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Artware Year 2000 Survival Kit - General Information ==================================================== Revision 0004, released by Wilfried Brinkmann and Tobias Ernst Eine Deutsche Dokumentation findet sich in README.DOK. 0. What's New ------------- Revision 4 of this package adds all fixes to Netmgr that were missing in the previous releases. Netmgr can now be considered Y2K compliant, with Rev. 4 of this patch applied. Revision 4 also adds the long-awaited OS/2 version of the Netmgr patch. As for Timed there were no relevant changes. If you are already using Rev. 3 for Timed, and it works for you, you do not have to upgrade for Timed. There were some minor changes for the 16 bit DOS version in HOW it works, but not in WHAT it does. So if Revision 3 does NOT work for you, you might try to use Rev. 4 and see if it helps. This revision also incorporates the changes that have been release as ARTDFX03.ZIP, which address handling of error levels for the 16 bit DOS version. We now consider Timed and Netmgr fully Y2K compliant. You should encourage anyone who is using Timed and Netmgr to apply the patches from this kit. If you are a NC, we encourage you to post the announcement of this patch kit in your network info echo, so that all nodes of your network will have a Y2K compliant setup. 1. What it is all about ----------------------- This document and the programs packaged in this archive adress the Year 2000 compatibility problems in the NetMgr and TimEd programs. The problems that have been identified will be described, and instructions on how to solve or circumvent these problems will be given. 2. Disclaimer ------------- THE AUTHORS OF THIS DOCUMENT, TOBIAS ERNST AND WILFRIED BRINKMANN, ARE IN NO WAY AFFILIATED WITH THE AUTHOR OF TIMED AND NETMGR, GERARD VAN ESSEN, NOR ARE THE CONTENTS OF THIS DOCUMENT OR ARCHIVE APPROVED BY OR EVEN KNOWN TO GERARD VAN ESSEN. TIMED AND NETMGR ARE BOTH COPYRIGHTED SOFTWARE, AND GERARD VAN ESSEN IS THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER. THE AUTHORS OF THIS DOCUMENT, DENY ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR LEGAL OR OTHER INFRINGEMENTS THAT MIGHT RESULT FROM FOLLOWING THE INSTRUCTIONS DESCRIBED IN THIS DOCUMENT OR USING THE PROGRAMS CONTAINED IN THE ARCHIVE THAT IS ACCOMPANIED BY THIS DOCUMENT. IT IS SOLELY LEFT TO THE USER TO DECIDE IF FOLLOWING THE INSTRUCTIONS IN THIS DOCUMENT IS ACCEPTABLE FOR THE USER. THE AUTHORS OF THIS DOCUMENT AND ACHRIVE PROVIDE THEM IN GOOD FAITH THAT NEITHER WRITING THIS DOCUMENT NOR FOLLOWING ITS INSTRUCTIONS VIOLATE ANY COPYRIGHT LAWS OR LICENSE AGREEMENTS, BUT NO WARRANTY WHATSOEVER CAN BE GIVEN THAT THIS IS TRUE. This document mentions many programs that are copyrighted by their respective authors and many names that are trademarks registered by the respective trademark owners. In particular: - TimEd and NetMgr are (c) 1992-96 by Gerard van Essen - Squish is a trademark of Scott J. Dudley - JAM(mbp) is (c) 1993 by Joaquim Homrighausen, Andrew Milner, Mats Birch, Mats Wallin. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. - PKLITE is (R) Reg. U.S. Pat. and Tm. Off. Patent No. 5,051,745 PKLITE is (C) 1990-1992,1995,1996 PKWARE Inc. All Rights Reserved. - OS/2 is a registered trademark of IBM. All other trademarks mentioned are registered trademarks of the respective tradmeark owners and all other software mentioned is copyrighted by the respective copyright holders. 3. Identification of the Year 2000 problems in TimEd and NetMgr --------------------------------------------------------------- If you are interested in a detailed list of bugs that we have identified and fixed, refer to the "timbugs.doc" file in the timed\ subdirectory and the "netbugs.doc" file in the netmgr\ subdirectory. To briefly summarize, TimEd and NetMgr suffer from many Y2K problems. Two-digit year fields are filled in with three digits, many date conversions fail after 2000, leading to incorrect displays of message dates; and after 2038, the programs will create plain nonsense due to a compiler bug in the Watcom C library. Thus, it is imperative that you apply the patches supplied in this archive if you whish to use these programs after the year 2000, and you should encourage everybody else that you know is using Timed and/or Netmgr to do so. If you do not apply the patches, you will probably generate grunged PKT files and experience other malfunctions that could seriously impair the operation not only of your own system, but also of other systems in fidonet after that date, although your system may appear to function properly. 4. Solution strategy -------------------- Because Gerard van Essen is unwilling to fix the bugs, I have decided to fix them on my own. As I do not have access to the TimEd and NetMgr source code, I had no choice but to take a debugger and a hex editor and to fix the problem in the binary code of the program. This was quite difficult work (fixing the source code would have been lots easier than fixing the binary code ...). After fixing the first and most obvious bug, thus showing that it is possible to do, I was joined by Wilfried Brinkmann, who invested much time in hunting down other bugs and porting the 16-bit DOS patch to OS/2 and 32-bit DOS. Because of legal consideradtions, you won't get a new TimEd executable, but you will get a binary patch. A binary patch is a set of instructions that tell you or an automated patch routine which bytes in the binary code have to be changed to make the program work as expected. So, in order to apply a patch, you need the original executable(s). 5. Status of the patch ---------------------- The patch for TimEd and Netmgr is quite complete. It is available for OS/2, DOS/386, and the 16-bit DOS version of TimEd, and for the OS/2 and 16-bit DOS version of Netmgr. It fixes all bugs that we have been able to find for the Hudson Message Base, the Fido *.MSG Message Base, and the Squish Message Base. Wilfried and I have tested the patch and we think we can now say that the programs, with this patch, is fully Y2K compliant and will work at least until 12/31/2079 with HMB, Squish, and Fido *.MSG for Timed, resp. until 01/17/2038 for Netmgr. Therefore, we patched the TimEd tearline to read "timEd 1.10.y2k", and we patched the Netmgr version numger to be "1.0y" instead of "1.00", so everybody can see that you are using the patched version. We suggest you to tell everybody who does not show the ".y2k" extension in the tearline that he should install the patch in order to be Y2K compatible. - As for the JAM message base, it did not show any bugs on a first glance test. However, we did not yet test it as thoroughly as the other message base formats, so if you should detect any Y2K problems with that format (as well as with all others, of course), please report them to us. In any case, one can never test enough. If you should encounter any anomalous behaviour with after the year of 2000 (or before), please report it to us even if you think that it is only a cosmetic defect. Sometimes, there is a more serious bug hidden behin some "cosmetic" misbehaviour. Also, if you are an assembler freak, please look at our code, and if you have any remarks, be sure to let us know. 6. Contents of this archive --------------------------- This archive contains the following subdirectories: TIMED - Complete patches for the OS/2, DOS/386 and DOS/16 versions of TimEd. NETMGR - Complete patches for the OS/2 and DOS/16 versions of Netmgr. PATCH - Wilfried Binkmann's patch program. It is used to automatically apply the binary patch. You can also use it for other purposes if you wish to distribute binary patches. 7. Applying the patch --------------------- Refer to the files "timed\install.doc" or "netmgr\install.doc" for instructions on how to apply the binary patches. 8. If you wish to express your gratitude ... -------------------------------------------- Originally, I did not ask for money for my effort, as I was doing the patch because I personally wanted to use NetMgr after the year 2000, and it did not occur to me to ask money for something that I would be doing anyway. However, in the meantime, I have spent a lot of work on TimEd (which I personally do not like so much that I would have spent so much work on it to make it Y2K compliant - my interest was primarily in NetMgr), and Wilfried will spend a lot of work on NetMgr, which he personally isn't using. Still, we do not REQUIRE you to pay any money. We believe that this patch should be available without anyone being forced to pay anything, because we think that it is crucial for FidoNet that everybody is using bugfree software. So, updating the buggy version of TimEd and NetMgr should be free of charge. That is why you are not forced to pay anything for this patch. On the other hand, we have heard a lot of people saying that they would happily re-register TimEd and NetMgr if only the Y2K bug gets fixed, and we are VERY interested in learning how seriously those people meant this :-). So, if you are not too short of money, you are invited to make a voluntary contribution of any size to the following bank account: Account Holder: Wilfried Brinkmann Bank Name: Genossenschafts-Bank Essen eG Bank Code Number: 360 604 88 Account Number: 114 713 501 If this means of funds transfer is inconvenient to you, you may also send an Eurocheque drawn in DM (Deutsche Mark, or in Euro starting on 01.01.1999) or simply a banknote in your country's currency to the following address: Wilfried Brinkmann Im Tal 136 D-45529 Hattingen Germany As payment is voluntary anyway, we also leave the choice about the amount of your contribution to you. If you absolutely don't have an idea of how much to pay, the sum that "re-registering" would have cost is a very good idea. However, we also won't be offended if you pay less, for example 10 DM or 10 USD, and of course we will also accept sums as high as you are prepared to give ;-). 9. Contacting us ---------------- If you have any technical remarks, new Y2K testing results on TimEd and NetMgr, or technical questions, you'd best post them to the ARTWARE echo, addressed to "All". We will constantly monitor this echo. If you want to contact us by private mail, use the following addresses: Tobias Ernst @ 2:2476/418 or tobi@bland.fido.de Wilfried Brinkmann @ 2:24/600 or tsc@cityweb.de Contact Tobias Ernst if you have inquiries about the DOS/16 platform, or contact Wilfried Brinkmann if you have enquiries about the DOS/32 or OS/2 platforms. [EOF]