THD ProScan Version 12.3 ------------------------ This text outlines the changes made to THD ProScan Version 12.3. Changes noted are made between Version 12.2 and this release. This text also includes the text from THD_12_2.TXT and THD_12_1.TXT and THD_12_0.TXT which were released with Version 12.2, 12.1 and 12.0 respectively. Some portions of this program remain unchanged from versions 12.0 through 12.2. The primary change made to 12.3 (and the reason for 12.3 being released) is a bug in the way 12.2 handled wildcard expansion. Version 12.2 would translate a blank line in any list type supporting wildcard expansion to mean "*.*", and while normally this might not cause a problem. In the case of removal of files from the archive by a list of names, this could be disastrous (in effect it removes all files from the archive being tested). 12.3 now checks that the strng being compared against has a value and fails the matych if either string is blank in the wildcard comparison. THDPLUS has also been changed in regard to RA's handling of GIF Specs. Version 12.2 could fail to properly set the pointers in the FDB files causing descriptions to become muddled for files following a GIF file. A change was also made in regard to RA in THDPLUS which would previously cause failures and/or runtime errors if THDPLUS was located on a drive other than the same drive as the BBS where the BBS configuration files failed to supply drive letters. An Internal change now searches for password protected ZIP files when running under OS/2 and does not test or expand them. (Instead it makes a note in the log of why the file failed). Files skipped by this process are deemed to have failed the CRC test. OS/2 systems using the DOS PKUNZIP will still test the file as the limitation being bypassed here is the need for INFO-ZIP's password to be supplied at the time of testing rather than on the command line. Fixed the handling of removal by list when using INFO-ZIP's ZIP.EXE under OS/2. THD ProScan support is now available on the WWW at... http://www.naples.net/~nfn03274 .--------------. ---| THD_12_2.TXT |---------------------------------------------------------- `--------------' THD ProScan Version 12.2 ------------------------ This text outlines the changes made to THD ProScan Version 12.2. Changes noted are made between Version 12.1 and this release. This text also includes the text from THD_12_1.TXT and THD_12_0.TXT which were released with Version 12.1 and 12.0 respectively. Some portions of this program remain unchanged from versions 12.0 and/or 12.1. Version 12.2 of THD Proscan was released primarily due to Ziff-Davis inquiry into permission to distribute THD ProScan on their CD-ROM(s). Permission was granted and this version was released in an effort to supply them (and you) with the most bug free release possible. This release may or may not have been released in time to make Ziff-Davis compilation, However I hope you enjoy having the benefit they helped bring your way. Ziff-Davis is a publisher of a great many quality computer magazines. Version 12.2 of THD ProScan fixes the following problems. T.A.G. descriptions messed (missed). ------------------------------------ An error in THDPLUS messes (and sometimes misses) the FDB updating with the T.A.G. BBS type. THDPLUS has been updated to correct this error. RemoteAccess FDB messed ----------------------- An error in THDPLUS can cause problems when updating descriptions of files other than the last file in an RA FDB. THDPLUS has been updated to correct this error. FILE Date Options not working ----------------------------- The File Date "Use File's upload date and time" was not functioning. The error was due to the file being opened with write mode enabled. The date was updated to the currect date/time prior to THD actually recording the date/time internally. The date is now recorded before any changes are made. Failed File Moving typo ----------------------- The docs refer to two options in regard to Failed File Moving. They incorrectly state the options as Active and Inactive. The actual options are Normal and Inactive. The wording in THDINSTL now says "Active" as suggested by the docs. THD ERROR CODE = 58 (59) ------------------------ I finally managed to reproduce this error and I "believe" I have solved it. PKZIP "AV" is not recognized in "/CO" mode ------------------------------------------ A change in the handling of Zip files caused the "AV" flag to be reset in THDPRO.EXE during Convert-Only mode. This effectively resulted in THDPRO.EXE ignoring the "AV" when the /CO switch was used. Fixed. ZIP.EXE does not include subdirectories --------------------------------------- An error on the command line causes ZIP.EXE to not include subdirectories when rearchiving files. Although the "-r" switch was used, the calling convention was apparently inadequate to do this. The command line has been modified to corect this oversight. RAR is including the full path of files added --------------------------------------------- An error in the switches use with RAR.EXE caused it to add the full path to any files it added to an archive. This has been corrected. Imbedded SFX conversions ------------------------ Imbedded SFX archives were not being archived back to SFX archives. Instead they were being left in their native archive format. Fixed. File removal did not support wildcards -------------------------------------- THDINSTL.EXE incorrectly stated that removal of files by list supported wildcards within this list. This was only partially true and removal would not always occur when wildcards were used. This has been corrected to properly support wildcards in the file removal list. THDEXARC EXPORT error --------------------- THDEXARC.EXE would incorrectly insert an "EXTERNAL" declaration in all exports of virus scanners which made any subsequent IMPORTS contain incorrect information. Corrected. THDEXARC change --------------- The treatment of THDEXARC records has been changed slightly to allow configuration of "test-only" tools (like GIFTEST/GFXCHECK). This is intended for tools that are designed only to "test" certain file types which are incapable of being expanded (GIF/JPG/TD0/BMP etc). Files of this nature must be configured in THDEXARC as external archivers with both the compression string and decompression string set to "N/A" (no quotes). This will inform THDPRO.EXE that this "archiver" is for testing only and it will not attempt to decompress or further check the file beyond the command inserted in the THDEXARC record for "testing". A sample export for GFXCHECK is included in the THDEXARC.EXP sample file. This is a direct export from THDEXARC and can be imported using the "Import" function of THDEXARC. .--------------. ---| THD_12_1.TXT |---------------------------------------------------------- `--------------' THD ProScan Version 12.1 ------------------------ This text outlines the changes made to THD ProScan Version 12.1. Changes noted are as made between Version 12.0 and this release. The primary reason for this release is referred to below in regards to a bug in the conversion of imbedded archives. THDPRO.EXE (v 12.1) ---------------------- An error in coding resulted in all imbedded archives being given their original name after conversion. This version corrects that error by renaming only those imbedded archives whose name is other than the proper name for their archive type. A correction to the TESTINFO.DAT recording procedure. In some cases the "expected" errorlevel to be returned was improperly recorded in the record. this would cause BBS'es which used the TESTINFO.DAT file to determine pass or fail of the file to pass failed files. (Notably Telegard 2.99 gammas). Added a BBS definition to support FILES.BBS type using the "|" (pipe) code to indicate extended description use. OS/2 version ONLY - 4 new command line switches have been added to the OS/2 version. These switches affect priority settings of THDPRO.EXE and any child processes it runs. The four switches can be used to move THDPRO.EXE into a very high or very low priority on your system. The switches are as follows. /PR1 = VERY low priority . This setting will only allow THDPRO to use the CPU when there is idle time to spare. You might use this setting if you have THDPRO.EXE doing automated testing in the background where speed of processing is of little importance. May also be useful if you're running it from a DOS prompt where multiple sessions could possibly be spawned. /PR2 = Normal priority. This switch is essentially unnecessary as this is the priority OS/2 would normally give to any OS/2 process. It is included in case the session which calls THD has a different priority level which it passes to THDPRO.EXE by default. /PR3 = High priority. This switch will cause THD to take precedence over most other running tasks. It will essentially slow other operations somewhat to allow THD to complete quicker. /PR4 = VERY High Priority. This setting will allow THD to take the vast majority of CPU time to do the processing. It will certainly slow almost all other tasks on your system. THDINSTL.EXE (v 12.1) ---------------------- In THDINSTL.EXE the final screen reported press "K" to modify option "J". (a simple typo corrected). Added a BBS definition to support FILES.BBS type using the "|" (pipe) code to indicate extended description use. THDPLUS.EXE (v 3.1) --------------------- Added a BBS definition to support FILES.BBS type using the "|" (pipe) code to indicate extended description use. Added the ability to modify the number of spaces prior to the extended character for the FILES.BBS (useful for LORA/QBBS "I'm told"). Using the THDOPT environment variable the user can select to add additional "space" characters in front of the extended character (+, >, or |). This was done to accomodate those BBS types which use a file they "call" FILES.BBS but refuse to follow the standard conventions. SET THDOPT=ADDSPACE## will cause THDPLUS to put ## spaces in front of the extended character. If not specified the default is "1". Replace ## above with the number of spaces and please note there must be NO SPACES between ADDSPACE and the number. okay = SET THDOPT=ADDSPACE32 (add 32 spaces before extended character) okay = SET THDOPT=ADDSPACE4 (add 4 spaces before extended character) okay = SET THDOPT=ADDSPACE1 (add 1 space before extended character) okay = SET THDOPT=ADDSPACE255 (add 255 spaces before extended character) NOT okay = SET THDOPT=ADDSPACE 5 (The 5 must be tacked on the the end of the ADDSPACE or THDPLUS will ignore it) If you're using THDOPT to control aspects of the operation of THDPRO.EXE then add this variable to your THDOPT setting. THDPRO.EXE will ignore this setting with no ill effects and THDPLUS will ignore all settings intended for THDPRO.EXE. A change in regard to THDPLUS when copying old descriptions from RA's FDB to the log file. THDPLUS Version 3.0 was sometimes calculating an incorrect description length which resulted in logging of multiple descriptions for a single file. The code has been modified to account for this and should now include only the correct description. Formatting of the description for FILES.BBS is now only done if the description does NOT quailify as a valid FILE_ID.DIZ in respect to it's line length (the number of lines is ignored for this purpose because it's ignored by so many "authors"). If the description exceeds 45 characters per line, then THDPLUS will attempt to format it into line lengths not exceeding 45 characters (as it always has). If it does not exceed 45 characters per line, then THDPLUS will not format the description (should fix some jumbled graphic representations in the file_id.diz). THDEXARC.EXE (v 1.1) --------------------- THDEXARC has been changed slightly so as to disallow changes to the parameter and path fields when dealing with "INTERNAL" archive types. These entries are not supported by "INTERNAL" definitions and are now "forced" to blank entries if marked as INTERNAL. The presence of a path in one of these entries "could" cause a security breach in some cases. Note that the fields may still be modified, but all changes to unecessary fields will be cleared prior to saving the record. THDDEMO.EXE (v 12.1) -------------------- THDDEMO.EXE has been modified to more correctly display the ansi's on some ansi drivers (notably the one included with MS-DOS version 6.2x) which fail to properly translate the K sequence. UNP.TXT ------- A section of documentation regarding UNP usage was inadvertently missed. It is included here as UNP.TXT. If you are considering using UNP to expand compressed executables, I STRONGLY recommend you take a moment to read it. DISTSITE.TXT (corrections and updates) ------------ Site information updated to correctly reflect the distribution sites as of Version 12.0. TESTINFO.H and TESTINFO.INC --------------------------- Added type 12 as files.bbs with "|" pipe character. THD_12_1.TXT (new) ------------ This text was added to outline the differences between the Version 12.0 release and the 12.1 release. Normal release notes are found in THD_12_0.TXT. David Muir... Author THD Proscan. .--------------. ---| THD_12_0.TXT |---------------------------------------------------------- `--------------' The majority of work on version 12.0 went into two aspects. The THDEXARC format (outlined in detail in THDEXARC.TXT) and the creation of an OS/2 native version of THD ProScan. Differences between the DOS and OS/2 versions are outlined in NOTES.OS2 which is included only with the OS/2 native version. ********************************************************************* ** In recognition of the superior compression of the RAR archiver, ** ** THD ProScan is now being released with RAR compression. ** ********************************************************************* This program is originally released in Self-Extracting form due to the rarity of the archiver at this point. It is my hope that at some point in the not too distant future I will be able to release it without the need for the SFX header. At the time of release of this program, the current version of the RAR archiver is RAR_155.EXE. (Filename may vary depending on your global location) Future versions of THD ProScan will be released with the following name convention... THD_??_?.EXE [DOS] or THD2??_?.EXE [OS/2] > Product Identification | > Platform indicator ("_" for DOS or "2" for OS/2) | | > major version number | | | > minor version number | | | | > File extension ("EXE" or possibly "RAR" in future) | | | | | THD_??_?.EXE LAST MINUTE CHANGES/ADDITIONS ----------------------------- Changes listed in this area were made at the last minute and are not documented in THDDOC.TXT. GIFTEST.CFG ----------- A change (undocumented elsewhere) allows the use of a GIFTEST configuration file instead of the standard "GIFTEST -T" command line normally used. If you SET GIFCFG={path to GIFTEST.CFG}, THDPRO.EXE will send the command line ...\GIFTEST.EXE /C:{path to GIFTEST.CFG} {path to GIF} instead of the standard "...\GIFTEST.EXE -t {path to GIF}" used otherwise. SAVED DESCRIPTIONS ------------------ Another change (undocumented elsewhere). In cases where THDPRO.EXE replaces the description in the BBS FDB files with its reason for failure, the original description will be put into THDPRO.LOG. This feature is (of course) only active assuming THDPRO.EXE gets far enough to actually extract a description from the original archive. Be aware that the description is put into THDPRO.LOG "without" modification and will reflect "precisely" the description obtained from the archive (bad formatting, high ASCII, and extra long descriptions included). PASSWORD PROTECTED ARCHIVES --------------------------- An option has been added to have THDPRO.EXE supply the needed password when extracting archives which are password protected. This is accomplished by using a file called PASSWORD.THD which must be located in the THDPRO.EXE directory. The file consists of one entry per line of ARCHIVE.NAME ARCHIVE_TYPE PASSWORD See the PASSWORD.TXT file distributed with the archive for details. THDINSTL.EXE will allow you to select WILDCAT 4.xx as your BBS TYPE. However, THDPLUS does not support this option. The entry was added in the hopes that someone who already owns BTREE FILER will create an interface using the TESTINFO.DAT record, and this option allows THDPRO.EXE to create a Wildcat specific TESTINFO.DAT for this purpose. At the time of release, there is no known utility to use this option. -----------------end last minute additions-------------------- The problem with GIF files failing the virus scan has been corrected. Valid GIF files are no longer virus scanned as they cannot propagate viral activity. The problem with duplicate entries in TG3 (2.99 Gamma) releases has been fixed. THD will not "add" an entry to TG3 bases unless you specifically SET THDOPT=ADD or append the "/ADD" switch to the command line. THDPLUS no longer needs to be removed or renamed to run with TG3's native TESTINFO.DAT support. The command line for F-PROT has been corrected to not cause the allfiles pause to occur (introduced in F-Prot 2.18e). Version 12.0 introduces the THDEXARC format which allows THDPRO.EXE to be configured to recognize archives other than those supported internally. As well it can also be used to run additional virus scanners. For a complete explanation of THDEXARC, please see THDEXARC.TXT. ARJ SFX recognition routines have been significantly improved. A problem with RAR password protected files pausing for input has been corrected. As well, on some systems testing of RAR types could occasionally be prematurely halted and in some multitasking systems the keyboard buffer was inadvertently being stuffed with a CTRL-C. This has been corrected. The log size entry has been modified to accept a number instead of the previous multiple choice size selection. Selecting "0" allows no logs to be kept. Selecting any negative number results in an unlimited log size. Conversion of archives with odd names has been significantly improved. The conversion routines have been overhauled and are much more accurate in their conversions than previously. Added the ability to create a runtime log file for tracking of unusual problems. This feature should not be used unless specifically requested by the author. It is enabled by SET THDRUNLOG={path to log file}. Use of this variable will significantly decrease the speed of operation. Dropped internal support for the 1.?.? series of SCAN.EXE from McAfee. If you feel you need this support you can add it back using THDEXARC. Ansi detection time is now configurable for those systems which felt that there was insufficient time for ansi detection. This version allows values from 1 to 255 seconds. This version introduces the ability to "envelope" non archives into an archive (to "zip" uploaded *.TXT files etc). Hacklist support now supports the BADFILES.CTL file format in addition to the formats supported by earlier versions. Changed THDPLUS' T.A.G. support to properly account for multinode setups. Changed THDPLUS to allow adding of GIFSPECS. [RA only] Added the ability to limit The time and/or space used by THDPRO.EXE to test files. With "some" of the supported types, THD can also predetermine that these limits will be exceeded and not test the file. these options can be over-ridden by the use of the "/OV" command line switch which causes THDPRO.EXE to avoid testing for these limits. Fixed the adding of loaders to ZIP converted archives which in version 11.0 caused a corrupted "AV". Added a /RO command line switch which allows THDPRO.EXE to test a file with absolutely no changes to the original file (useful for CD-ROMs which are not autodetected or for preserving the original file). CHGINFO was modified to improve on it's "search" for FILES.BBS files. Introduced "deep" removal. Removal of files during conversion mode will now search all subdirectories and all imbedded archives for files matching your removal list. This is only active during conversions as it's far too complex to attempt this when conversions are not being done. Added support for UNP v 4.11. UNP is a compressed file expander. It can be used to expand compressed files prior to scanning and this can increase the odds of virus detection considerably. Since UNP will modify the original files this action is only available in TEST mode and is not available during conversion or convert-only modes. Pressing "P" during a dos process instructs THDPRO.EXE to pause prior to returning from the dos process. This allows you time to review errors or other output from the various dos processes. Note that "some" applications may clear the keyboard buffer thus stopping THD from knowing that you have pressed the "P". Once paused, press any key to resume normal testing. The "cloning" of LHA files has been improved. In addition extra checks are now performed on ZIP - LHA - ARJ - RAR file types. SET THDZIP=true (lower case) now functions correctly. A fossil problem which caused some systems to lock up if carrier was lost has been addressed and should be fixed. THDTERM version 6.0 is functionally identical to version 5.0. Changes were made to make the source compatible with OS/2 (thus the version change). The DOS version requires only THDTERM.EXE to operate. The OS/2 version requires THDTERM.OVL be located in the current directory for configuration purposes but should run in normal mode without it. (THDTERM.OVL is neither needed nor provided with the DOS version).