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Documentation for XPRZModem.library by Rick Huebner with additions for XPRzedzap.library by Robert Williamson |--- | Update comments for XprZmodem.Library | Version 2.50 Update, 15 November 1991, by William M. Perkins | Version 2.51 bug fix, 29 January 1992, by John Tillema | Version 2.52 recompiled, 6 March 1992, by William M. Perkins | Proto additions for the SAS 5.10B Compiler by Jim Cooper | Version 2.61 recompiled, 4 July 1993, by Rainer Hess | Little Bugfix for SAS/C 6.x used SAS/6.3 also changed | Funktion mysprintf() to xprsprinf() now written in Assembler | Version 2.62 - Bulid in variable Blocksize | Version 2.63 - Now localeized if you use WB2.1 or 3.x you can | use this future. On this time will only a german catalog | avaiable, default will be english or if you use a older | Kickstart/Workbench. | Version 2.64 - Bug fix in function update_rate(), save of GURU | #80000005 on little files eg. 2 Bytes. Compiled Librarys for | all prozessors (68000/010/020/030/040), for kick 1.x and | up to 2.x, by Rainer Hess | Version 3.0 - Now it's time, i think, to make a new version | number, this will be a full release. | Version 3.1, - Documentation update by Geoffrey Faivre-Malloy | Conversion of documentation to Amigaguide format. | Code-Changes by Rainer Hess: | ZModem runs always with the sender blocksize or uses standart-mode | (M1024) if there is on one system a older zmodem. ! Version 3.2 - added DirectZap, Zedzap, ZedZip and SZmodem protocols. ! added XPR3 update_status support ! FTN mailer support | Robert Williamson ! Version 3.3 - added support for dual-status window (XPR2.001) | Robert Williamson |--- |--- | All of my additions to this documentation are indicated by | <-- this left margin braketing. -WMP- |--- ! All my additions to this documented are indicated by ! <-- this left margin braketing. Robert Williamson 1. Introduction (or "What is this thing, anyway?") --------------------------------------------------- XPRZModem.library is an Amiga shared library (with full Lattice C source code) which provides ZModem file transfer capability to any XPR-compatible communications program. The XPR external protocol standard describes an interface method which allows various file transfer protocols to be implemented as Amiga shared libraries which may then be used interchangeably in any compatible communications program. This takes a heavy load off of the comm program author, who no longer has to support scads of different file transfer protocols (many of which are quite tricky to code) in their program in order to make it widely useful and popular. The comm program is also smaller and more efficient as a result, since all those obscure protocols (you know, the ones *you* don't need) are no longer taking up space. The XPR standard also helps users, who can mix and match their favorite file transfer protocols (and implementations thereof) with their favorite comm programs. And when new protocols are invented, the user simply plugs in a new library, and voila!, it's ready to use. Hopefully, making protocols easy to support will allow more and better comm programs to be written, as authors can concentrate on their programs instead of constantly re-inventing the wheel. Of course, for all of this wonderful stuff to happen, there needs to be a good selection of these XPR protocol libraries available to the public. It's the classic chicken-and-egg problem; comm program authors won't be motivated to support the XPR standard unless there are a goodly number of protocols available for it. And other programmers won't be motivated to write XPR protocol libraries until there are a goodly number of comm programs which can use them. In an effort to do my bit [ B^) ] for the Amiga community, which has given me so many neat toys to play with over the past few years, I decided to try and help get the ball rolling. Hopefully, the early availability of a ZModem library will help stimulate interest in the XPR standard, resulting in better Amiga telecomms for all of us. And by making my source code PD, I hope to help others interested in writing XPR protocol libraries by giving them some serious example code. Also, having ZModem library code readily available to John Q. Hacker should help ensure a steady stream of new lemon-fresh enhanced ZModem libraries (with enzymes) for all of us to use in the future. Of course, no discussion of the XPR standard would be complete without giving proper credit to the author, Willy Langeveld of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. Many thanks are due him for this effort. If you have any further questions about the XPR standard, be sure and download the spec; it should be available on BIX (since he's a sysop there), or on most other major systems. And I'll try to keep the current version available on my BBS, as well. All files in this archive which are not copyrighted are hereby released to the public domain (which they were anyway, by way of not being copyrighted, but I want to make sure YOU realize that). Do as you like with them. Please make lots of copies and distribute them all over the place, and make lots of derivative works, and everything! Heck, you can even publicly perform and/or display this code if you can figure out how... 2. Installation (OK, enough chatter; let's get to work) -------------------------------------------------------- ! If intended use is in a Mailer, use xprzedzap.library, selecting !appropriate CPU version for your system. You may also use !xprzedzap.library in the place of xprzmodem.library in both BBS's and !terminal programs. Couldn't be easier. Just copy the xprzmodem.library file into your LIBS: directory. All XPR-compatible comm programs should provide a way for you to select which XPR protocol you wish to use, either by giving you a file requester showing LIBS:xpr*.library, or by automatically detecting these libraries and adding them into their menus. WARNING: Versions of VLT prior to revision 4.107 had a bug in the xpr_sflush() routine which caused random Guru 3 crashes on some systems. If you're using a version of VLT older than 4.107, it would be a good idea to upgrade to the latest rev. Besides, there's a bunch of new features you're missing, anyway... ANOTHER WARNING: Versions of VLT prior to 5.034 had a bug in the xpr_sread() function which caused them to (at least sometimes) fail to return any bytes received so far when an xpr_sread() call timed out. This version of XPRZModem.library requires VLT version 5.034 or later. (Yes, Willy, it really was broken B-)) |--- | XprZmodem.Library version 2.50 and 2.52 tested with WTerm version | 0.82 and Willy's term program, VLT version 5.045. No problems | occurred. It should work fine with any term program that was able | to work with the version 2.10 of XprZmodem.Library. -WMP- |--- ! xprzedzap.library was tested with TERM and with the Roff and Porticus Shelter Mailers. 3. Options ----------- The XPR standard lays out two ways for the comm program user to specify options for the XPR protocol. The more primitive option is for the comm program to provide a method of passing an option string to the XPR library before transferring files. The precise format and usage of this option string is left up to the XPR protocol author; the comm program just sends it verbatim. If an environment variable is found with the same name as the XPR protocol (i.e. there's a file in the ENV: directory called "xprzmodem"), the comm program is supposed to use this string (contents of file) to initialize the protocol options. Also, a menu option or some such should normally be provided which will allow the user to be prompted for the option string interactively. Version 2.0 of the XPR standard created a new, more sophisticated way for the comm program user to specify XPR options. If the comm program supports it, the XPR library can give the comm program a list of option prompts, and the comm program can then let the user interactively set the various options individually, possibly even using nice gadgets and stuff. In any case, no matter how your particular comm program feels like handling it, these are the options supported by this implementation of ZModem: T{Y|N|?|C} Text translation mode: TY = Text Yes; if receiving, translate CR/LF pairs or solo CR chars to normal Amiga LF chars. Ignore data past ^Z. If sending, suggests to receiver that they should receive this file in text mode. TN = Text No; receive file verbatim, without changes. If sending, suggest to receiver that they receive this file verbatim, without translations. T? = Text status unknown; if receiving, use sender's suggestion as to whether to do EOL translations or not. If sending, tell receiver to use default mode, 'cause we don't know either. TC = Text mode set by Comm program; the library asks the comm program whether or not to use Text mode for each file. If the comm program doesn't support the necessary xpr_finfo() call, or if the call fails, this option acts like T?. From the user's point of view, what this option normally does is set the Text mode to match the comm program's built-in text/binary/end-of-line/translation mode, if any. O{Y|N|R|S} Overwrite mode: OY = Overwrite Yes; if about to receive file with same name as one which already exists, delete the old file and receive the new file in its place. ON = Overwrite No; if about to receive file with same name as one which already exists, append ".dup" onto the name of the new file to keep them separate. OR = Overwrite Resume; if about to receive file with same name as one which already exists, resume receiving file data from the current end of the existing file. OS = Overwrite Skip; if (etc.), tell sender never mind, skip this file, we don't want it. Batch transfers will move on to the next file in the set, if any. Bnnn Buffer size: XPRZModem.library adds a layer of file I/O buffering in addition to whatever the comm program may or may not provide. This option sets the size of XPRZModem's file I/O buffer in kilobytes. The minimum value is 1 KB, for those using RAM drives or fast hard drives, or those whose comm programs already provide sufficient buffering. The maximum value is as much contiguous RAM as you have available in your Amiga. If you specify more than is actually available, XPRZModem will keep decrementing the buffer size requested by 1 KB until the memory allocation works. That way, if your RAM is too fragmented to use the amount you request, XPRZModem simply uses the largest block available. Buffering is especially helpful for floppy drive users; it keeps your drive from continuously gronking and slowing things down all through the transfer. NOTE: Versions of VLT prior to 5.034 couldn't handle buffer sizes >= 32 KB. If you wanted to use larger buffers before and couldn't, try again now. Fnnn Frame size: Although normally avoided, ZModem has the ability to require an ACK to be sent from the receiver to the sender every X-many data bytes. Normally you don't want to use this feature, because not waiting for ACKs is part of how ZModem works so fast. However, this feature can be very useful in conjunction with file I/O buffering on slow devices (namely those floppy drives). If you set up a large I/O buffer to avoid gronking your floppy so often, you'll find that when the buffer finally *does* get around to being flushed that it can take a looonng time; so long, in fact, that the delay can cause timeouts and errors. But if you set your ZModem to require the sender to wait for an ACK every buffer's-worth of data, the sender will politely wait for you to flush your buffer to the slow floppy and send it an ACK saying it's OK to continue now. This value should be set to 0 to disable ACKs (normal mode), or set it to the actual number of data bytes allowed between ACKs. For example, if you set B64 because of your floppy, you should also set F65536. Ennn Error count: This allows you to set the number of sequential errors which will be required to convince ZModem to abort the transfer. The normal value is 10, meaning that 10 errors must happen in a row with no valid data being transferred in order to cause an abort. This setting is provided for those using XPRZModem with a BBS, who may wish to use a relaxed setting, or those with really lousy phone lines who are desparate and patient enough to want the transfer to continue in spite of horrible performance. A{Y|N} Auto-activate mode: AY = Auto-activate Yes; if the comm program supports the ability, the library will automatically go into receive mode when the start of a ZModem download is detected. AN = Auto-activate No; don't try to automatically start downloading, make the user activate it. D{Y|N} Delete after sending: DY = Delete Yes; delete each file after it has been sucessfully sent. DN = Delete No; don't delete files after sending them. K{Y|N} Keep partial files: KY = Keep Yes; keep the fragment of a file received so far if file reception is aborted. This allows you to use the Overwrite Resume option above to pick up where you left off on your next attempt. KN = Keep No; delete any partially-received file after an aborted transfer. S{Y|N} Send full directory path: SY = Send path Yes; send full filenames including directory path to receiver. SN = Send path No; send only simple filenames, not including directory path. R{Y|N} Receive full directory path: RY = Receive path Yes; use full filename exactly as received, instead of using the P option directory path. RN = Receive path No; ignore received directory path (if any), use P option directory path instead. P{dir} Path to use for received files: Px = Store all received files in directory "x" if option RN set. Ignored if option RY set. "x" can be any valid existing directory, with or without trailing "/" (e.g. "Pdf0:", "PComm:hold", etc.). ! M{size} Maximun Block size for file transfer: ! Mx = Size of Block to transfer. Default of ZModem is 1024, ! Minimum is 64 Bytes, Maximum is 8192 Bytes (8K). ! Be carefull with this option. If the uploaders blocks are ! bigger than the receiver you will get errors and very ! poor cps rates. ! This option is normally used only in FTN mode, but may ! be used in terminal abd BBS modem to replace the ! XPRSZmodem.library. ! The block size will vary when sending and will be static ! when receiving. ! When sending the maximum packet size will be baud rate ! dependant, and the size is calculated with the formula ! MAX_PACKET = (BPS_RATE * 8192 / 9600). ! You can specify a limit for the maximum packet size with ! the M option, but it only influences the packet size if ! it is smaller than 8192 or if one is receiving a file ! (NOTE: It should always be set to 8192 if one is receiving a file. ! But the option in there to limit it to less). ! The IO Buffer for reading/writing to/from the disk must be equal ! to twice the maximum packet size or the maximum packet size will ! be automatically decreased. ! ! ! C{link bps} Set bps rate of link ! C0 Buffer allocations and calculations of CPS will be based ! upon locked rate passed by the comm program. ! Cx Buffer allocations and calculations of CPS will be based ! upon link rate. ! ! N{Y|N} Start transfer even if no files to send: ! NY send no files mode (DirectZap, ZedZip and ZedZap protocols) ! It is permitted to have a session without sending or ! receiving files. This is required with some protocols in ! FTN mode so as not to generate a spurious failure after a ! mailer session. This also changes EOF actions from sending ! CAN's to just sending ZFIN. ! NN transfer will not take place if not files to send. ! ! Q{Y|N} DirectZap protocol mode: ! QY Only ZDLE and ZDLEE are escaped. ! QN Normal escapeing is done. ! ! Z{Y|N} FTN mode ! ZY ! - RxTimeOut is restored to 600ms ! - transfers start with blocksize specified in M option. ! - serialbuffer is cleared before sending/recving. In FTN ! mode the turnaround from sending to receiving (and vis-versa) ! is quite fast, clearing the buffer avoids reading echos of our ! own characters or leftovers from the previous transfer. ! ZN none of the above take place ! ! ! Y XPR2001 Mode ! ! Y{Y|N} XPR2001 mode ! Y - When enabled, calls to XprSetup() will return a mask with ! the additional bits defined in the XPR 2.001 spec related ! to double-buffering, etc. xpr_update() calls will be ! masked with a bit indicating directionof transfer to ! support host program rthat use dual-staus windows. ! ! N - XPR2001 support diabled, required for Ncomm, Excelsior ! BBS and other hosts which do not properly handle xpr ! function and callbacks return codes. If setting the options via the option string method (either ENV: file or primitive comm program), note that the setting for each option must immediately follow the option character with no intervening characters ("TY", not "T Y" or "T=Y"). When setting multiple options at once, separate the options from each other with commas and/or spaces; for example, "TN,OR,F0". You don't have to specify all options every time; the options you specify will be merged into the current option settings, replacing their old values. Upper/lower case is not significant. ! Default Options: xprzedzap.library ! ! TN No Text translation ! OR Overwrite Resume ! B16 Buffer size 16KB ! F0 Frame size = filelength ! E30 Error count 30 ! SN Do not send full directory path ! RN Do not use received full directory path ! AN Disable Auto-activate mode ! DN Do not Delete after sending ! KY Keep partial files ! P"" Comm progrmas provides Path to use for received files ! M8192 Maximum packet size 8K ! C0 Set Link BPS Rate ! NY Alow Send if there are no files ! QN Disable DirectZap escape only CAN ! ZY Enable FTN mode ! YY Enable XPR2001 extensions ! ! Default options: xprzmodem.library ! ! TC Comm Program Sets Text translation mode ! ON Overwrite No ! B16 Buffer size 16 KB ! F0 Frame size = filesize ! E10 Error count 10 ! SN Do not Send full directory path ! RN Do not use Received full directory path ! AY Enable Auto-activate mode ! DN Do not Delete after sending ! KY Keep partial files ! P"" Comm program sets Path to use for received files ! M1024 Set maximum packet size 1K ! C0 Set Link BPS Rate ! NN Do not Send if there are no files ! QN Disble DirectZap escape only CAN ! ZN Disable FTN mode ! YY Disable XPR2001 extensions If the comm program supports the xpr_options() call added in version 2.0 of the XPR spec, you should be prompted for each option with a nice prompt message such as "Text mode (Y,N,?,C):" and possibly be able to use Intuition string and/or button gadgets instead of being stuck with the semi-cryptic option string format described above. 4. Serial port settings ------------------------ ZModem (at least this implementation of it) requires that your serial port be set to 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit. This allows ZModem to send full 8-bit binary data bytes without having them munged on the way through the modem. If your comm program supports the xpr_setserial() function, XPRZModem will use it to set your serial port to 8N1 before doing a transfer, and will set your port back the way it was again after it's done. If your comm program doesn't support xpr_setserial(), you'll need to make sure it's in 8N1 mode yourself. ZModem works well in all serial port handshaking modes; none, XON/XOFF, or 7-wire/RTS/CTS. Since any or all of those handshaking modes may be appropriate at different times, with different modems or remote systems, XPRZModem lets you set the handshaking mode and doesn't mess with it. ! XON-XOFF MUST be disabled when using DirectZap (option QY) 5. Receiving files ------------------- Once you get the ZModem options and your serial port configuration set up properly, you're ready to actually use this thing (gasp!). Receiving files via ZModem is quite simple. First, get the file sender going by using whatever command it wants. ZModem is a batch file transfer protocol, meaning that it's capable of transferring several files in a single exchange, so the remote system may allow you to specify multiple files to be sent to you at one time. It may also allow you to use wildcard characters in the filename(s); this is all system dependant. This may be all you have to do. If you specified option AY (auto-activate on), and your comm program supports it, XPRZModem should automatically activate at this point and start receiving your files. If you specified AN, or your comm program doesn't support auto-activation, you should now use whatever option your comm program provides to activate file reception; this will usually be a menu option or button gadget. Either way, once XPRZModem starts receiving files, it should automatically receive all of the files you specified into the proper directory as indicated by the R and P options. Make sure that you have set the ZModem options properly before starting the transfer; especially, make sure you only use TY if you know that all of the files being transferred in this batch are printable ASCII text files. If you use TY on normal binary files like .ARCs or .ZOOs, they'll be mangled beyond use. 6. Sending files ----------------- Sending files using ZModem is fairly straightforward. First, activate the file receiver with whatever command the remote system requires. You may or may not need to specify a filename or directory to the remote system; this depends on their implementation of ZModem. Once the remote system is ready to receive files, activate your comm program's ZModem send function. Your comm program will prompt you for which file(s) to send. Although ZModem is a batch protocol, your comm program may or may not allow you to specify multiple file names to be sent; also, wildcards may or may not be supported. These decisions are up to the comm program author; ZModem will handle multiple files and wildcards if the comm program allows them. Once you've specified the file name(s), the file(s) will be sent to the remote system. Note that the T option serves only as a suggestion to the receiving system when sending files; the receiver makes the final decision as to whether to take your advice or to force the files to be received in text or binary mode. If errors occur while sending the file(s), you'll probably notice a small enhancement I made to the normal ZModem error recovery procedures. Normally, file transfer protocols have to compromise between efficient data transmission on good, clean phone lines and quick error recovery on bad, noisy phone lines. If you pick a large packet size, you get high throughput on clean lines due to low packet overhead, but you have slow recovery times and large amounts of retransmitted data on noisy lines. If you've used YModem on noisy lines you've seen this problem. But, if you use small packets to reduce retransmitted data on noisy lines, you increase the amount of time the protocol spends sending packet overhead, and your throughput suffers. The solution is to vary the block size according to the experienced error rate during the transfer. That way you aren't stuck with a rigid packet length which will sometimes be the wrong size no matter what. I came up with this idea back when I first wrote the ZModem code for Opus, and cleared it for future compatibility with ZModem's designer, Chuck Forsberg, back then. Since then the basic concept has been extensively tested in the Opus BBS system, and has proven quite effective; it has also been incorporated into various other ZModem implementations over time. The actual algorithm for deciding what size packets to use when is pretty much up to the protocol author; XPRZModem uses a modified version of the Opus algorithm which prevents locking the packet size at a small value when a large one-time burst of errors occurs. 7. Notes for comm program authors ---------------------------------- That's pretty much everything you need to know in order to use XPRZModem properly. Here are some notes for the "other" XPR standard users, namely the comm program authors: Certain XPR callback functions *must* be implemented by the comm program author in order for XPRZModem to be used. If any of these functions are not supported by your comm program, XPRZModem will display an error message and abort when invoked. These required functions are: xpr_fopen(), xpr_fclose(), xpr_fread(), xpr_fwrite(), xpr_fseek(), xpr_sread(), xpr_swrite(), and xpr_update() ! In addition, for FTN operation , the XPR v3 xpr_updstatus function is !required. The library will NOT abort if your program does not have it. !This function provides transfer status to the host program for EACH file !sent and received. The xpr_update() function provides many data fields for your comm program to potentially display to the user. These are the XPR_UPDATE struct elements which XPRZModem will keep updated during transfers: xpru_protocol, xpru_filename, xpru_filesize, xpru_msg, xpru_errormsg, xpru_blocks, xpru_blocksize, xpru_bytes, xpru_errors, xpru_timeouts, xpru_blockcheck, xpru_expecttime, xpru_elapsedtime, and xpru_datarate As you can see, XPRZModem tries to provide as many status fields as possible. Although all of them are useful, the ones which are most important to ZModem users are filename, filesize, msg and/or errormsg, and bytes. Please try to provide at least these fields in your status display, plus as many of the rest as you can manage. ! With this version the Protocol name sent to the Status Display will be !one of: ! Zmodem 1K blocks standard, non-ftn mode ! ZedZap up to 8K Blocks based upon bps rate, ftn mode ! ZedZip 1k blocks , ftn mode ! DirectZap up to 8k blocks, minimum escaping, ftn mode ! ! Also note that During batch transfers, the Last Error message field is !set to "None" when starting to send or receive next file. This is to aviod !the confusion caused by an error message from a previous file not being !cleared. Although only the XPR callback functions listed above are crucial for XPRZModem, almost all of them are used if they are provided. Although XPRZModem will function without any of the other routines, its performance or capabilities may be degraded somewhat. Specifically, this is what you give up if you choose not to supply any of these other XPR callback functions: xpr_sflush(): Used when performing error recovery and resync when sending files. If not provided, extra timeout errors and delayed error recovery will be likely. The files will still be transferred properly, but errors will degrade overall throughput more than usual. xpr_chkabort(): Called between sending or receiving packets. If not provided, there's no way for your comm program user to abort a transfer in progress except by trying to somehow force it to decide to give up and abort on its own, such as by turning off the modem and hoping the protocol will abort after enough timeouts (it will, eventually...). xpr_gets(): Called to prompt the user interactively for options when your comm program invokes XProtocolSetup() with a null xpr_filename field (if xpr_options() isn't available instead). If not provided, you'll have to prompt the user for the options string yourself, and pass this string in xpr_filename when invoking XProtocolSetup(). xpr_setserial(): Called to obtain the current serial port settings, and to change the serial port to 8N1 if it's not already set that way. If not provided, XPRZModem will assume all transfers are being done at 2400 bps, which won't hurt anything, and your users will have to make sure that the serial port is set to 8N1 themselves. xpr_ffirst() and xpr_fnext(): If either of these routines are missing, XPRZModem will lose the ability to send multiple files in a batch. The xpr_filename pointer passed to XProtocolSend() will be assumed to point to the actual full filename of the single file to be sent in this batch. If both of these routines are provided, XPRZModem will rely upon them completely to obtain the names of the files to send, and the xpr_filename pointer will not be used for any purpose by XPRZModem except to be passed to ffirst/fnext. This gives your comm program a way to send not just a single filename template's worth of files in a batch, but a list of different filenames. If, for example, you set xpr_filename to point to the first node of a linked list of filenames and/or templates to be sent, rather than just having it point to a string, you can have your ffirst and fnext routines traverse this linked list in order to determine the next file to be sent. Or you could have xpr_filename point to a buffer containing a list of filenames separated by commas, and your ffirst/fnext routines could return each filename in this list in turn. The key here is that if you provide these two routines, you're in complete control over the series of names fed to XProtocolSend. If you omit these routines, XPRZModem is stuck with single-file mode. Once again, if these two routines are provided, XPRZModem will *always* call them; it makes no attempt to use the xpr_filename pointer for anything itself. This is not explicitly spelled out in the XPR standard, but it seems the only reasonable way to handle batch protocols to me. Hopefully other XPR library authors will follow this precedent as well, so that comm program authors will be able to count on multiple-filename batch sessions being handled properly. xpr_finfo(): Used to determine the filesize of files being sent, in order to tell the receiving system how big they are. Also used to determine the size of a file which already exists when in Overwrite Resume mode; XPRZModem must be able to get the size of the current portion of the file in order to be able to tell the sender where to resume sending from. If this routine isn't provided, Overwrite Resume mode is not allowed. This routine is also used to check if Text mode should be set to Y or N for each file when option TC is set. xpr_options(): If you don't supply this, users will be stuck with setting the library options via the semi-cryptic text string method (ENV: and/or xpr_gets()). This routine and xpr_update() have a lot to do with the look and feel of your program when using XPR libraries; any skimping on these two routines will be painfully obvious to the user. Conversely, doing a nice job on these two routines will really make your program shine. xpr_unlink(): Required by the DY and KN options, so if you don't supply it, those options are not allowed. ! All callbacks are protected so we are able to call XPR callback !functions in the comm program from inside the XPR library. This protects !our registers from potential bugs in the comm program which might change !them in unexpected ways. The prototypes in xprzmodem.h put all arguments !into the registers required by the XPR spec. 8. The future -------------- I don't want or expect this to be the last or only XPR ZModem library available. There are a lot of less-commonly-used ZModem features which have popped up over the past few years, and many people might like to see some of them made available. Such as 32-bit CRC (although I consider CRC-16 perfectly adequate for the max 1K packets sent by ZModem), full control-character escaping, or maybe 8th bit escaping to allow use of 7-bit serial channels. ! 32-bit CRC and DirectZap escaping is enabled. 7-bit channel support is !not. I didn't want to add a bunch of rarely-used bells and whistles to this version of the library, because I want it to be able to serve as comprehensible example code. I just want to provide a good solid ZModem which reliably handles the majority of people's needs. Hopefully, this will serve as a foundation for future enhanced versions, while providing a safe fallback for people to come back to if that fancy new enhanced version (with neo-maxi zoomed weebies) turns out to need some more debugging. Bug reports, questions, or comments may be sent to me at: BIX: rahuebner Compu$erve: 73105,1022 Or, if you think it's important, and you want an answer in less than a week or two, call my BBS: The Wind Dragon Inn 1-402-291-8053, 300-9600+ bps, HST/V.32/V.42 or 1-402-291-3636, 300-2400 bps I check the messages on my BBS fairly often, so that's where to get ahold of me quick. I'll also try and stock the latest XPR standard spec and XPR libraries there. |--- | Any comments about the version 2.50 to 2.52 update code may be | directed to me, William M. Perkins on BIX, with mail sent to | wmperkins. |--- ! Any comments about the version 3.2 code may be directed to me: ! Robert Williamson ! robert@ecs.mtlnet.org ! FidoNet#1:167/104.0 ! Or, if you think it's important, and you want an answer in less than a !week or two, call my BBS: The ROOF 14.4bps,v32bis,v42bis,lap-m,mnp 514-696-6632 Use the NOTE command to leave me a message. 9. The past (revision history) ------------------------------- ! See History for more recent update information. 1.0, 29 July 89: Original release. 1.1, 3 August 89: Fixed zsdata() to send file data packet in one swrite() call instead of calling zsendline for every byte, to prevent hammering the serial.device with single-byte write requests during uploads, and to speed up effective data transmission rates. 2.0, 28 October 89: Converted from Manx to Lattice C 5.04. Created prototypes and made other tweaks as required. Designed new library skeleton for Lattice code, replacing the old Manx library skeleton. Added new options TC, A, D, K, S, R, and P. Added support for xpr_options() callback routine, and generally brought things up to par with XPR Spec 2.0. 2.10, 12 February 91: Fixed the following generally minor problems: No longer munges A6 register (this was potentially serious), and added callback glue to ensure comm program can't munge OUR registers either. Decided that the protective glue was much safer than the more elegant direct invocation used in version 2.0. Slightly less transmission overhead (concatenates all output into single swrites, builds output packets a bit faster). Considerably less receive overhead; does a lot more waiting and a lot fewer sreads, especially at high speed. WARNING: this change doesn't work with VLT version 4.846 or earlier (yes, Willy; it really was broken B-)). This change may or may not actually do you any good, depending upon how your comm program implements the xpr_sread() function. Fixed problems getting synchronized with some systems on uploads. No longer closes files twice. Now uses fully-reentrant sprintf() from amiga.lib; no more nasty BSS. A couple of obscure error messages were > 50 bytes long, causing problems with some comm program's transfer status windows, e.g. the infamouse VLT "Incredible Shrinking Status Window." Stabilized spastic data rate by computing elapsed time more accurately. Fixed sprintf() error which caused invalid filelength to be sent on uploads. Aligned all data for optimal performance on 68030++ CPUs (now that I have my A3000... B-)). Doesn't really make any noticeable difference, but it makes us 68030 owners feel better anyway. I'm also including a version of the library compiled for the 68020+ CPU, on the same principle. Now uses .DUP2 instead of .DUP.DUP, etc. Added config option E for number of errors which cause an abort. Fixed bogus IO_Torture false alarm concerning timer.device. Tried to fix an elusive Enforcer hit on reading location 0, but I'm not sure I really got it, since I had trouble reproducing the problem. |--- | 2.52 version, 6 March 1992: Recompile code for 68020 library code. | Non-68020 code worked fine but John Tillema was not able to test | the 2.51 68020 version. | | 2.51 version, 29 January 1992: Rxtimeout changed from 600 to 300 | for upload timeout problem by John Tillema. | | 2.50 version, 15 November 1991: Added code to support 32 bit CRC | (Circular Redundency Check). CRC-32 adds a little more protection | to the data being sent and received than does CRC-16. Source for | the CRC-32 additions came from the Unix version of RZ/SZ by Chuck | Forsberg. | | Added code to update_rate() function in utils.c to avoid the | Guru # 80000005 if you decide to adjust the system clock during an | upload or download from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time. :-) | | Proto additions using libinit.o and libent.o, and eliminating all | of the assembler code was supplied by Jim Cooper of SAS. Jim | also supplied the mysprintf() code to replace sprintf(). This | version of XprZmodem can be compiled with the SAS version 5.10 C | Compiler. I do not know how well it might compile with the Aztec | compiler. | | THINGS TO DO | | - Preserve date of file being transfered. | | - Investigate possibility of saving file protection bits. | | - Work out ways to increase the transfer speed. | | - Additional changes as time and others may suggest. :-) | | -WMP- |--- ! See History for more recent update information.