I. Solar commands

   The user interface for Solar uses one or two word commands. Each
   command may be abreviated to the point where the command is still
   unique. The menu file supplied with the Solar distribution reflects
   the abbreviations by using capital letters to show what must be
   entered for each command.

   Under the suggested installation outlined in SOLAR.DOC, the command
   from within Waffle to execute Solar is 'solar'. This of course depends
   on the specific installation.

   Note, if Solar has been installed with sensible default settings,
   many of these commands will not need to be used. They are provided
   for individual user flexibility in working with packets.

II. General commands

   Batch - This command starts Solar on it's merry way creating a packet
           for downloading. Solar will use the current settings when
           deciding how to build the packet. When batching is complete,
           Solar will compress the packet and display the packet size in
           bytes along with a rough estimate of transfer time based on
           the current modem speed. The option is given to transfer the
           packet or abort. If abort is selected, Solar will delete the
           the generated packet. If transfer is selected, Solar will
           invoke the currently selected transfer protocol to send the
           packet. If the transfer is successful, Solar will update the
           NEWSRC.HPG file, and delete the mailbox if that option has
           been enabled. Once this has been done, Solar will exit back
           to Waffle.

           If for some reason, the packet transfer is aborted of deemed
           unsuccessful, the subsciption file will not be updated and
           the packet will be moved into the user's directory. This
           allows the packet to be transfered from the files area of the
           Waffle system to the users system.

           If packet generation is local, the packet is created in
           the user directory for the user specified on the command
           line. Any existing packets in that directory will be
           overwritten.

           When the batch command is given, if there is no subscription
           file present, Solar will go into subscription mode to allow
           a file to be built. Then, Solar will continue batching the
           packet.

   Reply - This option enables Solar to receive reply packets for
           processing. Solar will call the selected transfer protocol
           to receive the packet, and then proceed to process the
           packet. Once processing is complete, Solar will exit back
           to Waffle.

   Help  - Displays a help file, if installed. The help file usually
           contains information useful in using Solar.

   MEnu  - Displays the menu file, containing a brief outline of the
           commands available within Solar. This can also be viewed
           by entering '?' as a command.

   SHow  - Used to display what the current settings are for Solar.

   Quit/Exit - Leave Solar and return to Waffle without doing anything.

III. Packet options

   Compress - Select which compression method is to be used when creating
           packets. The compression methods presented are dependent on
           what the system administrator has installed with the system.
           Select the number of the desired compression method. This option
           is for creating packets only. Reply packets will be processed
           according to the type of compression used on the reply packet.
           But, the types of reply packet compressions supported by the
           Solar site are limited to what is displayed by this option.
           Ask the site admininstrator, or see SOLAR.DOC for more
           information.

   PRotocol - Select which transfer protocol is to be used for sending
           and receving packets. Select the number of the desired protocol.

IV. Message area options

   NOHeader - This tells Solar to NOT create any header files for
           message which are included in the packet. Using this option
           causes Solar to work faster, but may reduce performance of
           an off-line reader which can make use of the header files.

   Full     - Tells Solar to create full C-news overview format header
           files for messages included in the packet. This option may
           take a little longer when generating the packet, but it will
           greatly enhance the operation of an off-line reader which
           takes advantage of such header files to perform threading
           based on message ID's. Check your reader's documentation to
           see if message ID threading is supported.

   PArtial  - Tells Solar to create partial C-news overview format header
           files for message included in the packet. This is a comprimise
           between no header files and full C-news format header files.
           Partial format files contain enough information for an offline
           reader to perform message threading based on author or subject.

   List / NOList - Tells Solar whether or not to generate and include a
           message area LIST file in the packet. Creating the LIST file
           can take some time on systems with a large number of message
           areas, so using this option each time may be unwarrented.

V. E-mail options

   MAil / NOMail - Tells Solar whether or not to process the user's main
           Waffle mailbox (MAILBOX.F) and include any messages in the
           packet.

   MMdf / Unix - Tells Solar which mailbox format to use when creating
           messages in the packet. Check your reader's documentation to
           see which mailbox types are supported.

   Delete / NODelete - Tells Solar if the mailbox should be deleted from
           the host system after a successful transfer of a packet containing
           mail messages. The mailbox is only deleted if the MAIL command
           is in force to cause Solar to include e-mail in the packet.
           If mail is transfered in a packet, and the mailbox is not deleted,
           then next use of Solar will most likely include mail that has
           already been processed.

VI. Subscription file options

   WAFFLE - This tells Solar to use Waffle's JOIN file as the list of
           subscribed message areas, and to keep track of the 'last
           batched' message in each area using JOIN. When using this
           option, Solar actually first converts JOIN to NEWSRC.HPG for
           processing, and apon a successfull transfer, coverts
           NEWSRC.HPG back to JOIN. So both files will be maintained in
           the user's directory even if this option is used.

           When using JOIN as the subscription file, messages read with
           Waffle's newsreaders and with Solar will be kept track of in
           the same place. This is useful if you read the same groups
           online and offline.

   SOLAR  - This tells Solar to use NEWSRC.HPG as the list of subscribed
           message areas. The format of the NEWSRC.HPG file is as
           follows:

                      alt.society: 1-400
                      rec.humor.not-funny:
                      !alt.sex: 1-3223

           Each line must contain no leading spaces, and the ':' MUST
           be present after the message area's name. The number range,
           for example 1-400, represents the range of articles which
           has already been processed by Solar. The first number will
           always be a '1'. If the area's name is preceeded with a '!',
           it will be skipped during batching, but retained in the
           NEWSRC.HPG file for future use. This is a way to temporarily
           comment out a particular message area.

           The NEWSRC.HPG can be created and maintained through Solar
           using the 'subscribe' command.

           When using NEWSRC.HPG as a subscription file, messages read
           for each subscribed group are kept track of independantly
           of messages read using Waffle's newsreaders. This is useful
           if you read some groups offline and others online.

   2SOLAR - Creates a new NEWSRC.HPG from the current JOIN. If there is
           already a NEWSRC.HPG file, it will be rudely stomped over, so
           be sure this is the desired result before using this command.

   2WAFFLE - Creates a new copy of JOIN from the current NEWSRC.HPG. If
           there is already a JOIN file, it will be rudely stomped over,
           so be sure this is the desired result before using this
           command. Also, any groups flagged with a '!' will be dropped
           in the resulting JOIN file.

   SUBSCRIBE - Allows the currently selected subscription file, JOIN or
           NEWSRC.HPG, to be created or updated. Solar first processes
           any groups which are already listed as subscribed, displaying
           how many new messages there are in each group. Bogus groups
           which are no longer in a forum file, or are marked as
           unavailable to Solar, are dropped from the subscription file
           automatically. The options during this stage are :

                  YES   - Yes, subscribe to this group (default)
                  NO    - No, do not subscribe to this group. But, keep
                          the group listed in NEWSRC.HPG marked with a '!'
                          so that it will be processed as a subscribed
                          group next time the subscribe command is used.
                          This has the same effect as KILL when using
                          JOIN as the subscription file.
                  KILL  - No, do not subscribe to the group, and drop it
                          completely from the subscription file.
                  CATCH - Subscribe to the group, and mark all messages
                          as processed.
                  END   - Build subscription file based on what has been
                          selected so far, and end the subscription process.
                  QUIT  - Abort subscription process without updating the
                          subscription file.

           Next, Solar processes all unsubcribed groups in the order they
           are found in the Waffle system's forum files. No new message
           counts are presented. The options during this stage are :

                  YES   - Yes, subscribe to this group (default)
                  NO    - No, do not subscribe to this group. The group
                          will not be flagged. This is similar to KILL.
                  END   - Build subscription file based on what has been
                          selected so far, and end the subscription process.
                  QUIT  - Abort subscription process without updating the
                          subscription file.

           As mentioned before, if the batch command is given without
           an existing subscription file, Solar goes into subscription
           mode automatically, and the above commands apply.

       Remote Subscription Processing

           Subscriptions may be updated through reply packets. At the
           time of this writing, I know of no readers which support
           this feature. But, it can still be done. If the reply packet
           includes a file named LIST, then Solar will process it for
           subscription changes. The file format is simple:

                group.name<TAB>flag

           where 'flag' is either Y or N. 'flag' is case insensitive,
           so y and n would also work. Y means subscribe to the group,
           and N means to unsubscribe to the group. An ASCII editor can
           be used to create such a file, using TRUE tab characters (not
           spaces). The file can then be included in the compressed
           reply packet before the packet is uploaded to the Solar host
           system.

