www4mail at szs.net

www4mail is an email browser for people who have an email address, but no access to the World-Wide Web (WWW) or to FTP. Users include

• people who live or work in a country that has an under-developed or unreliable telecom infrastructure;
• students and staff of colleges and universities (anywhere in the world) who do not have reliable access to the WWW

www4mail gives you access to the whole Internet — including search and downloads — through your email. All you need is a standard web browser (for example - Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera) and an email program (for example - Outlook, Thunderbird, Pegasus).

You use an email program to send requests for web pages to a www4mail server. The server emails you copies of those web pages, optionally modified so that hypertext links may be selected and passed to your email program for further browsing.

www4mail is an open source application — the home page is http://www.www4mail.org/.

Our www4mail server is very similar to others. However, we have added a preliminary filter system which operates on incoming requests. Here are some of our new szs.net-specific features:

• Use of www4mail at szs.net is a service for members of the ACCMAIL mailing list (which is not a private list — anyone may join it). We update the access control list every week, so members never have to wait long before they can use the server. Access control is handled by the pre-filter, not by www4mail itself.
• Note that we also operate a 'denial' control list — a small list of email addresses which have been used to violate our terms of service. Denial control is handled by the pre-filter, not by www4mail itself.
• The pre-filter examines the headers of incoming requests, and applies some simple anti-spam rules. Requests which fail the pre-filter are discarded silently.
• Since April 2008, we do not respond to requests from 'yahoo' email addresses.
• Maximum file size has been increased from the default 6 mb to 15 mb.
• Weekly quota limits have been increased to 400 documents or 24 mb (from 300 documents or 15 mb).

On this page, we have replaced the normal email @ character with the string `AT`. To use any email address, simply replace `AT` with @ to form a proper email address.

• Join the ACCMAIL mailing list.
• Email your request to www4mail`AT`szs.net
• There must be no other email address in the ‘To’ header.
• Do not use the ‘Cc’ header.
• Put www4mail commands in the body of the email.
• The subject of email is not used, so you can put anything in it.

Example 1

This example returns a modified version of the requested web page (the dmoz.org home page) as an email attachment:

(Headers)
To:        www4mail`AT`szs.net
(Body)
http://dmoz.org/

Web documents that have been sent you as email attachments can be saved and re-used for a later search of the Internet. You may request up to 5 resources in each email you send to www4mail`AT`szs.net.

Example 2

This example returns modified versions of the requested web pages as email attachments:

(Headers)
To:        www4mail`AT`szs.net
(Body)
http://emailonly.szs.net/tests/test01.html
http://emailonly.szs.net/tests/test02.html
http://emailonly.szs.net/tests/test03.html
http://emailonly.szs.net/tests/test07.html
http://emailonly.szs.net/tests/test08.html

You may open the email attachments with any standard Web browser such as Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, etc.

Hypertext links (and links to images) in the page appear as check-boxes. To retrieve a linked resource, select its check-box and then (in the ‘WWW4MAIL OPTIONS’ box at the foot of the web page) click on the ‘Get Selected Document(s)’ button to make a new email request to www4mail.

Example 3

This example returns a modified version of the requested web page as an email attachment, but does not contain links to images:

XIMAGE=0
http://dmoz.org/

Example 4

This example returns the original, unmodified HTML source as email attachments which you can open with any standard browser:

TSOURCE http://emailonly.szs.net/tests/test01.html
TSOURCE http://emailonly.szs.net/tests/test02.html

If you prefer, you may also retrieve web pages (converted into text) in the body of a message, rather than as attachments.

Example 5

This example returns a text dump of the requested page in the body of the message:

GET http://dmoz.org/
or
SEND http://dmoz.org/

(GET and SEND are synonyms -- they have the same effect).

Hypertext links in the page are numbered, and listed at the foot of the email.

Example 6

This example returns the unmodified HTML source of the requested page in the body of the message:

SOURCE http://dmoz.org/

Example 7

This example returns a modified version of the requested web page in the the body of the message:

XSOURCE http://dmoz.org/

If you cannot avoid sending a signature, or if your email system appends taglines to outgoing messages, terminate www4mail processing with the command END.

Example 8

XSOURCE http://dmoz.org/
END

www4mail will not look further than END.

If the resource requested is a frameset (ie: a main page linking to other pages in the same windows), then by default www4mail will use its own built-in ‘frames2table’ convertor, and you will receive them as one attached document. If you use the SOURCE command for a URL containing frames then www4mail will send you only the frameset page.

Example 9

This example returns a single attachment which combines three frame pages:

http://szs.net/emailonly/tests/test07.html

Example 10

This example forces www4mail to send only the frameset page as an attachment:

XNOFRAME
http://szs.net/emailonly/tests/test07.html

Email programs often split lines somewhere between characters 72 and 80. If your request is too long to fit into a single line, you should split it by ending the line with a backslash ‘\’. The backslash tells www4mail where to join the lines again.

Example 11

GET http://dmoz.org/Regional/Africa/Congo,_Democratic_Republic_of_the/\
Science_and_Environment/National_Parks/

If your email program sends messages as Quoted Printable encoding, all your lines must be shorter than 76 characters.

All binary files larger than 300 kb and smaller than 15 mb will be split automatically into smaller chunks of 300 kb, each sent as a MIME base64 attachment.

All text and HTML files larger than 300 kb and smaller than 15 mb will be automatically zipped, and subsequently treated as binary files, subject to splitting and MIME encoding on delivery.

You may also choose to uuencode binary files with the UUENCODE command (see below).

If your mailer software or gateway has a file size limit of less than 300 kb, then you can request that www4mail split messages into files of smaller sizes. To specify a lower value, use the GETSIZE command.

Example 12

This example returns the requested file as 50 kb chunks:

GETSIZE 50000
http://www.anydomain.com/very_large_file.txt

GETSIZE sets the size of the www4mail reply message in bytes. You can list as many URLs as you need within the body of your message to www4mail.

When www4mail replies to a GETSIZE command, then the requested web document is always sent as an attachment. You may need to force your email program to save it using the save file option. Finally, a suitable application or command can be used to combine all chunks.

Linux/Unix syntax: cat file.1 file.2 file.3 > file

DOS/Windows syntax: copy /b file.1 + file.2 + file.3 file

If you are viewing a web document sent by www4mail, and want to retrieve selected documents split into smaller chunks, then (in the ‘WWW4MAIL OPTIONS’ box at the foot of the web page) enter a maximum size of reply from www4mail.

Example 13

This example returns the requested resource (including images) as a PDF (Portable Document Format) attachment:

GETPDF http://dmoz.org/

Example 14

This example returns the requested resource (including images) as a Postscript attachment:

GETPS http://dmoz.org/

Note that Postcript files are much larger than equivalent PDF files.

GETPDF and GETPS may be used in conjunction with GETSIZE and XUUENCODE.

www4mail supports user authentication for password-protected sites. To access such web site/pages, use the pattern ‘protocol://username:password@site/directory’

Example 15

This example returns the page protected by the ‘username’/‘password’ pair:

http://username:password@www.anydomain.com/protected/

After you have received the www4mail reply, you will be able to navigate to such protected pages without further authentication. www4mail will do it for you automatically.

Of course, you can get the same information in the body of a email message and as a plain text file, by using the GET or SEND commands, or as an HTML source using SOURCE or XSOURCE commands.

NB: passwords passed this way, like everything else under email, are not necessarily private, because:

• www4mail logs all transactions locally.
• HTTP/FTP transactions with any server via email are unencrypted and may be intercepted on the Internet.

Secured web servers (https://) are also handled by www4mail.

The weekly user quota for www4mail at szs.net is 400 documents or 24 mb (maximum binary file size is 15 mb).

If you have exeeded your weekly quota, www4mail will inform you with a "503 Error Message - Service Unvailable (quota finished)" and will stop answering your requests after that!

Warning: Your quota will vary considerably when requesting binary files such as ‘.exe’, ‘.zip’. Binary files may account for 3 to 5 times as much as a text document.

Each reply you get from the www4mail carries information about your remaining quota and the day of the last access (usage within the quota week). For example, on the body of every www4mail reply you will get something like this:

Remaining Quota :     196
Used Quota      :       4
Last access     :   html  on  Mon Jan 8 14:08:04 2007

Example 16

This example returns your quota status for the current week:

XMYQUOTA

If your email program does not support MIME, you can instruct www4mail to uuencode the requested resource.

Example 17

This example returns the a uuencoded version of the requested file in the body of the email:

XUUENCODE
http://www.anydomain.com/very_large_binary_file

If the file requested is large, then you can use the GETSIZE command to set the size of the www4mail reply message in bytes.

Example 18

This example returns the uuencoded file as numbered 50 kb chunks:

GETSIZE 50000
XUUENCODE
http://www.anydomain.com/very_large_binary_file

The english-language URL of the World Health Organisation Global Malaria Programme is http://www.who.int/malaria/. On the right is a March 2007 ‘screendump’ of that page in a web browser window. That is what you would expect to see if you had reliable access to the World-Wide Web. The Global Malaria Programme web site is an important source of information on the epidemiology, control and treatment of malaria. How can people obtain that information if their only access to the Internet is email?
www4mail is one good solution. We sent a request for page http://www.who.int/malaria/ to www4mail`AT`szs.net. On the right is a section of the email attachment that wwwmail sent to us. We can read all the important text, and we could also obtain the images if we needed them. The original links on the page have been converted to ‘check-boxes’ that enable us to select further links for our next request to wwwmail — to browse by email. Here we have selected a link named ‘Systems for the early detection of malaria epidemics in Africa’ (it's a large online publication in PDF format). Now we email the new request back to www4mail`AT`szs.net
On the right is what we got back a few minutes later — the complete online document in our email inbox. Because the document is very large, www4mail split it into several smaller email-friendly sections, and sent them all separately. It was easy to join them whan they had all arrived.

To get help on specific www4mail commands or topics, email to www4mail`AT`szs.net with the help request in the body of the email.

Example 19

This example returns 3 short text files which explain topics ‘access’ & ‘translations’, and command ‘xnolist’.

(Headers)
To:        www4mail`AT`szs.net
(Body)
help access
help translations
help xnolist

Our current topic help files include:

• help access (explains szs.net access implementation)
• help cookies (how to manage stored cookies)
• help denials (explains www4mail denial control list)
• help disclaimer (explains szs.net privacy policy)
• help errors (explains www4mail error codes)
• help faq (frequently-asked questions)
• help forms (about form submission modes: browser or text)
• help frames (how to retrieve documents in HTML frames)
• help passwords (how to access password-protected sites)
• help quota (quota implementation)
• help split (how to join split binaries)
• help translations (appeal for translations of www4mail help files)

Our current command help files include:

• help end (terminates command processing)
• help get (text dumps of a URL in email body)
• help getpart (request specific numbered parts of a split file)
• help getpdf (request PDF dump of a URL)
• help getps (request PostScript dump of a URL)
• help getsize (set size of attachments)
• help send (same as get)
• help source (request HTML source markup in email body)
• help tsource (request HTML source markup as attachment)
• help xbase (set base href applicable to several URLs)
• help xcharset (retrieve charset specific page, if available)
• help xdocinfo (get head information of a http URL only)
• help xextraopt (issue list of command commands in one line)
• help xformreply (result of form submission in particular output)
• help xget (request URL processed by www4mail as attachment)
• help xlanguage (retrieve language specific page, if available)
• help xmime (force the application/html MIME type)
• help xmultimime (combine several requests in single reply)
• help xmylang (specify a language interface, if available)
• help xmyquota (retrieve information about quota usage status)
• help xnoframe (disable handling of frames)
• help xnolist (disable URL list in email body)
• help xnoscript (disable handling of scripts code)
• help xnostat (disable statistics page completely)
• help xseparate (separate emails: statistics and requested page)
• help xsource (send modified HTML markup in email body)
• help xurlcode (request browser to encode reply sent by email)
• help xusepost (submit form data using POST method)
• help xuseqp (request attachments encoded using MIME QP)
• help xuuencode (reply using uuencoding instead of MIME)

You may not use www4mail at szs.net to access websites which distribute or promote

• pornography
• violence
• racial or cultural hatred
• pirated software (warez, cracks, etc)
• illegal software serial numbers

We reserve the right to deny this service to any email address without notification, without giving a reason, and without discussion of any kind.

We log all requests to this service. The logs are kept for as long as we need for server management.

Normal users of www4mail at szs.net may expect the same level of privacy as they get for conventional Internet use.

The authors and providers of the Perl source code for www4mail cannot be held responsible for the contents, presentation or non-delivery of web documents retrieved from the Internet using any public or private www4mail server.