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Monster Media 1996 #14
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Monster Media No. 14 (April 1996) (Monster Media, Inc.).ISO
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HISTORY.DOC
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1996-01-26
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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.