OpenOLMS

An open-source OLMS — a QWK / QWKE / Blue Wave offline-mail door for DOS bulletin board systems. Built in Free Pascal from published format specifications.

Written in Free Pascal. Runs as two programs, like the original:

• olms — the mail door the BBS runs for a caller
• config — the sysop configuration tool

Why

OLMS is shareware whose registration is no longer obtainable, so old boards that relied on it can't bring it back cleanly. OpenOLMS is a fresh, freely-licensed implementation of the same offline-mail workflow, so a revived BBS can offer QWK/Blue Wave mail without the original.

What it does

The door (olms):

• Reads BBS dropfiles (DORINFO1.DEF, DOOR.SYS) + OLMS command-line switches
• Reads messages from JAM and Hudson message bases
• Filtering: twit lists, keyword scans, include/exclude filters
• Read pointers so callers only get new mail (/RG /RS resets supported)
• Writes QWK, QWKE, and Blue Wave packets
• Compresses to a downloadable .QWK via the configured archiver
• Reads .REP replies back in
• File requests + new-files scanning
• QWK-net / point / internet-gateway re-addressing
• Taglines, vacation mail, logging, multi-language (.OLF) screens

The config tool (config):

• All the OLMS configuration screens (System Information, Archivers, Protocols, Files, Bulletins, Control, Requesting, Limits, User Editor, Multi-language, Test) on a text-mode UI framework

UI framework: display-agnostic — a console backend today and an SDL2 backend for a graphical window; the SDL surface is also where RIP support plugs in.

Build

Full instructions for both targets are in docs/BUILD.md (Linux native, and DOS via the go32v2 cross-compiler). Prebuilt DOS binaries (OLMS.EXE, CONFIG.EXE) are in releases/, and a ready-to-run DOS bundle is attached to the GitHub Release.

Quick version:

Requires Free Pascal (fpc 3.x). No external Pascal libraries; the SDL backend links libSDL2 and the archiver step calls an external zip/PKZIP.

cd src
fpc -O2 olms.pas          # the door
fpc -O2 config_demo.pas   # the config tool

Run the door the way a BBS would (needs a dropfile + a message base in the dir):

./olms --dir <path> /DA   # auto-download: scan -> packet -> .QWK

See examples/ for a self-contained JAM→QWK pipeline demo.

Layout

src/        library units + the two programs
examples/   runnable demos (JAM pipeline, sample QWK packet)
docs/       design notes
LICENSE     GNU GPL v3
dos-runtime/  CWSDPMI DPMI host (binary + full GPLv2 source) for the DOS build
toolchain/    go32v2 cross-compiler (binary + full FPC source) to build for DOS

Status

All core areas implemented and compiling: message input (JAM/Hudson), filtering, pointers/limits, three packet formats, archiver compression, reply intake, file requests, networking/gateway, both programs, and the console + SDL UI backends. See STATUS.md for the full feature list and what a production polish would add.

Credits

Built by Antonio Rico / Ecstasy BBS.

Configuration UI components reused from Mystic BBS (Copyright 1997-2013 By James Coyle / g00r00), used under the GPL v3. Thanks to g00r00 for Mystic BBS and for releasing it under the GPL. See CREDITS.md.