OS/2 Shareware BBS: 2 BBS/02-BBS.zip/MAXP201B.LZH/MAX201B.NEW

Text File | 1992-02-29 | 22KB | 564 lines

Legend:

x = Bugfix
* = New feature
! = Modification which may require configuration changes
- = Other modification (informational)


=*= Changes between Maximus 2.00/rel and Maximus 2.01 beta/1 =*=

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!    WARNING    !!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OS/2 users MUST copy the new MSGAPI.DLL to your libpath. Third-party
apps should be okay (knock on wood), but the new Max, Squish, SILT
and TopicX require the new MSGAPI.DLL.  This is a package deal;
either you must upgrade all four at once, or you must not upgrade
any of them.

===

x Fixed a problem in the OS/2 version which sometimes caused a trap
  when performing an area list.

x WELCOME.MEC can now start with a colour of [cyan].

x Fixed a bug in the BORED D)elete command which allowed users to
  specify a starting line which was greater than the ending line.

x If a "%" is placed as the last character on a line for a DownloadCmd,
  Max will no longer create a garbage text string.

x The W)ho Is On command will now show the proper text when users
  are downloading QWK packets and when chatting with the SysOp.

x Max will now properly handle aliases when using the multi-line chat.

x A problem with the F)iles command not always showing the T)ag option
  at the bottom of the file list has been fixed.

x When displaying the "Bad pwd 'xxx'" error message because of a failed
  password attempt, Max will now log the password that the user ENTERED,
  as opposed to incorrectly logging the password which was required
  to gain access to the area.

x Fixed a potential problem with the SEAlink file sending code.

* Implemented partial support for the Version 7 nodelist.  By adding
  this statement to the Matrix section of MAX.CTL:

        Nodelist        Version 7

  and by deleting your old "Nodelist Version ..." statement, Max will
  use the Version7 nodelist.

  Notes:

  . At the matrix prompt, the net list ("/") and node list ("#")
    functions are *NOT* supported when running V7, and unless
    someone else writes the code to do it, they probably never
    will be.

* Implemented support for the FrontDoor nodelist.  (Incidentally, this
  one line sums up about 6 hours of work.  JoHo's nodelist format is a
  set of relational Btree database files, each with different quirks.
  The complete absence of documentation didn't help, either.)

  To enable the FD nodelist code, add this statement to the Matrix
  section of MAX.CTL:

        Nodelist        Version FD

  With this option enabled, Max will expect to find NODELIST.###,
  NODELIST.FDX, USERLIST.FDX, FDNET.PVT (if any) and FDPOINT.PVT (if
  any) in your nodelist directory.  Max can use the FD nodelist
  for lookups, but the same browsing restriction (lack of the "/" and
  "#" commands) apply to the FD nodelist as well as V7.

  Notes:

  . The nodelist will be used both to look up addresses and SysOp
    names.  Node lookup works as usual, but when processing an
    unknown SysOp name, Max will do things in this order:

    - Check for aliasaes in ALIAS.MAX.
    - Check the V7 nodelist, if any.
    - Check the FrontDoor nodelist, if any.
    - Check FIDOUSER.LST, if any.

x When performing a global T)ag, Max will now check for any FileOverrides
  in an area before allowing the user to tag files in that area.
  Previously, this only worked for barricades.

x Fixed a bug which caused redirection in an xtern_run command to
  "stick" even after the shell has been executed.

x Fixed a bug which caused the user's "time on today" field to
  be doubled when using ReRead or "@" with xtern_dos/run.

x Fixed problems with the MsgOverride handler becoming greedy and
  overriding the commands on the EDIT menu in addition to the
  MESSAGE menu.

x Fixed a problem which caused Max/2 to trap when displaying a
  message with no kludge lines.

x Fixed the untag message area function.  When untagging any given
  area, untag would sometimes untag the prior area too.

* Max now has a new way of handling the multitasker autodetection:

  If "Multitasker None" is specified in MAX.CTL, Max will not
  use any multitasker code at all, nor will it try to detect one.

  If "Multitasker Auto" is specified in MAX.CTL, Max will
  behave as it did in 2.00/rel.

  Similarly, the -mn and -ma command line switches can also be
  used to achieve the above results.

  Also, the MultiLink and DoubleDOS detection code was removed because
  of instability problems.  (Those of you who run non-dedicated Novell
  servers will know what I mean. :-) )  If you use MultiLink, you'll
  have to specify so explicitly in the control file or on the command
  line.

x The colour specified for "Hotflash Bar" will now actually work.

x The Yes/No/=nonstop characters will now be used from the current
  language file, rather than only the first one specified in
  LANGUAGE.CTL.

* Added support for the CALLER.nnn interface in FrontDoor 2.10+. This
  allows Max to be spawned without a dozen command line arguments, as
  follows:

        max -iC:\FD\CALLER.0

  This causes Max to read the caller information from the specified
  file, taking the caller's baud rate, port rate, locked baud rate,
  and other factors into account.  FD will create CALLER.1, CALLER.2
  and so forth for additional nodes, so multi-line systems can use
  multiple caller files like this:

        max -n%task% -iC:\FD\CALLER.%task%

x ACCEM will now properly decompile [menu_cmd] tokens.

x Took out the "Pig Latin" feature in MaxEd.

* Minor performance improvements for FB, especially on CD-ROM drives.

x Fixed a problem with FB hanging when it runs out of disk space.

x Fixed an erroneous error message in SCANBLD which pops up if
  every single user in the user file has an alias declared.

x Fixed a bug in the MSC/WC version of FB which caused a trap
  when a file with a blank description is encountered.

x Max will now let the SysOp enter netmail messages, regardless
  of his/her "credit" setting.

x Max/DOS will now allow a "-p" command line parameter greater than 8.

x Fixed a bug which stopped Max from properly hurling files on a
  network.

x Fixed some spurious RoboCop messages.

x The user editor can now accomodate download and upload totals in
  excess of 65 megabytes.

* The search command in the user editor (and the "@Edit User" menu
  option) will now check the user's alias for a match.

x Removed the code to support the "Compatible Localbaud" feature.  This
  is pointless with the new user record, and it was causing the last-call
  dates to be FUBAR anyways.

x When using the FSR, the "area header" will only be displayed the
  first time you enter an area or when a non-message-displaying
  command is entered.  (This means that you won't see the header when
  doing N)ext, P)rior, C)urrent, etc.)  Since everything else is shown
  on the FSR header anyway, this information doesn't need to be
  duplicated.

x Max will no longer allow users to post to a read-only area using the
  off-line reader.

x When browsing messages in hotflash mode, hitting an invalid key at
  the browse menu will no longer cause the hotflash bar to change
  colours to white on black when the "Try again" message is displayed.

* The "Kill" and "Reply" command on the Browse menu will now mirror
  the equivalent commands on your message menu, on an area-by-area
  basis.

  In other words, any access modifications you make to the "Reply"
  command on the message menu will also be used to restrict access to
  the Browse Reply command.  The same applies for the Browse/Kill
  command.  Note that both of these restrictions are IN ADDITION to
  the "Mailchecker Reply/Kill" settings in MAX.CTL.  All acces
  restrictions are taken into account, including the priv level on the
  menu itself, barricades and overrides.

  The "Reply" priv level also applies to uploading messages with the
  QWK reader.

x Added extra protection against users uploading files called FILES.DAT,
  FILES.DMP and FILES.IDX.

x High bit characters should once again work in the logoff comment
  area.

* A new keyword has been added to facilitate European systems.  Placing
  the following keyword in the SESSION section of MAX.CTL:

        Global High Bit

  instructs Max to allow high bit characters almost anywhere.  This option
  is automatically enabled when using "Charset Chinese".

  This command enables high bit characters everywhere in the system,
  except in message areas.  To allow high bit characters in a given
  message area, the "High Bit Allowed" keyword must be explicitly
  specified for each area.

  CAUTION:  Using this command means that callers with 7 bits and parity
  will NOT be able to log on to your system until they change to 8N1!

x Fixed a bug which caused SILT to erroneously report high-bit characters
  in origin lines as bad, even when the area was declared with
  'High Bit Allowed'.

x Max should now be much more amenable to Chinese characters, even used
  throughout the BBS.

x The 'time' field on uploaded QWK messages will now be parsed
  correctly.

- Streamlined the menu handling code.  Max should now be much quicker when
  reading .MNU files from disk.

x ORACLE will now show a non-zero value for the [syscall] token.

x When parsing the destination address on a QWK-uploaded messages,
  Max will now ensure that it starts with a digit.  If not, Max
  will create it as a local message (instead of sending to the net
  host, like 2.00/rel did :-) ).

  In addition, blank lines after the "To:" will also be stripped on
  import.

x The QWK U)pload function should now properly support "Alias OK"
  message areas.

x The normal access restrictions will now apply when trying to
  forward a message into a read-only area.

x Max will now properly truncate too-long fields in PROTOCOL.CTL.

x The dots displayed when performing a Browse have now been replaced
  by a gee-whiz-bang "whirlygig".  No need for applause; just send
  money to show your overwhelming gratitude.

x When creating a QWK packet, the SysOp's full name will be used.  Max
  will also add the correct phone number to the QWK packet, even
  if spaces are included.

x Fixed a bug in the .BBS-displaying routines which caused Max to
  improperly skip over certain lines.

x When 'Reboot' is turned on, Max will no longer reboot when hitting
  <Alt-J> from the WFC screen.

x If "Alias System" is enabled, the user's alias will now be written
  by the [post] token.

x Fixed a bug which caused Max to crash when a [colour] token had
  no following [endcolour].

x Max will now ensure that an Xtern_Erlvl protocol cannot be used
  for uploading a message.

x The [syscall] token will now return the correct ordinal suffix
  for systems with more than 65,535 calls.

x SILT will no longer attempt to write SYSTEMxx.BBS or DIR.BBS
  (if the Opus option is specified) if the area is declared
  with a FileList.

x CVTUSR will no longer grunge the screen length/width settings when
  converting from an Opus 1.1 user file.

* When writing an origin line on a point system, Max will always use
  the address AFTER the one specified in the "Origin" statement
  when writing to the seen-bys.  In other words, given this:

    Address 1:249/106.4
    Address 1;24906/4
    Address 89:487/106.3
    Address 89:33451/3

  Using "Origin 0" (the default) would create messages like this:

     * Origin: asdf (1:249/106.4)
    SEEN-BY: 24906/4

  and using "Origin 1" would create messages like this:

     * Origin: asdf (89:487/106.3)
    SEEN-BY: 33451/3

x Max/2 will now clear the inbound character buffer before trying to
  accept the user's first name.  This will get rid of extraneous <esc>'s,
  which caused the first character of the username to be lost.

x Max will now check the "Minimum Baud" rate right after displaying the
  Maximus logo, instead of waiting for the caller to enter a name.

x Fixed a problem with hurling files with descriptions more than 120
  characters long.

x Fixed a bug which caused an incorrect display of pathed filenames
  in FILES.BBS.

x Max will not attempt to identify and correct uploaded messages with
  a bad date.  If such a message is found, the timestamp is set
  to the current date, with a time of 00:00:00.  (This ensures that
  a doubly-uploaded packet will be properly caught by dupe checkers.)

x Fixed a problem with users getting a "TIME LIMIT" message after an
  upload that went over their time limit, even though the upload
  should have been rewarded with more time.

* When entering a message in a netmail area, Max will use the
  origination address indicated by the "Origin" line in MSGAREA.CTL,
  if any.  The origin text itself will be ignored (if used at all),
  but the number specifying the AKA will be used to select the
  default origination address.

x MECCA is now compiled in the compact memory model, meaning that it
  can handle more than 48 labels in one MECCA file.

* The [xtern_os2] and [xtern_shell] commands are now synonyms for
  [xtern_dos].

x If files queued with the T)ag command would exceed the user's
  time limit by the time she/he gets around to selecting D)ownload,
  Max will print an error message and allow the user to edit the
  filename list, as opposed to just dumping all of the filenames.

* Added two new menu commands:  Msg_Unreceive and Msg_Kludges.
  The suggested configuration is this:

      Msg_Kludges                           Sysop "!Toggle Kludges"
      Msg_Unreceive                         Sysop "#Unreceive Msg"

  The Msg_Toggle_Kludges command toggles the visibility of kludge
  lines within messages.  If this command is not used, the priv
  required to see kludge lines defaults to the value set in MAX.CTL.

  The Msg_Unreceive command will remove the "Rec'd" bit from the current
  message.  This can be used to make it look as if you have not received
  a particular message.

  If either or both of these commands are placed on the message menu, they
  will also show up on the Browse menu (assuming that the user has
  sufficient access rights).

x When handling carbon copies in the message editor, Max will now
  ensure that the 'cc' name fits within the "To:" field.

x The cc: command will now work properly for users with a dot (".")
  in their names.


=*= Changes between Maximus 2.01 beta/1 and Maximus 2.01 beta/2 =*=

- When downloading QWK packets, the "Press <enter> or wait 10
  seconds to download" prompt will now appear AFTER the file
  statistics are displayed.

* Added a [download] MECCA token.  "%" characters are supported.
  This command adds a filename to the download queue; to send this
  file to the user, your MECCA file must also include [menu_cmd download]
  (or call the Download menu function).  If the filename is preceded by
  a "!", the download will not count against the user's download
  limit.  If the filename is preceded by a "@", the download will
  not count against the user's time limit.  These two flags can
  be combined.  ie. "[download]@!d:\max\util\max200-1.lzh".

x Fixed up some small cosmetic problems when running Max/2 in a Vio window.

* Added a new status display for the QWK packer.

* Added a new "%" token:  %y will now display the "last call date" for
  the current user.

x Max will now write a blank line when opening the log file, instead of
  when the log is closed.

x Fixed a small cosmetic problem with the "Menu Name" colour and the
  REGULAR help level.

x Fixed a trap problem in FB/2.

x MECCA should once again be operational.  I found that the standard
  OS/2 "sort" program was not case-sensitive, so it caused the
  token table to be improperly sorted (and thereby breaking any
  mecca tokens which contained an underscore).

x Fixed a bug which stopped SILT from creating SYSTEMxx.BBS files
  for areas that had a Squish-format message area and a normal
  file area.

x ORACLE will now print the opening banner to stderr instead of stdout.

x Stomped an extremely paranoid bug which caused lastread pointers to
  become corrupt if there are more than 2K users in the user file.

x The H)url command should now properly stomp over ^Z characters
  in FILES.BBS.

x The "Save Directories" statement is now ignored under OS/2.  Aside
  from the fact that Os/2 does this automatically, it was causing
  problems with block device drivers (such as Sytos drives).

x Max will now strip control characters ( < ASCII 32) from uploaded
  QWK messages.  It was supposed to be doing this in the first place,
  but a coding error prevented the stripping routing from being
  called.

x Fixed the tab expansion routines when using a local editor.  In
  addition, Max will now check locally-entered messages for invalid
  high bit characters in non-high bit areas, just as it does for the
  internal editor.

x Max should now correctly handle carbon copies entered using an
  external editor.

x Max will no longer generate duplicate MSGIDs when processed multiple
  carbon copies.  Unfortunately, this means that there may be a bit
  of a delay when saving carbon-copied messages.

x The C)ontents command will now properly display the \max\hlp\contents
  help file.

x If a user runs out of time right after downloading a QWK packet, Max
  will ensure that the user's lastread pointers are updated before
  he/she is logged off.

- When building more than one .QWK packet in a session, Max will build
  the second and subsequent packets using an extension of .QW1, .QW2,
  and so forth.

* The path and name for the PROTOCOL.MAX file (binary dump of information
  in PROTOCOL.CTL) can now be specified in the SESSION section of MAX.CTL.
  The following keyword:

        ProtocolCtl     D:\Max\Protocol.Max

  instructs Max to use d:\max\protocol.max as the protocol information
  file for the current task.  If this keyword is omitted, Max will
  default to using PROTOCOL.MAX in the current directory.

x Fixed a long-standing bug which caused Max not to find a file such
  as "FTS-0009.LZH" when the given search pattern was "009", as opposed
  to "0009".

x Added semaphores to prevent the internal QWK reply tosser from
  colliding with itself on another line.  When two users were unpacking
  replies at the same time, Max extracted the packets into the current
  directory, thereby causing a potential conflict.  Although the packets
  are still initially unpacked into the current directory, this is done
  under the protection of a semaphore, and in addition, the .REP file
  is moved out of the way as quickly as possible.

x Security fix: added protection from Leech Zmodem.


=*= Changes between Maximus 2.01 beta/2 and Maximus 2.01 beta/3 =*=

x Tightened up error checking in SILT.

x Fixed a bug which caused spurious "Archiver returned errorlevel 0"
  messages after packing more than one QWK packet in one
  session.

x When writing quotes to a temporary file to be read by an external
  message editor, Max will now always wordwrap the quotes at 80
  columns, since 132-column quotes (or whatever the user's screen
  width was set to) look messy on other systems.

* The new keyword "Single Word Names" can be placed in the SESSION
  section of MAX.CTL can be used to allow single-word names at
  the log-on prompt.

x Fixed a bug in the forward command which caused the user's matridx
  credit to be deducted BEFORE the destination address was entered
  in the message header.

x Max should once again honour the 'Mask Carrier' in MAX.CTL, at least
  in the DOS version.

* The "Title" directive in MENUS.CTL can now include "%" characters.
  ie. "Title MAIN (%t mins)".

x When creating message areas, SILT will now create a directory
  tree (if necessary) to store Squish areas.

x When rewarding upload time, Max will now give back the
  MINIMUM of the following two values:

  1) The actual length of time it took for the user to download
     the file.

  2) The estimated time required to download the file.

  This prevents users from resuming the last 2K of a 400K file
  and receiving a time credit worth 400K for doing so.

x Fixed a bug in the library RTL which prevented Max/2 from sending
  files on a remote network drive (!).

x When performing a QWK pack, Max will now display the "Warning!
  Too many messages packed!" line after all of the area totals have
  been printed.


=*= Changes between Maximus 2.01 beta/3 and Maximus 2.01 beta/4 =*=

x The ^q and ^s keys will once again work in MaxEd.

x Fixed a bug which caused strange characters to appear if a cursor
  key is pressed at a MaxEd "I don't understand X" prompt.

x Max will now replace spaces in uploaded Zmodem filenames
  with underscores.

x Fixed a problem in Max/2 that caused Max to ignore IPCxx.BBS files
  if they were stored in lower case.

x Changed the Max/2 startup code to allow up to 40 file handles to
  be opened.  This should prevent weird behaviour if Max
  inherits "too many" file handles from the parent process.

x Fixed a bug which sometimes caused MaxEd to lock up when receiving
  a ^c from the local console.

x When performing a U)serlist, the search command will now only
  search the field that is displayed on-screen.  In other words,
  when Alias System is enabled, users can only search for strings
  in the "Alias" field.  Similarly, if Alias System is NOT enabled,
  users can only search for strings in the "Real Name" field.  Note
  that callers with a priv of SYSOP can search for strings
  in either of the above two fields.

x Fixed some Max/2 trap problems when performing a locate
  using a FileMenuName.