Upgrading to 1.8.3

Make sure you've made a backup of your database and files before upgrading.

Summary of Changes

New Features - MRC (Multi Relay Chat): experimental WebDoor for real-time multi-BBS chat via the MRC network (see below) - Echomail: bulk "Mark as Read" action for selected messages in the echomail reader - Markdown Messages: opt-in Markdown rendering for netmail/echomail when a MARKDOWN kludge is present (see below); GUI toolbar editor in the compose window with Edit/Preview tabs; local echo areas always allow Markdown - Message Reader: scrollable body enabled by default ? message header stays fixed while body scrolls; configurable in Admin ? Appearance ? Message Reader - Gemini Browser: built-in start page (about:home) with curated Geminispace links - Gemini Capsule Hosting: users can publish personal Gemini capsules at gemini://host/home/username/ - Gemini Capsule: echo areas can be exposed as read-only public Gemini content - Friendly URLs for shared echomail messages (e.g. /shared/test@lovlynet/hello-world) - Appearance System: shells, branding, announcements, system news/house rules, custom nav links, and SEO metadata managed through Admin ? Appearance - BBS Menu Shell: mobile improvements ? ANSI scaling, tap-to-reveal shortcuts, context-aware hint text - Address Book: "Always use crashmail" per-contact option - File Share Links: share individual files via public /shared/file/AREA/FILENAME URLs - Crashmail: binkp_zone DNS fallback ? nodes not in the nodelist can be reached via a DNS zone (e.g. binkp.net) - Netmail: file attachment sending via crashmail ? attach a file to an outbound netmail for direct delivery in the same binkp session - Crashmail: scheduler polls every 5 minutes; new crashmail triggers immediate delivery via admin daemon

Bug Fixes - MarkdownRenderer: fixed link rendering across soft line breaks; added support for root-relative URLs - FidoNet INTL kludge: removed point number from INTL line; added missing FMPT/TOPT in fallback packet path - Binkp packet header: corrected FSC-0048 Type-2+ capability word (capWord/cwCopy); clearer error when no me address is configured - Pipe codes: Mystic BBS letter-based control and information codes (e.g. |AO, |PO) now stripped correctly; Mystic hex colour codes (|0A, |1F, etc.) now parsed correctly; |PI and |CD rendered - About page: network addresses were displayed as "Array" instead of formatted address strings - Scheduler: cron expression parser now tolerates leading/trailing whitespace and multiple spaces between fields

New Features

MRC Chat (Experimental)

> This feature is experimental and preliminary. Protocol behaviour, configuration, and database schema may change in future releases. It has been tested against the pre-production MRC server but should be considered a work in progress.

MRC (Multi Relay Chat) is a real-time multi-BBS chat network. BinktermPHP includes a WebDoor-based MRC client that allows logged-in users to join rooms and chat with users on other connected BBSes.

What works: - Persistent daemon (scripts/mrc_daemon.php) maintains the BBS connection to the MRC server - Users join rooms and send/receive messages via the MRC WebDoor (/games/mrc) - Private messaging: click any user in the sidebar to open a direct message conversation; unread counts shown per user - /motd command displays the room Message of the Day in a modal dialog - Pipe code colours in incoming messages are rendered in the web UI - User presence: join/part announcements, user list per room, LOGOFF on session expiry - Room list with topic and user count - Unified poll endpoint ? messages, users, rooms, and private unread fetched in a single request - Admin configuration page at Admin ? MRC - MRC connection status shown in the navigation bar header

Server options:

| Environment | FQDN | Port | Security | |---|---|---|---| | Production | mrc.bottomlessabyss.net | 5000 | Plain | | Production | mrc.bottomlessabyss.net | 5001 | SSL | | Testing | mrc.bottomlessabyss.net | 50000 | Plain | | Testing | mrc.bottomlessabyss.net | 50001 | SSL |

BinktermPHP ships configured for the testing server (port 50001, SSL). To connect to the production server, update config/mrc.json or use Admin ? MRC to set the port to 5000 (plain) or 5001 (SSL).

Setup (optional):

1. Enable MRC and point it at your preferred server in `config/mrc.json`, or configure via Admin ? MRC.
2. Enable the MRC Chat WebDoor in Admin ? WebDoors.

3. Start the daemon:
   php scripts/mrc_daemon.php --daemon
   

See docs/MRC_Chat.md for full setup instructions including crontab/systemd configuration.

Gemini Browser: Built-in Start Page

The Gemini Browser WebDoor now opens to a built-in start page (about:home) with curated links to popular Geminispace destinations (search engines, aggregators, community spaces, and software). Previously it opened directly to an external Gemini capsule.

The start page can be overridden per-installation: set home_url to any gemini:// URL in Admin ? WebDoors ? Gemini Browser to use an external page instead.

Gemini Capsule Hosting

BBS users can now publish personal Gemini capsules, accessible at gemini://your-bbs-host/home/username/. A built-in directory page at gemini://your-bbs-host/ lists all users who have published capsules.

The new Gemini Capsule WebDoor provides a browser-based gemtext editor with live preview, publish/draft controls, and per-file management.

This feature is opt-in. The capsule server is a separate daemon that operators start only if they want to expose Gemini.

Setup (optional)

1. Add to `.env`:
   GEMINI_PORT=1965
   GEMINI_BIND_HOST=0.0.0.0
   

2. Enable the Gemini Capsule WebDoor in Admin ? WebDoors.

3. Start the daemon:
   php scripts/gemini_daemon.php --daemon
   

   See docs/GeminiCapsule.md for full setup instructions, including using a Let's Encrypt certificate instead of the default self-signed one.

Gemini Capsule: Echo Area Exposure

Echo areas can now be exposed as read-only, publicly-accessible Gemini content. Each area can be opted in individually via the Public Gemini Access checkbox in Admin ? Area Management ? Echo Areas.

When enabled, the Gemini capsule home page lists the area under an Echo Areas section (with a link inviting visitors to join the BBS for the full experience), and three new routes become available:

| Route | Content | |---|---| | gemini://host/echomail/ | List of all public echo areas | | gemini://host/echomail/TAG@domain/ | 50 most recent messages (oldest first) | | gemini://host/echomail/TAG@domain/{id} | Individual message with headers and body |

The Gemini daemon logs the remote IP address for every request.

Friendly URLs for Shared Messages

Echomail share links now use a human-readable URL based on the echo area and message subject, e.g.:

/shared/test@lovlynet/hello-world

Both the new friendly URL and the original 32-character hex token URL remain valid simultaneously ? existing share links are never broken.

New shares are assigned a friendly URL automatically. To upgrade an existing share, open the Share dialog for that message and click Get Friendly URL.

Appearance System

A new sysop-controlled appearance system replaces the previous single-template approach. All settings are managed through Admin ? Appearance and stored in data/appearance.json.

Shells

The UI chrome is now provided by interchangeable shells. Two shells ship with BinktermPHP:

• web ? The existing Bootstrap 5 responsive interface. This is the default and requires no action to keep using.
• bbs-menu ? A retro bulletin board main menu with three display variants: - `cards` ? Bootstrap card grid with icons and keyboard shortcuts - `text` ? Terminal-style text menu - `ansi` ? Full-screen ANSI art display (upload art files via Admin ? Appearance ? ANSI Art)

Sysops choose the default shell and can optionally lock all users to it. When not locked, users can choose their preferred shell in their Settings page.

Shell templates live in templates/shells/<shell-name>/. The active shell's directory is searched before the core templates/ directory, so shell templates override core ones automatically.

Note: The previous templates/base.twig has been superseded by templates/shells/web/base.twig. If you had direct customisations to templates/base.twig, move them to templates/custom/base.twig to preserve them across upgrades.

Branding

• Set a custom accent colour applied site-wide as a CSS variable
• Supply a custom logo URL to replace the system name in the navbar
• Force a default theme and optionally lock users to it
• Add custom footer text

Announcements

Post a site-wide dismissible banner with an optional expiry date. The banner type (info, warning, danger) controls its colour. Users who dismiss it will not see it again during their session.

System News & House Rules

System news (shown on the dashboard) and house rules (/houserules) can now be written in Markdown and managed directly through the Admin ? Appearance panel, stored in data/systemnews.md and data/houserules.md. The previous templates/custom/systemnews.twig override still works as a fallback.

Navigation & SEO

Add custom links to the navigation bar and configure site-wide SEO metadata (meta description, Open Graph image) through the admin panel.

See docs/CUSTOMIZING.md for the full appearance system reference.

BBS Menu Shell: Mobile Improvements

The bbs-menu shell's ANSI art variant now adjusts the font size of the ANSI <pre> element to fit within 99% of the viewport width on mobile, and scales down on desktop if the art is wider than its container.

Tapping the ANSI art reveals a row of shortcut links for navigating the menu. Tapping again hides them. This replaces the previous floating keyboard-trigger button, which has been removed.

The cards and text variants now display context-appropriate hint text: "Press key to navigate" on desktop, "Tap an item to navigate" on mobile.

Address Book: Always Use Crashmail

Address book entries now include an Always use crashmail for this Recipient checkbox. When enabled, composing a new message to that contact will automatically pre-check the crashmail option on the compose form.

File Share Links

Logged-in users can now share individual files from file areas via a public, human-readable link in the format:

/shared/file/AREANAME/FILENAME.ZIP

A Share button appears in the file details modal. Clicking it opens a share dialog where the user can set an optional expiry (1 hour, 24 hours, 1 week, 30 days, or never) and copy the generated link. The link can be revoked at any time from the same dialog.

The share page displays the filename, size, upload date, area tag, description, and virus scan status. Anonymous visitors see a login/register prompt in place of the download button. Logged-in users get a download button and a link to browse the file area.

Netmail: File Attachment Sending

Outbound netmail can now carry a file attachment delivered via crashmail in the same binkp session.

How it works:

1. On the compose form, when Netmail is selected and crashmail is available, an Attach File section appears below the crashmail checkbox.
2. Selecting a file locks the subject field to the filename (per FidoNet convention ? the subject of a file-attach netmail is the filename) and forces crashmail on.
3. The file is uploaded to the server immediately (`POST /api/netmail/attachment/upload`), and the returned token is included when the message is submitted.
4. The crash daemon sends the `.pkt` (with the `FILE_ATTACH` attribute set) followed immediately by the file itself in the same binkp session. After receiving `M_GOT` for the file, the server removes the temporary copy.

Limitations:

• Crashmail delivery only ? hub/poll routing for file-attach messages is not supported.
• Maximum upload size is 10 MB by default. Override with `NETMAIL_ATTACHMENT_MAX_SIZE` (bytes) in `.env`.

Crashmail: binkp_zone DNS Fallback

Crashmail can now resolve destination nodes via DNS when a node is not present in the nodelist. Each uplink in config/binkp.json accepts an optional binkp_zone field specifying a DNS zone to query (e.g. binkp.net).

When crashmail cannot find connection information in the nodelist, it looks up the uplink that would normally route the destination address and checks whether that uplink has binkp_zone set. If so, it constructs a DNS hostname using the FidoNet address convention:

f{node}.n{net}.z{zone}.{binkp_zone}
# e.g. node 1:123/456 ? f456.n123.z1.binkp.net

If the hostname resolves (A or CNAME record), that host is used for the crash delivery on the default binkp port (24554). No password is sent ? the session is insecure, consistent with existing nodelist-based crash delivery.

To enable, add binkp_zone to an uplink in config/binkp.json:

{
    "address": "1:1/23",
    "hostname": "uplink.example.com",
    "binkp_zone": "binkp.net",
    ...
}

No changes are needed to existing configurations ? the field is optional and ignored when empty.

Crashmail: Scheduled Polling and Immediate Delivery

The crashmail queue is now processed on two triggers:

Scheduled polling (every 5 minutes): The binkp_scheduler daemon checks the crashmail queue every 5 minutes and runs crashmail_poll.php if there are pending items. Previously, it checked on every scheduler loop iteration (every 60 seconds by default), which was unnecessarily frequent.

Immediate delivery on queue: When a new crashmail is queued (e.g. a user sends a netmail with crashmail enabled), the system immediately signals the admin daemon to run crashmail_poll.php rather than waiting for the next scheduled window. This means most outbound crashmail is delivered within seconds of being sent.

If the admin daemon is not running, the immediate trigger is silently skipped and the item will be picked up by the next scheduled poll.

No configuration changes are required.

Message Reader: Scrollable Body

A new Message Reader tab in Admin ? Appearance adds a Scrollable message body toggle.

When enabled, the message header (From, To, Area, Date, Subject) remains fixed at the top of the message modal while the body scrolls independently. This makes it easier to refer back to header information while reading long messages.

The default is on. To revert to the previous behaviour (entire modal scrolls together), disable the toggle in Admin ? Appearance ? Message Reader.

Markdown Messages (MARKDOWN Kludge)

For networks that support Markdown, messages can now be rendered as Markdown when the MARKDOWN kludge is present. This follows the LSC-001 proposal (CommonMark 0.31.2 baseline). When a message contains a ^AMARKDOWN: 1 kludge line, the reader renders the message body as Markdown (with inline HTML disabled and links sanitized).

Sending Markdown: - Enable allow_markdown on the target uplink in /admin/binkp-config. - In the compose screen, a Send as Markdown checkbox will appear when the target network supports it. Local-only echo areas always show the checkbox. - When checked, the plain textarea is replaced by a toolbar-equipped editor with Edit and Preview tabs. The toolbar covers bold, italic, headings, code, links, lists, blockquote, and horizontal rule, with Ctrl+B/I/K keyboard shortcuts. - When checked, the MARKDOWN kludge is added to the message.

Bug Fixes

Pipe Code Rendering

Letter-based pipe codes used by Mystic BBS and compatible software were not handled, causing codes like |AO (abort off) and |PO (pause off) to appear as literal text in rendered messages.

The pipe code renderer now:

• Strips all Mystic BBS control codes (`|AO`, `|PO`, `|AA`, `|CL`, `|PA`, `|BE`, `|PB`, `|PE`, `|PN`, and others)
• Converts Mystic BBS cursor codes (`|[A##`, `|[B##`, `|[C##`, `|[D##`, `|[K`, `|[X##`, `|[Y##`) to their ANSI CSI equivalents and passes them to the existing ANSI terminal emulator
• Strips all Mystic BBS information codes (`|UN`, `|TI`, `|DA`, `|BN`, etc.) ? these codes are substituted at runtime by the BBS and cannot be resolved in archived messages
• Renders `|PI` as a literal pipe character (`|`)
• Renders `|CD` as an ANSI colour reset
• Fixes Mystic-style hex colour codes (`|0A`, `|1F`, `|4E`, etc.) ? previously these were parsed as decimal, producing the wrong colour; they are now parsed as two hex nibbles (upper = background, lower = foreground)

No configuration changes are required.

MarkdownRenderer: Paragraph Link Rendering

Markdown links that wrapped across soft line breaks in the source text were not rendered correctly ? the link syntax was split across two lines during processing, causing the URL to appear as plain text.

Root-relative URLs (e.g. /subscriptions) are now also recognised as valid link targets, in addition to http:// and https:// URLs.

FidoNet INTL Kludge and Point Addressing (FTS-0001)

Outbound netmail had two related violations of the FTS-0001 point-addressing specification:

1. INTL kludge included the point number. The INTL kludge was generated as `\x01INTL zone:net/node.point zone:net/node.point`, e.g. `\x01INTL 1:3634/12 1:3634/58.1337`. Per FTS-0001, INTL addresses must be `zone:net/node` only ? the point is conveyed separately via FMPT/TOPT. The kludge is now correctly generated as `\x01INTL 1:3634/12 1:3634/58` with a separate `\x01FMPT 1337` line.
2. FMPT/TOPT kludges were missing from the fallback packet-writing path. When a stored message had no kludge lines (backward-compatibility path in `BinkdProcessor`), the generated INTL included the point but no FMPT was added. FMPT/TOPT are now generated in this path as well.

These fixes affect all outbound netmail sent from or to point addresses. No database changes are required; new messages generated after upgrading will have correct kludges.

Binkp Packet Header: FSC-0048 Type-2+ Capability Word

Outbound FTN packets had capWord = 0 in the Type-2+ packet header, which caused receiving mailers (including sbbsecho/Synchronet) to fail the capWord != 0 && capWord == WORD_REVERSE(cwCopy) validation check. As a result, the originating point address was not read from the packet header and messages were identified as coming from the wrong address (e.g. 1:3634/58 instead of 1:3634/58.1337), failing security checks on the remote system.

The header now correctly sets capWord = 0x0001 (bit 0: Type-2+ capable) and cwCopy = 0x0100 (byte-swapped capWord) per FSC-0048.

Additionally, if no me address is configured for the destination uplink, the daemon now throws a clear exception rather than silently producing a malformed 0:0/0 origin address.

Upgrade Instructions

From Git

git pull
php scripts/setup.php
scripts/restart_daemons.sh

Using the Installer

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/awehttam/binkterm-php-installer/main/binkterm-installer.phar
php binkterm-installer.phar
scripts/restart_daemons.sh