What is uMRC?

uMRC lets you run Multi-Relay Chat on your BBS without having to install and maintain a Mystic BBS instance and Python. As long as your BBS is capable of running 32-bit doors, then you and your users can participate in MRC.

It should be compatible with any DOOR32.SYS capable BBS such as EleBBS, WWIV, Synchronet, Mystic, and possibly others. It runs on Windows 7 and later. The Linux build has been tested on Ubuntu 22.04 and should run on similar.

If you use NetFoss to start up your DOS-based BBS, then the NFU utility bundled with NetFoss should run the uMRC Client. As of this writing, Renegade has been confirmed.

Features:

• Secure SSL MRC host connections
• Automatic host reconnection & rejoin
• TAB username auto-completion
• Password masking (e.g.: /identify ********)
• Mention counter
• Built-in chat and mention history scrollback
• Pipe code color support
• CTCP command support
• Sysop-editable 2-line ANSI status bar themes
• Twit filter

Common Files Included:

• setup: Setup utility
• umrc-bridge: MRC host connection program (multiplexer)
• umrc-client: MRC Client door
• [screens]: Subdirectory containing ANSI & text files
  • intro.ans: Intro/main menu & status screen
  • help.txt: Help file showing basic chat commands
  • helpctcp.txt: Help file on CTCP command usage
  • helptwit.txt: Help file on twit filter management
• [themes]: Subdirectory containing ANSI files
  • *.ans: ANSI theme files

Refer to the readme.txt file inside the archive for files specific to your platform.

Install Instructions:

If you have any existing MRC process currently running, stop it at this time. The MRC host generally does not play well with concurrent connections from the same BBS.

If you're on Windows, skip this paragraph and proceed to step #1. On Debian-based systems like Ubuntu, run the build.sh script to compile from source. First run sudo apt install gcc if you don't already have gcc installed, then run sudo apt install libssl-dev since the bridge makes use of LibreSSL, then ./build.sh should complete successfully. It should create a subdirectory named "bin" and place the compiled binaries into it along with all other necessary asset subdirectories and files.

1. Place all files to their own directory, keeping the structure the same as shown above in the list of files included.

2. Run setup, and press 1 to begin.

   For the first 3 prompts, you can simply press enter to accept the default values:

   a. The MRC host address defaults to mrc.bottomlessabyss.net. If in the future the MRC host address changes, it can be updated here.

   b. SSL is recommended for secure connections to the MRC host and should be left enabled, but can optionally be disabled if needed.

   c. The MRC host port number defaults to 5001 if using SSL, or 5000 if using a standard socket.

   The remaining prompts are about your BBS:

   d. BBS name *

   e. BBS software (pick from a list or enter an option not listed)

   f. BBS website * (include either http:// or https://)

   g. BBS telnet address & port * (you don't need to include telnet://)

   h. BBS SSH address & port * (you don't need to include ssh://)

   i. Sysop name * (this is you!)

   j. Short description of your BBS *

   Pipe color codes are allowed in options marked with an asterisk (*)

   Supported pipe color codes:

    |01 ... dark blue
    |02 ... dark green
    |03 ... dark cyan
    |04 ... dark red
    |05 ... dark magenta
    |06 ... brown (dark yellow)
    |07 ... gray
    |08 ... dark gray (bright black)
    |09 ... bright blue
    |10 ... bright green
    |11 ... bright cyan
    |12 ... bright red
    |13 ... bright magenta
    |14 ... yellow
    |15 ... white
    |16 ... black background
    |17 ... blue background
    |18 ... green background
    |19 ... cyan background
    |20 ... red background
    |21 ... magenta background
    |22 ... brown background
    |23 ... gray background
   

   After you've entered your information, it will be displayed to you, with the option to re-enter everything, or quit. Your settings will be saved to a file called mrc.cfg.

3. Run umrc-bridge. This program is responsible for maintaining a connection to the MRC host and passing chat traffic back and forth between the host and your BBS. It must run continuously in order for umrc-client to work, so it's recommended to have this program launch on system startup.

   When umrc-bridge starts up, it should say "Ready for clients" if successful.

   umrc-bridge takes an optional -V command line switch, which enables verbose logging. This logs all packets passed through the bridge to umrc.log, which can be useful for troubleshooting purposes.

   umrc-bridge makes automatic reconnect attempts in the event the connection to the MRC host is lost, up to 10 times by default. This can be changed by starting umrc-bridge with the -Rx option, where x is the number of retries (e.g.: -R30 for 30 retries). To make infinite reconnection attempts, specify -R0.

4. Set up a menu item to launch a 32-bit door on your BBS.

   The command line syntax is:

   Windows: umrc-client -D c:\path\to\DOOR32.SYS

   Linux: ./umrc-client -D /path/to/DOOR32.SYS

NOTE to Linux Users:

It has been observed that using the DOOR32.SYS drop file type with this door can lead to user-input issues on Mystic under Linux. If DOOR32.SYS does not work properly with your BBS type, then use DOOR.SYS instead.

Also refer to your BBS software documentation on whether the ./ prefix needs to be included.

If you get an error saying, "Invalid config. Run setup", it means you either did not run Setup, or you're not launching umrc-client from the directory it's located in. On some BBSes (like Mystic) it will be necessary to use a batch file or bash script to launch the door. Something like the below ought to do the trick:

:: call this file "launch.bat" and pass the node number (%N) to it
C:
cd \path_to\umrc
umrc-client -D c:\path_to\node%1\door32.sys

Optionally (on Windows only) include the -SILENT option to prevent the local Windows GUI from popping up while the door is running. This is highly recommended, since umrc-client takes a noticeable performance hit when outputting to both the BBS and the local Window, especially while paging through the chat scrollback.

umrc-client -D c:\path\to\DOOR32.SYS -SILENT

You can test it locally from the command line as well:

umrc-client -L

NOTE: It will only run as user number 1 (Sysop) in local mode.

At this point, you should be ready to launch the door and join chat.

uMRC Client Usage:

When a user first launches the uMRC client door, they'll be given the option to confirm the user name the door detected, or enter a custom one (in case the BBS passed the user's real name to the door). After the user confirms their name, they'll be shown a brief list of their default settings with the option to change them.

1. Display name:

   The display name is the user's chatter name shown next to all their messages in chat.

   A default chatter name is formed with a randomized set of options: chatter name color, prefix, and suffix.

2. Default room:

   This is the room the user will automatically join when they enter chat. If left blank, "lobby" will be the default room.

3. Text color:

   This is the default color used for all of the user's messages. The user may also use the left and right arrows to cycle through color options while in-chat.

4. Chat sounds:

   Console beeps can optionally be heard any time the user's name is mentioned in chat. These beeps are disabled by default. They can be toggled on or off with the /sound command while in-chat,

5. Join Message:

   This is a short string that is sent to the chat room to announce that the user has entered the room. Pipe color codes are allowed.

6. Exit Message:

   This is a short string that is sent to the chat room to announce that the user has left the room. Pipe color codes are allowed.

7. Theme:

   This is a 2-line ANSI file in the "themes" subdirectory. The sysop can add/edit theme files as needed. Only the first 2 lines in the file are used. Anything after line #2 is ignored.

The user presses the Q key to save their options and quit to the main menu.

User settings are saved the userdata subdirectory. One file per user, named using their alias or username on the BBS. If a user's settings ever need to be reset, simply delete (or rename) the file associated with them.

Main Menu:

The main menu shows a short list of options and the current status of the MRC Host as reported by umrc-bridge.

Options:

C Enter Chat: Places the user into chat, automatically joining their default room.

S Chatter Settings: Lets the user modify their options.

I Instructions: Shows a list of basic chat commands, as listed in the screens/help.ans file.

Q Quit: Exits back to the BBS.

MRC Stats, as reported by umrc-bridge:

• State: ONLINE or OFFLINE. 60 seconds or less since last ping = ONLINE
• Latency: Elapsed milliseconds between the last client message and the server's response.
• BBSes: Number of BBSes currently connected to the MRC host.
• Rooms: Current number of chat rooms.
• Users: Total number of users in all chat room.
• Activity: NUL, LOW, MED, or HI, based on chatter activity.

umrc-bridge makes requests for server stats every 60 seconds and stores them in the mrcstats.dat file for display elsewhere on the BBS.

The stats are separated by spaces and follow this order:

1. BBSES
2. Rooms
3. Users
4. Activity (0=NONE, 1=LOW, 2=MED, 3, HI)
5. Latency (as calculated by the client)

Basic Chat Usage:

Upon entering chat, the user will be greeted with the message of the day and other messages from the MRC server.

Anything the user types starting with a forward slash (/) will be treated as a chat command. For example, /help for a list of commands.

Anything else the user types will be sent to the room as a chat message for others to read.

Basic room stats are shown near the bottom of the screen above the user's text input, showing the current room, topic, user count, number of times the user was mentioned, latency, and input buffer (max input: 140). These stats update continuously throughout chat.

The door should let the user remain in chat up to the number of minutes allowed by the BBS, and should not have an issue with any time spent idling.

The user types /quit or /q to exit chat and return to the main menu.

Meetups!

Now that your BBS offers MRC, here's where the most action is!

thE grAvY trAIn

• Saturdays at 21h00 UK / 16h00 Eastern / 13h00 Pacific
• Host: MeaTLoTioN
• More info at: https://erb.pw

Type /meetups in chat for a current list of meetups.

Known Issues & Limitations:

• Masked input becomes unmasked when changing text colors with left and right arrows.

• Height and width are limited to 80 columns by 24 rows. OpenDoors has a default maximum row limit of 23, but umrc-client is hard-coded with this setting adjusted to 24. As far as I know, OpenDoors cannot automatically detect the terminal's height and width.

• The font size of the local window in Windows cannot be adjusted. This seems to be an internal limitation of the OpenDoors kit.

• At the time of this writing, when using the !ddial command, the MRC host returns extraneous packets missing the BODY field. uMRC treats these as invalid, since they contain fewer than 6 tildes (~). Syncrhonet mrc-connector service logs similar warnings for !ddial.

Future Plans:

As of this writing, I don't plan on making many changes or adding a lot of extra features. Bugs will be fixed, and changes will be made to support future changes to the MRC protocol, but that's about it.

Technical Notes:

uMRC is written in C, and was developed and compiled on Windows using Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2022. The Linux build was compiled on Ubuntu 22.04 using gcc.

uMRC makes extensive use of threading, both in umrc-bridge and umrc-client. Separate threads are used for establishing connections to the MRC host, listening for and handling client connections from local clients, and handling user input while displaying incoming messages to the output window.

Secure SSL sockets are implemented using LibreSSL, a variant of OpenSSL. SSL is used only from the umrc-bridge to the MRC host, while local umrc-client connections to the umrc-bridge are made using standard TCP/IP sockets, using the same port number as selected in the Setup program.

You should NOT have ports 5000/5001 open on your firewall/router, since umrc-client makes OUTBOUND requests to the MRC host on ports 5000/5001. If you leave these ports open on your end, then you may occasionally see umrc-bridge log odd messages, caused by outside HTTP requests to your system.

Thanks, Acknowledgements, and Links:

Thanks to StackFault at The Bottomless Abyss BBS, MRC HQ!

• https://bbs.bottomlessabyss.net
• telnet://bbs.bottomlessabyss.net:2023
• ssh://bbs.bottomlessabyss.net:2222

uMRC Test Sites:

StingRay of A-Net Online

StingRay offers a wide array of BBSes and BBS-related services that all sysops should avail themselves of. The main links here will get you on the path to everything he offers.

• https://a-net-online.lol/bbs/
• telnet://a-net-online.lol
• ssh://a-net-online.lol

X-Bit of x-big.org

xbit is a veteran sysop and league coordinator of the X-League (777) Inter-BBS network which re-launched in 2025. If you're interested in joining the network, check out these links below:

• https://x-bit.org
• telnet://x-bit.org
• ssh://x-bit.org:22222

xbit also contributed the "l33t" and "stars" themes!

Exodus of The Titantic BBS

Exodus is the network coordinator of MetroNet and maintains Renegade BBS. He was instrumental in confirming uMRC could run on DOS-based systems like Renegade.

• https://www.rgbbs.info
• telnet://ttb.rgbbs.info

Shurato of Shurato's Heavenly Sphere

Shurato runs perhaps the most unique and customized instance of EleBBS anywhere, and is always happy to try running new things on his board.

• https://shsbbs.net
• telnet://shsbbs.net
• for SSH, see: https://shsbbs.net/faq.html

Enjoy!

See you in chat!