The Bat!

What works

All works out of the box.

What does not

Workarounds

What was not tested

• Connection via modem
• Connection to an Exchange server by adding ews_x32.dll in The Bat! 32bit and ews_x64.dll in The Bat! 64bit

Hardware tested

Graphics:

• GPU: Intel
• Driver: open source

Additional Comments

This version of The Bat! was tested: v9.3.0.1 MSI (32bit and 64bit).

Note 1:
Use of Encryption with The Bat! - HowTo

To use proper encryption with The Bat! on wine simply install GnuPG:

1. Download GnuPG for Windows - it's called GPG4win
2. Install it via wine
3. Create your keys
4. Switch via The Bat!s configuration to GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) ^[1]
5. Activate in the account settings the use of OpenPGP for the accounts you want mails to encrypt, decrypt, sign or verify.

That's all.

[1] The Bat!s configuration:

Please hold in mind:
32bit plugins are not working in 64bit The Bat!!
This is not a problem caused by wine.

Using The Bat! with Linux, macOS, or BSD (*nix).

There are three (later: four) possible scenarios:

1. A clean installation without any transfer from an existing installation of The Bat!. You start at point zero.
2. You want to migrate away from Windows to *nix without a way back.
3. You want to use The Bat! from Windows and from *nix.

Before you start installing The Bat! on wine please read first the FAQ - Frequently asked questions from wine's page.

1. The easy way:

   Follow these steps to setup RitLabs mailer The Bat!:

   1. Update your wine installation. Use your package manager. If you are in doubt about the version: use only the latest version. Don't use beta versions: this is only for an advanced user for testing purposes and not for use every day.
      If you think your wine in your distribution is too old then look here: Wine Binary Packages. Please use only the stable branch.
   2. Open a terminal and use winecfg to set wine's version to Windows 10 (the default setting).
   3. Download the latest version from RitLabs page. You will get a windows installer file named thebat_pro_xx_x-x-x.msi (The x are for numbers).
   4. Install it: you will have to open a terminal window. Then change to the folder where you downloaded the installer file and run this command at the shell prompt:

      wine msiexec /i thebat_pro_xx_x-x-x.msi

      (The x are for numbers). Never do this as /root! (see: Should I run Wine as root?)
   5. You will find more info about msiexec in wine's wiki: msiexec is a tool for installing .msi packages.
   6. To encrypt and decrypt your mail install GnuPG for Windows (A simple installer for the current GnuPG).

   All is done now. Please create your mail accounts in The Bat! and enjoy the work of The Bat! mailer.




2. The smart way:

   Before you start here please do a backup of all your emails in the AppData folder in your windows installation. To find this folder look into Options / Preferences / System. It's the Mail directory. This is the top of an AppData folder under which all your emails live. Use 7zip or so to compress (zip) the complete folder incl. subfolders.

   Then you need a backup done with The Bat!s integrated backup feature, see Tools / Backup. Do a complete backup with all things include.

   Also please compress the folder which includes The Bat!s executable, plugins, and other stuff, mostly located in c:\program files\the bat! if you use a 64bit version. Otherwise (32bit version) it is named: c:\program files (x86)\the bat!.

   And at last, do an export of The Bat!s registry settings. To do this please run:
   

   regedit /e "%userprofile%\desktop\the-bat-registry.reg" HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\RIT

   at a Windows command line (Terminal) window. This creates a file the-bat-registry.reg on your desktop.

   All four files:

   1. a zipped file with your mails
   2. a zipped file with The Bat!s program folder
   3. a (text/registry) file with exported settings
   4. a backup file from The Bat!s integrated backup system
   should be stored in a safe place. This will be your day pass back to windows if now something went wrong.

   Change now to *nix.

   1. Start a normal install of The Bat!. How to do this is described in A.
   2. You don't need /root privileges to do this!
   3. Complete the installation.
   4. Now start The Bat! from *nix menu. It depends on your *nix installation where you will find the menu. Search for wine and/or The Bat!.
   5. Answer the questions in the First Setup dialog.
   6. After this, you will see an assistant who wants to know some info about your mail account. Don't type in anything. Use the button Restore from and choose your Backup file: Now you need the file from The Bat! which was created by The Bat!s internal backup system. The file extension is called tbk.
   7. Continue: choose all Accounts you want to restore, normally all.
   8. At this point, all is done. You may want to finish now.

   Info: the mailfolder is now located inside $HOME/.wine/drive_c/users//Application Data/the bat!

   From now on all your emails go there.

   And from now on: Don't forget to do backups! The Bat! has an integrated scheduler to do frequent actions automatically. You will find it here: Tools / Scheduler. Use it!




3. The hard and stony way:

   This needs more work and some knowledge about windows and *nix file system.

   From *nix you need access to your Windows partition. Only read permissions aren't enough! This partition should be writeable. If this is not working please read a manual of your distribution on how to mount disks writeable! If you are a beginner: DON'T DO THIS! STOP HERE! Otherwise, you may lose all your emails.

   This situation describes a system that can boot into Windows or into *nix systems via GRUB!

   Suppose this as an example:

   • wine is installed properly and clean
   • wines windows version is set to Windows 10 (Use winecfg)
   • your *nix user name: johndoe (This user will use The Bat! in future)
   • your windows user name: winjohn (This user used The Bat!)
   • the label of your windows partition: Windows10Disk
   • you had installed The Bat! under Windows on drive c:
   • you have a 32bit installation in: C:\Program Files (x86)\The Bat!
   • your installation in Windows has this mail directory (Look in: Options / Preferences / System item: Mail directory): C:\Users\winjohn\AppData\Roaming\The Bat!
   
   
   1. Before you start: do a backup. How to do this is described in B.
   2. Now you need some info:
      • Where is thebat32.exe (If you use the 64bit version the executable is named thebat64.exe)? What is its full *nix path name? According to the example:
        /media/johndoe/Windows10Disk/Program Files (x86)/The Bat!/thebat32.exe.
      • Where is The Bat!s mailfolder? According to the example:
        /media/johndoe/Windows10Disk/Users/winjohn/AppData/Roaming/The Bat!. This path must be writeable from *nix.
      • Where is the file the-bat-registry.reg? We will need this later. According to the example:
        /home/johndoe/the-bat-registry.reg.
      • Facultative: Where is your favourite text editor in *nix?
        e.g. Geany, gedit, Kate, Mousepad, Leafpad, Pluma, vi, (X)Emacs.
   3. Log into *nix as user johndoe and open a terminal.
   4. Create a soft link to The Bat!s mail folder in the windows file system. According to the example type:

      ln -s '/media/johndoe/Windows10Disk/Users/winjohn/AppData/Roaming/The Bat!' '/home/johndoe/.wine/drive_c/users/johndoe/Application Data/The Bat!'

      Please use the four single quotation marks (') which enclose the two paths to The Bat!s mail folders. This is necessary because the path contains spaces!
   5. Create a soft link to The Bat!s program folder in the windows file system. According to the example type:

      ln -s '/media/johndoe/Windows10Disk/Program Files (x86)/The Bat!' '/home/johndoe/.wine/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/The Bat!'

      Please use the four single quotation marks (') which enclose the two pathes to The Bat!s program folders.
   6. Now we will import the registry file into wine. According to the example type in:

      wine regedit /home/johndoe/the-bat-registry.reg

   7. It's time to start The Bat!:

      wine '/home/johndoe/wine/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/The Bat!/thebat32.exe'

      Please use the two quotation marks (') which enclose the path to thebat32.exe.
   8. Quit The Bat!.
   9. If this is working you should create a desktop file for The Bat!. This allows you to start this application like a normal program in your desktop environment. According to the example type in:

      [Desktop Entry]
      ### wine productive app
      ### last change: 2017-02-19
      Categories=Applications;Office;Network;Email;
      Comment=Nice and powerfull mail client.
      Comment[de]=Nettes und leistungsfaehiges E-Mail-Programm mit Fledermaus.
      DocPath=file:///home/johndoe/.wine/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/The Bat!/the_bat.chm
      Encoding=UTF-8
      ##Exec=wine '/home/johndoe/.wine/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/The Bat!/thebat32.exe' /nologo
      Exec=wine '/home/johndoe/.wine/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/The Bat!/thebat32.exe'
      GenericName=wine: Mail Client (32bit)
      GenericName[de]=wine: E-Mail-Programm (32bit)
      Icon=/home/johndoe/.wine/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/The Bat!/thebat.png
      InitialPreference=10
      MimeType=x-scheme-handler/mailto;
      Name=The Bat!
      Name[de]=The Bat!
      Terminal=false
      Type=Application

      You also can copy-paste this into your terminal. Then use echo to do so and redirect the output into the desktop file. Later you can change the desktop file

      
      

      /home/johndoe/.local/share/applications/thebat32.desktop

      with your favourite text editor.
   10. To make the program icon work you need to do this in terminal:
       

       convert '/home/johndoe/.wine/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/The Bat!/thebat.ico' '/home/johndoe/thebat.png'
       mv '/home/johndoe/thebat-1.png' '/home/johndoe/.wine/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/The Bat!/thebat.png'
       rm /home/johndoe/thebat-?.png (<= yes, there is a question mark before the file extension .png)

       convert is part of the ImageMagick package. If this command fails you will have to install it.
   11. Now close the terminal.
   12. All is done.

last change: 2023-02-05