ftp.wwiv.com/ftp.wwiv.com.zip/ftp.wwiv.com/pub/PPPBCKP/SRC15B46.ZIP/CHANGES.DOC

Text File | 1997-10-05 | 29KB | 673 lines

Beta-46

   - Tweaked much more and built in lots of error checking into POP and NEWS,
particularly.  Think we've got all potential lockups fixed.

   - Changed returned values in NEWS to standard, i.e. 0 or less for error
and a positive integer for success.  This allowed me to standardize the
sock_err routine for more accurate responses to socket problems.

   - Added internal FDL processing to UU.EXE.  For FDL feeds received via
Internet mail, UU now puts them directly into the BBS (rather than using
DE555.EXE) to keep the description and FDL type together with the file.

    - Added a "SLAVE" directive to NEWS before any transactions.  On some
NNTP servers, the SLAVE command is used to give priority treatment to a
connection, on the premise it's a "slave server" rather than a user.

Beta-45

    - B-44 was a lemon!  I distributed the wrong executables with the archive,
and immediately after I found problems in error handling!  These caused nearly
certain death crashes!

    - Fine-tuned error handling again.  (Found a condition which returned a
(null) SMTP reply, which gave me something to work with!  This version really
does respond to errors!

Beta-44

    - Returned to standard stack size (4K) in all modules.  These tweaks
appear to have addressed only tertiary problems.  Reduced runtime memory
requirements by about 20K.

    - Went back to basics on POP, starting with the core code of B-32 and
progressing through the more recent changes.  Tweaked fallthroughs on socket
errors.  Found an area where an attempt to close an open file would causing
sharing violations.

    - Fixed a problem which incorrectly identified a quoted response to mail
as BAD*.UUE (because it found the original "From:" line from the originating
system).  It will now only perform a "bad" match that if the "From:" line is
part of the new header.

    - Fixed a situation which has existed since the project began!  ALLMAIL
wasn't honoring "ALLMAIL=N" if it detected the message as any type of UUE.
This caused graphics files, archives and other UUEs to be retrieved, despite
the ALLMAIL setting.  Thanks to Robert Kish for pointing this out (and anyone
who may have in the past, although I didn't catch it!)

    - Corrected a problem which generated hard locks on NEWS retrieval (again
in the sock_err handling! :(

    - Returned to linear display of sent/received messages, so now all
transfers appear on a single line (for viewing at runtime).

    - Removed *lots* of unnecessary static data from NEWS (which is what
allowed the return to default stack size!)  Now carrying the same mail socket
allocation globally through routines, as opposed to one static allocation.

    - Killed the cstat() routine.  This returned the article-ID for any given
article, but we weren't using that anywhere.  (I also suspect this is what
caused the NEWS retrieval to randomly skip to the last message in the group!)

Beta-43

    - Squashed a nasty bug in POP which would cause SMTP to hang.  While I
was in there, I tweaked the "sock_err:" label (the fallthrough for Waterloo
problems), and it now appears to be more responsive now to errors.

    - Squashed a bug in the export() routine which caused a hard lock when
certain types of messages were exported.  While I was in there, I tweaked
handling of pipe codes and soft returns.

Beta-42

    - Changed the Path: field for newsgroups to use the FWDNAME and FWDDOM
parameters if specified in NET.INI.

    - Removed closes to non-open files in the UU routines.

    - Added support for the "X-Sender:" parameter when EXP parses mailing
list headers.

    - Re-fixed the problem where outgoing messages would be considered
duplicates because the Message-ID field was the same as another message.

    - Made a change to the header detection logic to fix a problem where
message text would sometimes be marked as hidden lines.

    - Removed the EXP limit of 14 mails processed at a time.  The problem of
"too much mail" or "duplicate posts" was fixed in the previous beta.

    - Removed the code that tried to unload PPP.EXE if it returned an error
code of "not loaded".

    - Fixed a longstanding problem with NEWS routine chead() which caused a
premature "End of new messages" while scanning newsgroups.

Beta-41

    - Fixed problem in UU which caused received archive files (ARC-*.UUE) to
remain in INBOUND.  (EXP decoded them repeatedly as SOME.MSG, SOME.001, etc.)

    - Rewrote max posts on sub lookup routine to solve problem with incorrect
article number returned during news retrieval (which often caused only last
message to be retrieved).

    - Allocated memory for POP and SMTP sockets on far heap (to match the
method used in NEWS, which has been working successfully!)  Hopefully, this
fixed the problem which caused POP to find no mail on host (when, in fact,
there was mail waiting).

    - Added a second call to resolve SMTP host via DNS (mainly to compensate
for slow nameservers).  This should reduce the occurrence of the "SMTP Socket
failure" errors during outbound mail delivery.

    - Updated contact information in header to my new ix.netcom.com address.
(This actually happened in B-39 or B-40, but wasn't noted in CHANGES.DOC!)

Beta-40

    - Returned to some known good values for stack (B-32 and B-34).

    - Cleaned up excess variables in various modules.

    - Fixed [Spacebar] group skip during news retrieval so it responds when
someplace else than message retrieval.

    - Fixed a couple bad read-write opens for CONFIG.DAT -- shouldn't have
been doing that.

Beta-39

    - Added a "Path" field to outbound articles.  This will now be used to
track whether articles originated locally (and are skipped during retrieval),
instead of the "Organization" field in previous versions.  This was required
because some news servers assign their own Organization field.

    - Strips pipecodes and heart colors from newsgroup articles during
export process (including titles, which got lost a few betas ago!)

    - Compiled with stack checking, hopefully to narrow down the problems
associated with low stack.  If you receive any warnings, please advise me.

    - Fixed a problem which caused "441 Duplicate Article" responses for
newsgroup posts (resulting from exported articles during the same second).

Beta-38

    - Played with the _stklen a bit more to tweak varying requirements among
several systems reporting problems with B-36/37.

Beta-37

    - Distributed wrong NETWORK.EXE with Beta-36!

Beta-36

    - Changed stack length declarations in the main and support modules to see
if that fixes symptoms of no stack, i.e. lockups after NEWS runs, etc.

    - Repositioned the file pointer close routines in UU so all files were
closed prior to copying/moving/deleting (to fix reported sharing violations).

Beta-35

    - Supports outbound mailing lists (i.e. hosted lists).  Create a file
M<subtype>.NET for the list of recipients (subscribers) to your list.

    - Handles CONTACT.NET update without allocating memory on the heap, which
caused insufficient memory errors in Beta-33/34 on several systems.

    - Now is case-insensitve while matching the mailing list owner fields
(in NET.INI) for mailing lists you belong to.

    - Uses the actual date from articles and mail, if one is found.

    - Replaces soft returns (from QWK packets) with normal returns.

Beta-34

    - Hopefully, a fix for memory allocation routines on CONTACT.NET update
by allocating/deallocating memory each time CONTACT.PPP (the pointer files to
your Internet connections) is created.

    - Changed the method for outbound packet naming, eliminating the one
second delay between encoding each packet.  That should run appreciably
faster now.

    - Stuck in support for the "Sender:" parameter when EXP parses mailing
list headers (requested by Eileen Stone).  This is Goose's realm, but it
seemed like an easy change! :)

Beta-33

    - Removed the @###.FILEnet from the default tagline, as some sysops are
using the PPP Project Software without actually being a member of FILEnet.

    - Fixed a problem where messages that had a line starting with the word
"begin" would be incorrectly identified as network packets.

    - Changed the connect time code so that all Internet based systems will
have their last time of connect reset after a successful SMTP/POP session.
The time of connect of any direct dial systems is not affected.

    - Fixed the code so that it will properly use the ADDRESS.# files
rather than ADDRESS.NET.  Also fixed the problem with the - sign in ADDRESS.0
to indicate a direct dial connection not working.

    - Put the return path back into the logic for the name matching routines
for the maillist to sub logic.  Some listservers use one and some use the
other.

    - Changed the success and failure levels for the PPP modules so that
Ctrl-C will return a fail result, rather than a pass.  This keeps outgoing
packets from being improperly deleted.

    - <Space> now aborts transfer of the current message during an SMTP
session.  This allows you to bypass a message on the current run, while
saving it for transfer later.

    - Changed some of the text display, during transfers and (lesser seen)
error result messages.

Beta-32

    - Email messages containing the encoded WINMAIL.DAT or WINMAIL.MSG files
will not be erroneously identified as UUE files.  The WINMAIL encoded lines
are also marked with the ^D0R header to prevent display on the BBS.

    - Changed the name matching routines for mailling lists (again) to fix a
problem introduced in beta 30 which made the name match routines always fail.

    - Made some changes to the logic for creating the WATTCP.CFG file to
try to prevent the "Can't create WATTCP.CFG" problem.

    - Removed POP.DBG.  Now uses "MOREINFO" flag in NET.INI to provide debug
(extended dialog) information with POP/SMTP hosts.

Beta-31

    - Recompiled under BC4 to address the "Can't create WATTCP.CFG" problem.

Beta-30

    - Fixed a problem where the memory for mailling lists was improperly
allocated or freed.

    - The code now ignores the Return-Path line in messages.  This would
sometimes cause the return address to get assigned incorrectly.

    - Fixed a problem where the message Name is *after* host would be
displayed when the < > surrounded the id but no user name was included.

    - Fixed a problem where Beta-29 which left the INSTANCE.DAT file open.

    - The "N*.NET is missing" warning message was removed, since it won't
exist if @32767 is set up as the host rather than a subscriber.

    - Fixed a problem in the display of the sub type when message were
received to a maillist sub.

Beta-29

    - Changed the multitasker detection logic so that Windows 95 and OS/2
will be reported correctly, even if NETBIOS support is also enabled.

    - Fixed a problem where the newsgroup pointer could be incorrectly set if
<Esc> or <Space> was pressed to abort newsgroup retrieval.

    - Newsgroups are no longer deleted from NEWS.RC when an unrecoverable
error occurs.  Instead, an SSM is sent to the sysop account, so that the
appropriate action can be done.

    - Fixed a problem in NEWS where the crossposted or returned messages
were not being deleted for the first group listed in NEWS.RC.

    - Fixed a problem that would be created by messages with long subject
lines or recipient name.

    - EXP now reports if the *subtype (asterisk before subtype) is missing in
the mailling list section of NET.INI.

    - Fixed a problem which resulted in mailling list messages not ending
up on the subboard if the "reply-to" address format included any additional
information han the Internet mailing address.

    - Fixed a problem where Internet mail would not get sent out on the
current connect if no network packets were pending.

Beta-28

    - Added the first cut at support for putting Internet Mailing Lists to a
subboard.  To do this, you need to add a section to the NET.INI file as
shown.  The email name should be the name that the emails are posted from,
the subtype can be alpha or numeric (don't forget to make the N*.NET file).

;
; Mailing List Section - used to define internet mailing lists that are to
; be retrieved into a message base rather than EMAIL.
;
[MAILLIST]
; email_name   subtype    (NOTE: Asterisk (*) is required!)
[e-mail] *1000

    - Changed the open mode for the WATTCP.CFG configuration file, to fix the
problem some systems see with the software trying to read this file before it
has been rewritten by the TCPWAT program.

    - Makes sure any received packets are renamed before the NETWORK routines
are called, so all received packets are processed after the current call.

    - Changed the return address for messages which are received with the
format "User Name <id@site>" to the more standard "id@site (User Name)"
format.  This keeps replies from hosing the SMTP server and getting the
SMTP socket connect failed error message (at least for this case).

    - Fixed a problem where posts that were sent out on a newsgroup would be
reposted when the message was received back from the newsserver.

    - Allows Internet-based subs to be set up with @32767 as the host rather
than a subscriber.  This allows Network Validation for outgoing posts, but
prevents the subs from being networked to other BBS's.

    - Added support for XPOSTS=0, which turns off cross-post detection
for newsgroups.

    - Changed the originator on network packets to be the real account name
rather than the forwarding service name, to allow for the correct
identification of bounced packets.

    - Changed the NEWS log file logic that seemed to sometimes cause crashes
while retrieving newsgroups.

Beta-27

    - Increased _stklen variable in the hope it addresses problems from some
systems running out of stack space during runtime.

    - Supports Waterloo TCP/IP "INACTIVE" vice "SOCK_INACTIVE" in WATTCP.CFG,
which should properly respond to lost carrier, poor IP connections, etc.

    - The CLEANUP option in NET.INI now will execute FLINK and LINKER only,
instead of spawning NETWORK1/2 for normal BBS cleanup.  Some systems were
running out of memory during this process, and it was redundant of the BBS.

    - Makes two passes in MQUEUE on each run to assist those whose provider
didn't settle handshaking immediately after connect.

    - Reads in alpha subtypes from NEWS.RC in upper case now to prevent
problems in finding subtypes on the BBS.

    - Honors the <TAB> character in received newsgroup articles.  This was
causing some text to be skewed (originating from mail readers which didn't
substitute space).  Also properly terminates the received strings, so the
spurious characters at the end-of-line on newsgroups should be fixed.

Beta-26

    - Fixed bug which caused binary groups to get sent into the bit bucket
during retrieval.  Self-inflicted wound in Beta-25 with addition of alpha
subtypes.

    - Changed CONTACT.NET update to a new method.  CONTACT.NET is now
updated for each system for whom the program prepares a packet.  In this
manner, it now reflects what gets sent to each system uniquely.

    - Tweaked the routines which read/write WATTCP.CFG.  This should get rid
of any problems associated with that, including creating 0 byte files and
inability to create WATTCP.CFG at runtime.

    - Forced a newline at the beginning of each newsgroup article.  This
ensures that the text of a message doesn't begin on the same line as the
RE:.

Beta-25

    - I didn't get all the changes/enhancements into this beta which I'd
hoped.  There are a great deal of functional changes below, and the todo
list is a bit smaller, but there's still work before the release of
version 2.  Please report any problems you find.

    - First stab at "AUTHINFO" directive used by NNTP to validate username
and password.  I could find no governing RFC, so a lot of this is in the
blind until I can set up an NNTP host which supports it.  If your news host
requires a Userid and Password for login (such as GTE), add the following to
the [NEWS] section of NET.INI:

        NEWSNAME = <username>
        NEWSPASS = <password>

The initial feedback is that this function is working properly, but it may need
fine-tuning.

    - The trailing '.' on each Internet email message is now bypassed in email
retrieval, so it won't be displayed to users viewing it on the BBS.

    - Nailed down the stacked "RE: RE: RE:" found in newsgroup responses.

    - Added "Continued in next message..." as the final line in newsgroup posts
which exceed 32K (and become split into multiple parts) and "Continued from
previous message..." on trailing parts.

    - Fixed the news and mail time/byte entries in NET.LOG, so each is
maintained uniquely now.  If you use ONECALL in NET.INI, you will get two
entries (one for @32767 and the other for the system you called), each with
its own bytes and time.

    - Added definable maximum cross-posts before newsgroup article is skipped.
New entry to NET.INI in [NEWS] section reads:

        XPOSTS = nn

where 'nn' is a number between 1 and 99.  (Setting this to '1' will reject any
message crossposted to another newsgroup.)

    - Added support for the PPPURGE utility which cleans up the SENT directory
externally.  By adding "PURGE=N" to the [GENERAL] section in NET.INI, you can
bypass packet cleanup during normal network routines.  You must then add
"PPPURGE <days>" to your external event batch file to kill SENT files.

    - Tweaked internal stack size which seems to stabilize problems resulting
from line noise (modem), lost connections during transfers, etc.  Need more
feedback on reliability of these changes, so we don't introduce new bugs!

    - Overrides net validation for newsgroup posts received from the Internet,
but leaves normal validation intact for other methods.  This is useful for
anyone who gates newsgroups with netval, as it lets the Internet stuff flow
through unimpeded but still validates BBS-originating posts.

    - Added internal support for the FWDNAME and FWDDOM parameters from
NET.INI.  If defined in the [GENERAL] section, these will be used for the
headers of email and newsgroup posts.  This is helpful for anyone using a
forwarding service, such as bigfoot.com, as their BBS mail host.

    - Fixed a problem in the UUDECODE routines where the output file was
not being deleted if an error was detected during processing.  This would
cause the partial file to be processed by the remaining NETWORK routines,
which could result in crashes.

    - Added support for individual ADDRESS.* files.  ADDRESS.1 and up are
maintained by the GC's.  ADDRESS.0 is a local file, which can be used to
limit callouts to particular systems.  To force a normal (modem) callout to a
system, create ADDRESS.0 in the following format:

        @node -      (the minus sign indicates use direct call)

    - Added another check for returned packets.  If the packet "from:"
name matches the name and domain defined in the INI file, the packet is
assumed to be a returned packet as well.  Apparently not all ISP's use the
standard "mailer-daemon" approach for identifying returned packets.

    - Changed the sleep() call in NETWORK.EXE to a delay() call used when
the socket is being established.  Some systems appear to hang using the
sleep() call.

    - Added the KLOSV146.ZIP file to the archive.  These are the latest PPP
drivers from KLOS, patched to remove the Windows detection code.

    - Added support for alpha subtypes in NEWS.C (defined in NEWS.RC).

    - Fixed routines to clean up after a file is received via Internet mail.
Copies are no longer saved in CHECKNET and SPOOL.

    - Added PURGE option to [GENERAL] area, intended to be used with new
PURGE.EXE utility.  PURGE.EXE will clean out your SENT directory as part of
the external event (and not when the program runs).  Set PURGE=N in NET.INI,
then add PURGE.EXE to your external batch file.

    - Added support for '_' in CALLOUT.NET to indicate non-Internet system.

    - Added support for user-definable anti-spam originating address.  If
'SPAMCONTROL=Y' is defined in NET.INI, you can also add:

        SPAMADDRESS=[e-mail]

If SPAMADDRESS is not explicitly defined, the anti-spam address now reads:

        [e-mail] (Username)

    - Cosmetic modification to NET.LOG entry when nothing is sent.  Adds a
comma (,) to conform to the normal network software method.

    - Now auto-trims NEWS.LOG, keeping a maximum of 800 lines (about three
days worth) of NEWS entries.  Trim is accomplished at the last full session
entry (a complete news session) at or above the 800 line mark.

    - Supports random signature files for newsgroups and email.  Naming format
for the signature files is:

        I<subtype>.Txx

where 'xx' is a number between 0 and 99.  For example, to create random
tags for subtype "12345", create files "I12345.T01", "I12345.T02", etc.  If
no random tags are found, "I12345.TAG" will be used, as before.

    - Now properly removes BBS tagline indicators (the ^Dx prefix for each
line in a BBS or personal tagline).  Note that these will be preserved, in
addition to the I*.T* signature files.

Beta-24

    - Added hook to EXP to call after network packets/mail are received, so
any Internet mail is processed immediately after receipt.

    - Count transfers (sending/receiving packets) in 512 byte increments vice
1K now... cosmetic.

    - Encoding and transfer of packets is now kept on a single line vice
scrolling down the screen... again, cosmetic.

    - Tweaked import() routine in EXP to narrow down scrambled headers
reported by some systems.

    - Added total files/bytes detail to display after successful packet
transfers.

    - Added SSMs to be sent to the #1 account upon receipt of archive
files or bad packets moved into CHECKNET.

    - Added file-sharing, timeslicing routines to EXP.

    - Added board-specific tagline file support.  File should be in the
BBS DATA\ directory and be named I<subtype>.TAG, for example on subtype
10001 file would be I10001.TAG.

    - Fixed logic when an invalid newsgroup is requested and server returns
501 response.  It now skips the group and removes the invalid group name from
NEWS.RC automatically.

    - INSTALL.C/EXE is in here now.  It needs some work before broader
release, though.

Beta-23

    - Messed up parsing logic in EXP when comparing against name fields with
an underscore replacing the space.  Fixed, I hope.

    - Various tweaks to socket code.  I hope these address the problems some
folks have been having with the modem falling asleep.

    - Included POP.DBG in this archive to show dialog between you and your
servers and help in the debugging process.  Copy POP.DBG to POP.EXE before
installing.

Beta-22

    - Implements controls for Waterloo TCP socket inactivity across modules,
SOCK_DELAY and SOCK_INACTIVE.  By default, these are set to 30 and 60 seconds,
respectively.  They may be defined in NET.INI, as follows:

; Time from sending an IP packet to response from DNS.
SOCK_DELAY = 30
; Max time without socket activity.
SOCK_INACTIVE = 60

    - The sockets are now malloc() on the far heap again (as Goose properly
had them before).  I thought this may have been the culprit in the lost
activity timer.  When I fixed the item above, it actually crashes the client
when trying to free them from the near heap!

    - Removes WWIV heart color codes from titles and originator names.

    - Implemented ONECALL=Y/N in NET.INI to retrieve messages and newsgroups
on a single call.

    - Added timeslicing routines in POP and NEWS.  Would appreciate feedback
from anyone using "activity meters" to see if this helped anything, although
I suspect I have to use a different buffered I/O routine aside from fprintf()
to accomplish anything.

Beta-21

    - Urgent fix for dial-out problems to modem users.  Beta-20 was showing
"must specify phone number" because of the way I was constructing the
commandline.

    - Various other tweaks/enhancements which will be detailed better in the
next beta.  (It's late!)

Beta-20

    - Urgent fix for a problem in news retrieval where it wasn't finding the
NEWS.RC, I hope!

    - NET.INI addition:

; Will retrieve mail and newsgroups on single call
ONECALL = Y

Beta-19

Additions to NET.INI (for now, grab Quixotic Quest's FAQ for a full NET.INI
and meanings).  Under [NEWS] tag, add:

; If defined, puts a bogus originating address on newsgroup posts.
SPAMCONTROL = Y
; If defined, uses file as a signature file to all newsgroup posts.
SIGNATURE = D:\WWIV\GFILES\INTERNET.TAG

Various code changes:

    - POP now receives messages to an INBOUND directory under the network data
directory instead of syscfgovr.tempdir.  This will help in case of lost
connections... received packets will remain in the INBOUND area until cleaned
out by other routines (UU, etc.)

    - Waterloo wasn't returning from the macro for sock_err:.  Tweaked quite a
bit, including allocating the tcp sockets on the near heap (again!).  I wish
we could return(x) from sock_err: but return values vary among different
functions... consistency is something for a future release.  If this doesn't
clear things up, we can exit(x) from the macro and allow the OS to do its own
cleanup for file handles, memory and such.

    - parse_ini() in network.c wasn't toupper() on s[0] properly, so lower
case 'y' and 'n' parameters weren't being honored.

    - Places ^D0R before header lines on received email.  These lines are
suppressed on display to user on the BBS, but may be extracted to provide
routing info.  Required changes both to POP and EXP, in order to detect/skip
^D0R when comparing strings.

    - Uses underscore between multiple parts of user name on exported mail
(e.g. The_Great_White_Whale).  For backward compatibility, it matches both
space and underscore when comparing against user list.

    - Detects bounced mail by comparing originating address (from: line)
against known mail-bouncers, including "Mailer-Daemon", "Administrator", etc.
Bounced packets are named as BAD*.UUE and will remain in INBOUND for review,
as they're skipped during UU decode routines.  To recycle a packet, rename it
from BAD*.UUE to PKT*.UUE.

    - Displays 20 characters of packet originator while receiving (purely
cosmetic).  Tracked that for the above item, so figured we'd display it.

    - "SPAMCONTROL=Y" in NET.INI [NEWS] tag uses a bogus originating address
("[e-mail]") to prevent email scoopers from finding a good address.
Also when defined, the "Reply-To:" field is omitted but a correct return
address is prepended as text to the body of message.

    - Supports a "signature" file defined in NET.INI [NEWS] tag, as described
above.  Format is: "SIGNATURE = [path/filename]".  Contents are read into
outbound mail during export, so length is unlimited.  If it finds ANSI, it'll
choke!  If a SIGNAURE is not defined or the file doesn't exist, it uses the
previous "Origin: * blah" tagline.

    - If mh.toUserName is "ALL" (ie. a first post on topic), skips the
"Responding to: ALL" in body of message... seemed redundant.

    - NEWS now skips the following messages during retrieval:

      - messages cross-posted to more than 10 newsgroups on the assumption
        that they're spammed across multiple groups.  The figure 10 is an
        arbitrary but hard-coded for now into NEWS.

      - any message cross-posted to another group defined earlier in NEWS.RC,
        e.g. if you define comp.games and comp.games.adventure in NEWS.RC, it
        will skip messages on comp.games.adventure which were cross-posted to
        comp.games.

      - any message which originated from your system as indicated by the
        "Organization:" field appended during export.

    - NEWS now allows you to hit <space> to skip to the next group defined in
NEWS.RC.  It doesn't "catch-up" lastread pointers for the skipped group, but
simply writes the current message pointer to NEWS.RC for your next run.  If
there's reason for a "catch-up" key, let's discuss it.

There are probably others, but you'll find them as you go.

Frank