home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Current Shareware 1994 January
/
SHAR194.ISO
/
email
/
qrep11.zip
/
QREP.DOC
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1993-08-01
|
13KB
|
268 lines
----------------------------------------------------------------------
QRep 1.1
The Ultimate QWK Compatible Automated Message Generator
Copyright 1993 by Brian R. Showalter
All Rights Reserved Nationwide, Worldwide, Solar Systemwide,
Galaxywide, Universewide, and any other Wide
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
DRIVER'S LICENSE
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This software, heretoforevermore christened QRep Version One Point
One, was planted, germinated, watered, designed, written and
copyrighted by Brian R. Showalter, a single white male 28 years of age
living in poverty in the city of Harrisonburg in the state of Virginia
of the United States of America. It is heavily armored and protected
in accordance with U.S. copyright law, with which you are strongly
encouraged not to trifle. If you decide to disregard this warning, be
aware that doing so may provoke a visit from the Waco division of the
Federal Barbeque Inspectors (FBI).
You are granted a license to examine, smell, use, feel, taste, and
otherwise evaluate QRep for a period not to exceed thirty (30)
twenty-four (24) hour periods (days) in order to determine whether it
meets your needs. Suspending this testing in order to measure the
methane released by bovine flatulence so your local congressweenie can
justify spending $16,237,593.74 of MY money (that little guy with the
big ears and colorful charts says it's mine) does not constitute
grounds for extending this evaluation period. At the end of the
aforementioned thirty twenty-four hour periods, you will decide which
one of two paths to take. You will proceed directly to that path. You
may not pass gas. You may not collect $200. You may, however, pay me
$7.00. Thank you very much.
The first path, which is the one least traveled due to its narrowness
and difficult passage, yet the one which leads to great blessings, is
to register QRep by sending me seven (7) United States dollars. If,
on the other hand, you would prefer not to part with such an immense
fortune because the neighbors' hydrophobic Doberman salivated all over
your checkbook and ruined every single one of your checks, or because
your mother-in-law is demanding that you replace her beloved fake Ming
vase which Junior "accidentally" tapped with a baseball bat, or
because of whatever other creative and equally ludicrous excuse you
can think up, then you agree to cease using QRep and forever banish it
from your working disks.
The second path, which just happens to be wide and easily traveled,
and as alluring as a beautiful female clad in a skimpy neon bikini, is
to continue using QRep without making any effort to reward me for my
considerable efforts to create a decent and marketable product.
Proceeding down this path leads to having your posterior nestled
snugly in the middle of a pile of fresh, warm, and aromatically
odoriferous bovine organic fertilizer. Such is the road which leads
to acute olfactory inundation and feelings of extreme guilt.
After registering this product and receiving your QREP.KEY file, you
must guard the aforementioned QREP.KEY file with the life of your
computer, and you may not distribute copies of it to anyone else,
including but not limited to family, friends, co-workers, business
associates, and aliens from the Gamma Tau Omega quadrant. You may
(in fact, you are encouraged to) distribute copies of the other files
provided that they are distributed unmodified, and that the QREP.KEY
file is not included. You may not disassemble, decompile, reverse
engineer, copy, transfer, use, modify, or sneak peeks at the private
parts of this product except as permitted by this license.
The author makes no warranty, express or implied, regarding this
software product. This includes warranties as to its fitness,
usability, merchantability, quality, or suitability for any purpose.
Although QRep is in excellent physical shape, you should be aware that
it is specifically not designed for weightlifting, triathlons,
marathon running, or any similar form of strenuous physical exertion.
Be assured, however, the author did put considerable mental exertion
as well as prodigious amounts of Mountain Dew into ensuring that QRep
is reasonably free of defects. You, the user, assume all
responsibility for the use, misuse, or abuse of this software, and for
determining whether it meets your needs. In no event will the author
be held liable for any special, consequential, incidental or other
damages resulting from the use, misuse, or abuse of this product. By
using QRep, you agree to these terms.
The author also reserves the right to modify this software, its
accompanying documentation, and/or registration procedures and
benefits at any time and without prior notice.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
SHAREWARE
----------------------------------------------------------------------
QRep is distributed under the shareware concept. What does this mean?
Well, contrary to the opinion of certain individuals whose aromatic
essence is reminiscent of a barnyard, shareware is *not* free software
which may be copied and used without any restrictions.
Actually, shareware is a term which describes the distribution method
used to place the software into the hands of users. To accomplish
this herculean feat, an author typically archives all the necessary
files into a single compressed file, and then distributes that file to
bulletin boards, disk vendors, and others who can further spread the
software to other people. Persons who may be interested in the
software are encouraged to try it out, see how it works with their
system, and determine if it meets their needs.
If it does, and they wish to keep using it, then they are expected to
send the author a small fee to register the program. In return, they
may receive a key file which turns on certain features which may have
been disabled, or printed and bound documentation, or other software
which enhances the operation of the software that was registered. And
at the very least, they receive the satisfaction of knowing that they
have rewarded the author for all the time and effort he invested in
the program, so that he will feel an incentive to make further
improvements and perhaps even create other programs.
Even if they decide not to register, people are still encouraged to
copy the software and distribute it to their families, friends, or
co-workers, upload it to bulletin boards, or give it away at the local
shopping mall. The more people that are exposed to the program, the
more chances that the author will either be rewarded for his work or
receive feedback which will enable him to fix any defects and make
improvements to the software.
Because it costs very little to get software distributed in this way,
registration fees are considerably lower than the price of commercial
software, yet the quality is often comparable. However, the success
of shareware depends on you, the user. If you find a shareware
package useful and find yourself using it beyond a short trial period,
then you are morally and ethically bound to register it. If you
don't, the author may decide that shareware isn't worth the effort,
and may either start writing expensive commercial software or quit
writing software altogether.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
How To Use QRep
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Now that we've got the dry, boring, and sleep-inducing semi-legal
mumbo jumbo out of the way, let's get down to business. First, you'll
need an appropriate computer, and it must be based on one of the Intel
x86 processors or a compatible clone. QRep will work just fine on
vintage Stone Age relics such as the 1982 Itty Bitty Machine Piece of
Crap, commonly known as the IBM PC. State of the art machines
equipped with a 512 MHz processor, 65536 x 32768 UGA (Ultimate
Graphics Array) video, voice input, and a sound board with 256 sexy
female (or male for the ladies) voices will work even better, although
QRep only gets excited when it encounters a hot processor.
To install QRep, simply create a subdirectory which will contain all
of the QRep files, and unpack the QRep archive into that subdirectory.
MD \QREP
CD \QREP
PKUNZIP A:\QREP.ZIP
Despite not possessing a WIMPY (windows, icons, mouse, pull-down
yingyangs) interface, QRep is designed to be quite simple and easy to
use. The steps involved in using QRep are as follows:
1. Use a text editor or word processor to create an ASCII text
file containing the message which QRep is to insert into a
QWK reply packet. Even DOS's brain dead EDLIN editor will
work for this purpose, although you may end up visiting the
nearest wig shop in search of a custom-made rug to replace
hair pulled out by the handful in a fit of frustration. Be
sure that the right margin of the text is set to 72
characters or less so that the BBS software will not
truncate lines when the message is sent.
2. Use the same text editor or word processor to create an
ASCII configuration file for each conference into which QRep
is to place a message. Helpful tip: name the configuration
files according to the conference number (e.g. 113.QRP for
conference number 113). A sample configuration file is
contained within the 1.QRP file in the QRep archive.
NOTE: Whenever you create or make changes to a configuration
file, the DOS file date on that file will be set to the
current system date. If you've set the DAYS= parameter in
the configuration file to a number greater than zero, then
QRep will not generate a message until the system date is
incremented by the specified number of days. If you want to
send a message immediately after making changes to the
configuration file, you will have to use the TOUCH utility
included in the QRep archive to change the file date so that
it is dated earlier than the current system date. To do
this, key a command similar to the following:
TOUCH 1.QRP 070193
This command changes the date on the 1.QRP configuration
file to 7/01/93.
3. Set up a batch file which will run QRep for each conference
in which you want to place a message, compress the resulting
.MSG file into a .REP file, and then run your communications
software to transfer the .REP file to your home BBS. A
sample batch file is contained within the QREP.BAT file in
the QRep archive. Of course, you can perform these steps
manually, but unless you're a glutton for punishment, a
batch file makes the whole thing much easier.
If a reply packet exists before QRep is run, and you want to append
the message generated by QRep to the end of that packet, then you must
first unpack the .REP file before running QRep.
That's all there is to it! For more details, refer to the sample
configuration and batch files provided within the QRep archive.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Contacting The Author
----------------------------------------------------------------------
QRep has been extensively tested to ensure that all known flaws and
glitches have been eliminated. However, since I'm just another
imperfect human living in an imperfect world, QRep may (and probably
does) contain imperfections as well. If you find any imperfections,
you're perfectly encouraged to inform me of these imperfections and
ask me to perfect them.
I can be reached via one of the following methods:
FAX: (703) 564-3700
Internet: brian.showalter@pcohio.com
FidoNet: 1.157/555@fidonet
Intelec: Shareware Conference
ILink: Shareware Conference
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Revision History
----------------------------------------------------------------------
v1.0 Initial version of QRep. Written in C language. This
version contained many flaws, required excessive life
support systems, and was never publicly released.
v1.1 Rewrote QRep in C++ using object oriented techniques, which
resulted in a very clean and easy to maintain program.
Completed work on very extensive and very ridiculous
documentation. First version to be released to the public.