HYLAFAX-INFO

info − remote device capability database

The info subdirectory in the Hyla FAX spooling area holds information about the capabilities and status of devices that have been called. One file exists for each device, with the filename created from the remote device’s fully-qualified phone number. Files have a simple ASCII format. Each line is of the form

[&]tag: value

where a tag identifies a capability and a value is either a string, number, or boolean value. An optional ‘‘&’’ at the front of the line indicates that the tag’s value is locked down and should not be updated by the server. This facility is useful for restricting the capabilities used with a particular machine.

The following items are recorded:

Tag

Type

Description

calledBefore

boolean

device has previously answered at this number

dialFailures

number

count of consecutive failed dial operations

hasV34Trouble

boolean

there is difficulty sending to this destination with V.34

hasV17Trouble

boolean

there is difficulty sending to this destination with V.17

lastDialFailure

string

reason for last failed dial operation

lastSendFailure

string

reason for last failed send attempt

maxPageWidth

number

maximum page width in pixels in normal resolution

maxPageLength

number

maximum page length in millimeters

maxSignallingRate

string

maximum signalling rate (bits/sec) to use

minScanlineTime

string

minimum scanline time

pagerMaxMsgLength

number

length of longest allowed text message

pagerPassword

string

password string send to service provider

pagerSetupCmds

string

commands for setting up modem for a specific service provider

pagerTTYParity

string

parity & # bits configuration for IXO/TAP communication

pageSource

string

parameter to tell the paging central who we are

pagingProtocol

string

protocol (IXO or UCP) for this provider

remoteCSI

string

remote device Called Subscriber Identification

remoteNSF

string

remote equipment Non-Standard Facilities information

remoteDIS

string

remote Digital Identification Signal: capabilities

sendFailures

number

count of consecutive failed send attempts

supportsBatching

boolean

accepts batching protocol

supportsHighRes

boolean

accepts 196 line/inch images (obsolete)

supportsVRes

number

vertical resolution support bitmask

supports2DEncoding

boolean

accepts Group 3 2D encoding

supportsMMR

boolean

accepts Group 4 encoding

supportsPostScript

boolean

accepts Adobe P OST S CRIPT transfer protocol

The Hyla FAX scheduler, faxq(1m), uses the information stored in this directory when deciding if a call should be placed and when preparing documents for transmission. If a remote device’s capabilities are known, then document preparation is constrained and/or optimized according to the capabilities. Otherwise, documents are prepared without regard for the remote device’s capabilities and if a capability mismatch is encountered the session is terminated and the documents are reformatted using the newly discovered capabilities.

The calledBefore item is used by faxsend to decide whether or not to redial a phone number when encountering certain errors. For example, if a dialing command results in a ‘‘ NO CARRIER ’’ result, then the number will not be retried unless the number has previously been dialed successfully.

The minScanlineTime item indicates the minimum scanline time parameter used for facsimile transmissions. Acceptable values are: ‘‘0ms’’, ‘‘5ms’’, ‘‘10ms/5ms’’, ‘‘10ms’’, ‘‘20ms/10ms’’, ‘‘20ms’’, ‘‘40ms/20ms’’, and ‘‘40ms’’. (Values of the form X/Y mean to use X for 98 lpi images and Y for 196 lpi images.)

The pagerTTYParity item specifies the communication parameters to use when communicating with the IXO/TAP service provider. Acceptable values are: ‘‘even’’ (7 bits, even parity), ‘‘odd’’ (7 bits, odd parity), and ‘‘none’’ (8 bits, no parity). If nothing is specified then ‘‘even’’ is used per the standard.

The pagerMaxMsgLength, pagerPassword, and pagerTTYParity items can be setup according to the requirements of a pager service provider; they typically are locked down so that their values are not lost during updates.

The pagerSetupCmds can be used to define AT commands for setting up the modem for a specific service provider. This value overwrites the settings defined in hylafax-config(4f).

The pageSource parameter can be used to tell the paging central who we are. It usually contains a SMS answerable mobile number. It is only used for the UCP part of sendpage(1m). Note: This parameter should be used from user-land sendpage(1) and will be removed later.

The pagingProtocol defines which protocol, UCP or IXO , should be used to send the message to the service provider. It defaults to ‘‘ixo’’; for UCP set ‘‘ucp’’.

faxsend, pagesend, and faxq automatically create and update entries in the info directory, as required.

The data in this directory is simply a cache of remote capabilities and, except for locked down items, can be safely purged at any time. The faxcron(1m) script, for example, periodically purges unlocked entries in this directory that have not been accessed in 30 days.

When the first batching attempt fails then supportsBatching is set to false. It must be manually altered in order to re-enable batching to the destination.

Restricting the capabilities used with a particular machine to a value other than those that are mandatory can cause documents to be sent outside of an acceptable range for the receiver.

faxcron(1m), faxq(1m), faxsend(1m), pagesend(1m), hylafax-config(4f)