🚀 go-pugleaf

#R:rocheste:-537100:uiuccsb:3300002:004:2168
uiuccsb!essick    Mar  5 12:41:00 1984

	The version of notes on the 4.2 Bsd distribution is an offshoot
of revision 1.2. There are a number of differences between 1.2 and
the version on the 4.2 tape.  I would not recommend changing to the
copy on the 4.2 tape because some structures changed sizes and
the new code will most likely not work on your current data base.

	At this time, I am cleaning up the changes I have made
to my copy of the code. I am currently running revision 1.6  (revisions
1.4 and 1.5 never left U of Illinois).  This revision includes
many of the enhancements made by Rick Spickelmier and Lou Salkind.
Some of the major things to do before the new release is ready 
include integrating a new notes/news gateway into the code (thanks
to Tw Cook for writing much of that) and writing a dump/load tool
to help convert some data structures.  I hope this will be done 
within a week.

	Features in 1.6 that aren't in 1.3 or the copy on the 4.2
Bsd distribution include:

	@ portable binaries
	@ you can specify notesfiles by absolute pathnames (and can
	  thus keep private notesfiles in your own directories)
	@ archives are stored as notesfiles
	@ fancy expiration features - specify age, action (archive/delete),
	  working set sizes and such on a per notesfile basis.
	@ alternate sequencer files - allowing multiple users of a single
	  signon to keep their own timestamps,
	@ `!' notesfile exclusion, similar to the mechanism used by news.
	@ a user routine nfabort() which gives programs a portable
	  mechanism for generating core images in the file of their
	  choice, logging the fact with a supplied message to a notesfile,
	  and terminating.  This is handy for programs which detect internal
	  errors; they can leave messages and core images for the programmer
	  to pore over at his leisure.
	@ mapping of notes and responses to different newsgroups. This is
	  for the net.general/net.followup case.
	@ the usual host of bug fixes.

	In summary, I suggest you wait a few weeks for my new release
of the code.  It should have the tools to convert existing data bases
and all sorts of spiffy new features. Watch for the announcement.

-- Ray Essick, University of Illinois