Monster Media 1996 #15

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NEF Changes and Additions 2.34 Public Release, May 20 1996 - Extension of the PassThru concept. If you specify the "-0" flag in a FileArea definition, when you do "Nef Clean", the files not currently referenced in outbound attaches are deleted. If you specify "-0<days>", the files in that area will not be deleted until they become older than <days> _AND_ there is no file attach pointing to them. Example: FileArea Area1 \file\area1\ O -030 2:345/678 I123/4 Files in \file\area1 will be deleted when older than 30 days _and_ not referenced by any file attach. - OS/2: New "KillDate Write|Creation" statement. To specify the date to be used for evaluating the file age that triggers the file deletion in passthru areas. This statement is useful for HPFS, ignored on FAT. If none specified, "Creation" is assumed. Example: KillDate Write - New extended "-0<days>" switch for the "NewAreasFrom" statement. - OS/2: New parameters "Creation" and "Write" for the Touch keyword. You can configure the type of "touch" you need. Examples: Touch ; default: touch the Creation (upload) date Touch Creation ; same as default Touch Write ; touch the Last Write date Touch Creation Write ; touch both dates - Fixed bug introduced in 2.32 which caused an access violation in the "query" type commands if AreaDescWrap was not used in the config file. - Added check to prevent access violation when interactive hatch is used with @diz and CompressCfg is NOT defined. Now an error is reported. - Added check to prevent that NEF reports "Empty command" when no MaxAreaCompile statement is used. - Enhanced INF Documentation. 2.33 Public Release, Mar 13 1996 - A bug in the squish.cfg parsing routines has been found: if an area is defined with NOTHING after the path, this area cannot be opened. The problem usually happens when AreaTag specifies a *.MSG netmail with NO flags in Squish.Cfg. 2.32 Public Release, Mar 13 1996 - New registration options: BMT Micro, NC, USA and Vince Coen, UK. - If the file description contains high ascii codes (>127), the announcements will now contain remapped plain-ASCII characters. - You can allow High Ascii characters in some (or even all) areas by the use of the "HighAsciiOk" statement in the global or local-override announcement sections. - New (global) statement: UniqueDmpLine. Makes NEF generate FILES.DMP filebase files with descriptions on one line only (multiple lines are concatenated). By default, NEF outputs multi-line descriptions without changes to FILES.DMP: when using L)ocate and N)ewfiles commands, Maximus will respect the original formatting, but the continuation lines will be aligned to the left. When this statement is used, the original formatting of descriptions is lost (in the filebase) but Maximus will be able to word-wrap and align when executing L)ocate or N)ewfiles commands. - Added check to prevent misconfiguration of the "AreaTag" statement: it's ILLEGAL to use "AreaTag MyTag -$". You must either use "AreaTag MyTag" (if SquishCfg is used) or "AreaTag MyTag c:\bbs\mail\mytag -$". In other words: when you let NEF lookup the TAG in Squish.cfg, it is smart enough to find out the area type on its own ! - When hatching from command line, it is now legal to specify @diz without specifying a short description: it will be considered empty. I still strongly recommend to always specify a "short" description besides the optional "long" one. Example Nef Hatch c:\file\filename.ext TAG @diz is now equivalent to: Nef Hatch c:\file\filename.ext TAG "" @diz - Changed a typedef in NEFEAT.H, so that it does not create problems with IBM compilers (thanks to Michael Hohner). - OS/2: New mnemonic characters for PmHatch PushButtons. 2.31 Private Beta, Mar 3 1996 - Fixed problem with UNC filenames that start with a double backslash (on LANs). 2.30 Public Release, Feb 19 1996 - Check added to prevent NEF from issuing a forward request to multiple uplinks for the same area, when a TAG is contained in more than one Filebone file. - New cfg statement: "ForwardWildReq". Starting with ver 2.30, by default, TicFix requests with wildcards are NOT forwarded to the filebones; this verb enables even this type of request forward. - Additional check in PmHatch: if no "short" description is specified, the user is prompted about whether he really means to hatch with no (short) description. - Updated Docs. 2.26 Public Beta, Jan 22 1996 - COMPATIBILITY WARNING: New override priority sequence for "from AKA". The highest priority is that of the "Area AKA": if you have defined an area aka (#<address> in FileArea definition), it will always be the "from address" for TICs from this area. Then there is the aka override of "FileLink" definitions. If a node has a "from aka" specified in it's FileLink definition, it will be used for all TICs addressed to this node, unless there is an overriding "Area AKA". If no override is applicable from FileArea and FileLink definitions, then an aka match is attempted: if the "to-address" has a zone that matches an address defined in NEF.CFG, then the first match is used. If none of the previous cases applies, the primary address is used (the first address defined in nef.cfg). - New command line options for hatch commands. "@bbs" can be used in the place of the normal description: NEF will take (if existent) from the files.bbs. "@diz" can be used as a further optional parameter (after the "short" description) to make NEF take the "long" description from the file_id.diz contained in the archive. Examples: nef hatch d:\apbbs\nef999.rar APBBS "Nef 9.99" nef hatch d:\apbbs\nef999.rar APBBS @bbs nef hatch d:\apbbs\nef999.rar APBBS "Nef 9.99" @diz nef hatch d:\apbbs\nef999.rar APBBS @bbs @diz - New "Single Hatch" option. If you Hatch/Catch/Match/Send a file with the -d<adr> command line switch, it is sent to <adr> only. <adr> can be any 4D address: in the case it is defined as a link in the matching "FileArea" or even only as a "FileLink", the specified akas, password and switches are applied. If, on the contrary, <adr> is a unknown address, the Hold flavour is used, no password is put in the TIC and the "from" aka is derived from an aka-match on the zone. Example: Nef -d2:332/504.2 hatch - Now NEF is able to add new (created) areas to the Maximus filearea.ctl or equivalent. There are two new configuration statements: MaxAreaAdd <fileareactl> <lev[/keys]> <acs> [<division>] MaxAreaCompile <command> <fileareactl> is the fully qualified name of the Maximus file-area definition file. <lev[/keys]> protects areas of higher privilege from being automatically added to the Maximus configuration. The level and keys are to be compared to those of ProtArea statements and FileBone files. <acs> is the Maximus access string to be used in <fileareactl> for the new area. <division> is the optional specification of a division where you want to put new areas. If not specified or not found, the new areas will be appended at the end of <fileareactl>. <command> is an external command to be executed before NEF ends, from the Maximus system directory. It should be used to compile the new Maximus configuration via SILT/SILTP. The area name is taken equal to the area TAG, with dots changed to underscores. The area description is taken from the FileBone files if available, otherwise it is taken equal to the area TAG. Example: MaxAreaAdd d:\max\filearea.ctl 0 Transient Tic.New MaxAreaCompile siltp max -a -2a The new areas, will be inserted at the end of division "Tic.New" in the file "d:\max\filearea.ctl", with an access string of "Transient". Areas with protection level above 0 or any protection key will NOT be added to maximus configuration. Before terminating, NEF will invoke the SILTP compiler to update the area configuration. The command will be executed after changing the current directory to the Maximus system one (probably d:\max\). - The filebone-style files now accept the specification of keys after level. Example: Area NODEDIFF 0/f ! FidoNet: Weekly NodeList Updates - The default message size is of 12KB. The new cfg statement "MsgSize <bytes>" allows to specify a different size (minimum 8KB). Usually a larger message size is useful to avoid too many messages in reports of filebone availability. Anyway, please be careful not to use a size larger than your downlinks can handle. Example: MsgSize 90000 - Fast Netmail Scan in Squish area. The pointer to the last scanned message is stored in <netarea>.NEF. - New cfg statement "NoRaidBeforeHatch" to avoid the scanning of netmail before the execution of hatch commands. This could be useful to avoid delays with huge *.MSG netmail areas. - The tear line now reports the OS version (OS/2 or DOS) and a '+' after the version number in the case of a registered copy ("Evaluation" for unregistered copies, as before). - Errorlevels for Lock and Close error on message areas have been dropped: if a Lock error happens, NEF will exit with the Open area errorlevel; in the case of a Close error, NEF will continue after issuing an error message. - TICs received with no password in "NoSecure" mode are accepted anyway. - Area aka overrides are reported by the nef filefix robot when answering to query type commands. OS/2 Only: - Added support for Feature DLLs: Two new configuration statements are supported: FeatureLoad <DllName> Feature <cfgline> "FeatureLoad" allows to load a "Feature" DLL. <DllName> can be a simple filename without extension (".DLL" implied) if the DLL is in the LibPath, otherwise a fully qualified filename can be specified. "Feature" allows to specify configuration statements that are to be parsed by the DLL. Multiple FeatureLoad statements are allowed, in which case the Feature statements refer to the last loaded DLL. An Example DLL, named "Feature.Dll" is provided, with source. Example (works with the example DLL): FeatureLoad Feature Feature OutPrefix "New File Received: " 2.21 Public Beta, Jan 1 1996 - This should be the last beta before a new "final" release. - COMPATIBILITY WARNING: The old "AreaList" configuration statement has been dropped. In some cases you could use the new "HelpFile" statement to point to the file you used with "AreaList". - New "HelpFile <file>" configuration statement. The specified <file> will be sent (via netmail) by the FileFix robot when help is requested. - New switches can be used on the subject of messages addressed to the FileFix robot: -h to ask for help. -q remains "query": list of all areas. -l now means "linked": list of linked areas only. -u to get a list of unlinked areas only. Only the first letter is checked, so you could use "-query" instead of the simple abbreviation "-q". - New commands are now available in the body of the messages addressed to the FileFix robot. Besides add/delete commands for areas, you can use: %Help same as -h %Query same as -q %List same as -q %Linked same as -l %Unlinked same as -u - New "FileBone" support. NEF is now able to use information distributed via the FileBone.Na and FileBone.No files. Many useful functions are allowed by the use of these files, so, even if you do not receive them from your uplink, you could evaluate the possibility of creating "filebone" style files on your own, just to store some information that can be retrieved by NEF. - The format for the filebone style is: Area <Tag> <lev> <flags> <desc> <Tag> is the TIC area Tag. The original filebone format allows 8 character maximum but NEF is not that limited. <lev> is the protection level of the area, for "filefix" (raid) functions. The original format allows the range 0-4095 while NEF allows 0-65535. <flags> is a combinaton of !.*& and possibly other characters. ! : Can be found at any Filebone Hub. . : Only on some Filebone Hubs. * : Any node can hatch into. & : Do not send to downlinks. Others : Private distribution. Examples: ! : normal area from the uplink to its downlinks, available on all Filebone Hubs. !*& : return channel from the downlinks to their uplink, available on all Filebone Hubs. .* : bidirectional area (any node can hatch into), available on some Filebone hubs only. <desc> is the description for the area. Example: Area APBBS 0 P ApWorks OS/2 BBS programs Area NODEDIFF 0 ! FidoNet: Weekly NodeList Updates - New configuration verb: FileBone <file> [<fm> <to> <toadr> <acc> [<pre>]] Multiple FileBone statements are possible. <file> is the filename of the filebone-style file. If you want to enable the forward of requests for new areas from your downlinks to your uplink(s), you must specify the following fields (to be enclosed between quotes when containing space) so that they can be used to write netmail messages to your uplink's Raid: <fm> is the "from" name. <to> is the "to" name. <toadr> is the "to" 4D address. <acc> is a <level>[/keys] specification, to limit the access of downlinks to request forwards addressed to <toadr> for the areas described in <file>. <pre> is an optional string to be prefixed to the area Tags that are being requested. Examples: FileBone \bbs\FileBone.Na "Alberto Pasquale" SysOp 2:332/1 0 The "\bbs\FileBone.Na" file is used by NEF, also for request forwards. When a downlink requests an area that is not currently defined in the NEF configuration (usually TicArea.Cfg) but is described in FileBone.Na, a netmail message is written by NEF from "Alberto Pasquale" to "SysOp" of 2:332/1 using the appropriate "from address" aka and "subject" (password) as per the "FileLink" definition of 2:332/1. The body contains a list of the requested area Tags, one per line. No (<acc> = "0") protection is specified (any downlink has access to request forwards). FileBone \bbs\FB.SP "Alberto Pasquale" SysOp 2:332/1 30/a + Only downlinks with level equal or above 30 and with the 'A' key have access to request forwards. The requested tags will be preceded by "+". If you need a space between the '+' and the tag, then you must specify a <pre> that contains a space, so you have to enclose it in quotes: FileBone \bbs\FB.SP "Alberto Pasquale" SysOp 2:332/1 0 "+ " - The forwarded requests are stored in a file named after the configuration one, changing the extension to ".Fwd". Usually the configuration file is "Nef.Cfg", so the forwarded requests will be stored in "Nef.Fwd". The format is: <Tag> <Addr>, i.e. every line contains a Tag followed by the 4D Address of the downlink that made the request. When a new area is created, NEF looks into this file in order to find nodes to be added to the new "FileArea" definition. - A node is entitled to add an area only if it has level and keys that match the requirements from BOTH the "ProtArea" statements in Nef.Cfg and the <lev> specification in a FileBone file (if available). - The various area-listing commands will list the descriptions contained in the FileBone files. - When the FileFix robot is requested a list of areas that are not linked, it will list also those available to the requesting node from the filebone. - New cfg statement: AreaDescWrap <indent> <right> suggested: AreaDescWrap 25 79 The descriptions returned by the filefix functions will be word-wrapped so that continuation lines start with <indent> spaces and do not exceed column <right>. - New extended syntax for the Netmail statement: NetMail <path> [-$] [-p<adr>] The new -p<adr> switch allows to specify a primary address for the netmail area. NEF will use this address to write the messages to the FileBone's FileFix to the correct netmail area. If you have multiple netmails, please add the primary address specification in all but the "default" netmail areas. - New command line command: NEF NOTIFY [ALL | <adr> ...] The Notify command sends a list of linked areas to the specified links. Examples: NEF Notify NEF Notify All Sends notification to all links. NEF Notify 2:332/504 81:449/9108 Sends notifications to the 2 specified addresses. 2.20 Public Beta, Dec 03 1995 - New type of hatch with copy: If you use "NEF CATCH", the specified file is copied to the destination area and hatched. - Multi-Line files.bbs descriptions are now supported. To enable this feature the way you like, please use the "MultiLineDesc <nnn> [<c>]" statement, specifying the continuation column and character. For example, to have the 2nd and following description lines in files.bbs start at column 31, use: MultiLineDesc 31 To have the continuation lines preceded by a '|' character, use: MultiLineDesc 29 | - Modified routines for PassThru clean-up. Previously passthru areas HAD to be defined using a separate path for each area. Now NEF works correctly even if you define many areas with the same path. Anyway this is not a recommended practice, since slightly different files with the same name could arrive from different areas causing a CRC mismatch. OS/2 Only: - New Pm Hatch. To invoke the PM hatch program you must type "NEF send". The PmHatch program is very simple and intuitive to use: see the following description. You can select the destination Area Tag via a drop-down list: just click with the mouse on the button at the right of the entry field. You have three radio buttons to select the "type" of hatch (normal, with Copy, with Move), just as you use Hatch/Catch/Match from the command line. You can choose the file to be hatched via a file dialog box: just click on the "Browse" push button on the right of the field. You can also specify a "Replace" file via a file-dialog by clicking on the "Browse" push-button on the right of the "Repl" field. When doing Copy or Move, the files.bbs of the destination area is updated and the "replace" file (if specified) is deleted, just as if the file were tossed from the inbound. You can mark the "No Local Kill" checkbox to prevent NEF from deleting the "replace" file in the local area. You can load a "short description" (Desc) from the files.bbs, by clicking on the "FilesBbs" push-button. You can load a multi-line "long description" (Long Desc) from the File_Id.Diz inside the archive, from the Files.Bbs or from a specified file (Arc Diz, FilesBbs, File push-buttons respectively). If you do not have the "CompressCfg <filename>" statement in Nef.Cfg, the "Arc Diz" push-button will be disabled. Of course you can always fill-in or modify any field manually. Now look at the five push-buttons at the bottom of the hatch dialog: <OK>: to exit the dialog and hatch all the entered files. <Prev>: to visualize the previous hatch entry. <Next>: to create a new (empty) entry in order to hatch another file. <Copy>: to copy the visualized entry to the first free position, in order to hatch another file by modifying the current entry. <Cancel> or ESC: to cancel the current entry. ALT-F4 or "Close", to abort (cancell all the hatch entries). - Please note that the PmHatch.Exe file must be in the path when you invoke "Nef Send". In the case the PmHatch program terminates abnormally, the NEF program will wait for it indefinitely: you can stop it using CTRL-C or CTRL-Break. - To allow the extraction of File_Id.Diz while using the Pm Hatch, use the "CompressCfg <filename>" statement to specify the location and name of a "Squish style" compress.cfg: CompressCfg c:\squish\compress.cfg 2.19 Public Beta, Oct 04 1995 - Please note: APWORKS has changed phone number: 2:332/504@fidonet +39-59-246112 ISDNC/V34/VFC/V32T/H16 2:332/524@fidonet +39-59-246113 ISDNC/V34/VFC/V32T/H16/FAX A new registration site is available: Jens Holm of 2:238/888@fidonet Skanderupgade 9, D2 8660 Skanderborg Denmark Price: 125.- DKR. Can be paid cash, check or postal order. - ATTENTION: this version is for use with Maximus 3.00; support for Maximus 2.0x has been dropped. If you still use Max 2.0x you have to disable filebase support or continue using version 2.18. If you do not use Maximus, you can obviously use whatever version of NEF you like. - New mutual exclusive semaphore flag "FileBase.Bsy" used to avoid concurrent access and modification of the filebase by other ApWorks programs. There is no need to delete this flag if it is not deleted after a power failure or abnormal termination (ApWorks programs are smart enough to realize whether the flag is really in use or not). - New errorlevel 17 for FileBase Busy Timeout. - Support for the "MAXIMUS" environment variable: the "MaxPrm" cfg statement is now only an override. Please note that if the "MAXIMUS" variable is not defined, you must use the "MaxPrm" statement BEFORE "FileBaseUpdate". - When the files are touched in HPFS, the creation date is modified, not the modification one, in order to make the files recognized as new by Maximus and FLM without changing the date that is normally shown and transferred: you "see" and transfer to your downlinks the original date of the file while Maximus and FLM are able to realize that the file is new. - WildTags are now interpreted following the "OS/2 style" for file wildcards: "*LOC*" specifies all tags that contain "LOC"; "FW???" specifies all tags that have up to three characters after "FW", etc. 2.18 Public Beta, Aug 28 1995 - KeepSeenBy statement dropped: SeenBys are now already kept. - SeenBys are now always fully processed as they should. - Points are not included in the SeenBys of TICs addressed to other links, to avoid unnecessarily huge lists of SeenBys. - Fixed bug of Dos 2.17 version that prevented NEF from moving files between different logical drives. - Description is now formatted between columns 4 and 79, to make descriptions with empty lines look better. - The outbound functions (Out, OutView, Clean) can now handle 2000 files instead of 1000 (?UT, ?LO). - PassThru areas implemented: new "-0" option in "FileArea" statement. FileArea <TAG> <path> I|O|* [#<adr>] [-0] [[<flags>[link]...] When the "-0" is specified, the area is "PassThru", that is its files will be deleted when already sent to all the downlinks. Please note that ANY file (apart from FILES.*) present in <path> and not attached to any system will be deleted. - Since it might be not efficient to always scan the entire outbound to check for passthru files to be deleted, NEF must be instructed to do so. There are two ways to make NEF delete old passthru files: - Use -p command line switch. - Use CLEAN command line command. Examples: NEF -p Makes NEF operate as usual, but it will clean the PassThru areas before terminating. NEF -p OUT Makes NEF clean the PassThru areas and report the status of Outbound. This is the most efficient use, since NEF must scan the outbound once to make two different things ("clean passthru" and "outbound report"). NEF CLEAN Makes NEF clean the PassThru. - The OUT and OUTVIEW commands are now equivalent for message output. When using file output ("NEF OUT Out.Txt" or "NEF OUTVIEW Out.Txt") OUT generates a concise Outbound analysis (no specification of each and every attached file), while OUTVIEW generates a full report. - The <OUT> special tag in "Announce" statements now makes NEF write a concise outbound report. - The new <OUTVIEW> special tag provides for a detailed outbound analysis. - New special tag <THRU> represents all passthru areas. If you want to keep NEF from announcing files received in PassThru areas, just use "NoAnnounce <THRU>". - New extensions in "NewAreasFrom" statement: NewAreasFrom <adr> [#<aka>] [-0] [<path>] The "-0" switch allows to create PassThru areas when a unknown TAG is encountered. The <path> is an override for the global "NewAreasPath" statement. 2.17 Public Beta, Aug 10 1995 - 16 bit versions dropped. - (OS/2) EAs are now copied together with the file, when it must be moved from inbound to the destination area. - Fixed bug that caused newly created areas to be added multiple times to ticarea.cfg if 2 or more areas were created at the same time. - When "MATCHing" a file that is already in its destination directory, it was deleted. Fixed. - Multiple "Desc" keywords in the inbound TICs are now recognized properly. Previously only multiple "LDesc" keywords were allowed; "Desc" had to be unique. - The description for FILES.BBS is now always taken from the "Desc" keyword(s) in the inbound TICs. Previously the "LDesc" description was used if longer. Reason: many "LDesc" descriptions contain boxes and look ugly when reformatted. The Files.BBS description does not allow to keep formatting (must be on a single line, the BBS program will reformat according to its configuration). - The description for announcement messages is the longest one between "Desc" and "LDesc". Its formatting is now preserved. - Now the '*' wildcard used alone does not include special tags (beginning by '<'). People using "Announce *" will not be disappointed any further by the announcing of <BAD> in the same area. - The Path statement in outgoing TICs contained the ASCII local (instead of GMT) time specification followed by "GMT". Now this has been fixed and the "GMT" changed to "UTC". Please note that you must have the environment variable "TZ" correctly set in config.sys (OS/2) or autoexec.bat (DOS) to have a correct specification of UTC. E.g. for Central European Time (CET) SET TZ=CET-01 (winter, normal time) SET TZ=CET-02 (summer, daylight saving time) E.g. for USA East Coast: SET TZ=EST5EDT Eastern time is 5h less than UTC and Daylight saving applies with the "standard rule" from the first sunday of April to the last sunday of October. More complicate expressions could be used to specify automatic change to and back from daylight saving, if a fix rule is available. E.g. for Italy: daylight is 1h ahead from last sunday of March to last sunday of September. SET TZ=CET-01CDT,M3.5.0,M9.5.0 (See a C manual for more details). - New "NoSecure" (global) cfg statement to disable the Secure mode. When "NoSecure" is used, NEF will toss incoming files ignoring errors due to password mismatch and missing from-authorization (sender not linked, sender receive only). Anyway the error will be noted in the logs and <BAD> message report. - New "-t" command line switch to toggle "Secure" mode. - New (global) cfg statement "SquishCfg <filename>". It is used to find the path of a message area from its TAG. Required to use the new "AreaTag" statement in "short" form. - New "AreaTag <Tag> [<path> [-$]]" statement, to be used in the place of "AreaPath <path> [-$]". You can now specify an announcement area by using its TAG, as specified in Squish.Cfg. e.g. AreaTag LOCAL_ANNOUNCES The "long form", with both <Tag> and <path> specifications is useful in the case you do not use Squish and still want to tell NEF the TAG for an echo area, so that it can log it to EchoTossLog. - New "EchoTossLog <filename>" (global) cfg statement. NEF will log to the specified file the tags of the echoareas where it has written announcements. If you use the "MaxPrm" statement, you can omit "EchoTossLog", since NEF will take the default from the MaxPrm. - New "MaxPrm <filename>" (global) cfg statement. It is used to take the default for EchoTossLog and to get the name and location of the files necessary for filebase updating. This is required when using "FileBaseUpdate". - New "FileBaseUpdate" (global) cfg statement. Requires "MaxPrm". NEF will automatically update the filebase for all the areas changed when tossing/hatching new files. No more need for external FB. - New "NoReplace <WTAG> ..." (global) cfg statement. Multiple statements can be used. The specified <WTAG>s indicate in which areas you do not want NEF to delete files specified by the "Replaces" keyword in inbound TICs. E.g.: to avoid Replace in all areas: NoReplace * 2.16 Restricted Beta - The special tags (e.g. <BAD>, <DEF>) can now be excluded from announcement via the "NoAnnounce" statement, just like all the normal tags. This is useful for people who like announcing all the areas together ("Announce *") and that were annoyed by the inclusion of the special tags also. 2.15 Public Beta, Nov 11 1994 - Be aware that all DOCS refer to version 2.00: updated documentation will be included in next version. For now, please read this file to know new features and changes. - The former support BBS (Videl, 2:332/504 511 524) will close in a few days. A new support BBS (ApWorks) is available with the same old address 2:332/504; V34/VFC +39-59-243882. New Magics available for NEF beta: NEFBETA (OS/2) and NEFDBETA (Dos). - OS/2 versions are now compressed with InfoZip. - Fixed a problem that occurred when "short descriptions" (in "Desc" lines) were longer than 255 characters. Nef considered the remaining of the description as an "unknown" line and put it in the outbound TICs. Now the remainder of a too long inbound-TIC line is discarded. - The "short description" limit has been raised to 2KB (the same as for the "long description"). - When both the "short" (Desc) and "long" (LDESC) descriptions are available, NEF uses the longer one for announcements and FILES.BBS. Up to v.2.14, NEF always used the "long" description if available. 2.14 Public Beta - Support for Long Tags Now the area TAGs are not limited to 8 chars and can contain any character. Anyway you should be careful because other TIC processing programs could not be capable of handling such long tags. For sake of completeness, they can even contain blank spaces: where they could be misinterpreted as field separating characters, you must include the whole Tag in quotes: "Long Tag". See the DOC for more details. - Hatch/Match (batch mode): the character for separating the name and the replace fields has been changed from ',' to '/'. - The "BefDesc" statement has been substituted by the "DescStart" one. Here is a comparison of old and new syntax: BefDesc <WTAG> [<WTAG> ...] "<string>" DescStart "<string>" <WTAG> [<WTAG> ...] - Now there are 4 different EXEs. NEF.EXE: 32 bit OS/2 NEF16.EXE: 16 bit OS/2 NEFD.EXE: 32 bit DOS, requires DOS4GW.EXE NEFD16.EXE: 16 bit DOS - The "areafix" robot ignored messages marked as sent. Now they are processed, to avoid problems with netmail packers that mark all messages as sent, even if they are sent nowhere, being already arrived at destination. - New command line switch to override the "StatusLog" filename: "-l<logname>". - The maximum length of messages created by robots before splitting has been elevated to 12KB. 2.12 Beta - Fixed bug that caused access violations when doing "NEF Out". 2.11 Beta - Messages generated by NEF in multiple parts now have a time stamp that increases one second for each message part, thus avoiding false duplicate detection by the buggy dupe check of Squish 1.10. 2.10 Beta - New function: "Outbound Analysis". Syntax: NEF OutView [<file>] (verbose) NEF Out [<file>] (tiny) If <file> is not specified, the report goes to message areas. To define a message area for report, use the "<OUT>" keyword as a TAG. In this case, the Subj, Prefix and Suffix will be ignored. 2.00 - First public release for the completely new NEF (OS/2 and DOS). - Added the <DEF> and <BAD> special tags for announcements. - Documented the NoAnnounce statement (already present in NEF v1.00). - Added the Tic processing and Link Robot sections. 1.00 - First public release (DOS only).