Msged; FidoNet Sysop Message Reader/Editor

                              WHATSNEW.TXT
          List of bug fixes and new features since Msged 4.00.

                        Written by Andrew Clarke,
               FidoNet 3:635/728.4  Internet randy{at}zws.com
                      Last updated January 14, 1998

Msged 4.20 beta 3
-----------------

- A number of memory allocation/management improvements, including
  detection of attempts to allocate zero bytes of memory, attempts to
  allocate memory when none is available, attempts to duplicate a null
  pointer (when using xstrdup) or deallocate a null pointer (when using
  xfree) or attempts to deallocate a non-allocated area of memory.  If
  you're a Msged developer, you can define NO_XDEBUG and recompile
  xmalloc.c and relink to strip out the above features from your
  executable.

- In certain circumstances Msged now performs address resolution when the
  zone or domain parts of a FTN address (originating from the user) are
  missing.  If the zone part is missing, the user's current zone is
  assumed.  If the domain part is missing, Msged will search through all
  of the user's defined system addresses; if the zone, net, node and
  point fields all match, the address with the missing domain will be
  given the domain of the address of the match.  I think that's right...

- Added a configuration switch to disable the `splash screen' when Msged
  starts.  New configuration switch `SplashScreen' added.  The `Function
  0' auto-start kludge used previously by many users is no longer
  necessary to disable this screen.

    Switch SplashScreen   ; default = On

- Added a configuration switch to allow scanning of all messagebases on
  startup, but with an option to escape.  New configuration switch
  `StartupScan' added.  The `Function 0' auto-start kludge used
  previously by many users is no longer necessary to request a
  messagebase scan on startup.

    Switch StartupScan   ; default = Off

- Various Y2K bugs have been fixed.

- The DOS version of Msged now (finally!) gives away timeslices to OS/2
  and Windows when it is idle.  No idea why this code wasn't written a
  long time ago...

- Performing a cross-area reply from message with an {at}AREA control line,
  would cause Msged to attempt to deallocate a non-allocated pointer.
  Fixed.

- The TossLog file is now updated dynamically during program execution.
  Echotags (of areas where new messages have been posted) are added to
  the TossLog file only if they do not already exist, ie. duplicate
  echotags won't be generated.  Now it no longer necessary to exit Msged
  to generate a TossLog file when new messages have been posted.

- Msged developers may now strip out the internal editor code from their
  version of Msged by defining NO_EDITOR and recompiling.


Msged 4.20 beta 2
-----------------

- When copying, moving, forwarding or redirecting a message using the
  message maintenance menu (Alt+M), the user may now type in the first
  few letters of the destination area to select it from the list.  Also,
  while selecting the destination area, the user may now use Alt+S (in
  addition to the `*' key) to perform a rescan on their messagebase(s).

- A new switch named "ShowSeenBys" has been created, as an alias for the
  existing "SeenBys" switch.

    Switch ShowSeenBys   ; default = Off

- A new switch named "Origins" has been created, as an alias for the
  existing "ShowOrigins" switch.

    Switch Origins   ; default = On

- A new switch named "Tearlines" has been created, as an alias for the
  existing "ShowTearlines" switch.

    Switch Tearlines   ; default = On

- If no primary FTN address or primary user name was specified by the
  configuration file, Msged would crash or freeze the system.  Msged now
  reports an error and exits gracefully if these situations occur.

- A new configuration keyword named "MountDir" has been created, to allow
  mount path conversion between DOS-style and UNIX-style pathnames on a
  UNIX system.

    MountDir  

  This keyword is used only on UNIX systems and ignored by other versions
  of Msged.  This useful when you need access to messagebases (or
  anything else that may be defined using path) at DOS partitition from
  UNIX but does not have any desire to write a new configuration file to
  run Msged from UNIX.  For example, if your messagebases are located at
  `c:\msgbase' and your DOS partition `c:\' is mounted at `/mnt/c/' you
  could define:

    MountDir /mnt/c/ c:\

  Note that if you use slash (`/') at end of UNIX part of path you should
  use a backslash (`\') at end of DOS part and vise-versa.  Only one
  MountDir is allowed.

- A new configuration keyword named "SoftCrXlat" has been added.  This
  configures Msged to replace the "soft carriage return" character (0x8d)
  with this character when you compose a message or import a file into
  the internal editor.

    SoftCrXlat 

   specifies the ASCII character with which to replace, and should
  be a numeric value between 1 and 255 (decimal).

  For example, codepage 866 (Russian) use SoftCR as letter 'H', so
  russian users should define:

    SoftCrXlat 0x48

- A new configuration keyword named "AreaExcl" has been added.  This
  instructs Msged to ignore messagebase areas.  Wildcards (`*' and `?')
  can be used to exclude groups of areas.

    AreaExcl 

  Examples:

    AreaExcl *??.ROBOT*            ; catches 12.Robots, 356.Robot, but
                                   ;   not 2.Robot
    AreaExcl John.Private.Netmail  ; exclude John private netmail from
                                   ;   arealist
    AreaExcl *Windows*             ; exclude all areas, that contains
                                   ;   `Windows' in areatag

  Note that this keyword should be defined before you actually define any
  areas.  The number of AreaExcl definitions are limited only by
  available memory.

- Paul Edwards' SOT/EOT specification does not permit domains in echomail
  origin lines.  If both the DomainOrigin and SOTEOT configuration
  switches are enabled, Msged will exit and suggest to disable one or the
  other.

- The Msged source can now be recompiled using the free DJGPP GNU C
  compiler.  For more information on this product visit
  http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/.

- While in message listing mode, Alt+M may be used to perform message
  maintenance (ie. copying, moving, forwarding or redirecting) on the
  highlighted message, or a group of tagged messages.

- Squish messagebases are now "locked" when the user is reading messages,
  to increase access speed. ie. if the user is reading messages in
  MSGED_ECHO, Msged will lock that area until the user returns to the
  area list screen.  This may cause problems with other applications if
  they try to perform I/O on the area while it's locked.  To disable this
  feature you need to recompile Msged with NO_SQUISH_LOCKING defined.  In
  future this will be made a configuration switch, disabled by default.

- Functions to parse and generate FTN addresses have been moved to their
  own module, ADDR.C.

- Added some additional intelligence into the message reformatter when
  reading messages generated by an external editor.  For users (like me)
  who put two spaces after a period (after each sentence), Msged would
  only put one space after the period when the text was reformatted, if
  that period happened to be the last character in a line of text.  Now,
  whenever this situation arises, Msged looks at the text before it,
  determining whether the user puts one or two spaces after their
  periods.  It then averages the result, and generates one or two spaces
  accordingly, when necessary, during the reformat process.

  Confused?  Me too.  =)

- In message reading mode, and Alt+W is pressed, and the Text|Quote|Msged
  menu is displayed, part of the selection would bleed into the top left
  hand corner.  Fixed.

- In message reading mode, and Alt+W is pressed, and the output file
  already existed, and the user pressed Escape when asked whether to
  append or overwrite the file, the output file remained left open.
  Fixed.

- When the status line is switched off, and using the internal editor to
  change a message (Alt+C), the 25th line would contain old text.  The
  Internal editor now utilises the 25th line.  Fixed.


Msged 4.20 beta 1
-----------------

- The viewing of SEEN-BYs, Origin lines and tearlines in the reader can
  be individually disabled or enabled using the following switches:

    Switch SeenBys         ; default = Off
    Switch ShowOrigins     ; default = On
    Switch ShowTearlines   ; default = On

- A few relatively minor user interface changes.

- Bug fix:  Spawning an MS-DOS command line (or spawning the external
  editor) no longer swaps out the environment.  This used to cause
  problems under Windows 95.

- Msged now swaps itself out of conventional memory before spawning the
  external editor.

- After returning from the external editor, Msged now compares the
  "before" and "after" timestamps and sizes of MSGED.TMP.  If the
  timestamps and sizes match, the message was not edited.  If a new
  message was being created, it will be aborted.  If an existing message
  was being modified, the original will remain unaltered.


Msged 4.10
----------

- When the area list is displayed, the right arrow key may be used to
  enter an area (in addition to the Enter key).  (Courtesy Aleksandar
  Ivanisevic.)

- When the area list is displayed, and the new "AreaListExactMatch"
  switch is set to "Off", any substring is matched in area search, you
  don't have to type an area name from the beginning.  The default is
  "On", requiring an exact match (and is compatible with versions of
  Msged prior to 4.10).  (Courtesy Aleksandar Ivanisevic, additional
  modifications by Andrew Clarke.)

- Support for QuickBBS area definitions in AREAS.BBS.  (Courtesy
  Aleksandar Ivanisevic.)

- Support for FastEcho configuration file, FASTECHO.CFG.  Note that JAM
  message bases are currently ignored by Msged; JAM support has not been
  implemented.  MSGED.CFG usage:

    AreaFile FastEcho c:\fastecho\fastecho.cfg

  (Courtesy Aleksandar Ivanisevic.)

- Alt+Z erases all quotes from cursor to the end of the message in the
  internal editor.  Untested.  (Courtesy Aleksandar Ivanisevic.)

- In QuickBBS areas, if a message has been read, "Read" is shown in the
  attributes line of the header.  In list mode an asterisk is shown next
  to the message.  (Courtesy Aleksandar Ivanisevic.)

- If a message has an AREA:  control line (as generated by WIMM,
  FastEcho), the destination area for a reply to the message is
  automatically changed to reply to the area specified in the AREA:
  line.  This is to avoid entering mail into your personal mail area.
  (Courtesy Aleksandar Ivanisevic.)

- When in message reading mode, and the new "RightNextUnreadArea" switch
  is set to "On", and there are no more unread messages in the current
  message area, pressing the right arrow key will go to the next area
  with unread messages.  The default is "Off" and is compatible with
  versions of Msged prior to 4.10.  (Courtesy Aleksandar Ivanisevic.)

- Lots of bug fixes to the QuickBBS module, QUICK.C. (Courtesy Aleksandar
  Ivanisevic, others.)

- When the new "EchoFlags" switch is set to "On" in
MSGED.CFG, Msged will
  append a FLAGS control line to messages entered in echomail areas
  whenever there are message attributes.  For example, entering a private
  message into an echomail area will cause Msged to add a "FLAGS PVT"
  control line to the beginning of the message text.  The default for the
  EchoFlags switch is On. (Courtesy Andrew Clarke.)

- When the new "NetmailVia" switch is set to "On" in
MSGED.CFG, Msged
  will append a Via control line to the end of the message text of any
  netmail entered.  The format for these Via lines is consistant with Via
  lines generated by netmail routers (eg.  SquishMail), ie.

    {at}Via Msged/2 4.1 3:635/728.4{at}fidonet, Tue Jan 07 1997 at 10:16 UTC
    {at}Via Squish/386 1.11 3:633/267, Tue Jan 07 1997 at 10:17 UTC

  The default for the NetmailVia switch is "On".  (Courtesy Andrew
  Clarke.)

- When the new "DomainOrigin" switch is set to "On" in
MSGED.CFG, Msged
  will attempt to generate "five dimensional" origin addresses to
  messages entered in echomail areas, ie.

    --- Msged/2 4.10 beta 3

  instead of

    --- Msged/2 4.10 beta 3

  The default for the DomainOrigin switch is "On".  (Courtesy Andrew
  Clarke.)

- Fixed a bug in the DATE.C module.  In versions of Msged prior to 4.10,
  the date of messages written on or after January 1, 2000 would be
  displayed as January 1, 1970 (the date of those messages would be
  written to the message base correctly, however; it was merely a user
  interface bug).  Fixed.  (Courtesy Andrew Clarke.)

- When in message reading mode, pressing `*' would rescan the message
  base, however the "Scanning:  XXX" message on the status bar doesn't
  line up properly.  Fixed.  (Courtesy Andrew Clarke.)

- When in message reading mode and located in the first configured
  message area, pressing `-' may have caused Msged to crash.  Fixed.
  (Courtesy Matthew Parker.)

- Now when you copy or move a message, both the header and text parts are
  copied exactly.  No addtional control line information is appended to
  the message, nor is any control line information erased.  (Courtesy
  Andrew Clarke.)

- The 16-bit DOS version of Msged would crash under DESQview.  Fixed.
  Support for "TopView" has now been disabled.  If you need support for
  TopView, define the TOPVIEW macro and recompile Msged.  (Courtesy
  Matthew Parker.)

- The 32-bit OS/2 version of Msged would allocate too much extended
  memory when PMODEW was used.  The maximum amount of extended memory to
  allocate has been reduced to 0xA0000.  (Courtesy Matthew Parker, Andrew
  Clarke.)

- The Amiga and Linux versions of Msged now has limited support for
  Squish message bases, extended keyboard function keys and so forth.
  Both still need considerable work for them to operate properly.  (Work
  in progress courtesy Paul Edwards, Michael Stapleton, Andrew Clarke.)

--- Msged/386 4.20 beta 3