From: syd@dsinc.DSI.COM (Syd Weinstein)
Subject: Changes to the Monthly Elm Posting from the Elm Development Group
Followup-To: poster
Keywords: diffs monthly elm posting
Organization: Datacomp Systems, Inc., Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1992 19:42:24 GMT

Archive-name: elm-monthly/diff

*** o.elm.monthly	Wed Sep 16 00:54:39 1992
--- elm.monthly	Sat Oct  3 22:07:29 1992
***************
*** 13,31 ****
  This is the monthly Elm Posting from the Elm Development Group and
  your Elm Coordinator.  Please send all questions and comments about
  this posting or Elm itself to elm@dsi.com (dsinc!elm).  See the
! README section of this posting for info on some Elm 2.3 FAQ's.
  This posting generated:
! Wed Sep 16 00:51:05 EDT 1992
  
! Current release version: Elm 2.3 PL11
  	This version was released at patch level 0.
! 	comp.sources.unix Posting-number: Volume 22, Issues 60-85
! 	Archive-name: elm2.3/part01 thru elm2.3/part26
  	Patches are posted to comp.sources.bugs and comp.mail.elm
  	After they are stable, patches are sent to comp.sources.unix
! 		Patches 1 through 11 have been sent to comp.sources.unix.
! 		Patches 1 through 11 are Volume 24 Issues 25-35.
! 		Archive-name: elm2.3patches/part01 thru elm2.3patches/part11
  	Patches are available from the archive server at DSI.COM:
  	send mail to archive-server@DSI.COM
  	send elm index
--- 13,30 ----
  This is the monthly Elm Posting from the Elm Development Group and
  your Elm Coordinator.  Please send all questions and comments about
  this posting or Elm itself to elm@dsi.com (dsinc!elm).  See the
! README section of this posting for info on some Elm 2.4 FAQ's.
  This posting generated:
! Sat Oct  3 22:01:30 EDT 1992
  
! Current release version: Elm 2.4 PL0
  	This version was released at patch level 0.
! 	comp.sources.unix Posting-number: (Not yet posted)
! 	Archive-name: (Not yet posted)
  	Patches are posted to comp.sources.bugs and comp.mail.elm
  	After they are stable, patches are sent to comp.sources.unix
! 		There are no patches yet.
! 		Archive-name: (No patches yes)
  	Patches are available from the archive server at DSI.COM:
  	send mail to archive-server@DSI.COM
  	send elm index
***************
*** 34,42 ****
  postmaster or mailer-daemon.  Please use your own login when requesting
  information from the archive server.
  
! Planned next version: Elm 2.4
! 	Current Elm 2.4 status: Beta Testing started July 1, 1992
! 	Expected release date: October 1, 1992 (Well, the weekend following)
  
  As of release 2.1, Elm is now being developed by a cooperative venture
  of volunteers loosely being called the Elm Development Group.  There are
--- 33,41 ----
  postmaster or mailer-daemon.  Please use your own login when requesting
  information from the archive server.
  
! Planned next version: Elm 3.0
! 	Current Elm 3.0 status: Development expected to start 1/1/93
! 	Expected release date: Sometime in 1994.
  
  As of release 2.1, Elm is now being developed by a cooperative venture
  of volunteers loosely being called the Elm Development Group.  There are
***************
*** 108,131 ****
  First: See the README file that is part of the Elm Source Distribution.
  Many questions might be answered there.
  
- How to work around the X.400 problem with = in addresses and = being the
- alias delimiter:
- 	0. This is a kludgy work around.  The problem is solved via
- 	allowing escape sequences in 2.4.
- 
- 	1. Create the alias using some other character for the = in the
- 	address.
- 
- 	2.  Run the newalias command to make the aliases.data and
- 	aliases.hash files.
- 
- 	3. Edit the aliases.data file and replace the other character
- 	with the = character.
- 
- 	NOTE: step 3 will need to be done every time a newalias command
- 	is run, either by Elm (alias changed/added/deleted from within
- 	Elm) or by typing newalias outside of Elm.
- 
  Where do I get the "Elm Reference Guide", "Elm Users Guide", ...
  	Elm has several documents (over 100 pages worth of doc)
  	that were written to help users install, support and use Elm.
--- 107,112 ----
***************
*** 138,146 ****
  
  Why do I get the remote signature on replies to local mail?  Can I
  define what addresses are local?
! 	In 2.3, and for that matter 2.4 will be the same way, any
! 	address with an ! or @ in it is considered remote, without
! 	those characters, its local.
  	Any reply is qualified to prevent alias expansion.  If you had
  	an alias in your private Elm aliases that matched the name of a
  	user on your system, but that alias did not point to that user,
--- 119,126 ----
  
  Why do I get the remote signature on replies to local mail?  Can I
  define what addresses are local?
! 	In Elm 2.4, any address with an ! or @ in it is considered
! 	remote, without those characters, its local.
  	Any reply is qualified to prevent alias expansion.  If you had
  	an alias in your private Elm aliases that matched the name of a
  	user on your system, but that alias did not point to that user,
***************
*** 192,204 ****
  at the same time we are working on the next release.  Also starting with
  release 2.2 a list of known problems will be published in this posting.
  
! Known bugs in Elm 2.3 PL11:
  	The following are from the Elm 2.4 "To.Do" list that are
  considered bugs, not enhancements, that have not yet been done.  Items
  which are enhancements are not listed here.  It is our intention to
! release changes to 2.3 for some, but not necessarly all of these.  Some
! of these will only be fixed in 2.4.  (It depends on how extensive the
! change is to fix it, and what else it ties into in the 2.4 work).
  Items marked fixed will be deleted from the list on the next posting.
  
  1.  General bugs and configuration bugs
--- 172,184 ----
  at the same time we are working on the next release.  Also starting with
  release 2.2 a list of known problems will be published in this posting.
  
! Known bugs in Elm 2.4 PL0:
  	The following are from the Elm 2.4 "To.Do" list that are
  considered bugs, not enhancements, that have not yet been done.  Items
  which are enhancements are not listed here.  It is our intention to
! release changes to 2.4 for some, but not necessarly all of these.  Some
! of these will only be fixed in 3.0.  (It depends on how extensive the
! change is to fix it, and what else it ties into in the 3.0 work).
  Items marked fixed will be deleted from the list on the next posting.
  
  1.  General bugs and configuration bugs
***************
*** 216,226 ****
       frm(1) use	in establishing	the user's id and the user's in-
       coming mailbox.
  
- GB09 All addresses need	to support both	an escape character and
-      quoting the name portion to allow for illegal chars and
-      blanks.
-      (Being worked on for 2.4)
- 
  GB10 [next item	goes here]
  
  2.  Elm(1) bugs
--- 196,201 ----
***************
*** 264,322 ****
       delimiters	and decrypt encrypted text before including it in
       a reply or	forwarded message.
  
- EB10 There is an inconsistency in the format of	the domain rout-
-      ing database as presented by the documentation and	the
-      elm(1) code.  Whichever is	wrong needs to be corrected.
-      [domain database dropped in 2.4]
- 
- EB11 Some terminals with multipage memory do not scroll	correct-
-      ly.  It was recommended that elm(1) use termcap ti	and te
-      values, but this bug may need to wait until we convert
-      elm(1) to use standard curses.
-      [ti and te in elm 2.4]
- 
- EB14 On	the header editing screen, error messages that appear as
-      a result of user input should linger on the screen	until the
-      user enters the next command, as happens on the index
-      screen.  Currently	they disappear too quickly to be read.
-      [fixed in 2.4]
- 
- EB21 System_call() in src/syscall.c presumes that a system has
-      SIG_CONT because SIGTSTP is defined.  On CCI systems this
-      may be wrong and a	better check is	the existence of the file
-      /usr/lib/libjobs.a.
-      [Obsolete system/problem, being dropped]
- 
- EB25 If	elm is replying	to a message and considers From: lines
-      valid and resolves	pathaliases, if	the reply path from the
-      From: line	could not be resolved, elm should report the er-
-      ror and ask the user if the "From " lines should be used in-
-      stead.
-      [pathalias resolving not present in 2.4 any more, bug dropped]
- 
  EB26 When using	an address of the form "node!user@domain" and
       having Elm	convert	it to an all ! address,	RFC976 states
       that the proper address should be domain!node!user, but Elm
       translates	that to	node!domain!user.
  
- EB30 Deletion of an alias with multiple	alias names does not
-      work.  The	alias is not deleted.
-      [fixed in 2.4]
- 
- EB31 Return addresses are not checked in the same way that manu-
-      ally entered addresses are	checked	against	the pathalias da-
-      tabase, and this sometimes	allows a bad address to	be used.
-      [pathalias resolving not present in 2.4 any more, bug dropped]
- 
  EB36 When Elm is configured not	to look	at the password	file for
       full name information, it sometimes places	the user name in
       ()s as the	comment	in addition to the full	name.
  
- EB40 If	reading	an alternate folder and	all messages are marked
-      for deletion and a	resync is performed, the folder	is delet-
-      ed	and Elm	exits saying it	cannot open the	folder.	
-      [partially fixed in PL 6]
- 
  EB41 [next item	goes here]
  
  3.  Utilities bugs
--- 239,253 ----
***************
*** 330,338 ****
  UB07 Arepdaemon	has a bad security hole	because	it does	not check
       to	see if the user	can read the file used for reply.
  
- UB08 The move_left function in arepdaemon.c does not work for a
-      move of 1 byte. [fixed in 2.4]
- 
  UB09 Autoreply.c tries to unlink the file "/etc/autoreply.data"
       when there	is only	one entry in it	and does not check the
       return value of unlink.  This can have bad	repercussions if
--- 261,266 ----
***************
*** 339,354 ****
       the unlink	fails because the program nevertheless reports
       success.
  
- UB10 Readmsg doesn't understand	continued header lines and there-
-      fore doesn't list all the "To" header, for	example, if
-      presented on more than one	line.
- 
- UB12 X.400 now also uses the = in its addresses, newalias was
-      changed from :  to	= due to X.400,	but now	even = is not
-      good for a	delimiter.  Newalias needs to have an escape
-      mechanism for its addresses.  This	needs to be coordinated
-      with GBxx. [fixed in 2.4]
- 
  UB13 If	filter is run on a system that allows multiple delivery
       agents, that can start up multiple	copies of filter,
       delivery of messages can get intermixed.  Filter needs a
--- 267,272 ----
***************
*** 361,380 ****
                             The Elm(tm) Mail System
    		 
  
! 	    (C) Copyright 1986, 1987, by Dave Taylor
!             (C) Copyright 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, USENET Community Trust
  
  			An Overview of the Elm Mail System
  			----------------------------------
- 
  1. What is Elm?
  
! 	In the lingo of the mail guru, Elm is a "User Agent" system,  it's
! designed to run with "sendmail" or "/bin/rmail" (according to what's on
! your system) and is a full replacement of programs like "/bin/mail" and
! "mailx".  The system is more than just a single program, however, and
! includes programs like "frm" to list a 'table of contents' of your
! mail, "printmail" to quickly paginate mail files (to allow 'clean'
  printouts), and "autoreply", a systemwide daemon that can autoanswer
  mail for people while they're on vacation without having multiple
  copies spawned on the system.
--- 279,304 ----
                             The Elm(tm) Mail System
    		 
  
!             (C) Copyright 1988-1992, USENET Community Trust
! 	    (C) Copyright 1986,1987, by Dave Taylor
  
  			An Overview of the Elm Mail System
  			----------------------------------
  1. What is Elm?
  
! 	Currently on Unix, there seems to be a preponderence of line-oriented 
! software.  This is most unfortunate as most of the software on Unix tends to
! be pretty darn hard to use!  I believe that there is more than a slight
! correlation between the two, and, since I was myself having problems using
! "mailx" with high-volume mail, I created a new mail system.
! 
! 	In the lingo of the mail guru, Elm is a "User Agent" system,
! 	it's designed to run with "sendmail" or "/bin/rmail" or any
! other UNIX Mail Transport Agent (according to what's on your system)
! and is a full replacement of programs like "/bin/mail" and "mailx".
! The system is more than just a single program, however, and includes
! programs like "frm" to list a 'table of contents' of your mail,
! "printmail" to quickly paginate mail files (to allow 'clean'
  printouts), and "autoreply", a systemwide daemon that can autoanswer
  mail for people while they're on vacation without having multiple
  copies spawned on the system.
***************
*** 383,397 ****
  
  	The most significant difference between Elm and earlier mail
  systems is that Elm is screen-oriented.  Upon further use, however,
! users will find that Elm is also quite a bit easier to use, and quite
! a bit more "intelligent" about sending mail and so on.
  
  3. What systems does it work on?
  
! 	Elm was originally written on HP-UX, HP's proprietary version
! of AT&T System V, with a little BSD thrown in.  Since then, it has been
! ported to AT&T, Berkeley, Sun, UTS, Pyramid and Xenix and should run on 
! all these systems without any modifications.
  
  4. Does it obey existing mail standards?
  
--- 307,329 ----
  
  	The most significant difference between Elm and earlier mail
  systems is that Elm is screen-oriented.  Upon further use, however,
! users will find that Elm is also quite a bit easier to use, and quite a
! bit more "intelligent" about sending mail and so on.   For example, say
! you're on "usenet" and receive a message from someone on the Internet.
! The sender also "cc'd" another person on Internet.  With Elm you can
! simply G)roup reply and it will build the correct return addresses.
  
+ 	There are lots of subtleties like that in the program, most of
+ which you'll probably find when you need them.
+ 
  3. What systems does it work on?
  
! 	The Elm development group uses almost every UNIX system out
! there between all of its volunteers.  Elm runs on USL System V, BSD,
! SunOS, Apollo, UTS, Pyramid and Xenix and should run on almost any Unix
! systems without any modifications (if there turn out to be
! modifications, please notify the Elm Development Group as soon as
! possible).
  
  4. Does it obey existing mail standards?
  
***************
*** 400,403 ****
--- 332,397 ----
  and so on were all added in the correct format.  The program is 100%
  correct according to the RFC-822 electronic mail header protocol
  guide.
+ 
+ 5. What were the main motivating factors for Dave to write Elm?
+ 
+ 	The first two I've already mentioned, but here's a (somewhat
+ partial) list;
+ 
+ 	-  To have a mail system that exploited the CRT instead of
+ 	   assuming I'm on a teletype.
+ 
+ 	- To have a mailer that was 100% correct when dealing with	 
+ 	  network mail (ie RFC-822).
+ 
+ 	- To create a system that needed no documentation for the
+ 	  casual user, but was still powerful enough and sophisticated
+ 	  enough for a mail expert.
+ 
+ 	- To write a "significant" piece of software as a learning
+ 	  experience (I admit it!)
+ 
+ 	- To find out how reasonable it is to try to modify a program
+ 	  to meet the expectations of the users, rather than vice-versa.
+ 
+ 	- To basically correct some of the dumb things that the current
+ 	  mailers do, like letting you send mail to addresses that it
+ 	  could trivially figure out are going to result in 'dead.letter'
+ 
+ 	- To tie in intimately with the pathalias program output, and
+ 	  allow users to specify machine!user or user@machine and have
+ 	  the COMPUTER do the work of figuring out addresses...
+ 
+ 6. Is it reliable?
+ 
+ 	The mailer, in various incarnations, has logged literally
+ thousands upon thousands of hours without any problems that aren't
+ now corrected.  As new problems arise they're dealt with in as
+ rapid a manner as possible...
+ 
+ 7. Disclaimers 
+ 
+ 	The author of this program will deny all liability for any
+ damages, either real or imagined, due to the execution of this program
+ or anything related to either the software or the system.  Furthermore,
+ the entire system and all source within, including the presentation
+ screens and commands, are legally copyrighted by the author, and while
+ they can be used, and abused, for public domain systems, it will be in 
+ violation of the law if used in systems or programs sold for profit.
+ 
+ 	By installing the mailer or even extracting it from the network,
+ you are agreeing to the above disclaimer.
+ 
+ 8. Finally
+ 
+ 	I think it's a good program, and I can cite at least 75 people
+ who would (begrudgingly, I'm sure) agree.  You should most certainly
+ install the program and try it!!
+ 
+ 
+ 				-- Dave Taylor
+ 				taylor@intuitive.com
+ 				-- Syd Weinstein, Coordinator
+ 				Elm Development Group
+ 				elm@dsi.com
  
-- 
========================================================================
Sydney S. Weinstein, CDP, CCP          Elm Coordinator - Current 2.4PL00
Datacomp Systems, Inc.                 Projected 3.0 Release: ??? ?,1994
syd@DSI.COM or dsinc!syd      Voice: (215) 947-9900, FAX: (215) 938-0235
Xref: sparky comp.mail.mush:346 comp.unix.sysv386:15167