ARSC Really Simple Chat

File Release Notes and Changelog

Release Name: 3.0.2-rc1

Notes:
ARSC - ARSC Really Simple Chat - General Information
=======================================================================
Version 3.0.2 RC 1 - 2005-04-13 - Thank you for using ARSC!
Copyright (C) 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 Manuel Kiessling
=======================================================================

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307,
USA.

=======================================================================
Due to the fact that my native language is not english, it is possible
that there are several mistakes - I hope they are at least funny...
If you find one, then please send me an eMail to manuel@kiessling.net.
Thank you very much!
=======================================================================

For installation instructions, please see the INSTALL file.

If you find a bug, please report it using the bugtracker on SourceForge:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=add&group_id=32699&atid=406296

Before you post a bug, please make sure nobody else already reported
the same bug, by browsing the bug database:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=browse&group_id=32699&atid=406296

If you need help, please visit the Help Forum:
http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=102858

The homepage of ARSC is:
http://manuel.kiessling.net/projects/software/arsc/

Manuel Kiessling
manuel@kiessling.net


Changes:
ARSC - ARSC Really Simple Chat - Changelog

- Version 3.0.2-rc1
  2005-04-13

  - Dropped auto-logout functionality from browser_push version
    in order to improve stability
  - Fixed a bug that prevented httpd processes from correctly
    terminating
  - Switched from microtime (bigint) values to primary key
    for message index


- Version 3.0.1
  2005-02-21

  - Added dereferer for URLs posted into the chat, in order to
    avoid session theft (sent in by Henry Heintzmann)
  - Added support for special chars in room names
    (sent in by Henry Heintzmann)
  - Added better color selection HTML
    (sent in by Henry Heintzmann)
  - Added bosnian language file (by Amel Hankic)
  - browser_push version now uses less bandwith (sent in by
    Zach Bates)
  - Added support for quick re-login of registered users, if
    a session did not time out correctly


- Version 3.0
  2005-01-17

  - Fixed bug #1100688 (string returned by the sha1() wrapper
    function for pre-4.3.0 PHP installations is too long)
  - Fixed wrong function call in add_user admin script
  - Added turkish language file


- Version 3.0-rc1
  2005-01-08

  - Added refresh link to queue frame
  - Added auto-install feature to install script
  - Install script now detects if ARSC is already installed
  - Fixed double-posting of user enter note in browser_socket version
  - Added GNU GPL license


- Version 3.0-beta2
  2004-12-29

  - Added browser_socket version
  - Added browser_text version
  - Refined install script
  - Added new moderation system with a two-leveled message queue
  - Improved language selection page, which now auto-detects the
    language preferred by the user (if provided by the browser)
  - Added charset option to language files in order to provide the
    correct encoding
  - Refined the default layout
  - Wrote sha1() wrapper function for pre 4.3.0 PHP installations
  - Disabled log-to-file for safe_mode PHP installations
  - Disabled set_time_limit() in browser_push version if safe_mode is on
  - Added ARSC_INSTALLATIONID which provides unique logfile names for
    multiple installations on the same server
  - Ships now with additional room 'InRoomChat' and 'Display' user,
    which allows for a fast and easy setup of a digital backchannel
  - Added definable welcome message to parameters
  - Added CREDITS file


- Version 3.0-beta1
  2004-12-02

  - Fixed bug #1073804 (Register page errors)
  - Wrote installation instructions and installation script
  - Added user-specific layouts
  - Added admin interface for rooms
  - Added language selection
  - Fixed a lot of smaller bugs


- Version 3.0-alpha2
  2004-08-29

  - Fixed bug #741494 (/tree/ (or similar) at start of msg loses)
  - Fixed bug #716156 (Use own link identifier for mysql connects)
  - Fixed bug #741938 (Wrong sig separator)
  - Implemented feature request #533067 (Private channels)
  - Implemented feature request #896643 (color doesn't save over logout)
  - Added persistent, freely definable user levels, with freely
    definable rights (Feature request #672979)
  - Added ID-Cards for registered users
  - Added guestbooks inside the ID Cards for registered users
  - Added an API which abstracts operations on users
  - Added a layout system, with which one can freely design all pages
    of ARSC, including the several frames within the chat
  - Added moderated rooms with Guest, VIP and Moderator roles
  - Added an administration system
  - Switched from variables to constants for the parameters
  - Made ARSC compatible to PHP installations which have
    register_globals = off
  - Added test for all user submitted data
  - Added pre- and post-modules, which allow postings to be
    filtered or changed before they go into the chat ('pre'), and to
    send chat output to other applications ('post'), e.g. log systems,
    blogs, etc.


- Version 3.0-alpha1
  2004-07-19

  - This version was not released to the public, see 3.0-alpha2


- Version 2.3
  2003-02-28

  - Fixed bug that stopped the server from respondig
    if connected by a client that sends no data.
    Kudos to Markus Fischer!


- Version 2.2
  2003-02-24

  - Fixed bug #642257 (closed connections not removed
                       from connection pool)
  - Fixed a bug that caused all users to get kicked out of the chat
    when running the socket server version and someone pointed
    his browser to the port of the ARSC daemon
  - Fixed: Changes in smilie configuration are not saved
  - Updated: italian translation is now complete
  - Updated: INSTALL file had some errors, now fixed


- Version 2.1
  2002-11-05

  - Added '/rip *' and '/unrip *' (Feature request #630693)
  - Optimized admin page and parameter storage format
  - Added update script for switching from 2.0 to 2.1
  - Added version number on front page


- Version 2.0
  2002-11-01

  - Fixed bug #574458 (reload ends in mysql-errors)
  - Fixed bug #582946 (broken language support)
  - workaround for bug #631324 (' and " in title of chat cause
    problems)
  - Added 'change password' page (Feature request #626999)
  - Added individual user colors (Feature request #500138)
  - Added 'Lock chat' (Feature request #498390)
  - Updated socket server to run with PHP 4.2.3
    (Feature request #547581)
  - Added log-to-file feature (Feature request #625425)
  - Changed layout of index.php and home.php
  - Added autodetection of hostname and installation path
    to install script
  - Switched from file based to MySQL-based configuration
  - Added administrator page
  - Cleaned up code, removed unnecessary function calls
  - New languages included: czech, dutch, greek, hungarian,
    italian, polski, slovak, turkish
  - Redesigned count mechanism


- Version 1.0.1p1
  2002-03-19

  - Fixed a path disclosure vulnerability as reported by
    Ahmet Sabri Alper (salper@olympos.org)


- Version 1.0.1
  2001-12-30

  - Fixed a bug that could display e.g. the english help for a french
    user
  - For the error "You must register!", a sentence in the language file
    is not present - people will now see the "Credentials correct?"
    error.
  - Added languages: Espanol, French, Portuguese-Brazil


- Version 1.0
  2001-12-08

  - many changes, I hope I get them together...
  - Fixed many bugs
  - Rewrote the socket server, now it's non-forking
    (thanks to Markus Fischer (mfischer@php.net)) and
    rock stable
  - Added a new frame that holds some links, a list
    of available rooms, and a logo
  - The autoscroll of the messagewindow can now be switched
    off in versions that work with JavaScript (it does not
    work really perfect with all browsers, though)
  - Userlist and roomlist can be refreshed manually
  - The homepage is a bit nicer
  - Colors of several elements can be defined
  - What was the config file is now split up into several
    files to ease updating to new versions
  - Added smilies :-) (but they can be turned off)
  - Added optional or required nickname registration
  - Added flood protection
  - Added RIP mode: Ops can disable an users postings
  - Added banning based on the IP adress
  - Added locking, i.e. registered users can be locked out
    permanently
  - Operators can move users from one room into another
  - Operators are informed where a user goes if he leaves
    the room
  - Operators have a more comfortable userlist with links
    to functions like /kick, /bann etc.
  - New commands:
    - /userlist (shows a list of all users in the room)
    - /roomlist (shows a list of all rooms)
    - /smilies shows available smilies and how to create them
  - New operator commands:
    - /whois (shows info about another user, only for ops)
    - /bann
    - /lock
    - /rip
    - /unrip
    - /move


- Version 1.0beta2
  2001-10-01

  - Added a socket server
  - Added roomchange
  - Refined timing issues
  - Added whispering to ops only
  - Added a first version for the Zuum
    WebTV box
  - Increased compatibility
  - Increased speed
  - Fixed many minor and some major bugs
  - Available languages are listed automatically


- Version 1.0beta1
  2001-08-09

  - Finally, ARSC features "server push"
  - Added a lynx-friendly version
  - In the two chat versions that use JavaScript, posting
    is much more comfortable because the frame with the
    message field is no longer refreshed
  - Implemented session handling
  - Timing is way more accuracte because microseconds are used
    instead of seconds
  - Users can be operators
  - Operators can kick
  - Operators can give op
  - Operators can take op
  - The chat admin can /op himself with /selfop
  - Added whispering
  - Users that leave the chat are logged out immediately,
    even if they hit "stop" or close the browser
  - Clicking on a users name inserts the accurate /msg command
    into the message field


- Version 0.4
  2001-05-11

  - Rooms are available
  - Different languages are available and can easily be added.
    Thanks to Miguel Vitorino (mv@i9case.com) for the portuguese
    translation.
  - The /me command (known from IRC) is available
  - b, i and u HTML tags are now allowed
  - Refined the timing issues


- Version 0.3.1
  2001-04-21

  - Fixed a bug that caused a error for users chatting in
    the JavaScript versions while users in the header version
    send the ' character
  - The ' character is now replaced with ´ when it is
    send, not when it is read from the database
  - Fixed a bug in the installation script that didn't add
    a required field to the user table
  - The refresh timing in the JavaScript version was 2 seconds
    and is now 4 seconds


- Version 0.3
  2001-04-15

  - Now JavaScript version runs fine on Opera 5.06b, Linux
  - Added a frame that shows the currently logged in users
  - Cleaned a bug that didn't show messages containing 
    the ' character in the JavaScript version


- Version 0.2
  2001-04-01

  - Corrected a scroll bug
  - Added list of users at login


- Version 0.1
  2001-03-18

  - ARSC's first release