Ken Johnson
d7e58932e9
Adds tests/test_roundtrip_attrs.pas covering:
1. Capabilities API smoke test — confirms SupportsAttribute('msgid')
returns true on JAM/Squish/MSG/PKT, false on Hudson/GoldBase/
EzyCom/Wildcat/PCBoard. Confirms backend-private keys are gated
correctly (Squish.SupportsAttribute('jam.msgidcrc') = false).
2. Per-format kludge round-trip across all 5 storage formats —
builds a synthetic message with universal headers + FTSC kludges
(msgid, replyid, pid, flags, multi-line seen-by + path), writes,
reopens, reads back, asserts every key the backend's capability
list advertises survives byte-for-byte. Backends that don't
support a given key are silently skipped via SupportsAttribute
gating so the test exercises each format's actual contract.
3. Cross-format JAM → Squish copy — seeds JAM with the kludge
message, copies to a fresh Squish base via the unified API,
reopens both, asserts:
- intersection of capabilities lists is preserved verbatim
(msgid, seen-by, path, etc. all survive JAM → Squish)
- jam.* keys not in Squish's capability list are dropped
(no silent corruption of Squish's data with foreign keys)
Result: 7/7 new tests pass. Total suite now 31/31 across 8 programs.
This is the regression suite that locks the Body+Attributes contract
and proves the showstopper fix holds across every backend.
Hooked into run_tests.sh so CI catches future drift.
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.