PCElm 3.21 - Readme File

Thanks for trying out PCElm! The following page will give you some
information on what PCElm is all about and what it can do.


    This package contains the following files:

    Name            Description
    ----------------------------------------------------------------
    !README         What you are reading now
    ALIAS           Example alias file
    MAILCAP         An example mailcap file for MIME
    DEMOMMDF        An example mailbox file with MIME-mails (MMDF format)
    DEMO            An example mailbox file with MIME-mails (non MMDF format)
    MARVIN   SIG    Example signature file
    PCELM    RC     Example PCElm configuration file
    PCELM    DEU    PCElm message file, german language (Deutsch)
    PCELM    ENG    PCElm message file, english language
    PCELM    ESP    PCElm message file, spanish language (Espanol)
    PCELM    NED    PCElm message file, dutch language (Nederlands)
    PCELM    MAN    PCElm installation and user manual
    PCELM    EXE    PCElm executable
    SHOWPART BAT    A batch file to display multipart MIME mails

Please read section 2 of the manual before installing PCElm. There is
no automatic install script for PCElm; changing the configuration file
pcelm.rc and adding an environment variable has to be done by hand. I regret
this oldfashioned approach, but I have yet to find a way to automate
the installation preocess and still have a working mail installation :-(

Release notes and a small overview of changes and additions to PCElm in
this release appear at the end of this document.


About PCElm and where and how to get it
---------------------------------------

    PCElm is a mail user agent (UA) with a user interface closely
    modeled after the USENET ELM. To avoid confusion, we would like to
    mention that PCElm and USENET ELM are *not* related.

    PCElm is intended to be used as a drop-in replacement for BM when
    using the KA9Q NOS package or as a replacement for mail.exe when
    using UUPC. It can also be used for other mailsystems, as all relevant
    things for compatibility with MTA's (Message Transfer Agents) are
    configurable.

    Hilights:
    PCElm has a nice user interface, with easy to learn and easy to use
    commands. UN*X users will already be familiar with the more important
    commands. It can be made to work with just about every mail system
    there is for PC's, as PCElm makes no assumptions at all about the
    underlying network software. Finally, PCElm is multilingual; you can
    make all messages appear in your favorite language. Message files
    for English, German, Spanish and Dutch currently exist.

    PCElm in hamradio mode creates text- and workfiles directly usable
    by NET or NOS for distribution with SMTP. In UUCP mode, PCElm
    execs a uucp mailer (usually rmail.exe) to feed mail to your
    uucp program. Since there are many uucp programs for PCs out there,
    it is up to you to find the right way to exec the mailer (See the
    discussion on the uucpcall parameter below). As our knowledge
    of UUPC, WAFFLE etc. is limited, we can't help much there.

    PCElm is Copyright (C) 1988 - 1994 by Wolfgang Siebeck and
    Martin Freiss.

    The executable pcelm.exe may be freely copied and distributed, provided
    that all files in this package are distributed with it and provided that
    the copyright notices are retained. No money may be charged for copying
    PCElm. A license is given to use PCElm for an unlimited time in
    non-commercial environments.

    No warranty, expressed or implied, is given that PCElm does what you
    think it does. The usual disclaimers apply: It works for us.

    Should you want or need support in setting up PCElm beyond the scope
    of this manual, want us to include special features in PCElm, want
    to include PCElm with your product or otherwise use PCElm in a
    commercial environment (i.e. make money out of people using PCElm),
    contact us.

    If you need support from us, we would request that you register PCElm
    with us for a fee of 10$ (US) or the equivalent amount in your favorite
    currency (20 DM or 8 british pounds at current rates). No checks or MO's
    please; exchange fees for foreign currency checks are more than 10$
    over here. Cash in an airmail letter is preferred, though Wolfgang Siebeck
    can also process credit card orders (VISA). If you need more than
    one license, we offer bulk licenses at substantial discounts - contact
    us for details.

    A (rather nice) printed manual is available from Wolfgang Siebeck to
    registered users for an additional fee of $7. Note that this manual
    is for version 3.01 of PCElm, not for the current version (3.2). There
    was not much interest in the printed manual (only one person wanted it),
    so we won't offer a printed manual for future versions unless there
    is overwhelming demand.

    Registered users will get advance notice of bug fixes and new releases
    if we know their email address. We do supply bug fixes to registered
    users a _lot_ faster.

    If you don't need support, we wouldn't complain about a donation
    either :-)

    If you would like the source code (C, with Turbo C 2.0((C) Borland) or
    later versions, Borland C++ recommended), the fee is 50$.
      The rationale behind this is that support costs us both time and money
    (as you might know, Germany has about the highest postal and telephone
    charges in the world).


    We can be reached at

    Wolfgang Siebeck        -or-    Martin Freiss
    Postfach 1526                   Muehlenfloessstr. 60
    D-52016 Aachen                  D-33175 Bad Lippspringe
    Germany                         Germany

    Email:
    siebeck@infoac.rmi.de           marvin@infoac.rmi.de

    Email is preferred.

    Bug reports are welcome if they are complete, i.e. please specify
    all configuration parameters, your hardware, version of NOS or uucp
    software, and send an excerpt of the mailbox you are having trouble
    with if necessary. We can't fix bugs we can't reproduce.
    Suggestions for enhancements to PCElm are of course also welcome.

Where to get PCElm
------------------

If you want PCElm, you can ftp it from the SimTel collection of files.
FTP to oak.oakland.edu:/pub/msdos/ka9q, file pcelm321.zip. You can
also access the SimTel repository by Gopher through gopher.oakland.edu.

PCElm is also available from all mirror sites of oak.oakland.edu.

If you own the SIMTEL CD-ROM, you may already have PCElm; take a look at
the ka9q or ka9q-tcpip directory.

Current version & planned versions
----------------------------------

The current version of PCElm is 3.21; the filename of the original
PCElm distribution is pcelm321.zip.
A new major release is scheduled for early '94.
Please do not use versions below 3.01 any more; there may still
be FTP servers that have these old versions, but they are severely
outdated by now.

Support
-------

There is a (low-volume) mailing list about PCElm; send a mail
containing the line
SUBSCRIBE PCELM-L (your name)
to listserver@stormking.com to subscribe.

You can, of course, always mail the authors with questions, bug reports,
or things that you would like to see improved or added in a new release.
When mailing, please bear in mind that both of us are away from our
mailboxes from time to time and cannot always answer your questions at once.
Also, mail does sometimes bounce or just disappear, especially if you are
living in the AMPRNET or many, many UUCP hops away from the Internet.
Please allow at least two weeks before griping about bad support :-)

Also, registered users tend to get answers faster, but we do of course
answer all mails that we get.

Changes with regard to release 3.2:

- There was (of course :-() a silly bug in the last release which prevented
  people from sending mail. Fixed.

Changes with regard to release 3.1:

- A memory allocation bug was fixed.
- Bug in alias expansion fixed.
- 't' (transmit from file) command works now
- New configuration parameter "enablemime" allows optional disabling
  of MIME support.

Changes with regard to release 3.01:

- Alias handling works much better now.
- The space between hostname and username in the UUCP From line confused
  some sendmails. Fixed.
- Using root directory as home directory should now work.
- Reading mailbox at program startup is faster now.
- Explicit prompt for Carbon Copies
- Now works with really long headerlines too :-)
- better MMDF support
- Lots more things to configure, including among others
  - optional headerlines (X-Organization:, etc.)
  - delete unread mails
  - drop directly into full screen editor
  - use external pager
  - define your own quote character(s) for replying to mails
  - define your own escape character for line editor
  - helplevel
- (very) rudimentary MIME support
- many other small bugs fixed & functions added

