============================================================================
* Reenviado por Albano De Manuel (2:341/201)
* Area : DBRIDGE ([WWB] D'Bridge Support Echo)
* De : Nick Andre, 1:229/427 (Mi‚rcoles 22 Julio 2009 15:14)
* Para : All
* Tema : D'Bridge 3.32 released and available ============================================================================
ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ
ÛÍÍÍÍÛ ÛÍÍÍÍÛ ÛÍÍÍÍÛ ÛÍÍÍÍÛ ÛÍÍÍÍÛ ÛÍÍÍÍÛ
Û ÛÍÍÍÍÛ ÛÍÍÍÍÛ ÛÍÍÍÍÛ ÛÍÍÍÍÛ ÛÍÍÍÍÛ Û
ÛÍÍÍÍÛ ÛÍÍÍÍÛ ÛÍÍÍÍÛ ÛÍÍÍÍÛ ÛÍÍÍÍÛ ÛÍÍÍÍÛ
Û ÛÍÍÍÍÛ ÛÍÍÍÍÛ Û
ÛÍÍÍÍÛ ÛÍÍÍÍÛ
Û D'Bridge EMAIL System Û
(c) by Nick J. Andre, Ltd.
VERSION 3.32 - JULY 22 2009
---------------------------
This is a major release and it has significant and fundimental changes
done internally to the source code. A lot of work was done to simplify or improve the functionality of several elements of D'Bridge.
Please try only to report any problems once 3.32 has been installed. The
source code for 3.31 and prior versions has been archived/moved off the workstation. I will not be able to quickly diagnose any problems in 3.31
and prior versions. Thats not to say I can't do it; its just going to take
more time if you are reporting stuff from 3.31.
WARNING: If thats not possible or if this release does not perform as
desired, then rollback to 3.31 or prior releases and send a report
accordingly, ASAP to my attention via Internet Email. DO NOT send
regular Fido NETmail.
The release notes for this version are lengthly; so I've broken it up into several sections, and for posting in the Fidonet DBRIDGE echo:
REDESIGNED SETUP WIZARD - Explains the install/upgrade improvements.
FIDO PLUG AND PLAY - Allows new users to automatically obtain addresses.
UPDATES NOTIFICATION - Explains the new auto-updates notification feature.
CORRECTIONS/FIXES/ETC - The largest section; outlining the obvious.
REDESIGNED SETUP WIZARD
-----------------------
The Setup Wizard has been rewritten from scratch; functioning exactly as it
did in the version 1.xx series. This was done for a few reasons, but the end result is a more simplified procedure. And most important: Less code used.
The Setup Wizard will do a fair amount of "cleanup" of your DB directory
when you upgrade from 3.31 or prior versions. There may be a considerable amount of disk-activity during this process. A fair amount of files will be permanently DELETED from your directory. These are:
- ANY and ALL "leftovers" from terminated Soupgate/VSOUP sessions.
- DB07*.3 and DB08*.3; obsolete/retired code from 3.31 and prior versions.
- COMM.CFG, obsolete from version 1 and version 2 series.
- DBRIDGE.MSG, obsolete from version 2.
- DBRIDGE.NRN, DBRIDGE.NMW, DBRIDGE.EMW, DBRIDGE.BXS, DBRIDGE.RSN,
DBRIDGE.RSE, DBRIDGE.MSR, DBUTIL.DAT, DBUTIL.NRN, DATA\*.DB?, DB06.DAT,
AMERICA.COS, DBUTIL.C1, DBUTIL.C2, DBRIDGE.QSD, DBRIDGE.NMS are removed
either for obsolescence or because of possible conflicts after upgrading
to 3.32.
- The infamous empty "Queu" directory.
There may be a problem if you decide to rollback to 3.31 or prior versions
when these files are missing, however it would (theoretically) be more of
a cosmetic/minor problem than major.
FIDO PLUG AND PLAY
------------------
This was a past topic you may remember discussion on in the Fidonet DBRIDGE echo.
A completely redesigned Wizard in 3.32 now gives the end-user the option
of either manually configuring their address, uplink and routing information
or to have that automatically-obtained. This is done via Fido Plug and Play,
or FPNP for short. FPNP is a way to dynamically-assign Fidonet/FTN addresses
to systems who connect to you for the first time.
When prior versions of D'Bridge were installed for the first time, a Wizard would appear, asking the user to enter in their network address and that
of their Fidonet uplink/provider. And of course DB would configure itself accordingly.
FPNP is now fully functional, works properly across "othernets", and is a
major step in allowing newcomers to join our hobby.
WARNING: This is an advanced feature. You should not enable FPNP unless you
are an experienced administrator with a very thorough knowledge
of how Fido/FTN addressing, routing and hubbing works.
When a remote system is assigned an address by you, they are given a POINT ADDRESS and can optionally be connected to Echomail areas of your choice.
All of the complicated routing, scheduling and packet/mail settings are automatically configured on both your side and the user's.
The Wizard will ask if the user already has a Fido/FTN address. If so, then
the system will be auto-configured with their address and uplink info, the
same way it worked in prior versions. However, if not, then FPNP works to obtain the address.
The way it works is a new installation of 3.32 (and higher) connects first
with nickandre.com (1:1/130). The 1:1/130 address on Fidonet is a "primary directory" of all known D'Bridge installations worldwide that are offering
FPNP services to end-users; along with which networks (ie. Fidonet, DBNET,
etc) and their corrosponding geographical locations.
The data exchanged with nickandre.com is your address and FPNP information
as configured in this screen. No other information is sent to that site.
WARNING: Systems who do not refresh themselves within a one-week period are
automatically purged from the database at 1:1/130; to help present
a most-recent list of available systems that an end-user can
exchange mail with.
By carefully manipulating BinkD on the end-user side, a short query is done
and a list of available "hubs" is downloaded from 1:1/130 and presented to choose from. The user can then choose one (usually whoever is closest geographically) and optionally choose which networks to connect to.
A request is then sent to your system to obtain an address. D'Bridge then computes and sends back the address along with special commands that automatically configure that remote end-user with the proper address,
routing, Echomail areas and so forth.
The questions in the new FPNP SETUP screen control how it works:
ZONE:NET This is where you specify the network Zone and Net where the
addressing should start. For example, 1:229 means that I will
auto-assign addresses in Zone 1, Net 229. The ZONE:NET must
match at least one of your network addresses specified in
the BASIC CONFIGURATION screen. The first matching ZONE:NET will
be the one that addresses are auto-assigned from.
WARNING: Be very careful with the deligation of Fidonet ZONE and
NET properties. If you are not the Network Co-Ordinator (NC) of
your local "net", you should ask permission to use FPNP first.
NETWORK ID A unique ID to assign for this network. Up to 8 letters and
numbers only. For example, FIDONET or DBNET. The network ID is
presented to the remote system.
NODELIST D'Bridge will send the specified nodelist to the remote system.
Do not enter an extension; it will send whatever matches.
DEFAULT Specifies the default security criteria to apply for new systems SECURITY and this should match the criteria in the PACKET/MAIL CONTROL
screen. For example: A,50 means assign group A, security 50.
START The starting "scope" for address assignment. For example, if
you enter 50 and your network address is 1:229/426, then D'Bridge
will assign addresses from 1:229/426.50 and onward.
END The ending "scope", as per above, D'Bridge will assign addresses
up to this criteria.
OPTIONAL You may send an optional "infopack", usually a ZIP file that INFOPACK would contain an official application, rules and list of areas.
Specify that name of the file here (*with* an extension)
FPNP updates and controls the points via the POINTS.LST control file.
D'Bridge is smart enough to figure out if the POINTS.LST already exists and
if its in that "Boss-node" format as discussed recently (as of this writing)
in the FIDOGAZETTE echo.
Originally it was my intention to provide NODE addressing and full support
for MakeNL-compliant segments, however, there are a few "political"
drawbacks of offering this service. Internally however, the code can be adjusted fairly easily to provide NODE addressing.
AUTOMATIC UPDATES NOTIFICATION
------------------------------
When D'Bridge 3.32 is installed for the first time, a Wizard appears, asking you if you wish to be automatically notified when new updates are available.
If you answer YES to this question, D'Bridge will check with nickandre.com approximately once per week, to see if a new version is available. If so,
then a message is flashed on the MAILER screen accordingly.
CORRECTIONS/FIXES/ETC
---------------------
As explained earlier, a significant amount of work was done behind the
scenes to help improve the way certain fundimental components operate. In addition:
- The overall installation/upgrade process should be several times faster
than before.
- The overall operation of the mailer should be anywhere from 5% to 25%
faster now.
- The overall operation of the BinkD subsystem should be anywhere from 10%
to 75% faster now and use less disk access/swapping.
- D'Bridge will unpack any received mail immediately after a BinkD
transaction if running in "client only" mode.
- D'Bridge uses slightly less memory when running now.
- A serious stability/reliability problem with the way D'Bridge handles COM
ports has been resolved.
- A serious stability problem with Error 23 relating to COMM/MODEM setup
should be resolved. The problem is in the length of the MCF files.
- A serious problem with the way BinkD stopped polling remote systems upon
installation of some recent versions of D'Bridge should be resolved now.
This version underwent serious testing to ensure that problem did not
happen again.... but if it does, let me know.
- A serious problem with DBUTIL SORT AREAS has been resolved.
- A serious longstanding problem with DBUTIL CHANGE on alias-addresses
(non-Fidonet) has been resolved.
- A minor improvement was done to the code of DBUTIL PURGE.
- The nightly "cleaning" of the system log files is now done internally
in D'Bridge.
- A problem with a malfunctioning COM port-status in the menu system has
been fixed, and no, it wasn't something I botched before... it was a new
thing I botched.
- The internal editor should no longer duplicate the MSGID kludge on NETmail
destined for multiple recipients.
- The internal editor's "Custom tear line" is no longer Wildcat.
- DBUAFIXI is no longer included in D'Bridge, I rewrote that entire program
and all the code to function during the tossing of mail; internally.
- USENET.BBS is properly auto-generated on all transactions from the
NNTP SOUP gateway that update the NEWSRC source file.
- AUTORUN.INF is no longer included in D'Bridge; for security reasons, and
Microsoft has recently released a series of "patches" to their OS's to
change the behavior of AUTORUN.INF. It is fairly simple to create your own
if you decide to burn D'Bridge to CD-R to share with others.
I also rewrote a few sections of code to be less dependant on Assembler and
be a bit more compiler-friendly instead of just hammering the DOS session
with assembler calls.
After working on 3.32, I am inspired to start work on eliminating ALL of the assembly-language calls out of D'Bridge entirely. There are two fundimental problems in the code that I may need help on. Those are ZMODEM and the B-
Tree database system used by the Nodelist, Costbase and system Queue.
Eliminating the assembler code means that I can compile cross-platform DB
that will work natively in Linux, OS/2, Unix, FreeBSD, Win32/Win64, etc etc.
Depending on what feedback I get from that, I may just release that as
the version 4 series.
Nick Andre
www.nickandre.com
-+- D'Bridge 3.32
+ Origin: It takes two to lie. One to lie and one to listen. (1:229/427) =============================================================================
Hola Todos!
Saludos,
Albano de Manuel
FidoNet 2:341/201
telnet://pucelabbs.dyndns.org:4000
--- FMail/Win32 1.60
* Origin:
telnet://pucelabbs.dyndns.org:4000 - FidoNet (2:341/201)