Make sure to read the Installation Instructions before installing
WinVN. E-mail traffic is high for the unpaid supporters of this
product and almost all the questions people ask are either answered
in this "README.TXT", the WINVN.FAQ, the WWW site, the Hardcopy
DOCs or the MAIL.WINVN Newsgroup on NEWS.KSC.NASA.GOV. Please
help us spend our time making WinVN a better product and not
answering the same questions over and over.
JD
***********************
Contents
========
What is WinVN?
Requirements
Upgrading from a previous version
Installation Instructions
WinVN Files
How to get the latest version
Contacting the developers
Credits
Revision History
What is WinVN?
==============
WinVN is an NNTP newsreader for the Microsoft Windows family. You can use
it to read and post Usenet News, and send email via the SMTP or MAPI
protocols. There are two version of WinVN:
WinVN 16-bit For Windows and Windows for Workgroups
WinVN 32-bit *Only* for Windows NT and Windows 95
Requirements
============
1) An appropriate operating system: Windows, Windows for Workgroups,
Windows NT, or Windows 95.
2) A correct installation as described below.
3) An appropriate network connection with a TCP/IP stack and either a
WINSOCK.DLL or a WSOCKETS.DLL. See Installation Instructions below.
4) An NNTP News Server that supports at least one of the following NNTP
extensions:
XHDR Most news servers can do this
XOVER INN is a news server that does XOVER
WinVN will use XOVER, a better protocol, if your server supports it.
You need the name or address of the server. A few news servers require
a username and password for authentication--most do not. Contact your
news server's administrator if in doubt.
Upgrading from a previous version
=================================
1) Just unzip the archive into your current WinVN directory. The archive does not contain NEWSRC or WINVN.INI files, so your existing settings will be preserved and WinVN will merge in any new features needed for the new release. [If you are paranoid: move your WinVN.INI and NEWSRC files to a different directory, delete everything else in your WinVN directory, unzip WinVN, and finally move your WinVN.INI and NEWSRC files back. 2) *** THERE MAY BE A NEW CTL3DV2.DLL *** WinVN 16-bit: Move (*don't copy*) CTL3DV2.DLL into your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. There must be *one and only one* instance of this file on your disk! WinVN 32-bit: Move (*don't copy*) CTL3D32.DLL into your %SystemRoot%\SYSTEM32 directory. There must be *one and only one* instance of this file on your disk!New Installation Instructions
=========================
0) Read this file, the help file, and the FAQ. They will answer most of
your questions.
1) Create a WinVN directory and unzip the archive into this directory.
2) *** DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP! ***
WinVN 16-bit:
Move (*** DO NOT COPY!!! ***) CTL3DV2.DLL into your
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. There must be *one and only one*
instance of this file on your disk! or you will get a
CTL3DV2.DLL was not installed correctly message. This message
is put out by the authors of CTL3DV2.DLL and not by WinVN! We
can't do anything about that.
WinVN 32-bit:
Move (*don't copy*) CTL3D32.DLL into your %SystemRoot%\SYSTEM32 directory.
There must be *one and only one* instance of this file on your disk!
(Note: if you are running Windows 3.1 with Win32S, you still can't
run the 32bit version of WinVN. Win32S doesn't provide a 32bit
WinSock.DLL so it won't buy you anything even if we supported it).
3) This is very important! Choose the appropriate Winsock interface by
editing the GenSockDLL entry in the Communications section of your
WINVN.INI. WinVN doesn't ship with a WinVN.INI file but it will
produce one the first time you run the program. If you want to
change WinVN's DLL that interfaces to the WinSOCK.DLL on your
networking stack, run WinVN first, have it produce a WINVN.INI
and then edit the WinVN.INI using an editor.
See below for details.
WinVN 16-bit:
GWINSOCK.DLL The default, which should work in most cases
PWKSOCK.DLL For pre Winsock 1.1 compliant TCP/IP stacks
such as Dec Pathworks 4.1 or earlier (Pathworks
5.0 or higher use GWINSOCK.DLL) or LanManager 2.1a
or earlier. (LanMan 2.2 or higher, use GWINSOCK.DLL)
GENASYNC.DLL Faster with modem and Trumpet or NetManage products
WinVN 32-bit:
GWINSOCK.DLL The default, which should work in all cases
Details
-------
You will have one of the following two types of TCP/IP stacks:
Winsock v1.1 (or higher) TCP/IP stack and WINSOCK.DLL:
(Examples: Microsoft TCP/IP, Trumpet, PC/TCP, Windows NT,
Windows 95, NetManage TCP/IP, LanManager 2.2, DEC Pathworks 5.1)
a) Make sure WINSOCK.DLL is in your path before starting Windows.
b) Make sure the GenSockDLL entry in the Communications section
of your WINVN.INI is set to GWINSOCK.DLL or GENASYNC.DLL, as
appropriate.
SPECIAL NOTE: If you are using later versions of the Trumpet or
NetManage (Chameleon) products, you will get better performance over
a modem with GENASYNC.DLL rather than GWINSOCK.DLL.
*or*
Non-Winsock TCP/IP stack and WSOCKETS.DLL:
(Examples: DEC Pathworks 4.1 or Microsoft LanManager 2.1a)
a) Make sure WSOCKETS.DLL is in your path before starting Windows.
b) Make sure the GenSockDLL entry in the Communications section
of your WINVN.INI is set to PWKSOCK.DLL.
NOTE: GWINSOCK.DLL, GENASYNC.DLL and PWKSOCK.DLL are not replacements
for your TCP/IP stack's own socket DLLs--they use them. For example,
GWINSOCK.DLL talks to WINSOCK.DLL, and PWKSOCK.DLL talks to WSOCKETS.DLL.
4) Configure the Communications Options. The first time you start WinVN
you will be asked to configure these options. You must have the name or
address of your news server. The TCP port should be NNTP or 119 if the
former does not work. The Username and Password should *only* be
filled in if your news server requires them for authentication.
Contact your news server's administrator if in doubt.
If you are using SMTP mail, fill in the appropriate SMTP host name or
address. See the help file for more information.
5) Configure your Personal Info. The first time you start WinVN
you will be asked for your name, email address, and organization. Make
Many people have worked on WinVN--it's been a fun, international project.
Here are a few of them:
Matt Bretherton MBretherton@cmutual.com.au
Harvey Brydon brydon@tulsa.dowell.slb.com
John S. Cooper jcooper@netcom.com
Michael Downs mdowns@eos.arc.nasa.gov
Mike Downs downsm@titan.ksc.nasa.gov
Jim Dumoulin dumoulin@titan.ksc.nasa.gov
Michael Finken finken@conware.de
Don Gardner gardnerd@keystone.ksc.nasa.gov
Jody Glasser jglas@tdycont.com
Masaki Ishido ishidou@yhp.hp.com
Jim Martin jim@noc.rutgers.edu
Tom Menshik tmenshik@hpcvitlm.cv.hp.com
Conor Nolan cnolan@tcd.ie
Roger Pearse pearse_w_r@bt-web.bt.co.uk
John Piraino jpiraino@execpc.com
Mark Riordan mrr@scss3.cl.msu.edu
Sam Rushing rushing@titan.ksc.nasa.gov
(Countless others we don't really mean to leave out.)
- Sam Rushing, Jim Dumoulin & John Cooper
======== Release ChangeLog =======
WinVN release .99.5:
(dumoulin) Fixed bug that would trash news group list when subscribing to a newsgroup. (dumoulin) Fixed bugs in the tracking of when the NewsRC file
gets modified. Some times WinVN wasn't saving the NEWSRC file when it should. (dumoulin) Fixed a GPF when updating unseen articles with multiple newsgroups open. There are still some other bugs that are not fixed when reusing the same article window for multiple groups. (dumoulin) Fixed bug in article threshold menu. Wasn't allowing you to enter a number. (dumoulin) Fixed a bug where WinVN wasn't selecting the right article when selection was done using the mouse. (dumoulin) Relaxed restriction on Reset Server Protocol to allow an abort even if WinVN thinks its a bad idea. This can cause GPF's since many parts of WinVN can't be aborted, but it will help people get out of some hung situations as a last resort. (dumoulin) Fixed problems with Canceling articles. Didn't check all possible headers and failed when some header info was turned off (jcooper) Support new INI option MIMECharset which defaults to ISO-8859-1. (jcooper) Fix to MIME type text/plain. (jcooper) Fix code when sending mail that would abort the mail window if a required header was missing. (vielhaber) Updated the WinVN online Documentation. (ishido) Changed size of hostname buffer from 1024 bytes to to 256 bytes to keep from GPFing when getting hostname on some WinSock stacks. (dumoulin) Changed name of CascadeWindows to avoid a conflict in API calls of Windows95. (dumoulin) Fixed WinVN's menu's where extra seperator lines were being displayed. WinVN release .99.4:
(dumoulin) Added support to track cross posted articles
(configurable from the Article List menu)
and support for a cache of Spare Range arrays
so when article ranges grow, memory doesn't
get too trashed.
(dumoulin) Cleaned up all routines that did raw pointer
math to offset into data structures. There
are now accessor macro's to locate data. This
changed practically every file in WinVN but
was necessary to safely add cross posting code
where article Range Array could grow dynamically.
(dumoulin) Allow postings to be created that have the
keyword "poster" in the followup-to header.
This will send E-mail to the originator.
(dumoulin) Fixed GPF if someone enters -1 in the
article fetch Threshold dialog box.
(dumoulin) Fixed code that calculates how big to make
the posting or mail edit window. It should
now calculate correctly to 78 characters if
a fixed font is used (the default).
(dumoulin) Added a way to track when the NewsRC file
gets modified so that close or save operations
don't write out the file if it isn't necessary.
(dumoulin) Added support for setting the TimeZone environment
variable either from WinVN.INI or the config
menus.
(dumoulin) Added Help Toolbar bitmap to all toobars and
changed help to point to the WinVN Help file
instead of the About Box (more useful).
(dumoulin) Seperated spacing on the Catchup and Close
toolbars when they were too close to each other.
Added additional line seperators on Menu bars
where they were too close.
(vielhaber) Updated the WinVN online Documentation.
(harris) New ToolBar binary for Catchup and Exit
(dumoulin) Add a space seperator for articles saved to disk.
Changed Date to conform to mailbox format and
Changed year to be 4 digits (like 1995) instead
of 2 digits (like 95).
(dumoulin) Fixed bugs with Cancel Article code. Will now
properly work if Followup-to header set to poster,
validates poster information and allows for
modification of the Newsgroups in the cancel.
(dumoulin) Cleaned up status line messages for various
menus.
(dumoulin) Fixed bug that could cause a negative number
of articles to be requested from the server
causing GPF's. Fixed other bugs caused when
int's overflow and become negative instead
of turning into longs.
(dumoulin) Rewrote formatting of GenSock error Message Box
so people are less likely to get scared away
and fire off E-mail and more likely to read
message and attempt to fix things on their own.
WinVN release .99.3:
(dumoulin) Fix GPF where uninitialized Hdc was being used when
sending mail.
(dumoulin) Added ability for owner of an Article to cancel.
his/her own article
(ishido) Force posts to properly use Followup-to header
instead of Newsgroups if available.
(dumoulin) Added option to display Followup-To Header, defaults
to on but can be turned off by user.
(dumoulin) Added dialog menus to Edit Windows to inform user
when Fonts or sizes would create lines longer than
78 characters.
(dumoulin) Added option to disable saving NewsRC file upon
exiting of each Group. Defaults to off.
(brydon) Add status line feedback when saving NewsRC file.
(dumoulin) Fixed GPF if COMDOC becomes NULL for any reason.
(dumoulin) Fixed status line message on Close option. Text
said Cancel Article instead of Close.
(dumoulin) Made wording stronger about Authorization fields
in Communications options menu being "Optional".
(dumoulin) Allow PageUP, PageDown, Home and End keys to
work properly in Group window regardless of
the state of the Multi-Select option.
(dumoulin) Fixed problem with not being able to view some
articles after sorting.
(dumoulin) Fixed GPF with unitialized HMENU object during Reset
(dumoulin) Fixed problem with freeing a system font upon exit.
(dumoulin) Fixed problem with pending I/O operations upon exit
that can cause GPF's on slow networking stacks.
(dumoulin) Fixed problem with corrupting memory if the
number of new groups on the server is 0.
WinVN release .99.2:
(dumoulin) Fix GPF where uninitialized Hdc was being used when
responding to articles
(dumoulin) Comment out all Trace options in preparation of a
Winvn 1.0 Release
(dumoulin) Allow PageUp, PageDown, Home and End keys to work
regardless of setting of Multi-Select option in Group
Article List window
(dumoulin) Fix GPF when marking text in extreemly large articles.
Fixed copying of ROT13 encoded text to clipboard
(dumoulin) Enable reset server protocol in instances where it
wasn't previously possible to recover from a hung server
connection
(dumoulin) Save NewsRc anytime closing of the Group window.
WinVN release .99.1:
(dumoulin) allow printing of ROT13 Messages
(dumoulin) partial fix of the cut/past GPF on huge articles
(dumoulin) Add a simple Save NewsRC option to Network menu
(rushing) message-id hashing for better threading
(rushing) Use presence of 'Re: ' as a hint when reconstructing
a broken thread
WinVN release .93.14:
(rushing) made a new hash function, rather than trying to
reuse HashGroup. Changed HashGroup back to Huge.
WinVN release .93.13:
(jcooper) Fix Smart Filer ask on duplicate filename
(jcooper) About box shows IDD_VERSION_NUMBER in static text
(jcooper) Added Restore All command to Window menu and to
main window Sys menu
(jglasser) Fix progress bar in main window for win16
(rushing) skip '<' on message-id's in header struct.
(rushing) changed HashGroup()'s argument type from 'unsigned
char huge *' to 'char *'
(rushing) skip over '<' character in mids & refs. make mids &
refs > 30 chars unique with a 4-char hash at the end.
WinVN release .93.12:
(rushing) redesigned the 'orphan reunite' code in sort_by_threads()
to be NLOGN instead of N squared
(dumoulin) change default thread sort to THREAD SUBJECT
(dumoulin) use a temp file when writing newsrc for extra protection
(jcooper) fix CUT HERE lines for uuencoded-without-mime attach
(jcooper) fix for wv16 decoder crash on filenames like 'abc.def.ghi'
(jglasser) multiple fixes to toolbar code
(rushing) threadOk check needs an extra check for hParentBlock==NULL
because the code is sometimes called before an InitDoc().
(rushing) issue warning when LockLine called with hBlock==NULL
(rushing) fixes to new sort by subject algorithm
(rushing) cast result of SelectObject to HBRUSH to remove warnings
(rushing) fix bracket typo
(rushing) make the embedded wildmat code not have a magical
rcs revision string.
(rushing) catch errors without error codes in open_smtp_socket()
(brydon) new declarations, misc fixes on several old declarations
