Download rules
The same rules apply to every way a caller can download: on the BBS, through the web portal and through FTP.
The rules
For a logged-in caller:
| Rule | How it works |
|---|---|
| Daily limit | The LIMITS.PRO row for the caller's level (Download KB/day) is checked against what they have already taken today, on the BBS, web and FTP together. A file that would go over the limit is refused, with a message that says how many KB are left. |
| Ratio and upload rules | The same “upload needed” rules as on the BBS. |
| Free files | A free file area, and any file matching a line in FREEFILE.CTL, is never blocked by the limit or the ratio and is never charged KB. It still counts as a download. |
| Download hours | Outside the download hours in CONFIG.PRO, downloads are refused. Users with the IGNORE flag are exempt. |
| IGNORE flag | Users flagged to ignore download hours and KB are never charged. |
| Log | Every finished download adds a line to LOGS\DOWNLOAD.LOG. PBUtil's file-counter pass reads it to bump each file's download counter. |
| Resume | Web and FTP downloads can be resumed. |
On the web, the file page also shows “Download allowance today: N KB left of M KB”.
A download is charged when it finishes
Nothing is charged when a transfer starts. A file is charged once, when its last byte has been delivered. A dropped connection costs nothing. A resumed download is charged when the end of it arrives. The charge is the whole file size in KB. The same user is not charged twice for the same file within 10 minutes, so a download accelerator does not pay several times.
Turning it on for the web
In PBWeb, the setting is dlaccounting yes (the default), or the checkbox on PBConfig's PBWeb page. It only does anything when requirelogin yes is also set, because without a login there is nobody to charge. With dlaccounting no the web has no limits, no charging and no log line.
Where the numbers go
The web side does not write the user file directly, because a node keeps an online user's record in memory and rewrites it at logoff. Instead, the charge goes to a small ledger file. ProBoard adds it to the user's record the next time that user logs in. Until then, the web and FTP checks add the pending numbers themselves, so the limit holds even if the user never calls the BBS.
Known limits
- Several downloads started at once under the limit can together go over it. They are all charged when they finish, so the extra is taken from the next day's allowance.
- The “minutes online before first download” rule is not applied on the web, because the web has no online timer.
- Anonymous browsing (login not required) is not limited or charged. The log line is still written.
- If
LIMITS.PROis missing, the default is a limit of 0: no non-free downloads, on the web too.