Monster Media 1996 #14

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Mail Manager +Plus+ Version history: ----------------------[ v4.00 - 01/26/96 ]------------------------ A major update to Mail Manager +Plus+. There have been MANY changes since the release of v3.61. Hold onto your hat.... 1 - As many as 25,600 conferences can now be configured. (We get dizzy just THINKING about 25,600 conferences!) 2 - Expert users no longer get the "press a key" prompt at end of opening screen. They go straight to main menu prompt. You might want to notify any of your users using logon scripts, as this may affect their operation. 3 - Screen is now cleared before jumping to DOS locally. 4 - "Checking conferences" at startup was eliminated. (HOORAY!) There is now only one conference in memory at any given time. This means some extra disk access when selecting conferences and manually resetting message pointers. It also works out to a net time savings for normal operation of the door, due to not having to scan every conference when the door loads. This tradeoff was necessary to support more than 500 conferences. 5 - New user option added in C)onfiguration section: Whether or not to include only active conferences in CONTROL.DAT. Including only active conferences in CONTROL.DAT can cut down the time required to build the QWK packet considerably, especially if you have many conferences configured. The downside is that depending on the offline reader being used, the user might not be able to ADD a conference via REP packet unless all conferences are listed in their CONTROL.DAT. 6 - F)ind a conference tweaked in C)onfig option A: can now enter "F text" to immediately start search for "text". This option also now shows whether or not the conference is activated prior to letting you toggle it on or off. 7 - Can now specify an alias file for Fido conferences as well as RBBS. This means you can now use Alias names in Fido areas (at Sysop's discretion, of course). 8 - Added /TS command line switch, to aid in troubleshooting a new installation or upgrade. This will create a TSHTx.LOG file in the directory for log files. If you have a problem running this door, the contents of this file may help. 9 - Displays twiddle when constructing conf selection screens (most useful on slower systems, where the user might think the door had gone to sleep). 10 - CDOOR 9406 puts sysop real name in DORINFO instead of "SYSOP". The door can now deal with this. 11 - When posting an *.MSG netmail message, the door now searches the entire compiled nodelist when looking up a partial sysop name, allowing you to pick and choose which address to send the message to. All prior release versions of Mail Manager +Plus+ only returned the first hit on your search string. This does not affect Sysops using RBBS *M.DEF message bases for netmail. 12 - Fixed bug in which a blank name in the "From" field in a REP packet would be accepted. 13 - Extended R)eset all option in config option X. Can now also reset pointers to what they were before the last time they were changed by the door, i.e. previous extraction or manual change. Extended this to individual conferences, as well. (Whether or not to allow "reset to previous" is sysop-configurable in MAILCFG). 14 - E)xpedite goes into only a 4-second countdown timer in expert mode. 15 - Copyright updated to 1996 (sheesh). 16 - Violation notices now return original message text to user. 17 - Support added for as many as 999 nodes. This required changes to the filenames for the door's system text files. Conventions: (node) = node number (1, 2, etc.). Optional. (graphic) = graphic version of file (R, C, G). Optional. Node and graphic-specific versions are optional. If you want to share a common set of non-graphic, ascii graphic, ansi graphic, and RIP graphic files between all nodes on your system, leave the (node) argument off of the filename. The door looks first for correct graphic and node-specific version. If not found, steps down and looks for the next-likely candidate, and eventually looks for the non-graphic, non-node-specific version of the file before it gives up. EXAMPLE OLD FORMAT NEW FORMAT (Node 1, Ansi) DEFAULT ----------- ----------------------- -------------- -------- MAILMGR.ARL -> MMGR(node).ARL MMGR1.ARL MMGR.ARL MAILMGR.BUL -> MMGR(node).BUL MMGR1.BUL MMGR.BUL MAILMGR.MNU -> MMGR(graphic)(node).MNU MMGRC1.MNU MMGR.MNU MAILMGR.FMS -> MMGR(node).FMS MMGR1.FMS MMGR.FMS MAILMGR.PRE -> MMGR(graphic)(node).PRE MMGRC1.PRE MMGR.PRE MAILMGR.PRO -> MMGR(node).PRO MMGR1.PRO MMGR.PRO MAILMGR.SWP -> MMGR(node).SWP MMGR1.SWP MMGR.SWP MMGR1.HLP -> MMGR(graphic)(node).HL1 MMGRC1.HL1 MMGR.HL1 MMGR2.HLP -> MMGR(graphic)(node).HL2 MMGRC1.HL2 MMGR.HL2 NEW_USER.OPT -> MMGR(node).OPT MMGR1.OPT MMGR.OPT PRELOG.RBS -> MMGR(graphic)(node).HEL MMGRC1.HEL MMGR.HEL EPILOG.RBS -> MMGR(graphic)(node).BYE MMGRC1.BYE MMGR.BYE MMGRNODE.OB -> MMGR(node).OB MMGR1.OB MMGR.OB MMGRNODE.AKA -> MMGR(node).AKA MMGR1.AKA MMGR.AKA All of these in the "Path to text files" directory, as-listed in MAILCFG. ALSO... the UPDATE utility will only look for and create node- specific versions of these files if it is run against a node- specific MAILMGRx.CFG configuration file. If you are using a common MAILMGR.CFG for all nodes, yet have a few node-specific versions of the above text files, you will need to manually copy the existing versions to the new filenames. An example would be a special swap file for node 1, which may currently be on your disk as MAILMGR1.SWP. In this case, if the UPDATE utility did not create MMGR1.SWP, you will need to create it manually. And lastly - MMGR.OPT has a new argument at the end of the file, for whether or not to include only active conferences in CONTROL.DAT. See the example MMGR.OPT in this archive. 18 - Long conference description upped from 25 to 60 characters. 19 - Fido Areaname upped from 15 to 25 characters. 20 - Path/name of user files, message files, and alias files dropped from a max of 80 chars each to a max of 60 chars each. 21 - Check for LANtastic bypassed, since we don't really need to know this, and keeps from errantly reporting LANtastic active when it isn't on some systems. 22 - Tweaked checking of available disk space. Should fix problem in determining free space when free clusters are > 32767. 23 - Fido *.MSG conferences: The name of each Fido conference's index file now agrees with the new user filename for each conference. Filenames are now: Fido user file = CONFNAMU.MGR Fido index file = CONFNAMU.NDX Both of these will be located in the same directory as the *.MSG's themselves for each conference. 24 - Memory management tweaks. 25 - Improved handling of long messages in Fido *.MSG conferences. Now extracts messages (and handles messages in REP packets) longer than 99 lines. Online read/reply in these types of areas are still limited to 99 lines. 26 - Zone and Point displays in the first line of *.MSG netmail messages were eliminated, due to some mail processors putting incorrect values in the Fido message header for these fields. This doesn't affect operation, just keeps from reporting incorrect Zone and Point in the top line of the message. (Suggested by many over the years) 27 - Rudimentary RIP support added, and new configuration option on the 2nd screen of MAILCFG for whether or not to autodect RIP. Door now looks for and displays "R" graphics versions of files if caller's graphic type is "3" or higher in DORINFO/DINF, or if RIP is detected and caller's graphics in RBBS are at least ANSI or better. The latter was a neccessary addition, as no version of RBBS currently supports graphics type 3 in DORINFO/DINF. (Suggested by George Omoregie, Robert Holmes, and several others) 28 - Support added for RBBS 17.5b "Internet conference" *I.DEF files. If you have this type of conference configured in RBBS 17.5b, the door will function equivalently to RBBS 17.5b when P)osting or R)eplying to a message online in the door in one of these areas. All five options of *I.DEF are supported, and the *I.DEF file must be in the same directory as the message file for that conference. See the 17.5b "FEATURES.TXT" for more information. * NOTE * Messages found within REP packets that are destined for one of these types of conferences are handled as per all previous versions of the door. 29 - Smarttext is now honored in text files that are displayed to the user. (We're amazed that nobody ever mentioned this) 30 - UPDATE.EXE modified to handle a few known problems with earlier versions of Mail Manager +Plus+: - The TXT2CFG utility in versions 3.51, 3.52, 3.60, and 3.61 sets the version number to 3.50 when it saves the configuration file. - An early beta of MAILCFG (v3.71c) was given to a few beta testers, prior to 3.91a. This version of MAILCFG sets the version number to 4.00. Oops again. Either one of these conditions would cause UPDATE.EXE to think you were attempting to update from the wrong version number. UPDATE now pauses and allows you to fix your version number prior to the actual file conversion, when it runs across these situations. The other (less complicated to explain) way to fix the problem is to run MAILCFG from your current non-beta release, and save your settings with no changes, prior to running the UPDATE utility. This too will allow UPDATE to do it's job. (Reported by Francois Massonneau and several others) 31 - The RBBS-PC v17.5 wide beta (220 version) smarttext colors are now supported in bulletins, news, and text files. The difference from previous versions of the door are: - {C1 through {C4 are the same colors, but low intensity instead of high intensity. (To agree with 17.5) - There are now a total of 24 colors (instead of the original 4). The complete list follows (those of you running the 17.5 beta can just look at COLOR.DEF... they're the same): Smarttext Code Color Description --------- ----------------- --------------- C1 GREEN Foreground C2 YELLOW " C3 MAGENTA " C4 CYAN " C5 RED " C6 BLUE " C7 WHITE " C8 WHITE ON BLUE Foreground/Background C9 BRIGHT BLUE Foreground CA BRIGHT GREEN " CB BRIGHT CYAN " CC BRIGHT RED " CD BRIGHT MAGENTA " CE BRIGHT YELLOW " CF BRIGHT WHITE " CG BLACK " G0 BLACK BACKGROUND Background G1 BLUE BACKGROUND " G2 GREEN BACKGROUND " G3 CYAN BACKGROUND " G4 RED BACKGROUND " G5 MAGENTA BACKGROUND " G6 BROWN BACKGROUND " G7 WHITE BACKGROUND " (Suggested by Francois Massonneau) 32 - If you are using FMS directories, the number of new files found when a user extracts a mail packet is now written to the log file. If you have multiple FMS directories configured, multiple entries will be written to the log file. (Suggested by Francois Massonneau) 33 - Screen is no longer cleared just before the main menu is displayed. 34 - Error reporting clarified. 35 - All executables are now compressed with LZEXE to save disk space and improve execution speed. 36 - All of the supplemental utilities except MMGRNODE.EXE have been updated for this release. ----------------------[ v3.61 - 09/14/94 ]------------------------ A maint. release to the v3.6 series. 1) Now checks available disk space before attempting to swap to disk during shell operations, and will not swap if insufficient space to do so. 2) MAILCFG now checks for pre-v3.6 configuation files, and will automatically suggest a "path to log files" if one isn't already listed, or if "path to log files" is still set to the name of the FMS directory. 3) Fixed reported bug in which /A command line switch would not process a waiting REP packet. Problem only occurred when no QWK was created during the /A process. 4) Swap file size is now shown on sysop's I)nfo screen. 5) Eliminated countdown timer when /A, /I, or /O command line switches are used. 6) Numerous additions to error messages in the MAILMGRx.LOG files, to aid sysops in debugging their setups. 7) Added check for "->" in addition to "TO:" in the first line of the message body, for carrying over into subsequent messages when long REP messages are split into smaller parts. ("->" is used in the RIME network). 8) MMGRNODE utility no longer displays a negative number of nodes when more than 32K nodes are compiled at once from any one nodelist. (This was a display bug only, it did not affect the operation of the door). 9) MAILFIX updated to v4.31, fixes problem with handling messages greater than 4K in length when also renumbering the message base. /N switch no longer needs to list the path/name of the user file, if user file is in same subdir as the message file. Can also specify a work drive/path to use for temporary files, to speed up operation. All other utility programs are unchanged from the v3.60 release. ----------------------[ v3.60 - 07/01/94 ]------------------------ A significant update to the v3.x series. 1) The MMGRNODE utility was updated with the ability to compile the highest numbered nodelist, and also with the ability to compile just one specific zone. Run the new MMGRNODE with no command line for usage, or see MAILMGR.DOC. 2) MAILMGR.FMS has changed in format; there are now five arguments on each line, as follows: 1, \RBBS\DIR\FMS.DIR, "Text for line 1", 5, S Arg #1 = MMGR conference number for this FMS dir Arg #2 = Full path/filename to this FMS dir Arg #3 = Text for first line of newfiles header for this dir Arg #4 = Min sec level to get new files from this FMS Arg #5: How to handle security for new file listings. A = Use user's A)ctive sec level when door was invoked. M = Use user's sec level from M)ain S = Use user's sec level from S)ubboard (conf # in arg 1). 3) Mail Manager +Plus+ can now swap itself to disk, without requiring a "loader" program like Davis Augustine's SHROOM. New text file MAILMGR.SWP contains the "shell to disk" options. If this file does not exist in your Mail Manager directory, the door will not attempt to swap itself to disk during shell operations. 4) Node-specific versions of MAILMGRx.FMS and MAILMGRx.SWP implemented (where "x" is the node number). If node-specific version not found, defaults back to just MAILMGR.SWP and MAILMGR.FMS. 5) Can now specify the path in which log files are to be stored. This option is on the first screen of MAILCFG (the option that used to be the FMS directory information). 6) MAILCFG modified (at the suggestion of someone or another) to save the status of the [INSERT] key between fields. All previous versions turned INSERT ON when editing a new field. 7) New options (as appropriate) are now displayed at the Sysop-only I)nfo screen from the main menu. The information about the netbios semaphore files was removed from this display. 8) CFG2TXT and TXT2CFG utilities updated to reflect the new "path to log files" option. 9) Fixed problem that has been there for a long time now related to saving the "type of messages to extract from this conference" setting. Bug only appeared when Sysop is forcing the security violation conference as active. Thanks to Francois Massonneau for finding this one. [ Je ne comprends francais, Francois.... ;-) ] 10) Fixed another old irritant: Clearing a line from the display works again (when displaying a help file, etc.). We broke this one a while back and just happened to run across it.... 11) Old irritant #38263 fixed - Now deletes only an exact name match on .ZIP, LZH, ARJ, and ARC files prior to creating mail packets. All previous versions (or at least a LOT of previous versions) deleted all compressed files from the work directory, whether they were related to the door or not. This should fix that headache for those of us who configure the work directory as our main download/upload dir in our term program. 12) Trim both left and right blank spaces from input at the main menu. 13) A situation that has been there since clear back at v2.00: program should now extract private personal *.MSG msgs both to and FROM that user. All previous versions only allowed extraction of private messages in *.MSG format that were addressed *TO* the user, unless user had sufficient security to read ALL messages. We're amazed that nobody ever mentioned this. 14) Support added for the currently-circulating RBBS 17.5 wide beta (0607 version). If DORINFOx.DEF not found, the door will now automatically look for DINFx.DEF (where 'x' is the node number). 15) The supplemental utilities MNET and MAILFIX are now included in their entirety, in ZIP format. Previous versions of the door contained just the executables of these packages, with corresponding entries in MAILMGR.DOC. ----------------------[ v3.52 - 03/25/94 ]------------------------ A maint. release to the v3.5 series. 1) Fixed main menu prompt line to correctly reflect whether sysop has enabled G)oodbye, R)ead and P)ost options. 2) Now handles multiple FMS directories for the search for new file listings. In MAILCFG, the entry for the FMS directory was replaced by the list of FMS directories to search (similar to bulletin list). Format for each line of this text file: X:\PATH\FMS.DIR, "Text for 1st line of header", SecLev First arg is the FMS dir to check for new files, 2nd arg is the text that is used for the first line of the header (passed thru as is, nothing else added to that line), and 3rd arg is the min security level to receive new file lists from this FMS directory. New text file MAILMGR.FMS shows an example implementation. 3) If SEENBY for netstatus user causes last msg in a conference to be skipped, header of skipped message was being left in MESSAGES.DAT. Corrected in v3.52. 4) When joining an alias conference and getting input from user for alias name to use, door was putting an extra CR/LF at end of line in the alias file. Corrected in v3.52. 5) Now handles the "TIMES DOWNLOADED" mod (as present in Cellar Door modified version of RBBS-PC). New option in MAILCFG to reflect whether or not sysop has implemented this RBBS mod. 6) Can now limit the number of new files that are to be listed from any one FMS directory. Should help put a final end to the old problem of including an entire FMS directory in a new user's first mail packet. New option on the 3rd screen of MAILCFG to handle this. 7) The following utilities were all updated to reflect the changes mentioned above: CFG2TXT.EXE, TXT2CFG.EXE, and MAILCFG.EXE Please be sure you are using v3.52 of these utilities with v3.52 of Mail Manager +Plus+. Several text files were updated in the 352-TXT.ZIP archive, as were most of the miscellaneous documentation files. However, the main documentation (MAILMGR.DOC) was not updated in this release. Please read the WHATSNEW.352 file for pertinent upgrade/installation info. ----------------------[ v3.51 - 01/27/94 ]------------------------ A quick maint. release to the v3.5 series, fixes problems that were introduced in v3.50 with handling of Fido *.MSG areas. 1) No longer returns "user file not found" error when attempting to select an *.MSG area for the first time, and now lets you select the area. 2) No longer shows un-joined *.MSG areas in lower case (ones that the user has sufficient security to access). 3) No longer occasionally shows "0" as highest message in MAIN area on the Sysop-only I)nfo screen. 4) No longer spews whole message back at you after posting an *.MSG message in a non-netmail area. The only file changed from v3.50 is MAILMGR.EXE itself. All of the other miscellaneous executables are exactly as-released with v3.50. ----------------------[ v3.50 - 01/24/94 ]------------------------ We've been busy! A significant update to the version 3 series. Changes since the release of v3.11: 1) Violation notices now list the intended conference correctly. v3.11 always showed intended conference as "MAIN". 2) Sysop chat mode can now only be exited by the sysop pressing [Esc] or [F10]. "/QUIT" by either party no longer works. 3) As indicated by the prompt shown to the user, if no new messages when attempting to D)ownload a packet, user is now returned to menu. Previous versions went into countdown timer. 4) Display when extracting messages now shows table of last-read message number, high-message number in the base, and messages extracted. If extraction reaches defined limits before reaching end of messages, notice to this effect is shown on screen to alert user there may be more messages which can be extracted in an additional packet. [Suggested by Bob Kiernen] 5) Sysop can now define max number of messages per any one mail packet (1 to 9999). This setting has a direct effect on RAM used by the door. Lower number = less memory required. Default setting is 1000 messages. New option in MAILCFG to handle this capability. 6) User can now select max msgs per conference and max msgs per packet preferences (up to Sysop-defined max). Default is Sysop-defined max for both. New option in MUSER to handle this capability. 7) Fixed bug (affecting net status users only) that prevented proper count of personal messages when extracting mail. 8) Incoming ascii 127's (DEL) now converted to backspace when getting input from user. 9) Main menu command prompt no longer includes "G" if sysop has not configured to allow DTR drop from within the door. In such cases, G)oodbye option is now not supported. Also, slightly modified text shown to user in countdown timer when DTR drop not enabled. [Suggested by Dave Brodmann]. * Sysops disabling the G)oodbye command should edit the appropriate menu and help files to remove mention of the G)oodbye option. 10) Can now abort countdown timer via either the spacebar or [ENTER] (Spacebar is a bit easier to find in a hurry). 11) When finished with conference selection, novice users (menus turned on) are reminded they may use Configuration option 'X' to set conference pointers. 12) New optional command line switch: /Vx (where "x" is the conference number in which violation notices should be placed). If /V not specified, violation notices will be written to MAIN area (conference #1), as per all previous versions of the door. 13) Recent additions to QWK header format were brought to our attention, and implemented. (Last 3 bytes of QWK header). Message already contains a valid origin tear and tagline if an "*" is present in byte 128 of QWK/REP message header. Also modified the handling of tear/taglines for net status users, to provide better compatibility with some QWK net systems. [Suggested (and extensively tested) by Rick Moen. Thanks, Rick!] 14) When setting message markers in Configuration option 'X', prompt now shows only the range of conference numbers available to the user at that point. [Suggested by Eddie Rowe]. 15) When selecting an "alias" conference for the first time, the door now asks the user for his/her preferred alias. Checks to make sure this alias is not already in use. [Suggested by Jeff Alberts] 16) *.MSG Fido messages that have been received are now marked as such in the QWK packet. All previous versions always extracted *.MSG's as "unread". 17) Hardcoded "LHARC" replaced with "LHA" (finally) for Sysops who prefer LZH archives, but don't use Mail Manager's list of archivers (MAILMGR.ARL). "LHA" hasn't been "LHARC" for years. 18) Added the ability to force the violation-notice conference as active for all users. Violation notices are stored in either conference #1 (MAIN), or whichever conference number you specified via the /Vxx command line. This one is for all those sysops who want to force users to get the MAIN conference. 19) Added "1 key resets all" option to the message selection menu. (Within option "X" from configuration menu). Can now globally R)eset last message read in all conferences to highest message in each base, or "x" number of messages from highest, rather than manually updating many different conferences one at a time. 20) Sysop can now specify default new user options. If the file NEW_USER.OPT is present in your Mail Manager +Plus+ directory, the door now reads the user configuration defaults from there. If NEW_USER.OPT is not present, default values are the same as all previous versions of the door. [Suggested by Marion Royal] 21) Online R)ead/P)ost options can now be "turned off" by the Sysop via MAILCFG. If so configured, "R" and "P" are removed from the command prompt, and those keystrokes will return the familiar "Command not recognized" error message. * Sysops disabling Read/Post should edit the appropriate menu and help files to remove mention of both R)ead and P)ost options. 22) Internal code optimization and speedup. 23) Adds line feed (ASCII 227) after taglines. 24) Tearlines now added (if not already present in message) before adding tagline when extracting. 25) MAILCFG modified to only allow entering taglines up to 56 characters, to assure tags do not get truncated. 26) When importing a message to a conference which is set for "Fido style tearlines", MMGR will now strip all but the last tearline for packets uploaded by netstatus users. The assumption here is that the originating node will have a proper tearline and origin line, so the last tearline should be left intact, while extra tearlines from mail readers etc should still get deep-sixed. If packet is from a "normal" user, ALL tearlines are stripped. In any case, stripped tearlines are replaced by "..." 27) Added rudimentary OS/2 support: - Now should give up time slices under OS/2 as well as under DV (thanks, Richie!) - Should report OS/2 instead of DOS, and correct version number. - Will use NetBIOS file sharing/locking unless configured for DesqVIEW and DesqVIEW installation is detected. Make sure you have MAILCFG set to use DV in local mode if that's the way you have RBBS setup, otherwise set local mode to NetBios. [These changes suggested by Richie Molinelli & Eddie Rowe] 28) NEWFILES.DAT (new file listings) is now in ANSI color, if user has ANSI enabled. This one has been suggested several times over the last few years. 29) Sped up FOSSIL routines - now sends entire line at once instead of a single character at a time. Remote display is noticeably faster. (REMINDER: Use of a FOSSIL is highly recommended for fast modems!) 30) Now handles import and export of messages to/from RBBS-format conferences 50 records at a time. This permits the processing of extremely long messages without the truncation problems found in previous releases. 31) BPS rate reported in W)ho's online was updated to agree with current BusiMod(STUNY) and Cellar Door modified versions of RBBS-PC, while keeping compatibility with recent stock RBBS-PC releases. 32) When a net status user uploads a long message with a net origin tagline, if the message does get split, the tagline will be appended to all parts of the message. 33) "TO:" information at the beginning of message text is carried over to the additional messages created when a long message is split. 34) Support added for RBBS mod packages which allow more than 999 messages per conference. 35) Fixed bug: When selecting/de-selecting the last conference on the screen in the configuration section, it no longer jumps to the next screenful of conferences. [Thanks to Eddie Rowe for mentioning this] 36) When selecting/deselecting conferences, user can now find conference by matching a text string in either the conference name or description. ----- Utility program updates ----- 37) MUSER now has a /Pxxxx command line switch to purge MMGR users who have not used the door for xxxx days automatically, without intervention from the keyboard. This lends itself to automatic operation in nightly event batch files. 38) MAILFIX now has a /P command line to purge private messages that have been received. 39) MMINDEX now has an optional "/L" command line option, used as follows: /Lfilename.log This option will cause MMINDEX to process only the conferences listed in a pre-existing echotoss.log-type of file. Replace "filename.log" with the path/name of the log file to process. Current versions of supplemental utilities: MUSER, MMINDEX, MMGRNODE, MAILCFG: v3.50 MAILFIX: v4.30 MNET: v2.00 ----------------------[ v3.11 - 08/25/93 ]------------------------ A minor update to the version 3 series. Changes since the release of v3.10: 1) Fixed bug which required pressing "Q" or <enter> multiple times when attempting to exit message pointer setting screens under some conditions. 2) Violation notice prints name of intended conference as well as conference number. 3) No longer goes thru countdown timer before exiting from export mode (/o command line option). 4) Updated MAILCFG.EXE, CFG2TXT.EXE, and TXT2CFG.EXE to implement sysop configurable "show empty conferences" choice are included this time (versions included with v3.10 failed to support this option). 5) Updated to be 4D point aware for *.MSG netmail areas. Also supports "fakenet" addressing. MAILCFG, CFG2TXT, and TXT2CFG all updated accordingly. 6) When following the prompts and posting *.MSG netmail messages, now accepts input for destination address ONLY in the following format: Zone:Net/Node[.Point] All previous versions prompted you separately for Zone, Net, and node. Crashmail addressed to a point is sent to that system's host (.0). The host's software then takes care of routing the message off to the individual point on his system. Normal *.MSG netmail messages addressed to a point are handled by your Fido scan/pack software in whatever way you have configured it. 7) [F1] help added to MAILCFG conference edit screen. 8) Non-selected conferences not shown when choosing conference in which to R)ead or P)ost. 9) Now shows zone in netmail conferences when reading netmail *.MSG areas online within the door. 10) R)ead and P)ost options now only work with joined conferences. 11) New command line switch (/Snnnn) added to MAILFIX utility, to allow sysops with modified versions of RBBS-PC to use MAILFIX on messages bases that contain more than 999 msgs. ----------------------[ v3.10 - 06/06/93 ]------------------------ A minor update to the version 3 series. This is the first release under the banner of Makai Software instead of Newark Connections. Changes since the release of v3.01: 1) Can now abort out of extract session when /O command line option used. 2) Fixed obscure potential math overflow problem. 3) Fixed display for net status users - no longer reports that there were more personal messages extracted than were actually extracted. 4) Fixed problem of always showing long descriptions when choosing which conference to R)ead/P)ost online. Now shows long description only if sufficient security to access the conference. 5) Fixed error-handling bug that could cause program to go into an endless loop when encountering some invalid message headers. Now moves on through message file until good header found or end of file reached. 6) Some mail processors tack a single 128-byte "high water mark" record on the end of "expandable" message bases, which was causing message extraction problems at end of message file. Program now recovers and handles it. 7) Can now specify "0" for number of lines allowed per message, to force Mail Manager +Plus+ to *NOT* split long uploaded messages into smaller parts. In addition to MAILMGR.EXE itself, the MAILCFG configuration program, and CFG2TXT/TXT2CFG utilities were all updated to handle this. 8) Fixed bug in which message addressed to nobody ("") was always converted to the current user's name, in conferences in which user has no established alias. 9) Sysop can now configure to NOT display empty/unjoinable conferences in the conference selection screens. 10) Option to reset message pointers and choose type of messages to extract in individual conferences moved from main menu to configuration menu. Menu display files and help files updated to reflect this change. Also, this option now only displays conferences marked as active by the user. 11) When door is configured to allow carrier drop at G)oodbye and E)xpedite!, there is now a 10-second countdown timer before logging user off. Expert mode users choosing G)oodbye are logged off without countdown. 12) E)xpedite option no longer returns to menu if no new messages found - goes to countdown timer instead. 13) Log file gives more detailed information about messages extracted. 14) Minor display fix to MUSER.EXE utility. Was displaying the last field shifted one character too far to the left. 15) First major update to the MAILFIX utility. Much faster operation, new command line switches added, can renumber message file and reset user lastread pointers accordingly. See MAILMGR.DOC. (Mailfix is also available separately as a FREE program, with QB4/PDQ source code.) ----------------------[ v3.01 - 01/29/93 ]------------------------ A minor update to the v3.00 series. Changes since the release of v3.00: 1) Users configured for "net-status" were unable to access conferences when SysOp initially set them up, unless they first joined the conferences from within RBBS-PC. Now allows this "presetting" of net status user conference flags prior to the user actually joining the conference. 2) Now checks uploaded REP packet for type of archive, and can handle situations where the user was configured for one type of archiver, but uploads a REP packet created by another. The door can automatically determine archives created by PKZIP, LHA, and ARJ. If some other type of archive, the door will use the user's setting of archiver, as it has always done. 3) Can now optionally read ONLY your personal messages via the R)ead option (and to "ALL" if that flag is set in the configuration area). Default is to read all messages. 4) When posting a netmail message, you can now include a "TO: address" line as the very first line of the message body. Example: TO: 1:226/1400 If the "TO:" address line is found, the door will automatically post the netmail message to the address you specified, requiring no further manual intervention. The message will be scanned out and routed appropriately when your mail processor finds it. Designed to help automate the REP process. This works only for "normal" netmail messages, not "CRASH"/attach/request messages. Requirement: the address in the "TO:" line must be found in Mail Manager's compiled nodelist, MMGRNODE.DAT. If not, this line is ignored, and you will have to enter the address information as per previous versions. 5) Slight update to MNET utility. Fixes problem with some systems that do not handle an "IF EXIST" test for "PATHNAME\NUL". ----------------------[ v3.00 - 01/06/93 ]------------------------ A major update to the Mail Manager +Plus+ series. (Just when you thought that we were asleep)... Major changes: 1) Now supports QWK networks, and can generate MarkMail-compatible mail packets for "net status" users. This is a very involved topic. See the separate NETINFO.DOC, which covers this in detail. 2) New MUSER utility to manually edit/update the door's internal MAILMGR.USR file. Was created to manipulate net status users, but has other obvious uses, too. 3) New MNET utility to handle file conversion between REP and QWK for the "node" end of the QWK network. This utility is available as a standalone item; it can be used with mail doors other than Mail Manager/Mail Manager +Plus+, and also with BBS types other than RBBS-PC. 4) Can now R)ead, reply, and P)ost messages while online within the door. New option in the user configuration section as to whether or not to update message pointers for messages read online. (Especially useful when previewing messages before downloading your packet). 5) New optional command line arguments: /I = "Import mode". Look for, and automatically process an existing REP packet, then return to DOS. Works as if you manually loaded the door, U)ploaded in local mode, then Q)uit out of the program. Useful for net node operation. /O = "Output mode". Works in reverse of above. Extracts any new messages in your selected conferences, and returns to the DOS prompt after creating the QWK. Useful for net node operation. /Wx: = Specify a drive (and optional PATH) designation to use as the base for Mail Manager +Plus+'s work directories. Can significantly reduce packet preparation time if you specify a ram drive. CAUTION: If you elect to use a ram drive, you had best have a VERY LARGE one... don't forget that a single MESSAGES.DAT can be over 1 meg in size... plus the archived packets themselves. See documentation for example uses of these. 6) 25-character conference descriptions added. Can now better describe your conferences to your users. Users can elect to see conference descriptions when selecting which conferences to follow from the C)onfigure menu, and also when selecting conference in which to R)ead or P)ost. Not-quite-as-major-but-still-significant changes: 1) Rudimentary dupe checking added. Now checks the user's previous REP filesize, and date stamp, and will not process the exact same REP packet twice in succession for the same user. 2) ADD, DROP, and RESET mail reader requests are now supported. 3) New SysOp configuration options in MAILCFG - - Can now select whether or not to have the door drop DTR (hangs up most modems) when G)oodbye or E)xpedite options chosen from main menu. - Conference description in each area (25 characters). - Can now select maximum number of lines allowed per message in each RBBS-PC *M.DEF conference. 4) If an extremely long message is uploaded to an RBBS-PC *M.DEF area, Mail Manager +Plus+ will now "split" it into several smaller messages, based on the number of lines that you specified for that conference. 5) Netmail messages uploaded into Mail Manager +Plus+ now ALWAYS have an "INTL" line added, regardless of zone. Seems that some mail processors absolutely require this. 6) "Times read" field in Fido *.MSG's is now incremented (if user specified to do so) whenever a personal message is received in a Fido area. v2.04 and below did not implement this. 7) Now creates "type 2" zone-aware Fido messages and outbound crashmail packets. v2.04 and below created 1987-format Fido messages/packets, due to outdated format documentation. Thanks to Eddie Rowe for both bringing this to our attention, and actually providing a copy of the updated FTS-0001 document. 8) New command line option in MMINDEX program; can now specify an individual fido conference to update, rather than always going through all conferences in configuration file. Side-Effects of all this new stuff: 1) As you might have noticed, the door is now over 300K in size. Did you pick up a copy of Davis Augustine's SHROOM yet? Almost any archive utility OTHER THAN PKZIP/UNZIP will probably require SHROOM at this point. Pay close attention to what the I)nfo screen reports for free space in "non-string array". That's how much RAM you have available for a shell. 2) R)ead options are somewhat rudimentary. We did not try to duplicate RBBS-PC itself in this regard. 3) R)ead option will not show the full message to the user, if it is longer than the number of lines you specified as the max for that conference. (There SHOULDN'T be any that long in there anyway). We might-as-well-mention-it stuff (less significant changes): 1) SEEN-BY: handling modified to work similarly to RBBS-PC's own implementation - now continues trying to read the rest of the message after encountering the first SEEN-BY: line. 2) All conferences that the user has sufficient security to join are now shown in the conference list within the QWK packets. Needed to support ADD keyword. 3) Added additional error check when creating DOOR.ID file. Fixed rare bug that could cause CPU hang if disk full condition when creating the small DOOR.ID file. 4) A real live BASIC error number is now returned if any error opening a file, rather than the cryptic "-1" displayed in v2.04 and below. 5) Now gives back DESQview and DoubleDos time slices when the door is waiting in a loop. Frees CPU considerably in those multitasking environments. 6) [F10] chat mode now does word wrap (GASP!). 7) Sped up the saving of user information each time the user saves his settings in the C)onfigure menu. 8) Old irritation fixed - if you select E)xpedite, and there are no new messages, it now exits the door as expected, rather than return to the main menu. 9) Upload in local mode sped up and streamlined. 10) Generic (Y/N) displays changed to always show default selection to user: "([Y]/N)", etc. 11) Old irritation #2 fixed: When configuring which confs to follow, if you enter a number not on the current screen, system would change it, but not show it to you. Now brings up correct screen for last conference entered. (Especially important when showing conference descriptions - only 15 confs per screen). 12) AOBF (Another old bug fixed): In EXTREMELY rare situations, it was possible to go into an endless loop when doing an I)D search for uploaded netmail messages. How rare, you ask? - I)D search chosen. - Zone and Net ID found. - Node ID NOT found. - Net ID in question was the very last one listed, at tail end of MMGRNODE.DAT. Pretty rare, eh? It's amazing that we discovered it. 13) Split help files so that help on configuration options is available from configuration menu instead of from the main menu. 14) YAOBF (Yet ANOTHER old bug fixed): When displaying a help file, color was not properly reset after an end-of-screen prompt. 15) Modified the way that NEWFILES.DAT is created, for the first time in over a year. Now handles extended descriptions both for stock RBBS-PC, and also copies of RBBS-PC that have been recompiled with the "Maple" merges. Should keep from chopping off NEWFILES.DAT when sysop is running Maple code. Thanks to Eddie Rowe for bringing this to our attention. 16) Versions 2.03 and 2.04 added an extra blank line to all text files that were copied to the work directory, and included in the QWK packet. (News, bulletins, prelog, epilog, etc.). Modified so that EOF does not cause an extra line to be added. Thanks again to Eddie Rowe for letting us know about this one. ----------------------[ v2.04 - 10/02/92 ]------------------------ A maintenance release to the v2.0 series. 1) Manual update of last message read in FIDO *.MSG areas did not check for gaps in message numbers. Code is now consistent in all routines to allow for up to 10 "missing" message numbers in any given FIDO area. 2) A "rollover" in a FIDO *.MSG area (where last message read no longer exists) caused "No new messages" to be displayed when trying to extract from that conference. The program will now recover properly, and begin extracting at the first available message in the conference. 3) If there was only ONE new message to extract in a FIDO *.MSG area, Mail Manager would report "No new messages". It now properly extracts the message. 4) If user "joined" an RBBS-PC conference for the first time from within Mail Manager +Plus+, and then tried to extract mail from that area in the same session, the user would always see "No new messages". Bug was due to security level not having been read during initial conference scan at startup. Fixed in v2.04. 5) Shifted conference name display one character to the left. Was running into conference number in next column when conference number is 3 digits long. 6) Modified display of conference names, to help avoid confusion and improve consistency. Now shows all conferences that the user has immediate access to in UPPER CASE. The only ones shown in lower case are conferences which the user has sufficient security to join, but which SysOp has marked to not allow joining via the door. 7) Fixed bug in auto-join of RBBS-PC conferences that prevented the program from utilizing a deleted user record. 8) Slight tweaking of FIDO *.MSG netmail message extracting. Now shows a couple of additional attribute flags (if they are set) at the top of the message body when extracting a netmail message (local, and sent). ----------------------[ v2.03 - 09/09/92 ]------------------------ A maintenance release to the v2.0 series. 1) Now tests available DOS memory before attempting to allocate it for conference handling. Should help in avoiding QEMM exception 13 errors when Mail Manager +Plus+ is loaded in tight RAM. 2) Attempted to speed up the smarttext conversion when copying news and bulletin files. 3) FIDO *.MSG handling & reliability greatly improved. M)sg selection menu now runs faster, and program can now handle up to 4,096 messages in a single FIDO conference. Also fixes several related bugs that were present in v2.00 through 2.02 in regard to FIDO *.MSG handling. 4) Now shows FIDO message # being posted whenever the user uploads a message to a FIDO area. 5) Handling of security levels improved - now uses the security level present in DORINFOx.DEF only while at Mail Manager +Plus+ main menu. Now checks the user's actual security level from the RBBS-PC *U.DEF user file in each conference, and uses those for individual conf. handling. If "auto-join" is enabled in any given conference, the user's security level from MAIN is used when adding the user to the conference. This does not apply to FIDO areas, and they work the same as before. 6) When using the M)sg selection menu, you are now prompted whether or not to save your Mail Manager Configuration, if any changes were made. Fixes problem in which conference settings were saved when the user did not want them to be. 7) Now sets message extraction option to "System default" when user first joins a conference. Previous versions defaulted to "ALL mail", which could cause unwanted hassle if trying to globally extract only personal messages. 8) Messages extracted from FIDO netmail areas now show the origin and destination net/node addresses at the top of the message body, as well as whether crash, file attach, or request. The QWK standard does not otherwise allow you to know these things when you are looking through the messages in your offline mail reader. 9) "Whirling dirvish" changed from the characters "\|/-" to "-+*" to avoid a possible conflict with someone else's patent and/or copyright. 10) In MAILMGR.DOC, we discovered that we had overlooked the concept of "AKA" addresses for FIDO netmail areas, and had neglected to mention the two system text files pertaining to FIDO areas in the "Sysop-configurable text files" section. Also added an example MMGRNODE.AKA file to the 203-TXT archive. 11) "Type of message base" option in MAILCFG.EXE program moved up closer to the top of the conference edit screen, to keep from having to jump around quite so much when adding new conferences. ----------------------[ v2.02 - 08/17/92 ]------------------------ Quick maintenance release to the v2.0 series. Isn't new code fun? 1) MAILMGR.EXE - Fixed problem with updating last msg read markers in conference numbers greater than 255. 2) MAILMGR.EXE - If SysOp is using Mail Manager's list of archivers (MAILMGR.ARL), Mail Manager +Plus+ no longer attempts to run RBBSQWK.BAT unless RBBSQWK.BAT physically exists in Mail Manager's directory. If you are running SHROOM, and are swapping the application to disk, Mail Manager +Plus+ will now operate a little faster due to the elimination of the un-needed shell. 3) MAILMGR.EXE - Now reports "error-correcting connection required" instead of "MNP required" when user cannot use a protocol due to a non-reliable connection. * NOTE * - Due to a bug in RBBS-PC v17.4, Mail Manager +Plus+ will not allow your users to use any "reliable-connection- required" protocols. As soon as the RBBS authors put the "-R" back into DORINFOx.DEF, they will work again. This does not affect SysOps running 17.3C or lower. 4) MAILCFG.EXE updated to reflect the new version number. ----------------------[ v2.01 - 08/15/92 ]------------------------ Version 2.00 was distributed to all those who pre-registered the package with us, as well as three beta test sites, approximately one week before the scheduled release date of August 15. v2.00 was never available for download on our home board, but it is likely to have been passed around a bit by now, anyway. [sigh] Last-minute changes to the initial v2.00 pre-release: 1) MAILMGR.EXE FIDO handling: Was possible to give incorrect values and/or lock the CPU under certain conditions when updating last msg read in a FIDO area after the download. 2) CFG2TXT and TXT2CFG utilities were mistakenly still coded for a max of 250 conferences instead of the 500 that can now be configured. 3) MAILCFG utility updated to reflect new version number 2.01. 4) DOC.UPD contains a new cover sheet, and the pages of the v2.01 documentation with significant wording changes. (The intention is to keep you from having to reprint the entire 200K doc file if you already printed the v2.00 docs). All executables not mentioned above will still have the 2.00 version number, and are unchanged from the v2.00 pre-release. See v2.00 comments (below) for what all has been changed since the release of the v1.3x series of Mail Manager. ----------------------[ v2.00 - 08/15/92 ]------------------------ Initial release of Mail Manager +Plus+ Changes since the release of the v1.3x series of Mail Manager: 1) Conferences are now configured to allow/disallow the users to "join" from within the door. 2) Support added for bi-directional protocols such as Samuel Smith's HSLINK, etc. If a REP packet is found after the download, it will be automatically processed. 3) Node-specific configuration files supported. Mail Manager +Plus+ will first look for MAILMGR1.CFG, MAILMGR2.CFG, etc. (depending on node number) before falling back to MAILMGR.CFG. 4) Support added for all three graphics types in bulletins, news file, and all Mail Manager +Plus+ text files. 5) Now deletes only an exact name match on QWK, REP, and RBX (text extract) files found in the work directory. Eliminates problem of inadvertantly deleting mail packets from other BBS's if the SysOp has configured the \MAILMGR\LOCAL directory for all personal mail packets. 6) Messages uploaded into *M.DEF message bases have byte 67 of the RBBS message header set to indicate that this message only has one header. (For RBBS-PC 17.4 compatibility). This was an unused byte in RBBS-PC v17.3C and below. 7) To allow offline readers to mark the SysOp's messages as personal, anything addressed to "SYSOP" is now changed to the SysOp's first and last names. 8) Support added for the popular ALIAS merge for RBBS-PC. Can now handle alias names. 9) RBBS-PC smart text is now supported in bulletins and news files. 10) SysOps who dislike the "press any key to continue..." prompt after the initial conference scan can now have Mail Manager +Plus+ go straight to the main menu. If no "MAILMGR*.PRE" prelog file is found, Mail Manager +Plus+ heads straight to the main menu after the conference scan. 11) FIDO-style *.MSG conferences supported. 12) FIDO-style *.MSG netmail conferences supported. 13) Registration of the door is now required to eliminate the one-line "* UNREGISTERED * Evaluation copy" display on the startup screen. 14) Can now manually reset last message read pointer to the last message in the conference by entering "L", or to the last X messages by entering L-X (L-10 for the last 10 messages in the conference). 15) RBBS-PC "last call date" in the user file for each conference is now automatically updated when the message pointer for the conference is updated after a download. Should keep external utilities from purging the user out of the conference due to lack of activity if user uses Mail Manager +Plus+ exclusively to handle mail in that area. 16) "Automatic" mode added. If "/A" found on the command line, Mail Manager +Plus+ goes straight into EXPEDITE mode. Allows batch operation for SysOp use. 17) RBBS-PC [CBAUD] template variable now supported in PROTO.DEF, and can now correctly report file transfer time estimates if passed on the command line. (See documentation on how to handle this). 18) If highest message # in an *M.DEF conference is LOWER than the user's last message read, last message read is now reset to the highest message number, instead of zero. Keeps from extracting the whole conference if the highest physical message has been killed. 19) Now checks the security level present in the individual message headers of *M.DEF message bases, and will not allow a user with less than this security level to extract the message. All previous versions of the door relied on the settings in the configuration file exclusively. 20) Two-second pause added just prior to de-initializing FOSSIL driver to allow any pending characters to be processed. 21) RBBS-PC v17.4 completely changed the method used to determine the BPS rate of callers on other nodes. W)ho's on now handles both 17.3x and 17.4 methods transparently, and correctly shows the BPS rate of the callers. 22) BPS rate, and communications parameters are now shown on initial screen at startup, such as "Online at 2400 BPS, N,8,1". This is the easiest check to see if your /CBAUD command line is working properly with RBBS-PC 17.4. 23) Door can now be "time locked" to restrict access to general users during mail processing hours on the BBS. Users with sufficient security to read ALL messages are allowed into the door during restricted hours, after a 10-second warning message is displayed. 24) New pair of utilities CFG2TXT and TXT2CFG for SysOps who dislike the configuration program, MAILCFG.EXE. Can now use a text editor to create the configuration file, and run TXT2CFG.EXE to "compile" it into Mail Manager's binary configuration format. This also allows a way to "import" FIDO *.MSG conferences, rather than adding each one individually via MAILCFG. 25) Conferences can now be configured to allow/disallow private messages. If private messages not allowed, and user attempts to upload one, user is prompted to either convert the reply to public, or kill the message. 26) Fixed bug that was in all previous versions of Mail Manager: was possible (in network and DV environments) to get a hung system if a user attempted to upload a reply to an *M.DEF conference, and that conference was "full". 27) "(R)" and "Re:", when found as the first three characters of the message subject, are now stripped from the field to allow offline readers to group related messages together. (Rather than 1 group with, and one without). Previous versions of Mail Manager looked only for "(R)". 28) "Fido-style tearlines" changed so that any line beginning with "---" will have the three hyphens replaced by blank spaces, not just if "---" is by itself on a line. 29) Mail Manager now supports up to 500 conferences. 30) Users can now set individual conferences to extract A)ll messages, P)ersonal messages only, or S)ystem default as they defined it in the configuration menu. User expresses this choice when setting message markers ("M" from the menu). 31) New utility UPDATUSR to convert a Mail Manager v1.34 and lower user file (MAILMGR.USR) to the new format used by Mail Manager +Plus+. 32) UPDATE.EXE utility revised to update a v1.30 through v1.34 configuration file (MAILMGR.CFG) to the new format. 33) New utility MMGRNODE.EXE to compile fido-style nodelists for Mail Manager +Plus+'s use. (Used for *.MSG netmail areas only). 34) New utility MMINDEX.EXE to create an index file in each fido conference, to aid in determining last msg read for the user, and to speed up FIDO conference handling. See documentation on how to use this utility.