Hello everyone, I tried posting this a while back but had some issues
with my routing.



Hi everyone,

Today, I want to share my tech journey filled with challenges, lessons,
and a good dose of humor. As the SysOp of SkyNet BBS, I decided to take
a bold step: migrating my Mystic BBS from Windows 10 (32-bit) to a
Raspberry Pi 3 running Linux. Sounds simple, right? Well, it wasn’t
quite as smooth as you’d think.

After struggling to make Synchronet BBS work (spoiler: it didn’t), I had
a frustrating realization about Fidonet. It’s hard not to notice how
some folks prefer to guard their knowledge like buried treasure,
watching others flounder instead of lending a hand. It’s ironic, really, because hoarding knowledge doesn’t help anyone. In Colombia, we say, “No one takes their wealth to the grave.” And that goes for knowledge, too—sharing it is the only way to truly make a difference.

But back to the story. Installing Mystic on Linux turned out to be surprisingly quick and easy. Using WinSCP, I copied my *.ini and *.dat
files, as well as the data, echomail, msgs, files, and themes
directories, to /home/sbbs/mystic. Then I ran mystic -cfg, adjusted the
System Paths, and updated the QWK General Settings to remove references
to Windows paths.

The real challenge came with the message bases. I have around 350
echomail areas, and changing them one by one was simply not an option.
While exploring the Message Base Editor, I realized the paths were
relative ($mystic\path\msgs\) instead of absolute. That sparked an idea:
why not use the Global option to update the path? I tested it with a few FSXNet areas, and it worked!

Encouraged, I updated all areas in groups: first BR.*, then ESP.*, and
finally the remaining Fidonet areas. Everything worked perfectly.

One small issue: the "Export to" field in the settings was empty. I went
back to the Global section and added my uplinks one by one. With that
done, both Echomail and Netmail were good to go.

The only section I had to adjust manually was the Files section, as the
Global option doesn’t cover file base paths. Fortunately, I only had
about 15 file areas, so it wasn’t too painful.

After finishing the setup, I sent out some test echos and netmails,
hoping everything would work as intended. Thankfully, menus and themes
worked flawlessly, with no adjustments needed.

That’s my story—short, but full of lessons learned. Migrating SkyNet BBS from Windows to Linux was a rewarding challenge, and I hope my
experience helps anyone considering a similar move.

Best regards from Medellín,
David Gonzalez
SysOp of SkyNet BBS

---
Best Regards/Saludos
David Gonzalez (Mister G)
SkyNet BBS | Medellin, Colombia | bbs.skynetbbs.com:20023

... 59. "La informática es la ciencia de los futuros que ya no fascinan."

--- Mystic BBS/NNTP v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: SkyNet BBS - telnet://bbs.skynetbbs.com:20023 (21:3/188)

Re: Migration Journey repost
By: DavidG to All on Tue Jan 14 2025 11:46 am

step: migrating my Mystic BBS from Windows 10 (32-bit) to a Raspberry Pi 3 running Linux. Sounds simple, right? Well, it wasn't quite as smooth as you'

Doesn't sound simple at all. I've tried a couple of times and given up.

After struggling to make Synchronet BBS work (spoiler: it didn't), I had a frustrating realization about Fidonet. It's hard not to notice how some folk prefer to guard their knowledge like buried treasure, watching others flounder instead of lending a hand. It's ironic, really, because hoarding knowledge doesn't help anyone. In Colombia, we say, "No one takes their

I'd disagree. There's a user-contributed Wiki. Mystic guy has tons of videos on Youtube. Digital Man has his own video channel. Sure, there are some people out there who are less than supportive, but as long as you read the manual/wiki and ask intelligent questions, there's a lot of support out there.

But back to the story. Installing Mystic on Linux turned out to be surprisingly quick and easy. Using WinSCP, I copied my *.ini and *.dat files as well as the data, echomail, msgs, files, and themes directories, to /home/sbbs/mystic. Then I ran mystic -cfg, adjusted the System Paths, and updated the QWK General Settings to remove references to Windows paths.

The real challenge came with the message bases. I have around 350 echomail areas, and changing them one by one was simply not an option. While explorin the Message Base Editor, I realized the paths were relative ($mystic\path\msgs\) instead of absolute. That sparked an idea: why not use the Global option to update the path? I tested it with a few FSXNet areas, and it worked!

I have a ton of message bases I'd like to preserve, but they're in Synchronet's format. I've been playing with Mystic and could export the message areas from Synchronet and probably import them into Mystic, but I couldn't export the messages.
--- SBBSecho 3.23-Win32
* Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)

On 14 Jan 2025, poindexter FORTRAN said the following...

Doesn't sound simple at all. I've tried a couple of times and given up.

i did it once for a short while (router died so bbs machine became the router.. heh)

basically you swap the binaries and then hunt through the configuration program for every single directory reference and swap them for the new ones.

so system paths, general settings if python2/3 is listed in there, every echo node can have in/out directories for things.. qwk general settings, every message and file base, the archive and protocol editor if you put full paths in there, the event editor for sure..

it's a lot of stuff. if i did it again i think this time i'd just 'grep' through the whole mystic folder for like 'c:\mystic' or whatever and hunt
them down that way.

then i did it all again once i had another machine to put it back on! i can see why someone might just give up and reinstall

also, iirc mystic was doing something weird where the messages in the message bases were different on linux vs windows (a single linefeed vs a carriage return and linefeed on the end) .. not sure why that'd be necessary but *shrug* .. they weren't entirely obnoxious to read so i just let them eventually roll off the end once they got old or past 1000 or whatever it's set at.

sorry for the infodump ;) just thinking maybe someone else might go for it and need some info

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32)
* Origin: cold fusion - cfbbs.net - grand rapids, mi (21:1/616)

On 1/14/2025 7:40, poindexter FORTRAN wrote:

Thanks for taking the time.

Re: Migration Journey repost
By: DavidG to All on Tue Jan 14 2025 11:46 am

> step: migrating my Mystic BBS from Windows 10 (32-bit) to a Raspberry Pi 3
> running Linux. Sounds simple, right? Well, it wasn't quite as smooth as you'

Doesn't sound simple at all. I've tried a couple of times and given up.

It seems and feels overwhelming at first, then you get the gist, also
backups are a nice thing to have just in case.

It might not be OK on the first try, just roll back and start over,
that's what I did.

> After struggling to make Synchronet BBS work (spoiler: it didn't), I had a
> frustrating realization about Fidonet. It's hard not to notice how some folk
> prefer to guard their knowledge like buried treasure, watching others
> flounder instead of lending a hand. It's ironic, really, because hoarding
> knowledge doesn't help anyone. In Colombia, we say, "No one takes their

I'd disagree. There's a user-contributed Wiki. Mystic guy has tons of videos on Youtube. Digital Man
has his own video channel. Sure, there are some people out there who are less than supportive, but as

long as you read the manual/wiki and ask intelligent questions,
there's a lot of support out there.

I love that wiki, do not get me wrong, I've spent 1 or 2 lifetimes
there, struggling and screwing things up, but I've learned and advanced
a whole lo, it's sad to see people that can help just saying RTFM, why?,
you could spend a couple of minutes sending that, why don't you help?, I
don't think it's that hard.... Anywho, I'm far from perfect and my
skill-set need a lot of work but I've learned the hard way, which for
many people is the right way, not for me as an educator you can not take
joy on people failures, but that's me.... ok let me not get started..

> But back to the story. Installing Mystic on Linux turned out to be
> surprisingly quick and easy. Using WinSCP, I copied my *.ini and *.dat files
> as well as the data, echomail, msgs, files, and themes directories, to
> /home/sbbs/mystic. Then I ran mystic -cfg, adjusted the System Paths, and
> updated the QWK General Settings to remove references to Windows paths.

> The real challenge came with the message bases. I have around 350 echomail
> areas, and changing them one by one was simply not an option. While explorin
> the Message Base Editor, I realized the paths were relative
> ($mystic\path\msgs\) instead of absolute. That sparked an idea: why not use
> the Global option to update the path? I tested it with a few FSXNet areas,
> and it worked!

I have a ton of message bases I'd like to preserve, but they're in Synchronet's format. I've been playing with Mystic and could export the message areas from Synchronet and probably import them into Mystic, but I couldn't export the messages.

I'm not sure if there's a direct way, but what I'd do is to set up a
separate node/point running mystic and from there subscribe with Areafix
to alkl of the areas, perform a full rescan of all areas and you'll have
your message base migrated, maybe that's a silly way but I did that and
it seemed to have worked just fine.

If you try please write here, if you need any help, I can share what I
humbly know.

--
Saludos/Kind Regards
David Gonzalez (Mr G)
- MikroTik Certified Trainer
- ESP.COLOMBIA, ESP.MIKROTIK Moderator
- SysOp @ SkyNet BBS | telnet://bbs.skynetbbs.com:20023

--- Mystic BBS/NNTP v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: SkyNet BBS - telnet://bbs.skynetbbs.com:20023 (21:3/188)

fusion wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

also, iirc mystic was doing something weird where the messages in the message bases were different on linux vs windows (a single linefeed vs
a carriage return and linefeed on the end) .. not sure why that'd be necessary but *shrug* .. they weren't entirely obnoxious to read so i
just let them eventually roll off the end once they got old or past
1000 or whatever it's set at.

That sounds like an old Linux versus DOS problem, I'd think Mystic might
have a CR/LF setting. Might be a good justification for skipping moving
the message bases over and starting from scratch.

sorry for the infodump ;) just thinking maybe someone else might go for
it and need some info

Definitely helpful - thanks!


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