NoSnail+ Initial Release - March 14, 1995 Enclosed is the initial release of NoSnail+, the successor to NoSnail. This release of NoSnail+ is largely for those persons who have expressed an interest in seeing further development of NoSnail, to include an OS/2 version as well as NetBios file locking. This release is largely on equal footing with NoSnail v1.17, with the exception being the changes necessary for release with the Watcom professional compiler. Included are DOS 16 bit executuables capable of be used by any DOS based system, as well as OS/2 32bit executuables which need OS/2 v2.0 or higher (Warp highly recommended). Please be careful with this release...it is largely targeted at those interested in the assisting of testing of the product and OS/2 users testing the OS/2 version of NoSnail+ should be aware that we will need an OS/2 replacement for MsgForm, as well as a DOS based replacement. We planned on withholding release of an early alpha/beta until we had concluded exhaustive testing ourselves, but since several have expressed an early copy to test with...here it is. We expect to begin work on adding features to NoSnail+ in late April; if you have any thoughts or features you would like to see implemented feel free to touch base with us (see SUPPORT.TXT). We are no longer able to monitor and participate in Fidonet echomail areas; rest assured we may still be contacted via Fidonet netmail, as well on Internet email (again, see SUPPORT.TXT). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Release v1.17 - March 5, 1995 This version is a drop-in replacement for users of version 1.10 and higher. We learned of problems with the file sharing added in v1.14 and the MsgForm utility which cause messages to NOT be returned to sender (ala ElvisMode). In our testing we ended up in CORRUPT message bases. 8-( We added the "/NET" switch to the call to MsgForm and it seems to have cleaned up the problem. Several persons have inquired about when there would be a real upgrade to NoSnail -- particularly OS/2 support and NetBios support. Until we finish an upgrade to our TIC file processor (TicToss), we will not be able to work further on NoSnail, save for any problem reports. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Release v1.16 This version is a drop-in replacement which corrects a problem with AKAs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Release v1.15 This version is a drop-in replacement for users of version 1.10 and higher. Added initial support for attempting to recover from corrupt message bases. Left in the experimental NoSnail code from v1.14 as not one person contacted us with any problem report (or any type of report for that matter). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Release v1.14 Beta This version is a drop-in replacement for users of version 1.10 and higher. NoSnail opens the message base in SHARED mode using an experimental technique. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Release 1.13 This version is a drop-in replacement for users of version 1.10 and higher. Corrected a routine which only affects BinkleyTerm users when sending mail to some of the higher numbered zones (above 100 or so). Added support for creating the Outbound directories if they do not exist as well. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Release 1.12 This version is a drop-in replacement for users of version 1.10 and higher. In the 1.11 release we attempted to deal with corrupt Check Point records, but our efforts were less than 100% successful. After much labor we have settled in on relying only on one of the fields in the Check Point records as the manner when to exit -- it have proven to be a reliable field, whereas the other field we were using has been random at best when coupled with various RBBS utilities. 8-( Another problem addressed was the discovery of a control character being inserted into *.PKTs, causing the .PKT to become corrupt. Thanks Lyndel for reporting this! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Release 1.11: This version is a drop-in replacement for users of version 1.10. Added logic to get around corrupted Checkpoint records -- the Last Message Record should NEVER be greater than the Next Available Message Record. If this occurs the 1.10 release may not properly process the message base, nor properly exit to DOS -- this version should prevent this incorrect behavior. Note: NoSnail does NOT in any way manipulate the Checkpoint record -- it just uses the info provided to detect the end of the message base. Another problem discovered while addressing this was the inability to move through the message base when processing large messages due to an incorrect variable type being passed to a function. FYI, the message was approximately 45824 bytes, or 358 records and has been corrected. WER Development has also MOVED to the beautiful Garden District of Monroe, LA along the Ouachita River. The documentation was updated with our current US Postal Address, the phone number for our BBS did not change. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Release 1.10: It's been just over a year since the last major release of NoSnail, which was written in Basic (PDS). This release is completely rewritten from the ground up in the 'C' language. What's Different in the 1.10 release: Several keywords in the NOSNAIL.CFG have been changed, others added in response to the needs of the RBBS community: NoSnail 1.01: ElvisMode NoSnail 1.10: NoElvisMode 1.10 enables ElvisMode is enabled by default, placing NoElvisMode in the .CFG disables the attempts to bounce back invalid netmail attempts. NoSnail 1.01: Expletive Darn... NoSnail 1.10: 1.10 release no longer supports this. NoSnail 1.01: Intl NoSnail 1.10: 1.10 release always uses INTL control lines. NoSnail 1.01: Address 1:380/14 NoSnail 1.10: Address Fidonet#1:136/1.0 BIG change for EVERYONE! While this release will not bring domain technology into being, you MUST declare your primary address in 5D form. The general form is Domain#Zone:Network/Node.Point. The first address keyword encountered is used as your primary address. NoSnail 1.01: Aka1 8:975/6 NoSnail 1.10: Address Rbbsnet#8:975/6.0 BIG change for EVERYONE! AKAx is no longer needed. The Address keyword is recycled over and over (up to 5). Note: must be in 5D form! NoSnail 1.01: NoSnail 1.10: BinkBusy Unless you declare the BinkBusy keyword, NoSnail will NOT write .BSY flags. There still isn't any file locking in place, but you could use this option to run NoSnail during a NON-BBS event such as Zone Mail hour without the possibility of blitzing mail. Internet connectivity enhanced: From day one I have used NoSnail to send Internet email, but users sometimes have a heck of a time getting it out of the BBS correctly since the have to put a kludge to get it out of RBBS, and another kludge for the Gateway to gate the mail. Beginning with this release users just need to address it to the uucpTo keyword and NoSnail will use the appropriate address for the gate. uucpTo UUCP UucpTo keyword lets you define what entity your gateway uses for gating of the mail. Unless you know for SURE that you need to change this, do NOT under ANY circumstances use something else!!! uucpGate Fidonet#1:1/31.0 UucpGate keyword defines which gateway to send Internet mail. Note the format of the address is 5D just like your Address keyword. Fidonet#1:1/31.0 is the default gateway for Fidonet systems which don't have someone locally gating the mail. If you use Burt Juda's system, you might add him to your Xmas card list. 8-) OverMail The OverMail keyword causes NoSnail to mark messages as exported in the same manner as OverMail does. (";" instead of the default of ".") New Command Line Options: If you would like to run NoSnail with a different configuration file, just specify the file to use for its configuration. By default, NOSNAIL.CFG is used. Example: NoSnail NoSnail1.Cfg In this instance NoSnail would use NoSnail1.Cfg for its configuration file, instead of NoSnail.Cfg. Some sysops are segmenting their Internet mail away from Fidonet mail -- this avoids some of the batch files I have been sent. 8-) If you run into problems, try to see if the debug command line might help you pinpoint where the problem is. Example: NoSnail NoSnail.Cfg Debug In this instance, NoSnail would use NoSnail.Cfg for its configuration file, and would give some debugging info to the local screen. Note: This is the SECOND command line option, and must follow the .CFG to use (ie the .CFG is NOT optional for debugging info to work properly). Enhancements of ElvisMode: NoSnail no longer has a hard coded error message to be used for bouncing back invalid netmail attempts. Instead it uses NOSNAIL.TXT as the text for the message. I have included a sample file in this archive, feel free to use it or improve upon it. If you operate a BBS where English is not the primary language, here is where you can put your foreign language skills to use. Put NOSNAIL.TXT wherever you place NOSNAIL.EXE. Also if mail is address to "sysop" or to the public name associated with the sysop keyword, NoSnail will complain, but will stop short of running MsgForm.