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- July 8, 1994 Latest vesion is 1.0b8
-
- Version 1.0b8 of GopherSurfer is now available. It has numerous bug
- fixes and also new features:
-
- 1. 68K version that has 'Users & Groups' support so that access
- privileges can be set for items on your gopher server.
-
- 2. 68K version that improves on the AppleSearch support previously
- only available in version 1.0b5 (in addition to having 'Users & Groups'
- support).
-
- 3. PPC version that has new features included in the above but does
- not have the AppleSearch support or the 'Users & Groups' support.
- Hopefully soon.
-
- If you need the features of a 68K version but are running your server
- on a Power Mac, then you will need to run the 68K version on your Power
- Mac.
-
-
- You can get version 1.0b8 of GopherSurfer by either Gopher'ing or
- ftp'ing to boombox.micro.umn.edu. Via Gopher connect to
- boombox.micro.umn.edu and follow this path:
-
- gopher/Mac_server/GopherSurfer1.0b8_68K.sea.hqx
- GopherSurfer1.0b8_68K_AS.sea.hqx
- GopherSurfer1.0b8_PPC.sea.hqx
-
- Via ftp connect to boombox.micro.umn.edu as user 'anonymous' and
- follow this path:
-
- gopher/Mac_server/GopherSurfer1.0b8_68K.sea.hqx
- GopherSurfer1.0b8_68K_AS.sea.hqx
- GopherSurfer1.0b8_PPC.sea.hqx
-
- Bug fixes all versions:
- ----------------------
-
- 1. Fix for servers that seem to listen for a very small number of
- connections and then stop accepting connections. I know more than a
- few of you have experienced this.
-
- Bug fixes AppleSearch version:
- -----------------------------
-
- 1. The server no longer advertises the search engines or documents
- returned from a search as Gopher+.
-
- 2. Correctly return AppleSearch documents with a <carriage return>
- <line feed> combination as required by gopher protocol. This bug
- prevented pc or unix clients from functioning correctly with AppleSearch
- items.
-
- 3. Server now logs correctly for AppleSearch items. Shows the search
- engine accessed and the search term. For documents it shows the file
- retrieved.
-
- New features all versions: (Except PPC as described above)
- -------------------------
-
- 1. Macintosh Aliases are now supported. This means that you can have
- an alias within your published gopher tree that points to another volume
- such as a CD-ROM disk. This is directly dependent on number 2 below.
- Or you might have an alias to allow a reference to an item from several
- different locations within your published gopher tree.
-
- 2. Since the alias may point outside the published gopher tree there
- needs to be a way of verifying this is truly published and not someone
- trying to breach the security of your server.
-
- If you have an alias to a FILE in your published gopher tree, the server
- assumes that the alias was deliberately placed there and will return the
- actual item to a client that requests it.
-
- If the alias is to another folder or volume outside the published gopher
- tree, the original item is found. If the file sharing is off, the client
- can see the contents of the folder or volume but can NOT retrieve any
- items contained therein. The idea here is not to allow access to
- documents outside of the published gopher tree.
-
- 3. If file sharing is on, it is now possible to limit access to your
- server or portions of your server using Mac filesharing Users & Groups.
-
- The access limitations are based on what IP Address the client is
- connecting from. An example is useful here:
- For instance on our local Apple Share file server for our campus we
- have site licensed materials that are restricted to distribution on
- campus only. Since campus IP addresses are either 128.101.xx.xx or
- 134.84.xx.xx, we want to make sure that only clients coming from
- these addresses have access.
-
- To enforce this we turn off the access rights for everyone. Then
- we create a Group called 'UofMinn'. We add a user we create called
- '134.84.' to the group. Also we add a user called '128.101.' to our
- group. This means that all clients with source addresses of the form
- 134.84.xx.xx or 128.101.xx.xx, can connect and retrieve items from
- the folder we share with the 'UofMinn' group. And of course we still
- can limit whether they can see files, folders or both.
-
- But wait! Within the 134.84.xx.xx range we have the machine named
- consultant.micro.umn.edu which is the public gopher access point for
- half the known world. Not to worry. We simply create a user called
- '!134.84.132.9', which is that machines IP Address. Now we have
- access for University of Minnesota users as well as exclusion of
- potentially non-university of Minnesota users.
-
- 4. GopherSurfer alias files now have a new updated format. This new
- format only directly affects GopherSurfer alias files that override
- the display name or display type. Namely the host name and port is
- no longer stored in these cases in the GopherSurfer alias files.
- This allows people on other machines to use their copy of GopherSurfer
- to administer or setup items on the server. No longer is it necessary
- to be at the server machine. You can now put that GopherSurfer machine
- in a closet with all the rest of your file servers.
-
- 5. The selector stored in GopherSurfer alias files that are used to
- override a display name or display type, is no longer used. This allows
- administrators to easily copy their published gopher tree to another
- computer or hard disk.
-
- ================================================
- March 30, 1994 Latest version is 1.0b7
-
- Version 1.0b7 of GopherSurfer is now available. This version works on both
- 680x0 & PowerPC Macintoshes. Binary files that can work on either architecture
- are called 'FAT' binaries. We have been calling versions of GopherSurfer that
- do not contain support for AppleSearch 'GopherSurfer LITE'. So, you could say
- this is the 'FAT-LITE' binary version of GopherSurfer. A 'FAT HEAVY' version
- (a version including support for AppleSearch) will be available shortly.
-
- Our testing has shown that even in cases where the server is just reading
- from a file and sending it across the network there are significant speed
- improvements. For instance, comparing a Quadra 800 and a PowerPC, we see a
- speedup of 5.3 times on the PowerPC when sending a typical binary file. For
- files the server must Binhex encode before sending, we see a 5.1 speedup.
-
- So you might want to consider a PowerPC as a GopherSurfer platform,
- especially for high volume servers.
-
- Bug fix:
-
- 1. Fixed a bug that prevented the Gopher menu from being
- available in Preview mode.
-
- ================================================
- March 21, 1994 Latest version is 1.0b6
-
- This is the FAT-LITE binary version of 1.0b6. This is an
- application/binary that can be run on either a standard 680x0
- processor macintosh or a Power Macintosh (RISC processor).
-
- FAT denotes that it contains everything to run on either
- 680x0 or RISC processor macintoshes.
-
- LITE means this version doesn't have AppleSearch support
- compiled in. It is on the way.
-
- ================================================
- January 31, 1994 Latest version is 1.0b5
-
- This is version 1.0b5 lite. Version 1.0b5 lite does not have
- AppleSearch support
-
- New enhancements/bug fixes include:
-
- 1. Fixed a bug that would cause the server to die if it received
- some types of requests.
-
- ================================================
- December 22, 1993 Latest version is 1.0b4
-
-
- New enhancements/bug fixes include:
-
- 1. The Gopher's Helper stack has been retired. All of its
- functionality has been added to the server in the form
- of a Preview option. While Previewing it is possible to
- change the type or display name advertised for an item.
-
- And finally the administrator can create either Gopher or
- Gopher+ links to other servers.
-
- By placing the link creation facilities in the application,
- links no longer require a place holder file. With Gopher's
- Helper a place-holder file was required so something would show.
- Then a link file would be created to contain the information
- about the remore host. Such as port number, selector etc.
-
- This is not necessary anymore. So for a link you will see a
- file named something like 'filename#'(# = option-<8> character)
- but the place holder file called 'filename' is not needed.
-
- I am using the term 'link' to mean a reference to something on
- another gopher server. Not a connection to your own server.
-
- This is a one-time deal. A version number has been introduced into
- the link files to allow for easy upgrades in the future.
-
- WARNING!
-
- Unfortunately, all links must this once be recreated from scratch.
- It will be necessary to re-do all links to other servers.
-
- As well as those items where you used the Gopher's Helper to
- change the name displayed to a connecting client. Or the
- type displayed to the connecting client.
-
- In the process of fixing the links problem I decided to add a
- number to the link files. In the future this will make it easy to
- upgrade these files with no user intervention. For instance when
- AppleSearch support is added for full-text indexing. ;-)
-
- 2. Administrator selection of directory to publish.
-
- 3. Logging to a file the following information for
- each connection:
-
- Connection number
- Time/Date
- Host or IP address where request originated from.
- Selector string sent from client
-
- All nicely tab separated so it can be summarized in your favorite
- spread sheet.
-
- 4. Tabbing through the configuration fields now correctly selects
- the full text of the next field. Also it completely removes the
- cursor from the previous field. No more ghost insertion cursors.
-
-
- ================================================
- October 6, 1993 Latest Version is 1.0b3
-
-
- As always feature requests and comments/bug
- reports are welcome.
-
- Also for bug reports please send me the full
- domain name of your host, example -
- boombox.micro.umn.edu, and what port it is
- running on. Also which items are causing
- problems. If I can test your server directly
- it is easier to isolate the bugs remaining.
-
- Which is what we all want.
-
-
- Future enhancements coming soon
- ===============================
-
- 1. Logging to a file.
- 2. Warning if you close the configuration window
- that the server is suspending operation.
- 3. Ability to erase the log window without closing
- the window or quitting.
- 4. Write your favorite feature here and send me
- some mail describing it and why it would be a
- good thing to have. I'm easy to convince as
- long as it doesn't require the assitance of
- an electrician or a plumber. :-)
-
-
- ===================================================
- October 6, 1993
-
- Bug Fixes/Changes in version 1.0b3
- ----------------------------------
-
- 1. Long names for directories were not correctly
- advertised to connecting clients. They showed as
- a file instead of a directory. Attempts to fetch
- this 'file' resulted in the Gopher Surfer complaining
- and possibly crashing The client would also display
- an ugly warning (TurboGopher) saying it didn't have
- enough memory.
-
- 2. The Gopher Surfer now works correctly with clients
- that make use of the Gopher+ long views. The clients
- which I know to rely on this feature include the unix
- client we distribute with the Gopher+ unix distribution
- and also the HGopher client for windows.
-
- 3. The Gophers Helper G+ now correctly selects and
- modifies the line you click on. There was a bug
- dealing with some file types.
-
- 4. The Gopher's helper treats all files now similar
- to how the Gopher Surfer treats them. In other words
- if it recognizes the file type it advertises it as the
- appropriate gopher type. If it is unrecognized but
- has a resource fork it is displayed as a Binhex gopher
- type. Exactly as the Gopher Surfer application does.
- Otherwise it advertises it as a text file.
-
-
- ==================================================
- September 29, 1993
-
- Changes in version 1.0b2
- ---------------------------
-
- WARNING: You must create new settings documents
- for version 1.0b2.
-
- This is a once only hardship. I have implemented
- a version number in the settings file for future
- easy upgrades as new information is added to the
- settings document
-
-
- 1. The following is now saved as part of the server
- document:
-
- Run gopher server - So it is possible to place an
- alias or actual settings document in startup folder
- to have server auto launch on startup. The directory
- offered from Gopher Surfer is directory where the
- application is located.
-
- ISO Latin-1 characters - Saves this setting
- between restarts.
-
- Log by host names - Saves this setting
- between restarts.
-
- 2. Added support for Video/MPEG files.
-
- 3. Tweaked TurboGopher to also have support for
- Video/MPEG. Placed Sparkle 1.6 in the TurboGopher
- Helper applications folder. Very nice MPEG
- player.