CAB.OVL for STiK v1.2618 - July 1997
What is it?
CAB.OVL is a networking interface layer for use with CAB. This release is compatible with any STiK conforming TCP/IP layer, which meets the STiK standards. If you are using a STiK 2 (nearing release at this time) or better compatible layer special case code will be used which provides better functionality upon initiating connections, older STiK spec layers use the normal blocking method.
CAB_OVL now comes in 2 flavors, found in their respective folders in this archive:
CAB_OVL Any 68000 machine
CAB_OVL.030 Optimised for 68030 machines (Falcon,TT,etc.)
NOTE : You cannot use the 030 version of the CAB_OVL on a ST/e/fm,MegaST/e
Foreward:
I've decided to release this now, due to problems that many users are having with 1.25. This release fixes many if not most of those problems.
NEW
Definately read through the rest of the document as some of the errors have changed and some user interaction has been ammended.
Kick - (Control K) Now only works with CAB 2.5 and above.
Mailto Post's should now be working properly. (This is a form with mailto action)
ESMTP servers should now be working.
Error checking is greatly improved in the OVL.
SMTP routines have been almost completely rewritten.
ACCEPT header field implemented.
Timeout's while connecting and waiting for data now printed to CAB's INFO line These are not errors. REPEAT THESE ARE NOT ERRORS. You will know it's a timeout countdown if it starts around 120 or 60 and decrements it's value once a second.
Known problems still existing
Authentication still not working properly.
Some users still have problems with email headers, I'm waiting on more debug info back from beta testers on this. This is working fine for me and many others though so hopefully you'll be lucky ;) You can verify if it's working for you, by setting up a mailto link to yourself or use on of a friends and have them look at what is sent.
Some users also are having problems downloading multiple binary files from a site. However it's not a consistent problem.
Some forms are exhibiting problems. These seem at the moment to be CAB errors, and as soon as Alex can get to these sites we will find out.
Variables CAB_OVL uses
These are set in the default.cfg or with an appropriate program that modifies STiK variables.
EMAIL - format "EMAIL = me@myhost.com"
This is the address where you would like any mail sent with the CAB.OVL to be addressed from. Not all mail servers will send mail with an incorrect email address or a non local email address.
USERNAME - format "USERNAME = mylogin_name"
This is used by CAB.OVL in conjunction with HOSTNAME, to attempt to create an email address, if the variable EMAIL is not present. This is also used in conjunction with authentication in PPP so this needs to be correct. (note PPP will be available in STiK 2)
HOSTNAME - format "HOSTNAME = myhost.com"
This is used with USERNAME in the event that EMAIL is not present to construct an email address for you.
SMTP_HOST - format "SMTP_HOST = mail.myhost.com"
CAB.OVL needs this if you want to send mail with it while cruising the web. It must be a valid SMTP mail host. Some hosts will not allow mail to be sent through them, if this is the case contact your ISP for an alternate mail host.
HTTP_PROXY - format "HTTP_PROXY = proxy.www.cache.com"
Used in conjunction with HTTP_PROXY_PORT for getting web documents from a local cache as opposed to the original remote host. This cache is not the normal CAB CACHE on your machine, but a similar structure on a remote machine. Many large ISP's supply these (ex. Demon in the UK) and many Universities require them to gain access to the web at all.
HTTP_PROXY_PORT - format "HTTP_PROXY_PORT = 8080"
Used in conjunction with HTTP_PROXY, for retrieving web documents from a remote cache. If your ISP supplies an HTTP proxy, you can get the info for the name and port from them.
NNTP_PROXY - format "NNTP_PROXY = newsproxy.myhost.org"
This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.
NNTP_PROXY_PORT - format "NNTP_PROXY_PORT = 8080"
This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.
NNTP_HOST - format "NNTP_HOST = news.myhost.org"
This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.
FTP_PROXY - format "FTP_PROXY = ftp.myhost.org"
This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.
FTP_PROXY_PORT - format "FTP_PROXY_PORT = 8080"
This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.
GOPHER_PROXY - format "GOPHER_PROXY = gopher.myhost.org"
This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.
GOPHER_PROXY_PORT - format "GOPHER_PROXY_PORT = 8080"
This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.
WAIS_PROXY - format "WAIS_PROXY = wais.myhost.org"
This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.
WAIS_PROXY_PORT - format "WAIS_PROXY_PORT = 8080"
This is not directly used by CAB.OVL, but is supplied to CAB at boot time.
(Quite a few eh? Bet you didn't know all that was there ;)
Errors CAB reports
There are 4 types of errors you might encounter during the use of CAB, with this CAB.OVL:
Serious errors
These are crashes, bombs, Magic's infamous error -69, and others of this type. Unfortunately you will find no more usefull information about these here.
CAB intercepted errors
These are the infamous "Runtime error at Offset xxx" errors. These might be in CAB or the CAB.OVL or some conjuntion between the two. If anyone has a copy of the error reports for Pure Pascal please send me a copy, as currently I have no idea what any of them actually mean.
STiK errors
Such as Krmalloc - memory corruption detected.
CAB/CAB.OVL network error reports
These I can give you more info on. When they occur in a compatible CAB they will appear in the status line.
CAB/CAB.OVL network error definitions
#-1 - No Connection or similar error. This shouldn't appear normally under STiK.
#-36 - Connection Failed. The site may be too far away, or network trafic to high at the current time.
#-39 - No memory. Requested action can't be preformed as STiK is out of memory.
#-65 - Bad SYN. This is another error you shouldn't encounter. But might pop up.
#-300 - Bad Connection handle. The OVL has gotten confused somewhere and is trying to use a non existant connection. You shouldn't encounter this.
#-307 - No name server. CAB.OVL can't function as it can't resolve any sites, due to the lack of a nameserver. This is a misconfiguration of STiK, or a STiK corruption problem.
#-309 - Bad DNS format. CAB.OVL can't resolve the site with the given site name.
#-311 - This is a general purpose network error. Due to some problem with the site name, CAB.OVL can't retrieve the requested URL.
#-312 - Network Down - Lost Carrier. You are no longer connected to the network.
#-313 - The site is unreachable. It's offline or you are or both. This also happens during high net trafic when it is impossible to get a connection to the site.
#-314 - The other end has sent an unacceptable packet, we are forcing a reset.
#-315 - Abort due to user action. This should only occur in one of the following 3 circumstances.
1. You have pressed the STOP button.
2. You have pressed the 'esc' key.
3. The current routine has timed out.
*Note there is also a bad mapping onto this error that show's an internal STiK error*
#-316 - The other end has forced a reset on the connection, closing it.
#-318 - CAB.OVL is trying to preform an action on a closed socket.
#-320 - The connection has timed out and closed.
#-321 - The other end has refused to allow you to retrieve the document. This can occur on pages with authentication or with sites that do not allow non-local connections (or conections from too far away ie. another continent) This could also happen when accessing the web through a proxy, that also acts as a firewall.
#-323 - Resolver has reached it's work limit. The CAB.OVL cannot resolve the host for the specific document as it's just too far away/deep for it to get the address.
#-600 - CAB.OVL can not resolve the host for the specified document. When this happens the CAB.OVL will attempt to see if you are still online. If it can not determine your online status, it will prompt the user to "Abort", if the user chooses 'YES', then CAB.OVL assumes it is offline and informs CAB of this status. If the user chooses 'NO', then CAB assumes it is still online and just couldn't resolve the current site.
The CAB.OVL now processes and reports normal GEM errors that it encounters during it's operation.
Note: This version of the CAB.OVL uses an internal CAB call that was non existant in some versions of 1.5. So before you delete your old CAB.OVL and replace it with this one. Please test your version of CAB with this OVL. If it doesn't work with your version of CAB you will need to update your version of CAB.
This does not apply to users of the commercial version of CAB.
Thank you,
Dan
EoF