Marsmail Tools

Legacy tools for user provisioning, mail handling, and workstation support in a Mars/Linux server environment.

This repository preserves a historical toolkit originally used to manage user accounts, Pegasus Mail workflows, and supporting admin utilities in a mixed Linux/DOS network setup.

Features

This repository includes tools for:

• user account creation and removal
• mail conversion for Pegasus Mail clients
• outgoing mail posting back to Unix systems
• quota and expiry handling
• login and notification scripts
• user application processing
• default homepage generation

Documented components include: marsmail.exe, newuser.pl, ohmasteruser, nomasteruser, ohpostme, ohquota, ohmail, ohmessage, ohform.htm, pmail.bat, pmgate.sys, pmdflts.ini, and wwwhomepage.

What is Marsmail?

Marsmail is described in the original documentation as a Pascal-based frontend that translates Unix mail files into a format readable by Pegasus Mail. The surrounding scripts automate account setup, notifications, quota reporting, and mail gateway tasks.

Repository Goals

This project is useful for:

• preserving historical sysadmin tooling
• studying legacy mail gateway workflows
• exploring early campus/lab network automation
• adapting older operational ideas for modern migrations

Included Files

A few notable files in this repository:

• marsmail.exe — mail conversion utility
• pmail.bat — Pegasus Mail launcher/helper
• pmgate.sys — Pegasus Mail gateway configuration
• pmdflts.ini — default Pegasus Mail settings
• ohform.htm — HTML user application form
• newuser.pl — form processor for new accounts
• ohmasteruser — account creation helper
• nomasteruser — account removal and cleanup helper
• ohpostme — outgoing mail handoff script
• wwwhomepage — default homepage generator

These names are taken from the original package documentation.

Build and Install

A provided CMakeLists.txt shows an install step that deploys several runtime files, including:

• marsmail.exe
• pmail.bat
• pmgate.sys
• ohlogscr.bat
• pmdflts.ini

into a public installation directory. It also defines Linux-specific compiler flags and version macros.

Example:

install(FILES marsmail.exe pmail.bat pmgate.sys ohlogscr.bat pmdflts.ini
  DESTINATION ${MARS_NWE_INSTALL_FULL_FILEDIR}/SYS/public)

Legacy Environment

The original documentation assumes a historical environment with:

• a Linux-based Mars server
• DOS workstations
• Pegasus Mail clients
• Unix mailbox storage
• custom login scripts and mapped drives

This software is not plug-and-play on modern systems and will likely require adaptation.

User Application Form

The repository includes an HTML application form for requesting a user account. It collects applicant details, preferred usernames, skill levels, operating system preferences, support expectations, and requested services. The form is intended to submit data to newuser.pl.

Status

This is a legacy preservation project.

It is best treated as:

• archival software
• reference material
• migration input
• a starting point for modernization

Security Warning

These tools were designed for an older environment and may contain assumptions that are unsafe on modern systems.

Review carefully before running anything, especially code related to:

• user creation and deletion
• mailbox processing
• file permissions
• web publishing
• shell or batch execution

The original documentation also recommends making backups before changing account-related data.

License

The original documentation states that the package is distributed under the GNU Public License and references a COPYING file for details.

Credits

Originally credited to:

• Eddie Dunckley
• Gert Cronje