Ken Johnson
4c84c508f5
Copies the working WildCat 4 conference set (7 conferences, MAKEWILD.DAT, CONFDESC.*, MSG/MSG0..MSG6.DAT/IX, DATA/ALLUSERS.*, etc., 228KB total) into the repo so the Wildcat backend test runs without an external path dependency. Mirrors how the other format tests carry their own sample data. test_wildcat.pas SRC constant updated to point at tests/data/wildcat instead of ~/allfix_dev/...; the test still copies to /tmp/ma_wildcat before running so the vendored fixture stays untouched.
fpc-msgbase
A unified Free Pascal library for reading and writing classic BBS message bases.
Implements every supported format from the FTSC specifications and the original
format authors' published documentation, behind one polymorphic API
(TMessageBase). BBS software, mail tossers, message editors, and utilities
can target a single interface regardless of the underlying format on disk.
Supported formats
| Format | Files | Backend unit |
|---|---|---|
| Hudson | MSGINFO/IDX/HDR/TXT/TOIDX.BBS | ma.fmt.hudson.pas |
| JAM | *.JHR *.JDT *.JDX *.JLR |
ma.fmt.jam.pas |
| Squish | *.SQD *.SQI *.SQL |
ma.fmt.squish.pas |
| FTS-1 MSG | numbered *.MSG per directory |
ma.fmt.msg.pas |
| FTN PKT | *.pkt (Type-2 / 2+ / 2.2) |
ma.fmt.pkt.pas |
| PCBoard | *.MSG + *.IDX |
ma.fmt.pcboard.pas |
| EzyCom | MH#####.BBS / MT#####.BBS |
ma.fmt.ezycom.pas |
| GoldBase | MSGINFO/IDX/HDR/TXT/TOIDX.DAT | ma.fmt.goldbase.pas |
| Wildcat 4 | WC SDK databases | ma.fmt.wildcat.pas |
Features
- One
TMessageBaseabstract class — read, write, pack, reindex through the same methods regardless of format. - Layered locking: in-process
TRTLCriticalSection+ cross-process advisory lock (fpflockon Unix,LockFileExon Windows,.LCKsentinel fallback)- the existing
fmShareDenyWrite/fmShareDenyNoneshare modes.
- the existing
- Event hooks for logging, progress, and status reporting.
TPacketBatchworker pool for tossers that need to process many.pktfiles concurrently while serialising writes per destination base.- Path / filename auto-derivation per format from a base directory plus optional area tag.
Building
Native Linux:
fpc -Fusrc -Fusrc/formats examples/example_read.pas
Lazarus package:
lazbuild fpc-msgbase.lpk
The repo includes a fpc.cfg template covering the multi-target build
(i386-go32v2, i386-win32, i386-linux, i386-os2).
Layout
src/ ma.api, ma.types, ma.events, ma.lock, ma.paths, ma.batch
src/formats/ ma.fmt.<format>.pas — one per supported format
docs/ architecture, locking semantics, format notes
tests/ FPCUnit tests, sample data
examples/ small CLI programs that double as smoke tests
Unit-name convention follows the Fimail style: ma.<category>.<name>.pas
(ma. is the library's namespace prefix; the project was originally named
message_api, hence ma). All units use {$mode objfpc}{$H+}.
Documentation
docs/API.md— full API reference with examplesdocs/architecture.md— layered designdocs/ftsc-compliance.md— spec notesdocs/format-notes/— per-format quirks
Status
Early development. APIs may move until 1.0. Format backends are spec-driven implementations validated against real-world sample bases.