___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ____ ___ ------ March 29 / / / /| / / /_ /__/ / /__ ------ 1995 /__ /__/ / |/ /__ /__ / / ___/ ------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This newsletter / info-pack is generated by Tower Concepts, Inc., and is provided to our users and specific members of the net community. Concepts is generated and distributed every few weeks as necessary. If you do not want to remain on this distribution list, please send a note to 'concepts@tower.com'. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contents... - Razor 3.5 now available! - IMPORTANT NOTES FOR PRESENT RAZOR CUSTOMERS - Highlights of the 3.5 release - A new manual too! - Getting Razor by ftp - Call for papers (April Fools!) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Razor 3.5 now available! We're proud to announce that the latest version of Razor (3.5) is now available at our ftp site. Notes on how to get it are included further down in this newsletter. If anonymous ftp is not an effective option for you at this time, please send an e-mail note to 'support@tower.com' asking for a physical shipment. This release incoporates a large number of new features, most as a direct result of user input. We greatly appreciate everyone's help, especially that of the fine beta test sites. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- IMPORTANT NOTES FOR PRESENT RAZOR CUSTOMERS => Before running the new 3.5 release against your existing database, you will need to run the 'update_db_3.5' script which is included with the release. This script will add a single new field to all of the Info files, making it easier to do special filters and information displays from the versions tool. => You will also need to contact us for new license keys. Razor 3.5 employs a slightly more sophisticated scheme for storing your license information (it now will hold the expiration date of your service contract). Please send e-mail to 'support@tower.com' when you are ready to install and use this new release. Due to the anticipated volume of traffic, please do not phone in your request. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Highlights of the 3.5 release The RELEASE_NOTES file which accompanies Razor releases is a continually growing notebook of all the changes which have occured to the product over time. Over 200 lines were added to the file in going from 3.4b up to 3.5! Below are some of the hot points. - Razor is now available on RS/6000's - TIME_STAMP: a powerful new attribute for issues forms Through a new attibute for issues forms, you can now provide a controlled mechanism for users to input date/time strings in the format of your choice. These fields can even be pre-loaded for new issues with a fixed delta from todays date! TIME_STAMPS can be used for filtering out specific date ranges, and for sorting. - 'Projects' for threads: thread-of-threads Many people have been looking forward to this feature... the ability to define a thread of related threads; what we now call a project. This generalizes our release management scheme to even more environments. - Name & save your favorite filter/sort options The issues program now allows you to save as many different filter/sort combinations as you like, as well as allowing you to indentify which one is to be used as your initial default. - Use the editor of your choice when browsing files You asked for it, here it is. You can now direct the versions program to use whatever editor you like for the browsing capability. - More display options for issues and versions The main display of issues can now show the number of days since the last time each issue was modified, and/or the date of that modification. The versions program offers the same capability, but with respect to when the indicated files were last editted. - MANY new command line options via 'razor' There were all sorts of new features added here. Some key ones are... - ability to enter/modify the license keys programmatically - power to see how fields on an issue have changed over time - power to pop up new or existing issue forms from command line! - ability to nicely format text (similar to Sun's fmt command) - Xdefaults magic There are now simple mechanisms for setting collections of X resources for the Razor programs on a site wide / database specific / per user basis. Have a unique color scheme in place for each of your databases! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- A new manual too! Well... not quite yet. Unfortunately, the new version of the manual set is not ready for release. After some level of debate, we decided to not delay the availability of the programs, and have offered the product release as-is. The existing manual speaks primarily of the old OpenLook interface, and obviously does not cover any of the new features in the 3.5 release. The release notes and associated help files should be sufficient for a number of our existing users to get immediate utility out of the package. If you are in any way uncomfortable trying the 3.5 release without having fully synchronized documentation, then please do not pull it down. We expect that the new manual set will be available in only a few more days; honest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Getting Razor by FTP... If you'd like more information, you can get a copy of our full documentation set and/or an eval copy of the software by ftp... # ftp ftp.uu.net <=== [192.48.96.9] # login: ftp # password: # cd /vendor/tower-concepts # dir INDEX <== Text file describing what's here Razor_3.5_release_notes <== Latest release notes file Razor_info.ps.Z <== Postscript form of one sheet ad Razor_manual.tar.Z <== Latest documentation set Razor_prices.ps.Z <== Postscript form of full price sheet AIX <== HPUX <== And, a directory for each of our IRIX <== supported platforms/operting Solaris <== systems. SunOS <== To get the latest release, just go into the directory of your choice, put ftp into binary transfer mode, and get the file Razor_3.5.tar.Z. (If it's easier, you also can pull the release down as a set of numbered pieces which you'll need to cat back together.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Call for papers (April Fools!) This weekend harbors one of our industry's most treasured holidays; April Fools day. All around "the net", people will be posting bits of humor, foolishness, and pranks. As you see these gems, please forward them on to us. We'll be compiling the best of them into a nice collection, and making them available back to the community in an annotated format. Please include where and how you found it, citing the original author if at all possible. "Is this apisdn umop or are you standing on your head?" Enjoy! ============================================================================ concepts@tower.com Tower Concepts, Inc. 103 Sylvan Way Razor... New Hartford, NY 13413 A Problem Tracking System Voice: (315) 724-3540 with Integrated Configuration Management FAX: " " -3129 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------