Wildcat -- WC SDK exposes only per-message MarkMsgRead,
no per-user HWM primitive; defer until either
the SDK gains the call or we reverse-engineer
the user-conference state file
Hudson -- LASTREAD.BBS is per-(user, board) and the
GoldBase base instance doesn't carry board context;
EzyCom needs API design before impl
For deferred formats, GetHWM honestly returns -1 and the caller
falls back to its own state (e.g. NR's dupedb keyed by area).
This matches the "no fakery" principle: don't pretend a format
supports HWM when it doesn't, and don't silently sidecar in a
location consumers can't discover.
The 0.3.0 / 0.3.1 trio gives NetReader native HWM coverage for
the two formats that account for the overwhelming majority of
real-world FidoNet areas (JAM, Squish). Everything else falls
back to dupedb.
No code changes in this commit -- docs only.
New docs/attributes-registry.md publishes the canonical attribute
key catalog in four tiers:
1. Universal headers — msg.num, from, to, subject, date.*, addr.*,
area, board, cost. Every Fido format carries them.
2. Canonical attribute bits — attr.private, attr.crash, etc.,
mapped to/from the FTS-1 attribute word.
3. FTSC kludges — msgid, replyid, pid, tid, flags, chrs, tzutc,
seen-by, path, via. Multi-line keys use #13 between lines.
4. Format-specific — jam.*, squish.*, hudson.*, goldbase.*, ezy.*,
pcb.*, wildcat.*, pkt.*, msg.*. Each backend's namespace.
Plus a per-format support matrix showing which keys each backend
carries. Authoritative source remains each backend's
ClassSupportedAttributes -- the matrix can drift; SupportsAttribute()
is the runtime-correct query.
docs/architecture.md TUniMessage section rewritten:
- Documents the strict two-area model (Body + Attributes only).
- Body holds only the message text, never kludges or headers.
- Library never composes presentation -- consumers walk Attributes
and assemble their own display.
- Adds the capabilities API section pointing at the registry.
- Removes the stale "kludge lines intact and CR-separated" promise
the previous adapter implementations didn't honor.
docs/PROPOSAL.md flags the original Extras-bag section as
SUPERSEDED 2026-04-17, points to the registry + architecture docs
as the live design. Original text retained as historical context
since it captures the conversation that drove the redesign.
README.md:
- Features list now leads with the lossless two-area model and the
capabilities API.
- Adds a Status note flagging 0.2 as a breaking change vs 0.1 with
a one-paragraph migration sketch (msg.WhoFrom -> Attributes.Get
('from'), etc.).
- Documentation index links to the new registry doc.
Project renamed from message_api → fpc-msgbase. Folder, README title,
docs, build.sh, fpc.cfg, and test banners all updated for consistency
with the planned remote at kjgr.io:2222/kenjreno/fpc-msgbase.git.
Also scrubbed claims that backends were "ported from Allfix" or
"match Allfix's msgutil/domsg" — none of this code was ported from
Allfix; it was implemented from FTSC documents and the original
format authors' published specs (jam.txt, squish.doc, pcboard.doc,
EzyCom reference, WildCat 4 SDK headers). Author credits live in
docs/ftsc-compliance.md.
Real interop facts that mention Allfix-the-product stay documented:
the PCB Extra2 sent-bit ($40) Allfix sets when tossing, and the
FTSC-registered product code $EB. These describe external software
behavior we interoperate with, not provenance.
docs/format-notes/hudson.md removed — stale planning doc that
predates the working ma.fmt.hudson backend.
Six-week reshape plan: lossless TMsgRecord with Extras bag, ITsmIO
abstraction, TOutboundBatch, single-callback events, explicit locking,
typed exception tree. Captures the cross-project conversation with
NetReader and the byte-agreement cross-verifier as the first
actionable step. Pre-rename baseline.
- ma.lock.Release now unlinks the .lck sentinel after releasing
the OS lock (SysUtils.DeleteFile to avoid Windows API collision)
- Unit headers trimmed to standard dev-comment form (purpose only)
- docs/API.md: complete API reference with runnable examples,
event types, locking semantics, tosser wiring, native-backend
drop-down pattern, per-format cheat-sheet
- README links to the new doc
The TWildcatBase.OpenConference was creating a TMsgDatabase without
populating the SDK globals, causing access violations on MwConfig.
Now calls the full Register sequence: InitWCglobal, LoadMakeWild,
BTInitIsam before opening; BTExitIsam + DisposeWCglobal on close.
test_wildcat reads conferences 0..6 from vendored testdata (copied
to /tmp/ma_wildcat so the source tree stays read-only).
