
GroupMaster(TM) Version 1.4, September 26th, 1997


1. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF RELEASE 1.4
2. NEW FEATURES IN 1.4
3. FIXES IN 1.4
4. KNOWN ISSUES

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1. Brief Description of GroupMaster 1.4
==============================================================

  GroupMaser 1.4 is primarily a maintenance release of 
GroupMaster 1.3. The release does include an updated Member
Control Panel, new options for controlling how members can
subscribe to a group and for what information is displayed in
the FROM header of email delivered with GroupMaster.

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2. Features Added In This Release
   Version 1.4 (1.3), September 26th, 1997
==============================================================

New features (v1.4):

  The following features have been added in version 1.4.
Please note: after upgrading your server to 1.4, check 
your list's options in the EDIT and EDIT/ADVANCED OPTIONS 
screen before sending a message!

1. Ability to disable JOIN confirmations completely for web
   JOIN buttons: by popular request, you may now disable
   JOIN confirmations for your web page's JOIN button or
   email subscription box.
   
A SPECIAL NOTE TO USERS OF CUSTOMIZED EMAIL AND WEB PAGES:
   A file has been added to the default "template" directory
   in this version.  The file is called "EmailSub0.gmh" and
   is used in the event that you have your JOIN confirmations
   disabled.  If you are using customized pages in your list
   and you intend to turn the JOIN confirmation off, you
   MUST use this page in your group's template directory.
   You cannot change "EmailSub1.gmh", as GroupMaster will
   refer to "EmailSub0.gmh" instead when you disable this
   option.
   
TO DISABLE THE JOIN CONFIRMATION:
   The option is located in the EDIT/ADVANCED OPTIONS screen
   of your group in the web interface.
   
2. More options for a list's appearance have been added.  You
   may now make your list's messages appear to have originated
   from the poster's email address, rather than the group
   address.  You may also direct whether or not member replies
   return to the group address or the posting member.  PLEASE
   NOTE THAT THIS CHANGES THE HEADERS OF YOUR LIST'S MESSAGES.
   This feature is most useful in discussion groups.  The options
   to change are listed in the EDIT/ADVANCED OPTIONS screen
   of your group's web interface.
   
3. DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME WARNING: Daylight Savings Time
   takes place on October 26th, 1997 at 2:00am.  It is highly
   advisable that you avoid posting messages between the hours
   of 1am-3am of that morning in an effort to avoid message
   duplication.  GroupMaster may consider a message posted at
   this time as undelivered when the clock is changed automatically
   by your Windows operating system.
   
---------

Summary of features introduced in version 1.3:

1. GroupMaster will now run as a service on Windows NT 4.0 
   systems.

2. New addresses that are supported via email in this version:
	postmaster@server.domain.com, root@server.domain.com, 
        gmserver@server.domain.com, admin@server.domain.com: 
        these addresses are forwarded to the 
	"administrator" address given in the setup screen.

3. New supported group addresses:

 - post-group...........this address posts a message to the group;
            for manager use ONLY.  Members may not post at this
            address.  Also, this is the ONLY address that will
            accept tracked URLs and attachments
            posted by the manager.
 - owner-group..........this address is for members; processes messages
            as a reply to the message
 - manager-group........same as "owner-group"
 - request-group........processes message if there are commands from
            the member contained in the request, otherwise
            it is processed as reply
 - group-request........same as "request-group"
 - help-group...........will return the help file for your group
 - join-group...........joins member to group, regardless of subject line
            and message body
 - subscribe-group......same as "join-group"
 - signon-group.........same as "join-group"
 - unjoin-group.........unjoins the member from the group specified in
            the name, regardless of message content in subject
            line or body
 - unsubscribe-group....same as "unjoin-group"
 - signoff-group........same as "unjoin-group"

NOTE: "group" designates name of the group you are running.

ALSO: It is up to the manager of the group to decide which
addresses to promote.  Please see help.html for more information.

4. The SMTP mail port is now configurable in the SETUP screen. This 
allows GroupMaster and an SMTP mail program to coexist
on the same server.

5. Discussion list feature: users can now post to groups via email
if this option is enabled, or through the new 
Member Control Panel (a web interface).  

6. Member Control Panel: users can now edit their settings or
unjoin any of their groups (on the same server) from the web.


7. Customization: list managers with console access may now customize
their groups by placing a set of "templates" in their group's
directory on the computer running GroupMaster.  

PLEASE NOTE: The Member Control Panel graphics can be customized, but
the change is currently SERVERWIDE.  All groups on the same server
will reflect the change.
	
8. An "advanced options" screen has been added supporting the following:

 - Do not send message posting confirmation 
 - Send welcome message to new members 
 - Include message header option
 - Include link to Member Control Panel
 - Can include the name or address of a message poster 
 - Can restrict individuals to join through import only for added security;
   will also forward requests to manager if enabled
   
Extra options on this screen:

 - You may enable a virtual domain for your group - all messages
   will appear to have originated from this domain.  
		
9. GroupMaster now has more powerfulparsing email commands from members.
Commands are accepted through subject line as well as first line of body, or the
last line.

10. New commands accepted via email in this version:

 - signup.......joins member to group
 - sign up......joins member to group
 
 Also accepted subscription commands from previous version:
 
 - signon.......joins member to group
 - sign on......joins member to group
 - signoff......unjoins member from group
 - sign off.....unjoins member from group
 - subscribe....joins member to group
 - unsubscribe..unjoins member from group
 - join.........joins member to group
 - unjoin.......unjoins member to group
 

11. Mail aliasing is now supported.

 - Users can add email aliases through the Member Control Panel
 - Managers can add email aliases through the normal web interface
 - At times, GroupMaster can successfully identify mail aliases automatically,
   when there is a close match between the addresses.  If an alias is
   identified, the alias address will be recorded in the database for
   the member.

12. Manager preferences screen added.

 - Can input manager address aliases to accept message postings from
   different addresses
 - Can change the manager password

13. Previously undocumented feature: you may put in multiple email addresses
in the search area delimited by spaces for quick searching and removal of
addresses.

14. You may now put in multiple SMTP servers delimited by semicolons in the
SETUP screen.  If GroupMaster is unable to connect to the first SMTP server,
it will roll to the next server.  It will continue to switch SMTP servers
until it has successfully mailed all outgoing messages.  To identify the
servers, place their names in the SMTP server field of the SETUP screen:
server1.server.com;server2.server.com
If you need to specify a port, you may indicate them with a colon:
server1.server.com:port#;server2.server.com:port#

15. GroupMaster v1.4 will attempt to locate a previous version of
GroupMaster when installing.    

16. Managers may now toggle digest mode or unjoin members from the replies
archives for their group with the provided checkboxes.  

17. Changed: most options are DISABLED when a group is created except
for the Member Control Panel link being distributed with all group
messages.  

18. A "Validate All" button has been added to the invalid members area,
which will reset all invalid members to valid.

19. Better command parsing: GroupMaster will now accept commands
from members in the subject line of the message, the first line
of the message body, or the last line in the message body. 

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3. Fixes in GroupMaster Version 1.4
==============================================================

Fixed: previously, the import process incorrectly allowed
   commas to be part of email addresses.

Fixed: if running GroupMaster on an NT 4.0 machine
   as a service (in "automatic" startup mode) in conjunction
   with other Internet-related services, GroupMaster would
   fail to start automatically on a machine reboot.

Fixed: in the event that an SMTP server disconnected
   abruptly while sending mail to GroupMaster, the
   GMMailIn client would hang the corresponding *.GME file
   while waiting for the transmission to finish.  Eventually,
   this would cause a page fault or a system resource crash.
   
Changed: the Member Control Panel login screen
   has been changed to make it easier for members to unjoin
   from a list quickly and easily.  If a member has been
   a part of a list for more than a week, the MCP will ask
   for a confirmation rather than unjoining them automatically.
   
Fixed: GroupMaster will now handle daylight savings
   time (October 26th, 1997) correctly.  (see above section
   for a warning about this)
   
Changed: GroupMaster uses the number of days in
   default message expiration in terms of hours.  Previously,
   if a message was created with the default expiration of
   one day, GroupMaster would expire the message at midnight
   of that day.  Now, GroupMaster correctly considers this
   value to be in terms of 24 hours.  For example, a message
   created at 3:00pm on 9/8/97 will no longer expire on
   12:00am 9/9/97.  It will now expire at 3:00pm on 9/9/97.

Changed: the default welcome and help emails have
   been changed to facilitate the fact that some managers may
   not be using some features.
   
Fixed: Campaign messages have been optimized.
   In GroupMaster v1.3, groups with large databases of
   members and a few campaign messages could cause the
   server to slow down. The routines have
   been changed to optimize this database query and allow
   the server to process the database much quicker.

Fixed: previously, GroupMaster sometimes added
   extra linefeeds (blank lines) in messages posted by
   email from certain email programs.
   
Fixed: previously, GroupMaster would fail to display
   the detailed message activity and message archive
   screens in the web interface if the group contained
   a large number of messages (over 300+ messages).
   
Fixed: in the rare situation that a group was
   NOT using the member control panel link in their
   messages but was using a group signature file, the
   signature file did not display for members viewing
   the group in automated digest mode.

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4. Known Issues in GroupMaster Version 1.4
   September 26th, 1997
==============================================================

1. Uninstalling IPWorks (by devSoft) may damage GroupMaster's 
   references in the Windows95 system registry.

2. MS Internet Explorer versions 3.x may cache GroupMaster's pages
   and Manager will seem to cease operation after continued
   and uninterrupted use.
   Workaround: close, then reopen Internet Explorer and login
   to Manager.

3. Users of Netscape may experience occasional problems
   when using GroupMaster.  The screen may look garbled
   and crossed with previously viewed graphics from other
   pages.  This is a Netscape caching problem in versions
   3.x of the browser.
   Workaround: reloading the page (by pressing reload)
   should fix it.

4. Users of Internet Explorer may experience caching problems
   when viewing "Detailed message statistics" after changing
   to a new group.
   Workaround: refresh the page.

5. Managers who use Eudora to send attachments when posting messages
   through email may have their message delivered with two
   attachments of the same name - one attachment will be
   1k in size, the other will be the real size.  Both
   attachments carry the same name and can be executed
   by clicking on either one of them.  No data is lost.

6. There is a known bug in Eudora's referencing of
   URLs in email messages. These can sometimes damage Internet 
   Explorer's ability to correctly display HTML files.  This will
   cause your GroupMaster pages to "download" instead of
   display.
   Workaround: in some cases, rebooting your computer will
   correct the problem.  In other cases, reinstalling
   your web browser will correct the problem.

7. Incompatibility with "quotable-printable option." Managers 
   who post via email may notice odd characters at
   the end of their lines - such as "=20." Other characters
   may be converted to other values as well.
   This happens when sending a message in "quoted-printable"
   format, then using a special high-bit character such as
   an "i" with an accent mark over it.
   Workaround: do not use quoted-printable option in your
   email program when posting via email, or high-bit
   characters.

8. Machines without DNS entries running GroupMaster
   may not mail out correctly.  Also, incoming
   mail to the machine with the DNS entry will not be
   delivered to GroupMaster; it is rejected at the SMTP
   level.
   Workaround: install GroupMaster on a machine with an
   acceptable DNS entry, or make a DNS entry for the
   machine running GroupMaster.

9. If your email account is managed by an SMTP relay service
   that supplies its own email address inside the MAIL:
   field (when talking to another SMTP server), GroupMaster
   will return errors or refuse to allow you to post to
   the group.
   Workaround: find out what address your SMTP server is
   placing in the MAIL: field during mail communications
   (contact your system administrator) and change your
   Manager email address to reflect it.
   If this bug has occurred, it indicates that GroupMaster
   failed to automatically alias a mail address for
   your subscriber. Add the alias for the member in the
   web interface or have the member add it in the
   Member Control Panel.

10. On rare occasions, a "Document Contains No Data" error
   might occur when loading a frame.
   Workaround:  If this error occurs, simply click on the 
   HOME button in the left-hand frame and the frames will
   reload.

11. During large database operations (i.e. GroupMaster is
   preparing a set of messages to deliver to a group with
   a large list of members), you may experience intermittent
   lag in the web interface.

12. If a manager begins an import while another import process
   is running, the first import process is placed on hold
   until the second one finishes.

13. The import process can be broken if you press the STOP
   button on your browser while the status bar updates.  This
   may cause errors to develop during the import of your
   list.

14. In the event of a server crash, statistics will not
   be updated correctly.
   Workaround: clear your statistics from the statistics
   screen.

15. When posting via email, be careful not to place special
   formatting inside the message.  GroupMaster will send
   HTML-formatting and other special formatted characters
   as attachments to the members of your list.
   Workaround: make sure to compose your messages in
   text-only mode when posting via email.  This is a problem
   with different email programs handling special formatting
   in different ways.
   
16. In the event that your system clock is altered drastically
   by the Windows operating system, GroupMaster's processes
   may fall into a dormant state.  If this happens, your
   system will need to be rebooted.
   NOTE: This should NOT happen on daylight savings time
   (see note in Features above).

17. If you are trying to add a new message via e-mail using
   the "quick add" method with an attached file, and if the
   message is rejected for any reason (i.e. a misspelled manager
   password), the attachment will not be deleted from the
   GMMail directory.
   Workaround: occasionally, you may wish to go through your
   GMMail directory and make certain that files with the
   extension of GMX are not old and taking up disk space
   as a result of message add rejection.

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Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997 Revnet Systems, Inc. 
All rights reserved.
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