Cream of the Crop 12

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Cream of the Crop 12 / Cream of the Crop 12 (Part II) / Cream of the Crop 12 (Part II).iso / BBS / INET40.ZIP / HISTORY.DOC < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1996-02-10 | 10.0 KB | 220 lines

The Internet Connection Version 3.4 ----------------------------------- By: Mark Williamson Contact: 1:202/750@Fidonet or omega@connectnet.com HISTORY.DOC ----------- Version 4.0 ......................................................... The most substantial upgrade! This version is so different than the previous ones! Ok, here's a run down: New features: Capable of reading a standard Fidonet netmail directory (where *.MSG files are stored by the mailer). This is the single most important addition to Inet, as this allows sysops running virtually ANY bbs to use Inet. All that is required is a compatible door file, and a Fidonet mailer. When run in /READ mode, Inet will open up the first .MSG found in the specified directory and display it to the user. The user can navigate through the messages using the menu or arrow keys. Users can Write, Reply, and Delete messages, jump forward or backward through the messages, and toggle kludge line display. More features for the reader are planned like: search - to, from, subj, keyword, list messages, change attributes (security level defined), carbon copy, attachments, and a few others I haven't thought of yet :) Added several new command line parameters. They are: /READ=<directory> Reads the *.MSG files in <directory> /PERSONAL Allows only mail to/from the user to be seen /NEW Allows only NEW mail to the user to be seen Removed the /PACK command line option from Inet. All maintenance is to be done from INETUTIL. Much improved editors. The interface has changed quite a bit as well as the underlying code. ASCII editor lacks functionality, this is more or less intentional. I plan to spend more effort on the ANSI editor because it is the one that will see more use. Ability to use the user's handle instead of their real name throughout Inet. Added the Write-to directory for Replychk. Now, when Replychk runs, it can move any inbound Internet mail to a special directory for handling by Inet. Changed the Flags setting to be 100 percent compatible with Fidonet specifications. The new abbreviations allow for more flags to be included in the field. Added a Msg post security level which can be used to control which users can Post internet email. This does not prevent them from Reading mail. This can be used to show off Inet to your users to encourage donations to your board! Addition of the INET.HLP file. This is a compressed file which contains the prompts and help text for INETUTIL. This will eventually contain all prompts and display text for all programs in the INET package (with the exception of REPLYCHK.EXE). Bug fixes: Oh, boy, here goes the neighborhood: Memory bug when loading large messages. Initially, when the user goes into the Address book menu, they would be told that they have no addresses on file, however, when they go to the Public address book and then back to the private book, their address list would finally show up. Removed the btree index files. These files kept getting corrupt and would abruptly bump the user out of Inet. Memory overflow bug when quoting would lock the computer on exit. Version 3.4 ......................................................... Added support for the DIRECT flag. This will allow you to put your outgoing internet messages on hold, and poll your gateway to send them all at once. Changed the way the MyDomain field is handled. Previously, Inet would automatically insert the @ symbol immediately after the user's name. This causes problems for many people whose domain name is something like this: %something@somewhere.com. Now, you must provide the exact information needed for this field. It is not mandatory either (this is another change). Incorporated the REPLYCHK configuration file into INETUTIL. There are still some miscellaneous (optional) control files used by Inet and Replychk, but most of the time these are not needed, but are provided for those special circumstances. Version 3.3 ......................................................... Skipped this version number. Version 3.2 ......................................................... Version 3.1 ......................................................... Version 3.0 ......................................................... Very important! The multi-node configuration is fixed. This has been causing great trouble with multi-node users. This is the cause of the log file being written to the root directory, disappearing address book, and other strange errors. Before 3.0, Inet would look for INET.x (x=NODE number) as the configuration file to load. But, it would also write the log file as INET.x! Thus, when it went to read the config file, it wouldn't find any valid options, and null everything out! This is now fixed! The multinode configuration files are named INETCFG.x and the multinode log files are INETLOG.x. The single node files are INET.CFG and INET.LOG. Inet will look for the INETCFG.x automatically at startup. If it is not found, it will load INET.CFG. This gives you flexibility so you can have different configs for each node if you really want to. The internal message editor now has an import feature. If the user's security level matches the Sysop Security Level, the import feature will be visible and active, otherwise it will be invisible and inactive. A new program has been written by James Goldbloom to handle the job of FixMsg. This program is called REPLYCHK. It's sole purpose in life is to convert the Fidonet standard ^aREPLYADDR line of an incoming Internet message to a line that will be exported by your BBS. Some BBS packages like RemoteAccess and Proboard, do not write the CTL-A (^A) kludge lines which are usually invisible to the reader. These kludge lines provide information to the computers that 'see' these messages. REPLYCHK reads the REPLYADDR kludge line, and if it is an internet address, it will write a new line to the message which begins with @INETADDR. Since this line is unique to Inet, only those messages that contain it are treated as Internet messages and handled appropriately during the reply process. REPLYCHK will be placed in the batch file you use to run your BBS. Preferebly in after your tosser tosses the mail, but before it imports it. If you have more questions, please post them in the OMEGA_SOFT echo, so everyone can benefit from the answers :) NOTE: Use of the REPLYCHK program is required to enable the reply mode feature of Inet! For MAXIMUS sysops, please see the file MAXIMUS for addon's that you might want to use! Really, all known bugs are fixed finally! When spawning the external editor, the comm port is now reinitialized on return. This was the cause of the disappearing output when the editor returned to Inet. When the user selected the PUBLIC address book when there is no data or the file is missing, there would be no message stating so. That has been fixed with the addition of the NOPUBLIC.A?? help file. * Added an option to turn off the appending of the [Exported by...] line at the end of each message. This was strictly cosmetic and was requested by quite a few registered users. So, at the request of even more registered customers, I've added this option to turn off the exported line. * Internal ANSI and ASCII editors, for those who use BBS systems that don't easily use external message editor programs, or if you prefer the simple approach. Looks good, works great! * Address book manager. Edit, add, tag/delete, pack files, and convert address book files. Don't forget to convert, prior to putting online if you are currently running an older version before 3.0. * User file manager. Edit, add, tag/delete and pack the user files. * Time and date stamp added to end of exported messages (and import, if enabled.) * Expanded online help and documentation. * Rewritten documentation, in depth details on configuration options, setup, hints and tips on usage, plus extra documentation on how to find a UUCP host near you, setting up Inet on your BBS, and more. * Intelligent reply handling feature, will detect the sender's address from just about any internet mail format. Used in your BBS batch file upon receipt of netmail, REPLYCHK will check the incoming netmail before your tosser goes to work to import the message. If the message is an internet message (i.e. from your UUCP host), REPLYCHK will find the sender's address and add a special line to the message so Inet can see the address consistently, and with a high degree of accuracy. * Added a macro to have Inet fill in the subject line with the contents of the address COMMENT field. By putting a dollar sign character, $, at the beginning of the comment field, Inet will load the comment field and copy it to the subject line when the user selects an address from their address book. This is a GREAT feature... use it for your public address book so your users can enjoy the power of Internet netmailing! * Added a quick-list feature. When the user is at the To: prompt, they may press the backslash key, \, and a list of their addresses will be displayed. This list is exactly the same as that displayed when the user presses / for the address book menu, then S for Select Address. * Better online help screens give more detail about what is expected of the user at any given point. * The log file system is back. Due to a bug, it disappeared in 1.6. * It was noted that the prompt to add the address to the address book was only visible on the local screen, not on the remote. This has been fixed.